Revived Croatia pose fear for Scotland

SCOTLAND this week slumped to a record low by losing four consecutive competitive internationals for the first time in history, and with their next Group A fixture away to Croatia on 7 June, the worry for Gordon Strachan and the Tartan Army is that the sequence will stretch to five.

Cold-shouldered by the media when he took over from the popular Slaven Bilic in July, Croatia coach Igor Stimac is now earning plaudits after two gritty wins kept them on course for the 2014 World Cup finals.

Following Friday’s emotional 2-0 home triumph over neighbours Serbia, the rejuvenated Croatians came from behind to beat Wales 2-1 in Swansea on Tuesday after Stimac got the most out of his tactical substitutions in the final 30 minutes.

He threw on teenage midfielder Mateo Kovacic and 33-year old striker Ivica Olic with the gamble paying off as the former’s creativity and the latter’s speed turned the screw on Wales, who had taken the lead through a Gareth Bale penalty. Defender Dejan Lovren, often criticised over costly errors for Croatia and his Ligue 1 club Lyon, justified selection with a stunning equaliser before Eduardo da Silva poked in a late winner to keep Croatia level with Belgium at the top of Group A.

Both teams are on 16 points from six matches, nine clear of third-placed Serbia as the battle for the automatic place for group winners in Brazil next year has become a two-horse race. It was a fifth win in six competitive matches for Stimac, who could not have imagined a better scenario after being jeered by fans in his native Split when Croatia were beaten 4-2 by Switzerland on his coaching debut last August. “We made the right substitutions and ground out a hard-fought win after falling behind but it was a strange feeling to chase the game because it’s the first time we had fallen behind in this qualifying campaign,” said Stimac.

When Croatia host Scotland in June, they will be without Lovren, playmaker Luka Modric and defender Vedran Corluka through suspension after all three picked up yellow cards in Swansea. But captain Darijo Srna stressed that not having the trio was a small price to pay for what he described as a vital win to keep up the pressure on Belgium, who eked out a 1-0 home win over Macedonia.

“The victory over Serbia would have been meaningless if we had dropped points against Wales and although we will miss three players against Scotland, we should be good enough to beat them, whatever first team the coach picks,” he said.