Talented Croatians are building momentum

– Russia employed an attacking mindset against their World Cup group stage opponents but played defensively in the knockout clash against Spain, and Croatia believe they must be ready for either approach from the hosts in tomorrow’s quarterfinal.

The Russians came into the tournament as the lowest-ranked team but began with a bang by beating Saudi Arabia 5-0 and Egypt 3-1 before losing 3-0 to Group A winners Uruguay. They reached the last eight with a win on penalties over Spain.

Russia changed tactics to play five at the back, with a lone striker

Sochi

in Artem Dzyuba against Spain in the last-16 on Sunday, an approach that restricted their opponents to just one chance in 90 minutes.

“Yeah, we have watched almost all of their games,” Croatian forward Ivan Perisic (right) told reporters at their training base in Sochi this week.

“Against Spain they used a different system, but you must adapt to every team you play against. So they thought they were the best tactics for them, and I think they made the right decision.

“We will prepare well for both versions. We still have a couple of days to prepare well.”

Croatia showed flashes of their stellar attacking game when they beat Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland to top their group. But, like Russia, they took a defensive route to the last eight with a 3-2 shootout win over Denmark.

With players such as worldclass midfielder Luka Modric and a string of top-level forwards including Mario Mandzukic, Ante Rebic, Andrej Kramaric and Perisic, Zlatko Dalic’s team scored at least two goals in each of their three group matches, including firing three past Argentina.

“We must primarily focus on ourselves because I think our team has bigger quality, we just need to show that on the pitch,” Rebic said.

Croatia had a patchy qualifying campaign, slipping from first to third in the group and then sacking coach Ante Cacic.

Dalic came in and his side have staked a claim as one of the dark horses in this tournament.

Ever since a talented Croatian side reached the 1998 World Cup semifinals, subsequent generations have been under pressure from the country’s fans and media to emulate the feat.

This group is just one win away from getting there. – Reuters