Croatia Friendly with Lichtenstein This Weekend

November 11, 2009

Croatian national team have arranged an International friendly match with Lichtenstein for November 14th. Croatia still face old injury problems and several new since the announcement of the lineup. Key players Luka Modrić, Mladen Petrić, Ivica Olić, and Stipe Pletikosa remain sidelined, while Vedran Ćorluka took a knock and will be rested, and replacement Ivo Iličevic was injured over the weekend. Ironically, his replacement, Ivan Stinić, is now injured as well, so Bilić called up two new players once again. After calling up Tomislav Dujmović, Ivan Strinić, and Manuel Pamić, Bilić has also called in Mladen Bartulović and Gordon Schildfeld to join the squad. Ivan Rakitić and Dejan Lovren do not feature as they are on “loan” to the young Croatian representative’s squad for a match. Drago Gabrić, Mate Bilić, and Nikica Jevalvić will all be included again. The lineup now looks as so…

Goal : Vedran Runje, Danijel Subašić;

Defence : Ivan Križanac, Josip Šimunić, Dario Knežević, Danijel Pranjić;

Midfield : Darijo Srna, Ivan Jurić, Ognjen Vukojević, Niko Kranjčar, Nikola Pokrivač, Tomislav Dujmovic, Manuel Pamić, Drago Gabrić, Mladen Bartulović;

Forwards : Eduardo da Silva, Ivan Klasnić, Nikola Jelavić, Mate Bilić, Mario Mandžikić, Gordon Schildfeld;

Slaven Bilić had recently reported that the British media had inquired if he would consider being a correspondent for them during the World Sup 2010. He said, “I was told the Daily Telegraph and BBC were looking at me as a correspondent, but, because of the important matches in the UK, I do not want to accept these offers.”
He later stated to the Daily Jutarnji List, that after not qualifying for the World Cup, “The next morning, I didn’t know whether to wash my face or kill myself.” He continued, “Most people were expecting England to win in Ukraine. I did not. I knew England could lose that match. They struggled with Ukraine in London, were tied with Andorra in the 55th minute and were listless in Kazakhstan. They were brilliant only against Croatia. England’s loss to Ukraine was not only a shock, but also a disappointment. I felt empty but not cheated, as the majority of Croats felt.”

Despite all of that, the team is preparing for their friendly in a few days and they are then preparing to take on Europe again in 2012.

Jill Guthrie

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