The Croatia national football team is back this month! Coach Zlatko Dalić has published a list of players he is counting on for friendly matches against Slovenia and Bulgaria in Doha, reports Gol.hr.
Croatia will first play against Slovenia on March 26 at 3 pm, while they will play against Bulgaria on March 29 at 4 pm.
“We want to play good games, we are going to win, but it will be a little more relaxed. We want to make the most of those eight days.”
“We will try to play in Doha with three players in the back. That does not mean we will change the system in general. We will try to change our way of playing because after a long time we finally have enough training to try. Some of our players play like that in clubs and we will try to see what it looks like in the national team,” announced Dalić.
“4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 were both good at some points, but now we’re going to train with three.”
Croatia does not go to Qatar without problems.
“We have some problems. Lovren is not in training, I don’t know how ready he will be, but he is going to Doha. Majer and Perišić skipped this week, Vrsaljko got hit in the hip. Quite painful, but it won’t be dangerous and he will be good in a few days. They stayed in rhythm.”
Dominik Livaković is the chosen goalkeeper.
“Grbić has not defended in the last games. If his status does not change, we will not count on him. He has to defend to be on the national team.”
Šime Vrsaljko returns to the national team.
“He is playing again, he has a continuity of games and he is healthy. Now he is playing the way he should for the national team. I need him like this. I want more from him. We had a conversation, no big problems. I hope it gets even better. The conversation remains between us. He plays well; that’s what I need.”
Dalić wanted stronger friendly matches.
“I wanted one stronger, one slightly weaker game, and it failed because of the organizations. Slovenia and Bulgaria are not top-level, but the matches carry some uncertainty. We need games because of the second strongest group for the World Cup. We can try some things and collect some more points if we need them for the second strong group, although I think it’s over.”
Croatia’s player list for Slovenia and Bulgaria
Goalkeepers: Livaković, Ivušić, Grbić
Defenders: Vida, Lovren, Vrsaljko, Barišić, Čaleta-Car, Juranović, Gvardiol, Sosa, Pongračić
Midfielders: Modrić, Kovačić, Brozović, Pašalić, Vlašić, Majer, Jakić
Attackers: Perišić, Kramarić, Brekalo, Oršić, Livaja, Budimir
Callups: L. Kalinić, Škorić, Čolak, Moro
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