Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic believes beating Argentina in their World Cup 2022 semi-final on Tuesday would become the nation's greatest victory ever, surpassing their win against England from 2018.
In 2018, Croatia came from a goal behind to beat England in extra-time in the semi-final of the World Cup, setting up a clash with France in the final. They lost on that occasion, making their semi-final win the best the nation has produced since it was formed in 1991.
However, speaking at a press conference ahead of tomorrow's game, Dalic believes beating Argentina would be of even greater importance.
"If we win tomorrow that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time," he explained. "It is one of the most important, most significant matches for us, after just four years to repeat the success would be such an achievement on the world stage with a new national team is fantastic and I believe it is a great success.
"We are among the four best teams in the world, that is an extraordinary success for Croatia, it is a great thing for two World Cups in a row to be in the four best national teams in football."
While Dalic recognises the significance of the occasion, he also understands the opportunity to write this Croatian side into the history books, especially considering the opposition.
"We want more, we are playing the great Argentina, a terrific team led by Lionel Messi, they are highly-motivated and under more pressure than Croatia at this moment in time.
"I am an optimist by nature, I do trust my players, they have demonstrated a high-level of quality, strength of character as we would not have made it to the semi-finals without that. We will not change the way we play.
"My pride has no limits, the sky is the limit. Everyone has a dream and my dream was to be head coach of my country but I could never have wished for this."
Croatia beat Brazil on penalties to set up this semi-final clash with Argentina. Should they win, they will face either Morocco or France - a repeat of the 2018 final - on Sunday 18 December for the showpiece event of World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
