The benchmark for the Croatian former World Cupper may seem to be a bit high but Prabhakaran said it was "the technical committee's decision and is endorsed by the executive committee."
A brief history of previous World Cup semi-final appearances by England and Croatia, ahead of their last four match at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday.
Ivan Rakitic an integral part of the Croatia side who reached the World Cup final in Russia before losing 4-2 to France.
Holders Porto will face Premier League leaders Manchester City while former European champions Ajax Amsterdam will meet Manchester United in two glittering Europa League Round-of-32 ties following Friday's draw.
"Since 2008 we have never gone beyond this first knockout game and it was very important for us to get that monkey off our back," Modric said.
FIFA will take no disciplinary action against Croatian side HNK Rijeka following Manchester City's allegation of racism during an under-21 friendly in July, world soccer's governing body said on Monday.
After scoring one of the goals of the tournament and upstaging Lionel Messi by leading his team to the top of their group, Croatia captain Luka Modric hopes to fulfil a dream that began when he watched his nation record a best ever World Cup showing.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
England's last appearance at this stage was in 1990 when they lost in a penalty shootout to West Germany in Turin while eight years later, in their first World Cup as an independent nation, Croatia lost to hosts and eventual winners France.
A guide to the Croatia starting 11 ahead of the World Cup final against France.
Sepp Blatter sat through the day-long proceedings as a guest and had to endure some stinging criticism from his challengers for the FIFA presidency who were invited to make presentations to delegates.
France midfielder Paul Pogba said the finals in Russia might be his last World Cup but he hopes he will be fit for more.
Running highlights from FIFA's congress. World soccer's governing body has voted on a series of reforms and will elect a new president later on Friday (all times GMT): 13.30 The voting process is proving a long, drawn out affair. After an hour's voting, we have crawled to L for Latvia with little to get excited about apart from the brief appearance of Davor Suker, Golden Boot winner as the top scorer at the 1998 World Cup, as he cast Croatia's vote. Time then for a reminder that for a candidate to be elected in the first round, he must obtain at least 138 votes, two-thirds of the 207 votes cast. If this does not happen, a second round is held. This time, a simple majority -- 104 votes, which represents more than 50 percent of the votes -- is sufficient for a candidate to be elected. If no candidate gets that majority, the one with fewest votes will be eliminated and a new round will be held. This continues until one candidate obtains a majority. 12.45. Having begun his speech by promising to "die with my boots on", Sexwale ends it by withdrawing from the race, "I have got a surprise for you. My campaign ends today and I suspend my participation. With only four people it is your problem now." Markus Kattner, FIFA general secretary then reminds delegates of the voting procedure, reminding them not to photograph their ballot papers.
The policy of buying players cheap and selling them for a higher price a few years on is a business model that worked well for clubs like Atletico Madrid and FC Porto. With the transfer window open for the next few weeks, Rediff.com takes a look at clubs that made smart deals over the years.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances