By Ian Quillen
PHILADELPHIA, June 26 (Reuters) - Croatia veteran Ivan Perisic hopes their excellent record against African opposition can help them recapture their World Cup magic when they face Ghana on Saturday as they look to book their spot in the knockouts.
Croatia, 2018 runners-up and semi-finalists four years later, have three wins and a draw against African World Cup opponents since 2014, including their victory over Morocco to secure third place in Qatar.
"That's something that we commented
on," Perisic said through an interpreter on Friday.
"And we played against many teams in the past 10 years, and all of the results were positive. So I believe that this is going to be the same this time as well, and that we will be playing a very good match, just like we did against the other teams."
England and Ghana enter the final Group L matchday on four points, while Croatia have three and Panama are already eliminated.
The question is whether this remains the same potent Croatia side of the last decade. After a 4-2 loss to England, Croatia narrowly defeated Panama 1-0 with Ante Budimir’s 54th-minute goal.
Perisic is 37 and captain Luka Modric is 40 and even manager Zlatko Dalic admits the team's performances have looked unfamiliar.
“We need to raise the level of our play,” he said through an interpreter. “We're not what Croatia can be. So we haven't shown the best we can, but tomorrow is the opportunity to do so.
“We never made so many mistakes in some of the passes or when we were in the possession of the ball. This is where we had the force and we were really strong, but we seem to be losing the ball easily. We need to be quicker and we need to raise the level of concentration.”
Perisic also was unsure whether Ghana’s defensive approach - with the low block a staple of several Carlos Queiroz-managed World Cup sides - would continue.
“They are a very good team,” he said. “Very compact. Perhaps they played the low block in the past two matches. Given that, maybe they might be changing for tomorrow or something, but we have to be ready for both options.
“But yes, we’re focusing on ourselves and our game and what we need to do. And we need to be a lot better than we were in the past two matches.”
(Editing by Toby Davis)
