Bilic vows to battle on

Croatia coach will not quit

By Rob Parrish   Last updated: 22nd June 2008

Bilic vows to battle on

Bilic consoles his players

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Slaven Bilic has vowed to stay on as Croatia coach after their heart-breaking Euro 2008 penalty shoot-out exit to Turkey in the quarter-finals.

Bilic admitted he felt like walking away from football following their shattering defeat, with Ivan Klasnic giving Croatia a 119th minute lead, only for Semih Senturk to level with the last kick of the game.

Turkey then triumphed 3-1 on penalties as Croatia crumbled in the shoot-out, leaving Bilic to question his future.

Go fishing

He told the Daily Star Sunday: "When I saw all my players crying in the dressing room I thought, 'That is it, I've had enough of football'.

"I decided I was going to give up management completely.

"And it was no different when I woke up the next morning and I said to my boy, 'I've had enough, let's go fishing'."

But he added: "I've decided that I must stay and that I must get us as far as I can in the World Cup. That is what I want to do for my country.

"I don't want to even think about becoming a manager at club level right now. That is not something I'm going to discuss and it is not something that is going to happen at this stage."

Characters

Croatia, who defeated Steve McClaren's England home and away in qualifying for Euro 2008, will come up against new boss Fabio Capello's side once again in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

And Bilic has warned that his side will be stronger than before following their exploits in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

He said: "The World Cup qualifiers are imminent, tomorrow is a new day, the sun will rise, we will probably weep for a few more days but such is life, things like this have happened before.

"My players have strong characters and will come back stronger."