Vlašić: “The Portuguese know we are dangerous”

The Torino midfielder scored the winning goal that secured Croatia’s place in the knockout stage of the competition and a return to Toronto.

“It’s much sweeter to go through to the next round with a victory. It would have been difficult—we would have been tense until the very end if we had been worried about conceding a goal. This way, the winning goal brought calmness and meant a lot to the team. We got through the group stage, which was our primary objective, and personally, I’m very happy to have scored.”

On Portugal...

“They are an excellent national team with world-class players in every area of the pitch. There’s really no need to waste words describing them. We’ll prepare well, analyze them, and see what needs to be done, but they are truly a dangerous team.”

On his early days with the national team compared to now...

“The feeling was even more special when I first started playing for the national team—those first appearances and first goals. Now I have more than sixty caps and experience from major tournaments. It’s difficult to compare that with those early matches and goals.”

On the mutual respect between the teams...

“All national teams respect us greatly, especially Portugal. The Portuguese know our quality and know that we are dangerous. Just as we say they are a strong team, they think the same about us. It will be a match decided by the smallest details.”

On being self-critical...

“Every player knows after a match how he performed, both individually and as part of the team. Because of that, there was no need to say we were excellent when we weren’t. Every player has enough experience to understand that on his own. Training sessions are where we discuss mistakes, correct them, and prepare to perform better in the next match.”

On his personal form...

“At Torino, I played every match for the full ninety minutes, except for one that I missed due to yellow-card suspension. I also haven’t missed a single training session. Physically, I’m at the highest level of my career.”

On returning to Toronto...

“It helps us a lot that we’re going back to Toronto. We’ll be playing in familiar surroundings and will feel almost as if we’re at home because of the large number of our supporters.”

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