We will bounce back - Bilic

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has backed his players to come back strongly from their Euro 2008 quarter-final defeat, although he admits the healing process may take some time.

Hopes of a first-ever European Championship semi-final appearance were crushed in heartbreaking fashion as they lost 3-1 on penalties to Turkey after the scores were level at 1-1 after extra time.

"This certainly isn't easy to forget, this isn't simply a match you play every week. But of course on the other hand we have to move on, we have a young team," said Bilic. "But my players have strong characters and will come back stronger."

He added: "The World Cup qualifies 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."

Bilic's men looked to have claimed a last-four showdown with Germany on Wednesday when they took the lead through Ivan Klasnic in the 119th minute of the match.

But victory was snatched from their grasp as first Semih Senturk struck deep into injury-time to level the scores and then in the penalty shoot-out as Croatia missed three of their four spot-kicks to tumble out of the tournament.

The Croatia boss also had praise for midfielder Luka Modric, who missed Croatia's first penalty in the shoot-out after firing wide of the post.

"Luka played phenomenally and he certainly didn't deserve to miss that penalty," said Bilic of the new Spurs signing.

"Throughout this tournament he has played fantastically, but to be frank none of these players who played deserved to miss a penalty."