Croatia's World Cup Challenge: Facing England in Dallas

Zlatko Dalic knows exactly what awaits Croatia in Dallas: a heavyweight opening punch that could define their entire World Cup summer.

He would never say it quite this bluntly, but the subtext is clear. A gentler start would have suited a squad nursing bruises to both body and confidence. Instead, England loom first on 17 June, a statement fixture that leaves no hiding place.

“The first game can destroy everything,” Dalic admitted after a 2-1 win over Slovenia in Varazdin, Croatia’s final friendly before flying to the United States.

The line hung in the air. This is a coach who has lived both sides of tournament openers: the surge that propels a campaign, and the collapse that suffocates it.

At Euro 2024, Croatia were blown away 3-0 by Spain in their first match and never truly recovered. They stumbled, they chased, but the damage was done. Contrast that with 2018, when a controlled win over Nigeria set the tone for a run to the World Cup final, or 2022, when a cagey draw with Morocco laid the platform for another deep run, ending with third place.

This time, there is no easing in. No warm-up act. England first, in the Texan heat, with a squad that is nowhere near full throttle.

Dalic’s selection headache is real. Mateo Kovacic and Josip Gvardiol, the Manchester City pair, are both coming back from injury and short of rhythm. Luka Modric, still the heartbeat of this team at 38, is playing through a fractured cheekbone, protected by a mask and relying on experience as much as sharpness.

He still produced a moment of trademark class against Slovenia, ghosting into space and finishing with the kind of calm that has defined his career. The finish was smooth; the wider picture is anything but.

“Kovacic, Gvardiol and Modric didn’t play much for a long time and they are not in optimal form,” Dalic said. “Especially Kovacic, he hardly played this season and now we need him. It’s not easy and we need time. Gvardiol is now back but I know they are not at the optimal level. We don’t have a big roster and these are some of our most important players.”

That last line cuts to the heart of Croatia’s dilemma. They do not have the luxury of rotating stars. Their core has carried them through two World Cups, but that same core arrives in the US patched up and undercooked. There is no like-for-like replacement for Modric. There is no spare Gvardiol.

And yet, this is Croatia. Tournament football has become their natural habitat. They have made a habit of walking into storms and finding a way through.

The narrative thread with England is impossible to ignore. Dalic was on the touchline in 2018 when Croatia broke English hearts in the semi-final in Moscow, coming from behind to win in extra time. That night branded itself into English memory, but he refused to bite on any suggestion that psychological scars still linger on the other side.

Since then, England have beaten Croatia twice. The balance of recent results does not allow for complacency or nostalgia.

What Dalic did acknowledge, loudly, was the strength and preparation of the team waiting for them in Dallas. He described England as “a very strong team whose league is the best in the world and who play very offensive, very fast.” That is not flattery; it is scouting.

England have been in the United States for a week already, settling in Miami before heading to Texas, tuning their legs and lungs to the conditions. Croatia, by contrast, are still trying to tune their key players to basic match fitness.

“We will have to do something more,” Dalic concluded. It sounded less like a cliché and more like a warning to his own dressing room.

The equation is brutal and simple. Beat England and Croatia’s campaign explodes into life, the doubts over fitness and form pushed to the margins by adrenaline and belief. Lose heavily, as they did against Spain last summer, and the entire tournament tilts off axis before it has truly begun.

Dalic cannot change the schedule. He cannot conjure a deeper squad. What he can do is lean, once more, on a group that has made a habit of defying logic when the stakes are highest.

In Dallas, against an England side brimming with pace and confidence, we will find out if this golden Croatian generation has one more major punch left in it.