Croatia’s ‘disaster’ and Italy’s formation woes. Your end of day Euro 2012 good news bulletin

With just four days until Ireland’s Group C kicks off, a double dose of good news for us is the perfect evening pick-me-up for Ireland fans.

While we have all been getting concerned about Shay Given, apparently needlessly, things are not going so smoothly for our Group C opponents.

First up is Croatia and their coach Slaven Bilic is not taking the news about Ivica Olic’s injury well. As we told you on Monday, the Bayern Munich striker is out of Euros and it is safe to say that Bilic is not taking the news very well.

"It's not a blow, it's not a problem -- it's a disaster for us,” said the former West Ham man. “He is a big player, we have many big players but Olic you can't replace.

"In Europe there are no other players like him, so it's not just a massive blow, it is more than that."

Now we like Olic, and we are glad he is out from an Irish point of view, but we are shocked that Bilic is so upset and we hope he stays in this funk until Monday morning.

In a further snippet of good news, former Blackburn striker Nikola Kalinic has been called in to replace Olic. Just to remind you Kalinic managed just seven league goals in his two years at Ewood Park.

Meanwhile, all is not well in Italy either. They have just waved goodbye to another defender - Andrea Barzagli – thanks to injury so coach Cesare Prandelli is rumoured to be pondering trying out three central defenders, a formation that would see midfielder Daniele De Rossi slot in between Angelo Ogbonna and Giorgio Chiellini.

Trying that system against Spain in their first game might force Italy back to a more traditional line-up by the time they face Ireland but the fact that the Azzurri are even considering such dramatic changes so close to the big kick-off has to be a good sign.

As for Spain, Alvaro Arbeloa is carrying a knock but that might be good news for the champs. Still, two out of three ain’t bad.