He got me. Zlatko Dalić got me fair and square and now I have to swallow my pride and admit that his ‘method of madness’ actually works. Or he’s just the luckiest Croatian on planet Earth and can wiggle out of any tough situation. Either way, it works.
I called for Dalić to resign immediately following EURO 2020 after he lost the locker room. But it’s obvious to me he may be one of the most resilient coaches in the world and won’t quit when the going gets tough.
Dalić’s tenure as head coach of the Croatian national football team since 2017 has been the epitome of an ’emotional rollercoaster ride’. Dalić had all-time highs as well as all-time lows. But at the end of the day, he gets the job done…every single time. Plain and simple. Football is a ‘results’ business and Dalić gets results. He gets Croatia to tournaments, and more importantly, out of group stage. Love him or hate him, Dalić’s résumé speaks for itself and he should be considered the greatest Croatian coach in history. This means he passes outspoken legend, Ćiro Blažević, in the process, who brought the Vatreni to the quarterfinals of EURO 1996 in their first tournament appearance before taking 3rd place two years later at the 1998 World Cup.
Let’s start with the obvious: Dalić got Croatia to the World Cup Final.
Not just is this Croatia’s greatest sporting achievement of all time, but it also happened months after one of our darkest periods. Former manager, Ante Čačić, left the team in shambles during World Cup 2018 qualifying. Croatia lost to Turkey and Iceland, drew Finland, and barely beat Kosovo 1-0 down the final stretch. They needed to beat Ukraine on the final day of qualifying to force a playoff, where they ultimately walked over Greece to reach the World Cup.
Right off the bat at the World Cup, Nikola Kalinić was a huge locker room distraction in Russia and Dalić had the balls to immediately excuse him from the team following a 2-0 win over Nigeria. It showed Dalić’s focus surrounding the team and how he would not allow negative energy to affect the locker room. But as we all know, more players would speak out against Dalić publicly during his reign as Croatia coach.
Dalić immediately took one on the chin following the World Cup when Spain obliterated Croatia 6-0 in Nations League, handing the Vatreni their worst loss ever. Leading up to EURO 2020 (in 2021), Croatia did not have one marquee win under their belt since the World Cup and players such as Kramarić and Rebić were publicly speaking negatively towards Dalić and his tactics. Even after two sub-par matches against England and Czech Republic at EURO 2020, Dalić and company found their fortitude in a must-win game versus Scotland to book a spot in the Round of 16 with Spain. Although Croatia did not get the job done in extra time, two goals in the last five minutes of the match against Spain to equalize and force extra time was Croatia’s greatest individual comeback of all time in soccer.
Fast forward to the end of World Cup 2022 qualifying, Dalić and company only conceded three goals in seven games and found a way to beat Russia in absolute shit conditions to punch their ticket to the World Cup. Against all odds. With fans across the world asking for Dalić’s head. With players publicly criticizing him, Dalić always rallies the troops to get the job done in the murkiest of waters.
Zlatko Dalić will now be the first coach in Croatian history to lead the national team in three straight tournaments. Zlatko Dalić will also have the opportunity to lead the Vatreni to his third straight knockout round appearance if he can get out of group stage in Qatar. (Remember, Croatia has made the knockout round in every tournament since the 2014 World Cup.)
You have to give credit where credit is due and Zlatko Dalić gets the job done; in the sloppiest and most difficult way possible.
But as we regularly say to each other, “Croatians never do it the easy way.” And that can certainly be said for Croatia manager, Zlatko Dalić.
He is a bosanski glava ..with his heart ..soccer experience.. no telling how far he can lead our boys to glory in this Mideast November worldcup 2022…Our cro bro soccer pros. are known worldwide as an ethnic underdog..that’s why we are loved ..trust me …they love us .
