I cant stress enough how frustrated I am with the way Croatia played against Morocco. I knew this could happen, our Balkan mentality of "its going to be easy" got the best of us again.
We came into the WC with a team that was better on paper than the one from 2018 but underdelivered massively.
To sum up the game:
We left our balls at home.
2018 we had 2 players that were highly aggressive and with their attitude pulled the team. Rebic and Mandzukic. They arent here this time around and it shows in the absolute lack of bravery and commitment.
No one coming for the ball out of fear of contact, no running without the ball. There were times Modric was covered by 6 players from the opposing team before you could see a Croatia player.
It was bad, it was really bad. I hoped for most of the game that Morroco would score and that would finally lift us up from lethargy as we only awake when we are in trouble. This score is the worst possible one for us as a draw doesnt activate panic mode.
When panic mode is on is when we perform the best.
This dramatically reduced my hopes for this WC. Not only is it the most terrible WC ive ever watched in my 30 years but I could see us ending on the bottom of the group. 4 times 0:0 in 8 games. In Russia there was only 1 0:0 score in the whole tournament.
I can be very pessimistic when it comes to sports but what I saw today makes me question Croatia doing the bare minimum the nation expected before the WC. Leaving the group.
Canada is next on 27.11 for us. They play Belgium today and that will very much show what theyre capable of as they are a enigma for Europeans teams.
I liked what I saw from USA in their game against Wales in the first half when they absolutely dominated. If Canada does similarly they will be tough for anyone in our group.
Im off to drown my sorrow in beer and await the decisive game on 27.11.