Yugoslavia = Best in the World?

[wiseone]

The other day when Stoke played Chelsea I saw the Stoke GK Begovic (a Bosnian) greet Ivanovic and Matic (Serbians). I started to think that if the former Yugoslavia was to field a united football team they would be one of the best in the world. Think that the following players from ex Yugoslavian countries would be eligible for a united Yugoslavia team:

Serbia: Vidic, Matic, Ivanovic, Kolarov, Subotic
Croatia: Modric, Srna, Mandzukic, Rakitic, Perisic, Lovren
Bosnia: Dzeko, Begovic, Pjanic, Lulic
Slovenia: Handanovic

[YUJAM]

They had the same talent back in the day but were simply unable to get it together

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

The other day when Stoke played Chelsea I saw the Stoke GK (a Bosnian) greet Ivanovic and Matic (Serbians). I started to think that if the former Yugoslavia was to field a united football team they would be one of the best in the world. Think that the following players from ex Yugoslavian countries would be eligible for a united Yugoslavia team:

Croatia: Modric, Srna, Mandzukic, Rakitic, Perisic, Lovren
Bosnia: Dzeko, Begovic, Pjanic, Lulic
Serbia: Vidic, Matic, Ivanovic, Kolarov, Subotic
Slovenia: Handanovic

Nothing new here...they always had excellent players at all positions. Both soccer and Baskeball.

[platinum]

They had the same talent back in the day but were simply unable to get it together

True. I think they may have become a force though because Spain had same choking issues too.

[wale1974]

Serious team

[kajifu]

Na wow ooh,Names dont win you game ooh.Argentina and Brazil can name you such talent but they are not even best in the world.

[Sir V]

Yugoslavia V Nigeria .. 1998 ...
[/video]

[Scipio Africanus]

Yugoslavia V Nigeria .. 1998 ...
[/video]

That was a spanking. Pure comedy at 1:06 ...

[yannick]

Yugoslavia V Nigeria .. 1998 ...
[/video]

That was a spanking. Pure comedy at 1:06 ...

Kai where we that bad? or was Yugoslavia really that good.

[platinum]

Yugoslavia V Nigeria .. 1998 ...
[/video]

That was a spanking. Pure comedy at 1:06 ...

Kai where we that bad? or was Yugoslavia really that good.

We were that bad.

[cic old boy]

There was a time they produced some of Europe's best midfielders - Dragan Stojkovic, Dejan Savicevic, Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban, etc.

[Sir V]

Yugoslavia V Nigeria .. 1998 ...
[/video]

That was a spanking. Pure comedy at 1:06 ...

Kai where we that bad? or was Yugoslavia really that good.

My bro, that was Amokachi selected side. Baruwa (Omo Alhaja) had no business playing in that team. Nor be today we don dey mess up.

[Super Eagle]

That 1998 match was FIXED.

O pari

[wiseone]

Perhaps harsh. They were "unable to get it together" precisely because their country disintegrated into war and bloodshed at the time that their most talented players came into their prime. Remember that an exceptional Red Star Belgrade team won the 1991 European Cup with the following players in their squad: Mihajlovic, Pancev, Prosinecki, Savicevic, Jugovic, Binic, Stojanovic (AKA the Yugoslav national team!).

The Yugoslavs were among the favourites to win the 1992 European Championship. However they never got to play in the 1992 tournament (despite qualifying). Their country had slid into conflict and that team never played together again. Who knows what that team could have done in the 1992 Euros and 1994 World Cup? Especially when the team that replaced them in the 1992 Euros (Denmark) won the tournament with a young GK called Peter Schmeichel in goal.

When you consider that the core of that Red Star/Yugoslav team then went on to win several more European cups at other big clubs like AC Milan, Inter, Real Madrid, Juventus etc, one cannot help but think that the sky was the limit for them had they stayed together.

They had the same talent back in the day but were simply unable to get it together

True. I think they may have become a force though because Spain had same choking issues too.

[kolinzo]

If I don't remember anything while I was growing u I will remember Argentina vs Yugoslavia in Italia '90. Yugoslavia were good.

[bret- hart]

Balkan teams have nerves of butter. Once the going gets tough, they melt and evaporate. Yugoslavia with all that talent would not have won jack. The team that I honestly feel were robbed of a golden generation was Zambia of the early 1990s.

