This is the reason for the title of the preview to the Austria-Croatia match. Day Two will begin with Group B action. On the sidelines, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic does play the guitar in a rock band back in his country.
To kind of admit, this even makes him one of the coolest football coaches around. But for Bilic, he rather they are on song for their Euro 2008 campaign, starting with co-hosts Austria. As for Bilic's counterpart Josef Hicksberger, the target is at least a win during the tournament. And for Croatia, the most biggest blow is that their Brazilian-born striker Eduardo will not be featuring (given he did helped them during their qualifying route) especially after a nasty tackle during Arsenal's match against Birmingham in the Premier League in the previous season.
But, Slaven Bilic is saying that they can go a long way despite Eduardo's absence. That we will see as the tournament progresses. What is for sure is that it's time for Croatia strikers to deliver, as according to Ivica Olic. Croatia had not been really performing during their warm-ups ahead of the tournament proper.
Onto the team news front. It's a case of who will be at goal for Austria. Alex Manninger and Jurgen Macho...who will start? Sounds a little familar, eh? This was the case for Germany ahead of the World Cup at its own backyard two years ago. Until then-coach Juergen Klinsmann decided to go for Jens Lehmann (in view of his performance for his club Arsenal at that time and with Arsenal all the way to the Champions League final in 2005) over the more popular and (definitely) more experienced Oliver Kahn. For Josef Hickersberger, he did mentioned Germany was also in the same spot before and how Kahn reacted to the news that he is not the first choice.
For Croatia, other than Eduardo's absence, the good news is that Vedran Corluka has shaken off an injury. Also, Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic are expected to start.
What to ponder about. In a way for me on a personal scale, Luka Modric is the one to look out for. After Tottenham Hotspur won the race to sign the young playmaker to White Hart Lane for the next Premier League season (he had been tracked by a handful of Premier League clubs already beforehand), it's time to see why as according to his national coach Slaven Bilic at one time used to say that the world will see why Modric is the real deal for how much Spurs had paid for Modric to be at White Hart Lane (21 million pounds). And Modric had been likened to Dutch great Johan Cyruff as well. That is already a huge compliment for the 22-year-old. Reuters's in-depth look of Luka Modric (and more profiles of Modric's teammates on the national team).
For Austria, well, it's playing at their own backyard. The capital of the country of Vienna (where the Group B opening match will be played) is also where the final of the tournament will be held. Austria is more known for 'The Sound of Music' than football. Which side will be hitting all the right notes in the end?
