After a good qualifying campaign Bilic will be hoping to return glory to Croatia as they seek to step into Euro 2008.
Group B is characterized by the presence of favourites Germany which will be tipped by many to top the list here. However, the other powerhouse Croatia might have other plans for the group whilst Austria will be planning to bank on home advantage. Poland will be the black horse here as they have the potential to surprise any of the other three teams.
Croatia
Since achieving independence in 1991 Croatia took part in five major tournaments, three of which were World Cup competitions and the rest being the final stages of the Euro. Their adventures in both tournaments set off with an electric pace as they managed the quarter-final stages at Euro 1996 and two years later bettered the final result into a third place finish at the 1998 World Cup won by host nation France.
From then on the struggle was uphill as legendary Croatian players Boban and Suker hung up their boots. Results evidenced their absence as subsequently Croatia could not qualify through the group stage of the competitions. However, their presence has been a constant so they will take Euro 2008 as a chance to improve on their form at major tournaments.
The Manager – Slaven Bilic
39-year-old Bilic has lived through both great achievements of Craotia at the World Cup and the Euro tournaments in first person. A successful player best remembered for his exploits with London side West Ham, Bilic has never achieved much as a coach. He is therefore cherishing the chance to shine with a squad he has described as the strongest Croatia has had these last five years.
The Squad
Despite not quite close to the strong eleven outfit presented at the early moments of glory of this young nation, Croatia still fields a number of players with internationally recognized talent. Kranjcar, Modric and Klasnic top the list.
Nonetheless one cannot but acknowledge that they have not quite much exploded to the classy heights of playmaker Zvonimir Boban and striker Davor Suker. The squad thus suffers the absence of an inspirational player who can effectively lead the team maintaining a cohesive unit throughout the whole 90 minutes.
The defence is perhaps the weakest point of this squad. Despite the emerging talents of Knezevic and Corluka, with the latter having played a prominent role in Sven Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City this season, the unit seems slow having still to rely on Milan outcast Simic and injury-prone Robert Kovac who has the good old days past him nowadays.
In midfield, crosses and assists from Srna and Kranjcar are sporadic with both players suffering from inconsistency in the last months. Upfront, Eduardo da Silva has suffered a horrible injury that will see him miss out on Euro 2008, but all in all he still had had too little playing time after his move to giants Arsenal this summer.
Prediction
Euro 2008 has the potential to be a success for Croatia, but it can equally reveal itself as the final check point for coach Bilic. Despite having been convincing at the qualifications their Group E adversaries offered no real opposition to their ambitions of conquest. Russia and England both seemed lost at varying points of the campaign easing the path for Croatia’s first place with 29 points.
Results such as their 2-3 win at Wembley, which determined the fate of the English side for Euro 2008, hold promise but also raise suspicions of Croatia having been overly motivated by the fascination and awe such a tie would have held for them. The real challenge will be to keep up a winning mentality for all the matches. But usually it takes an on-pitch leader to sustain that all throughout.
Pre-tournament friendlies have not seen Croatia go over this obstacle convincingly. I fear they will not be in time to put it behind them and this Euro 2008 competition might therefore prove another melancholic defeat for Croatia’s ambitions of revival.
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