World Cup 2006 Groups: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H

Group F Team Profiles: Brazil | Croatia | Australia | Japan

Croatia

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Croatia team kit

Alongside Sweden, Croatia underwent a bruising battle for the right to progress from Group 8 - only for both nations to advance anyway. But the fact that the Croats beat their main rivals home and away yet only finished top of the group on goal difference perhaps masks a soft underbelly capable of being exploited in Germany. The draw with minnows Malta in September - in which 21-year-old playmaker Niko Kranjcar, son of coach Zlatko Kranjcar scored the visitors' only goal - was a real low point in the campaign.

Croatia suffered first-round elimination in 2002 and again at the European Championships in 2004 but the location of next year's tournament might help avoid a third straight such exit. Germany is home from home for a number of Kranjcar's squad including Werder Bremen striker Ivan Klasnic and former Bayern Munich brothers Niko and Robert Kovac. However, whether the current crop has the quality to match the 1998 squad of Boban, Prosinecki and Suker and advance from a devilish group is less certain.

Croatia Matches

Match # Date & Time Group Teams Result Venue
11 Tue 13th Jun 21:00 F  BRA  CRO 1 - 0 Berlin
28 Sun 18th Jun 15:00 F  JPN  CRO 0 - 0 Nuremberg
44 Thu 22nd Jun 21:00 F  CRO  AUS 2 - 2 Stuttgart

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

Key Players

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Squad

Total World Cup 2006
# Posn Name DOB Club Caps Goals Pld Goals OG YC RC
1 GK Pletikosa Stipe 08-01-1979 Hajduk Split CRO 54 0 3 0 0 1 0
2 MF Srna Darijo 01-05-1982 Shakhtar Donetsk UKR 40 10 3 1 0 1 0
3 DF Simunic Josip 18-02-1978 Hertha Berlin GER 46 3 3 0 0 1 1
4 DF Kovac Robert 06-04-1974 Juventus ITA 59 0 2 0 0 2 0
5 DF Tudor Igor 16-04-1978 Siena ITA 56 3 3 0 0 2 0
6 MF Vranjes Jurica 31-01-1980 Werder Bremen GER 24 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 DF Simic Dario 12-11-1975 AC Milan ITA 84 3 3 0 0 1 1
8 MF Babic Marko 28-01-1981 Bayer Leverkusen GER 37 3 3 0 0 0 0
9 FW Prso Dado 05-11-1974 Rangers SCO 33 9 3 0 0 0 0
10 MF Kovac Niko 15-10-1971 Hertha Berlin GER 62 9 3 1 0 1 0
11 DF Tokic Mario 23-07-1975 Austria Vienna AUT 28 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 GK Didulica Joe 14-10-1977 Austria Vienna AUT 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 DF Tomas Stjepan 06-03-1976 Galatasaray TUR 49 1 1 0 0 0 0
14 MF Modric Luka 09-09-1985 Dinamo Zagreb CRO 7 0 2 0 0 0 0
15 MF Leko Ivan 07-02-1978 Club Bruges BEL 13 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 MF Leko Jerko 09-04-1980 Dynamo Kyiv UKR 39 2 2 0 0 0 0
17 FW Klasnic Ivan 29-01-1980 Werder Bremen GER 24 7 3 0 0 0 0
18 FW Olic Ivica 14-09-1979 CSKA Moscow RUS 40 6 3 0 0 0 0
19 MF Kranjcar Niko 13-08-1984 Hajduk Split CRO 25 3 3 0 0 0 0
20 MF Seric Anthony 15-01-1979 Panathinaikos GRE 14 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 FW Balaban Bosko 15-10-1978 Club Bruges BEL 27 9 0 0 0 0 0
22 FW Bosnjak Ivan 06-02-1979 Dinamo Zagreb CRO 14 1 1 0 0 0 0
23 GK Butina Tomislav 30-03-1974 Club Bruges BEL 28 0 0 0 0 0 0