Nice surprise first half despite losing to Belgium (1-0), Canada has a new and difficult test against current world runners-up Croatia, this Sunday at 19:00 local time (13:00 Brasilia time), at the Khalifa stadium, in Doha, for the second round of Group F. Canada are three points behind leaders Belgium and defeat to Croatia means exit, while the Balkans – as well as Morocco – cannot be eliminated or progress in this second round.

The Canadian made a good impression on his return to the World Cup – a tournament he has not played in since 1986 – in a duel in which he lost to ‘Red Devils’ selection, but played the better (21 shots against 9) and even missed a penalty, taken by Alphonso Davies and saved by Thibaut Courtois.

“For me, the first half was a football lesson for Canadians. It was a beautiful surprise, the best expression of football I’ve ever seen in the first half,” Mexico coach Gerardo Martino said Friday. Croatia, whose runner-up finish they won four years ago in Russia, opened with a goalless draw against a toe-to-toe Moroccan side.

“It’s good that as a team we weren’t happy when we drew. We played well defensively but not attacking,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic. With this draw, Croatia ended their good streak. He won his last five matches played, four of them official, in the UEFA Nations League, where he managed to win his group and qualify for the ‘Final Four’ which will be played in June 2023.

Dalic warned about the quality of the opponents who initially favored the group: “They were an offensive side, they played with a lot of pressure, they missed a penalty and conceded a goal on the counter-attack. They showed more than in the last few games, played much better than against Morocco”.

Provocation in the press room

Off the pitch, Saturday’s official press conference was marked by controversial words from Canada coach John Herdman after the game with Belgium when he told his players “come on… be with Croatia”.

“All I’m saying is to remind people we have a tough job ahead of us. They have adopted that mentality from day one. They know we have a purpose here,” Herdman told reporters.

“The Croatian team deserves the respect of the whole world. We won through the way we played and through our behavior during the World Cup”, answered Dalic in the same room.

“We respect everyone equally. We deserve respect and Canadians should do it. These words are disrespectful. We are World Cup finalists, I don’t want to comment any further,” he added.

Controversy aside, Herdman was adamant about the importance of the game: “This is a decisive moment, it’s life or death. We’ve waited 36 years to be here and we didn’t need any more motivation. We played Croatia in the World Cup, against players like Luka Modric . What a moment!” (AFP)

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