Kovač: "Croatia has the right to be the favourite"

FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw was held on Saturday in St. Petersburg, with Croatian Football Federation represented by president Davor Šuker, head coach Niko Kovač and team manager Iva Olivari.

Croatia was among the seeded teams, and will play in Group I alongside Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and Finland, starting the road to Russia in September 2016.

"I congratulate the hosts for the beautiful ceremony, suggesting that the World Cup in Russia can be really spectacular. Considering our group, it has a lot of quality, and is tough and very balanced. There are no easy opponents, which means we have to prepare for difficult matches separated by just a few days. Moreover, there will be less matches and less room for mistakes. Every match is therefore even more important", said Niko Kovač for hns-cff.hr.

"On paper, there were more difficult opponents from Pot 2, but Iceland is showing its quality in the European qualifiers. We have also seen first hand that they are not easy to play against, as they proved against Netherlands as well. From Pot 3 and 4 we got the teams with best coefficients, which says enough. Our experiences with Ukraine and Turkey were different, and both teams are eager to see Russia. We have never played with Finland, but you can be sure that they are a hard nut to crack, especially in the away match", continued Kovač with his analysis.

However, Croatia was not among the seeded teams without a reason.

"All that said, Croatia has the right to be the favourite, considering our major tournaments berth statistics and players' quality. Croatia has to prepare well, enter the qualifiers with humility, yet with confidence. I strongly believe we can reach the World Cup in Russia", concluded Kovač.

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