Coach Bilic says best is yet to come from Croatia

VIENNA: Croatia coach Slaven Bilic claimed his team would improve after narrowly hanging on to a 1-0 win over co-hosts Austria in their opening Group B clash in Vienna.

Croatia is second in the group after Germany beat Poland 2-0 in the other match and Bilic knows his team must play a lot better than it did against the Austrians to have a chance of winning its next match against the Germans.

A fourth-minute Luka Modric penalty proved the difference after Rene Aufhauser had clumsily bundled over Ivica Olic in the box.

Bilic was happy that his team won for the first time in the competition since 1996 in England, the last time Germany was crowned champion of Europe.

It had also been a six-year wait for Croatia to secure any sort of victory in an international competition, that coming at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

"First of all I'm glad. I'm happy that after so many years we've finally won a game at such a great tournament," said Bilic, who was a player the last time Croatia won a game at the European Championships.

"I've got to congratulate the players for playing so well, this will certainly boost our self confidence for the next two games."

Croatia started the match well and controled the first half hour but Austria gradually came back into it and had much the better of the second period.

Bilic said that was because his team lost confidence and became overly defensive.

"Our opponents exerted pressure on us, especially in the second half, but I'm sure that's not due to a lack of condition," he said.

"It was due to confidence. Our players sat back on the penalty area too early.

"In the last 15 minutes when your opponents go all-or-nothing you can do that but we started to play like that after 60 minutes."

Bilic revealed he had to pick the players up after the match, despite the victory.

"In the changing rooms I could see that the players were not entirely satisfied but I turned on the cassette player and told them to sing because they won.

"We have a few days to correct our mistakes. Obviously some players were overwhelmed to be playing at such a big tournament but we've started with a win and this makes me happy."

Austria's coach Joseph Hickersberger was far from happy and said his players would need to get a win and a draw in their next two matches if they want to progress to the quarterfinals.

"We had a lot of pressure and good opportunities but unfortunately we weren't able to score a goal so now against Poland and Germany we need to get four points to qualify," he said.

However, for a team ranked 92nd in the FIFA world rankings - below even the likes of Guatemala, Libya and Bolivia - that will be a tall ask against the 5th-ranked Germans and 28th-rated Poles.

Hickersberger complained that his side lacked experience and that the early goal had knocked the wind out its sails.

"If after four minutes you concede a goal it's only natural that players become nervous," he said.

"I'm not blaming them for that because mentally and psychologically they were very well prepared."

AFP

(China Daily 06/10/2008 page22)