Lack Of Cutting Edge Costs Distraught Croatia Dear

These are the most difficult moments in my career and words can`t describe how sad we all are.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic took some comfort in looking to the future after his team lost to Turkey in their Euro 2008 quarter-final on Friday.

It was a game his team should have won long before they conceded a last-second equaliser and went down 3-1 on penalties. Without their best striker, the injured Eduardo da Silva, they failed to take their chances and are on their way home.

"We will cry our hearts out for a few more days but life goes on and the sun will rise again tomorrow, other teams have bounced back from this sort of thing and we will too," said Bilic, trying to keep a sense of perspective.

His team had spurned one opportunity after another against their battling rivals but it seemed they had done enough to set up a semi-final clash with Germany on Wednesday in Basel after substitute Ivan Klasnic headed them into a 119th minute lead.

It was not to be, though, as Semih Senturk -- known as The Lifeguard because of the late goals he scores for Fenerbahce -- equalised with the last kick of extra time to force a shootout which left his team mates in raptures.

Croatia's bewildered players, meanwhile, were in despair even before the penalty shootout had started.

"These are the most difficult moments in my career and words can't describe how sad we all are," central defender Josip Simunic said as he struggled to hold back the tears.

"We all gave everything we had, but it wasn't enough because some things are just not meant to be," he added.

While it was a defensive lapse in concentration that led to Turkey's third last-gasp comeback of the tournament, Croatia's poor finishing and the lack of a natural goalscorer was as much to blame for crushing their hopes of reaching the last four.

SEVERE BLOW

The absence of Eduardo, who scored 10 goals in qualifying but is recovering from a fractured fibula and an open dislocation of his left ankle, proved every bit as damaging as Bilic had predicted.

Although the Croatians notched group wins over Austria, Germany and Poland, Bilic was time and again forced to reshuffle his strikers who struggled to find their form.

Mladen Petric barely made his presence felt, Igor Budan failed to shake off a niggling knee injury and Niko Kranjcar could not adjust to playing further upfield than he is used to as an attacking midfielder.

The hard-working Ivica Olic will rue an early sitter he spurned against the Turks when he hit the bar and it was fourth-choice Ivan Klasnic, having recovered from two kidney transplants, who was Croatia's biggest threat up front.

Bilic must regret not playing Klasnic from the start against Turkey after he scored in the 1-0 win over Poland, as the 28-year-old appeared to have moved into top gear when Croatia most needed some clinical finishing.

Bilic was admirably composed after a defeat which he said would haunt him for the rest of his life and was already looking forward to the challenge of reaching the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

"We have a talented young team and the 2010 qualifiers are just round the corner," he said.