Croatia coach criticizes Canada's John Herdman for not shaking hands

Yukihito Taguchi/USA TODAY Sports

Canada’s FIFA World Cup head coach John Herdman has a few things to learn, according to Croatian manager Zlatko Dalic.

Herdman has been in the crosshairs ever since blurting out that he told his players they were going to go “F Croatia” following Wednesday’s tournament opener against Belgium.

Canada’s coach was ridiculed in at least one Croatian newspaper, while Dalic didn’t respond kindly to the remark, saying: “The Croatian team deserves respect from everyone.”

Indeed it does. Croatia is ranked 12th in the world by FIFA and finished second at the 2018 World Cup.

Croatia proved its dominance on the pitch, beating Canada 4-1 on Sunday, prompting a “Nobody will f*ck us” headline from a different Croatian news outlet.

“Croatia demonstrated who F’d whom,” Croatian forward Andrej Kramaric said post-match. “I want to thank the Canada coach for the motivation.”

Herdman didn’t shake Dalic’s hand after the match, according to the Croatian coach.

And he didn’t seem impressed by it.

“Whether I lose or win, I always see the other coach,” said Dalic, as transcribed by Toronto-based sportswriter Joe Callaghan. “[Herdman] was not there and that’s his way of doing things. He’s obviously mad. He is a good coach, he is a quality professional. It will take some time for him to learn some things.”

Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic on John Herdman: "Whether I lose or win, I always see the other coach. He was not there and that’s his way of doing things. He’s obviously mad. He is a good coach, he is a quality professional. it will take some time for him to learn some things."

— Joe Callaghan (@JoeCallaghan84) November 27, 2022

The World Cup is unforgiving, and Canada found that out the hard way. The loss to Croatia eliminated them from knockout stage contention, joining Qatar as the second country bounced from the tournament.

There is still a lot to play for in their final match on Thursday (10 am ET/7 am PT on TSN), as Canada looks for its first-ever victory at a men’s World Cup.

It won’t be easy against Morocco though. They upset Belgium on Sunday and are ranked 22nd in the world.

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