European Football Championship 2012 / Croatia

This article covers the Croatian national team at the 2012 European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine . It was the fourth participation for Croatia.

qualification

Croatia completed the qualification for the European Championship in Group F .

Games

All results from a Croatian point of view.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
09/03/2010	Riga ( LVA )	Latvia	3: 0 (1: 0)	1: 0 Petrić (43.), 2: 0 Olić (51.), 3: 0 Srna (82.)
07.09.2010	Zagreb	Greece	0-0
10/08/2010	Ramat Gan ( ISR )	Israel	2: 1 (2: 0)	1: 0, 2: 0 Kranjčar (36./E, 41.) 2: 1 Shechter (81.)
11/17/2010	Zagreb	Malta	3: 0 (2: 0)	1-0, 2-0 Kranjčar (18th, 42nd), 3-0 Kalinić (81st)
03/26/2011	Tbilisi ( GEO )	Georgia	0: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Kobiashvili (90th)
06/03/2011	Split	Georgia	2: 1 (0: 1)	0: 1 Kankava (17th), 1: 1 Mandžukić (76th), 2: 1 Kalinić (78th)
02.09.2011	Ta 'Qali ( MLT )	Malta	3: 1 (2: 1)	1-0 Vukojević (11th), 2-0 Badelj (32nd), 2: 1 Mifsud (38th), 3: 1 Lovren (68th)
09/06/2011	Zagreb	Israel	3: 1 (0: 1)	0: 1 Hemed (44th), 1: 1 Modrić (47th), 2: 1, 3: 1 Eduardo (55th, 57th)
07/10/2011	Piraeus ( GRE )	Greece	0: 2 (0: 0)	0: 1 Samaras (71.), 0: 2 Gekas (79.)
10/11/2011	Rijeka	Latvia	2: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Eduardo (66th), 2-0 Mandžukić (72nd)

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Pt.
1	Greece	10	7th	3	0	14: 05	24
2	Croatia	10	7th	1	2	18: 07	22nd
3	Israel	10	5	1	4th	13:11	16
4th	Latvia	10	3	2	5	09:12	11
5	Georgia	10	2	4th	4th	07: 09	10
6th	Malta	10	0	1	9	04:21	01

Playoff games

According to the UEFA coefficient , Croatia was seeded alongside Ireland , Portugal and the Czech Republic for the playoff games of the runners -up .

date	Venue	host	guest	Result	Goal scorers
11/11/2011	Istanbul	Turkey	Croatia	0: 3 (0: 2)	0: 1 Olić (2nd), 0: 2 Mandžukić (32.), 0: 3 Čorluka (51.)
11/15/2011	Zagreb	Croatia	Turkey	0-0

The best goal scorers were Eduardo and Mario Mandžukić with three goals each.

preparation

The Croatian team played two test matches just before the European Championship: on May 25, they played against Estonia in Rijeka (3: 1) and on June 2 in Oslo against Norway (1: 1). Shortly before the EM, national coach Slaven Bilić announced his retirement after the EM.

Squad

The preliminary roster was named on May 10th. The most experienced players in the original squad were Ivica Olić , Josip Šimunić and Darijo Srna , who also played in 2004 and 2008 . Goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa was also nominated for the 2004 European Championships, but was out due to injury. On May 29, Slaven Bilić struck out the players Goran Blažević , Šime Vrsaljko , Nikola Kalinić and Dejan Lovren . On June 4th, Ivica Olić had to cancel due to a thigh injury. Nikola Kalinić moved into the team for him. On June 7th, Ivo Iličević , who sustained a muscle injury the day before, was replaced by Šime Vrsaljko. At the time of the tournament, 19 cadre members were playing abroad. These played in clubs from Spain , England , France / Monaco , Germany , Ukraine , Israel and Russia . Germany and Ukraine had the most players with five players each.

