Croatian football team coach Zlatko Dalić said today in Nojrupin that he takes responsibility for the failure at the European Championship, but that it is still too early to talk about his future on the bench of that national team.
Croatian football players played a draw (1:1) with Italy last night, so they finished the group stage of the European Championship with two points, and they only have hope for a place in the round of XNUMX.
"Nothing will shake me in life, I know my way, I work honestly and honorably. I take responsibility for this failure, I am the selector who chooses the players with my colleagues, determines the tactics, the responsibility is mine alone," Dalić said, reports the club.
"I will not look for an alibi, I did everything with my professional staff. After numerous successes, failure also arrived, as I knew how to deal with success, so I will know how to deal with failure. This is not the time to say what I will do and how I will be with the national team," Dalić added.
Dalić also referred to the trial of arbitrator Danij Mekeli.
"It's not his fault, we had everything in our hands. Against Albania, we conceded a goal in the 95th minute, against Italy in the 98th minute. Instead of six, we have two points," Dalić said.
"But he wasn't sent by chance. The culmination was those eight minutes of stoppage time. I can't escape the impression that this is so. There were six changes, so three minutes, plus VAR check, a maximum of four minutes, and he showed eight." added the coach of Croatia.
He pointed out that he is proud of the players and that the result from Germany is not the end of the world.
"I say what's in my heart, I'm sorry we didn't succeed, I'm disappointed and sad, but I'm proud of these players. This is just one result, defeat is not the end of the world... I can be proud of everything we did. Of course I'm sad, but life goes on, we won't give up," Dalić said.
Theoretically, Croatia has not been relegated yet, and Dalić pointed out that he is not losing hope, but that he is aware that the odds are slim.
"I don't lose faith or hope. You miss two penalties, you concede two goals in stoppage time. Hungary scores a goal in the hundredth minute. We didn't beat anyone and we didn't deserve to go through, but God let it happen," Dalić said.
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