Canada’s John Herdman on Croatian newspaper cover: ‘My wife wishes she had that guy’

Canada coach John Herdman has joked about the Croatian newspaper cover, commenting his wife “wishes she had that guy”.

Herdman was targeted by the Croatian press after commenting that Canada were going to “F” the nation in their second group game.

“I told them (Canada) they belong here and we’re going to go and ‘F’ Croatia,” he said after losing to Belgium. “That’s as simple as it gets.”

The front cover of newspaper 24 Sata showed a naked Herdman with a Canadian flag in the shape of a maple leaf covering his groin. The headline on the page read: “You have the mouth, but do you have the balls as well?”

#CRO newspaper targets #CAN coach John Herdman after he said "We're going to go & F*** Croatia"
His words came after #BEL loss where he shared what he told his team in post-match huddle #HSV #WeCAN #CROCAN
Headline reads "You have the mouth but do you have the balls as well?"
— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) November 25, 2022

Asked about it on Saturday, Herdman said: “My wife is coming after you guys. She wishes she had that guy.”

He also tried to dampen down the row, adding: “We’re in a light, bright, clear place. If anyone knows how I operate, I’m always onto the next task. And loving the experience.”

Herdman also joked that he’s got a “bit of a gut now”.

Canada impressed in their first game, losing narrowly to Belgium but having the better of the match — and vastly outscoring the winners on expected goals.

Herdman also addressed the comments he made to his team in the postgame huddle against Belgium: “We’ve got goals here, and the goals have to be with that mentality.”

Herdman said he made the statement to his team in the manner he did because he wanted to remind his team to “leave what happened here and get to the next place, quickly.”

“We have to get after it. Get on the front foot, be proactive,” said Herdman. “They’ve been buying into that mentality since day one.”

Canada need a result in the second game against Croatia, the 2018 World Cup finalists, on Sunday to have any hope of reaching the knockout stages of the tournament.

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(Photo: Getty Images)