With his team’s safe passage through to the Euro 2008 quarter-finals guaranteed, Slaven Bilic has stressed the benefits of drawing his staff from the Croatian team that went as far as the same stage at Euro 96 in England.

Bilić took part in all four games that Croatia played that summer, so when he assumed the role of coach it was only natural that he chose his back-room staff from that squad. And because of this, we can find former midfield aces Nikola Jurčević, Aljoša Asanović and Robert Prosinečki all contributing their experience with coaching positions, while Marijan Mrmić has been a revelation in his goalkeeping coach position.

Although it has been the Croats victory over the Germans in the 1998 World Cup that has been debated in the last few days, Bilić feels Croatia’s real breakthrough came with the team that lined-up in the Euro 96 tournament. He explained that Croatia was a newly independent country at the time, having just come out of a terrible war and that they had a great team eager to perform in a major tournament. He pointed out that most of the players were already twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, so it was a very important time for them as well as for the country and it was the first time that Croatia was actually acknowledged for its football.

Back to the task at hand and Bilić has pointedly declined to offer any indication as to what kind of team he will put out against Poland this coming Monday, but the general consensus is that because first place in the group is already secured, he may rest his key players.