Bilic and Co an ideal opening dish

NOT THE worst draw for Ireland to get out of the pot of third seeds. Four years ago maybe, but not so much anymore. These are almost certainly the last days of the Bilic era in Croatia and a combination of careless results, non-qualification for the 2010 World Cup and plain old hanging around too long has found the once-besotted Croatian public fall out of love with him and, to a lesser extent, with his team.

Four years ago, it was all so different. Croatia were a joyous addition to Euro 2008, coming within the blink of an eye of the semi-final when taking the lead in the 119th minute of their quarter-final against Turkey.

They lost concentration upon the restart, though, and Semih Senturk found an equaliser with the last kick of the game before Croatia lost out 1-3 on penalties.

Bilic’s stock was still quite high for a few years thereafter and it seemed only a matter of course that he would end up in the Premier League at some point, as he was continually linked with various managerial vacancies. He never made the expected jump.

Croatia’s form hasn’t been so hot since that tournament though.

They got trounced home and away by England in qualification for the World Cup and finished behind Ukraine as well.

A measure of how far back they’d gone came when Ukraine couldn’t make it through the play-off against Greece.

They’ve turned things around to some extent in this campaign, although there were still some serious grumblings after the 2-0 defeat away to Greece ruined their chances of automatic qualification.

Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar came into their own, with former Arsenal player Eduardo Da Silva and Wolfsburg’s Mario Mandzukic stepping up to the plate as well. In their play-off against Turkey, they scored an early goal in the away leg and never looked back. The tie was over before they left Istanbul.

As an opening game in the tournament, Ireland couldn’t have hoped for much better. Croatia have some very tidy players but morale hasn’t been especially high through this campaign and they’re there to be got at.

Bilic was once the darling of the Croatian public and media but there is some latent ill-feeling there now and all it will take is for them to lose a couple of warm-up games and the pressure will be on. Ireland have it well within them to take advantage.

Ireland play Croatia in Poznan on Sunday, June 10th

Croatia

Manager: Slaven Bilic (Age 43)

All-time record v Ireland: Played 6 Won 1 Lost 2 Drew 3

Last three meetings: August 10th, 2011, Dublin: Ireland 0 Croatia 0 November 16th, 2004, Dublin: Ireland 1 Croatia 0 August 15th, 2001, Dublin: Ireland 2 Croatia 2

Qualification: Finished second behind Greece in Group F as a result of losing 2-0 to them in Piraeus in the second last game of the group. Beat Turkey 3-0 in Istanbul in the first leg of the play-off before drawing 0-0 at home.

Star man: Luka Modric. As you would expect, Modric is the man through whom most of Croatia’s play is funnelled. Such a tidy and inventive passer, he’s a nightmare to keep an eye on.

Betting: To win group 9/1; To win tournament 40/1