Croatia's ‘golden' generation still have what it takes. Now, can they win a medal?

New York Times

21-03-2025

Medals matter, and they last, as Zlatko Dalic likes to remind everyone.
The Croatia head coach has seen his nation overperform and underwhelm across the past seven-and-a-half years. From the World Cup final in 2018, a third-place finish four years later in Qatar, and being Nations League runners-up in 2023 to a group-stage European Championship exit last summer after conceding late goals twice and dropping four points.
Advertisement
'We are always the dark horse, we are always not among the favourites, nobody believes in us, but in the past six years, we have won three medals,' he said at the Euros, as reported by The Guardian. 'Croatia deserves greater respect from everyone for what we have managed to do'.
By beating France 2-0 in Split on Thursday evening in the first leg of the Nations League quarter-final — the return match is on Sunday — they are one step closer to adding a medal of gold hue to the cabinet.
Much like France head coach Didier Deschamps (in charge since 2012), Dalic's longevity manifests sometimes as stability and, in other moments, staleness. He is the longest-serving Croatia head coach ever, with his three predecessors in post for less time combined.
This win, though, was plenty different to their 1-0 victory in Paris three years ago, which had been Croatia's first-ever win against France. Then, Luka Modric scored a penalty after five minutes and they held out to win.
This time, Andrej Kramaric had a penalty saved by Mike Maignan after eight minutes. His central effort was weak, lacking the deft of a panenka and without much height or power, and the goalkeeper saved with his legs.
One significance of beating France in 2022 was bouncing back from a 3-0 defeat to Austria (at home) three days prior and shaking the 'complex against France' that Dalic said stuck with them from World Cup 2018.
Here, they showed their capacity to bounce back from missing an early penalty. Dalic had experimented with a back five, to mixed success, in the Nations League group stages. In Split, he reverted to a 4-3-3, featuring a trademark Modric and Mateo Kovacic double pivot.
There were plenty of balls in behind a high France line, particularly from Croatia's left-side, trying to isolate No 9 Ante Budimir against a centre-back or find left-winger Kramaric in space. Dalic's side pressed high, too, and in one instance stretched out into a 4-1-2-1-2 to match France's shape at a goal kick.
Advertisement
The opener was all about Croatia's technicians. Kovacic found a shooting angle following a one-two with Budimir, then hesitated and was crowded out. France tried to counter-attack from his blocked shot, but Croatia regained possession on halfway. Modric pulled wide and with no pressure from a blue shirt, clipped into Ivan Perisic, who had drifted across from the right.
He only had one target in the box — Budimir — and France right-back Jules Kounde stood him up, so the two-footed Perisic took his best-value option. He shifted the ball to his left foot and curled a cross for Budimir's near-post run. Everything clicked and he headed past Maignan.
No 9 is an area where Croatia have struggled under Dalic. This was only Budimir's fourth goal on his 29th appearance and his first since June 2024, before the Euros. Much is made of Modric pulling the strings in midfield still at 39, though the only under 30 in Croatia's front six was No 10 Martin Baturina (22).
The second goal again showed Perisic's quality and Croatia's direct threat. A long ball from left centre-back Duje Caleta-Car targeted advanced left-back Josko Gvardiol, the same role he plays for Manchester City. It made a two-v-one on Kounde, with left-winger Kramaric running beyond the full-back.
Gvardiol underlapped and Kramaric passed inside to Budimir on the edge, making for a move as stylish as it was incisive. As France's midfield scrambled back, Budimir's shot was blocked by William Saliba and ricocheted kindly over to Perisic. He decelerated, let the ball drop across him and fired a flush volley past Maignan into the far corner.
Since 2021, this is only the ninth defeat for France and the fifth in which they have not scored — Croatia account for two of them. A real strength under Dalic is how narrow Croatia keep games, never big winners but rarely blown away (only three defeats by two-plus goals since Euro 2020). This was their 18th clean sheet in the past 47 games.
That they were here in the first place owed to them sneaking out of the Nations League groups by a point, ahead of Scotland. There is a fair argument that an ageing squad — the fourth-oldest in Germany last summer — is petering out in its twilight years. Croatia's current FIFA ranking, 13th, is their lowest since August 2022. The retirements of central midfielders Marcelo Brozovic (in 2024) and Ivan Rakitic (in 2020) have reduced what was a once-staggering depth of midfield talent.
Advertisement
How Dalic's side saw out the France win emphasised their street smarts, though. This is a nation, in the past seven years, who have beaten France twice, won against Argentina, taken Spain beyond 90 minutes multiple times at tournaments, knocked Brazil out of a World Cup, and repeatedly won penalty shootouts.
As France pushed for a goal, blue shirts kept finding themselves overloaded by two or even three Croatia players. That they made 13 interceptions to France's four showed front-footedness. Ousmane Dembele, playing a similar roaming role in build-up to what he has at Paris Saint-Germain, found himself always with a defender on his back.
There was a repeat situation in the 78th minute when Culeta-Car and Gvardiol embraced after they made a three-v-one (with Modric) against Dembele and pressured him into shooting wide. Croatia launched the goal kick and France went in behind them immediately, as Gvardiol overcommitted. The left-back recovered to make a tackle and hugged his team-mate again.
Modric was particularly adept with his recovery runs, often getting back to close down Real Madrid team-mate Kylian Mbappe at cutbacks. In one instance, he tracked Mbappe's run into the box when the forward played a one-two with Lucas Digne. When Mbappe went down, Modric clearly felt there was insufficient contact and screamed into the Frenchman's face.
The win only really carries significance if Croatia see the job through on Sunday, though. As Dalic says, medals matter, and Croatia can still prove this generation is truly 'golden'.