Latest Croatia Soccer News

The English Football Association says it will contest a UEFA charge that it failed to control fans at England's 2-0 Euro 2008 qualifying loss to Croatia. Fighting broke out before the Oct. 11 game as England fans tried to get into the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. Croatian security staff decided to close the gates, and England fans clashed with riot police. UEFA charged both the FA and the Croatian federation ...

Wayne Rooney was involved in an angry exchange with an England fan after his team's European Championship qualifying loss to Croatia. Rooney's agent said Thursday that the striker reacted with a ``gesture'' to the fan, who had been verbally aggressive. Agent Ian Monk would not specify what the gesture was, however. The incident occurred when Rooney was making his way to the team bus with rest of the squad after ...

Croatians celebrated Thursday after one of the country's greatest victories in international soccer. ``Great, fantastic, amazing,'' President Stipe Mesic said after Croatia beat England 2-0 on Wednesday in a European Championship qualifier. In a separate message of congratulations, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader wrote: ``We beat a big national team. Victory against England is a colossal achievement.'' Stores in the capital flew national flags and people savoured coffees and cigarettes over ...

England goalkeeper Paul Robinson made two mistakes, and Croatia won 2-0 Wednesday to be part of a four-team tie atop Group E of European Championship qualifying. Eduardo da Silva, a naturalized Brazilian, scored in the 61st minute with a looping header on a cross from Niko Kovac that caught Robinson off his line and helped end England's run of six straight shutouts. Eight minutes later, Gary Neville aimed a simple ...

Police detained 16 Croatia fans and five England supporters Tuesday because of clashes between rival groups in Zagreb. With a large number of fans in the Croatian capital for Wednesday's European Championship qualifier between the teams, a police cordon prevented two larger groups from meeting at the city's main square. Most of the fans detained clashed in and in front of bars in downtown Zagreb and most of them were ...

Wayne Rooney hasn't scored a competitive goal for England since the 2004 European Championship. Maybe coming up against the opponent from that day will remind him how it's done. Rooney, in the squad for Wednesday's 2008 European Championship qualifier at Croatia (available on pay-per-view), is without a competitive goal since scoring two against the Croats in Portugal. Saturday's 0-0 draw against visiting Macedonia prolonged that streak on the same day ...

Any more racist behaviour by Croatian soccer fans could lead to the country's exclusion from the 2008 European Championship. UEFA issued the warning Tuesday ahead of Croatia's qualifier against England on Wednesday. ``The sanctions range from a fine to points deduction to exclusion from the competition,'' UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said. ``It's clear that second-time and third-time offenders are not going to be treated at all the same way as ...

Defender Ledley King will miss England's European Championship qualifier against Croatia after withdrawing because of a knee injury. King played in Saturday's 0-0 draw with Macedonia but withdrew Tuesday after sitting out training. Rio Ferdinand will travel with the squad to Croatia and may play Wednesday's game in place of King after he recovered from a back injury.

Wayne Rooney still can't score and England's winning run ended in a tame 0-0 draw with Macedonia. Maybe coach Steve McClaren has more problems than he thought. England's three-game streak under the man who succeeded Sven-Goran Eriksson ended in a match it should have won comfortably. McClaren's team failed to dominate a well-organized but colourless Macedonian lineup before 72,000 Old Trafford fans who expected a high-scoring victory to take control at the top of Group E. Even with ...

Croatia's top political and sporting officials are confident of winning the right to co-host the 2012 European Championship with neighbouring Hungary. ``I'm convinced that we will host Euro 2012,'' Croatian federation head Vlatko Markovic said Tuesday. ``UEFA has no moral reason to deny us.'' Croatia has failed in two bids to host the European Championship, while Hungary has missed out three times. Markovic said a team of six scouts from ...