If Croatia lost against France, it would be Montenegro's rival on the way to the 2026 World Cup.
If the "fiery" win, they would be in a group with Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan. Croatian coach Zlatko Dalić has no doubt that group D is more unpleasant than L, in which Montenegro is.
"It is ungrateful to comment on such an unusual draw after which we don't know who we will really play with. Perhaps, at first glance, on paper, group D looks more uncomfortable considering the very strong Ukraine and two long trips to Iceland and Azerbaijan, but in both groups there are quality and ambitious teams that also want to qualify for the World Cup," Dalić pointed out.
The Croatian will ignore the draw in the Nations League match with France in March.
"Our full focus right now is on the matches with France in March because we want to go to the final tournament of the League of Nations again, which would be another great success. It was nice to see that at the draw they pointed out that France and Croatia are the two most successful European teams in the last two World Cups of the championship, which speaks volumes about the strength of that quarterfinal pair," believes Dalić and adds:
"We have maximum respect for the opponents in both possible groups, we know that every qualification is demanding, difficult and tense, especially now, when it will be quite short, but Croatia is in the first qualitative group for a reason. In whatever group we finish, we aim and want to be first place and direct placement at the WC, that is our biggest priority. We won silver and bronze medals at the last two world championships, we have particularly good experiences at the World Championships and we do not want to miss this in North America. which is sure to be spectacular."
Bonus video:
