The Checkered Ones aim to eliminate another South American giant after beating Brazil.
Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic plans to avoid “player-on-player” pressing on Lionel Messi when his side meet Argentina on Tuesday.
Croatia managed to beat Brazil against all odds to reach the World Cup semi-finals again. Despite Neymar’s goal in the extra time, Dalic’s men successfully controlled the PSG star for most of the game.
The Croatian boss insists his side won’t have a problem if they hold on to their defensive “discipline”.
“We need to guard against Messi, but not in a player-on-player style, as we didn’t [do that] in our last meeting,” he said.
“We know how much he runs, how much he likes to play with the ball at his feet and the key to our defensive phase will be discipline.
“If we repeat the same thing as against Brazil, which is that we are close [to him], that we stand by the player, we have nothing to fear.”
He added: “Messi is still their main player, who plays great and carries this national team. They also have some young, talented players and they look very dangerous.
“However, they showed they are vulnerable because they led 2-0 against the Netherlands, and in the end they barely reached penalties at 2-2.
“It’s up to us to give our best and go into the game one hundred percent focused.”
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