CRO: Goran Vlaovic (86).

TUR: -.

CRO: Ladic 6; Jarni 6, STIMAC 7, Jerkan 6, Bilic 5; Asanovic 6, Prosinecki 6, Suker 5 (Pavlicic, 89), Boban 5 (Soldo, 55 - 6); Boksic 4 (Vlaovic, 71), Stanic 5.

TUR: Rustu 6; Alpay 5, Rahim 6, Ogun 5, Abdullah 6; Hakan 4, Vedat 5, Sergen 6, Tugay 6; Arif 5 (Saffet, 81), Tolunay 6 (Hami, 87).

REFEREE: Serge Mummenthaler (Switzerland).

AUDIENCE: 22.406, City Ground, Nottingham.

YELLOW CARDS: Asanovic, Boban, Soldo (Croatia); Tolunay (Turkey).

RED CARDS: NONE.

We've been in this opera before. Four years ago, in an ordinary game of the Israeli League, a total disappointment and boredom ended after 86 minutes, with "The Volley Of All Times" shot by Tal Banin. Yesterday, Croatia waited for the same 86 minutes to score the best goal of EC'96 by now, through a fabulous sprint of Goran Vlaovic, "80 Meters Of Fame".

That move started with ... a Turkish corner. Sukur didn't reach the ball, and Aljosa Asanovic stopped it and sent it forward to Vlaovic. The fresh substitute rushed bravely to jump over the desperate Turkish defender in the midcircle, and from that moment all was clear. Vlaovic cut to his right to protect the ball from another defender, approached Rustu, passed him and rolled the ball into an empty net, raising his hands high in triumph towards the rainy English sky. A wonderful effort, worth to be seen time after time.

Despite the goal, I was disappointed. The game was pretty dull, and Turkey was the better squad on the pitch, though the opportunities were those of the Croatians. In this form, Croatia won't become the European Champions as I predicted and hoped. They don't press right, and I still can't grasp how can the players of the top world class be in love with the ball so much, beyond any reasonable frontiers?

The brightest Turkish star, Hakan Sukur, was beyond any critics; the keeper Recber Rustu and the defending line were the best there. In Croatia, Prosinecki and Jarni showed a lot of skill and motivation; Asanovic, Stimac and Stanic, and later on Zvonimir Soldo (another candidate to play in Maccabee Haifa) were solid and secure, and so was Drajen Ladic in the net. But Bilic and Jerkan played badly enough, Boban was totally unimpressive, and Boksic played injured most of the time, after a head collision with a Turkish defender on the 26th minute. And Davor Suker? The best European International forward simply sucked, wasting two great goal opportunities of 100%.

Two shots of Turkey (7, 43) went high, and so was the destiny of Croatian shot, performed by Prosineski (15). Boksic headed it high (26) and was injured then; the dangerous header of Stanic (15) and a good free kick of Asanovic from 35 meters (32) were collected superbly by Rustu. As for the total picture, the Turks were better and owned the ball most of the time, but the opportunities belonged to Croatia.

In the 2nd half, Ladic had to show his skill winning the high balls (58, 89), and in between, he took a dangerous header of Arif (83). On the other hand, Boban was blocked at the very last moment (51), and then Suker wasted two wonderful opportunities with the dreadful headers of his (66, 79); Jarni and Prosinecki still can't forgive him they didn't enter the list of assist makers. Stanic headed it high (72), and we started to think about another scoreless draw to come. But Croatia had a wonderful Goran Vlaovic, substituting Alen Boksic. The first opportunity of his, at one-to-one, was denied incredibly by Rustu (76). But 10 minutes have passed, and even the Turkish keeper in a good form could do nothing. 1:0, but Croatia has a lot of room for improvement.

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