Argentina's opponents tonight, Croatia, came into the tournament as one of the dark horses. Boasting talent such as Real Madrid's Luca Moderic, Barcelona's Ivan Rakatic and Juevnutus striker Mario Mandzukic, it's no wonder fans in the country's capital are watching with more expectation. CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic reports from Zagreb.

They are the best what Croatia have to offer to the world of football. Twenty two players, head coach and the rest of the supporting staff. And all of them are with a single goal in mind: to qualify for the second round of the FIFA World Cup in Russia. It is a burden that primarily lies on the shoulders of this man. Croatian team head coach, Zlatko Dalic .

ZLATKO DALIC COATIA COACH "I'm aware what is expected from the Croatian Head Coach. Those are always high expectations ahead of any major competition, that we have to be champions in any sport. I know those are big expectations, but I'm ready and I think that we have good team that can deliver great results."

As a country of just over 4 million people, Croatia is seen as one of the world football powers. FIFA have ranked them as high as 3rd best national team in the world back in 1999, while today they are holding 15th position. Year earlier at the World Cup in France Croatia made the history by winning 3rd place at the tournament. And one of the stars that made this success happen was Robert Prosinecki.

ROBERT PROSINECKI EX-CROATIA MIDFIELDER "It is like that. Talented players are just born here generation after generation. And some things can hardly be explained. Football infrastructure and everything that goes along its development is far from the highest levels here and yet talents are born and they find their way to the big clubs and the national team is always good."

And some of the fans are ready to go extra mile just because of that support and the feeling that this game and their national team gives them.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC ZAGREB "Croats expect that after 4 failed attempts during 20 years, this time, they will qualify for the second round of the World Championship. And many of them are already spending little fortunes to go to Russia to support their team in that effort."

Sanjin Spanovic is one of those who'll travel to Russia to support his national team. He did that a number of times before, traveling around the world, wherever Croatia played.

SANJIN SPANOVIC CROATIA FAN "It is all about that thing that when you are in Sao Paolo, opening of the World Championship in Brazil, first game, and Croatia scores a goal. And you are leading 1:0 against Brazil in Brazil. It's wonderful feeling, one of the best. That 13 minutes until Brazil equalized, it was something special."

It is the question whether this Croatian team will be up to the task and to at least repeat great successes of generations before them. But one thing is for sure, they won't be lacking support of their fans during the matches in Russia. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Zagreb.