Greetings from Croatia!! (few questions)

[DayVeeCRO]

Hi you red-haired guys!

Since Hrvatska and England are in the same group i have some questions for English fans.

First off all there have been some rumors that Campbell will go on operation before Euro so he will miss it. Is that confirmed or is it just news paper story?
Also i need some info on striker Defoe, about his skill, way he plays etc.
Who will be in your squad on strike positions beside Owen and Rooney? (Vassel, Heskey, Defoe, Beattie )?
Are Wright-Phillips and Wes Brown in calllculations? :confused:

About Croatian squad, here is the list of players that i would take to Euro:

GOALKEAPERS:
Stipe Pletikosa ( Shaktar-UKR )
Tomislav Butina ( Club Brugge-BEL )
Joey Didulica ( Austria Wien-AU )

DEFENDERS:
Robert Kovač ( Bayern Munchen-GER )
Dario Šimić ( AC Milan-ITA )
Igor Tudor ( Juventus-ITA )
Boris Živković ( Stuttgart-GER )
Josip Šimunić ( Hertha-GER )
Stjepan Tomas ( Fenerbahce-TUR )
Mato Neretljak ( Hajduk Split-CRO )

MIDFIELDERS:
Giovanni Rosso ( Maccabi-ISR )
Niko Kovač ( Hertha-GER )
Marko Babić ( Bayer Leverkusen-GER )
Milan Rapaić ( Ancona-ITA )
Jerko Leko ( Dynamo Kiev-UKR )
Dario Srna ( Shaktar-UKR )
Niko Kranjčar ( Dinamo Zagreb-CRO )
Nenad Bjelica ( Kaiserslautern-GER )


FORWARDS:
Dado Pršo ( AS Monaco-FRA )
Tomislav Šokota ( Benfica-POR )
Ivan Klasnić ( Werder Bremen-GER )
Ivica Olić ( CSKA Moscow-RUS )
Ivica Mornar ( Portsmouth-ENG )

We miss some great players like: Šuker, Boban, Prosinečki, Asanović, Soldo.
Of course small nation with 4.5 million of inhabitants can not easylly replace such players but we have good team.

We have strong defence with Živković-R.Kovač-Tudor-Šimić and replacements Šimunić, Tomas and Neretljak are OK.

Our attack is also good, leader is Pršo. Klasnić is great this season in Werder, one of key reasons why they won Bundesliga title. Šokota is best Benfica s scorer this season, ask Portugeese fans about him.
Olić is the best striker of Russian league.

Our main problem is midfield. We dont have great creative players any more. Our wings with Rapaić and young 21y old Srna and Babić are ok. Jerko Leko is also good in Dynamo Kiev this season.

Our Greatest talent is 19 years old NIKO KRANJČAR from Dinamo Zagreb, he will surley be big superstar in future, all the biggest European teams (Milan Man. U, Arsenal, Barcelona) are in chase for him.
He has great skill, vision and pass, he will be next Boban, Prosinečki or Zidane.
He can really dribble the hell :D out of opposite team players.
I hope that he will play in Portugal, not only on U21 Euro in Germany.

You are the favourites, so the pressure is on you; if Croatia would fail to quallify for 1/4 finall it would be expected, but watch out for supprise cause we can really be nightmare, especially for strong teams when our players are motivated!!

[sendorange]

Hi you red-haired guys!

Since Hrvatska and England are in the same group i have some questions for English fans.

First off all there have been some rumors that Campbell will go on operation before Euro so he will miss it. Is that confirmed or is it just news paper story?
Also i need some info on striker Defoe, about his skill, way he plays etc.
Who will be in your squad on strike positions beside Owen and Rooney? (Vassel, Heskey, Defoe, Beattie )?

Are Wright-Phillips and Wes Brown in calllculations? :confused:

You are the favourites, so the pressure is on you; if Croatia would fail to quallify for 1/4 finall it would be expected, but watch out for supprise cause we can really be nightmare, especially for strong teams when our players are motivated!!
Campbell was rumoured to be in need of an operation, and he's missed the last load of friendlies because of this apparent injury, but it looks like he should be fit for Euro 2004 and will be rested beforehand. I don't know how he will handle playing so many games in such a compressed time though. England will be missing a lot of central defenders this summer, so Wes Brown might well get called up but only if one or two more get ruled out. So far it will be Campbell, Terry, Southgate, King and probably a utility player like Carragher.

Defoe is a very talented young striker, small but exceptionally fast and a goalscorer. I suppose if I had to do a comparison I'd say he's closest to Owen in playing style but less polished and with more natural flair. For the strikers it seems like it will be Owen, Rooney and Heskey with one of Vassell or Defoe. Alan Smith may go along as well, but it's not looking likely.

Wright-Phillips is unlikely to be going but not definitely ruled out, he's talented but still has areas of his game to improve and for now England has enough right-sided players. I think Sven has Beckham, Dyer and Hargreaves in mind for the squad and who can play there. If one of those gets injured then it's possible.

I'm sure Croatia - England will be a very tough game, and that's without going into the fact that England tend to underachieve in such matches. I'm certain it will prove to be critical to decide who qualifies, but I can see it ending up as a draw, with whoever of the two going through depending on how they did against the Swiss and French.

[Prenn]

Red Haired?

I'm sorry you must be confusing us for the Scots.

[aloisius]

Our Greatest talent is 19 years old NIKO KRANJČAR from Dinamo Zagreb, he will surley be big superstar in future, all the biggest European teams (Milan Man. U, Arsenal, Barcelona) are in chase for him.
He has great skill, vision and pass, he will be next Boban, Prosinečki or Zidane.
He can really dribble the hell :D out of opposite team players.
I hope that he will play in Portugal, not only on U21 Euro in Germany.

You are really buying the Zagreb media propaganda, aren't you? The 'every major club is after him' line is just fiction. It's much more likely that his next club will be CSKA Moscow than Barcelona. He was average every time he was confronted with just a decent , not top, European club. If he does really well in the U 23 Euros, than he should go to Portugal , if not it won't be a big loss .

The squad you posted is probably the one will have in Portugal, with Ivan Leko who's had a very good 2. half of the season for Malaga instead of Kranjcar. Tudor will most likely play in midfield.

I just hope we beat the Swiss, if that happens we'll have a great chance of reaching the the quarters.