ZAGREB: Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic announced Monday a preliminary 26-man squad for the upcoming World Cup, to be led by veteran Luka Modric, the key architect of the country’s historic success in recent years.

The 40-year-old AC Milan midfielder led the nation of 3.8 million people to the second-place finish at the 2018 World Cup.

The former Real Madrid star was also key for Croatia third place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In 2023 the Balkan nation lost to Spain in the Nations League final.

But Modric sustained a cheekbone fracture after clashing heads with Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli at the San Siro in late April, and underwent a surgery.

The former Ballon d’Or winner was expected to be out of action for between six to eight weeks but should be free to play in the upcoming World Cup, a source told AFP at the time.

“He’s training with a (facial) mask and doing well. Maybe this break helped him,” Dalic told reporters in Zagreb. “We’ll see his condition, but I don’t doubt him, he’ll be in good form”.

Croatia’s defence was also weakened due to leg fracture of Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol in January that sidelined him for months.

“We hope he’ll be ready to play,” Dalic said adding that the 24-year-old will be given chances in the warm-up matches to build up his form for the tournament, which kicks off June 11.

“We expect him to be a major boost for us in the US.” Commenting on his expectations from the tournament, Croatia’s most succesful coach, who took over in 2017, stressed the first goal was to get “through a tough group”.

“We have quality, youth, and experience... which gives me optimism.”

Croatia play their opening Group ‘L’ match against England on June 17. They will later face Panama and Ghana.

During preparations for the championships they will play two friendlies at home against Belgium and Slovenia, respectively.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic, Dominik Kotarski, Ivor Pandur; Defenders: Josko Gvardiol, Duje Caleta-Car, Josip Sutalo, Josip Stanisic, Marin Pongracic, Martin Erlic, Luka Vuskovic; Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Mario Pasalic, Nikola Vlasic, Luka Sucic, Martin Baturina, Kristijan Jakic, Petar Sucic, Nikola Moro, Toni Fruk; Forwards: Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Ante Budimir, Marco Pasalic, Petar Musa, Igor Matanovic; Stand-by list: Lovro Majer, Franjo Ivanovic, Dion Beljo, Ivan Smolcic, Karlo Letica, Luka Stojkovic, Adrijan Segecic.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2026