Croatia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Croatia participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This was their third appearance. The country has qualified for every 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	24	10	7	3	0	21	5	16
Sweden	24	10	8	0	2	30	4	26
Bulgaria	15	10	4	3	3	17	17	0
Hungary	14	10	4	2	4	13	14	-1
Iceland	4	10	1	1	8	14	27	-13
Malta	3	10	0	3	7	4	32	-28

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	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

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Brazil	9	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6
Australia	4	3	1	1	1	5	5	0
Croatia	2	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1
Japan	1	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5

Brazil	1 – 0	Croatia
Kaká 44'	(Report)

Croatia	0 – 0	Japan
	(Report)

Croatia	2 – 2	Australia
Srna 2' N. Kovač 56'	(Report)	Moore 38' (pen.) Kewell 79'

Brazil vs Croatia

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

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


BRAZIL:
GK	1	Dida
RB	2	Cafú (c)
CB	3	Lúcio
CB	4	Juan
LB	6	Roberto Carlos
CM	5	Emerson	42'
CM	11	Zé Roberto
AM	8	Kaká
AM	10	Ronaldinho
CF	7	Adriano
CF	9	Ronaldo		70'
Substitutions:
FW	23	Robinho		70'
Manager:
Carlos Alberto Parreira


CROATIA:
GK	1	Stipe Pletikosa
CB	7	Dario Šimić
CB	4	Robert Kovač	67'
CB	3	Josip Šimunić
RM	2	Darijo Srna
CM	10	Niko Kovač (c)	32'	41'
CM	5	Igor Tudor	90'
LM	8	Marko Babić
AM	19	Niko Kranjčar
CF	9	Dado Pršo
CF	17	Ivan Klasnić		56'
Substitutions:
MF	16	Jerko Leko		41'
FW	18	Ivica Olić		56'
Manager:
Zlatko Kranjčar

Wikinews has related news: Brazil trot to 1-0 win over Croatia in Group F

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:
GK	23	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	42'
RB	21	Akira Kaji
CB	5	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (c)	21'
CB	22	Yuji Nakazawa
LB	14	Alex	72'
RM	8	Mitsuo Ogasawara
CM	7	Hidetoshi Nakata
CM	15	Takashi Fukunishi		46'
LM	10	Shunsuke Nakamura
CF	9	Naohiro Takahara		85'
CF	13	Atsushi Yanagisawa		61'
Substitutions:
MF	17	Junichi Inamoto		46+1'
FW	20	Keiji Tamada		61'
MF	16	Masashi Oguro		85'
Coach:
Zico


CROATIA:
GK	1	Stipe Pletikosa
CB	3	Josip Šimunić
CB	4	Robert Kovač	32'
CB	7	Dario Šimić
RM	2	Darijo Srna	69'	87'
CM	5	Igor Tudor		70'
CM	10	Niko Kovač (c)
LM	8	Marko Babić
AM	19	Niko Kranjčar		78'
CF	9	Dado Pršo
CF	17	Ivan Klasnić
Substitutions:
FW	18	Ivica Olić		70'
MF	14	Luka Modrić		78'
FW	22	Ivan Bošnjak		87'
Coach:
Zlatko Kranjčar

Wikinews has related news: Croatia and Japan share point in Group F

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

(Report)

Moore

39' (pen.)

Kovač

56'

Kewell

79'


CROATIA:
GK	1	Stipe Pletikosa	69'
CB	7	Dario Šimić	32', 85'
CB	13	Stjepan Tomas		79'
CB	3	Josip Šimunić	61'^[1]
DM	5	Igor Tudor	38'
DM	10	Niko Kovač (c)
RM	2	Darijo Srna
CM	19	Niko Kranjčar		65'
LM	8	Marko Babić
CF	9	Dado Pršo
CF	18	Ivica Olić		73'
Substitutions:
MF	16	Jerko Leko		65'
MF	14	Luka Modrić		73'
FW	17	Ivan Klasnić		84'
Coach:
Zlatko Kranjčar


AUSTRALIA:
GK	18	Željko Kalac
CB	3	Craig Moore
CB	2	Lucas Neill
CB	14	Scott Chipperfield		75'
RM	7	Brett Emerton	80', 87'
CM	13	Vince Grella		63'
LM	21	Mile Sterjovski		71'
RW	5	Jason Čulina
AM	4	Tim Cahill
LW	10	Harry Kewell
CF	9	Mark Viduka (c)
Substitutions:
FW	15	John Aloisi		63'
MF	23	Mark Bresciano		71'
FW	19	Joshua Kennedy		75'
Coach:
Guus Hiddink

Wikinews has related news: Australia draws with Croatia 2-2, advances to next round in Group F

Referee: Graham Poll
Assistant referees:
- Philip Sharp
- Glen Turner
Fourth official: Kevin Stott
Fifth official: Gregory Barkey
Man of the match: Harry Kewell

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

↑ 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.

Fans on field expose flaws in security net

Croatia at the FIFA World Cup

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Football in Croatia

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