Igor Stimac and Mario Stanic return for Croatia's group eight qualifier against Macedonia in Zagreb today. Central defender Stimac missed Saturday's 4-1 win over Malta through injury and midfielder Stanic was suspended.

The versatile Stanic will probably partner Davor Suker in attack, with skipper Zvonimir Boban of AC Milan also assuming a more attacking role. The Croatians will still be missing two top strikers in Alen Boksic and Goran Vlaovic.

After being handed a 2-0 defeat by the Republic of Ireland at Lansdowne Road last month, Miroslav Blazevic said victory was imperative after "that bad experience in Dublin. I hope this match will be a real show as both teams cherish highly technical attacking football".

Macedonia coach Gjoko Hadzievski, whose team beat Malta 4-0 in their opening qualifier in September, said the match was important in assessing whether his squad was "mature and ready for great results" or one with "limited possibilities".

Croatia: Ladic, Stimac, Tudor, Simic, Saric, Jarni, Soldo, Asanovic, Zvonimir Boban, Suker, Stanic.

Macedonia (probable): Milosevski, Lazarevski, Stojkovski, Sedloski, Stavrevski, Stojanovski, Sakiri, Micevski, Bozinov, Trenevski, Zaharievski.