Croatia gave it to Turkey in their playoff for a spot in the 2012 European Championships. The visitors scored three vital goals and all but guaranteed a spot in the 2012 European Championships. Goals from Ivica Olic, Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka for Croatia make things almost impossible for Turkey in the return leg next week.

Full highlights after the jump.

Luka Modric hits a sensational goal to help Croatia get the come from behind win in their Euro 2012 qualifier against Israel.

Brazilian-born Croatian International Eduardo has completed a 6 Million Pound move to Ukranian side Shaktar Donetsk after agreeing to terms on Sunday and passing a medical on Monday according to reports coming out of England.

‘The Ukrainians will match his current Arsenal wages and offer him Champions League football, and the 27-year-old was convinced it was the right move to make after talking to Bilic and Darijo Srna, the Croatia and Shakhtar captain.

Bilic said: ‘I spoke with Eduardo. He was very pleased with the move to Shakhtar. He is going to a strong league. This season they will once again play in the Champions League, have many difficult matches and this is excellent for the national team.

Via DailyMail

‘The captain of Shakhtar is Darijo Srna, in the team there are a lot of Brazilians – I have no doubt that Eduardo will quickly adapt to Donetsk.’

Eduardo’s name was not on the list released by the club of twenty seven players who had travelled to Austria on Monday night for the Gunners’ pre-season training camp.

The forward has physically recovered from the shocking double leg break he suffered at Birmingham City in February 2008, but he has struggled to regain his form and hold down a starting place at Arsenal.

Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said: ‘We wanted to buy Eduardo before he moved to Arsenal. Not everything went his way last season, but he is still a player of very high quality, a real marksman.

‘Yes, he had a serious injury, we are aware of the risk, but at the same time we realise he can give a lot to Shakhtar. We expect a lot from Eduardo.’

Srna is believed to have played a key part in negotiations and he said: ‘Eduardo is one of the best strikers in the world and, if there is an agreement, he will bring us many benefits.’

Croatia’s Ognjen Vukojevic played alongside Eduardo at Dinamo Zagreb and will now line up against his international team-mate as a Dynamo Kiev midfielder.

‘He called me to ask what it’s like to live in Ukraine,’ said Vukojevic. ‘I replied: “Do not worry, you made the right choice”.

‘Now we will become great rivals. It is definitely a good move. At Shakhtar he will become the first-choice striker, get plenty of game time and return to his best condition.’

According to the dailymail uk, Chelsea is lining up a £10million January bid for Shakhtar Donetsk right-back Darijo Srna. The 27-year-old defender is under contract until 2011 but, according to the Evening Standard, the Ukrainians will not stand in his way as the Blues have already made contact about the player.

The Croatia international, who has been at Shakhtar since 2003, said: ‘The truth is I have two definite offers from top clubs in Europe, but I cannot name them. That would not be right.’

Srna has scored 18 goals from 71 appearances for Croatia and is usually the first-choice penalty taker for both club and country.

He will be eligible for the Champions League even though he has played in the Europa League, although UEFA will only allow one player to be registered in such circumstances.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Manchester United have also been linked with Srna over the past 12 months.

source, image via daylife

Former West Ham / Everton defender and current Croatia head coach Slaven Bilic has turned the heat up ahead of Wednesday’s World Cup Qualifier at Wembley Stadium after being quoted saying that England is lacking “Englishness”.

Via Guardian 

England, who have won seven qualifiers out of seven under their Italian coach, lead Croatia by four points with a game in hand and will guarantee their place in next summer’s World Cup finals if they beat Bilic’s side.

Croatia were deeply unimpressive in beating Belarus 1-0 in Zagreb on Saturday, but Bilic believes he knows England’s fatal flaw under Capello.

“They are a very different team,” the Croatia coach said. “They have some advantages but they are also missing something from their game. They are missing some Englishness, some of the things that have always made England teams difficult to defend against and play against.

“All I will say is that they are definitely missing something and we know what it is. But of course I am not going to tell you now what it is. It is our secret.”

Bilic also suggested that the 3-2 victory his side enjoyed on their last visit to Wembley, in November 2007 when they eliminated Steve McClaren’s side from Euro 2008, may play on England’s minds on Wednesday.

“The scar for them is there,” he said, “but unfortunately I can’t count on that. There is not a fear of Croatia. We did not beat them 10 times in a row but, having said that, we are the only team in the world to have done it twice. We did it one after the other and that’s important.”

The President of the Croatian Football Federation, Vlatko Markovic has seen some very interesting quotes hit the front pages of the English Press after somewhat suggesting his Internationals have been targeted while playing in the Premiership.

Via Guardian

Vlatko Markovic believes there is a conspiracy against Croatia after Tottenham Hotspur’s Luka Modric broke a leg in a Premier League match against Birmingham City last Saturday, ruling him out of World Cup qualifier against England at Wembley a week tomorrow.

Apparently there is still ill-feeling that the Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva missed out on the European Championship last year after he broke his leg, also against Birmingham, in February 2008. Markovic now says that the two incidents are related and are part of a plan to injure his nation’s best players.

“It is terrible what has happened to us,” said Markovic. “Maybe someone has something against us and our national team. In the past year, they [English footballers] have injured Eduardo and now the same has happened to Luka Modric. I can only ask whether someone did it deliberately on the eve of the game with England. I can only ask myself whether it is a coincidence or not.”

Markovic said the Spurs playmaker was as important to Croatia as Andrés Iniesta is to Barcelona. “Modric is our most important player,” he said. “We are depleted without him.”

Modric fractured his right fibula after going in for a challenge with Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer. A foul was given against the Spurs midfielder and it is generally accepted by commentators that Bowyer was not at fault. Eduardo has only recently returned to the Arsenal first team after suffering a horrific injury following a clash with Martin Taylor. The Birmingham defender was sent off and Eduardo endured a compound fracture of his left fibula and an open disclocation of his ankle.

The 72-year-old Markovic has been a vocal critic of England and English football before and after Fabio Capello’s side beat Croatia 4-1 in a Group Six World Cup qualifier in Zagreb last September – a game Eduardo missed – he said there was a “dirty tricks campaign” to unsettle the Croatia coach, Slaven Bilic, by linking him with the then-vacant manager’s job at his former club West Ham United. Croatia trail England by seven points in their qualifying group.

The Birmingham chairman, David Gold, strongly rejected Markovic’s claims. “He needs to go and have a lie down,” he said. “His comments are absolutely idiotic. They are ridiculous and insulting.

“To say such things is little short of incredible. For a man of such stature and position in the game to come out with such rubbish is pathetic. His remarks border on paranoia and I struggle not to take it personally when they two incidents he talks about involve my club. To lay such stuff at Birmingham’s door is appalling. It’s emotive and doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny.”

Image via Static

Incredible news coming out of England as Tottenham Midfielder and Croatian International Luka Modric has suffered a fracture in his right fibula during Saturday’s 1 – 0 win over Birmingham and will be sidelined for at least 6 weeks, missing the September 9th World Cup Qualifier against England.

Via Guardian

Modric was substituted in the 49th minute of the 2–1 victory and underwent tests which confirmed the break. “X-rays have determined that Luka Modric sustained a fracture to his right fibula during Saturday’s victory over Birmingham City at White Hart Lane,” read a statement on the Tottenham website.

“It’s like my whole world has crumbled because I will be out for at least six weeks. I am terribly sad,” Modric told the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List.

“It wasn’t a ferocious tackle but it hurt awfully and I knew something was wrong the moment it happened. The worst feeling is knowing that I will be watching both my club and country from the sidelines for a while.”

Image via TottenhamHotspur  

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