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Semi finals in sight It is time to stop talking about Croatia as the dark horses of Euro 2008 and instead recognize that they are in Fridayâs quarter-final against Turkey on merit and fully capable of going all the way in the tournament.
Indeed, it would be more of a shock if the 1998 World Cup semi-finalists did not progress
against a battered, bruised but not yet broken Turkish side in Vienna.
Croatia did raise some eyebrows when they reached the last eight at Euro â96 only four years
after they came into existence and it was certainly a stunning upset when they beat Germany 3-
0 in the World Cup quarter-finals two years later. But they are regular at major tournaments
now and come into Euro 2008 having topped their qualifying group ahead of Russia after seeing
off England with home and away victories.
Once here they collected maximum points from their group after another win over the
Germans to take top spot in Group B and earn their shot at the Turks, who snatched second
spot in Group A with stunning 3-2 comeback over the Czechs. While reaching the quarterfinals
in England 12 years ago was cause for celebration in the new country, coach Slaven Bilic, a
player then, considers that the minimum expectation these days. âWe donât see ourselves as
revelation any more, although some people perhaps still do,â he said.
âIn our own eyes, we havenât achieved anything spectacular by reaching the last eight because
that was our primary objective before the tournament started.â
Polandâs experienced Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker, whose team were eased aside 1-0 by
Croatiaâs second-string in their final group match game, always predicted that Bilicâs team
would top the section and thinks they can go further.
âThey have a lot of talent and if they can act as a team and not fall back to individuals showing
how good they are, and I think Bilic will make them play like a real team, then theyâll be
dangerous for everyone,â Beenhakker said.
Bilic rested nine first-choice players in that game and is expected to recall them all on Friday,
though Ivan Klasnic, who scored and was impressive against Poland, could start up
Written by majicka
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