Familiar faces: Israel equals Slovenia record

Croatia has already faced its Slovenian neighbours on nine occasions since 1991, the record Israelis will equal in Osijek. However, they come to Gradski vrt Stadium without a victory over Croatia.

In eight previous matches, Croatians have come out on top in seven. The lone draw was staged in February 2005 in Jerusalem, and the friendly goals-galore match ended 3:3. Klasnić scored twice for Croatia, future captain Srna added one, while Balili, Benayoun and Golan found the net for the hosts.

Croatia recorded the most convincing win (4:0) in the very first encounter, in August 1994 at Ramat Gan, thanks to a Cvitanović brace and Jurčević and Mumlek strikes. All three players beat Cohen to score their first national team goals.

The Israelis had twice lost to a single goal. In August 2004 friendly in Varaždin it was a Šimunić strike to finish the job, while three years later in Zagreb it was Eduardo to make the difference, on the path towards the EURO 2008 in Austria nad Switzerland.

This qualification round also produced the most exciting encounter, in November 2006 in Tel Aviv. Colautti put the Israelis ahead early in the match, Srna equalized from the penalty spot, and Eduardo scored two more to give Croatia 3:1 lead, which was cut by Benayoun. Before the end, Eduardo completed his hat-trick, and Colautti finally made it 4:3.

Tel Aviv was once again the location for EURO qualifying round battle in October 2010, when Kranjčar was the Croatian hero with two goals, and Shechter scored the consolation goal for Israel. Back in Zagreb, Hemed gave Israel the edge, but Modrić and once again Eduardo with two more goals secured Croatia a valuable 3:1 victory.

Exactly 20 years ago, in March 1996 in Varaždin, former Croatia national team head coach Štimac scored against Israel alongside Vlaović (2:0). This match also featured Alon Hazan, current Israeli U-17 head coach, who will lead Israel in Osijek as the provisional manager.

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