Has Dalic ever really been the difference? Does he have a match where his tactics or game adjustments made the difference? Spain at the Euros could’ve been it but he decides to leave Brekalo at fullback eventhough we weren’t chasing the game anymore
He doesn’t have much competition and based on our results I guess so
He certainly was the difference sending Kalinic home. That changed the WC completely. He’s also infused the team with youth, something not seen in a long time. Maybe it was done awkwardly at times, but he did it.
We have to congratulate Dalic for getting us to the WC. Is he our best coach of all time ? based on the results you could say YES, however some of our worst defeats and performances have come with him being in charge.
His first mistake after the 2018 WC, was the fact that he was to slow in blooding younger players e.g. he kept on calling Badelj yet he seldom ever used him.
Secondly he and the players did not take the UEFA Nations League seriously enough and this will cost us in the coming years for seedings at next years WC and future draws for EUROS and World Cups.
His tactics at the EURO were poor especially using unfit and out of form Rebic.
Rebic was always Dalic’s golden child, his favorite, yet the same player after EURO called him a shit coach on social media.
What do I expect next year ? we’ll probably struggle again in the UEFA Nations League which will be played a few months prior to WC. We need to take these games seriously and try to win a few matches against the top countries. Our confidence needs to be up going into the World Cup.
In Qatar 2022 with a bit of luck and a good draw we should make it out of the group. If we can do that anything is possible in the knockout stages.
Should’ve read your post first. Well said
Come on, even the people on here didn’t take Nations League seriously.
Nice Forbes article on Ivan Jurić.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamdigby/2021/11/02/transforming-torino-ivan-juri-is-inspiring-a-revival-and-upsetting-a-few-people-along-the-way/?sh=41ace08129dc
Nice article
Let’s hope he keeps trucking along and can bring some of our boys there to develop
Heck why not like an orsic. They are cheap it sounds but why not
No way on Dalic- he was lucky enough to coach Croatia at the same time he had the greatest Croatian player of all time- who because of his maturity is really the player coach- if you asked the players who would you take instruction from- Dalic or Modric? I’d say overwhelmingly- it would be Modric- all Dalic did was cry for joy or relief – just a figurehead- a tier 3 coach at best- not the first time a senior player is more important than the coach- Brady in football would be in the same class of player leader
Brady is greatest and smartest quorterback ever
I think the Redskins should change their name to the Mohawks, in honor of the Indian tribe who after defeating the Hurons (of whom Lake Huron is named after) scalped the Huron war prisoners alive, “baptized” their scalped heads in boiling water, then “adorned” them with fire-branded necklaces. Oh those peace loving environmentally friendly Indians who wiped out the Wooly Mammoth in North America before the white man even got here. And the symbol should be a side profile head image of John Riggins when he had a mohawk with the Jets, except with the skin color of a pure bred Indian. Just get approval from the Indian community. This way you keep the Indian theme, you honor an Indian tribe as well as a Redskin legend.
I believe the greatest Croatian coach is yet to arrive
At the end of the day it’s a results driven position
If croatia wins the world cup or comes close again does Dalic stay on?
It depends on what makes the most sense.
If he makes great coaching decisions from here onward, and almost wins another World Cup, then maybe he has a quick learning curve and he is the best man for the job.
If we make a run simply because we had Qatar as our top seed in our group and got lucky with the matchups by playing teams much weaker than us, then no, the results don’t factor in as much.
You can take these past Euros as an example. A lot of people point to the “results” from the Euros as a success, but they weren’t. Top 3 teams go on from the group, and we only played well for about 45 minutes against Scotland (and about 15-20 minutes against Spain) in the entire tournament. The format and group were more of a factor in us finishing in the Round of 16 than anything we did that was special. We under performed.
But now that Dalic seems to have learned a bit and admitted to his mistakes over these past three years, and he ends up picking the right players and strategy for this World Cup…and actually beats some good teams and goes on a run…then he increases his odd for a new contract.
