Be proud despite defeat, Croatia coach tells players

Moscow, July 15 

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic told his players they should be proud of their sensational World Cup run and their performance in the final on Sunday despite losing 4-2. The Croatia players were given a standing ovation by their fans after taking the game to the French for the entire 90 minutes, dominating much of the match but falling to an own goal, a penalty awarded by VAR and two second-half strikes. The 51-year-old gathered his players in a circle on the pitch and told them they should in no way consider the defeat a failure. “Of course, we are downcast, but I told them ‘hold your heads up high. You have no reason to feel dissatisfied, you have given your all and you have to be proud of your performances at this tournament’,” he told a news conference.

The Croatians had come back from a goal down in their previous three games, slogged their way through six periods of extra time and two penalty shootouts to get to the final. They again came from behind on Sunday when Ivan Perisic fired home an angled shot in the first half but they were 4-1 down when Mario Mandzukic punished a mistake by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the 69th minute to make amends for his early own goal. — AFP