Naivety cost John Herdman and Canada dear in the World Cup’s Group of Eff

Les Rouges should take pride in their achievements over the last few years. It's a shame mistakes on and off the pitch held them back

The softly spoken Fifa translator paused for a moment. But she held her nerve. In the end," she said as she relayed man-of-the-match Andrej Kramaric's words, Croatia demonstrated who eff'd whom."

Sunday night at the Khalifa Stadium was a cruel, chastening one for Canada. The ignominy didn't end at the final whistle. Kramaric, whose two goals came in an emphatic 4-1 Canadian defeat, was joined by his manager Zlatko Dalic at the post-match top table where the final words, no matter which language you translate them into, were all Croatian.