Euro 2008 Team Profile: Croatia

Group: B; Austria, Germany, Poland.

Nickname: Vatreni (”The Blazers”)

Jersey: Red and white checkered shirt with white shorts for home, all blue for away.

FIFA World Ranking (as of May 2008): 13th.

Fixtures/Schedule:

08/06/2008 Austria 18:00
12/06/2008 Germany 18:00
16/06/2008 Poland 20:45

Captain: Niko Kovac, DM, Red Bull Salzburg (77 caps)

Coach: Slaven Bilic

Quite simply, Croatia’s coach is cooler than your coach. He’s young, he has a rock band, he holds a law degree and he smokes on the sidelines like it’s a one man tribute to Mickey Rooney. His band, Rawbau, penned the official anthem for the Croatian NT at Euro 2008 (he plays guitar), Fiery Madness. Strangest of all? They’re actually good. So he’s totally throwback. And, oh yeah, he’s one of the hottest up and coming coaches in the world of football. Penned an extension through 2010 much to the dismay of many a big club around Europe. That’s all.

Expectations: Croatia coasted through qualifying, famously ousting England on the last day of qualifying at Wemberly and losing only once, to Macedonia. They were expected to do well, but to win 9 and lose only once? May have been asking a bit much. But their veteran presence combined with up and coming talent (not forgetting Bilic) enabled them to make their name on the way to Swissaustria.

However, one of the shining young stars leading the charge through qualifying, Eduardo, was hacked down playing for Arsenal this season, and will only be watching from the sidelines. A huge loss, considering he contributed 10 goals during qualifying. But while they lost one from a North London club, the other guy playing in North London next season, Luka Modric, will certainly pick up some of the slack in terms of talent.

As far as Group B goes, tournament favorites Germany can almost be penciled into the second round, as they were probably the most impressive team during qualifying, and now boast some seriously in form talent (i.e. Michael Ballack and Mario Gomez). At the other end of the spectrum, Austria has no expectations besides showing up to look pretty and hopefully not embarrass themselves. This leaves Croatia and Poland fighting for one spot. Croatia would seem to have the advantage and the loftier expectations (some even consider them a tournament darkhorse), but Poland has really improved coming off their major disappointment in the summer of ‘06.

Most will pick them to go through, but it may not end up that way - with that last fixture against Poland probably proving absolutely critical.

Key Player: Luka Modric. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Perhaps the most anticipated player at this tournament, mostly because he’s been playing in the relative anonymity of the Croatian league since his professional debut, despite being one of the greatest talents in the world. This will be the first great and sustained introduction to the mighty playmaker before he moves onto Tottenham after the tournament.

For more, check his player profile.

Other Key Players: Mladen Petric will attempt to make up for the lost scoring of Eduardo with his 7 goals in qualifying in tow - unfortunately 6 of those came against Andorra and they aren’t in Group B - along with Ivan Klasnic and Ivica Olic. In the midfield is Niko Krancjar, son of former national team coach Zlatko and one of the best players for the team, as well as captain Niko Kovac and Darijo Srna. In the back it’s all about the experienced triumvirate of Robert Kovac (brother of Niko), Josip Simunic, Dario Simic and the talented phenom Vedran Corluka, with Stipe Pletikosa in goal.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Vedran Runje (Lens), Mario Galinovic (Panathinaikos)

Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Dario Simic (Milan), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Dario Knezevic (Livorno), 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)

Complete Euro 2008 squads, with numbers, here.

Team Blog: Mario runs the Croatian blog.

Random International Moments:

Davor Suker takes on and beats Peter Schmeichel.

The goals of Croatia’s historic run in World Cup 1998.

Revenge against England after their loss to the Three Lions knocked them out of Euro 2004 in the group stages. Safe to say Croatia one-upped them.

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