FRANCE 98 – Jamaica-Croatia – D. Suker: “We played and won like favourites”

Zvonimir BOBAN (10), captain:

“Obviously I’m very satisfied and very happy with the result of the match against JAMAICA. After so many warm-up matches, it’s great to win a match in the World Cup. We’re not better than we were in Euro 96, just more experienced. On the field my job is to motivate the team, and I’m ready to do that in all the remaining matches. We will need to be on top of our game against JAPAN and ARGENTINA if we are to hope for good things in the World Cup.”

Robert JARNI (17):

“Of course we were going for the win. We had some difficulties in the first half, but then we calmed things down. Our side likes to play one touch football; Croatians like spectacular football. We are aiming for the quarter finals, but we’ll need to play to the best of our ability and to have some luck. I think we can get there even though we’ve still got two difficult matches ahead.”

Davor SUKER (9):

“We played and won like favourites. We created a lot of chances and the three goals we scored have boosted our confidence. We’ve got a very strong side. We were much better than JAMAICA; we have proved our technical ability, which is amongst the best in the world. The Reggae Boyz fought hard, but we were better.”

Mario STANIC (13):

“It was fantastic to score CROATIA’s first goal in the World Cup, even though I’m hard put to explain how it happened. And of course there were the Croatian supporters in the stands who we felt were right behind us. We played a good opening game, but you will see an even stronger CROATIA against JAPAN. I am ready to play in any position for my country, even in goal.”