Carlos Queiroz says Ghana are on full alert for a wounded Croatia and called their 4-2 loss to England too heavy, telling his players they must be more strong and better to win Saturday’s Group L finale and reach the Round of 32.
Speaking ahead of the 5 p.m. kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field, Queiroz praised Croatia’s quality despite their loss to England and singled out Luka Modric as “one of the most brilliant players in football history in the last few years.”
“We know that they have a good team, they play good football against England,” he said. “I think after I saw the game several times, they even deserve a better result. I think the result four-two was too heavy for Croatia.”
“That’s why we are full alert. We know that that result doesn’t really show the capabilities of Croatia and they prove it against Panama.”
“So that’s why tomorrow we only have one option. We have to come out more strong and better. That’s the only option that we have. More strong and better. Every day, every match we have to grow up.”
Queiroz described the game as “another battle” and “the third part of one game” after Ghana’s 2-1 win over Panama and 0-0 draw with England.
“Playing against a great team, which is Croatia, with a lot of wonderful players, experienced players,” he said. “For sure it will be tough, intensive for both sides. But at the end of the day, I do believe it will be a lot of fun and entertainment for everybody.”
He dismissed any talk of playing for a draw with Ghana joint top of Group L on four points. “I only have one way to play the game. It is play for win and that is what we going to do tomorrow,” Queiroz said.
“Express ourselves and have the freedom to enjoy and play good football and during 90 minutes with the same concentration and same resilience. The only thing that I ask them is never lose one second in the mind that wish to go there and build up the result to win the game.”
“All our training session have been to create opportunities to score, keep the ball and win. And tomorrow we hope that we can express ourselves better, more consistent this kind of football and at the end, get the result to make people happy.”
“The game of football is so difficult. You cannot play two or three games at the same time. We just focus on one game, which is Croatia, and get results,” he said.
“Play good football. With good football, be better than them on the pitch. That’s what we’re going to try to do. Fight more, be better. Because we know if we’re able to do that, we have more chances to get the result.”
“Croatia deserves our respect, full respect… We have to play the best we can, fight as much as possible to get the best result. And the best result is to be number one.”
