šimić was subsequently also called up for croatia's opening two qualifiers for the 2010 fifa world cup in early september 2008, at home to kazakhstan and england, being an unused substitute in the former and completely left out of the latter. following the 4–1 defeat to england, croatia's first competitive defeat at home, rumours about šimić being set to retire from international football appeared in the croatian media. on 16 september 2008, it was eventually confirmed that šimić has announced his retirement from international football after being a croatian international for 12 and a half years.