Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was unhappy with what he called the "bad refereeing" in his team's 2-1 loss to Portugal in their round of 32 clash on Thursday that eliminated them from the World Cup but said he did not want to use it as an excuse.
Portugal were awarded a penalty after a Video Assistant Referee review, which Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home to tie the game before Goncalo Ramos fired them ahead in the 94th minute.
Drama ensued late in stoppage time when Josko Gvardiol thought he had equalized but a review showed the ball touched Igor Matanovic on the way through, which made Gvardiol offside, and Norwegian referee Espen Eskas awarded a penalty.
"It was very bad refereeing," Dalic told reporters, saying he felt his team should have been given more free kicks.
"But Croatia lost. I'm not going to find any excuses," the 59-year-old added. "We could have won this earlier."
Dalic said his team did not create enough chances in the first half and looked much better in the second but ultimately their luck from the previous two World Cups had run out.
Croatia finished runners-up in 2018 and third in 2022 but will leave without a medal this time around.
It was also likely 40-year-old captain Luka Modric's last chance to win the sport's greatest prize -- and his final match at the tournament -- after being Croatia's heartbeat for years.
"Well, this was probably his last World Cup," Dalic said of the midfielder. "And I'm sorry that it ended this way."
But while the curtain is closing on this era of Croatian football, Dalic said the national side's future was bright.
"I'm not afraid for the future of the Croatian team," Dalic added. "We have a lot of young players coming in and some of them have shown the quality today.
"We've come to an end of a wonderful era," he added. "And some new beginnings await us."
As for his own future, Dalic, who has led Croatia since 2017, did not offer any insight.
"God knows what will happen in the next World Cup, but we'll talk about it in Croatia," he said.
