Croatia’s first match in the October international window a year ago was their manager’s last. A 1-1 draw at home to Finland was deemed so insipid, the consequences of dropped points so grave that, even though they faced a make-or-break World Cup qualifier just three days later, Ante Cacic was sacked.
A caretaker was called, and that man, Zlatko Dalic, relatively fresh from his successful 22 months at Al Ain in the UAE, at first needed to be dissuaded from thinking his summons to rescue his country was a hoax. He accepted unforgiving terms. Dalic had, at worst, just one game, and less than 48 hours preparation; if he started adequately, he would provisionally get three matches in charge.
It is worth remembering all that - how Dalic was parachuted in for a crisis; how his Croatia scrambled up to second place, behind Iceland, in their World Cup qualifying pool, and, having caught their breath, only reached Russia 2018 via a play-off victory against Greece - when you consider the sudden, thudding fall to earth the team seem to have endured in the last two months.
Were Croatia, so expertly organised and motivated by Dalic, really World Cup finalists less than three months ago? It can look like an illusion when you peer at it from the perspective of their struggles to beat Finland or Kosovo in the lead-up to that tournament, or through the lens of last month's 6-0 thrashing by Spain in their first competitive game since they left Moscow with their silver medals, runners-up at the biggest event in the sport.
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Read more:
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Croatia players arrive to heroes' welcome after World Cup final defeat
Zlatko Dalic tells crestfallen Croatia players 'hold your heads up high'
Gary Meenaghan: Croatia can stand tall after coming up short in final
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As Croatia host England in Rijeka on Friday in the Uefa Nations League, both sides six points behind Spain in their group, they seek urgent reminders that what happened through June and July was no freak.
“There are mistakes we made in Spain that need to be corrected,” says Dalic, who is concerned a landmark occasion, his team’s first match at home since the World Cup, that ought be celebratory, will seem underwhelming. The game against England will be played behind close doors, Croatia’s Uefa-imposed penalty for the incident in 2015 when a swastika symbol was cut into the grass of the pitch, visible throughout a match against Italy. It is not the first such sanction: violence around fixtures in Croatia had spectators banned from that game against Italy.
"It does seem unfair that two World Cup semi-finalists, us and England, have to play without fans," said Dalic, who looks back on the last meeting between the two sides as a career high. Croatia came back from a goal down in Moscow in the semi-final to beat England 2-1 in extra-time, a triumph of patience and stamina. The Croatians, having qualified for the tournament in extremis, had reached the quarter-finals via a penalty shoot-out, after two hours locked at 1-1 against Denmark. They had reached their semi-final via another shoot-out against Russia, after a 2-2 draw over 120 minutes in Sochi, and they defied fatigue to score twice against France in the final, eventually beaten by a fresher, more youthful side.
Those heroics leave a weight of expectation two senior members of the squad will no longer be carrying. The versatile striker Mario Mandzukic, scorer of the winning goal against England three months ago and a goal in the final, has retired from internationals, to preserve his energies for his club, Juventus. Danijel Subasic, the bold victor in two World Cup penalty roulettes, has also announced, at 33, that his 44th cap, in Moscow, was his last.
Mandzukic leaves a significant gap, one that will not, under Dalic, be filled by Atletico Madrid's Nikola Kalinic, an experienced leader of the line but one whose unhappiness at being used as a substitute led to disagreements in Russia, the player leaving the tournament at the group stage. On Friday, duties up front will likely divide between Ante Rebic, the energetic Eintracht Frankfurt forward and Andrej Kramaric, of Hoffenheim, supported on the left flank by Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic.
The stellar midfield pair Luka Modric, 33, and Ivan Rakitic, 30 should both start, and intend to be part of Croatia's plans at Euro 2020, by which time Dalic hopes to have progressed the careers of players like the midfielders Marko Rog, of Napoli, and Mario Pasalic, who has spent the last four seasons loaned to various clubs by Chelsea, and striker Marko Pjaca, of Fiorentina. The flourishing of Mateo Kovacic, the 24-year-old midfielder on loan at Chelsea from Real Madrid, in the Premier League this season is one promising sign for Croatia's medium-term future.
Injuries, notably to midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, the Inter midfielder, and his club colleague, right-back Sime Vrsaljko weaken Dalic’s options this evening. With goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic unfit, an inexperienced gloveman, probably Dinamo Zagreb’s Dominik Livakovic, will be charged with keeping England's set-piece specialists at bay in an eerily empty, anti-climactic Rujevica stadium.
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
