Croatia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Croatia participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This was their third appearance. Up to 2006, the country had qualified for every FIFA World Cup which it has been eligible for since independence in 1991.

Qualifying

Croatia was in Group 8 of UEFA's World Cup qualifications. They played alongside Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland, Malta and Sweden. During the course of qualifications, the team remained undefeated. At the end of qualification, the team was tied with Sweden in points. However, Croatia won the tiebreaker based on their head-to-head record (Croatia won both meetings).

The complete results were as follows:

Results
Date Venue Opponent Score
4 September 2004 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb		  Hungary 3:0
8 September 2004 Ullevi Stadium,
Gothenburg		  Sweden 1:0
9 October 2005 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb		  Bulgaria 2:2
26 March 2005 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb		  Iceland 4:0
30 March 2005 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb		  Malta 3:0
4 June 2005 Vasil Levski Stadium,
Sofia		  Bulgaria 3:1
3 September 2005 Laugardalsvöllur,
Reykjavík		  Iceland 3:1
7 September 2005 Ta' Qali,
Ta' Qali		  Malta 1:1
8 October 2005 Maksimir Stadium,
Zagreb		  Sweden 1:0
12 October 2004 Ferenc Puskás Stadium,
Budapest		  Hungary 0:0

The final standings were the following:

Final Standings
Country Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
 Croatia 241073021516
 Sweden 241080230426
 Bulgaria 151043317170
 Hungary 14104241314-1
 Iceland 4101181427-13
 Malta 310037432-28

Players

Altogether 23 players appeared in the qualifying games. None of the players played in all 10 qualifying matches. Marko Babić, Niko Kovač, Niko Kranjčar, Dado Pršo and Darijo Srna played in 9 games. Darijo Srna was the top scorer with 5 goals. Ivica Banović and Ivica Mornar that made one appearance in the qualifiers did not make the final World Cup squad, while goalkeeper Joey Didulica and future star Luka Modrić made the squad with out appearing in the qualifying games.

Complete list of players in the qualifying matches

# Name Games Played Goals
1 Darijo Srna 9 5
Dado Pršo 9 4
Niko Kovač 9 2
Niko Kranjčar 9 2
Marko Babić 9 1
6 Igor Tudor 8 2
Ivan Klasnić 8 1
Josip Šimunić 8 1
Tomislav Butina 8 0
Robert Kovač 8 0
11 Jerko Leko 7 0
12 Ivan Bošnjak 6 0
13 Boško Balaban 5 2
Ivica Olić 5 0
Mario Tokić 5 0
Stjepan Tomas 5 0
Ivica Olić 5 0
18 Dario Šimić 4 0
19 Ivan Leko 3 0
20 Stipe Pletikosa 2 0
Anthony Šerić 2 0
22 Ivica Banović 1 0
Ivica Mornar 1 0

Source: Croatian Football Federation

Player was not selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad

World Cup preparation

The Croatian national team's World Cup camp was in the spa town of Bad Brückenau in northern Bavaria, Germany. The county of Bad Kissingen in northern Bavaria was the only one to host two teams preparations. Ecuador were based in the city of Bad Kissingen,

The team also participated in several exhibition games around Europe in preparation for the World Cup:

Results
Date Venue Opponent Score
23 May 2006 Ernst-Happel-Stadion,
Vienna		 Austria 4:1
28 May 2006 Stadion Gradski vrt,
Osijek		 Iran 2:2
3 June 2006 Volkswagen Arena,
Wolfsburg		 Poland 0-1
7 June 2005 Stade de Genève,
Geneva		 Spain 1-2

Draw

Croatia was drawn into Group F. Croatia's opponents in the first stage were Brazil, Australia and Japan, respectively.

