Croatia – M. Blazevic: “France are still the favourites. Like Germany was yesterday…”

It was a particularly smiling and relaxed Miroslav BLAZEVIC who greeted the media, around fifty reporters, on Sunday 5 July at the Alhambra in Vittel at about 18h00 for a press conference that should have started at 17h00. “I’m so sorry,” he began, before anyone could ply him with any questions, “but we were given such a welcome in Vittel that we got held up. I have to admit, I didn’t expect such a warm welcome from the French. We’ll never forget it. With the townsfolk, we all clicked, just like that, on both sides. And if we get these results it’s because Vittel has played a large part in the whole thing.”

When they arrived at the airport, the Croats were given a hugely enthusiastic welcome by a 2,000 to 3,000-strong crowd, who ran alongside their mini-train all the way to the city. When they reached their hotel, the players came out onto their balcony to greet the same crowd. Davor SUKER (9) even sprayed them with champagne. And for BLAZEVIC, there was no question of trying to change the prevailing mood for any tactical reasons.

“We’re not going to change anything. But I’m pleased to see that you’ve changed. We were considered outsiders at the beginning, but we aren’t any more. These results aren’t just haphazard; we’ve been together now for four and a half years. In addition, I think I’ve made very few mistakes as far as my preparational strategy for this team is concerned.”

And the former trainer for Nantes FC (French premier league club) and Zagreb Dynamo – to name but a few – spoke of the forthcoming match on Wednesday against FRANCE at SAINT-DENIS with his usual tongue-in-cheek humour: “From the outset, I categorically considered FRANCE to be the odds-on favourite for this World Cup, and for this match they are still the favourites. Like GERMANY was yesterday…

“I’m sorry to remind you of certain comments by French players, which were certainly made in the expectation of playing GERMANY. Only PETIT (17) mentioned CROATIA. I was surprised, because I thought that DESAILLY (8) or DESCHAMPS (7) at least would have been a little more circumspect.” BLAZEVIC is obviously keen to do battle with the host nation. “Unfortunately I can’t claim that we are a more talented side than the French, in fact they are just as capable of winning the game as we are. But each team has its weaknesses, nobody is unbeatable.”

While he has a high regard for Aimé JACQET’s men, the Croatian coach isn’t worried about tiredness or euphoria in his side. “The same questions were asked after we beat ROMANIA (1-0), but this team is more than capable of keeping up the momentum.” It will, however, be necessary to keep ZIDANE (10) in check. “ZIDANE (10) is amongst the top five players in the world”, he said, adding, “but we have already come up against this problem, when we faced Maradona, BAGGIO (18) or DEL PIERO (10). We won’t be asking one player to mark ZIDANE (10) tightly.

Finally, Miroslav BLAZEVIC had a word for those who may think the Croatians are more than happy with reaching the semi-finals. “Few people gave us a hope of getting to the semis. But I’ve always had this gut feeling we would go further. It’s true that Croatian football has reached dizzy new heights. We have forged a name for ourselves, now we must further establish our reputation. To date Croatian football has no history whatsoever. Personally I am far too ambitious to be happy with what we have achieved so far, I want to go all the way.”