GERMANY v CROATIA: FOOTBALL CAN sometimes seem like a crazy topsy-turvy world. Take the case of the Croat manager Slaven Bilic. As all the world knows, he and his men pulled off one of the most dramatic results of recent international times when Croatia put England out of Euro 2008 with a 3-2 qualifier win at Wembley last November.
The immediate upshot of that game, of course, saw Steve McLaren being shown the England door to make way for the erstwhile messiah, the Italian Fabio Capello. The point about all this is that while Capello has been hired on a contract reportedly worth €8.2 million per annum, Bilic is on a modest €35,000 per annum.
Furthermore while it has been estimated the entire Capello package, assistants et al, will cost the FA a staggering €33 million, Bilic's key helper, the former Real Madrid player Robert Prosinecki, currently works for free.
Yet, here they are at Euro 2008. Croatia have qualified again. Since declaring their independence in 1991, the Croats have qualified for every major finals tournament bar the 2002 World Cup. Clearly, Croatia and Bilic are living proof that, happily, money does not guarantee everything in football.
When Croatia take to the field against Germany in Klagenfurt this afternoon, we will be looking at yet another of the David and Goliath series. Croatia has 58,000 registered players while Germany has 3.6 million.
Yet, you do not need to tell the Germans to be wary of such statistics.
They fell foul of Croatia's finest hour at the France 98 World Cup when beaten 3-0 in the quarter-finals by a team that then went agonisingly close to beating the eventual tournament winners, France, in the semi-finals.
Playing in the Croat team that day was Bilic and another of his current helpers, Aljosa Asanovic. Prosinecki watched the game from the Croatia subs' bench.
The Borussia Dortmund striker Mladen Petric is the first to admit that working with guys who have done it before is a huge inspirational boost.
Petric, scorer of the winning goal at Wembley, acknowledges though that he too has written an important page of Croat sporting history, saying this week: "That was one of the most important goals for us because we proved (again) that a small country like Croatia can beat a big team like England . . . That was a huge self-confidence inspiration for us."
Even if this current German team looks a deal more impressive than the England side of last November and even if Croatia were less than impressive in their opening 1-0 win against host nation Austria in Vienna last weekend, there is still every reason to predict good things for this team.
Whilst things could go wrong against the Germans, there is always the consolatory thought that the next game is against Poland in Klagenfurt next Monday. A quarter-final clash, probably with Portugal, could be there for the taking.
In the meantime, Croatia might be about to work another miracle against Germany. If Bilic opts to ring the changes up front and bring in Werder Bremen striker Ivan Klasnic, he will write another little footnote to soccer history.
In January 2007, Klasnic suffered a kidney failure. His mother donated a kidney to her son but his body rejected the new organ. Not daunted, the determined Klasnic family stuck at it with the player's father donating one of his kidneys for a successful transplant two months later. Little wonder Klasnic now says it is great just to be here.
In Croatia, it seems, miracles regularly happen. Could we be in for another one this afternoon?
GERMANY V CROATIA
ALL EYES will be on Germany when they face Croatia in Klagenfurt today in a game that will surely prove a much tougher test than their opening 2-0 win against Poland last Sunday.
Even if German captain Michael Ballack suggested on Tuesday there was no reason to change a winning team, the coach Joachim Löw may be tempted to shuffle things around, with the Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, a substitute against Poland, in line for a starting place, perhaps at the expense of striker Mario Gomez.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic is considering a change with Schalke's attacking midfielder Ivan Rakitic due to come in for the hero of Wembley, Mladen Petric, who disappointed against Austria in Croatia's 1-0 win last Sunday.
PROBABLE TEAMS
CROATIA: Pletikosa; Corluka, Kovac, Simic, Simunic; Srna, Kovac, Modricm, Kranjcar; Rakitic; Olic.
GERMANY: Lehmann, Lahm, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Jansen, Fritz, Frings, Ballack, Podolski, Klose, Gomez/Schweinsteiger.
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