The only other major factor is that many of our veterans might retire after next year (like Modric)…and does it make sense to keep Dalic on if he doesn’t have the veterans that he’s used to having?
Is he the right man to continue coaching the Gvardiols and the Sosas of this team?
He was slow to bring these guys on, and continues to be slow in trusting a more talented (but younger) guy like Caleta-Car over Lovren.
If we are transitioning to the new…is he going to continue to hold onto a declining veteran over a more talented youngster?
This is why I think Igor Biscan will become coach.
Our U21 results are very good right now, and our Senior National Team is starting to get filled up with players that Biscan had previously coached.
Personally, I know very little of Biscan as a coach, and the Senior National Team a whole different beast than the U21s.
But I have a feeling that our U21 team is going to win 9 games out of 10 in their Euro2023 qualification campaign, and the HNS will use it as the reason to hire him (before we get to see the Euro2023 results).
Not that I am against this, but I am not a fan of going with inexperienced coaches that got the job simply because they did well with the U21s. Afraid of hiring a Bilic or Kovac, when we may have better options.
Lets not forget that qualifying for major tournaments has been much less difficult than in years previous to Dalic’s reign.
We won our group for the last two tourneys. It wasn’t “easier” for us in any way. Maybe for the garbage teams who got in because it was expanded, but we still did what we had to do.
And because we won first, we avoided the playoffs this time which are “harder” than ever given the format.
Credit where credit is due, Dalic got us in.
Count me in as a Dalic fan.
He came in and salvaged WC 2018 qualifying getting the huge away win Kiev….then we slaughtered the Greeks in the playoff and then the magical run in Russia happened.
He also got us first in our group for qualification for Euro and now this WC. That’s 3 for 3 and we are looking good.
He introduced some youngsters like Gvardiol, Car, Sosa, locked up Sucic for us, and brought in Stanisic, etc. He also booted out the trouble makers like Rebic and Sime. And he also booted Brekalo and Petkovic and they learned a lesson and I don’t think we will have any more issues with those two.
He also had the balls to go with Grbic as Livakovic was a disaster waiting to happen.
Big props to Dalic. Lets kick some a.ss in the desert.
Very good points, I agree. Going with Grbic is an understated move.
Sime? Vrsaljko? I’m out of the loop, what was the issue with him being a trouble maker?
Dream 2022 WC Roster
Goalkeepers
Grbic
Ivusic
Defenders
Stanisic
DCC
Pongracic
Jurnaovic
Gvardoil
Sosa
Barisic
Bradaric
Midfielders
Modric
Kovacic
Sucic
Brozovic
Pasalic
Jakic
Majer
Basic
Forwards
Perisic
Budimir
Kramaric
Orsic
Simic
Brekalo
In the end all that matters is results.We have all questioned his allegiance to certain players..lovren vida livakovic.
His tactical decisions…his line ups.
The best coach hardly, but no doubt the best person at assuaging egos and typically stubborn Croats.
Like Luka he will never get the credit he deserves and let’s face it when he was appointed we all were horrified,and disgusted at them appointing the “TV repair man!”
He’s proven each and every one is wrong!
Kvartuc, you said Dalic was on his way out…and you said you know this from a good source. He probably was but something to keep in mind is this…unless a source is directly related, its called hearsay. Based on the information we saw yesterday, the HNS had Dalic’s back and he was not on his way out, he simply asked Modric if he still supports him and thankfully Modric told him “he needs to change” a few things and Dalic did.
My beef with Dalic has always been complicated. He’s totally old school in his thinking. Dalic believe’s in offering many nostalgic and symbolic situations to several of his players in the hope’s that they’d “APPRECIATE” his gesture. The sad thing is, it back-fired on him (Vrsaljko, Rebic, Brekalo) and even people like me, that understand the way he thinks, I became disgruntled with his patience and belief in some players when in fact, they just didn’t deserve it. Other than that, Zlatko Dalic is the type of man all our mothers want our sisters to marry. He’s extremely kind, he’s thoughtful and respectful. Dalic has charisma and the issue I see with this is the younger generation do not understand just how good a man he is!
