on him in future matches". Euro 2008 campaign After the 2006 World Cup, Eduardo returned to the national team under new coach Slaven Bilić and started Croatia's friendly match against Italy on 16 August 2006, scoring the first goal in Croatia's 2–0 victory. He would later establish himself as one of the key players in Croatia's qualifying campaign for the Euro 2008. He made his competitive debut at senior international level in Croatia's goalless away draw against Russia on 6 September 2006 and went on to score his first competitive international goal for Croatia on 11 October 2006 in their 2–0 home win against England, when he opened the scoring by sending a looping header over the stranded Paul Robinson. In the following qualifier, away to Israel on 15 November 2006, Eduardo netted a hat-trick to help Croatia to drive home a narrow 4–3 victory over the strong Israeli side. In Croatia's next qualifier, their first competitive game of the year 2007, at home against the sturdy Macedonian outfit on 24 March 2007, Eduardo scored the winner in the 88th minute to hand Croatia a 2–1 victory after trailing 1–0 at halftime. He went on to be Croatia's saviour in both of their qualifiers against Estonia, scoring all three goals in Croatia's 1–0 away and 2–0 home victories, as well as in their final home qualifier against Israel on 13 October 2007, where he netted the only goal in Croatia's 1–0 victory. He also set up Ivica Olić to score Croatia's 2nd goal in their famous 3–2 victory over England at Wembley—a win which saw England fail to qualify for Euro 2008. He finished the qualifying campaign with 10 goals in 12 matches and was the second-best goalscorer of the competition, after Northern Ireland's David Healy with 13 goals. At Croatia's opening game of Euro 2008 against Austria, banners were shown in the crowd in support of Eduardo due to his injury. His national team manager Slaven Bilić also dedicated Croatia's performance to him. Later career After recovering from the leg injury, Eduardo made his first international appearance in just over a year, coming on as a substitute to replace Ivica Olić in the final 30 minutes of the friendly match against Romania on 11 February 2009, which saw Croatia recording a 2–1 away win. In the course of the same year, he made four appearances and scored three goals