Croatia 1998
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- May 7, 2022
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CROATIA 1998 WORLD CUP THIRD PLACE
Standing: Boban, Ladić, Bilić, Soldo, Šuker and Asanović.
Bended: Šimić, Jarni, Štimac, Stanić and Vlaović.
Blažević continued to lead Croatia in the 1998 World Cup qualification campaign which ended after an aggregate victory against Ukraine in the two-legged play-off. In the group stage of the World Cup, Croatia beat Jamaica, Japan and lost to Argentina before defeating Romania to reach a quarter-final tie against Germany. Croatia won 3–0 with goals from Robert Jarni, Goran Vlaović and Davor Šuker, all after Christian Wörns had been sent off.
Croatia then faced the host 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 1–2. In the third-place match, Croatia beat the Netherlands 2–1 with Davor Šuker winning the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals of the tournament with six goals in seven games.
Croatia's debut performance in 1998 equals Portugal's third place debut finish at the 1966 World Cup and as a result, Croatia rose to number three in the January 1999 FIFA World Rankings, their highest ranking to date. The team of the 1990s was dubbed the "golden generation." A portion of this squad (Jarni, Štimac, Boban, Prosinečki and Šuker) previously won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship with the Yugoslavia under-20 team.
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