Croatia coach Ante Cacic has announced his 23-man squad for this summer’s Euro 2016 tournament in France.
Bleed in the youngsters
Croatia have been drawn in the group D in this summer’s tournament along with Czech Republic, Turkey and current holders Spain.
There were some obvious additions in Cacic’s squad with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic and the two midfielders will pivotal in Croatia progressing beyond the group stages but Cacic has also included a number of youth players in his final squad.
Tin Jedvaj, Ante Coric, Marko Rog and Mark Pjaca have all been included in the squad especially Coric and Rog after their excellent season with Dynamo Kiev.
Veteran defender Vedran Corluka also made it into the squad despite picking up an ankle injury in training on Tuesday with local media reporting that he would a require a scan but he still managed to make the cut.
Missing out
However these inclusions haven’t come without their sacrifices with Duje Caleta-Car and Domagoj Antolic with the big exclusion been youngster Alen Halilovic.
The Barcelona youngster impressed while on loan at Sporting Gijon and had already gathered eight international caps but Cacic justified his decision to leave out the 19-year-old.
He told the press that “every player involved” in the build-up to the Euro’s “deserved to be in the squad” and he had to decide which players the side “needed the most.”
Cacic continued saying that his decision to leave out Halilovic and Antolic was that they would find it “more difficult” to handle being “fringe players” at the tournament and also wanted to reward Coric and Rog for “exceptional efforts” and their “fine club season.”
Croatia will take on San Marino in their final warm-up match ahead of Euro 2016 on Saturday, June 4 with kick-off at 7:15pm BST.
Croatia Euro 2016 squad:
Goalkeepers: Danijel Subasic (Monaco), Lovre Kalinic (Hajduk Split), Ivan Vargic (Rijeka)
Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Domagoj Vida (Dynamo Kiev), Sime Vrsaljko (Sassuolo), Gordon Schildenfeld (Dinamo Zagreb), Ivan Strinic (Napoli), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic (both Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Perisic (both Inter Milan), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina), Marko Rog, Ante Coric (both Dinamo Zagreb)
Forwards: Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Nikola Kalinic (Fiorentina), Marko Pjaca, Duje Cop (both Dinamo Zagreb), Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim)