Today I'm going back 27 years to 1996 and England's pre-tournament warm up Friendly International against Croatia at the old Wembley Stadium, played in front of just 33,650. It was an historic first-ever meeting between the two countries and Croatia were England's 54th different opponent in what was England's 719th full International. England were ranked a lowly 23rd in FIFA's rankings whilst Croatia were ranked even lower at 28th. The programme cover was a disappointing effort from the FA's production department with another "view through a bathroom window" action shot.
With 45 days to go to England's Euro96 opener, manager Terry Venables was still putting the finishing touches to his tournament side and formation and used this game to have a good look at Liverpool's Robbie Fowler in particular who, according to the commentator, was being compared to Geoff Hurst (I really don't remember that!). Croatia's tactics spoiled the game as a spectacle and they set out to stifle England although the Three Lions did create some decent chances and Fowler was guilty of profligacy in front of goal. With ten minutes remaining Steve McManaman hit the post but that was to be as close as England came and the game finished goalless.
Croatia had been a country at war until recently and their war of independence with Serbia had only finally concluded the previous year. Understandably there was a fierce patriotic pride for all Croats as a result of the war and this was surely a motivation for their footballers when representing Croatia. For the game against England, Croatia brought out all their "big guns": Barcelona's Robert Prosinecki, Seville's Davor Suker, AC Milan's Zvonimir Boban and Lazio's Alen Boksic. Two Croatian players that night were already familiar to English football fans: Igor Stimac of Derby County and Slaven Bilic of West Ham United. Boban, Croatia's captain on the night, was something of a hero for Croats: in 1990 a riot broke out at a game between Red Star and Dinamo Belgrade and Boban kicked a police officer in the face to stand up for a Dinamo fan who the officer was assaulting. His actions made Boban a nationalist icon for Croats and his action was seen by some as an expression of Croat discontentment with the federal Yugoslavia. In the aftermath, Boban was suspended from playing for Yugoslavia and missed the 1990 World Cup as a result but went on to earn 49 caps for Croatia, scoring 12 goals.
Following this game, England had two further Friendlies before Euro96 got underway: another game at Wembley, this time against Hungary and a long away trip to China for a match that was no doubt something to do with shmoozing for votes to determine who would host the 2006 World Cup. During the European Championships themselves, both England and Croatia would succumb to the Germans, the Croatians losing 2-1 at Old Trafford in the Quarter-Finals and England going out on penalties at the Semi-Final stage at Wembley (as usual).
CRB Match No. 1030
Comments
Post a Comment