"Mateo, Luka and Marcelo are the best Croatia midfield in history. I don't think it can be repeated. When you pass them the ball it is safer than having your money in the bank," the defender said.
The comparison with Maradona for the title of the greatest Argentine player of all time cannot be complete without a world title, which the late Maradona won almost single-handedly 36 years ago.
Qatar are without a point after they lost their opening game 2-0 to Ecuador and then went down 3-1 to Senegal earlier on Friday.
Prior to the interview with TalkTV, Ten Hag had said on multiple occasions that Ronaldo was a part of his plans for the campaign, with the Dutchman reiterating that he had wanted the forward to stay at United.
In a highly ill-tempered game, players from both teams threw challenges, pushed and shoved each other, culminating in 48 fouls!
Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal hailed the efforts of his squad in fighting back from two goals down to force their World Cup quarter-final against Argentina into a penalty shootout even though their ultimate exit proved to be painful.
Lionel Messi says Argentina have felt the presence of the late, great Diego Maradona throughout their World Cup campaign, including on Friday when they beat the Netherlands on penalties to reach the semi-finals.
The Dutch also face the possibility of the majority of the 80,000-odd crowd cheering on Argentina as a surprisingly small number of orange-clad Dutch supporters have travelled.
Messi's World Cup chase takes centre stage in quarter-final clash
"The difficult thing about him is when we are attacking, he is chilling somewhere in a corner or something," remembered Van Dijk.
Koeman helped the Netherlands reach the Euro 2020 finals after they had missed the previous tournament
Defending champion Lakshya Sen looked in fine fettle as he registered a straight-game win over compatriot H S Prannoy to make a winning start to his title defence at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
"Big countries didn't progress here and we still have three matches to go. Now we have to roll our sleeves up and get back to work." he said.
Argentine, somehow, were ready for an emotional, nail-biting encounter, having already gone through a dress rehearsal in the same stadium against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
"These things happen, that players ventilate their views, but whether it's sensible or not, that's another issue. Everybody has their own opinion, particularly in the Netherlands," the 71-year-old said.
Argentina look set to keep Julian Alvarez in attack for Sunday's World Cup final
Although they won their first round group, there was little evidence to back up their self-confidence as they stuttered through
The Dutch finished the group with seven points and await the outcome of the Group B matches later on Tuesday to discover the identity of their round of 16 opponents on Saturday.
Ace drag-flicker Gonzalo Peillat struck a second-half hat-trick as Germany made a sensational comeback after being two goals down to beat Australia 4-3 and enter the men's hockey World Cup final for the fifth time, in Bhubaneswar, on Friday.
'Of course, our thoughts are with the Iran people, the players and the whole country, but our focus is on this match.'
'When I crossed that point where I had the accident, I felt light and that was a very physical experience. I felt something leave me.' Shyam G Menon chronicles the voyages of that incredible Indian sailor, Abhilash Tomy.
S S Rajamouli's period action film RRR has scooped nominations in two categories at the Golden Globe Awards: Best Picture, Non-English, and Best Original Song, Motion Picture.
Mbappe becomes PSG's all-time highest goal-scorer as French champions extend lead
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The 71-year-old, who has battled with cancer over the last year, concluded his third spell as the Netherlands coach with their penalty shootout loss and will be replaced by Ronald Koeman.
The "OneLove" armbands FIFA banned at the World Cup in Qatar are suddenly selling like hotcakes.
The home team froze under the weight of expectation and quickly went behind in Sunday's opener, losing 2-0 to Ecuador
Ecuador are confident that Enner Valencia, who got both goals in their 2-0 win over hosts Qatar on Sunday, will be fit to play despite some concerns over a knee sprain.
"We are also a country that has a chance to become world champions because I hope we are the best team."
Thompson, ranked 84, was more aggressive in a tighter second set and went 6-5 up with a service hold before breaking a tiring Griekspoor in the next game to drag himself into the contest.
Scaloni has helped get one over the Dutch Master at least once before when he was at Deportivo, who pipped Van Gaal's Barcelona to the 1999-2000 La Liga title.
Blind, 32, has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in his chest to detect an irregular heart beat and deliver a life-saving shock in the event of sudden cardiac arrest.
Five strikers who surprised us in World Cup 2022.
The captains of England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark will not wear "OneLove" armbands after FIFA made it clear they would be booked, the associations said in a joint statement on Monday.
Defender Ehsan Hajsafi became on Sunday the first member of Iran's national team to speak out from the World Cup in Doha in apparent support of anti-government protests at home, saying players should be the voice of those suffering.
Ecuador mints commemorative coin to mark World Cup participation.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi and coach Lionel Scaloni predicted a tough but beautiful encounter with the Netherlands when the sides meet in Friday's World Cup quarter-final.
"We set out with a goal to show the rest of the world how we play soccer and I think we partially achieved that even though we fell short of our goals. I think this group is close" Berhalter said.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has 4 points and is sixth, while Arjun Erigaisi (3 points) is seventh.
Praggnanandhaa went down 1.5-2.5 to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Erigasi lost to Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda 0.5-2.5.
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