Slaven Bilic saw his Croatia side cruise to a comfortable 3-0 win over Latvia as they opened their UEFA EURO 2012 Group F qualifying campaign in Riga.

Hamburg striker Mladen Petric opened the scoring shortly before half-time and Bayern Munich's Ivica Olic doubled the lead six minutes after the break before Shakhtar Donetsk's Darijo Srna completed the scoring.

Croatia dominated from the off and had several chances before finally taking the lead two minutes before half-time.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Niko Kranjcar had several opportunities before Petric netted just before the break.

Bayern Munich's Olic added the second goal after 51 minutes and Srna also netted with eight minutes remaining to wrap up the three points for the visitors.