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Outright Odds: 66/1

Group F Winners: 6/1

France enter their third consecutive finals and can look for a of the heroics of 1998 as opposed to the distress of 2002. They topped an arduous qualifying group which included Bulgaria and Hungary and remained unbeaten over 10 fits which included home and away victories over fellow qualifiers Sweden.

Under director Zlatko Kranjcar Croatia are a different group to how neutrals can remember them from their 1998 uses which saw them reach the semi-final. Gone are style people such as for example Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki and former Golden Boot Davor Suker. They have been replaced by more useful people like the Kovac friends, Marko Babic and Dado Prso.

Like fellow qualifiers Serbia & Montenegro, Croatias success stemmed from the powerful support where they kept six clear sheets in 10 games and admitted only five objectives along the way.

Yet another strength is just a amount of the existing Croatia squad are based in the Bundesliga, with Josip Simunic and Niko Kovac at Hertha Berlin, Babic based at Bayer Leverkusen and Ivan Klasnic caught to Werder Bremen.

A talent has been unearthed by croatia in midfielder Dario Srna who has developed a talent for scoring essential objectives. Both goals were scored by the Shakhtar Donetsk player in the two 1-0 wins over Sweden in the determining suits of the group.

Goals were scored five by key striker Dado Prso in qualifying, his countrys shared top scorer with Srna. When he netted four objectives for Monaco in the 8-3 Champions League thrashing of Deportivo Manhattan project Coruna he burst in to prominence. He made his international debut nine weeks prior to the match but has since become an automatic selection in attack.

Croatia have gone about their company quietly and confidently and despite their unbeaten diploma initiatives, will remain unfancied by many to produce any impact in the finals. That'll suit them great as former coach Mirko Jozic blamed the pressure on the course of 1998 for the dismal failure of the 2002 group which saw them drop 1-0 to Ecuador in their final match.

Eventually, they experience favourites Brazil within their opening match therefore will not need certainly to bother about facing the reigning champions in an emergency team decider. If they can take something from that game they'll maintain pole position to reaching the second round.

Advised Bet

Despite the apparent strength of the group, Croatia tend to be more than capable of qualifying from this given their current showings in qualifying for the finals. With among the defences in Europe and a host of players plying their trade in Germany they're an audio guess to check out Brazil into the final 16.

Croatia to qualify from Group F @ 5/6 like us on facebook