http://www.uefa.com/under19/news/newsid=1838832.html?rss=1838832+%C4%8Calu%C5%A1i%C4%87+confident+of+Croatia+improvement
Čalušić confident of Croatia improvement
Published: Wednesday 4 July 2012, 13.45CET
Stand-in
captain Josip Čalušić said he and his Croatia team-mates are eager to
correct the errors they made against England in their second Group B
encounter against France.
by Elmir Islamović
from Tallinn

Čalušić confident of Croatia improvement
France hold no fears for Croatia's Josip Čalušić ©Sportsfile
Croatia
defender Josip Čalušić was "delighted" to assume the captain's armband
in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship opener against England,
despite his disappointment with the 1-1 draw.
With usual captain
Filip Mrzljak suspended for the first two Group B games following his
red card in the final qualifier against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Čalušić
took over the role for the England game and looked set to make a winning
start when Domagoj Pavičić put the 2010 semi-finalists ahead in the
57th minute. Nathaniel Chalaboah quickly equalised, however, to leave
Čalušić and his team-mates feeling frustrated.
"It's too bad we
didn't win as we were much better than them in the first half," the NK
Lokomotiva Zagreb player told UEFA.com. "We dominated, had a few good
chances and should have scored from at least one of those. It may have
been a surprise for some to see us starting the game so well but not to
us as we are aware of our quality, while we are well prepared well for
the tournament."
Croatia's dominance in the first half contrasted
with England's control of the second which led Čalušić to feel "down."
"It was not so good for us after the break," he said. "Sure, we scored a
goal but if we hadn't conceded so soon afterwards we would probably
have held on until the final whistle."
Next up for Dinko
Jeličić's side is an encounter against France, who opened their campaign
with a 3-0 victory against Serbia, leading Čalušić to describe the 2010
winners as "joint favourites for the title with Spain." "We are aware
of their strength but we are certainly not afraid of them," the
18-year-old added.
"We will try to enter that match in the same
way as we did against England and hope we can produce something good
again. France are strong but they are not invincible so we will play to
win as we always do. Our main goal is to claim a [FIFA U-20] World Cup
spot but I am sure we have enough quality to reach the semi-finals. We
are very confident."
That optimism can be seen not only on the
pitch but also off it, especially when the Croatia players gather to
enjoy recreational moments at their team base in Tallinn. "The
atmosphere within our group is excellent," Čalušić said. "When we have
some free time here we are mostly hanging out together in the hotel
playing computer games and also table football against each other. Those
are our favourite moments and it is when we are all in a good mood."
An
admirer of NK Dinamo Zagreb's Domagoj Vida, Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid
CF and Chelsea FC's John Terry, Čalušić believes he and his team-mates
can aspire to those standards. ""Can we be a sensation at this
tournament? Why not? We are feeling good and are fully motivated"."