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Match will haunt us for the rest of our lives, Bilic says

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said the defeat, and more particularly the manner in which it was inflicted in Friday's Euro 2008 quarter-final loss to Turkey, will haunt him and his players forever.

But the 39-year-old who has created such an impression at these championships insisted that his young side would return stronger in time for the upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

“This is not the sort of match you play on a regular basis, this is something we’ll never forget — it will haunt us for the rest of our lives,” he said. “We’ll probably weep for a few days, but such is life — things like this happen. We have to go on, I’ve got a young team, qualification for the World Cup is imminent. Tomorrow is a new day, the sun will rise and my players have a strong character and will be back even stronger.”

“Penalties were a shock to us,” Bilic said. “It looked as if it was over, then to concede a goal and for penalties was a psychological advantage to the Turks.”

He paid tribute to all his players, including Luca Modric, who sent Croatia’s first spot-kick wide.

“Luca played phenomenally well and didn’t deserve to miss that penalty,” Bilic said. “Throughout the tournament he’s played fantastic, but to be honest none of the players deserved to miss their penalties.”

Bilic, who was part of the Croatia team that beat Turkey at Euro 96, the only time the two countries have met previously in competition, said he was finding it hard to put his thoughts on the last two minutes into words.

“I can’t describe those last minutes — both our goal, and then theirs and then penalties,” he said. “It was something else. I have no misgivings toward my players, I’m proud of them, but at the same time sorry and unhappy because I thought we could play on until the end of the tournament. I congratulate the Turkey team, but still believe that we didn’t deserve to lose. We have beaten better opponents. The pain of this defeat will stay with me for a long time. It will haunt us forever.”

“This is the third match they’ve won in an extreme fashion,” he said. “If they continue to be lucky and don’t give up, they might even reach the final — they have quality and they have that something else which you need in football.”

With that he left the room to, unusually for a press conference, a round of applause.
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