Croatia Confident Ahead Of FIFA U-20 World Cup Opener

The Croatian U-20 side will open their account at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey against Uruguay on Sunday night (8pm, Eurosport 2) , and coach Dinko Jelicic is confident, despite missing four of his stars.

“We have prepared well, analysed our opponents and we are ready to fight. We have quality,” said Jelicic ahead of tonight’s opener. The young coach however will be without four of his key players who helped Croatia get to the World Cup.

Inter Milan’s Mateo Kovacic, Josip Radosevic, Alen Halilovic and Tin Jedvaj have all since become part of the full Croatia senior side and will be missing from the tournament.

Croatia’s likely line-up for tonight’s match is: Zelenika, Gorupec, Aleksic, Datkovic, Simunovic, Mrzljak, Canadija, Milicevic, Pjaca, Livaja, Rebic.

Croatia’s other group matches will be against Uzbekistan on Wednesday and New Zealand on Saturday.