FIFA World Cup 2022: Never underestimate us, says Croatia coach Dalic

Zlatko Dalic praised his sides resilience as Croatia held their nerve yet again to qualify for the quarterfinals of the World CupKeeper Dominik Livakovic was the hero with saves to deny the Japanese chip of Daizen Maeda in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of football between Croatia and Japan ended 11Croatia won two shootouts in the World Cup in Russia while seven of their last eight games in the knockout stage of major tournaments have gone into extra time reports XinhuaThis generation of players is resilient they dont give up they reflect the spirit of the Croatian people We have been through so much this is a source of pride and our way to give our people faith in a better tomorrowNever underestimate Croatia we are small but we never give up We are diligent hardworking and we fight for what we want History keeps repeating itself commented Dalic in his postgame press conference in which he was full of praise for his goalkeeperWe practiced penalties in yesterdays training and he saved a lot so I had a lot of confidence that he would show that capacity today All of our fears were resolved by Livakovic he addedAlso readFIFA World Cup 2022 Croatias Livakovic stops Japans march with superlative saves in penalty shootoutDalic admitted his side had struggled to adapt to Japans pace and aggression in the first halfIt was difficult and I want to congratulate Japan for their approach they were a very aggressive and difficult opponent We struggled against their counterattack in the second half but were able to balance it out he saidDalic looked at Croatias recent World Cup history and advised Croatia have more to giveWe have had a second and thirdplace finish 2018 and 2002 and this World Cup isnt over We have the right to hope for great results Tomorrow we will see who we play and we will keep on fighting concluded DalicLivakovic was named man of the match for his penalty saves but was modest about his heroicsThats what we do in Croatia you could see that four years ago and I am continuing the tradition of my predecessors I think its an analysis of the penalty takers you have in front of you he said adding that he would rather win in 90 minutes because penalties are riskyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever