Created by Charrúan.




COACH: Slaven BILIĆ



GOALKEEPERS:

1 Stipe PLETIKOSA - Spartak Moscow
12 Mario GALINOVIĆ - Panathinaikos
23 Vedran RUNJE - Lens

DEFENDERS:

2 Dario ŠIMIĆ - Milan
3 Josip ŠIMUNIĆ - Hertha BSC
4 Robert KOVAČ - Borussia Dortmund
5 Vedran ĆORLUKA - Manchester City
6 Hrvoje VEJIĆ - Tom Tomsk
15 Dario KNEŽEVIĆ - Livorno

MIDFIELDERS:

7 Ivan RAKITIĆ - Schalke 04
8 Ognjen VUKOJEVIĆ - Dinamo Zagreb
10 Niko KOVAČ (captain) - Red Bull Salzburg
11 Darijo SRNA - Shakhtar Donetsk
13 Nikola POKRIVAČ - AS Monaco
14 Luka MODRIĆ - Dinamo Zagreb
16 Jerko LEKO - AS Monaco
19 Niko KRANJČAR - Portsmouth
22 Danijel PRANJIĆ - Heerenveen

FORWARDS:

9 Nikola KALINIĆ - Hajduk Split
17 Ivan KLASNIĆ - Werder Bremen
18 Ivica OLIĆ - Hamburg
20 Igor BUDAN- Parma
21 Mladen PETRIĆ - Borussia Dortmund

FORMATION:

...........................PLETIKOSA...........................
.....................................................................
CORLUKA......R.KOVAC.........SIMUNIC.....PRANIJC
.....................................................................
SRNA...........MODRIC...........N.KOVAC...KRANJICAR
.....................................................................
................RAKITIC/KLASNIC/PETRIC.................
..............................OLIC................................


INFO:

The HNS replaced Kranjčar with Slaven Bilić in July 2006. Bilić appointed several younger players to the squad and saw early success, including a 2–0 friendly victory over Italy in his first match. Having controversially suspended players Dario Srna, Ivica Olić and Boško Balaban for missing a curfew after a turbofolk nightclub outing, Bilić led the team in qualification for Euro 2008; they topped their group, losing only one game (to Macedonia) and beating England twice, who consequently failed to qualify for the first time since 1984.

After primary striker Eduardo da Silva suffered a compound fracture while playing in the English Premier League, Bilić was forced to alter his tournament squad significantly and recruited Nikola Kalinić and Nikola Pokrivač, neither of whom had yet played competitive games for the national team. The team received criticism after poor attacking performances in warm-up games against Scotland and Moldova, but at the tournament beat Austria, Germany, and Poland to reach the quarter finals with maximum group points for the first time in their tournament history. Niko Kovač remained team captain at what was expected to be his final international tournament, except in the final group fixture when Dario Šimić temporarily held the position. Croatia's tournament run ended dramatically when they lost a penalty shoot-out to Turkey, but secured the tournament record for fewest goals conceded (2), fewest games lost (0), and earliest goal (in the fourth minute of their opening game against Austria—this was also the all-time earliest successful penalty at the European Championship Finals).


VIDEOS:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q3C468XEqs&feature=player_embedded

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWf7uazTggA&feature=player_embedded