Croatia

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

• Ground:
• Capacity:NaN

Kovac chases fitting finale

19 Jun 2008 - 12:07:17

Click To Enlarge

Croatia captain Niko Kovac has confirmed that he will retire from international football at the end of the European Championships.

The vastly experienced 36-year-old hopes to help his side create history at Euro 2008, with Croatia currently preparing for a quarter-final showdown with Turkey.

Kovac told reporters: "This is the peak of my career.

"It could be my last match for Croatia, but let's hope it isn't as I have a feeling we can do much more here than just reach the quarter-finals."

Kovac has won 76 caps from Croatia to date, scoring 13 goals, while his club career has included spells with Hertha Berlin, Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.

Meanwhile, Kovac's team-mate, Niko Kranjcar, is bullish about his side's chances of reaching the semi-finals.

He told UEFA's official website: "We rate Turkey highly because they're in the quarter-finals of the European Championships and they did a great job in beating the Czech Republic.

"But we believe in the quality we have and we really think we have a chance of going through.

"Every team in the quarter-finals has a chance, but on the other hand we have the better team and the better individuals.

"We've proved ourselves time and again and we're ready to do so again. I'm really looking forward to this match."