Superb, but coach cautious

– Croatia moved closer to next year’s World Cup with an emphatic 4-1 home win over Greece on Thursday in the first leg of their two-legged play-off after the Balkan nation produced their most impressive qualifying performance.

The result left the Greeks with a difficult task to overhaul the deficit in Athens tomorrow if they are to reach their third successive finals.

Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic, in charge for only his second game after overseeing a 2-0 win over Ukraine in the final group match which took them into the playoffs, was happy but also struck a note of caution.

“We must root out any complacency immediately and head to Greece as if the score was 0-0,” Dalic, who took over from Ante Cacic after Croatia had slipped from first to third in their qualifying group, told the HRT state broadcaster.

“The basic idea was to raid them on both flanks and the strategy worked. I am not happy with the goal we conceded but in the end it’s a very good result,” he added.

Striker Nikola Kalinic, who stood in for the injured Mario Mandzukic, won a penalty for Croatia’s opening goal scored by captain Luka Modric and netted the second with a deft touch to give the home side a 2-0 lead at Maksimir stadium.

Kalinic latched on to a fizzing low cross by leftback Ivan Strinic as Croatia did the damage on either flank in an action-packed first half.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos pulled one back for Greece before Ivan Perisic made it 3-1 with a thumping close-range header, following a superb cross by rightback Sime Vrsaljko.

Andrej Kramaric (above) scored Croatia’s fourth shortly after the break, poking the ball in from two metres after Vrsaljko had cut out a poor back pass.

Croatia could have won by a bigger margin but for Greek goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis, who denied both Kramaric and Kalinic on the stroke of half-time.

The visitors, missing injured fullback Vasilis Torosidis and suspended central defender Kostas Manolas, were rarely able to venture forward. – Reuters

Zagreb

The basic idea was to raid them on both flanks and the strategy worked.

Zlatko Dalic Croatian coach