Croatia will go to the 2026 World Cup with Luka Modric still at the center of everything, and Zlatko Dalic has already made his clearest tactical call: he will not try three at the back again. That leaves Croatia’s likely shape as a back four, with a squad built around experience rather than a reset.
That is why the Croatia squad is being watched closely now. Modric is 40 and should pass the 200-cap mark in North America, while Mateo Kovacic is 32, Ivan Perisic is 37 and Andrej Kramaric is turning 35. Dalic’s side qualified with one game to spare after beating the Faroe Islands last November, and Czechia was the only team to take anything from them in the campaign.
The details point to a team that still knows how to squeeze results from familiar parts. Dalic tried three at the back in March friendlies against Colombia and Brazil, beating Colombia 2-1 and losing 1-3 to Brazil, but the experiment did not last. Croatia are now likely to line up in either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, with Josko Gvardiol and Kovacic central to how the system works. Dalic, in his ninth year in charge, has already taken Croatia to a silver medal in Russia and bronze in Qatar, which sets the standard for anything this group does next.
The uncomfortable part is plain enough: Croatia’s strength still comes from players who have been doing this for years, and roughly half or more of the likely starters are into their 30s. That kind of continuity can steady a tournament run, but it also narrows the margin for error when legs start to go and games come faster. Modric even added to the picture by scoring his 29th international goal in a warm-up match against Slovenia, a reminder that he remains a live part of the attack, not just a symbol of the past.
What comes next is a group stage that will test the whole idea. Croatia open against England on 17 June in Dallas, then face Panama in Toronto and Ghana in Philadelphia. If Dalic gets another deep run out of this Croatia squad, it will be because the old core still has one more tournament left in it.
