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Slaven Bilic has been in charge at Watford for a few weeks now and the positive energy that he brings to whichever team he manages is somewhat contagious. Former West Ham coach has the same feeling when talking about his country Croatia, and its chances to have a great result in Qatar at the World Cup.
Croatia is not among the favorites for the title if you ask most football pundits, even though they are the finalists from the last tournament and have transformed itself since then, especially in the last year by advancing to the Final Four of the Nations League.
Led by Real Madrid midfield maestro Luka Modric, Croatia will look to have another great tournament, and Slaven Bilic agrees.
“What can I say more about Luka Modric? He is 37 years old and has the same hunger for the game he had 20 years ago when he was a kid. He just loves playing football, it’s his passion and that’s why he is so good even now when most players are retired, or thinking about it.”
“Modric is not currently one of the best midfielders in the world, he is the best. And he belongs among the greats that ever played the game at his position, next to Zidane and others.”
Bilic likes Croatia’s chances to repeat the success from four years ago and believes that his country has evolved since then.
“If you look at Croatia’s midfield, there is Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea), and Modric. Nobody has a better midfield trio in the world, not even England.”
Marcelo Brozovic is a reason for optimism
Bilic continued to promote his country’s chances at the World Cup, just as he did when he took over the Watford coaching hot seat.
“Nobody gives us any chance ever. The media and the pundits like to talk about the big nations, but that’s ok. I wouldn’t bet against Croatia. We still have experienced players that are gotten better since the last tournament, and now have all these terrific young players who have improved the squad. Croatia has a new energy, and these guys are not afraid to take risks.”
Watford’s manager talked about something that is often not talked about enough, team chemistry.
“I’ve been with some of these guys for several years, I know Modric since he just started in Croatia’s U21 team. These guys love spending time with each other. Some teams, when the players are together for three weeks, they get sick of each other, but in Croatia, the players want to spend time together all the time, their chemistry is the best.”
Croatia’s current manager Zlatko Dalic has brought his best possible squad to the World Cup, with no injury concerns to hamper his preparations. Luka Modric is in great shape playing almost every game this season for Real Madrid. Croatia is lucky that Marcelo Brozovic recovered from his injury, he missed almost a month and a half of action for Inter Milan since the middle of September but returned a couple of weeks ago, and now he is ready for the World Cup.
Croatia will open the World Cup on November 23rd against Morocco, and then will face Canada. Their last match will be against their biggest group rival, Belgium.
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