Zlatko Dalic: Croatia Must Stop Living off France 1998

[Dave]

Zlatko Dalic has told his “great generation” of Croatia players it’s time to stop living off former glory and prove themselves at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.

Croatia beat Germany 3-0 in the quarter-finals and the Netherlands 1-0 in the third-place playoff at France 1998, but suffered group-stage elimination at Korea/Japan 2002, Germany 2006 and Brazil 2014 and failed to qualify for South Africa 2010.

“I have to say what is good and what is not,” Dalic told Dnevnik Nova TV. “Croatia haven’t done well in a World Cup since France 1998, and going on our quality, we should have.

“We have a brilliant generation of players who, like me, have to know that we can’t live on past glory. Ahead of us is the World Cup, and we have to be at our best there.”