Slaven Bilic fifa 14 coinsa member of the Croatia team that finished third at France 98 and now national U-21 coach, sees echoes of Lampard's early career in the struggle fifa 14 coins Kranjcar has faced to win over a sceptical public following his elevation to the senior national side. This scepticism was born out of the fact that the coach who promoted Kranjcar from the U-21s was his own father Zlatko. Kranjcar Sr, himself a former Yugoslavian international midfielder, called his son into the squad after replacing Otto Baric in summer 2004 and immediately handed him a starting place.
Kranjcar's competitive international debut came in Croatia's opening 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany? qualifier against Hungary in Zagreb on 4 September last year ? just a month after his 20th birthday - and he went on to appear in all but one of their ten fixtures as they progressed to Germany as European Group 8 winners.
According to Bilic, Kranjcar, the only domestic-based regular in Croatia's starting lineup, has definitely proved himself with the national team but he concedes it was not easy at first. Recalling his time with a young Lampard during his playing days at West Ham United in England, Bilic compares the two, saying: I remember it was the same problem for Frank Lampard at West Ham. People were saying Frank was there because his father (Frank Lampard Sr) was assistant manager but look at him now ? he's the best player in Europe.