Can Croatia go all the way to the World Cup final in Russia?

Croatia’s 3-0 victory over Argentina last night sent shockwaves throughout the football universe, could they be ready to launch a genuine title bid?

Over the last 10 years or so, Croatia has firmly established themselves as a competitive nation on the biggest stage and now it seems they may be ready to take the next step towards greatness.

Led by the technically flawless Luka Modric, the Croatians outplayed Argentina for 90 minutes on Thursday evening, in a performance brimming with energy and a clinical edge.

Granted, they faced an Argentina side currently in disarray and nowhere near their former glory, but the way in which they systematically picked them apart was nothing short of brilliant.

Croatia were unlucky to lose 1-0 after extra time against Portugal in the last-16 of the 2016 European Championships and their spirited showing should have served as a sign of things to come.

They have built on that promise two years later in Russia, with the likes of Rakitic, Mandzukic, Lovren, Perisic and Modric all working together as a well-organised unit capable of scoring plenty goals of goals, whilst giving little away at the back.

Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic spoke to reporters after their second win in Group D, insisting the result was down to their meticulous preparation:

"“I have trusted my team from the first day. I didn’t believe we would be through after the second game so we have to be happy because we have beaten a strong Argentinian side with the best player in the world. Argentina were not confused; we were excellent.Over the last few days, we haven’t looked at tactics because I wanted to relieve my players of the stress. We had good scouts and we analysed the opposition well. We adapted our style to them. Let’s enjoy this moment.”"

Setting up with a 4-2-3-1 formation, Modric and Rakitic sit just in front of a back four marshalled by Lovren and Vida, with their two fullbacks committed to a disciplined, defensive approach which makes them extremely compact at the back.

Whenever they win the ball back they then look to release their midfield trio of Perisic, Kramaric and Rebic, all of whom are accomplished in possession and capable of carrying the ball into dangerous areas or feeding Mario Mandzukic up front.

Dalic’s system has worked to great effect so far in Russia and the evidence suggests they will only get stronger with each passing game.

Through already with 2 wins out of 2, if they can secure at least a draw in their final group game against Iceland they will progress as group winners, which puts them on course for a clash with France in the last-16.

If that happens then on current form you would have to fancy Croatia to get the best of Didier Deschamps French side, who have yet to hit their stride after two underwhelming performances (albeit wins) in Group C.

Croatian Captain Luka Modric hit a stunning goal to put his side 2-0 up against Argentina and speaking to the media after the game he said the key was in how they isolated Lionel Messi:

"“This result and Argentina’s poor display was due to our good game, our compact block all over the pitch, particularly when we didn’t have the ball.We cut off Messi, stopped him receiving the ball. He’s their most dangerous player.”"

Messi touched the ball a total of 49 times in the match and could only muster a single shot on Subasic’s goal.

Restricting arguably the worlds greatest footballer to such a quiet evening underlines the fact that this Croatia team will fear no one and make life difficult for whoever they come against.

France may provide their next big test in the competition and if they play anything like they did in Nizhny Novgorod last night, they surely have a fantastic chance of making it through to the quarter-finals and from there the sky’s the limit.

So far this World Cup hasn’t been as straightforward as the biggest nations would have hoped, with the competition fiercer than ever before.

Next: Three things we learned from Brazil's win over Costa Rica

A new name could well be etched into the trophy come July 15 and Croatia look like a team primed and ready to shock the world.