Zlatko Dalic bemoaned Croatia’s failure to get to grips with England’s set-pieces after some “disastrous” defending in Wednesday’s 4-2 World Cup defeat.
Group L began with a bang in Texas as Martin Baturina brilliantly cancelled out Harry Kane’s retaken spot-kick after Luka Modric had brought down Noni Madueke when defending an early set-piece.
Petar Musa scored an equaliser of his own after Croatia inexplicably left England’s captain free to head home a Declan Rice corner, before Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford secured a 4-2 victory in a vastly improved second half from England.
Dalic cut a frustrated figure after Wednesday’s Group L curtain raiser, with the head coach unhappy with his players’ inability to deal with the opposition’s set-piece prowess.
“Allow me first to congratulate England on the win,” the Croatia boss said. “It was quite a strange game, quite a difficult game, as we expected it to be.
“In the first half, we played quite well. We really did good saves and we actually kept to everything we agreed on, but unfortunately we knew that the set-pieces were the greatest danger, and we conceded two goals after a corner.”
Dalic felt Croatia “made a lot of mistakes” and wants major improvements against Panama.
“Until now we were quite good in the set-pieces,” he said. “We did not concede goals that easily and we practised for this opponent.
“We knew England’s way of play, we knew that they’re making a block and we failed to do what we practised.
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“After the first corner, we concede a goal. After the second set-piece, a player just jumps in and scores again, so it was disastrous for us, specifically when it comes to a team such as England.
“They are strongest when it comes to goals from set-pieces. About 40% of their goals are from set-pieces. We analysed that game, we knew that.
“We must be much, much better than we were today in our performance.”
