Olic ruled out of Euro 2012

Croatia striker Ivica Olic has been ruled out of Euro 2012 with a thigh injury, the country’s football federation has announced.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic had been sweating over the fitness of the Bayern Munich striker since he sustained a thigh injury in the 1-1 friendly draw against Norway at the weekend.

A scan has revealed a partial rupture of the biceps muscle of the 32-year-old’s right thigh, with an estimated recovery of four to six weeks.

Bilic has acted quickly to replace Olic, calling Dnipro’s 24-year-old striker Nikola Kalinic, who has 13 caps to his name, into the squad.

Croatia will kick off their Euro campaign against Republic of Ireland before taking on Italy and Spain.

Source : http://www.soccernews.com/olic-ruled-out-of-euro-2012/95843/

Croatia leave out injured Lovren

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has had to leave injured defender Dejan Lovren out of his final Euro 2012 squad.

The Lyon centre-back has failed to recover from a foot problem he sustained in last month’s Coupe de France final success over Quevilly.

Lovren has also omitted Hajduk Split goalkeeper Goran Blazevic, Dinamo Zagreb defender Sime Vrsaljko and Dnipro attacker Nikola Kalinic.

Croatia play Norway in Oslo on Friday before heading for Poland, where they will kick off their European Championship campaign against Republic of Ireland on June 10.

The Croats, who qualified courtesy of a play-off win over Turkey, also have Italy and Spain in Group C.

Squad: Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Rostov), Danijel Subasic (Monaco), Ivan Kelava (Dinamo Zagreb).

Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Tottenham), Josip Simunic (Dinamo Zagreb), Gordon Schildenfeld (Eintracht Frankfurt), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Domagoj Vida (Dinamo Zagreb), Danijel Pranjic (Bayern Munich), Jurica Buljat (Maccabi Haifa), Ivan Strinic (Dnipro).

Midfielders: Luka Modric (Tottenham), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dynamo Kiev), Tomislav Dujmovi (Dinamo Moscow), Ivan Perisic (Dortmund), Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla), Niko Kranjcar (Tottenham), Milan Badelj (Dinamo Zagreb).

Strikers: Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ivica Olic (Bayern Munich), Mario Mandzukic (Wolfsburg), Nikica Jelavic (Everton), Ivo Ilicevic (Hamburg).

Source : http://www.soccernews.com/croatia-leave-out-injured-lovren/95462/