Croatia sack assistant ahead of World Cup semi-final with England

Croatia have dismissed their assistant coach Ognjen Vukojevic after the former international published a politically provocative video on social media following his side's penalty shootout win over Russia on Saturday.

Vukojevic recorded a video with defender Domagoj Vida after the game in which both men dedicated Croatia’s victory to Ukraine. Ukraine are engaged in a political conflict with Russia that centres over the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea into the Russian Federation, which sparked conflict in eastern Ukraine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAzLe2JT6E0 After a brief review of the incident, FIFA confirmed that it had simply issued a warning to Vida over his comments. “We can confirm that FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has sent a warning to the player Domagoj Vida due to his video statement following the 2018 Fifa World Cup match between Russia and Croatia,” Fifa wrote in a statement. However, Vukojevic, who was capped 55 times by Croatia between 2007 and 2014, was not spared by the Croatian Football Federation who have relieved him of his duties with immediate effect. A statement from the federation read: