July 11th

The Difference Between Brought Joy to Croatia

Nobody would deny that there was a certain motivation gap between Dutch side, who had fallen out by inch against mighty Brazil, and Croatians, who had celebrated themselves succeeding to be a Semi-Finalist in the first appearence for the World greatest Tournament.

Leaving only Suker, who had a good chance to be the top scorer of the Tournament, at the top, Croatian tactic was clear enough. With 5 men for defense bringing Jurcic from the start, they controled themselves to stay cool and efficient driving back the waves of Dutch attack, which seemed to be quite sloppy as almost only shooting from middle distance.

Then, Croatia nicely gained the first goal when Roberto Prosinecki's clever move dealt with weak Dutch defence to let the ball through 2 men's legs and past Van Der Sar. Although, 8 minutes later, restless Boudewijn Zenden hammered the dynamic equalizer after swift run, Croatians got the handle of the game gradually and regained the lead from a beautiful combination between Zvonimir Boban and Davor Suker. Nothing did really happen in the second half as both sides were apparently used up and wasted most time, and Croatia's 3rd place eventually made come true while Suker's 6th goal in this match almost secured his crown of the Top Scorer.

Scorers

[N] Zenden:21min.

[C] Prosinecki:13min., Suker:35min.

Seedorf

Stam

F.De Boer(Capt.)

Numan

Stanic

Bilico

Soldo

Stimac

Jarni

Zenden

Davids

Jonk

Cocu(Overmars:46min.)

Prosinecki(Vlaovic:78min.)

Jurcic

Boban(Capt.)(Tudor:86min.)

Asanovic

Bergkamp(Van Hooijdonk:58min.)

Kluivert

Suker