Mirror Football spoke to Croatian journalist Tomislav Gabelic of 24Sata ahead of England's World Cup opener in Dallas on Wednesday evening07:30, 16 Jun 2026Croatia have been training with a back-three ahead of facing England.‌For journalists, unearthing the line-up - otherwise known as 'leaking the team' - is part and parcel of covering World Cups and major tournaments.‌That is no different in Croatia, where reporters have been working hard to uncover Zlatko Dalic's starting XI for their Group L opener against the Three Lions in Dallas.‌Tomislav Gabelic, who works for 24Sata, already has a gist of the side that will take to the field in Texas, explaining: "Three months ago when preparation for the World Cup first started, Dalic openly said that he's thinking of switching to a back-three in defence for the England game."He tried to do it in previous matches, sometimes there has been success, some games not but if I can predict, I would say that he'll start with three in the backline."It will be 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2, a mix of defence with the possibility to counter-attack.‌"Right now, the formation is all we're working to know. When you play with three central defenders, you need two wingers that can defend, probably Josip Stanisic and Ivan Perisic."If you then put Josko Gvardiol, Josip Sutalo and young Luka Vuskovic, you need a Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Martin Baturina or Petar Sucic, who can control most of the field."Then one of the strikers, [Petar] Musa, who plays for FC Dallas, or Ante Budimir and that's about it."‌Early line-up news is rarely well received where the Three Lions are concerned. There's a perception amongst critics that opponents can exploit such secrets and use them to their advantage.Gabelic has revealed that reaction is not just exclusive to England. He continued: "It's the same here in Croatia when you speak about our national team.‌"Even coach Zlatko Dalic is sometimes sad that we released the team which will start the game earlier than him and stuff like that."It's our job to speak to people and get proper information about the team, I don't see it as a big story because 90 minutes before the game, the coach will release the team and the opponent will know everything.‌"You know from doing this job that there are parents, brothers, sisters, girls, managers and friends so you can find information."We've done this job for 10-20 years, so we know something about the game, about the form, so we can do the job."I like to say that the difference between the coaches and journalists is that we know when something is going on, when something is wrong but the coach knows how to repair it."Article continues belowJoin our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.