Goalless Croatian and Slovenian preparation for World Cup
ZAGREB, Croatia, March 27 (DSA) - Second consecutive goalless draw in friendly matches causes worry for the Croatian national team. Today Croats drew with Slovenia in a friendly. ''I could tell that this game was more solid than the one against Bulgaria in February'', commented Croatian national coach Mirko Jozic as both, Croatia and Slovenia realized Wednesday's match as serious test before World Cup in Korea and Japan. Possession of ball goes 53% to 47% in favor of Croats, but very confident Slovenians did not give much of chances to their opponents confirming they want to be very fit before World Cup debut. There were almost no chances for both sides as two teams played sure in defense. Hosts Croatia waited till 44th minute of the first half for a header of Bayer Leverkusen Boris Zivkovic. Robert Jarni of Panathinaikos assisted well, but Zivkovic's ball passed close to the bar. Similar situation was observed in the second half. Croats dominated the game, but did not succeed to score. Slovenians did it three times, but that was rather a good exercise for Croatian goalkeeper Tomislav Butina. Croatian first division leading scorer Ivica Olic had a good chance in 76th minute. Davor Vugrinec of Lecce assisted with a ball in empty space, however, Olic did not manage to keep it in an open route to Slovenian goal. Both teams took a friendly very seriously, so there was a lot of tension, too. That reduced chances for a play that would cheer up the crowd of some 9000. Therefore 6000 hosting fans and 3000 Slovenians were teasing each other for most of the match. Some slight incidents on a tribune were however prevented by the police. "Hope we will finally score in our next friendly with Bosnia and Herzegovina'', revealed Croatian national team star Davor Suker. After a long period Munich 1860 striker Suker started a match from the beginning playing as a forward together with Middlesbrough's Alen Boksic.
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