Croatia - Euro 2008 Team Profile

Ozren Podnar reports...

Croatia Copyright © Soccerphile

Road to Switzerland / Austria

As qualifiers go, Croatia is one of the soccer greats. The men in the chequered shirts have made it to their fourth consecutive major tournament, the sixth out of seven in the nation's history.

They topped a tough Group E with one defeat in 12 games and were five points ahead of Russia, whom they helped qualify by stunning England at Wembley. Croatia's performance at the finals in Austria and Switzerland may be a bit different, though. Not least because of the injury to Eduardo da Silva.

Analysis

Slaven Bilic has a tight-knit, competitive side under his command, but the curse of the final rounds is again looming over Croatia. For a couple of days after the 3-2 win at Wembley, the fans were in a trance, believing the team is capable of making it to the semifinals, maybe even the finals of the championship. The draw which paired them with Austria, the lesser of the two hosting nations, served to fuel that optimism. But, in the following months some pessimism has crept in among the players, coaches and the FA itself.

The first friendly in 2008 brought a severe disappointment as Croatia were thumped by the Netherlands by 3-0 in Split. Actually, the defeat was sort of expected in a city where Croatia had never won a single game (and where the fixtures are rarely organized due to this superstition), but the manner in which the Dutch won was deeply upsetting.

Just over two weeks later Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva had his leg broken in that brutal challenge from Birmingham's Martin Taylor. The loss of Croatia's top scorer for the next 8-9 months shocked the nation, that no longer speaks of certain passage to the quarter finals, let alone beyond. Then, there is the internal turmoil between the FA and the Football League led by Igor Stimac, who is attempting to oust the current FA chairman, the aging Vlatko Markovic.

Player-for-player, Croatia is still superior to Austria and Poland, alongside Germany the rivals in the group stage, but the spirit from Wembley is not there anymore.

Still, there is still time to recover some of the enthusiasm that enabled the Croats to shine. On paper, Bilic's team is evenly balanced with a defence which usually concedes few goals, a midfield packed with pace and creativity alike, and an attack featuring two of the top Bundesliga scorers.

Central defender Robert Kovac of Dortmund is still going strong and right full back Vedran Corluka has been a revelation in Manchester City in the Premier League. The left flank due to lack of options, is entrusted to Joe Simunic, a central defender by nature, while the other stopper, Dario Simic, is handicapped because of a lack of playing time at Milan.

In the midfield, Dario Srna offers plenty of speed and incisiveness on the right flank, while the more creative Niko Kranjcar covers the left side. Veteran skipper Niko Kovac or his alter-ego Jerko Leko are in charge of the dirty job in central midfield in order to enable the playmaker Luka Modric to set up the forwards. Ivica Olic and Mladen Petric, both of whom scored at Wembley in November, should be the first-choice strikers, with another Bundesliga star, Ivan Klasnic remains an option after recovering from a kidney transplant. Dinamo Zagreb's Bosko Balaban and Mario Mandzukic are other quality options, but none of them is likely to compensate for Eduardo's absence.

Key player: Luka Modric

The creative midfielder has suffered a slump since Dinamo denied him a transfer abroad during the January window. The Zagreb club's power broker, vice-president Zdravko Mamic, allegedly negotiated with Chelsea in late December, but could not achieve the desired price of 25 million euros. Then the club decided Modric would stay until the summer, which demoralized the youngster.

One to watch: Niko Kranjcar

At 17 hailed as the country's greatest talent since Boban, Suker, Prosinecki or Boksic. Four years later, after an acrimonious transfer from Dinamo to arch rivals Hajduk, voices were heard that the son of the former Croatia coach, Zlatko, was on the verge of failure: fat, slow, inert. Still, the transfer to Portsmouth did him plenty of good. More agile and alert than ever, he managed to add running to his undeniable skills. Initially formed as the supporting striker, Kranjcar is currently capable of operating anywhere in the midfield, the left side being his own in Bilic's 4-4-2 scheme.

Coach

Slaven Bilic. Simply the most popular person in Croatia. A spirited and determined defender in the golden generation of the nineties, who went on to demonstrate no mean coaching skills with the U-21 team, emerging as the logical choice as Zlatko Kranjcar's successor after a flop at the 2006 World Cup. Formerly of Karlsruher SC, West Ham and Everton, Bilic is tremendously knowledgeable about the game and is unreservedly trusted by each one of his players. Fun facts: has a lawyer's degree (no, really) and plays guitar in a rock band.

Recent Previous Tournaments

1996: Quarter-finals
2000: Did not qualify
2004: First round

Soccerphile says .....

The problem for Croatia is that they have to beat Austria in the opener, because a point may not be enough if Poland and Germany manage to do better against the hosts. On the other hand, the Austrians will be determined to shut up the critics who have invariably singled them out as the weakest of the 16 participants. And Austria are, whatever we think of them, the home team at Prater.

Euro 2008 Squad

Bet on Euro 2008

Goalkeepers Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak), Vedran Runje (Lens), Mario Galinovic (Panathinaikos)
Defenders Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Dario Knezevic (Livorno) Robert Kovac (Borussia D.), Dario Simic (Milan), Josip Simunic (Hertha), Hrvoje Vejic (Tom Tomsk)
Midfielders Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Luka Modric (Tottenham), Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Jerko Leko (Monaco), Ivan Rakitic (Schalke 04), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb), Nikola Pokrivac (Monaco)
Forwards Mladen Petric (Borussia Dortmund), Ivica Olic (Hamburg SV), Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen), Igor Budan (Parma), Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split)

Flights To Switzerland / Austria
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