Outright Odds: 66/1
Group F Winners: 6/1
Croatia enter their third successive finals and will look for a repeat of the heroics of 1998 rather than the embarrassment of 2002. They topped a difficult qualifying group which included Bulgaria and Hungary and remained unbeaten over 10 matches which included home and away victories over fellow qualifiers Sweden.
Under manager Zlatko Kranjcar Croatia are a different team to how neutrals will remember them from their 1998 exploits which saw them reach the semi-final. Gone are flair players such as Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki and former Golden Boot Davor Suker. They have been replaced by more functional players such as the Kovac brothers, Marko Babic and Dado Prso.
Like fellow qualifiers Serbia & Montenegro, Croatias success stemmed from a strong defence where they kept six clean sheets in 10 games and conceded just five goals in the process.
Another strength is a number of the current Croatia squad are based in the Bundesliga, with Josip Simunic and Niko Kovac at Hertha Berlin, Babic based at Bayer Leverkusen and Ivan Klasnic contracted to Werder Bremen.
Croatia have unearthed a...
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