R. Kovac

Vintage Kovac on familiar soil

Switzerland's forward Alexander Frei (R) vies with Croatia's defender Robert Kovac, 13 June 2004 at the Pessoa stadium in Leiria, during their Euro 2004 group B football match at the European Nations championship in Portugal. AFP PHOTO John MACDOUGALL

Blossoming late, Robert Kovac has become one of the world's most dependable central defenders, his improvement with age being rewarded with a regular place in Croatia's national lineup, a fruitful four-year spell at Bayern Munich and even after 30, a switch to mighty Juventus.

Robert and his midfielder brother Niko were born in Berlin in former East Germany and qualify to play for Croatia through their immigrant parents.

After Croatia qualified for the 2006 World Cup as winners of Group 8 the pair should both now feature in their second World Cup.

As well as being international teammates the two played together at Bayer Leverkusen between 1996 and 1999, when Niko, two years Robert's senior, left for Hamburg.

EMBARGO - PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PICTURE IN ANY ELECTRONIC MEDIA, ESPECIALLY THE INTERNET AND MOBILE DEVICES, DURING THE MATCH INCLUDING THE HALF-TIME, IS FORBIDDEN BY THE GERMAN SOCCER LEAGUE.Munich's players (L-R) Michael Ballack, Ze Roberto (Brazil), Lucio (Brazil), Sebastian Schweinsteiger and Robert Kovac (Croatia) celebrate after defeating Kaiserslautern in their 31st Bundesliga day match at the Fritz-Walter stadion in Kaiserslautern 30 April 2005. Munich won the match 4-0 and clinched their 19th German championship. AFP PHOTO DDP/OLIVER LANG GERMANY OUT

But for the start of the 2001-02 season Ottmar Hitzfeld recruited the two brothers for Bayern Munich, a move Robert described as the chance of a lifetime, a challenge he proved equal to and became the lynchpin of the Bayern defence in a period when they won two Bundesliga and German Cup doubles.

He is known as a brilliant and dogged man marker, a hard and efficient tackler, he has remarkable physical fitness and is above all consistent.

These skills were first honed with five seasons at Bayer Leverkusen, where he was brought on by the brilliant but controversial coach Christophe Daum after a year at Nuremburg.

Serie A switch

A couple of weeks after his 25th birthday he won his first international call up for a game against Italy in April 1999 and made his inroads toward a regular place during qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.

Italian defender Christian Panucci (L) fights for the ball with Croatian defender Robert Kovac (R) during the Group G first round match Italy/Croatia of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, 08 June 2002 at Kashima Ibaraki stadium. AFP PHOTO ODD ANDERSEN

Kovac is no kitten when it comes to the rough stuff and once stopped Scotland's Scott Booth in a World Cup match with what was described at the time as a forearm smash.

At the 2002 World Cup, he played in the surprise 2-1 win over Italy but defeats against Ecuador and Mexico meant the end of the road at the first hurdle.

Under the strict disciplinarian coach Otto Baric he has become an undisputed feature of the Croatia defence along with Igor Tudor of Juventus, as he did at Bayern alongside Samuel Kuffour.

Juventus' defender Robert Kovac of Germany (Back) fights for the ball with Bayern's forward Claudio Pizarro of Peru during Group A Champions league football match, 02 November 2005 at Turin's Delle Alpi Stadium. AFP PHOTO / Filippo MONTEFORTE

Croatia squeezed past Slovenia for a place at the Euro 2004 finals and the side performed with credibility in Portugal before a strong English side beat them 4-2 in a first round decider.

The following season Bayern met Juventus in the Champions League group phase and the Italians were impressed enough to sign him on a free transfer in the close season.