Croatia is a favourite to win the World Cup trophy this year, said retired football coach Miroslav Blazevic, best known for taking the Croatian national team to the semi-finals and winning the third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

Blazevic commented for N1 the football competition which kicked off in Russia the last week, saying he was very disappointed with the first few games.

“Later on it got better, especially Portugal's and Spain's games, they demonstrated one modern play,” said Blazevic, adding that Croatia showed it “has to be counted on” in the upcoming games.

During his career, Blazevic coached national teams of Croatia, Bosnia, Switzerland, Iran and Chinese Olympic team. Besides the success with Croatia's national team at the 1998 World Cup, Blazevic also succeeded by taking Bosnia to its so far only global competition, the 2010 World Cup in Brasil.

In his opinion, Croatia stands a good chance against Argentina in their upcoming game. “Croatia has a well-balanced team at all positions, which is not the case with Argentina,” he concluded.

“Taking everything into account, Croatia seems to be the biggest favourite to win the World Cup. I am not sure about Argentina because they play against Croatia, and they are not in a good shape,” added Blazevic.