Croatia prepared for hosts, Bašić: "I hope to repeat qualifying performance"

Croatia U-17s secured the EURO 2015 berth against Kazakhstan (8:1), Israel (0:0) and Hungary (2:1) in the first qualifying round in October 2014, and against Azerbaijan (4:0), Serbia (3:0) and Portugal (1:0) in the Elite Round in March, without conceding a single goal. This suggests that Croatia can go far in the final tournament.

"We are ready for our opening match, which is always difficult, especially against the hosts. It is not is to get a real sense of Bulgaria's strengths, since they were automatically qualified, but my players love to perform in front of full crowd and they are prepared for some pressure. If we play well, the crowd will surely appreciate that", says Croatia head coach Dario Bašić to journalists before the first day of the tournament, convinced that home support should not be a problem.

In Group A, Croatia will face Bulgaria (6 May in Stara Zagora), Austria (9 May in Sozopol) and Spain (12 May in Sliven).

"We have a certain strategy and I hope my players will repeat the qualifying performances to get a positive result. We'll play match by match, with a goal to reach the second round, and then we'll see what's next. I hope my players will learn something, present quality football and become better players and better persons", says Bašić.

Are there new Luka Modrić and Mario Mandžukić in Croatia's squad?

"We have some players with a great future in front of them, but it is still to early to speak of a new Modrić or a new Mandžukić", answers head coach, who succeeded Luka Pavlović at the helm, and has a strong coaching staff behind him.

"I have a certain experience from Croatian club football, but I also have experienced Ilija Lončarević, a former Dinamo Zagreb coach, in my staff. There are two Croatian internationals from France '98 as well, Petar Krpan and Marjan Mrmić", he emphasizes.

Six best European teams will make it to the FIFA World Cup in Chile, and in Bulgaria Croatia will be represented by Adrian Šemper (Dinamo), Matej Hudećek (Dinamo), Matko Babić (Lokomotiva), Branimir Kalaica (Dinamo), Martin Erlić (Parma), Vinko Soldo (Dinamo), Josip Brekalo (Dinamo), Neven Đurasek (Varaždin), Karlo Igor Majić (Dinamo), Nikola Moro (Dinamo), Davor Lovren (Dinamo), Ivan Nevistić (Osijek), Mihael Briški (Dinamo), Marko Gjira (Dinamo), Saša Urošević (Istra 1961), Dino Halilović (Barcelona), Borna Sosa (Dinamo) and Adrian Blečić (Dinamo).

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