2018 FIFA World Cup Final
In their qualifying group, Croatia came in second place after Iceland. This meant they had to play more matches to qualify. They played against Greece in these matches and won over two games. They won the first game 4-1 and the second game ended in a draw with no goals. In the main tournament, Croatia was placed in group D with Argentina, Iceland, and Nigeria. This was considered a tough group because Argentina was very skilled, and Nigeria had a strong history. In their first match, Croatia won 2-0 against Nigeria. The goals were scored by the other team accidentally putting the ball into their own goal and a penalty scored by one of Croatia's players. One of Croatia's strikers, Nikola Kalinić, didn't play in the match due to back pain. The coach, Zlatko Dalić, removed him from the team. This left Croatia with fewer players for the rest of the tournament.  Croatia played against Argentina next and won 3-0. They scored their first goal when Argentina's goalkeeper made a mistake, and then scored two more goals. Argentina's captain, Lionel Messi, didn't play very well in this match. Croatia also won against Iceland with a score of 2-1. They rested some of their main players in this match because they had already qualified for the next round.