Croatia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup

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At the 1998 FIFA World Cup Croatia participated in the event for the first time. The country went on to finish third.

Contents

Qualifications

Croatia was drawn in Group A of UEFA's World Cup qualifications along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Greece, and Slovenia. Croatia finished second, behind Denmark, and qualified for the World Cup. The team had the following results:

Results
DateVenueOpponentScore
October 8, 1996 Stadio Renato Dall'Ara,
Bologna
Bosnia and Herzegovina4:1
November 10, 1996 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb
Greece1:1
March 29, 1997 Poljud Stadium,
Split
Denmark1:1
April 2, 1997 Poljud Stadium,
Split
Slovenia3:3
April 30, 1997 Toumba Stadium,
Thessaloniki
Greece1:0
September 6, 1997 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb
Bosnia and Herzegovina3:2
September 10, 1997 Parken Stadium,
Copenhagen
Denmark1:3
October 11, 1997 Bežigrad Stadium,
Ljubljana
Slovenia3:1

The final standings were the following:

TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD
Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 1785211468
Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 15843117125
Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 1484221147
Flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1998).svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina 98305914-5
Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 18017520-15

Players

Team captain Zvonimir Boban is the only player that appeared in all 10 qualifying matches. Davor Šuker was top scorer with 5 goals. Ardian Kozniku, Petar Krpan, Anthony Šerić and Vladimir Vasilj did not appear in any of the qualifying matches but made the final World Cup squad.

Complete list of players in the qualifying matches

#NameGames PlayedGoals
1 Zvonimir Boban 103
2 Davor Šuker 95
Alen Bokšić 94
Slaven Bilić 93
Aljoša Asanović 90
6 Goran Vlaović 82
Robert Jarni 80
8 Zvonimir Soldo 71
Dario Šimić 71
Goran Jurić 70
Dražen Ladić 70
12 Robert Prosinečki 61
Igor Cvitanović 60
14 Nikola Jerkan 40
Krunoslav Jurčić 40
16 Silvio Marić 31
Niko Kovač 30
Marjan Mrmić 30
Igor Štimac 30
20 Tomislav Erceg 20
Tonči Gabrić 20
Nenad Pralija 20
Mario Stanić 20
24 Nikola Jurčević 10
Zoran Mamić 10
Daniel Šarić 10
Igor Tudor 10

Source: Croatian Football Federation

Player was not selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad

World Cup squad

Head coach: Miroslav Blažević

No.Pos.PlayerDate of birth (age)CapsClub
11 GK Dražen Ladić 1 January 1963 Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia Zagreb
24 FW Petar Krpan 1 July 1974 Flag of Croatia.svg NK Osijek
33 MF Anthony Šerić 15 January 1979 Flag of Croatia.svg Hajduk Split
42 DF Igor Štimac 6 September 1967 Flag of England.svg Derby County
52 DF Goran Jurić 5 February 1963 Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia Zagreb
62 DF Slaven Bilić 11 September 1968 Flag of England.svg Everton
73 MF Aljoša Asanović 14 December 1965 Flag of Italy.svg Napoli
83 MF Robert Prosinečki 12 January 1969 Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia Zagreb
94 FW Davor Šuker 1 January 1968 Flag of Spain.svg Real Madrid
103 MF Zvonimir Boban 8 October 1968 Flag of Italy.svg AC Milan
113 MF Silvio Marić 20 March 1975 Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia Zagreb
121 GK Marijan Mrmić 6 May 1965 Flag of Turkey.svg Beşiktaş
133 MF Mario Stanić 10 April 1972 Flag of Italy.svg Parma
142 DF Zvonimir Soldo 2 November 1967 Flag of Germany.svg VfB Stuttgart
152 DF Igor Tudor 16 April 1978 Flag of Croatia.svg Hajduk Split
164 FW Ardian Kozniku 27 October 1967 Flag of France.svg Bastia
173 MF Robert Jarni 26 October 1968 Flag of Spain.svg Real Betis
182 DF Zoran Mamić 30 September 1971 Flag of Germany.svg VfL Bochum
194 FW Goran Vlaović 7 August 1972 Flag of Spain.svg Valencia
202 DF Dario Šimić 12 November 1975 Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia Zagreb
213 MF Krunoslav Jurčić 26 November 1969 Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia Zagreb
221 GK Vladimir Vasilj 6 July 1975 Flag of Croatia.svg NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac

Croatia at the World Cup

At the World Cup, Croatia was drawn into Group H along with Argentina, Jamaica, Japan. The team advanced to the round of sixteen, finishing in second place in the group. The team had the following results:

TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 9330070+7
Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 6320142+2
Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 3310239-6
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 0300314-3
Croatia 3 - 1 Jamaica
Croatia 1 - 0 Japan
Croatia 0 - 1 Argentina

June 14, 1998

Jamaica  Flag of Jamaica.svg1 - 3 (1-1)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 21:00 - Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
Ref: Vítor Pereira (Portugal)
Attendance: 38,058
Earle 45' Stanić 27'
Prosinečki 53'
Šuker 69'

June 20, 1998

Japan  Flag of Japan.svg0 - 1 (0-0)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 14:30 - Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
Ref: Ramesh Ramdhan (Trinidad and Tobago)
Attendance: 35,500
Šuker 77'
 

June 26, 1998

Argentina  Flag of Argentina.svg1 - 0 (1-0)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 16:00 - Parc Lescure, Bordeaux
Ref: Said Belqola (Morocco)
Attendance: 31,800
Pineda 36'

Croatia went on to face the Romanian squad in the round of sixteen.

June 30, 1998

Romania  Flag of Romania.svg0 - 1 (0-1)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 16:30 - Parc Lescure, Bordeaux
Ref: Javier Castrilli (Argentina)
Attendance: 31,800
Šuker (p) 45'+2'

Croatia then played the heavily favoured German squad in the quarter-finals after their victory over Romania.

July 4, 1998

Germany  Flag of Germany.svg0 - 3 (0-1)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 21:00 - Stade Gerland, Lyon
Ref: Rune Pedersen (Norway)
Attendance: 39,100
Jarni 45'+3'
Vlaović 80'
Šuker 85'

After this surprise victory, Croatia played the host French team.

July 8, 1998

France  Flag of France.svg2 - 1 (0-0)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 21:00 - Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Ref: José Garcia Aranda (Spain)
Attendance: 76,000
Thuram 47' Šuker 46'
Thuram 69'

Croatia lost the match against France, ending their World Cup dreams. However, they entered the third place consolation match against the Netherlands.

July 11, 1998

Netherlands  Flag of the Netherlands.svg1 - 2 (1-2)Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 21:00 - Parc des Princes, Paris
Ref: Epifanio Gonzalez Chavez (Paraguay)
Attendance: 45,500
Zenden 21' Prosinečki 13'
Šuker 35'

With this victory, Croatia finished in third, becoming the surprise of the tournament. Striker Davor Šuker also earned the tournament's Golden Boot for his six goals. [1]

References

  1. "Suker, Croatia's golden player". fifa.com. FIFA. 26 May 2006. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2020.