Dalic warns: Croatia have no room for error after England defeat

Zlatko Dalic is clear: Croatia have no room for further mistakes at the FIFA World Cup after their 4-2 defeat against England in Dallas.

The pace of the match started well, with Croatia pulling back twice after Harry Kane's tries — leveling in the first half through Martin Baturina (powerful finish) and Petar Musa (stoppage-time) to level the scores before half-time. But just 85 seconds into the second half Jude Bellingham restored the lead for England and the Three Lions finally put their opponents under a barrage of attacks.

According to the official record, England had 13 second-half shots, nine on target and 1.83 expected goals (xG) in that period; whereas Croatia has only submitted six attempts (three on target) and 0.33 xG.

"It's not easy to lose a game. You lose self-confidence and that's not good," said Dalic. "We have to prepare well for the next two games in the first period. It is very important that we are at the right level after this defeat. We have no right to make one more mistake. I will not say it was a bad game. We made some mistakes and the opponent punished us. We have two more games in front of us, a new start."

England's first two goals came from set-pieces: Kane's first goal was a taken penalty after Luka Modric fouled Noni Madueke from a corner; after that, Kane settled on a header from Declan Rice's dead-ball delivery to make it 2-1. Dalic identified the set-piece defense as a big problem: "It's disastrous, especially against a team like England. About 40% of their goals come from set pieces. We have to correct this and avoid the same mistake in the future."

Statistics and simulations from Opta have given England a 91% chance of winning Group L, which they can secure with a game to go if they beat Ghana and Croatia fail to beat Panama. On the other hand, Croatia has only a 3% chance of finishing the group as top, 50% for second and 32% for third.

The report also noted that it was England's first World Cup win against a team inside the Top 15 of the FIFA World Rankings (Croatia in 11th) since they beat Argentina in 2002 — it snapped their nine-game winless run (D2 L7) and six defeats against such level of opposition in the finals.

Thomas Tuchel also commented on his message at halftime: "I want them to do it our way — be brave, have intensity and be on the front foot. I advised them briefly and calmly. That was the main message: encourage them and show that we trust. This is a big opponent and top-10 in the world. We want to give proof and it was emotional."

Now, Croatia is under pressure as it prepares for next matches against Panama and Ghana — two more chances for the team to regain confidence and possibly advance from the group.

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