Croatia shuts out press after media publishes naked pool photos

The Croatian squad was just minding their own business in the hotel pool, when a couple of newspaper photographers decided it would be a good time to hide in the bushes and snap a few photos of the players hanging out in the nude. Well, as you can expect, they are not very pleased.

"How would you feel if someone took naked pictures of you?" coach Niko Kovac said to reporters on Sunday.

"They are adamant that they won't speak to you lot any more."

The players who got the most attention from the photographers were Dejan Lovren and Vedran Corluka, and while there was no full-frontal nudity, there were some naked backsides. (You can view here, if you're into voyeurism). The photos are especially creepy because you can tell the players did not know they were being watched, and there are a lot of bushes in the shot, which tells you that the photographers took their lurking to the next level.

Kovac added: "I respect my players' opinion and I also know that you have done a very professional job so far but you blew it with this one. The whole world has seen the photos.

"It's easy for me to talk but I'm not part of this story. I respect their opinion. What can I do? I cannot pull them by the ears and say, 'let's go talk to media'."

Croatia will play Cameroon on Wednesday, but will probably not go in the pool after that match.