Zlatko Dalic, the head coach of the Croatian national team, spoke about the Capital Cairo Cup in Egypt during the ongoing international break.
The Croatian national team will face Tunisia on March 23rd at the Egypt Stadium in the new administrative capital. Dalic said in statements carried by the official website of the Croatian Football Federation: "We have two friendly matches ahead of us, which we will use to prepare well for what awaits us in the European Championship."
He added: "The tournament was supposed to take place in Abu Dhabi, which disrupted our plans, so we will only go to Cairo on Thursday. Perhaps there will be more football atmosphere in the tournament in Egypt, there will definitely be a much larger number of spectators and fans."
He continued: "The football atmosphere will be much better, I want to go to socialize and relax, but not meaning that we will ignore the result, we lost to Tunisia before and this is a chance for revenge, we will do our best at this moment, but I want the atmosphere to be slightly different than usual."
Regarding the return of Ivan Perisic, he said: "Ivan is with us, he will come to the camp and will be with us until Thursday, we want to see his condition immediately, we hear from each other constantly, everything is improving, but he should not rush, no matter how much he expresses his desire and emotion, he shouldn't be early, it could be fatal. We have had examples of players who rushed and then their injuries recurred, like Marko Pjaca, Josip Pivaric, I cannot talk about the details of the return, I'm not involved in that."
He continued: "It will be determined by the medical staff, we will not force him to join the national team, I expect him to participate in preparations in June, and I expect him to play some matches before that, without Ivan, we are much weaker, I will talk to him, and tell him not to rush, and to be rational."
Regarding player selections, he said: "We don't have many options regarding this matter, Luka Souchich cannot be with us, he has to miss the gathering for the second time due to injury, Marko Pashalich is regaining his fitness again, and his position in defense has become open, there is Aleta Carr and Barisic, and Nikola Moro will not play for Bologna."
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