‘We showed who killed who’ – Croatia revel in revenge by beating Canada at World Cup, after press mocks boss John Herdman naked

Croatia enjoyed sending Canada and boss John Herdman home early after being stung by his comments.

The 2018 World Cup finalists cruised to a 4-1 win over Canada on Sunday at the Khalifa International Stadium after Bayern Munich winger Alphonso Davies gave Herdman’s side the lead after just 68 seconds to score the fastest goal of the tournament so far.

But Croatia fought back with Andrej Kramaric scoring twice and the former Leicester man and his boss Zlatko Dalic were boiling after Durham-born Herdman decided to head into the tunnel full-time, rather than to shake hands with the Croatian manager.

“I would like to thank the coach of Canada for his motivation. In the end, Croatia showed who ‘erased’ who,” Kramaric said in reference to Herdman’s post-match comments after his side lost to Belgium in their opener.

After watching his team narrowly lose, he revealed, “I told them they belong here. And we’re going to go ‘eff’ Croatia.

Croatian tabloid 24 Sata then decided to Photoshop Herdman’s face onto a naked body with only two Canadian maple leaves covering his mouth and groin.

The title read: “You have the mouth, but do you also have the balls?”

Herdman’s word certainly left Dalic seething ahead of the clash, who said his side demanded more respect.

“The Croatian team deserves everyone’s respect. We proved that with the way we played and our conduct during the World Cup,” Dalic said before the match.

“From the very beginning, we have earned respect and dignity. We have two medals in the last 30 years. Only Germany and France have such achievements.

“We respect everyone equally, so we expect opposing teams to respect us. We are worthy of their respect. Canadians have to respect us.

“This way of putting words together is not a sign of respect. We are [World Cup] finalists.

“We are second in the world and we deserve respect in the way we play, behave and respect everyone else. These are the reasons why we are worthy of respect.

“I’m not going to dwell on the comments. We will be prepared and fit and show respect for Canada.

And they were with a second straight loss confirming Canada’s exit in their first finals appearance since 1986.

“I could have been a little calmer coming out of caucus. That’s my learning. I’ll take it on the chin,” Herdman said.

Canada now has the chance to win its first match of the tournament on Thursday.

“We have a big game coming up against Morocco, a huge game for Canada in the sense that we have a lot to play for,” he added.