[anikulapo]

If the core of their U-20 of '87 had stayed together they might have won a world cup or at least reached a semi final in the 90s

[platinum]

Balkan teams have nerves of butter. Once the going gets tough, they melt and evaporate. Yugoslavia with all that talent would not have won jack. The team that I honestly feel were robbed of a golden generation was Zambia of the early 1990s.

Indeed, that's why Czechoslovakia have only been to two world cup finals.
If I recall, it wasn't too long ago that Spain were the guys with nerves of butter.

[Scipio Africanus]

If the core of their U-20 of '87 had stayed together they might have won a world cup or at least reached a semi final in the 90s

The Croatian team that lost to France in the semis of WC '98 counted Suker, Prosinecki, Boban, Stimac and Jarni as alumni of that victorious Yugoslav U-20 team. Predrag Mijatovic was also in that U-20 team, but he played for Yugoslavia in WC '98.

[bret- hart]

Balkan teams have nerves of butter. Once the going gets tough, they melt and evaporate. Yugoslavia with all that talent would not have won jack. The team that I honestly feel were robbed of a golden generation was Zambia of the early 1990s.

Indeed, that's why Czechoslovakia have only been to two world cup finals.
If I recall, it wasn't too long ago that Spain were the guys with nerves of butter.

Dude, Spain winning a WC was only a matter of time. Infct in not for Korean Ojoro in 2002, and France's ojoro in 2006, they might have won the WC a lot earlier. Yugoslavia with all that talent never came close to winning a World Cup. Rather it was choke job after choke job after choke job. People keep waxing lyrical about their 92 squad but last time I checked, breezing through qualifiers does not mean your team is going to just show up and win. You have to have the temperament to cope as the tournament progresses. something the Slavs will never have.

[anikulapo]

If the core of their U-20 of '87 had stayed together they might have won a world cup or at least reached a semi final in the 90s

The Croatian team that lost to France in the semis of WC '98 counted Suker, Prosinecki, Boban, Stimac and Jarni as alumni of that victorious Yugoslav U-20 team. Predrag Mijatovic was also in that U-20 team, but he played for Yugoslavia in WC '98.

So you agree with me

[platinum]

Balkan teams have nerves of butter. Once the going gets tough, they melt and evaporate. Yugoslavia with all that talent would not have won jack. The team that I honestly feel were robbed of a golden generation was Zambia of the early 1990s.

Indeed, that's why Czechoslovakia have only been to two world cup finals.
If I recall, it wasn't too long ago that Spain were the guys with nerves of butter.

Dude, Spain winning a WC was only a matter of time. Infct in not for Korean Ojoro in 2002, and France's ojoro in 2006, they might have won the WC a lot earlier. Yugoslavia with all that talent never came close to winning a World Cup. Rather it was choke job after choke job after choke job. People keep waxing lyrical about their 92 squad but last time I checked, breezing through qualifiers does not mean your team is going to just show up and win. You have to have the temperament to cope as the tournament progresses. something the Slavs will never have.

bret, but I have pointed out that Czechoslovakia made TWO world cup finals and you've ignored that. The fact is a united balkan region would have been enough of a threat.
You're changing the Spanish narrative now....in 02 and 06, the story was about their lack of 'cojones', situations be damned.
Everything you've said above about the Balkans was also said about Spain.
I don't agree with that temperament talk.
Okay, let me ask....do you think the Dutch have the temperament to win the world cup?

[wiseone]

Yugoslavia were onto something special in the early 1990s. The success of Red Star Belgrade in winning the European Cup (despite the millions being splashed by teams like AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona etc) pointed to a big breakthrough at national team level. I recall that after being beaten home and away by Croatia, Italy's coach Arrigo Saachi said that "Croatia are a force of nature. They take the ball away from you and never give it back".

Croatia got to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup in their first World Cup, and were eliminated by the hosts and eventual world champions France. Finishing third in their first World Cup was no mean feat. Do you not think that had their coach Miroslav Blezevic been allowed to also select Bosnian, Montenegrin, Slovenian, and Serbian players, they probably would have done more and perhaps won the World Cup? (with Stojkovic, Stankovic, Mijatovic, Savicevic, and Drulovic)

In 1998 such a team would have been matched only by Brazil.

Balkan teams have nerves of butter. Once the going gets tough, they melt and evaporate. Yugoslavia with all that talent would not have won jack. The team that I honestly feel were robbed of a golden generation was Zambia of the early 1990s.