We Are Healthy, Powerful, Strong!

Croatian football representation selector Slaven Bilic was in an exceptionally good mood on the first day of preparations in Catez.

Responsible for his cheerful expression was a medical report which did not include new names, apart from two known before, Mladen Petric and Robert Kovac.

-Fortunately, everyone is healthy, there are no new injuries, therefore we did a preparatory practice.

The team and the expert headquarters are not running away from the role of evident favourites, which is what the selector claims they are:

-We respect them and they are good, but even if we were playing in Skopje we would play to win and be optimistic, let alone in Zagreb. We are healthy, powerful, strong but are exceptionally concentrated, very responsible and aware this will not be easy at all. We will not enter just the first match with maximum engagement, but the first practice as well. I do not need to say this to the players because I have the advantage of them being aware of it. Realistically, we are favourites of the encounter with Macedonia and we are not running away from it. This team can deal with character and quality.

Bilic of Katanec

Slaven Bilic respects Srecko Katanec, but in the end players on the pitch decide, where Croats have advantage:

He has a really good biography. Who ever he trained, they did well. With Slovenia, such a small country, he was at two great competitions, the European and World Championship. They especially played well in the European Championship, they won against Yugoslavia 3-0, they were not just passers-by. Now, he is achieving good results with Macedonia, he is quite organised, but at the same time strives to play. It is clear to see they are better in guesting performances, they have trouble at home, when they need to attack, because this is what the temperamental audience demands. I exceptionally appreciate and respect Katanec. But this story of selectors is somewhat important, is it Hiddink or McClaren. However, it is the players who decided 20, 30 years ago they decide now, and we are stronger here.

A serious analyses of the opponent will be on Thursday when the representatives will watch a DVD on the Macedonians, put together by the expert headquarters:

-We will be doing the analyses before every practice, in order to say a few sentences about the opponent. On Tuesday morning, we will have a meeting with the players, when we are all gathered. The main analyses, to show the Macedonians to the players, will be done on Thursday, when we will be watching the DVD with their matches.

Practices will e done similar to the ones before matches with the English and Israelis:

-We analyse both the good sides and the bad of the opponent, placing exceptional importance on what they are continuously good at, in order to stop them there, and to use where they are weak. On the other hand, we do not adjust ourselves to the opponent that much, but continue with our game, therefore practices before the English and Israelis are now similar as well. We will play these two varieties we have, which we will be able to use on the pitch without substituting a player.

Bilic then explained what these two varieties are:

-We have two systems we used at these five, six matches. One is the classic 4-4-2, which was present, for instance, in Moscow and for a large part, in the match against England, while in Livorn or against the Israelis we used 4-3-3, i.e. 4-5-1, which is the same thing. We have another specific variety, in case, God forbid, anything goes wrong, if we have to chase the score it will be more attacking, leaving the players quite rigid. We have such player, they are so valuable at everything that they can answer to all of these demands.

Secret of success of the representation, Bilic claims, is in the continuous performances of Croatian players in the most powerful European leagues:

This is the secret of our success, the lads mostly have the continuity to pay in good clubs, in strong European leagues and to constantly give good performances in their clubs because without it, this  would not be present in the representation. This makes me happy before this match.

In the end, the selector explained how much of a good move Stipe Pletikosa did by transferring to Spartak.

-It is alright, he is satisfied. He finally solved this dilemma, made another step forward because the Russian league is still the Russian league. He came to the greatest Russian club, which was second last year and pre-round of the Champions League awaits him. In the end, they paid good money for him. This means they wanted him, he was defending in the final round even, I think this is ideal for Stipe.