The Archive

What are the expectations for the team?
They are a very promising side who are expected to peak for the 2010 World Cup but should be able to make it past the group stage this summer. Even without the injured Eduardo da Silva we have plenty of goal options. Mladen Petric scored seven in the qualifiers, including the winner at Wembley, while Ivan Klasnic showed he can still knock them in after returning from a kidney transplant. Plus Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar have good seasons in the Premier League and it was surprising that no one picked up Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Luka Modric during the January transfer window. Now he’s joining Spurs for a hefty fee, albeit for rather less than the £20m his club wanted at one point.

Are there any players who have appeared in TV commercials?
Commercial activities tend to focus on the whole Vatreni (the On-Fire Ones) rather than individuals. As with previous tournaments, Zagreb brewery Ozujsko is one of the main sponsors. The current campaign features the national squad in their Euro 2008 strip and is presented as “a prayer to the divine shirt”.

Is the coach popular?
In Croatia, Slaven Bilic is a legend, and he’s probably an honorary citizen of Russia, too. He refused to accept anything above the minimum salary when he signed on, saying that it was an honour to coach Croatia. Plus he plays in a rock band, Rawbau, whose Euro 2008 song, Vatreno Ludilo (Flaming Madness), is expected to be a big hit.

Do any of the players have famous girlfriends or wives?
Unsurprisingly several of the players live with models, while Robert Kovac is married to Miss World runner-up Anica Martinovic. Bilic left his wife for TV presenter and ex-model Mirjana Hrga.

Will there be any rehearsed goal celebrations?
Expect to see some kind of T-shirt message for the injured Da Silva, whose ten goals made a crucial contribution in the qualifiers.

Are there any players involved in politics?
This was much more common during the first few years after independence. These days it tends to be players from the diaspora who get involved politically. For instance, it will be interesting to see how Ivan Rakitic is received in Switzerland. He grew up there before causing some dismay among the Swiss by opting to play for Croatia.

Will there be many fans travelling to the tournament?
The numbers will be massive, not least because of the large Croatian communities in both host countries and neighbouring Germany. There will be as many outside the stadium without tickets as there are inside. One classic chant is Jebo te koliko nas ima (Damn how many of us there are here) while another is about how few Croats there are in the world generally: Malo nas je al nas ima/Nije vazno strusit ce mo snove svima (We’re not many, but it doesn’t matter/ We’re capable of destroying anybody’s dreams).

Zvonko Katic

Apparently Coventry City only had to win their five remaining home games to save themselves from relegation to League One, but that proved to be easier said than done, writes Ed Wilson

Forget fancy notions of skill and tactics. Relegation battles, the professionals tell us, are all about belief. Nobody – not the manager, players or supporters – believes Coventry can stay up more than the psychotically optimistic radio presenter I am listening to on the way to today’s game. For him, survival is almost guaranteed. “All we have to do,” he insists, “is win our remaining five home games.” He is not deflated by the knowledge they have managed only seven victories all season. They are due a change of fortune. You begin to wonder what it would take to undermine his chirpiness. His wife could ask for a divorce during Donna and Althea’s Uptown Top Ranking and he would be back on air seconds later, joshing his way through the traffic and travel.

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Footballers can be overacting show-offs, but very few make a decent play of it when given their chance on screen, says Ashley Clark

Though it is easy to see why those engaged in one performative discipline awash with cash and fan adulation may be eager to try their hand at another, history is littered with examples of footballers turning to acting with distinctly mixed results. In largely well received new thriller Switch, Eric Cantona brings his usual brooding charisma to the role of Damien Forgeat, a detective on the trail of a young woman accused of murder. With the talent, versatility and self-confidence to match his ambition, Cantona has carved out an impressive acting career, beginning with a small role in Shekhar Kapur’s period drama Elizabeth, packing in a host of serious-minded French-language fare and peaking with a sly, perfectly judged turn in Ken Loach’s drama Looking For Eric.

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Two intrepid travellers plan to spend over half a century watching games in all of UEFA’s ever-changing territories, writes Tristan Browning

My friend and I do one foreign football trip to a different European country every year, with the aim of completing the whole of UEFA by the time we are done. Seeing a game at every club in the English league – “doing the 92” – at least has the advantage of offering a fixed number. “Doing the 53” seems to involve hitting a moving target, dictated just as much by politics as by action on the pitch.

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Instead of trying to mimic their richer neighbours, small clubs in Switzerland can succeed by serving their local communities, says Paul Knott

The normally sober francophone Swiss newspaper Le Temps was recently moved to ask whether there is any point in continuing with domestic professional football. The editorial in question was partly a howl of anguish at a calamitous season for the clubs in the paper’s catchment area. But it also raised a valid question about how clubs in the smaller European countries can remain viable when bigger outfits from elsewhere offer greater glamour by exploiting their status as “the most indebted clubs in the world”.

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