Nations League: Zlatko Dalic, the Croatian Del Bosque, whom Modric does not know | sports

Luka Modric didn’t know him. He never shook his hand, but there was no time to get acquainted either. The Real Madrid player’s assessment was “catastrophic”. In the final qualifying window for the World Cup in Russia, the Croatian national team conceded a goal in the last minute of a duel against Finland, in which nothing was at stake. It was Luka Modric’s 100th match with the square flag. The bump led, also as a local, to…

Luka Modric didn’t know him. He never shook his hand, but there was no time to get acquainted either. The Real Madrid player’s assessment was “catastrophic”. In the final qualifying window for the World Cup in Russia, the Croatian national team conceded a goal in the last minute of a duel against Finland, in which nothing was at stake. It was Luka Modric’s 100th match with the square flag. A stumbling block, also at home, led them to victory three days later in a head-to-head duel against Ukraine in Kyiv to make the play-off and avert disaster. Since Croatia participated as an independent nation, it barely missed Euro 2000 and World Cup 2010.

And the Croatian Federation, led by Davor Suker, slipped that after that fiasco there was a “hot analysis” on the same night with coach Ante Kasic, who could not avoid the guillotine. 48 hours before the start of the journey in the most decisive match, there were no options to find a replacement, so one of the federations phoned a coach who had been out of work for nine months and whom many had lost track of even in Croatia, where he had not worked for seven years. Zlatko Dalic (Livno, Bosnia, 56) is based in Arabia, where he made his fortune in several teams. “I didn’t want to stay in my country, but Croatian coaches are not appreciated in Europe and we hardly have a market,” he explained five years ago when he began performing at the highest level. The thinking is still valid today, having finished second and third in the last two World Cups and reached the final in the League of Nations. Still invisible to many, Dalic was overshadowed by the footballers’ brilliance.

Trained in Croatia and Albania. He also had a short past with his country’s national team as an under-21 assistant manager. That relationship kept him on the Etihad’s radar, who contacted him to see if he was willing to pack his bags immediately and take on Modric, Rakitic or Mandzukic.

Dalic didn’t buy the offer until Suker got on the phone. He got on that plane to Kiev, trained, collected eleven, celebrated the winning goal with two goals from Kramaric and set to work a month and a half to prepare for the play-off against Greece. Along the way, no one bothered to conclude a contract. “I didn’t need a salary either, just to get into the World Cup.” When he achieved that, with a soft win over Helens, he signed a deal until the end of the tournament in which Croatia surprised the runners-up after winning three ties in extra time. Less than a year after what Modric described as a disaster, they were greeted with cheers in Zagreb.

Shortly before that tournament began, the heavyweights in the locker room thwarted a trick to eliminate him. Indeed, the Croatian coach had already established channels of communication with them, for example with Modric, whom he described this week as a “perfectionist in football”. “I can only pray that this lasts as long as possible,” he says. no sooner said than done. This week, before traveling to Rotterdam, Dalic, Modric, Kovacic, Petkovic and several members of the technical team made a pilgrimage to the Trsat Reserve, in Rijeka, a visit that also has a point of physical conditioning because you have to go up (and down) 561 steps to get to temple. Dalic, who was an altar boy before becoming a coach, is a firm believer: He always carries a rosary in his trouser pocket. “When I’m going through a difficult period, I hang on,” he admits.

Yugoslav by birth on Bosnian soil, Christian, defensive midfielder in a career that didn’t rest on classics like Velez Mostar or Hajduk Split and focused on humble Vartex Varazdin in harsh post-war times, Dalic is the epitome of an established silk glove figure. At the World Cup in Russia, he did not hesitate to send Nikola Kalinic home when the striker cited back pain so he did not take the field five minutes from the end of the match against Nigeria. In Croatia, they point out that he has a personality similar to that of Vicente del Bosque. “It is very easy to communicate with him, he always listens and then makes decisions. In the midst of that Russian slump, Mario Mandzukic, who is now part of his closest circle on the bench of the national team, explained.

“When I first started leading teams, I thought I could be loud, but my experience in Asia taught me that problems are best solved by talking. My formula combines knowledge and friendship,” says Dalic, who appreciates the power of the dressing room in an environment that tends to be volcanic. From these bases, Croatia has found amazing stability in the elite and Spain has challenged the first title in its history.” The chances are 50 per cent, but the work has been going on for several years and winning this final would be the perfect culmination for many of us. I will tell the boys again, as always, to go out and have fun,” he noted this Saturday in Rotterdam.

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