Croatia click under adventurous coach Dalic to put one foot in finals
>> ZAGREB: Barring a major upset, Croatia will qualify for the 2018 World Cup after today’s match at Greece in the second leg of Europe’s play-offs.
Croatia, under new coach Zlatko Dalic, fired on all cylinders when they needed to most as a 4-1 home rout of Greece on Thursday vindicated his hasty appointment after their World Cup qualifying campaign had threatened to collapse.
The result of the first leg left Greece with an almost impossible task to overhaul the deficit in Sunday’s return leg, after Dalic’s adventurous formation tore them apart at Maksimir stadium.
The 51-year-old Bosnian-born Dalic stepped in for the unpopular and uncharismatic Ante Cacic after the Croatians slipped from first to third in their group and oversaw a 2-0 win over Ukraine which lifted them into the play-offs.
His revamped side, freed from Cacic’s cagey tactics, produced what Croatian players, pundits and fans billed as one of their best performances in the last few years.
“What has changed? The coach,” goalkeeper Danijel Subasic said after inspired performances from the squad’s usual suspects as well as by some trump cards deployed by Dalic.
“He talked to us more than his predecessor and brought the best in us. This is the real Croatia and if we repeat this performance in the second leg, we’re off to Russia.”
In today’s other European play-off match in Basel, Switzerland are in the driving seat against Northern Ireland.
The Swiss won 1-0 in the first leg in Belfast thanks to a Ricardo Rodriguez penalty.
Northern Ireland’s Corry Evans has apologised for his wife’s foulmouthed tweet towards the referee who awarded the penalty.
In a tweet sent from a now-deleted account, Lisa Evans referred to Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan in disparaging terms as a “Romanian gypsy”, adding: “And to actually think Northern Ireland has probably homed one of his smelly relatives!!”
Corry Evans released a statement on Friday through the Irish Football Association saying sorry for his wife’s twitter post.
“On behalf of my wife, I would like to apologise unreservedly for the content and language contained in the tweet that she issued last night,” his statement said.
“The comments were published in the heat of the moment and are not representative of her views.”
Evans was also booked for his role in the penalty incident, ruling him out of today’s return leg in Basel.