When you think that Sweden and Bulgaria were the third and fourth-placed teams, you have to believe that a 1994 Yugoslavia would have at least challenged them. "But also I think that game was special because Spain was always a football force. It's not fair for me to talk about the players and not to talk about what happened next. A plot, clearly, for no Balkan victory is complete without a triumph over perfidy. All-time appearances; All-time Topscorers The only clues we have are their performances at club level and how the independent nations shone during this era.The issues began in Slovenia, although in reality the Yugoslav War – what became an umbrella term for the wars in the Balkans throughout the 1990s – was almost inevitable when Josip Broz Tito died in 1980.As the Croatian War of Independence developed, ethnic tensions from within Bosnia and Herzegovina blew up and Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosniaks all were at war with each other. This article is more than 13 years old The Yugoslavian war possibly denied the world the greatest team in football history Savićević, in particular, at his peak one of the finest attacking midfielders in world football, only played two games for Yugoslavia in France. What if Jarni, Stimac, Prosinecki, Boban, Suker and Mijatovic had been allowed to blend with Mihajlovic, Jugovic and Boksic, as well as the players who were already established - Dragan Stojkovic, Dejan Savicevic and Srecko Katanec. Mirko Jozic, the Yugoslavia coach, had a reputation as a disciplinarian, and tried to rein his players in, but Stimac had met the winner of Miss Chile 1987, herself of Yugoslav descent, and nothing was going to get in the way of his socialising. ""The team was far, far better than the country," said Osim. They won the World Youth Cup in 1987. All-time appearances; All-time Topscorers
That sentence embodies Yugoslavia and the football team that the entire world missed out on. However, as a nation, Yugoslavia never reaped the benefits.In addition, Darko Pančev, the hero of the European Cup triumph for Red Star, was playing for the Macedonia national team around this time and, as a result, never even played at the 1998 World Cup. They beat Spain 2-1 in an epic in Verona, before going out on penalties to Argentina in the quarter-final – having played 90 minutes with 10 men after the dismissal of Refik Sabanadzovic. East Germany were dispatched 2-1 thanks to with goals from Igor Štimac and Šuker. Yugoslavia » Squad Friendlies 1994. The cup defenders was FK Partizan, but was defeated by Red Star Belgrade in the quarter-finals. Much like how the basketball team of Dražen Petrović and Vlade Divac never fulfilled its potential, we will never quite know how good the football team could have been. You will receive a verification email shortly.©Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,BathBA1 1UA. During the Croatian elections of 1990, the pro-independence candidate – and leader of the HDZ – Franjo Tuđman was elected as president, bringing the Croatians directly into conflict with Serbia.
The fighting was barbaric on all sides, with a large majority of the horrors and war crimes in the Yugoslav War being perpetrated in Bosnia. It was here, Slaven Bilic always maintained, that the spirit that carried Croatia to third place in the 1998 World Cup was born. That sentence embodies Yugoslavia and the football team that the entire world missed out on. All rights reserved. He helped the national to qualify for Euro 1992, only to be suspended due to the Yugoslav Wars. Predrag Mijatovic was sent off and Prosinecki was booked in the last minute, meaning both would miss the final through suspension.
By 1989, Milošević was the president of Serbia and the most powerful man in Yugoslavia.To look at the true potential of what this special generation of Yugoslav football could have become, the only evidence we have to look at is the 1998 World Cup in France. It was important in showing that we had the same number of good individuals as Spain. "Srecko Katanec, who was a really, really important player for us, said 'Please, don't pick me' a few hours before the game because he had received a threat in his city. The national team of Yugoslavia in the 1990's has the potential to be among the greatest ever. "It was Robert Jarni's birthday so there was a party for him. "Then," Katanec said, "we would have crushed the world." Chile 1987 he always recalled as one of his favourite trips. But when they got to Chile those players found another face. In the meantime, their country was tearing itself apart as a result of centuries of ethnic and religious divides. I n 1991, the great Red Star Belgrade of Savićević, Prosinečki and Pančev won the European Cup, defeating a Marseille team featuring stars such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Abedi Pele and Chris Waddle.In terms of football in the Balkans, it is quite probably their finest hour. Yugoslavia national football team results (1920–41) Jump to navigation Jump to search.