Bilić sure of Croatia's potential

Croatian national team coach Slaven Bilić visited the euro2008.com chatroom on the eve of the UEFA EURO 2008™ draw stating that there is more room for improvement from his side as they attempt to win the UEFA European Football Championship next summer.

England exit
Questioned by Semz regarding Croatia's recent pairing with England in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying round draw, repeating their duels from the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers, the Croatian coach responded: "We surprised all of Europe. It is always a surprise to win at Wembley, but we have been playing at that sort of level all the way through qualification. I simply think that we have a good team. We were more dominant in Zagreb as they only had one shot on goal and that came in stoppage time. The reaction to the two victories in Croatia was positive, but I wanted to avoid them... It will for sure be hard against them, but we are not afraid of them. We have proved ourselves to be the match of anyone in Europe and I think we are still far from our peak. England will improve, but so will we. But it's not great news to have them in our group."

Favourable comparison
Bilić believes that his side can build on the achievements of the Croatian team that finished third in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, a team in which he was involved with as a player. Responding to Croaustralia, he said: "It is hard to compare these two teams. The team from a few years ago set an example and I think we are on the good way. That team was dependent on individual class. We have also some individuals but they play more as a team now." In terms of individual players, Bilić was asked whether Eduardo could ever beat Davor Šuker's national team record of 45 goals. In reply, he said: "Eduardo is on the right track, but Davor was something special. Eduardo will continue to score goals for us - so he can do it - but it will be hard. In Davor's time, he was the best goalscorer in the world. But Eduardo is not a player who is dependant on scoring just goals. He's a great team player. He doesn't have to score to play well. He is just a brilliant football player."

Nothing comes easy
Asked by Ottomanturk which teams he wanted to avoid in Sunday's draw, Bilić stated: "I am not big headed on this one, but I think every manager who watched us and knows about us would not like to play us. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't really care. There's 16 teams in this and you can't have an easy group. It's all about the level of difficulty. The 14 teams that qualified did it the tough way and on merit. That gives them every hope and reason to beat every team. I am going to see tomorrow how it goes."

Club future?
Bilić's endeavours as coach of the Croatian national team brings much pride, as does the support of the fans, but he hopes his future will eventually see him involved in club management. In response to a question from Domagoj related to this topic, he stated: "I don't plan far ahead in football. This is something I have learned in my life. You can have dreams and plans, but not long-term plans. Dreams are a great motivation, but in this job things can quickly change with things that are out of your control. My dream is to be a club manager - but I am so proud that I am the manager of my country. Put it this way, I can manage whoever in the future, Real Madrid [CF] or a smaller club in Croatia - either way, the job I currently have is the job I will always be the most proud of. It is simply more than a job."

Local issues
Langaroo asked Bilić about the quality of the Croatian league, to which he responded: "The league is not good enough in Croatia at the moment. Maybe it's on the same level as the Scottish league or the Swiss league. We have a problem as our best players are going abroad very young. We will always have a strong national team as we have youth emerging, but that is not making our league good. I hope to see improvement in the league in the future as it's not good for our players to leave Croatia at a very young age. Our national team has a sprinkling of talent who are playing - I mean not sitting on the bench - week in, week out. In England, they could disappear in the Premier League and end up on loan at lower level clubs. We need to observe closely their development. The whole of Europe is now raving about Luka Modrić who has over 100 games in the Croatian league, not to mention other international experience."

Positive note
Signing off, Bilić concluded: "Sometimes all the fans in Croatia and worldwide feel that football is not sport, not honest anymore. Almost that it's becoming criminal. The results in our group with Russia, England, F.Y.R. Macedonia and Israel showed that football was the winner. Look at the results in the last matches. That sent a message to everyone and how everyone should approach sport and life in general. It is important to have football seen in this way as we will be judged on these actions."