The coach of Croatia, Zlatko Dalic, has accepted the difficulties of facing Brazil in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. The Croatian technician has accepted the fact that the Brazilians are the favorite team, but has kept his team's morale high, saying that Croatia has a real chance to qualify. In an interview with the media, Dalic said:
"Brazil is the favorite, let's admit it. Brazil is the most powerful national team, and the best representative in this world cup. From what I have seen so far, when you look at their selection of players, their quality, their skills and their value, then they are really scary. I think we have a pretty good test ahead of us, a difficult task in front of a team that plays beautiful football with so many quality and fast players."
Dalic added:
"I think we don't have to be afraid of anything. We have to go out there with a lot of confidence, take our chances and enjoy the fact that we are facing Brazil, that's all... They are a fantastic team but I believe we can challenge them... The game is not 50-50 but we are not disadvantaged.”
If Croatia manages to eliminate Brazil, it will face the winner of the Argentina-Netherlands challenge in the final.
Meanwhile, in other matches, Portugal managed to qualify for the quarter-finals after a deep 6-1 win against Switzerland. The Portuguese never questioned qualification and were superior throughout the challenge. The goals were scored by Gonçalo Ramos (triple), Pepe, Guerreiro and Rafael Leão. The consolation goal for Switzerland was scored by Akanji in the 58th minute.
At the same time, Morocco produced one of the biggest surprises of this World Cup, eliminating Spain after penalty kicks. Regular time ended 0-0 as Luis Enrique's men failed to produce clear scoring chances. From the penalty spot everything went wrong for Spain, who missed the first 3 penalties, thus gifting Markout qualification.
