Croatia dream on after perfect Finals

Croatia ended their first World Cup with win to take them into third place in the world.

For a minute in the semi-final they looked like going all the way at their first attempt but the hosts received two goals gratefully from an unlikely quarter to put them out.

Croatia hammered the ten men of Germany after they had struggled against a poor Romanian side but the whole of June saw the team emerge a one of great technique and a striker with the ability to score against the best. Davor Suker ended the tournament as the clear winner of the Golden Boot and enters the pantheon of World Cup goalscoring greats.

The tempo created by some of the Croatian play seemed deceptively so but the players seemed to know each other so well and this familiarity bred confidence and belief. The same players will continue into the next European Championships, qualification begins on September 5th for the year 2000, and if a team cannot win the actual World Cup then they would hope to achieve what Croatia managed to do in France this summer.