Croatia plays first football international match under its flag 28 years ago today
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Croatian team which took on USA (Photo: Radiša Mladenović)
On this day 28 years ago the Croatian football team played its first match under its own flag.
The first modern-day Croatia team met the USA at Zagreb’s Maksimir stadium on 17 October 1990 in front of over 30,000 fans.
Since 1990 Croatia has appeared at 5 World Cups with their best performances a bronze medal in 1998 in France and a silver at the 2018 finals in Russia.
The first match under the modern-day Croatian flag ended in a 2-1 victory, thanks to goals from Aljoša Asanović and Ivan Cvjetković. Croatian legends Zvonimir Boban, Davor Šuker, Alen Bokšić, and Robert Jarni were unable to play in the fixture as they were playing with the Yugoslavia U-21 side against USSR.
Croatia’s side in that match was:
Dražen Ladić (71′ Tonči Gabrić) – Zoran Vulić, Saša Peršon (70′ Gregor Židan), Vlado Kasalo, Drago Čelić, Darko Dražić – Marko Mlinarić, Aljoša Asanović (58′ Mladen Mladenović), Zlatko Kranjčar (C) – Ivan Cvjetković, Kujtim Shalla
