Slaven Bilic: Argentina have their work cut out... Croatia are better in defence and midfield

I am very much looking forward to tonight’s Argentina versus Croatia game and, honestly, I don’t believe they are better than us.

Okay, they failed to make a winning start in their first match. Yes, we can talk about Iceland and how they are difficult to beat, but still you expect Argentina to beat them.

Croatia, meanwhile, overcame Nigeria quite easily. It wasn’t a great performance from us but it was a clean sheet, never in doubt and we controlled the game. When you are not happy and you have won 2-0 in the first game with all that pressure, that shows you basically how good we are. We did it without playing great.

If Argentina are perceived as better than Croatia, then that is only because they have Lionel Messi. I don’t believe that they are better than us. I do believe we are better in defence and in midfield — but then they have Messi and that means lot.

They could say the same about Croatia and Luka Modric. We do depend a lot on him, but don’t forget we had three players in the Champions League Final — Modric and Ivan Rakitic for Real Madrid, plus Dejan Lovren for Liverpool, while Argentina had none.

Of course, Argentina would have beaten Iceland had Messi not missed a penalty. He has missed a few for Argentina and he is not a great penalty taker but he is still the best player in the world for me and takes his responsibilities seriously.

No one knows better than him that he has missed a few, but he still feels that responsibility to take them. Cristiano Ronaldo has missed the odd penalty in his time but when he stepped up to take that one against Spain you knew he was going to score. The bigger the game, the less chance the goalkeeper has of saving Ronaldo’s penalties.

What I like about Messi, though, is that he is not hiding, he still accepts that responsibility. This game tonight will be totally different for both teams from their first ones. Iceland love to defend. They do it in every game, no matter who they play.

Croatia cannot and won’t play like that, so Argentina will find more space than they did against Iceland.

At the same time we’re going to hurt them more than Iceland, that’s for sure.

It was strange for me to learn that Nikola Kalinic had apparently refused to come off the bench against Nigeria and has gone home. In my experience he is not a trouble maker. I don’t know what really happened, I have only read that he refused to come on in a couple of games. If that is so, then he has made a big mistake and left the coach, Zlatko Dalic, with no alternative but to throw him out.

As a coach, Dalic is an interesting character. He did it the hard way, leaving Croatia for Saudi Arabia and then the United Arab Emirates, where he managed Al-Ain and was very successful. Then, in October 2017, Ante Cacic was sacked and it was quite a surprise when Dalic took over. He then took the team to the Ukraine, where we needed a win and got it, followed by the play-offs victory over Greece, so he has done a really top job in a short space of time.

England showed the perfect way to win

England left it late to win against Tunisia, but maybe it’s better they won it in the final seconds rather than being 2-0 up after 15 minutes, then conceding a goal in the 75th because you would not be as happy at the end.

It’s a good scenario for England because to win like that will give you confidence. If, as they progress in the tournament, it is 1-1 with 15 minutes to go, they should not panic because they have won it at the end before.

It’s a massive difference between drawing that first game and winning. Did they play great? No, they didn’t. They started really well but they were a bit sloppy at the back at times. I would be happy with the result and okay with the performance.

From my point of view, Tunisia played the perfect game for England. Gareth Southgate’s team love to press and Tunisia liked to play those short passes. They were not that strong in challenges and although I have praised England, Tunisia were ideal opponents.

It was important that Harry Kane scored both goals. He is now in the zone. If he continues to score in every game, England will have a good chance of winning, no matter who they play. It’s that simple.