Niko Kovač: ‘We Need to be Tough and Aggressive to Beat Italy’
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Croatia will be hoping to maintain its 100% winning record in EURO 2016 qualifiers this weekend when they take on Italy at Milan’s San Siro stadium. Coach Niko Kovač knows it is not going to be easy, and says the plan is simple…
“We have to be tough and aggressive and look for holes in their defence. Which there are not many,” Kovač told daily Jutarnji list, before adding.
“Our goal is to play how we did in Bulgaria, the opposition is tough, we will have to defend, but also we will attack them. We must be aggressive, compact, and patient because Italy is very organised. It is going to be tough to break them down, we will have to find little holes. We want a positive result, which is either a draw or a victory.
With Croatia’s second-string side performing admirably in London against Argentina on Wednesday night, Kovač may now be left with one or two healthy selection dilemmas ahead of Sunday night’s clash with the Italians. One of those dilemmas will be at the back where 18-year-old Bayer Leverkusen defender Tin Jedvaj staked his claim for a start ahead of the error-prone and out of form Dejan Lovren.
Sunday’s match will kick off at 20:45 local time.
