Croatia heartache will 'haunt' Bilić

Shock
The 39-year-old celebrated wildly when Ivan Klasnić put Croatia in front after 119 minutes of a tense battle at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion but his mood soon changed when, with the last kick of the game, Semih Şentürk struck to force a penalty shoot-out. "It was a shock obviously," Bilić said of the equaliser. "It seemed as though the match was over but to concede a goal certainly gave them a psychological advantage. I can't say what was on the players' minds but I'm sure they weren't focused on the shoot-out. They must have still been in extra time mentally."

Haunting
Croatia simply failed to collect themselves after Semih's hammer blow. Ivan Rakitić and the otherwise excellent Luka Modrić both fired wide, and when Mladen Petrić's effort was saved by Rüştü Reçber, Croatia's hopes of a UEFA EURO 2008™ semi-final meeting with Germany were over. "The last two minutes are something I can't describe – they'll haunt me for the rest of my life," continued the shell-shocked Bilić. "I have no misgivings about any of the players, I'm proud of them, but at the same time we're sorry and unhappy because we thought we could play on until the end of this tournament. I congratulate the Turkish team but I still don't think we deserved to lose."

Bayern beacon
Now the Croatia squad must regroup, with just seven weeks until 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying starts with a tie against Kazakhstan on 6 August. "This won't be easy to forget. It isn't the sort of game you play on a regular basis. This is not only something we can't forget about – it will haunt us, it will be impossible to forget," said Bilić. The coach was keen, though, to take heart from FC Bayern München's reaction to losing the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League final to Manchester United FC in similarly breathtaking fashion, bouncing back to claim the German double the following campaign, adding: "Tomorrow is a new day, the sun will still rise. We'll probably cry for a few days but such is life. Things like this have happened before but these are extreme situations. My players have a strong character and will be back even stronger."