Dalić: After the third goal it was hard to get back into the match

Zlatko Dalić reflected on Croatia's 2-4 defeat to England in their 2026 World Cup opener.

"We lost because we played a very poor second half right from the start. In the first half we had two chances and scored two goals. We knew set pieces would be difficult for us, and their first goal came from a penalty. We were holding on, but unfortunately we didn't do some things as we should have. The second half started, a long ball went through us, we conceded a third goal and it was hard to get back into the match.

I can't analyse it all right now, I haven't seen much of it back — there was a through ball, we reacted poorly, we didn't close down, we didn't make a good rotation in the back line," said Dalić.

World Cup

2026

• #
  Team
  P
  Pts
• #
  Team
  P
  Pts
• 1

  

  England

  1

  3
  1

  

  England

  1

  3
• 2

  

  Ghana

  1

  3
  2

  

  Ghana

  1

  3
• 3

  

  Panama

  1

  0
  3

  

  Panama

  1

  0
• 4

  

  Croatia

  1

  0
  4

  

  Croatia

  1

  0

Play-offs

Possible play-offs