1800-WorldCup.com - Croatia at France 1998

Index: World Cup Finals: France 1998: Croatia

Croatia in the World Cup Finals

World Cup Appearances:
France 1998 was Croatia's 1st appearance in the World Cup Finals, as an independent nation.

Best World Cup Performance:
Croatia is one of Europe's newest independent countries but Croatians used to contribute greatly to the make up of the Yugoslavia national team.

Croatia in the 1998 World Cup

Group H

14th June: vs. Jamaica (3:1) in Lens.

20th June: vs. Japan (1:0) in Nantes.

26th June: vs. Argentina (0:1) in Bordeaux.

Croatia fancied their chances against Argentina before their last game to decide who would top the group. Suker headed onto the roof of the net in the opening minutes, but they failed to score and ended second.

Knockout Stage

2nd Round
30th June: vs. Romania (1:0) in Bordeaux.

Suker proved too sweet for Romania, in the Second Round, by sending Stelea the wrong way in his 45th minute penalty, and then calmly slotted the ball in the same place when made to retake it.

1/4 Finals
4th July: vs. Germany (3:0) in Lyon.

Then Croatia put out a ten-man Germany, in the quarter finals, to take on the hosts in the semis.

1/2 Finals
8th July: vs. France (1:2) in St. Denis.

Suker scored against France to take his goal tally to five, alongside Batistuta and Vieri.

Third Place Match
11th July: vs. Holland (2:1) in Paris.

Davor Suker's strike, against Holland, made him the leading striker of the tournament.

Croatia World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers:

1 Drazen Ladic (Croatia Zagreb)
12 Marjan Mrmic (Besiktas Istanbul)
22 Vladimir Vasilj (Croatia Zagreb)

Defenders:

4 Igor Stimac (Derby County)
5 Goran Juric (Croatia Zagreb)
6 Slaven Bilic (Everton)
14 Zvonimir Soldo (Stuttgart)
15 Igor Tudor (Hajduk Split)
18 Zoran Mamic (Bayer Leverkuzen)
20 Dario Simic (Croatia Zagreb)

Midfielders:

3 Anthony Seric (Hajduk Split)
8 Robert Prosinecki (Croatia Zagreb)
7 Aljosa Asanovic (Napoli)
10 Zvonimir Boban (AC Milan)
11 Silvio Maric (Croatia Zagreb)
13 Mario Stanic (Parma)
17 Robert Jarni (Betis Séville)
21 Krunoslav Jurcic (Croatia Zagreb)

Forwards:

2 Petar Krpan (Osijek)
9 Davor Suker (Real Madrid)
16 Ardian Kozinuku (Bastia)
19 Goran Vlaovic (Valencia)

Trainer:
Miroslav Blazevic.

Destination Croatia

Croatia Travel Notes:
Find out more about Croatia @ Travel Notes.