Croatia have no complaints after World Cup exit
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Coach Zlatko Dalic said Croatia will leave World Cup with no complaints and their heads held high.
DOHA (Reuters) - Croatia will leave the World Cup with no complaints and their heads held high after being beaten 3-0 by Argentina in the semi-finals, coach Zlatko Dalic said.
A Lionel Messi penalty and two goals by Julian Alvarez sent Argentina through at the expense of the 2018 runners-up and Dalic said his team had suffered a "deserved defeat".
"I congratulate Argentina on reaching the final," the 56-year-old said. "All we can do is pull ourselves together, raise our heads and go to the match for third place.
"Sometimes luck favours you, sometimes not. That s the way it is.
"We have nothing to complain about."
Croatia had the lion s share of possession but just two shots on target, neither of which unduly troubled Argentina keeper Emiliano Martinez.
Dalic was left to rue his team s lack of cutting edge.
"We had a lot of good situations, but we weren t mobile," he added. "Especially in the attacking phase, we weren t concrete. We lacked that one real attacker to break through. We didn t do it.
"We know what we are and what we re not. That s it.
"When we conceded the third goal, it was really difficult to come back. It was a deserved defeat.
"If someone had offered us this before the World Cup, we would have accepted it, this is a great success for the Croatian national team and we are proud."
