Modrić: “A new tournament begins; we need to give everything and enjoy it”

These were his thoughts after the match:

“It was a pretty good performance from our side. We achieved our objective of getting through the group stage, and we're happy about that.”

On the team's improvement...

“We entered the tournament feeling somewhat tense, which I mentioned after the Panama match. That happened because of the high expectations we sometimes unnecessarily place on ourselves. The environment around us and the fans also place expectations on us, but there's no need for that—we just need to enjoy ourselves.

I said and believed that we would get better as the tournament progressed. The win against Panama, which we had to grind out, gave us confidence, and that was visible against Ghana. This success will help us again in that regard. I'm certain we can play even better. We just need to relax, enjoy ourselves, and show what we're capable of.”

On the knockout stage...

“We're happy because we've achieved our first goal, which was the minimum objective—getting through the group stage. Anything less would have been a disappointment.

Now a new tournament begins, the part that everyone loves, and we'll be ready. We just need to give everything we have and enjoy it, and then we'll see what happens. We must not put any additional pressure on ourselves because of high expectations. We believe in ourselves, we know how good we are, and we just have to keep showing it. I believe these two victories will help us a lot.”

On returning to Toronto...

“Our fans were fantastic in Philadelphia, against England, and also in Toronto. There are many Croatians there, and we're looking forward to going back to Toronto.”

On Petar Sučić's compliment that he played like a 20-year-old...

“Ha, well... thank you, Petar. He played a phenomenal match himself and is proving that he's not only the future of this national team, but also its present.

Full credit to him for this performance and for everything he's shown since joining the national team. I hope he keeps it up.”

On Portugal...

“They are a phenomenal team, a great team. We'll fight and give everything we have. I didn't have any preference regarding who our opponent would be.

I'm sure they won't be particularly pleased to see us on the other side either. We have nothing to fear—we just need to give our maximum and see what happens.

Yes, we played against them in a friendly, but friendly matches are something completely different. Competitive matches, especially at a World Cup, are not a different sport, but they are entirely different in nature. Objectively, in friendlies you don't go at 200 percent, whereas here you do. We need to rest well, prepare properly, and play a great match against them.”

On set pieces...

“Set pieces are an important part of our game, and today they proved to be very important. They will certainly play a significant role going forward.

We need to analyze everything. I wouldn't go into whether defending set pieces is a problem for us right now. We move on. Of course, you're never happy to concede from a set piece, but we shouldn't get it into our heads that we have a major problem in that area. We need to stay relaxed and execute what we've agreed upon.”

On the coach's message after the match...

“He congratulated us and was happy. He told us that we need to rest and prepare for what's ahead.

We've achieved our first objective, but we want even more.”

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