Modric and Croatia kicking off in EURO 2008 Group B tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday the 7th, Croatia will play their first match in the EURO 2008 competition. Opponents are hosts Austria, the match will also be the opener of group B. Slaven Bilic announced his squad today, which didn’t hold any big surprises. The coach will opt for a 4-4-2 diamond formation. In the press conference today, he was quoted saying that all players in his team were important, also those on the bench. He also mentioned that the first game is the most imporant in his eyes. Modric told the press a similar thing after being asked if he would be at the center stage: “I’m confident I’ll live up to the expectations but the most important thing is the team”.

Luka Modric will act as a playmaker in the attacking position of the diamond shaped midfield.

The announced team for Croatia:

GK: 1-Stipe Pletikosa;
DEF: 5-Vedran Corluka, 4-Robert Kovac, 3-Josip Simunic, 22-Danijel Pranjic;
MID: 11-Darijo Srna, 10-Niko Kovac (captain), 14-Luka Modric, 19-Niko Kranjcar;
ATT: 21-Mladen Petric, 18-Ivica Olic

Also today, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was hailing Modric (Croatia), Benzema (France) and Gomez (Germany) as the ‘ones to watch’ in the EURO 2008 competition. Tottenham Hotspur fans will also keep an eye on their new signing Luka Modric to have a taste of things to come.