Calcutta: Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic is relishing the occasion of facing England in the World Cup semi-final tie on Wednesday.

Giving due respect to England, Subasic minced no words in saying that Croatia "don't really care" about who they play or who the favourites are.

Talking to Fifa.com, the Croatia custodian said: "England have great players and they are a fantastic team.

"They have a lot of youngsters, who are really good, fast and play for great clubs. It will be another very tough match for us, a great challenge.

"But we don't really care who we play or who the favourites are.

"It's important that we do our best on the pitch... Just need to do our best and it ends how it ends."

A Croatia side featuring Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinecki wowed the world at France 1998, before losing in the semi-finals. The Zlatko Dalic-coached side has matched the 1998 generation, but Subasic is not overawed by the expectations.

"Some of my personal, life goals were to play in the World Cup and especially to play a significant role in the matches. I've worked hard at my club to get to this level and now I'm enjoying it. Let this story go on!"

Subasic's massive contribution in the back-to-back shoot-out victories over played a huge role in taking Croatia to the semi-finals. It made Croatia just the second side in the competition's history to win back-to-back ties on penalties.

The goalie, one of the contenders for the Golden Glove, felt pain during the quarter-final clash versus Russia, but was determined not to give up.

"It's been a long season, but you play in a World Cup semi-final once in a lifetime and there's no point giving up," he said.