Coach Kovač's selection for Italy qualifier

Messi-led Argentina beat Croatia 2:1, but many Croatian players have more than fulfilled Niko Kovač's expectations. Therefore, Croatia head coach did not have an easy task in deciding who will join the 13 national team players that are from Tuesday preparing for Italy in Zagreb.

Lovre Kalinić, Ivan Vargić, Šime Vrsaljko, Tin Jedvaj, Milan Badelj, Anas Sharbini, Duje Čop, Hrvoje Milić, Mateo Kovačić, Domagoj Antolić, Marin Leovac and Alen Halilović will remain with the national team and continue the preparations for the Sunday encounter in Milan.

These 12 players will join Danijel Subašić, Darijo Srna, Vedran Ćorluka, Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, Danijel Pranjić, Ivan Perišić, Marcelo Brozović, Ivica Olić, Andrej Kramarić and Mario Mandžukić. Training sessions are scheduled in Zagreb until Saturday, when Croatia travels to Italy to meet the Azzurri.

Copyright by Croatian Football Federation. Quoting text from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to HNS as a source and providing direct link to the original content at hns.family. Re-use of the photographs is not permitted.