Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric has said his fellow national teammates lacked in self-belief in the World Cup.
Croatia were knocked out at the group stage losing to Brazil and Mexico. An emphatic 4-0 was recorded over Cameroon sandwiched between the defeats, but it was not enough to qualify for the last 16.
It is the third consecutive World Cup in which Croatia have failed to progress beyond the group stage. The last time they did, in France 1998, the finished in third place.
Going into this year’s tournament, expectations had been high and they team was confident of getting out of the group. But Modric said when it came down to it, the players didn’t believe in themselves at the crucial parts in games.
“We are disappointed, but what can we do? Of course we were expecting to go to the next round,” the former Tottenham Hostpur man said.
And he continued: “You have to have belief in yourself to go far (in the tournament), but we didn’t show that on the pitch. I think we looked good in the first game against Brazil and in the second game (against Cameroon). We had some good periods (against Mexico) but we weren’t good enough.”
