World Cup 2014 Opponents Profile: Croatia

Scotland avoided the big guns in Saturday night’s World Cup qualifying draw in Rio but it will still be a massive task to take any points at all from our two games against the group’s top seeds. Croatia has a proud tradition of producing top quality footballers despite only playing their first match as a FIFA member in 1990 against the USA, following their independence from Yugoslavia.

In 1996, Croatia took part in their first ever tournament by reaching the quarter finals at the European Championships in England, losing to the eventual champions Germany. It was in 1998, under Miroslav Blazevic, that Croatia reached their full potential after reaching the semi finals of the World Cup in France before again losing to the eventual champions, France, in extra time. Blazevic’s team was dubbed the “Golden generation” and was laced with world-class players like Davor Suker, Dario Simic, Mario Stanic and Zvonimir Boban. The current crop of players is not quite of the same ilk but they’re not too far off.

Midfield dynamo Luka Modric is regarded as one of the most creative midfielders in world football at the moment after three excellent seasons at Tottenham. Two other Tottenham players, Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar have been mainstays in the national team for many years and are likely to face Scotland. But the quality Croatia possesses does not end in North London; they have players playing for some of the best club sides in Europe. Wingback Danijel Pranjic is a regular for Bayern Munich whilst centre half Dejan Lovren is a crucial part of the Lyon side. Moreover, captain Darijo Srna has over 50 appearances to his name in the champions league for Shaktar Donetsk.

The strikers at the disposal of current coach Slaven Billic are also of significant quality. The six strikers called up to the last squad, in June of this year, all boast a wealth of experience at Europe’s top level of football. Eduardo, formerly of Arsenal, is typically partnered with either Mladen Petric of Hamburg SV or Ivica Olic of Bayern Munich. Olic has played in both the Europa League and Champions League finals in recent seasons and relies upon his notorious never say die attitude to wear down opponents.

Familiar to Scottish football fans will be £4 Million Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic. The former Rapid Vienna forward has looked impressive in his first six months in Glasgow and has been referred to by Billic on several occasions as a big part of Croatia’s future.

Scotland have a decent record against Croatia with three draws from three fixtures, the last of which coming in George Burley’s first match at Hampden in 2008. Kenny Miller and Niko Cranjcar scored in an entertaining 1-1 draw. The only competitive fixtures came in a qualifying group for the 2002 World Cup. A 1-1 draw in Zagreb, with Kevin Gallagher scoring, left Scotland needing three points from our last two games of the section against Belgium and Croatia to reach Japan and South Korea.

A 0-0 draw with the Croats at Hampden, with Billy Dodds having a debatable offside strike ruled out, followed by a 2-0 defeat in Brussels, left Craig Brown’s side’s World Cup dreams in tatters.

The Croatian national side normally play their home games at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, home of Dynamo Zagreb, with a 39,000 all seated capacity. In recent years, the Maksimir has undergone a series of renovations with the national side playing their competitive matches elsewhere in Croatia but it is expected to be confirmed as the home stadium for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Like I mentioned previously, on the face of it avoiding sides like Spain and Germany was a positive for Scotland but looking at the Croatian squad, it might be just as hard a task.

Written by Daniel Caw