Croatia 1996-1998

COACH: Miroslav "Ćiro" BLAŽEVIĆ




GOALKEEPERS:

Dražen LADIĆ - Croatia Zagreb
Marijan MRMIĆ - Beşiktaş
Tonči GABRIĆ - Hajduk Split


DEFENDERS:

Robert JARNI - Real Betis
Igor ŠTIMAC - Derby County
Nikola JERKAN - Real Oviedo
Slaven BILIĆ - West Ham United / Everton
Zvonimir SOLDO - Croatia Zagreb / Stuttgart
Dubravko PAVLIČIĆ - Hércules
Dario ŠIMIĆ - Croatia Zagreb
Igor TUDOR - Hajduk Split


MIDFIELDERS:

Nikola JURČEVIĆ - Freiburg
Aljoša ASANOVIĆ - Hajduk Split / Derby County / Napoli
Robert PROSINEČKI - Barcelona / Croatia Zagreb
Zvonimir BOBAN (captain) - Milan
Mario STANIĆ - Club Brugge / Parma
Mladen MLADENOVIĆ - :GIA: Gamba Osaka
Silvio MARIĆ - Croatia Zagreb
Krunoslav JURČIĆ - Croatia Zagreb


FORWARDS:

Davor ŠUKER - Sevilla / Real Madrid
Alen BOKŠIĆ - Lazio
Goran VLAOVIĆ - Padova / Valencia
Igor CVITANOVIĆ - Croatia Zagreb







INFO:

In mid-1992 the team joined FIFA and UEFA. The team's performances before Croatia's independence were not recorded by FIFA, so they entered the World Rankings in 125th place. Miroslav Blažević was appointed manager and oversaw the team's qualifying campaign for Euro 96, beginning with Croatia's first officially recognized post-independence victory: a 2–0 win over Estonia on September 4, 1994. Their first competitive defeat came on June 11, 1995, with a 1–0 away loss to Ukraine during the same qualifying campaign. They finished on top of their qualifying group and won FIFA's 1994 Best Mover of the Year award as their international rankings rose.

"Golden Generation"

Goran Vlaović scored the team's first goal at a major tournament, a late winner against Turkey at the City Ground during Euro 96. After their opening victory Croatia beat reigning champions Denmark 3–0, a match in which striker Davor Šuker scored with a lob from 12 yards after receiving a long pass. He later described the goal as a favourite. Croatia lost 3–0 to Portugal in their final group fixture but still advanced to the knockout stages, where they were beaten by eventual champions Germany in the quarter finals.

Miroslav Blažević remained as manager during Croatia's 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, which ended successfully with victory over Ukraine in the play-offs. In the group stage of the World Cup, Croatia beat Jamaica and Japan but lost to Argentina, before defeating Romania to reach a quarter final tie against Germany, then ranked second in the world. Though regarded as underdogs, Croatia won 3–0, with goals from Robert Jarni, Goran Vlaović and Davor Šuker after Christian Wörns was sent off for Germany. Croatia faced the host nation, France, in the semi-final: after a goalless first-half, Croatia took the lead, only to concede two goals by opposing defender Lilian Thuram and lose 2–1. Croatia won third place by defeating the Netherlands, and Davor Šuker won the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in the tournament. This was among the best debut performances in the World Cup, and as a result, Croatia were placed third in the January 1999 FIFA World Rankings, their highest ranking to date. Croatia again won the Best Mover of the Year award in 1998. For their achievements the team of the 1990s was dubbed the "Golden Generation". Many of these players were also in the former Yugoslavia under-20 team which won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile.


VIDEOS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKkFMzDR ... r_embedded