Modric hungry for more medals as veteran targets Nations League

Luka Modric led Croatia to the bronze medal at the World Cup on Saturday and confirmed that he plans to continue his international career until 2023 as he tries to be the winner of the Nations League.

The 37-year old scored his 162nd international cap with the 1-1 victory against Morocco Four years after helping lead his nation to win the World Cup runner-up spot behind France.

Croatia is now aiming to claim this Nations League title next June in the four-team finals comprising Italy, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. That's the strategy, said Modric when asked if he would like to play international soccer. It would be foolish to not play for the Nations League, and then we'll decide how to move forward. I'm definitely going to be there to play in this year's Nations League.

Croatia was defeated by Lionel Messi inspired Argentina during the World Cup semifinals but Modric insists that his team has earned a spot in the top teams of the game. We have achieved something significant to Croatian soccer. We wanted gold, and we were very just a few steps away," he told broadcaster HRT,report by best mobile sportsbooks.

In the end, we come back in Croatia in a position of winning. Croatia is not a fable that occurs each 20 years. We proved that we're consistent, that we are not able to be considered as dark horses, but instead as an international sporting power.

While Modric will continue to play at an international level the coach Zlatko Dalic has admitted that time is running out for other players in the senior ranks. It's the final stage of a season. It's the final World Cup for some older players, said the coach with an focus on the qualifying tournament to qualify for Euro 2024 which kicks off in March.

But we have some very talented young players that are hopeful, (Josip) Stanisic, (Mislav) Orsic, many players in the bench. We have a fantastic team to come up with the next. Croatia has nothing to be concerned about with the present generation. The next thing we have to look forward to is"the League of Nations, and the qualification for"the Euro.

In the meantime, fireworks lit up the skies above the Croatian capital city of Zagreb as well as other cities in Croatia that rejoiced over the victory at the 3rd place playoff. Croatia is in ablaze! We are singing, crying, proud and happiness throughout our nation!" Read this edition of the Vecernji List daily paper online edition.

A long, joyful night is in store for Croatia. Croatia, a country with less than 4 million inhabitants has won the threerd World Cup medal since independence in 1991.In France 1998, Croatia was third , and in the 2017 World Cup in Russia it made it to the final.

Dalic said Dalic would "dedicate the victory to a person who was the one who initiated all this". To (Miroslav) Ciro Blazevic. "Boss" This is for you! I'm sure I'll win 5 medals but you'll always be the 'coach for the coaches'. He was referring to the legendary coach Blazevic who was 87 years old under whom Croatia was awarded bronze in 1998.

Three World Cup medals for our small country is an incredible feat. I'm extremely satisfied, and well done to the Fiery Ones, declared Marin Lovric, 32, who was watching the match at the Zagreb bar.

On Sunday the capital city is set to hold the main square an event of welcome for the team as it did in 2018 when they was returned from Russia. More than 550,000 people cheered on the team in its parade in an open-top vehicle from Airport to main square.