| Croatia deservedly won through to the quarter-finals of France 98 following this
1-0 triumph over a deeply disappointing Romanian side in the Parc Lescure,
Bordeaux, this afternoon, thanks to a twice-taken penalty from Davor Suker
after 45 minutes. The Croatian hitman made it an incredible 33 goals in 40 games for his country
when keeping his nerve to slot home the spot-kick, retaken for encroachment, in
first-half stoppage time, to send his side into the last eight to meet Germany in
Lyon on Saturday 4 July at 9.00pm. There was little outstanding about the Romanians, other than their ridiculous
dyed-yellow hairstyles, as the side who had only been beaten in penalty
shoot-outs in the latter stages of the previous two World Cups, went out of this
campaign with barely a whimper. Croatian coach Miroslav Blazevic's prediction and dream of a World Cup Final
against France is an impossibility as the two are drawn to meet in the semi-finals,
if both win their quarter-finals. However, his side have effectively gone about
their job so far in the tournament and look an extremely difficult side to beat. An expected tight match soon developed into a refreshingly open contest with
early opportunities at either end. First, Adrian Ilie, Romania's revelation in the
competition so far, had a shot blocked by Igor Stimac after a good lay-off by
Viorel Moldovan, then Croatia's Davor Suker saw a couple of fine efforts saved
by Bogdan Stelea. Croatia were by far the more creative and inventive of the two sides, with
Krunoslav Jurcic preferred to the disappointing Robert Prosinecki, and Slaven
Bilic should have given them the lead on ten minutes, only to send a free header
wide from Aljosa Asanovic's right-wing corner. Stelea was again in action four
minutes later when producing a superb reflex save to thwart Goran Vlaovic's
right-footed shot. Romania were struggling to get the ball to key players Gheorghe Hagi and Ilie,
whilst Moldovan, being tightly marked by Dario Simic, was denied service as
Bilic and Stimac were totally dominant at the back for Croatia. The 3-5-2
formations of both sides meant a certain amount of stalemate, although the
mediocre entertainment was certainly end to end. With the game in desperate need of a flash of ingenuity, it was almost provided
by Ilie on 37 minutes, whose superb run, onto Gabriel Popescu's pinpoint pass
into the Croatian left-back position, resulted in Drazen Ladic racing off his line to
block the striker's goalbound chip. Right on the stroke of half-time the game received a much needed lift when
Croatia were awarded a hotly disputed penalty. Suker's dummy allowed Boban's
pass to reach Asanovic, but the midfielder crashed to the ground following an
innocuous looking challenge from Gabriel Popescu and the Argentinian official
immediately pointed to the spot. Davor Suker calmly stepped up to slot home left-footed to Stelea's left, only for
the referee to disallow the effort for encroachment by Boban. Nevertheless, the
striker scored his third goal of the tournament from the retake, placing his second
attempt in exactly the same place, to put his side ahead at the interval. Romania can consider themselves a little unfortunate to have conceded the
penalty, but the Parc Lescure had previously witnessed Mexico's comeback from
2-0 down against Belgium and Scotland's comeback from 1-0 down against
Norway. However, Anghel Iordanescu's side seldom looked capable of breaking
down the Croatian defensive brickwall and their task was made all the more
difficult when the ineffective Hagi was substituted on 57 minutes by Gheorghe
Craioveanu. Suker had a great chance to settle the contest on 63 minutes when Stelea again
denied the hitman after he had superbly danced past Popescu down the right
flank, and with Romania pushing men forward in vain, Croatia began to pick
them off on the counterattack. A lot of credit should be given to the Croatian defence who had kept a very
disappointing Romanian attack at bay. So much so, that in the second half,
chasing a one-goal deficit, Iordanescu's side failed to create a single worthy effort
on goal, in a woeful attempt at staying in the competition. Indeed a last-minute breakaway almost brought a second Croatian goal, as first
Boban and then substitute Krpan, twice, were denied by point-blank saves from
the excellent Stelea. At the final whistle justice was done, with the victory going to the Croats, who
appeared far more positive and committed than the arrogant Romanians, who no
doubt expected to win the match, but instead head home with those silly haircuts,
an embarrassing memento of France 98. |
|
(0-1) Suker (45, pen). A pass from Boban was dummied by Suker and when Asanovic went down under a challenge from
Gabriel Popescu, the referee was perfectly positioned to award a controversial penalty, the striker
fired home the initial spot-kick but had to retake the effort after Boban encroached, however, he made
no mistake the second time around, firing home a left-footed strike beyond Ladic's left hand. |
