Squads for FYR Macedonia and Poland

[Istra Pula]

Rosso rewarded with Croatian call
Thursday, 30 January 2003
Croatia coach Otto Baric has called up 29 players including Giovanni Rosso for the upcoming home friendly matches against F.Y.R. Macedonia and Poland

Large group
At the Marjan Trophy event, Baric's men will meet the Macedonians first on 9 February before taking on Poland on 12 February. The group of players selected is the largest invited together since Baric took over from Mirko Jozic as coach last summer.

Rosso in
Among the new faces for Baric as he thinks ahead to a forthcoming UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifier against Belgium on 29 March are Maccabi Haifa FC midfield player Rosso, who has resisted attempts by Israel to win his services, and forward Ivica Mornar.

Chance for a few
"We need to finalise the squad for the match against Belgium," said Baric. "I know who 90 per cent of the players will play against Belgium will be, but I decided to call up more in order to test all possible options."

Croatia squad
Pletikosa, Butina, Šimic, Kovac, Živkovic, Tokic, Tomas, Šimunic, Smoje, Sabolcki, Režic, Tudor, Srna, Leko, Rosso, Mornar, Mumlek, Andric, Agic, Šeric, Babic, Hrman, Carevic, Olic, Balaban, Karic, Maric, Maric, Bokšic.

[uefa.com]

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i think Baric has the right idea of still feeling out the team and trying to get a squad out there with the right chemistry. I'm glad to see our backline of Tudor-Simic-Kovac back together. I think some suprising adittions are Balaban, Mornar (haven't his name in a real long time), Babic (hasn't been playing that much really for Leverkusen)

wat are your guys thoughts???

[MxManiak]

CRO will have one of the better defences in the world with Tudor back, but I'd like to see him in the midfield. And why Rezic??? Maybe I'm not very informed about our league but Rezic never came to my eye. Too bad Rosso didn't played for CRO before.

My team would be:

GK:Pletikosa

DF:Simic
DF:Simunic
DF:Kovac

ML:Hrman
MR:Srna
MC:Rosso
MC:Tudor
AM:Babic

FC:Olic
FC:Balaban

[Super Croat]

Your line-up looks good, MxManiak. That is a strong looking defence and talented looking mid.

[MxManiak]

My lineup would be better if Baric called Rapaic...

[MxManiak]

And please reply if anyone knows anything about Rezic, I have never heard of him...

[Super Croat]

Rezic: I haven't heard of him either but I think he's a defender. He was probably called up for cover since Croatia has a very good defence... I don't see him getting much playing time in these friendlies.

Rapaic hasn't played very much over the last 6 months so I think that is the reason he wasn't called. Also, I'm not sure if he's under contract with any team right now....he can't risk injury in a friendy if he's not under contract. He has to think about the rest of his career. He would provide a valuable spark to this team if he could do what he did against Italy in the WC.

[Bodiroga Je Bog]

lets go macedonia !