Croatia vs England: A Defining World Cup Opener
Zlatko Dalic knows exactly what’s coming.
Croatia open their World Cup campaign against England on 17 June in Dallas, and their head coach is under no illusions: this first game could define their entire summer.
“Maybe, because the first game can destroy everything,” he admitted when asked if he would rather face England later in the group. The scars of Euro 2024 are still fresh. Croatia were swept aside 3-0 by Spain in their opener and never recovered. A campaign can unravel in 90 minutes; Dalic has lived it.
This time, the stakes feel just as sharp.
A heavyweight opener, a fragile squad
Croatia should be arriving in the US as hardened tournament specialists. Third at the 2022 World Cup, runners‑up in 2018, they have become one of international football’s most durable forces. Instead, Dalic is juggling problems.
A 2-1 win over Slovenia in Varazdin, their final friendly before flying out, brought a measure of relief but few answers. It also brought a reminder of their enduring class: Luka Modric, face masked after a fractured cheekbone, drifted into space and finished with the kind of composure that has defined his era.
Yet even Modric is short of rhythm. He is not alone.
“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 is the crux. Croatia’s golden core is still there, but the legs are heavier, the minutes fewer, the margin for error smaller. When a squad is this tight, every injury, every half-fit starter, feels magnified.
England again, but a different landscape
Dalic, of course, carries his own history into this fixture. He was the man on the touchline in Moscow when Croatia outlasted England in the 2018 semi-final, turning a nation’s dream into extra‑time heartbreak for Gareth Southgate’s side.
Any suggestion that result still haunts England, though, was brushed aside. Dalic pointed out that England have beaten Croatia twice since that night. The psychological balance has shifted; the rivalry has moved on.
What has not changed is the scale of the challenge.
“A very strong team whose league is the best in the world and who play very offensive, very fast,” Dalic said. His respect was clear, and so was the warning. “We will have to do something more.”
England have already settled into their US base, flying to Miami a week ago to acclimatise and prepare with the kind of detailed planning that now surrounds every major tournament. Croatia, by contrast, travel with questions over key players and a sense they may need to play their way into form.
There is no gentle runway here. No soft opener. No time.
The knife-edge of a first game
Dalic knows the pattern. Start well and the tournament opens up, just as it did against Nigeria in 2018 and with that controlled draw against Morocco in 2022. Start badly and the ground can fall away beneath you.
“We can’t choose anything else now,” he said. “The first game is the most important game. Against England we’ll fight, try to do our best and try to win.”
There was no bravado in the words, just a blunt acceptance of reality. Croatia will lean again on Modric’s brain, on Kovacic’s press resistance, on Gvardiol’s authority at the back, even if none of them are at full tilt. They have to. The squad simply does not allow for anything else.
So it comes down to this: a seasoned, slightly frayed tournament machine against a deep, fast, well‑rested England side on American soil, with the memory of past meetings hanging in the air but not dictating the script.
One game to set the tone. One game that, as Dalic knows too well, can make or break a summer.
