Herdman’s inspirational words upset Croatia
Canada had just lost their first World Cup match in 36 years, outplaying Belgium for much of a 1-0 defeat, and an emotional John Herdman revealed in an on-field interview what he had just told his players during a post-game huddle.
‘‘I told them they belong here. And we’re going to go and F Croatia,’’ the coach said with a smile, using a single letter to avoid a televised profanity. ‘‘That’s as simple as it gets.’’
His words reverberated all the way to Zagreb as today’s CroatiaCanada game approached.
Croatia’s 24 Sata (24 Hours) tabloid ran a fullpage photo of a naked Herdman with Maple Leaf flags over his mouth and private parts and a headline that translated to: ‘‘You have the mouth, but do you have the [guts] as well?’’
Commenting yesterday on Herdman’s words, Croatia coach
Zlatko Dalic´ used the word ‘‘respect’’ 13 times in a 90-second span.
‘‘This way of putting words together is not a sign of respect,’’ he said through a translator. ‘‘The way we play, the way we behave and the way we respect all others are the reasons we are worthy of respect.’’
Sitting next to Dalic´, winger
Ivan Perisˇic´ said simply: ‘‘I second the head coach and I cannot wait for the match to begin.’’
Speaking before Herdman used humour attempt to defuse tensions.
‘‘When you get a text from your wife telling me you need to start working out before you get home, yeah, you think you know something’s going on,’’ Herdman said, noting the newspaper image was of a trimmer midsection than his own.
‘‘My wife’s coming after you guys,’’ he told a reporter from that Croatian paper, laughing. ‘‘She wishes she got that guy. I’ve got a bit more of a belly than that. I’ve been eating too much.’’
On Friday, Herdman
Dalic´, in an had explained what his intent was.
‘‘You say those things in an impassioned moment trying to inspire your team in a huddle, and when you’re asked the question what you said in that huddle, yeah, it was what I said,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s not massively respectful to Croatian people and the Croatian national team. I understand very well where they’re at on the world stage. But in that moment, you’ve taken your men to that next place,’’ he added.
Playing Croatia for the first time, Canada could be eliminated with another defeat.
Croatia, who lost the 2018 final to France, are the world’s 12thranked team and opened with a 0-0 draw against Morocco.