Gudelj feels good about Croatia

By Elvir Islamovic

Having led his nation to their first UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals, Croatia coach Ivan Gudelj is quietly confident of progress.

Dramatic end
Gudelj's team went into the final day of Elite round Group 3 trailing Ukraine on goal difference, but with the former Soviet republic being held 0-0 by Hungary they had a chance of progress as they led 1-0 against Portugal. The 2003 winners equalised with five minutes remaining and that looked to be it for Croatia before substitute Stipe Glasovic struck a last-gasp winner, leaving Gudelj admitting: "I almost had a heart attack."

New task
Now the former HNK Hajduk Split and Yugoslavia player, who celebrates his 45th birthday today, has a new task as he readies his team for Group B in Italy, starting on 3 May against the Netherlands in San Giuliano Terme before going on to play Israel and Switzerland. Gudelj believes his side are more than capable of holding their own.

'Not easy'
"We are satisfied with the draw, but we are aware it's not going to be easy at all," he told uefa.com. "In the last few years our U17 team has played five matches against Israel and won just once, on penalties, and lost four times. Switzerland knocked out Spain in their group, and they have a very organised federation that works hard with their youth teams. We have never played against the Netherlands but I am sure they've got excellent youth teams."

'Great success'
He added: "It will be very hard to play against all of them, but we must be aware that this is a great success for Croatian football." Indeed, the former NK Zadar, NK Primorac and HNK Dubrovnik coach drew attention to some of the big names missing, one of whom was a victim of his team in the qualifiers.

Big nations missing
"France, Spain, Germany and Portugal - all former European and world champions - are missing here, so it is a sign that other countries are developing their youth teams and are progressing," he said. "Although we can't compare with the big and rich countries like France and Spain, we reached the finals anyway."

HNS support
The support of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) is also vital, Gudelj says. "Qualification is confirmation that we are increasing the quality of our work with youth players," he declared. "We have excellent professionals working with youth in the HNS, president Vlatko Markovic and general secretary Zorislav Srebric are helping a lot too so we have to be satisfied with that. Our main goal is prepare the players for the senior squad and our recent results are giving us the hope that we will reach our goal."

Tournament target
Still, his team do have a more immediate priority - the finals in Italy - and Gudelj feels that Croatia can make progress. "We will try to leave a good impression and I strongly believe we can be among the two top teams in the group and reach the semi-finals," he said. "If we do that anything is possible. We will also try to establish our youth players and they will try to underline their quality."