Based on the results after these Euro’s, I see a man I appreciate even more. Aside from his character (which I think is world class), he’s taken the steps to make changes and I do think he’s learned a BIG lesson from almost losing the respect of those he holds in high regard and now he’s created an environment where everyone wants to be a part of that team! FAMILY!!
I’m glad we didn’t get rid of him. His biggest mistakes were that he’s too loyal and yes, that did hurt the team….but I’m 100% sure he wasn’t malicious and thats what really matters here.
Dalic has my support! He may do things I don’t agree with but overall, he’s definitely demonstrated he can adapt and make personal changes…and this is good for us and him!
Slavonac,
If I was given a dollar every time I had to ask you, “What are you talking about???” I could have built a national stadium in Croatia years ago all by myself.
I think it is safe to say we both read the same Sportske Novosti article yesterday where Dalic uncovered all his ‘dirty laundry’ from EURO 2020. (That will be part 2 by the way.)
In that article, which we both read, Modric, Kova, and another unnamed player met with Dalic following the EURO exit. Dalic basically had one foot out the door and the HNS was ready to appoint Prosinecki head coach.
So once again, what are you talking about???
I share because I care. But that doesn’t mean the information I get doesn’t come without rules. And those rules are to “shut the hell up” and not disclose sources. Trust me, my sources are GOLD. Croatian media just late to the party on this one.
In my post-Euro article, I told you all that Dalic had lost the locker room and Brozovic, Rebic, Kramaric were all at the middle of it.
In yesterday’s SN article, Dalic publicly said he lost the locker room and Kramaric, Rebic were at the middle of it and that the HNS nearly let him go following EURO.
Thank you for your time. Stay warm, Canada!
ok…I might have misunderstood you said “Dalic was gonna get fired” but in the SN article it says “he was gonna leave if he lost the support of Modric and company”…two very different situations.
I’m pretty sure the HNS were in support of getting him out if they had Prosinecki lined up next. They gave him an ultimatum and he delivered.
Good comment. Dalic seems to have the “old school loyalty” that just wasn’t appreciated by some. However, I do think a meritocracy is better. If you deserve to play, then you play. Hopefully, it’s a step in the right direction.
Like him or not it’s what we have for the next year or so
Hopefully he can get some tactics right, has learned from some mistakes and the players all gel and are healthy
All we need is to be super hot for a month
It’s not like it hasn’t happened before
We are missing a couple pieces but we also gained some good pieces
I feel the back 4 could be more solid
The midfield should be about the same if luka can give us another run of vintage luka
Wingers we will see what happens on the right side but I feel someone will come up and make a move
Is it suicide to put perisic on the rw? With the amount of left wingers
Even potentially rebic and pjaca, orsic possibly playing the left
Striker remains to be seen
Hopefully a keeper really steps up over this time
Nah Dalic has a proven track record of shit _OI+
thanks to our best players _ even with the worse line up | we still can make it
ALL of YOU excited about the upcoming’world cup
but we know | DAlic is still there – to ruin it (:I
Dude you write like a 10 year old girl
Is that just the way you write or is there something wrong with your keyboard?
Jure and Markus LAKNAT is pure genius you don’t see it …he combines Latin with eubonic Cyrillic ghetto speak sprinkled in with Roman numerals it’s all the rage for communicating with the Mensa crowd.
He’s decades ahead of us.
We have a LOT of depth and regularly produce one of the best midfields in the World.
Going on a run to the Finals was a long time coming. We could have made this type of a run any time during the ’96, ’98, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2016 tournaments.
A bit of luck, a good call here and there…and you’re team is off.
It finally happened for us in 2018, when Dalic was coach.
