Three days before the qualifying match with the Russian national team in Moscow, her rival, the Croatian team, lost three leading players at once.On Sunday, the head coach of “watrenich” (fiery) is translated from Croatian) Slaven Bilic expelled Dario Srnu, striker of the Belgian “Brugge” Bosco Balaban and CSKA striker Ivica Olica, for violating the discipline of Donetsk Shakhtar midfielder. On the night of Saturday to Sunday, the aforementioned trinity left the location of the Croatian national team in the resort town of Čatež (Slovenia), where Bilic’s wards are preparing for the match in Cherkizovo, and went to Zagreb to pass the time in one of the capital’s clubs.
Learning about the sorties of football players who, according to eyewitnesses, sat in the club until five in the morning, Bilich held a meeting, in addition to the guilty players, his assistant Alyosha Asanovich, as well as team captain Niko Kovacs were present. At the end of the meeting, which lasted about half an hour, Bilich, Asanovich and Kovach joined the training session taking place at that time. The expelled violators went to collect things, and then left Čatež.
“I will be very brief, because there is no need to talk about the incident in detail. These three are no longer competing for places in the national team in the Moscow match, and instead of them I will not invite new players, ”the Croatian national team coach told reporters in Čatež.
The lack of professionalism of Srna, Balaban and Olic only added to the trouble for the coaching staff of the Croatian national team. In addition to the existing problems with the completion of the defensive line now have to shuffle the midfield and attack. Recall that, due to disqualifications, the game in Moscow will be missed by defenders Dario Shimich (Milan) and Josip Shimunich (Hertha), and the pillar of defense Igor Tudor (Siena) is injured. The participation of another defender, the newly made legionnaire of the Italian Livorno, Dario Knezhevich, is in question.
The expulsion of Srna (according to experts, the best player in Croatia in the qualifying round for the World Cup in Germany) will force Bilić to look for a replacement in the middle line, while the head coach will most likely prefer Ivan Klasnic from the Bremen Bremen and the Brazilian with a Croatian passport Eduardo Da Silve (Zagreb Dynamo).
“I’m thinking about a 4-3-3 scheme that can be transformed into 4-5-1. The second option is the classic 4-4-2 circuit. I must say that we have high-class players, which gives us the opportunity to consider 5-6 tactical versions of building the game, but we limited ourselves to two. We don’t want to be in search for too long and waste time on what we don’t need in Russia, ”sportsnet.hr reports.
In response to a question about the statement of Guus Hiddink, who said in an interview with the UEFA official publication that the Croatian national team is stronger than the Russian one and, along with the British, is the favorite of the qualifying group, the Croatian national team coach suggested that the Dutch specialist certainly did not dissemble.
“This is not necessarily a polite curtsy in our direction. I believe that we are better than Russia, but we must not forget that the football superpower will confront us, ”Bilich poured in oncoming compliments. - Russia will play on its own field, and the strength of its team lies, among other things, in the fact that it relies on players from only three clubs. Nevertheless, I believe in my team and expect success in Moscow. ”
The duel in Cherkizovo will be the first match of the Croatian national team with the Russian team since Zagreb gained independence in 1991. Croatian media recall the highly successful performances of their team in meetings with other teams formed as a result of the collapse of the USSR. In 12 qualifying matches for the European Championship and the World Cup against the teams of Ukraine (4), Estonia (4), Latvia (2) and Lithuania (2), the Croats won eight times, three games ended in a draw, and the only “defeat” suffered from Ukraine in the selection for the European Championship 1996 (0-1 in Kiev).
Boyan SHOCH