Croatia 1998 Home Jersey (FIFA World Cup 1998)

24 September 2021 0 Από giakallit

Season: 1998

Player: Davor Šuker

Tournament: FIFA World Cup France 1998

Manufacturer: Lotto

Following the break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia, now an independent state, participated for the first time in the 1998 World Cup in France. With coach Miroslav Blazevic and some very important players like Real Madrid's Suker and Milan's Boban, Croatia had a very remarkable team.

In the first round, Croatia had to face Argentina, Jamaica and Japan. Initially, it achieved the first victory in the history of the country in a World Cup against Jamaica with 3-1. Then it prevailed with 1-0 of Japan and in the third match, where the first place of the group was judged, it was defeated by Argentina with 1-0. Thus, Croatia qualified as second with 6 points.

In the round of 16 the opponent was Romania, which four years ago had reached the quarterfinals. Croatia was better and with a goal penalty by Suker at the end of the first half, they won 1-0 and qualified for the quarterfinals.

There the opponent was mighty, the European champion Germany. Croatia was very well prepared and after a lead by Jarni in the 45th minute, two more goals followed, one from Vlaovic in the 80th minute and one from Suker in the 85th minute. The Balkans achieved a great victory and found themselves in the top four of the tournament.

In the semifinal opponent was the host France. Although with Suker's goal, Croatia took the lead, it was overthrown with two goals by Thuram and thus the opportunity was lost for Croatia to become the first debut team to reach the final.

However, in Bronze medal match, Croatia defeated the Netherlands 2-1, with goals from Prosinečki and Suker, and won the bronze medal at the 1998 World Cup.

This jersey was the first shirt of Croatia that was basically used in this event. The white and red squares are the characteristic of the official jersey of Croatia but in this version they did not fill the whole jersey but almost half in a wavy style. Although the patches were not yet used in the official competitions, there is the inscription "FIFA World Cup France 98" which was the forerunner of the patches. Davor Suker with 6 goals was the top scorer of the tournament and therefore a member of the top eleven of the 1998 World Cup.