Croatia Finishes Fourth at Socca World Cup: “We’re a Little Sad”

Croatia finished fourth at the Socca World Cup in Essen after losing 6-0 to Poland in the bronze-medal match.

The Croatian team appeared affected by its semifinal defeat to Brazil the previous evening. The semifinal had been closely contested, but Croatia struggled to reproduce that performance against Poland. Poland took the lead through captain Debicki and doubled it through Elsner just before halftime while playing with an extra outfield player.

Coach Dino Kovač tried to revive the team during the interval, but Poland scored again in the opening minute of the second half. The Poles then repeatedly punished Croatia’s open play with successful counterattacks, producing a final score the Croatian report described as too harsh.

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We’re a little sad now because finishing fourth is not easy. But we are still among the four best teams in the world, which is a big thing.

“We’re a little sad now because finishing fourth is not easy,” captain Josip Haluška said. “But we are still among the four best teams in the world, which is a big thing.” He said the semifinal against Brazil had been decisive and that Croatia looked “quite empty” and mentally exhausted against Poland. He added that the score did not reflect the teams’ usual level, saying Poland and Croatia were normally close in quality.

The fourth-place finish continued Croatia’s run of strong World Cup results. The team has reached the top four at each of its three World Cups, in Germany in 2023, Oman in 2024 and Essen in 2026. Croatia won bronze in 2024, along with European Championship bronze medals in 2023 and 2025 and silver in 2024.

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Today we were quite empty and somewhat mentally exhausted.