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ZAGREB, June 7 (Xinhua) -- On Tuesday, the airplane carrying national team left the country from Zagreb Airport and took the best Croatian soccer players and their hopes to France where they will try to push out politicians from the cover pages of Croatian newspapers.
That will not be an easy task for national team head coach Ante Cacic and 23 players who are regarded as one of the best in the history of Croatian soccer and very often compared with the Golden Generation of 1990's that won the bronze medal at 1998 World Cup in France. Since then, Croatian players were present at almost every big tournament but they managed to pass the group stage only once, at EURO2008, where they were eliminated in quarterfinal by Turkey on penalties.
Eight years after that shocking loss, Turkey awaits Croatia once again, this time at the start of the EURO2016 on June 12 in Paris.
"Turkey has a high quality team and players that play with a lot of passion, almost fanatic. Having said that, I am confident that my players can compete against any team in the world and that they will show their quality from the first match in France," Cacic said on Tuesday before the scheduled flight that took Croatian team to its French base, a holiday resort Deauville in Normandy.
"We could hardly wait to get there, to calm down and to focus on the job that is ahead of us," Real Madrid star Luka Modric said on Tuesday, the day after he has received an award as the best Croatian footballer for the fourth year in a row.
The spirit within the Croatian camp is high even though the team didn't experience the same euphoria as it has been created in the past. Due to the current political and economical situation in the Baltic country and unpopularity of the present leaders of Croatian Football Federation, only some occasional supporters came to see off the players at Zagreb Airport on Tuesday.
"The atmosphere in the team is great," Modric said and added that he and his teammates are not concerned about their own safety during the upcoming European Championships.
"We are not worried about security and we are focused only on football (soccer)."
Modric spent just a few days in a training camp and played half time of the test match against modest San Marino in record breaking 10-0 Croatian win. His Croatian teammate but fierce opponent in Spanish Primera division, Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic, has been with the national team a week longer as his club duties ended before Modric's with Real Madrid in UEFA Champions League.
"We are well prepared. We are full of confidence, strength and faith and I can promise that we will be giving everything in every second of every match in France to fulfill our goal and have a great result in the end," said Ivan Rakitic, a finalist for the best Croatian footballer award alongside Inter Milan forward Ivan Perisic.
"We had enough of training. We all can hardly wait for the tournament to start. I already have butterflies in my stomach. It's time to show what we can do and I know that we are good enough to do something great," Rakitic added.
After the opener against Turkey, Croatian team will play against Czech team in Saint-Etienne on June 17. Four days later, on June 21, Croatia will play the closing match in the Group D against reigning European champion Spain in Bordeaux. Two best teams from each group will advance to knockout stage alongside with four best third-placed teams.
"It would be a great disappointment for me and my personal defeat if we wouldn't reach the knockout stage," Cacic said before leading the Croatian team to fly to France, the place of the greatest success of Croatian national team.
The new generation is confident that they can reach the high standard set by Croatian soccer greats at 1998 World Cup.
