CROATIA

The Team
 
NAME
POSITION
AGE
CLUB
       
Dtazen Ladic
GK
34
Croatia Zagreb
Marijian Mrmic
GK
32
Besiktas
Tonci Gabric
GK
36
Hajduk Split
 
 
 
 
Slaven Bilic
D
29
Everton
Robert Jarni
D
29
Betis
Niko Kovac
D
26
Bayer Leverkusen
Dario Simic
D
22
Croatia Zagreb
Igor Stimac
D
28
Derby Cunty
Nikola Jerkan
D
33
Rapid Vienna
Goran Juric
D
34
Croatia Zagreb
Danjel Sanric
D
25
Croatia Zagreb
Igor Tudor 
D
19
Hajduk Split
 
 
 
 
Zvonimir Soldo
M
30
VfB Stuuugart
Aljosa Asanovic
M
32
Derby County
Zvonimir Boban
M
29
AC Milan
Robert Prosinecki
M
28
Croatia Zagreb
Nikola Jurcevic
M
31
Salzburg Austria
Krunoslav Jurcic
M
28
Croatia Zagreb
Silvio Mario
M
22
Croatia Zagreb
 
 
 
 
Davor Suker
F
29
Real Madrid
Igor Cvitanovic
F
27
Croatia Zagreb
Alen Boksic
F
27
Lazio
Goran Vlaovic
F
25
Valencia
Tomislav Erceg
F
26
Hajduk
 
 
The Coach
 
Croatian coach MIROSLAV BLAZEVIC saw his team through a roller-coaster qualifying campaign that several times looked like coming off the rails.  But at the end of a nail-biting year which ended in victory over Ukraine in the playoffs, Blazevic was able to tell his nation: " I told you I would take Croatia to France, and this was in an even more spectacular way."  He was smiling as he spoke.  The smartly-dressed, 60-year-old chain-smoker almost lost his job at one point halfway through the qualifiers, but securing Croatian soccer its biggest success in the seven-year long history cemented his position.
 
 
How They Qualified
 
Europe Group 1
 
Bosnia - Croatia
1 - 4
Croatia - Greece
1 - 1
Croatia - Denmark
1 - 1
Croatia - Slovenia
3 - 3
Greece - Croatia
0 - 1
Croatia - Bosnia
3 - 2
Denmark - Croatia
3 - 1
Slovenia - Croatia
1 - 3
 
Final Table
 
 
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
Denmark
8
5
2
1
14
6
17
Croatia
8
4
3
1
17
12
15
Greece
8
4
2
2
11
4
14
Bosnia
8
3
0
5
9
14
9
Slovenia
8
0
1
7
5
20
1
 
 
 World Cup Record
 
NONE