Croatia – D. Suker: “Our only worry is to play for our country and make people happy”

Croatia – D. Suker: “Our only worry is to play for our country and make people happy”

10.07.98 22h25 CET

Statements from PARIS, Friday 10 July 1998

Slaven BILIC (6)

“I respect Laurent BLANC (5) as a player and I am sorry he won’t be in the final. But I don’t understand all this talk about his sending off. The video is quite clear: Laurent BLANC struck me and that’s what he should regret. I only regret that he won’t be in the final”.

Goran VLAOVIC (19)

“Tomorrow’s match will obviously be very important. But we have already fulfilled our role by making it to where others, like ARGENTINA, GERMANY, ITALY were expected … Now everyone knows where to find young talented players. What would really consolidate our results would be for Davor SUKER (9) – who currently shares the position of top goal scorer along with VIERI (21) the Italian and BATISTUTA (9) the Argentinian – to finish as top goal scorer of the competition. But we already know people are waiting for us in CROATIA and are preparing to throw us a big party. Tomorrow we will play to win against the NETHERLANDS, in my opinion the most talented team since the start of the competition”.

Zvonimir BOBAN (10)

“Physically I’ve recovered after being treated. If I feel bad today it’s more mental than physical. But I think that CROATIA has the strength to finish third in this competition”.

Mario STANIC (13)

“What I think of THURAM (15) hasn’t changed. He’s a very good player and I only hope that he’ll play as well back in Parma. The match against the NETHERLANDS will be difficult, but fortunately BOBAN (10) has recovered. We want to finish third and we are motivated to do so”.

Davor SUKER (9)

“We aren’t more motivated for this match than for previous ones. People must understand that our only worry is to play for our country and make people happy. Croatian politics and democracy haven’t done in 7 years what we were able to do during these 20 days of the World Cup. In my opinion the match against the NETHERLANDS will be very difficult. They play the best football, but they’ve suffered psychologically after their defeat against BRAZIL, and that ought to count in our favour. Tomorrow will be our final. As for the final, I don’t have a favourite. Two of my friends will be playing against each other: Christian KAREMBEU (19) for FRANCE and Roberto CARLOS (6) for BRAZIL. I’d rather FRANCE win because then we will have been beaten by the world champions. I know that the other players will help me finish as top goal scorer in the competition, and the best way to thank them would be to get there. I’m well prepared for that and I won’t miss any chance to score”.

Ardian KOZNIKU (16)

“The FRANCE team was luckier than us in the semi-final. That’s football: there’s always a winner and a loser, we were beaten. We have to forget that match and concentrate on tomorrow’s. We are no more afraid of the Dutch than we were of the French. We are motivated and will try to show it”.