CROATIA COACH:
Zlatko Kranjcar

Zlatko Kranjcar replaced the conservative Otto Baric after Croatia failed to get out of their group at Euro 2004. Born on November 15, 1956, Kranjcar (pronounced CRUNCH-ar) is a very popular sports figure in Croatia, having made 556 league appearances for Dinamo Zagreb, and scoring 98 times and playing 11 times and scoring three goals for Yugoslavia before the break-up of that country. He also played for Rapid Vienna and reached the 1985 European Cup Winners Cup final.

Kranjcar's Dinamo teams won the double -- league and cup competition -- twice and he won another league championship with F.C. Zagreb. He also coached at FC Linz, SV Wienerfeld and NK Rijeka.

His son, midfielder Niko Kranjcar, is a member of the National Team, although some Croatian soccer observers felt that the younger one hasn't lived up to his promising start as a teenager.