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:

The final standings were the following:

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:

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 DoB/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	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

First Round

13 June 2006 21:00	Brazil	1 – 0	Croatia	Olympiastadion, Berlin Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Archundia (Mexico)
	Kaká  44'	(Report)

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18 June 2006 15:00	Croatia	0 – 0	Japan	FIFA WM Stadion Nürnberg, Nuremberg Attendance: 41,000 Referee: De Bleeckere (Belgium)
		(Report)

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22 June 2006 21:00	Croatia	2 – 2	Australia	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Poll (England)
	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

• 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

• 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: 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

• 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

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.

• Fans on field expose flaws in security net