Four years after the Moscow disappointment, Croatia is back in contention. Zlatko Dalić’s team, national coach since 2017, returns to the World Cup after losing the final against France in the last edition of the competition — something that, however, was an extraordinary result for a country that until then had never played in the final of a major international tournament.

Croatia arrives at the World Cup in Qatar in the midst of a process of renewal and revitalization: Modric is the natural link between the past and the present but the absence of veterans like Mandžukić and Rakitic and the presence of youngsters like Gvardiol and Sučić suggest that this is a team looking for a new golden generation that will allow them to dream of great flights again.

In theory, in a Group F something difficult to foresee, Croatia will dispute with Belgium the first place in access to the round of 16. There, the objective will always be to go as far as possible and recover the status of candidate for the final decision after the discreet passage through Euro 2020, where he did not go beyond the round of 16 and fell to Spain after extra time.

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