Croatia

2006 was the third World Cup finals that Croatia participated in since the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

Croatia's first World Cup finals were a highly succesful appearance in 1998 in France. They defeated Germany in the quarter finals but lost to hosts France in the semi-finals. Davor Suker won the Golden Boot at the 1998 tournament.

In 2002 Croatia qualified again but they failed to reach the last sixteen.

Croatia World Cup profile continues below

Croatia reached the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals by finishing top of their qualifying group, including two wins against Sweden. It would be foolish, therefore, to underestimate the Croatians.

Their manager, Zlatko Kranjcar, used to be a top class player in his own right having scored 98 goals for Dinamo Zagreb.

Key players for Croatia are likely to be the Glasgow Rangers striker, Dado Prso; and the brothers Niko (captain) and Robert Kovac in defence.

Croatia were slightly unlucky in their opening game when they went down 1-0 to tournament favourites, Brazil, having put up an organised display. In their second game - against Japan - they again failed to score with Darijo Srna having a penalty saved and had to be content with a 0-0 draw.

A disappointing World Cup came to a close for Croatia in a heated 2-2 draw with Australia with Simic and Simunic being sent off - the latter, at the end of the game, after 3 yellow cards!

Croatia Squad:

Player Club Position Caps Goals
T Butina FC Bruges G 27 0
J Didulica Austria Vienna G 4 0
S Pletikosa Shakhtar Donetsk G 49 0
Dario Simic Milan D 78 3
Robert Kovac Juventus D 54 0
A Seric Panathinaikos D 14 0
J Simunic Hertha Berlin D 40 3
M Tokic Austria Vienna D 26 0
S Tomas Galatasaray D 48 2
I Tudor Siena D 51 3
M Babic B. Leverkusen M 31 3
Ivan Leko FC Bruges M 11 0
Jerko Leko Dynamo Kiev M 34 2
N Kranjcar Hajduk Split M 19 3
L Modric Dynamo Zagreb M 3 0
Nico Kovac Hertha Berlin M 57 8
D Srna Shakhtar Donetsk M 35 9
J Vranjes W. Bremen M 22 0
B Balaban FC Bruges F 25 9
I Bosnjak Dynamo Zagreb F 11 1
I Klasnic W. Bremen F 18 7
I Olic CSKA Moscow F 35 6
D Prso Rangers F 28 9