 Baric has revived Croatia's fortunes |
When Otto Baric took charge of Croatia in July 2002, it was very much a case of out with the old and in with the new. And Sven-Goran Eriksson's England can expect a very different Croatian team in Wednesday's friendly to the one that made an embarrassing first-round exit at the World Cup in Korea and Japan.
Semi-finalists at France 98, they crashed out of a group from which they were expected to progress, suffering a humbling 1-0 defeat at the hands of Ecuador in their final game.
It proved the last stand for a golden generation of players who had propelled a fledgling nation - Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 - to the quarter-finals of Euro 96 and the last four in France two years later.
Alen Boksic, Robert Prosinecki and Davor Suker all bowed out of the international arena which they had graced with such elan.
 |  This is a new team which has a new and inspiring spirit |
Their exit was soon followed by that of Mirko Jozic, who stood down as coach after failing to scale the heights of his predecessor, the legendary Miroslav Blazevic. The Croatian Football Federation turned to the vastly-experienced Baric in an attempt to revive the country's flagging fortunes.
Baric, who enjoyed success in Austria where he took Rapid Vienna to the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985 and Austria Salzburg to the final of the Uefa Cup in 1994, indicated his intention to shake things up.
"I will do whatever I can to see as many players in action as I possibly can," said Baric.
"I am counting on 70 to 80% of the players that were involved in the World Cup and those are mainly the younger players."
He has since injected the national team with a renewed sense of vitality by bringing in some much-needed young blood.
Croatia's new dawn has heralded the arrival of the likes of Dado Prso, Tomislav and Marijo Maric, Jerko Leko, Marko Babic and Darijo Srna.
 Baric has put his faith in the likes of Bayer Leverkusen's Babic |
And this crop of players has helped Croatia to second place in Group 8 of their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign following three successive victories including an impressive 4-0 win over Belgium.
Baric's men lie just one point behind Bulgaria and will go into the friendly against England in good heart.
"This is a new team which has a new and inspiring spirit," Baric added.
"I think it is 50-50 between us and Bulgaria as to who wins the group, but we have at least an 80% chance of finishing as runners-up and going into the qualifying play-offs.
"It is a fact that there are no easy matches or small teams anymore. If Germany and England are having problems outplaying smaller sides, it is clear that football is getting tougher and tougher."
England can expect a tough test from a Croatian side steadily emerging from the shadow of their predecessors.
MMIX
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Euro 2004