GDANSK – Croatia coach Slaven Bilic lauded his team on Sunday for their 3-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland, saying they had opened the road to the quarter-finals, though he conceded that going further at UEFA EURO 2012 could be tough."Tonight we showed that we can play,” Bilic said after the final whistle in a rain-swept Municipal Stadium in the western Polish city of Poznan."Maybe the Irish were the better team in some moments, but I think that if you look, the overall impression is that we were the much better team,” the former Croatia defender said."We are strong as a team, and I think that after this match we are getting even better and even stronger. I expect to play even better against Italy because the first match is the most difficult, and this is behind us.”Bilic underlined that both teams had gone into the match fully aware that they had to perform. "I’m sorry for the Irish. They were looking for a chance in this match. But it was the same for us,” he said.