Croatian coach Niko Kovac has learned that he will have to strike out Ivan Strinic from his World Cup plans.

"Additional medical exams showed that Strinic have ruptured hamstring muscle," said Kovac on Thursday.

"I feel sorry for him but he will not travel with us to the preparation camp in Austria and therefore will not be among the candidates for the World Cup. Unfortunately, we don't have enough time to wait for him to get fit again."

For 26-year-old Dnipro defender this is a nightmare scenario. He was supposed to have his World Cup debut in Brazil as he almost had a guaranteed spot in the Croatian starting lineup. Strinic's absence might be a problem for Kovac because the Croatian team is not that deep at the left-back position Strinic was covering.

"I don't want to make much noise about it. Yes, it is a problem but we will find a solution among the players that we have on the provisional list. We have players that can cover that position and players that have done it in the past," the coach said.

Danijel Pranjic from Panathinaikos seems like a logical first choice for Kovac as he was called up to the team from his international retirement last November for playoff matches against Iceland when Strinic was injured. Even though Pranjic is predominately a midfielder, he successfully played a role of a left-back during Slaven Bilic's era at the Croatian bench.

Pranjic had some memorable performances and played all four games at left-back position during 2008 European Championship when Croatia was on the brink of making it to the semifinals before it lost in a penalty shootout against Turkey.

Second option for Kovac on that left defensive wing could be Vedran Corluka who had a great season with Lokomotiv Moscow but as a central defender.

"It's been a while since I played at that position but I will do whatever coach will ask me to do for the team," Corluka said after his first practice with the team at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb.

It's a bit of a paradox but as Kovac's list of candidates is getting shorter, list of the staff members helping him is getting longer. No other Croatian coach had such a strong team around him and this is mainly because Kovac is very keen on using technology. So he brought to his stuff two special international analysts.

One is Frenchman Nicolas Iovier, who will use SportCode software for video analyses, and the other is Irish Barry Hamilton, who will track players with his GPS system.

"Nicolas Iover is experienced analyst who works for French club Montpellier. He will analyze performance of our players and performance of our opponents. His work will be of great help in a preparation for our opponents. Barry Hamilton's work will give us important information on our players: how much they run, how fast or how much ground they covered. This is technology that all big clubs use. We have to follow that path and use technology if we can," Kovac explained his decision to include a few more people into his staff.

The new system that Kovac will implement in his work with the national team is nothing new to most of the players.

"All big teams use technology to prepare. We have to be well prepared for difficult matches and specific weather conditions that we'll have to deal with in Brazil. In order to be successful every detail can be important," said 30-year-old Ognjen Vukojevic from Dynamo Kyiv.

Kovac's training methods will be tested in Brazil but players' fitness will be tested from Friday on when the best Croatian footballers will travel to Austrian resort Bad Tatzmannsdorf. The hosts have prepared special sauna that Kovac and his team will use to recreate weather conditions in Manaus, where Croatia will play its second match in the Group A against Cameroon.

"The players have to know what they can expect. Their brains have to store that information. That's why we are doing this," Kovac said.

The Croatian coach didn't promise "sweat, blood and tears" to his players. He didn't have to, because the players knew what to expect from their boss. In the end, this is how Niko Kovac has achieved everything during his career as a player - leaving his heart on the field. He expects nothing less from his players.