Dalic aims to keep Croatia party in full swing with semi-final success

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic believes victory over England tonight would spark the biggest party in the country’s short history.

Croatian players competed for Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1990 and the modern Croatian FA was not recognised by Fifa and Uefa until 1993. Five years later, the team achieved its greatest result, third at France 1998, and they are now back in the World Cup’s semi-finals and hoping for more.

Speaking on the eve of Croatia’s meeting with England, Dalic said: “We are a country where anything is possible, so there are no surprises.

“We are four million people, four million coaches and four million players. Everyone has been out on the streets celebrating what we’ve achieved and that is a great source of pride for us.

“Those emotions are what drive us, that is our petrol and how we have come back to a semi-final after 20 years.

“I don’t know what will happen if we win, probably nobody will go to work.

“We’re not working much now so you can imagine what it will be like if we win.”

Dalic, who enjoyed a solid but unspectacular career as a midfielder in Croatia, was given the national job last year after success as a coach in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Despite having talents such as Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic to call upon, Croatia’s results had not been particularly impressive for several years.

The 51-year-old Dalic made it his mission to change that and the results have been spectacular, most notably a 3-0 demolition of Argentina in the group stage, although the side has needed penalties to get past Denmark and hosts Russia in the knockout stages.

“We shouldn’t be surprised Croatia is in the last four,” said Dalic.

“This generation has been underrated because of their results but they’ve had the quality and now they are showing it.” 0 Zlatko Dalic: Has overseen turnaround in Croatia fortunes.