Croatian national team head coach Zlatko Dalic cited coaching at the youth level and competitive exposure for young players as two major factors that contribute towards the growth of national teams.
Dalic, who took Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final, was part of an online interaction with Indian coaches, hosted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), on Friday.
In the e-meet that included India's sports minister Kiren Rijiju, India national team head coach Igor Stimac and several Indian coaches, Dalic was asked about the importance of giving international exposure to young footballers.
"A lot of coaches prefers old (experienced) players and give them chances but from my side, I also know Igor (Stimac) insists that we have to give a lot of young players chances if we want to improve him," Dalic began.
"If you want to build a good player, you have to give him a chance. A young player without competitive and international exposure will not improve. Our young players of 18 and 19 years who are going to big clubs in other countries are not getting game time there and that is where their improvement stops. A young player has to play every week. The coach has to give him support and confidence to let him play.
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He further stressed the importance of having good coaches at the youth level as well to help the grassroots level attempts bear fruit.
"You know that we have a lot of players who play at the biggest clubs, they are fantastic players, there are always a lot of good talents in our country and also a lot of good coaches who work with the young players. Somebody saw Modric, Rakitic etc and improved them."
India national team head coach Igor Stimac, who also attended the call, added that the Blue Tigers need a bigger selection pool for coaches.
"We have good academy coaches in Croatia, it's the most important basic thing in football to become successful one day and that's what we are discussing with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) at the moment because we need a huge selection to start with, in India. To do a proper selection, we need to import 5-10 great academy coaches."
Croatia is a country that allows dual citizenship and the national team has hugely benefitted from it. When Dalic was asked how about the same, he replied, "In our country, we see a lot of players who are not born in Croatia but have a Croatian nationality. For example, (Ivan) Rakitic is born in Switzerland but he had a lot to offer us. So it is very important for us because they improve our football and give us a lot of benefits."