Created by Charrúan.
Croatia 2008
COACH: Slaven BILIĆ
GOALKEEPERS:
1 Stipe PLETIKOSA -
Spartak Moscow12 Mario GALINOVIĆ -
Panathinaikos23 Vedran RUNJE -
LensDEFENDERS:
2 Dario ŠIMIĆ -
Milan3 Josip ŠIMUNIĆ -
Hertha BSC4 Robert KOVAČ -
Borussia Dortmund5 Vedran ĆORLUKA -
Manchester City6 Hrvoje VEJIĆ -
Tom Tomsk15 Dario KNEŽEVIĆ -
LivornoMIDFIELDERS:
7 Ivan RAKITIĆ -
Schalke 048 Ognjen VUKOJEVIĆ -
Dinamo Zagreb10 Niko KOVAČ (captain) -
Red Bull Salzburg11 Darijo SRNA -
Shakhtar Donetsk13 Nikola POKRIVAČ -
AS Monaco14 Luka MODRIĆ -
Dinamo Zagreb16 Jerko LEKO -
AS Monaco19 Niko KRANJČAR -
Portsmouth22 Danijel PRANJIĆ -
HeerenveenFORWARDS:
9 Nikola KALINIĆ -
Hajduk Split17 Ivan KLASNIĆ -
Werder Bremen18 Ivica OLIĆ -
Hamburg20 Igor BUDAN-
Parma21 Mladen PETRIĆ -
Borussia DortmundFORMATION:
...........................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