NO EXPECTATIONS, NO PROBLEM

Pressure Off Unfancied Croatia Ahead Of Their Opener Vs Morocco

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Doha: Croatia have won their last five matches and lost once in 16 months, but the 2018 runners-up, led by midfield conjuror Luka Modric, will begin their World Cup campaign against Morocco on Wednesday with little fanfare and few predicting glory.

So unfancied are Zlatko Dalic’s side, who went all the way before succumbing to France in the final four years ago, that bookmakers are offering 50-1 against them lifting the trophy this time around. That is longer odds than Denmark and in the same ball park as Serbia, which is probably how they like it.

“It is going to be hard. But also it is good that we maybe don’t have so much pressure because we did amazing things in Russia. But we still wish and we still want to achieve more,” forward Andrej Kramaric said.