History

From the group, the Croatian team has only faced Japan before in a World Cup, but other matches, both official and friendly ones, have taken place with the other two. The history of those matches up until, but not including, the 2006 World Cup is as follows:

Opponent Matches Victories Ties Defeats Goals scored Goals conceded First
match		 Last
match
 Brazil 1 0 1 0 1 1 1:1 (on 17 August 2005 at Poljud, Split) 1:1 (on 17 August 2005 at Poljud, Split)
 Australia 4 1 1 2 8 4 0:1 (on 7 May 1992 in Melbourne) 7:0 (on 7 June 1998 at Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb)
 Japan 2 1 0 1 4 4 3:4 (on 23 July 1989 in Tokyo) 1:0 (on 20 June 1998 at Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes)

2006 World Cup squad

Head coach: Zlatko Kranjčar

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Club
1 1GK Stipe Pletikosa 8 January 1979 53 Shakhtar Donetsk
2 3MF Darijo Srna 1 May 1982 39 Shakhtar Donetsk
3 2DF Josip Šimunić 18 February 1978 45 Hertha BSC
4 2DF Robert Kovač 6 April 1974 58 Juventus
5 2DF Igor Tudor 16 April 1978 55 Juventus
6 3MF Jurica Vranješ 31 January 1980 24 Werder Bremen
7 2DF Dario Šimić 12 November 1975 83 Milan
8 3MF Marko Babić 28 January 1981 36 Bayer Leverkusen
9 4FW Dado Pršo 5 November 1974 32 Rangers
10 3MF Niko Kovač (captain) 15 October 1971 61 Red Bull Salzburg
11 2DF Mario Tokić 23 July 1975 28 Austria Wien
12 1GK Joey Didulica 14 October 1977 4 AZ
13 2DF Stjepan Tomas 6 March 1976 49 Galatasaray
14 3MF Luka Modrić 9 September 1985 7 Dinamo Zagreb
15 3MF Ivan Leko 7 February 1978 13 Club Brugge
16 3MF Jerko Leko 9 April 1980 38 Dynamo Kyiv
17 4FW Ivan Klasnić 29 January 1980 23 Werder Bremen
18 4FW Ivica Olić 14 September 1979 39 CSKA Moscow
19 3MF Niko Kranjčar 13 August 1984 24 Hajduk Split
20 3MF Anthony Šerić 15 January 1979 14 Panathinaikos
21 4FW Boško Balaban 15 October 1978 27 Club Brugge
22 4FW Ivan Bošnjak 6 February 1979 14 Dinamo Zagreb
23 1GK Tomislav Butina 30 March 1974 28 Club Brugge

Team captain: Niko Kovač

Matches

All times local (UTC+2)

Round Robin
See also: 2006 FIFA World Cup Group F

Group F

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
 Brazil 9330071+6
 Australia 43111550
 Croatia 2302123−1
 Japan 1301227−5


First Round

Brazil 1 – 0 Croatia
Kaká  44' (Report)
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Archundia (Mexico)
Croatia 0 – 0 Japan
(Report)
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Croatia 2 – 2 Australia
Srna  2'
N. Kovač  56'		 (Report) Moore  38' (pen.)
Kewell  79'
Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Poll (England)

Brazil vs Croatia

13 June 2006 – 21:00
Olympic Stadium, Berlin – Attendance: 72,000

 Brazil 1 – 0 Croatia 
Kaká  44' (1 – 0)
(Report)

BRAZIL:
GK1Dida
RB2Cafu (c)
CB3Lúcio
CB4Juan
LB6Roberto Carlos
CM5Emerson 42'
CM11Zé Roberto
AM8Kaká
AM10Ronaldinho
CF7Adriano
CF9Ronaldo 70'
Substitutions:
FW23Robinho 70'
Manager:
Carlos Alberto Parreira

CROATIA:
GK1Stipe Pletikosa
CB7Dario Šimić
CB4Robert Kovač 67'
CB3Josip Šimunić
RM2Darijo Srna
CM10Niko Kovač (c) 32' 41'
CM5Igor Tudor 90'
LM8Marko Babić
AM19Niko Kranjčar
CF9Dado Pršo
CF17Ivan Klasnić 56'
Substitutions:
MF16Jerko Leko 41'
FW18Ivica Olić 56'
Manager:
Zlatko Kranjčar
  • Referee: Benito Archundia Tellez
  • Assistant referees:
    • José Ramírez
    • Héctor Vergara
  • Fourth official: Mohamed Guezzaz
  • Fifth official: Brahim Djezzar
  • Man of the match: Kaká

