Heading into the World Cup, it looked like Group 'F' would be a straight shootout between Belgium and Croatia. The two European nations have a strong recent record in major tournaments, something that could not really be said about the other side in Canada and Morocco.
However, things look less certain after the first round of games.
Croatia would only manage a draw against Morocco, and while Belgium would get the win against Canada, the North American team actually performed better than them on the day. As a result, the outcome of this group now looks far from certain.
We will have a clearer idea as to how it will play out after tomorrow's game, with Canada coming up against Croatia in a fixture that both sides will be aiming to win. Remarkably, there already appears to be some bad blood between the sides.
It stems from comments Canada manager John Herdman made after their game against Belgium where, in an effort to avoid swearing on television, he said his side were going to 'f Croatia' in the next fixture.
“F Croatia”
John Herdman on what he told his players after Canada’s 1-0 loss to Belgium. pic.twitter.com/1HsVdEzz7Z— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 24, 2022
Those comments have not gone down well in the opposition camp.
Croatia not happy with comments from Canada manager
During the press conference ahead of tomorrow's game, Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was asked about those comments.
He suggested that they were very disrespectful to his team.
The Croatia team deserves respect from everyone. We have proven that by the way we have played and our conduct during the World Cup.
We are the runners-up, second in the world. We respect everyone equally so we expect our opposing teams to respect us. This way of putting words together is not a sign of respect.
Fair comment.
Spurs player Ivan Perisic was appearing alongside his manager at the media event, hinting that the words from the Canada camp had given some extra motivation to the players.
I second the head coach and I cannot wait for the match to begin.
As for Herdman, he has attempted to play down the comments.
He has admitted that what he said could be seen as disrespectful, although he insists they were an attempt to fire up his own team as they go on the hunt for a big result.
I told them they belong here. And we're going to go and eff Croatia. That's as simple as it gets...
You say those things in an impassioned moment trying to inspire your team in a huddle, and when you're asked the question what you said in that huddle, yeah, it was what I said,' Herdman explained the following day.
It's not massively respectful to Croatian people and the Croatian national team. I understand very well where they're at on the world stage. But in that moment, you've taken your men to that next place.
It will be interesting to see how all of this affects tomorrow's game.
You'd imagine the Croatians might have some cheeky comments of their own should they emerge victorious.
