Croatia

• Nickname:
• Founded:0
• Manager:Slaven Bilic

• Ground:
• Capacity:NaN

Hurt Bilic vows to fight on

22 Jun 2008 - 15:45:13

Click To Enlarge

Slaven Bilic has vowed to stay on as Croatia coach despite admitting he considered quitting management following their Euro 2008 exit.

Bilic, 39, was left heart-broken by his side's quarter-final exit on penalties to Turkey after they had taken the lead in the second half of extra-time only to concede an equaliser with the last kick of the game.

The highly-rated former international defender has been linked with several club jobs across Europe after an impressive two-year spell at the Croatia helm, but revealed he considered quitting management altogether following the drama in Vienna on Friday.

"When I saw all my players crying in the dressing room I thought, 'That is it, I've had enough of football'," he said.

"I decided I was going to give up management completely. It was no different when I woke up the next morning and I said to my boy, 'I've had enough, let's go fishing'.

"I've decided that I must stay and that I must get us as far as I can in the (2010) World Cup. That is what I want to do for my country.

"I don't want to even think about becoming a manager at club level right now.

"That is not something I'm going to discuss and it is not something that is going to happen at this stage."