We can debate forever as to how much impact he made in that run…but it’s obvious that (in terms of talent) we had arguably the best midfield in that tournament, a very in-form set of forwards, and our backline happened to be in the best form of their careers (despite being an average group).
We need to stop selling ourselves short and begin to treat “getting the job done” as not just qualifying and possibly making the knockout rounds, but actually playing well and doing something at these tournaments.
We qualified for the Euros, but we were not competitive against England and Spain. Our play during the majority of those two games were a bit embarrassing to be honest. We are a much more talented team than Czech and Scotland, and struggled for most of the game against both teams (and did well in one half).
I do not consider that a good showing (and neither did the players) and making the Round of 16 in a 24-team tournament is not a serious achievement for the level of talent we had at our disposal. It was harder to miss the knockout rounds at these Euros than to make them.
I don’t consider Dalic a bad coach, but I think he is pretty average.
His weaknesses have frustrated me because we wasted a Euro tournament because of it, and are now in a lower seeded position for this World Cup and Euro2024 qualifiers moving forward (making the job harder for the next coach).
Let’s face it…he was (justifiably) almost fired, but his large contract is the main reason why he was given a longer leash.
It gave him enough time to calm things down with his players, and they eventually had to accept him and move forward toward World Cup 2022. Dalic was very fortunate because of this, and was given the chance to go through a pretty notable learning curve these past three years (that most coaches do not get at this level).
I expect us to do well at the World Cup, but it will largely be due to the players. I think Dalic for sure is gone after this World Cup. Hopefully we can get someone better than him, though we may end up with a similar type of coach (i.e. Bilic).
“Let’s face it…he was (justifiably) almost fired, but his large contract is the main reason why he was given a longer leash.” –
Actually, no he wasn’t almost fired. He was going to leave if he saw that Modric and a few others didn’t believe in him. You should stop making things up buddy, not sure why you’d say this?!
A lot of your comments are spot on but many are very wrong…they’re based on how YOU think…and your experiences in life make you think that way. You should go to Croatia and work through the soccer ranks, you might change your opinion or perspective on things.
But he was almost fired, it’s a fact. After the Euros he was on the verge of being out and he needed 6-7 points against Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia to keep his job. SN reported that that was his ultimatum.
Markus…maybe I need to RE-READ the article because in the article they said the savez backed Dalic entirely. On the other hand, Dalic was gonna leave if he lost the respect of Modric and company… thats totally different than being fired!
didn’t have anything to do with the next set of games…what are you talking about man?!
I am a homebuilder. A client will pay me to build a house that needs to be finished in 6 months. It takes me 9 months an I am over budget. I delivered, but did I do a good job? I can guarantee you that my client doesn’t think so and will not be hiring me ever again. No pats on the back for me.
Thumbs up emoji
Great article, Ante.
This is so true. I’ve been a huge Dalić criticizer over the past year, but he’s got the job done. The team looks motivated, in sync and Dalić has earned the right to lead us to Qatar. If Modric is behind him for his final tournament in checkers, I’m behind him too.
“AC Milan have been without their big-game man Ante Rebic over the past few games but will soon be able to count on him again, a report claims.”
If Dalic can bring back an in form Rebić then he will be the majstor.
There is simply no one like Rebić in our pool of players.
I will follow Milan like a hawk these season.
Perišić and Modrić and maybe even Brozovic should not be called up till August ‘22.
Let see who can fight it out for the LW.
Perišić needs to be rested heading into the World Cup.
Rebić is in his prime. He still has his explosive speed and has fined tuned his craft. His game is not silky smooth but we have enough technicians.
He is in your face power and presence.
He reminds me of Kovačić in the sense that he has someone world class in his position.
Depends how we want to play and who we play.
I would prefer that we have him on the team, because when used correctly, he could be very useful.
Based off the last Euros, it seems like Dalic does not know how to use him.
It might be better for us if Rebic is not available to Dalic, to avoid another Spain Euro2020 game.