Impressive Croatia march on
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
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Croatia 1-0 Malta A Josip Tadic goal makes it five victories from five matches for Slaven Bilic's men.
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By Elvir Islamovic
Croatia made it five wins from five matches in UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 8 thanks to Josip Tadic's second-half goal.
Staunch Maltese defending
The Croatians are thriving under coach Slaven Bilic, and dominated the game in Velika Gorica as they bid to take another step towards the 2006 finals. However, they struggled to break down a strong Maltese defence and it took an inspired half-time substitution from Bilic to find a way through.
Substitution pays dividends
The coach swapped Leon Benko with Mario Grgurovic, and it was the latter who provided the left-wing cross from which Tadic scored in the 54th minute. Despite numerous opportunities to add to their lead against second-from-bottom Malta, Croatia had to be content with the single-goal victory that took them six points clear at the top of Group 8.