Croatia grounding raises buoyant Bilić

Outside bet
Many have billed the Croatians as an outside bet to win the tournament, and their charismatic trainer wholeheartedly agrees after steering his charges to the Group E summit on the road to Austria and Switzerland. "We're not only hoping we can give anyone a decent game, we're expecting it," he said. "We have grounds for hope: we have a good team, a quality team. We qualified from one of the toughest groups, beating England twice. We also had to play Russia and [F.Y.R.] Macedonia and we were the first side to win in Israel for four or five years."

Testing group
The 39-year-old former international defender now has his guns trained on Group B at the finals, which for Croatia begin against Austria in Vienna on Sunday. "It would maybe be better not to play Austria first because they are hosts," said Bilić. "But it certainly wouldn't be good to play Germany in the first game. And it wouldn't be good to play Poland either. So maybe it would be best to play San Marino in the first game, but unfortunately that's not possible, with the greatest respect to them."

Players ready
Josef Hickersberger's men it is, then, and Bilić promises that his team will be in explosive shape for the showdown at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion. "At the start of our preparations, which took three weeks, things were a bit dodgy," he said. "Maybe 20 per cent of the players hadn't played enough for their clubs and another 20 per cent had played too much. But that's why we employed an excellent fitness coach. Players always say they are ten per cent better than they are, but we're watching them and we see. They're fit physically and they're fit in their heads. And that's why we're going into the EURO with belief."

Goalkeeping issue
Bilić also reckons his side hold an advantage in the goalkeeping department, with a clear hierarchy running from regular No1 Stipe Pletikosa to Mario Galinović, via second-choice Vedran Runje. Hickersberger, on the other hand, has been reluctant to make a decision on who will stand between the posts this weekend. "I don't understand that," said his Croatia counterpart. "I wouldn't do that. All three will be nervous. Maybe they will have sleepless nights. But we will see. Perhaps the result will show he was right, or perhaps he will think he should have named his goalkeeper a year ago."