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Croatian coach Slaven Bilic announced this week the squad which he will take with him to the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland this summer, making him the first coach to do so. Rather than being filled with surprises, the greatest surprise was the lack of surprises. Of course, there is no Eduardo, that has been known for some time now, and, with equal certainty, present are Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar, Ivica Olic and Niko Kovac. The only sour note for some fans of Croatian football will be the woeful lack of Croatian based players in the squad.
Despite having a fully functioning league that has been the cradle for many of the squad’s star players, only three players from the league were able to impress the coach enough to make his twenty-three man squad. Nobody would be foolish enough to suggest that the Croatian league is on a par with its Italian, English or German counterparts but it nevertheless seems that several extremely talented players have been left out who could have expected to make the squad even if they would not have started games. Players like Mario Mandzukic, Anas Sharbini and Bosko Balaban could certainly be forgiven at questioning their own omissions when places were found for Hrvoje Vejic and Robert Kovac. Balaban did himself no favours openly criticising Bilic in the Croatian media, and while it might be argued that he is past his best and has had his chance, he is an old warhorse who does manage to score goals. Greater sympathy must be felt for Mario Mandzukic and Anas Sharbini both of whom are young players and should have been given a chance. Sharbini has at least made Bilic’s reserve list, but there was no such consolation for Mandzukic. Of course, Hrvoje Vejic and Robert Kovac play in different positions to these two up and coming stars, but their inclusion should be questioned irrespective of who it kept out of the team. Vejic plays in Russia for the less that glamorous FC Tom Tomsk, located deep in the oppressive Russian interior and carries the ignominious 84 as his shirt number. FC Tom Tomsk slowly rose to Russia’s top league but in the few seasons that they have been there they have achieved nothing of note. Greater concern lies with Robert Kovac who can at best be described as unreliable at the moment. While not wishing to diminish the previous achievements of a player who has served his nation impressively, it looks as though Kovac has made the squad based on his past glories rather than current form. Since signing with Borussia Dortmund this season, a last minute deal which came about because a move to Dinamo Zagreb fell through due to personal reasons (for this read size of wages), Kovac has been largely anonymous. At his German club he has been entirely overshadowed by his countryman Mladen Petric who has been in scintillating form. Furthermore, cynically speaking it might be asked whether Robert Kovac has made the squad so as to keep his brother Niko happy. Niko sometimes tires after sixty minutes and by the end of games can look as though he is on his last legs, but nevertheless he is a talismanic captain, strong tackler and an example to all of the squad. Is his brother dead weight?
The problem which exists around Robert Kovac can also be said to affect other members of the team. What has Dario Simic done to deserve his place in the squad? At AC Milan he is nothing but a bit player, trotted out in the final minutes of games when the result is already assured, win or lose. In Croatia it is akin to blasphemy to speak a bad word about Dario Simic, the country’s most capped footballer, is a player who has defined the Croatian national team for over a decade. But is that not maybe the problem? Simic is part of the old guard, players who have played their best football and now need to move over and make way for the exciting new generation that includes Vedran Corluka, Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar.
Of the three players who bucked the trend and managed to come from Prva HNL clubs into the national team, one of those, Luka Modric, has already signed a contract to play for English club Tottenham Hotspur next season. Nobody can blame Modric for this, he has achieved all that there is to achieve with Dinamo, with the exception of helping the team play in a European competition after the new year, but this is why he has made the move. Of course money plays a part but Modric is such a humble man that the opportunity to test himself against Europe’s best, both in the League and in Europe (Tottenham secured a place in the UEFA Cup thanks to winning the Carling Cup), is what made the move essential. His team-mate Ognjen Vukojevic, a firm tackling midfielder and likely star attraction at Dinamo following Modric’s exit so long as he does not accept Celtic’s advances, also made the squad. He has played well this season, showing himself to be both hard working and reliable even if he lacks the pure skill of Modric. Vukojevic is one of Bilic’s favourites, but has done enough to prove himself. The third and final domestic talent making the journey to Austria is Nikola Kalinic. Having attracted the attention of both Chelsea and Schalke thanks to some sublime goals, Kalinic will be looking to impress, if a move abroad is indeed his aim. Kalinic will be under no illusions regarding his position in the pecking order though, only making the team due to the injury to Eduardo and having four other more proven strikers ahead of him. He is likely to only get a run out if Croatia win their first two matches and can relax for the third game or if everything goes wrong and Bilic has to resort to desperation tactics. Vukojevic and Modric will get time to show themselves, but Kalinic on the other hand should look back to the last World Cup in Germany. At that tournament there were again only three Croatian based players, and one of those was striker Ivan Bosnjak (the other two being Modric and Kranjcar). Bosnjak’s contribution to Croatia’s World Cup was four minutes at the end of the game against Japan where it seemed that Croatia would never have scored even if they had drafted Maradona, Pele and Linekar into the team.
Of course, it is entirely Bilic’s prerogative to select the players he feels comfortable working with since he is the man who brought Croatia to the finals. That is not to jump on the Bilic bandwagon which in the Croatian mass media which has got to the stage that nobody would bat an eyelid were they to suggest Bilic be sainted, for example several publications voted him their “2007 Man of the Year”. No, wiping away the mist of public idolisation, which could easily vanish if Croatia perform poorly, it is Bilic’s job to do what he feels right during these championships. The time for reflection and criticism is after the final whistle of Croatia’s final match, whether that be after their final group match against Poland on 16th June in provincial Klagenfurt or after a dream final against Italy in grandiose Vienna on 29th June. Bilic has shown he has great potential and even more passion, he must just remember that his players were what got him to the final and that public opinion can be painfully fickle come the end of the summer.
Balaban’s exlusion wasn’t too much of a surprise. He even gave an interview to Croatia’s leading sports newspaper Sportske Novosti about 5 weeks ago saying that he had already sat down with his wife and decided where they would be going this summer... and it wasn’t Austria.
Balaban’s a decent player, but he’s a decent player for the Croatian league, not for the European Championships. He’s regularly, though not prolifically, socred for Dinamo this season. Whilst none of us would have been taken aback by his inclusion, we’re not shocked by his exclusion.
