Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic says a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Spain could be a good thing for his team. But he still fears the handicap of having to play England in an empty stadium next month.
After watching his side fall to the worst defeat in their history, just two months after their finest hour, Dalic said: 'Maybe it's better now after what happened tonight [Tuesday].
'We have to come back from this. We haven't forgotten how to play football but 6-0 is a big scoreline. It was very bad for us but we have to pick ourselves up.' Gareth Southgate's side go to Croatia on October 12 but they will play the game without spectators because Croatia are serving a UEFA stadium ban.
Zlatko Dalic watched his side slump to a 6-0 defeat in Spain during a Nations League clash
Dalic told Sportsmail: 'It will not be easy for us to play against the fourth team in the world without our people. I don't understand it. Football is for the people, it should not be played in empty stadiums.'
Dalic was hailed for leading Croatia to their first-ever World Cup final, against France in the summer, but he is now struggling to rebuild after several important players retired from international football.
Keeper Danijel Subasic, defender Vedran Corluka and striker Mario Mandzukic all brought their international careers to an end after Russia 2018 and Mandzukic in particular has no convincing replacement.
The World Cup semi-finalists were humiliated at the Manuel Martinez Valero Stadium in Elche
'It's tough to replace all of the players who have retired. We don't have that many players but we have to try,' said Dalic, who also hinted at fatigue among those who have remained in the squad.
'We had a fantastic World Cup but now it's a new season and we are empty. It's a new beginning in a new competition. After the World Cup we fell down, we were physically drained. Our players missed pre-season.'
He was without Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren and he added: 'We missed Lovren because he's one of our best defenders and we were missing other important players too but we must be able to play without them.
Croatia suffered their worst-ever defeat when they were crushed 6-0 by Spain
Despite having Luka Modric, a spate of retirements have hit the Croatian team hard
'It's a problem because we are not a big country. We have maybe 20 players and if one player is missing we feel it. We are not the same as England or Spain. If one player is missing for them then they can bring in another one. One player out for us is big.' After the 6-0 hammering on Tuesday Croatia now look to be third favourites behind Spain and England to make next summer's Final Four.
He added: 'We played well for the first 20 minutes against Spain but after that we lost everything. We lost our shape and we stopped playing our football and we can only congratulate Spain for the way they played.
'It's not easy now because Spain has six points and we don't have any. It will be difficult to get past them now but we can just try to do the best in the games we play. The England match for us is now a very important game.'
Croatia's stadium ban goes back to 2015 when the Croatian Football Federation had to apologise after a swastika had been marked into the pitch ahead of a Euro 2016 home qualifier against Italy.
'This is a disgrace not just for the Croatian Football Federation but for the whole of Croatia,' said spokesman Tomislav Pacak at the time.
NATIONS LEAGUE - LEAGUE A GROUP 4 FIXTURES AND TABLE
October 12: Croatia vs England (Stadion Rujevica, Rijeka)
October 15: Spain vs England (Benito Villamarin, Sevilla)
November 15: Croatia vs Spain (Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb)
November 18: England vs Croatia (Wembley Stadium)
The Rujevica Stadium will be empty when Croatia host England in the Nations League
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/12/croatia-boss-zlatko-dalic-claims-his-sides-worst-ever-loss-could-provide-boost/
Main photo article Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic says a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Spain could be a good thing for his team. But he still fears the handicap of having to play England in an empty stadium next month.
After watching his side fall to the worst defeat in their history, just two months after their finest...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Sport HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/12/13/4262522-0-image-m-16_1536755256182.jpg
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