Japan vs. Croatia

18 June 2006
15:00 – FIFA World Cup Stadium Nuremberg, Nuremberg – Attendance: 41,000

 Japan 0 – 0 (0–0) Croatia 
(Report)

JAPAN:
GK23Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi 42'
RB21Akira Kaji
CB5Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (c) 21'
CB22Yuji Nakazawa
LB14Alex 72'
RM8Mitsuo Ogasawara
CM7Hidetoshi Nakata
CM15Takashi Fukunishi 46'
LM10Shunsuke Nakamura
CF9Naohiro Takahara 85'
CF13Atsushi Yanagisawa 61'
Substitutions:
MF17Junichi Inamoto 46+1'
FW20Keiji Tamada 61'
MF16Masashi Oguro 85'
Coach:
Zico

CROATIA:
GK1Stipe Pletikosa
CB3Josip Šimunić
CB4Robert Kovač 32'
CB7Dario Šimić
RM2Darijo Srna 69' 87'
CM5Igor Tudor 70'
CM10Niko Kovač (c)
LM8Marko Babić
AM19Niko Kranjčar 78'
CF9Dado Pršo
CF17Ivan Klasnić
Substitutions:
FW18Ivica Olić 70'
MF14Luka Modrić 78'
FW22Ivan Bošnjak 87'
Coach:
Zlatko Kranjčar
  • Referee: Frank De Bleeckere
  • Assistant referees:
    • Peter Hermans
    • Walter Vromans
  • Fourth official: Kevin Stott
  • Fifth official: Gregory Barkey
  • Man of the match: Hidetoshi Nakata

Croatia vs Australia

22 June 2006
21:00 – Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart – Attendance: 52,000

 Croatia 2 – 2 (1–1) Australia 
Srna  2' (Report) Moore  39' (pen.)
Kovač  56' Kewell  79'

CROATIA:
GK1Stipe Pletikosa 69'
CB7Dario Šimić 32'  85'
CB13Stjepan Tomas 79'
CB3Josip Šimunić 61'   93'[1]
DM5Igor Tudor 38'
DM10Niko Kovač (c)
RM2Darijo Srna
CM19Niko Kranjčar 65'
LM8Marko Babić
CF9Dado Pršo
CF18Ivica Olić 73'
Substitutions:
MF16Jerko Leko 65'
MF14Luka Modrić 73'
FW17Ivan Klasnić 84'
Coach:
Zlatko Kranjčar

AUSTRALIA:
GK18Zeljko Kalac
CB3Craig Moore
CB2Lucas Neill
CB14Scott Chipperfield 75'
RM7Brett Emerton 80'  87'
CM13Vince Grella 63'
LM21Mile Sterjovski 71'
RW5Jason Culina
AM4Tim Cahill
LW10Harry Kewell
CF9Mark Viduka (c)
Substitutions:
FW15John Aloisi 63'
MF23Mark Bresciano 71'
FW19Joshua Kennedy 75'
Coach:
Guus Hiddink

Miscellaneous

Prior to the Croatia's match against Brazil, 823 flares were confiscated from fans. However, Croatian fans managed to sneak in at least two and lit them during the game. This game was also marked by a Croatian fan stepping onto the field and kissing the boots of Croatian forward Dado Pršo.

References
  1. Šimunić was given three yellow cards in the match: the referee failed to send him off the pitch after the second yellow, and was only red carded after the third yellow. The original FIFA match report listed all three yellow cards, however was revised shortly after, with the second yellow card (90') not being recorded; it is unknown whether this was for consistency in the reports, or whether the card was retrospectively overturned.
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