Croatia punched above their weight to finish as the 2018 World Cup runners-up and should not be expected to go all the way in every tournament, captain Luka Modric said ahead of their Euro 2020 Group D opener against England on Sunday.
The Croatians sent shockwaves around the world when they beat England 2-1 in the semi-finals in Russia before losing the showpiece match 4-2 to France and Modric said their fans needed to lower their expectations ahead of the clash at Wembley.
“All the pieces of the puzzle came together in Russia, but we can’t reach the final every time even though. We have raised the bar for ourselves,” midfielder Modric told a news conference.
“We have to be much more realistic now, no matter how confident we are. We still believe we are a very good team of course and the first thing we must do is keep believing.”
Asked to comment on media reports that underdogs Croatia had accused England of arrogance ahead of their epic clash in Moscow, Modric said they were aggrieved by the English media.
“We didn’t maintain so much that the England team and the players were arrogant ahead of that game but rather the people around them, some of the journalists and the commentators,” he said on Saturday.
“I haven’t been reading their press much lately. I am focused on tomorrow’s match and not really paying much attention to what people are saying.”
The 35-year-old dyanmo said he expected an aggressive and motivated England to take the game to Croatia on Sunday and also heaped superlatives on Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount.
“He is a very talented player with a lot of ability and he’s got a big future ahead of him. He will soon become a key player for England,” said Modric.
“The English will no doubt be roared on by the home crowd and we’ll have to be on top of our game to stand our ground.”
Coach Zlatko Dalic dismissed suggestions Croatia will want to sit back and soak up pressure.
“We are aware this a big game against a top team and one of the tournament favourites, meaning that we have to be compact and determined in order to get a result,” he said.
“Hence we won’t be defensive and we’ll be ready to adapt to whatever formation England come up with. It doesn’t matter whether it’s three or four at the back because they are full of quality any way you look at it.
“We expect Phil Foden to start as he’s got pace and ability while Jack Grealish is also likely to play a part as a top quality playmaker.”
England’s performance at the European Championship can help in uniting the country, manager Gareth Southgate said ahead of Sunday’s opening game against Croatia.
England, semi-finalists at the 2018 World Cup, are deemed one of the favourites to win the European showpiece but their build-up to the tournament has been marred by some fans booing players for the anti-racism gesture of “taking the knee”.
There were jeers from a small section of spectators at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough when players took the knee before England’s friendly wins over Austria and Romania last week.
“I think it’s time for the country to unite, full stop,” Southgate told the BBC on Friday. “If the team can be a catalyst for that then that’s brilliant.
“I think the England team is often a catalyst for bringing people together … so of course in the process of doing that we want to play well, we want to win, we want to excite people, but not all of that falls upon us.”
The Three Lions revived the country’s love affair with football when they reached the semi-finals of Euro 1996, which was held on home soil.
Southgate, who was part of coach Terry Venables’ team which lost to Germany in the last-four that year, said it was time for England to “remember what a strong nation we are”.
“We’ve had lots of division and sometimes we need to remember what a strong island we are, what a strong nation we are, the great qualities that we have,” he said.
“There were moments at the beginning of the pandemic that were so powerful where people did pull together, I think we should always be striving towards that.”
