Croatia squad at Euro 2004
Croatia
Euro 2004 Home | Squad | Star Player | Key Man
The Croats scraped into Euro 2004 by the back door, edging out neighbours Slovenia in a tight play-off tie. The current side is a pale shadow of that which reached the semi finals of France '98 and they will do very well to qualify from Group B. It remains a solid, workman-like team but the flair players of the previous generation have gone and not been replaced. The squad's best player is undoubtedly Juventus' Igor Tudor but he will be suspended for the opening game against Switzerland. This will be the key match - win it and they have a chance of making the quarter finals. Any other result and they will go out.
Squad
Coach: Otto Baric
| Goalkeepers: 1-Stipe Pletikosa (Shakhtar Donetsk), 12-Tomislav Butina (Club Bruges), 23-Joey Didulica (Austria Vienna) Defenders: 13-Dario Simic (Milan), 21-Robert Kovac (Bayern Munich), 5-Igor Tudor (Juventus), 6-Boris Zivkovic (VfB Stuttgart), 3-Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), 4-Stjepan Tomas (Fenerbahce), 14-Mato Neretljak (Hajduk Split), 2-Mario Tokic (Graz AK) Midfielders: 10-Niko Kovac (Hertha Berlin), 7-Milan Rapaic (Ancona), 15-Jerko Leko (Dynamo Kiev), 16-Marko Babic (Bayer Leverkusen), 8-Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), 22-Nenad Bjelica (Kaiserslautern), 20-Giovanni Rosso (Maccabi Haifa) Forwards: 9-Dado Prso (Monaco), 11-Tomislav Sokota (Benfica), 19-Ivica Mornar (Portsmouth), 18-Ivica Olic (CSKA Moscow), 17-Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen) |
| This season has seen Dado Prso really come of age on the European scene with his club Monaco and in the Croatian national team. He profited from Shabani Nonda's misfortune in getting a serious injury early on in the season to force his way into Didier Deschamps team and the race for domestic and European glory. It was his feat of scoring four times in an 8-3 win over Deportivo La Coruna that made the rest of Europe finally sit up and take notice. Monaco missed out on the French league but made the Champions League final although Prso hasn't been an automatic choice for them. However, he became a hero in his homeland when his goals took them through a play-off against neighbours Slovenia to qualify for the final. He has recently been used as a lone striker for his country. |
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| Key Man | Aged 32, Niko Kovac has enjoyed a new lease of life in the national team, being moved into the middle of the park where he can have more influence on the game than in his former wide role. He'll be expected to get through a lot of work and be the link between defence and attack. This season he rejoined Hertha Berlin, having been employed by Bayer Leverkusen, SV Hamburg and Bayern Munich since his first spell at the club, but he hasn't played as regularly as he would have liked over the past three seasons. |
