I think the main point everyone forgetting about was the the initial "idea" of Croatia not being expected to be like that, was the fact that when you face player vs player on each position, Croatia is better than Brazil in maybe 2-3 positions and rest Brazilians are "better", but when you remove individualism and put the team forward, that's what made Croatia better.

Your right winger being better than their right winger is important, your left back being better than their left back is important too, but if they are not better together, then they are not better together and you lose. Croatia knows this all too well, maybe one by one individually their players may not be better than the teams they beat, but they are better as a team than the other team, that's the key.