Human touch cheers Croatia

Elvir Islamović had a relaxed day at Croatia's camp, talking music with Slaven Bilić and seeing the players in jovial mood, and hopes it bodes well for their return to Poznan to play Italy. 

 

 

It was a lovely day in Warka. I don't mean the weather, which by the way was mostly cloudy, I mean the atmosphere in Croatia camp.

Everyone was cheerful, from the coaches and other staff who woke up earlier in the morning, to the players who deservedly got permission to sleep a bit longer than usual. After they returned from Poznan yesterday following Sunday's victory against the Republic of Ireland, this was their only full day in camp before heading back for Thursday's Group C match with Italy.

"The players were a bit tired – happy but tired," Slaven Bilić told me while we prepared for a UEFA.com interview. "Maybe we need an extra day here between the matches, our mentality is like that and we need a bit longer time to recover. Fortunately, we are playing against Latin opponents so we are in similar situations."

The Croatia squad are close

 

Very happy he was too, very calm and relaxed. We talked about music at length, Bilić revealing how he spent hours listening to Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen last night, and also how it's just a coincidence that he has worn a woolly hat during the team's biggest victories.

Yes, he was wearing it at Wembley when Croatia defeated England, in Istanbul when they beat Turkey 3-0 in the UEFA EURO 2012 play-offs, and now in Poznan against Ireland. "It was cold in Istanbul and in Poznan it was raining – it's only that," said Bilić.

Then I spoke to some of the players and they were were also upbeat. Some of them were cycling around – Mario Mandžukić, Ivan Perišić and Gordon Schildenfeld even brought bikes into the press conference. They had light training and watched a DVD of Thursday's opponents Italy.

But mostly it is clear that the squad are very close, with jokes flying around. "It's a really fantastic atmosphere," Vedran Ćorluka said. "We had a good sleep, we recovered and we are now charging towards the next match. The big one."

It would be great to see Croatia like this later in the week. And that means returning from Poznan once again with big smiles on faces. After a big win over Italy.