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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Andrej Kramarić spent his 35th birthday where he has spent so many before — in a Croatian national team camp, this time at the World Cup. And the veteran striker's message about what comes next was simple: the loss to England is behind them, and Croatia must beat Panama.
"We just need to win, because those three points will mean a lot," Kramarić said in remarks published by the Croatian Football Federation, which released comments from both Kramarić and young defender Luka Vušković following Friday's media availability. He framed Tuesday's match in Toronto as a different kind of test than the opener — Panama play a different style, he said, and Croatia should see far more of the ball and more chances to create. The question, he added, is how aggressively his side attacks.
Kramarić, who is from the same squad your past week of Alexandria coverage has followed, struck an unworried tone about Croatia's habit of finding its way at major tournaments. Details decide these things, he suggested — concentration in key moments — and he said he was convinced Croatia would respond the way it so often has.
The standings make it urgent
Kramarić's "we just need to win" is not just talk. After the opening round of Group L matches, Croatia sits in a difficult spot.
England leads the group after its 4-2 win over Croatia. Ghana is second with three points following a 1-0 victory over Panama. Panama is third, and Croatia is last — level with Panama on zero points but behind on goal difference after conceding four to England. The standing underlines why the Panama match has become close to must-win: with only the top two guaranteed advancement (plus the best third-place finishers across the expanded field), Croatia can afford no more slip-ups.
A debutant owns the set-piece lesson
If Kramarić supplied the veteran's perspective, the team's reports also offered the rookie's. Young defender Luka Vušković, who started against England in what the Croatian Football Federation said was his debut on the sport's biggest stage, called it the biggest match of his career — and spoke candidly about where it went wrong.
The difference between club football and a World Cup, Vušković said, is that every mistake is punished — something that showed against England. On the corner kicks that undid Croatia, he was direct: England had a quality set-piece taker and strong aerial players, and Croatia was not at its best. The team, he said, would prepare so as not to concede that way again — echoing, from a player's vantage, the set-piece reckoning head coach Zlatko Dalić laid out a day earlier.
Vušković also spoke to the same veteran-youth dynamic Kramarić described, only from the other side of it. He said the younger players are proud to share a pitch with the likes of Kramarić, Modrić and Ivan Perišić, and that there is much to learn from them in every detail, on and off the field. On Panama, his message matched his elder's: the opponent deserves to be there, and the responsibility falls on Croatia to go in fully focused.
A birthday, and a milestone for the captain
The camp had reasons beyond football to mark the moment. Kramarić joked about his birthday passing without bučnica, a traditional Croatian pastry, and admitted he had lost track of which birthday it was — but said celebrating with the national team, his football family, is always meaningful.
He saved his warmest words for captain Luka Modrić, who is set to make his 200th appearance for Croatia against Panama. Kramarić called the figure incredible and thanked Modrić for showing the way, saying the team would give everything — for the captain and for themselves.
On the younger players in the squad — several of whom your readers have come to know through the Brief's coverage this past week — Kramarić was effusive. The world is theirs, he said, praising the energy the young generation brings while the veterans supply motivation and character. Croatia, he added, has always produced talent, and that will not change.
Not a fan of the breaks
Never short of an opinion, Kramarić also took aim at the tournament's hydration breaks. He said he did not like them at all, particularly in Dallas, where he noted it was not even especially hot. The stoppages disrupt a match's rhythm, he argued, though he allowed they might make sense in genuinely extreme heat — pointing to Philadelphia, where Croatia closes the group stage, as a place they could be warranted.
Croatia continues training at its Alexandria base before traveling to Toronto to face Panama on Tuesday, returning to the Alexandria area afterward before closing the group stage against Ghana in Philadelphia on June 27.
