Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has defended the ageing nature of his squad and pointed out these players have been more successful than England in recent years.
The two teams meet again on Wednesday night as they finally get their World Cup campaigns underway in Dallas.
There have been some huge matches between the nations over the years, most recently at the European Championship in 2021, which England won 1-0.
However, Croatia won the biggest game the teams have played, edging the 2018 World Cup semi-final 2-1 in Russia, with Dalic at the helm .
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They also dealt crushing blows to the Three Lions by beating them twice in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign as England failed to make it to the tournament.
Thomas Tuchel’s side is favourite to win in Dallas on Wednesday, but England will be very wary of a team that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2022 and final eight years ago.
Some of the Croatian players will be very familiar to England fans, with a handful of them having been around for a long time.
Luka Modric is still going strong at 40 years old, while the likes of Ivan Perisic (37), Andrej Kramaric (34) and Mateo Kovacic (32) are all likely to feature this summer.
Dalic is well aware of the criticism that he has an ageing side, saying he has been hearing it for years already.
He points out that other countries are not met with the same criticism, but have not done as well as his nation has over the last three decades, with a final (2018) and two third place finishes (1998 and 2022) at the World Cup.
‘They’ve been writing that since 2018,’ Dalic told Croatian outlet RTL earlier this month. ‘We may be older and more worn out since then, but together with the French and Germans, we are the team with the most medals in the 21st century.
‘Look at England, which is neither old nor worn out, and hasn’t won a medal in 60 years.
‘Croatia has three medals in 30 years. We’ve been at the top level for eight years.
‘It’s harder to maintain excellence than to achieve it, and Croatia is doing it very successfully. We’re still at the top of world football. Worn out and old, but we’re pushing.’
Dalic has also had great praise for the England side, especially captain Harry Kane, who he certainly has concerns about.
‘They have the best striker in the world, they have Kane and Kane can do a hell of a lot,’ said Dalic. ‘We will do a lot, we will do our best not only to defend ourselves but to attack, to go forward.
‘There will be set pieces, which will be quite difficult but we are prepared for that. I expect a great game and it will be a great preparation for the next two games in the group.’