While Steve McClaren’s team will be playing for their international futures at Wembley this evening, many of their opponents may be more concerned with furthering their club careers. Croatia have secured their place at the European Championship finals next summer, but it would be wrong to assume that they have nothing at stake.

Slaven Bilic, the head coach, was unabashed in admitting his desire to work in the Barclays Premier League yesterday and many of his players share similar aspirations. Luka Modric, the Dynamo Zagreb midfield player, has attracted the attention of Arsenal and Chelsea, while many of his team-mates would like to join Niko Kranjcar, of Portsmouth, and Vedran Corluka, of Manchester City, in the richest league in the world.

Bilic’s achievement in steering Croatia to Austria and Switzerland could even bring him to the attention of his former club, West Ham United, where his performances at centre back in the mid-1990s led to his international breakthrough at Euro 96. Bilic, 39, possesses the charisma and coaching credentials to succeed at the highest level and does not suffer from a shortage of confidence.

“Why not have a Croatian manager in the Premier League?” Bilic said. “Honestly, I don’t think that way. I want to be a club manager, whether that is in Croatia, Germany, Spain, England, Italy or Israel, I don’t know.

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BACKGROUND

• England drop Beckham and Robinson

• McClaren demonstrates courage for art of survival

• Gerrard urges fans to be twelfth man

• Defence called on to compile case for the untried

BACKGROUND

• Croatia driven by lure of Premier League

• Playing for a draw . . . a history of success

• Ten judgment days

Multimedia

• Live: England v Croatia, 2000GMT

• Fanzone: Lions need to be tamed

“I’d like to work in England because I see myself more as a club manager. I like to work every day and as a club manager you have more time, more chances to make your players play the way you do. You can do it with the national team and we have proved that, but it’s easier with a club. You also have options to buy players.”

Although pleasantly surprised to be in a situation in which even a 1-0 defeat for Croatia tonight would result in them qualifying as group E winners, Bilic is convinced that his team have what it takes to record their second win over England in little more than a year. While Croatia have nothing to lose, Bilic believes that England could crack under the strain.

“We can exploit England’s shakiness as they are under pressure,” he said. “Everyone is under pressure, but sometimes the pressure can go over the limit and start to be a negative.

“It’s not the most important, but it would be nice to win the group. We have been top since we beat England in Zagreb and I think we were more than consistent and we more than deserve it. We’re playing at Wembley, that’s the place to be, and we’re playing a team that is unbelievably good potentially. It’s quite unbelievable that we’re ahead of England.

“I think my team is really great, though we have to be very proud to have those couple of nations behind us. One is shaking, even now England are nervous, and the Russians are hoping, and we’re there. We couldn’t imagine or ask for a better test than this.”

Bilic will assess Mladen Petric’s illness, after the striker’s temperature fell yesterday, before announcing the team this morning.

The head coach was unhappy with the “icy” Wembley pitch and said: “It is not good for us, but it is definitely no good for England, because they like to pass the ball as well.”

However, he is so confident that he has identified Kranjcar as Croatia’s match-winner. “I don’t care who’s in goal for England as he’s going to score anyway,” Bilic said, pointing over to Kranjcar. “Isn’t that right Niko?”