Croatia call time on Kranjcar

Croatia's Football Association have sacked head coach Zlatko Kranjcar after a disappointing World Cup.

The 19-man executive board voted unanimously on Friday morning to dismiss the coach, and are believed to have already drawn up a list of potential replacements.

Croatia failed to reach the tournament's knock-out stages after finding themselves in a competitive group containing Brazil, Australia and Japan.

Croatia's third-place finish in Group F was deemed unacceptable by the HNS (Croatian FA) and Kranjcar joins a long list of coaches to have left their posts following this year's tournament.

The 49-year-old took the job in 2004 and enjoyed a highly successful qualifying campaign, which saw the Croatians win their group ahead of teams such as Sweden and Bulgaria.

However, Kranjcar's side displayed little flair in Germany, scoring only two goals in the three group games.

Kranjcar attempted to defend his side's poor performances and blamed them on a lack of luck, but the HNS have now called an end to his reign.

The HNS have announced that they hope to fill the vacant spot in a week's time.

Whoever the new coach is, he will lead his side in the qualifiers for Euro 2008, in a challenging group containing the likes of England, Russia, Israel, Macedonia and Andorra.