Match Number 27 JPN - HRV Quotes

Takeshi OKADA:

"Having played a good match is no comfort to me. We wanted to qualify and that was our only objective. We had to combat the individual quality of the Croatian players by concentrating on our collective game. Our strategy was to mark each Croatian player with two Japanese players. Unfortunately, this didn't enable us to win this match. Our chances of qualifying are now low, but whatever happens, Japanese football will live on, particularly because we're hosting the 2002 World Cup."

 

Miroslav BLAZEVIC:

Comments from NANTES

"JAPAN deserves our congratulations. They're a team that we know is tough and they proved it once again today. They also made sure it was a good game to watch. Nonetheless, we deserved to win. Now we've achieved our aim and we're very proud to join the international elite. We mustn't forget that CROATIA is a young country, which doesn't have the experience of the big football nations. Physically, it was a very difficult match – SUKER (9), who's one of our players who runs the least, lost four kilos. From now on anything's possible, and we're going to try to meet the challenge."

 

 

 

Robert PROSINECKI (8):

"The most important thing was to win this match. The rest doesn't matter. We knew that JAPAN had a good team, very difficult to get around. We struggled a lot to get a break. I dedicate this victory to my compatriots who have come to NANTES to support us, and to my country"

Aljosa ASANOVIC (7):

"The weather conditions changed the game considerably. The dead heat was stifling in the first half. We had to make a superhuman effort to come to terms with this tenacious Japanese team. We've never had a superiority complex towards JAPAN, and we knew our opponents would fight on until the last minute. I'm just happy to make it through to the second round, and I hope that CROATIA will take home this World Cup."

Krunoslav JURCIC (21):

"This wasn't just a lucky win. Our aim was to win by playing our own game based on short passes. The Japanese team worked hard and posed a lot of problems for us. We were so tired by the end of the match that we didn't even realise immediately that we'd won it. We've achieved our aim, which was to qualify for the second round. There will be less pressure on us now, we will be more relaxed and this will show in our game. I'd like to play ENGLAND in the second round."

Davor SUKER (9):

"My goal was the most important one in the history of Croatian football. It enabled us to qualify for the second round. This afternoon the very dry pitch slowed the ball down considerably, which might explain the relative weakness of our game. We want to finish first in our group so that we play our second round match at 9:00 pm. At the 35^th minute, I asked STANIC if he'd be able to keep up; he wasn't even able to reply – the heat had already affected him that much."

 

 

 

Hidtoshi NAKATA (8):

Comments from NANTES

"JAPAN's defeat has saddened me. The fact that we played well does not change anything, because we didn't win: we are inconsolable. Today victory was all that mattered. We played a good match but could have played better. I'm very disappointed. However, all is not yet lost; we're going to give our best in our last match, against JAMAICA."

Woshikatsu KAWAJUCHI (20):

"We should have started this match with more confidence and enthusiasm. I think we didn't give all that we could because we didn't feel that much pressure on us. Our qualification is obviously very compromised, but all the same it will depend on the result of the ARGENTINA-JAMAICA match, provided we beat JAMAICA. The positive point is that this has given us more experience at the international level. That will help us to prepare for the 2002 World Cup which we're going to host. I would like to pay tribute to our fans who spent 90 minutes at our side. You find the same atmosphere every week at the Japanese league game."

Masayuki OKANO (14):

"The end of the match was difficult for us. We were exhausted. This was frustrating, since we played well up till then. We'll all be glued to our television watching the ARGENTINA match, hoping that they lose. Such an atmosphere in the stands always encourages us – it's just like a game in JAPAN. Our supporters helped us a lot but that wasn't enough. The good thing was that now we knew how to fight against a team at CROATIA's level."

Masashi MAKAYAMA (9):

"From now on, our only aim is to win the third match against JAMAICA. The Japanese players in the World Cup in four years' time will not be the same as today. But they'll be entirely capable of beating the strongest teams. Before then, we have two major handicaps to overcome: the coherence of our game and our physical condition. Our attack up-field was very strong until we got to within twenty metres of the goal-line, but it was difficult to carry through. It was great for us to come to France but as long as we haven't won a World Cup match we won't be able to say that JAPAN is part of the world's heavyweights."