Ivica Olic to miss Croatia opener against Brazil

BAD BRUECKENAU, Germany, June 9: Croatia forward Ivica Olic is set to miss his country's World Cup opener against Brazil as he is struggling to shake off a thigh strain.

''The healing process is going very well, but he won't be in the 18 against Brazil. We don't want to take a risk that he will miss later matches,'' Croatia coach Zlatko Kranjcar told a news conference after today's morning training session attended by only half the squad, mostly reserves.

Croatia play world champions Brazil in their opening group F match in Berlin on Tuesday.

Croatia are rather battle-scarred after a series of warm-up matches, culminating in Wednesday's 2-1 loss to Spain in Geneva. The pacy Olic picked up his injury in a 5-0 thrashing of a team of fellow Croat professionals on Sunday.

Captain Niko Kovac and his Hertha Berlin team mate, defender Josip Simunic, received treatment on minor complaints yesterday from a specialist in the southern Germany city of Munich.

Midfielder Darijo Srna, who scored five goals in qualifying for Croatia, was also struggling for peak fitness and simply stretched and did a few light runs today.

''Srna played a long and hard season in a side that won the title. He will be fine. He will practice tomorrow,'' Kranjcar said of Srna, who plays for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.

Kranjcar promised Croatia would play their own game and not just sit back and defend against Brazil.

''We are not just looking to counter. We always want to play our own game. We have players like Kranjcar, Babic and Srna,'' he said, referring to his son, attacking midfielder Niko Kranjcar, and right and left midfielders Srna and Marko Babic.

''We need though to set players firmly on the opponents. We have a vision to play like Arsenal against Barcelona,'' the Croatia coach said, referring the Champions League final in which 10-man Arsenal took the lead and held out until the closing stages. They eventually lost 2-1.

''Barcelona have a skill level like Brazil.'' The Croatia coach recognized that Brazil have players in every area who can suddenly turn a game, but argued that their attacking style could leave them exposed at the back.

Croatia face Japan on June 18 and Australia four days later in their remaining group F matches.

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REUTERS