Croatian coach drops Sablic and Babic

Croatia coach Mirko Jozic has dropped defender Goran Sablic and forward Marko Babic from his World Cup squad.

The omission of Split's Sablic and Bayer Leverksuen's Babic comes as little surprise as Jozic previously said he would take two youngsters from outside the squad just to absorb the atmosphere.

Veterans Davor Suker, Robert Jarni, Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Soldo and Alen Boksic are all included in the squad.

A number of younger players such as Hajduk goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, Leverkusen's Jurica Vranjes and Aston Villa's Bosko Balaban it will be their first taste of the World Cup.