Thursday, November 28, 2002 Kislev 23, 5763 Israel Time:  20:17  (GMT+2)

Giovanni Rosso's dream of playing in an Israel shirt was ended for good yesterday, although he did finally earn his first international cap as he played for his native Croatia for 75 minutes in their 1-0 win over Romania in Timisoara.

Rosso, who was thrilled at the opportunity to have finally earned international colors, said: "It was a great honor for me to play for the Croatian national team, although I must admit that I thought I would be able to play for Israel. I waited until the very last minute for the phone call from Israel that would convey the news that I had been awarded citizenship. But the call never came, so from today I am a Croatian international."

Croatia's winner was scored by Tomislav Maric in the 46th minute in front of 36,000 spectators. (Doron Bergerfreund)

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=232894&contrassID=2&subContrassID=6&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y