CROATIA COACH Zlatko Dalic bemoaned his team’s lack of a genuine goalscorer after the 2018 runners-up were beaten 3-0 by Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals on Tuesday.
Lionel Messi scored his fifth goal of the tournament from the penalty spot to put the South Americans ahead and Julian Alvarez netted once in each half.
Croatia started strongly but created few openings of note and had only two attempts on target in the entire game.
“I congratulate Argentina on the victory,” said Dalic. “We have to pull ourselves together, raise our heads. I can’t blame the boys for anything — we are going into the fight for third place.
“We don’t have much to complain about.”
Dalic said his team created “good situations” but failed to produce clear-cut chances.
“We have prepared everything but we missed a real, genuine attacker,” he said.
“We lost the match, I have nothing to complain about regarding the boys. They gave their best during this whole tournament…. It is a deserved defeat.”
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Have to hand it to the man, he has done a fantastic job with them, most managers of his caliber wouldn’t go near a team like Leicester, they usually only want clubs that can bring the very best players with alot of money in the bank and already have a team of stars. If they get champions league he is kind of manager that can attract star names for next season
I don’t think Ranieri’s stock was particularly high after being sacked from his last 3 jobs so to be honest, a mid to bottom of the table club in any league was always going to be the best he could get but credit where credit is due. I doubt Guardiola or Mourinho could have done a better job. The problems for Leicester will come next season. Will the players lose their hunger? Will they become big time charlies and demand wage increases? If they bring in better quality players, how will that effect team balance/moral, etc…
Top 4 is a near certainty hopefully at the very least top 3 so they go straight into the champions league, adding about 8 players has to be done at least with the extra games and the increased pressure on them , honestly I don’t fancy their chances of doing anything similar next season I hope they prove me wrong but they need to add to the squad
Beano, every manager with a bit of experience, comes to his interview, having been sacked from his last number of jobs, this man is just a breath of fresh air , and it’s showing in the performances, the players get it, they are enjoying themselves , and I think they will win that league, if they don’t it will not be because they freeze it will be because Spurs are coming into form.
I don’t think Leicester will win the league. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve been brilliant and deserve all the credit they get but if you read some of the media you would think they were 5 or 10 points in the lead! If City win this weekend, which I think they will, they’ll go top and I honestly believe they’ll stay there until the end of the season.
Wait for it ………Leicester next home game and all the fans holding up signs saying ……….YES WE CAN . But I really hope they win it . Ranieri is a class act .
‘Never did I blame them and say we conceded this goal because you did this and this’ Take note Gary Neville
A point at City would be a great result at this stage and I wouldn’t put it past them. De Bruyne out is a boost too. It’s that time of year now where teams like Leicester will pick up points against The Gunners so my money would be on them for a result then.
Ranieri for United