Blazevic seeks Croatian inspiration

Bosnia coach Miroslav Blazevic will be drawing inspiration from Croatia's unexpected success at France '98 when his side prepares to face Portugal for one of the last remaining World Cup spots.

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Miroslav Blazevic celebrates victory over Belgium with Edin Dzeko.

Early in the second half of the 1998 World Cup semi-final, Croatia led France 1-0 courtesy of a Davor Suker strike. But just as they dared to dream about a final against Brazil, an even more improbable scenario unfolded - Lilian Thuram scored the first, second and last goals of his 142-game international career to send France on their way.

Croatia overcame the disappointment to secure third place by beating the Netherlands 2-1, which sparked wild celebrations. For a country still feeling the after-effects of a war, third place was almost as good as winning the trophy and this perception was summed up by the release of a song called 'Neka Pati Koga Smeta', which included the lyrics 'we are the world champions'.

Almost 12 years on, qualifying will be akin to winning it for Bosnia-Herzegovina who are coached by Miroslav 'Ciro' Blazevic, Croatia's boss in 1998.

Blazevic is still smarting from that semi-final loss and prior to the recent play-off draw stated his desire to face France so he could avenge defeat in '98. He got Portugal instead.

The 74-year-old has never been short on self-confidence and he has instilled that into the young, talented but previously leaderless Bosnian side, just as he did with that amazingly talented Croatian generation.

Largely forgotten is that the Croats stumbled into the World Cup in unconvincing fashion - had they lost their final group qualifying game to Greece, they would have missed out altogether but a 1-1 draw secured a play-off berth and they dispatched Ukraine to advance.

Bosnia were coincidentally in Croatia's qualifying group on that occasion and they have come a long way since finishing fourth with a paltry nine points. Now Blazevic is plotting to again prevail via the play-offs.

Blazevic certainly had his critics while coaching Croatia. Despite only being new on the scene, expectations were huge due to the star-studded squad, which included Suker, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki, Robert Jarni, Slaven Bilic, Igor Stimac, Mario Stanic and Aljosa Asanovic. The nucleus of that team arrived on the world stage 11 years earlier, playing for Yugoslavia at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Chile.

Just like France '98, Boban was captain, Suker was their top scorer, the skilful Prosinecki was player of the tournament while Jarni and Stimac also featured.

Prosinecki was the most naturally gifted of the lot. In 1991 he won the Champions League with Red Star Belgrade and soon became one of the few players to represent both Real Madrid and Barcelona. By 1998 his best years were behind him for several reasons, including a life of excess, but he was still a player of immense skill and capable of producing on the big stage.

Absent from the '98 side was Alen Boksic, who was one of the great enigmas of the Croatian national team. His best football was played at club level but even so, he undoubtedly would have made a difference at France '98. Boksic, having just returned to Lazio after winning the Champions League with Juventus, was injured and unavailable.

Defender Slaven Bilic - Croatia's current coach - played the tournament on one leg. Ruled out by the Croatian doctors before the tournament due to a hip problem, a courageous Bilic played through the pain barrier (and with the aid of painkillers) and started all bar the first match.

As often happens at the World Cup, Croatia's form in the group stages gave little indication of what lay ahead. The 3-1 opening win over Jamaica was not Croatia's best performance, while it took a 77th-minute winner from Suker to dispose of Japan and Argentina deserved their 1-0 win in the final group match.

Never afraid of making a hard call, Blazevic felt he needed to balance out his team. With crafty and attack-minded trio Boban, Asanovic and Prosinecki occupying the midfield, one had to make way for the knockout phase and he decided it would be Prosinecki, whose freakish cross-cum-shot put Croatia 2-1 ahead against Jamaica.

Nippy striker Goran Vlaovic came in alongside Suker while Kruno Jurcic and Zvonimir Soldo shared defensive midfield responsibilities, providing protection for Asanovic, Boban, Stanic and the attack-minded Jarni.

A 1-0 second round win over Romania thanks to a Suker penalty was followed by their highlight, a 3-0 drubbing of one of the tournament favourites, Germany, who included Jurgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthaus, Thomas Hassler, Oliver Bierhoff and Dietmar Hamann in their side.

The momentum gleaned from that victory carried over to the semi-final, at least initially, where the Croats faced hosts France at the 76,000 Stade de France.

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Davor Suker scored the opening goal against France.

Blazevic's pre-match message would have been something along the lines of: "Zinedine Zidane, Youri Djorkaeff, Marcel Desailly, Thierry Henry, Didier Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit are good, but we're better." And on 46 minutes no one could argue, as Suker beat the offside trap to latch on to a defence-splitting diagonal ball from Asanovic and tuck the ball under Fabien Barthez. But Thuram, the man who kept Suker onside, equalised a minute later before netting a second in the 69th minute to send the home fans into a frenzy.

For Croatia it was a great opportunity lost, and they could only watch on and think 'what if' as they witnessed a dishevelled Brazil crumble in the final. But they picked themselves up for the Netherlands match to win 2-1, with Suker's sixth goal of the tournament earning him the Golden Boot ahead of Gabriel Batistuta and Christian Vieri (with five goals each). Suker's characteristically cool, clinical and opportunistic finishing saw him named Golden Ball runner-up, behind Ronaldo. Every player stepped up at some stage, but Asanovic and keeper Drazen Ladic were perhaps the unsung heroes.

One man whose influence did not go unnoticed was Blazevic - that celebratory World Cup song included the lyrics 'Ciro majstore' (Ciro the master). And guiding Bosnia to the World Cup at Portugal's expense would be yet another feather in the cap of the wily old 'majstore'.