Bilić ready to achieve finals goal

Croatia coach Slaven Bilić says his side are ready to go as they look for the point against F.Y.R. Macedonia on Saturday that would confirm their place at UEFA EURO 2008™.

'Strong desire'
"We're ready," Bilić told uefa.com. "We have a strong desire, motivation and great character which should ensure we make it." Croatia top Group E with two games to play and will want to celebrate qualification ahead of Wednesday's final match against England at Wembley.

Nervousness
Bilić has been his usual open and talkative self in the build-up to the game in Skopje – but with the finish line in sight, the 39-year-old was showing slight signs of nerves. Will their new favourites' tag weigh heavily on Croatia? Bilić's team had to come from behind to win the home leg in March, waiting until the 87th minute for Eduardo da Silva's deciding goal. Which suggests the absence this weekend of F.Y.R. Macedonia's star striker Goran Pandev will not remove the sting from a competitive Balkan derby.

'Strong team'
"Of course I'm glad that Goran Pandev isn't playing," Bilić said. "He's a great player and Macedonia look weaker without him on paper. But it won't make our job much easier. Even without Pandev, they are a good and strong team. I don't want to talk about England. We're only thinking about Macedonia and we will prepare the same way for both matches."

Defensive strength
Bilić was capped 44 times by Croatia during a seven-year international career. He developed a formidable central defensive partnership with Igor Štimac which was the cornerstone of Croatia's successes at EURO '96™ and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The current side are following in that tradition, with only the Netherlands and France having conceded fewer goals in qualifying – three to Croatia's four – a source of pride for the former HNK Hajduk Split centre-back.

'Proud'
"I'm proud, not only as a former defender, but also because the defence is the basis of every successful team," he said. "We play attacking football, more than half our team are attack-minded, and we can play attacking football precisely because we have a good defence which opens up a number of options. We have not just conceded few goals, we have also limited our opponents to few opportunities."

Special atmosphere
Should Croatia prevail in Skopje, they will likely deprive England, a country with a population ten times greater than their own, of a place in Austria and Switzerland. Croatia may not have the largest pool of players to choose from, but according to Bilić their continued success should come as no surprise. "We have always had great players and great talent. In addition we always have a great spirit. We have a special kind of passion that we feel in our national team. I'm not saying other teams don't have it, but it's something special in our team."