(Football news) After Croatia drew with Morocco 0 – 0 on the opening matchday of the World Cup, everyone ruled them out and had stated that it was going to take a lot more, both physically and mentally especially out of an older Luka Modric to a lead this Croatian side far into the World Cup finals again. Perhaps that was naive on everyone’s part to have underestimated the Croatian composure and mentality. They may not have a star striker like Mario Mandzukic or Davor Suker, and top of that Modric is four years older now but they know how to grind games out and most importantly stay organized defensively, while their counter-attacks are momentous and timely. 

In this year’s World Cup, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic have been outstanding and Dominik Livakovic has been the breakout star. At the heart of this remains the ever present Modric who does the dirty work which goes unnoticed. Along with the defensive side of the game he tends to organize the press and build-up, create space, escape pressure as all those skills were prominent against Brazil when his country needed him as his side was on the brink of elimination.

Against Japan, he lasted almost 99 minutes and yesterday against Brazil, Zlatko Dalic kept him on for the entirety of the game. He played the entire 120 minutes and was one of four Croatia players who converted their penalties and sank the Brazilian hearts. Modric was everywhere as he had 140 touches which were the most of anyone on the field. He pounced on loose balls with great positioning and was available as an outlet whenever the team needed one he also played vertical passes, had neat touches on the ball, blocked shots in the box, and was more importantly snuffing Neymar’s runs.

He dropped into a deep-lying play-making role and suddenly started to dictated the tempo as Brazilian players struggled to hold possession as they hung on when they faced pressure and in the case of Croatia’s equalizer in the 117th minute was made possible of Modric breaking the play quickly to Marcelo Brozovic. Modric was incredible yesterday and these are the games where he truly cemented his legacy. Modric has reached a certain level of greatness as he takes Croatia marching on to the World Cup semi-finals against Lionel Messi’s Argentina.