Petar Sučić has turned three group-stage matches at the World Cup in the US into proof that Croatia already leans on him. The 22-year-old midfielder for Inter Milan and Croatia finished those games with one goal and one assist, a return that helps explain why he is suddenly central to the team’s plans.
That is why his name is being searched now. Sučić did not arrive in the spotlight as a headline chaser, but as a player whose impact kept growing in real time: one goal, one assist, and a run of performances that made him look less like a prospect than a fixture. For Croatia, it matters because the team is trying to build beyond the Modrić era, and for Sučić it matters because the next match, against Portugal, will test whether his rise is form or something more durable.
Zlatko Dalic has already made the point plainly. He said Sučić has very quickly become indispensable to the national team, praised his technical ability, work rate, character and quality, and noted that he won the title with Inter. Luka Modric was just as direct after seeing him play, calling the performance phenomenal and saying Sučić is showing he is the present of the national team, not only its future. Those are not the words coaches and captains usually reserve for a player still trying to find his place.
The remarkable part is how little of his life Sučić wants to put on display. He said he has no Instagram, no X and no TikTok account because he does not like wasting time on social media. He prefers real life, and after matches or training he wants to relax, unwind and spend time with his family. That quiet routine sits awkwardly beside the new attention on him, but it also fits the kind of player Croatia appears to be getting: one who does the work on the pitch and leaves the noise outside it.
There is a recent pattern behind all of this. In October 2024, Croatia drew 3-3 with Poland in a Nations League match, and Sučić scored his first international goal in the 24th minute before Martin Baturina set up the strike and then scored himself two minutes later from a Sučić assist. The two are still flatmates in the national team, a small detail that captures how quickly Sučić has moved from promising name to trusted presence. Croatia now takes him into Portugal with a stronger case than most players ever get this early: he is no longer simply part of the future, and the next test is whether he can keep playing like the present.
