To those of you who follow the forum you may have seen a debate whereby we have been looking at whether Yugoslavia might have been a greater force in world football had the nation not fragmented in the early part of the 90’s.
1998 saw Croatia reach the last 4. Arguably a wonderful achievement for a nation of 4 and half million people. Croatia now it ha s matured somewhat on the football stage and are known for the ability more than their at the time funny appearance in chequered shirts.
If you add in Serbia, or more to the point Yugoslavia at that time, which was largely, Yugoslavia and Montenegro, to that equation who had a decent enough team to qualify for the World Cup and make it to the second round before being finished off by the Dutch
If you look at the Croat squad for that world cup
1 GK Dražen Ladić
2 FW Petar Krpan
3 MF Anthony Šerić
4 DF Igor Štimac(
5 DF Goran Jurić
6 DF Slaven Bilić
7 MF Aljoša Asanović
8 MF Robert Prosinečki
9 FW Davor Šuker
10 MF Zvonimir Boban
11 MF Silvio Marić
12 GK Marijan Mrmić
13 MF Mario Stanić
14 DF Zvonimir Soldo
15 DF Igor Tudor
16 FW Ardian Kozniku
17 MF Robert Jarni
18 DF Zoran Mamić
19 FW Goran Vlaović
20 DF Dario Šimić
21 MF Krunoslav Jurčić
22 GK Vladimir Vasilj
In that are some of the top names of the late 90’s. Robert Prosinecki was a prestigious talent. Suker and Boban were in their peak in Serie A.
The squad in its core was excellent, Some of the squad players however were not exactly at top clubs. If you added the Serbian squad to this, or at least replace some of the Croat squad with some of the Yugoslavians..
1 GK Ivica Kralj
2 DF Zoran Mirković
3 DF Goran Đorović
4 DF Slaviša Jokanović
5 DF Miroslav Đukić
6 DF Branko Brnović
7 MF Vladimir Jugović
8 MF Dejan Savićević
9 FW Predrag Mijatović
10 MF Dragan Stojković
11 DF Siniša Mihajlović
12 GK Dragoje Leković
13 DF Slobodan Komljenović
14 DF Niša Saveljić
15 MF Ljubinko Drulović
16 MF Željko Petrović
17 FW Savo Milošević
18 MF Dejan Govedarica
19 MF Miroslav Stević
20 FW Dejan Stanković
21 FW Perica Ognjenović
22 FW Darko Kovačević
There is enough talent in there to be melded together with the Croatians to form a very formidable side. Dragan Stojkovic was a wonderful player, but he and Prosinecki probably couldn’t be in the same side. Savicevic, Mijatovic and Mihajlovic would all be able to grace most of the other world cup squads for certain, then there are younger players who went on to become wonderful players too
All this looks fairly solid as a squad before you even remember Slovenia and Bosnia also had teams that didn’t make the World Cup but still had wonderful players. Zlatko Zahovic would light up the European Championships 2 years ater, and he is also a player who could well have featured here. Another in the mould of Stojkovic, he may not have fitted in well with a number of prestige players as it as it, but it underlines the strength in depth the Yugoslavians could have enjoyed. Add in the Bosnians Hasan Salihamidzic and Elvir Bolic and there could have been even more class in that squad.
And then there is what they could have now.
Croatia may have not made the World Cup and Serbia may have been mediocre there too, but amongst Slovenia and Bosnia they have some of the World's top players.
The Croatians Modric, Kranjcar, Rakitic, Pranjic, Olic and Eduardo. The striking talents of Dzeko from Bosnia, with defensive strength from the Serbians in the guise of the likes of Vidic.
Indeed on the forum debate it was suggested that this team might be up there with the very best
-------Handanovic
Srna Ivanovic Vidic Kolarov
--Kuzmanovic Stankovic
---Krasic Modric Jovetic
---------Dzeko
This is all however complete conjecture. We will never know, but that’s the beauty of footballing debates.
Join the debate on the following link (link may have to be copied and pasted)
http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182443
No comments:
Post a Comment