Jersey no.	player	society	Born on the	Calls	Gates	EM games	Sp.	Gates	red	G / R	yellow
goalkeeper
12	Ivan Kelava	Dinamo Zagreb	20th of February 1988	00	00
01	Stipe Pletikosa	FK Rostov	January 8, 1979	94	00	3 (2008)	3
23	Danijel Subašić	AS Monaco	October 27, 1984	04th	00
Defense
04th	Jurica Buljat	Maccabi Haifa	September 19, 1986	02	00
05	Vedran Ćorluka	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	5th February 1986	57	03	4 (2008)	3				1
06th	Danijel Pranjić	FC Bayern Munich	2nd December 1981	45	00	4 (2008)	2
13	Gordon Schildenfeld	Eintracht Frankfurt	March 18, 1985	15th	00		3				1
03	Josip Šimunić	Dinamo Zagreb	February 18, 1978	95	03	3 (2004), 3 (2008)
11	Darijo Srna	Shakhtar Donetsk	May 1, 1982	94	19th	2 (2004), 3 (2008)	3				1
02	Ivan Strinić	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	17th July 1987	20th	00		3				1
21st	Domagoj Vida	Dinamo Zagreb	April 29, 1989	11	00		1
15th	Šime Vrsaljko	Dinamo Zagreb	January 10, 1992	04th	00
midfield
14th	Milan Badelj	Dinamo Zagreb	February 25, 1989	04th	01
16	Tomislav Dujmović	FK Dynamo Moscow	February 26, 1981	19th	00		1
19th	Niko Kranjčar	Tottenham Hotspur	August 13, 1984	73	15th	4 (2008)	2				1
10	Luka Modrić	Tottenham Hotspur	September 9, 1985	57	08th	3 (2008)	3				1
20th	Ivan Perišić	Borussia Dortmund	February 2, 1989	13	00		3
07th	Ivan Rakitić	Sevilla FC	March 10, 1988	44	08th	3 (2008)	3				1
08th	Ognjen Vukojević	Dynamo Kiev	December 20, 1983	42	04th	2 (2008)	3
attack
22nd	Eduardo da Silva	Shakhtar Donetsk	February 25, 1983	50	23		3
09	Nikica Jelavic	Everton FC	August 27, 1985	22nd	03		3	1			1
18th	Nikola Kalinić	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	5th January 1988	13	05
17th	Mario Mandžukić	VfL Wolfsburg	May 21, 1986	32	08th		3	3			1
Trainer
	Slaven Bilic		September 11, 1968			4 (1996), 4 (2008)	3

1. ↑ As a player
2. ↑ As a trainer

Data according to association information (as of June 18, 2012, after the game against Spain).

Games of Croatia

EM preliminary round

At the draw, the Croatians, Ireland and Italy were drawn to the world and European champions Spain, who were set as group heads in Group C. At the European Championship finals, the Croatians had not previously met any of the three group opponents. The record against Italy is positive (3 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat before the European Championship). The last game before the European Championship against Italy on August 16, 2006, the Croatians won 2-0. Against Ireland and Spain the balance before the European Championship was negative (1 win, 3 draws, 2 defeats, and 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats respectively). The last time Spain and Croatia met was on June 7th, 2006 in preparation for the 2006 World Cup and Spain won 2-1. The last time there was a goalless draw against Ireland was on August 10, 2011.

Preliminary group C:

All games took place in Poland .

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Spain	3	2	1	0	006: 100	+5	07th
2.	Italy	3	1	2	0	004: 200	+2	05
3.	Croatia	3	1	1	1	004: 300	+1	04th
4th	Ireland	3	0	0	3	001: 900	−8	00

Sun., June 10, 2012, 8:45 p.m. in Poznan
Ireland	-	Croatia	1: 3 (1: 2)
Thursday, June 14, 2012, 6:00 p.m. in Poznan
Italy	-	Croatia	1: 1 (1: 0)
Mon., June 18, 2012, 8:45 p.m. in Gdansk
Croatia	-	Spain	0: 1 (0: 0)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} uefa.com: Bilić resigns from Croatia after EURO
2. ↑ uefa.com: Bilić names 23-man squad for EURO
3. ↑ FIFA.com: Olic is out of the European Championship
4. ↑ Ilicevic has to pass - Corluka too?
5. ↑ http://www.hns-cff.hr/?ln=hr&w=a_reprezentacija