Balkans ready to make real World Cup impact

BELGRADE, Tuesday (Reuters) The conflict that tore the former Yugoslavia to shreds devastated its economy and society but turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the region's international soccer prospects.

The old Yugoslavia did well enough in World Cups and European championships, reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 1930 and 1962 and losing the European championship finals of 1960 and 1968, without ever becoming a long-term force to be reckoned with.

On its deathbed though, it spawned several teams representing newly-created states which have the potential to do better than the old country ever did.

Serbia & Montenegro and Croatia are the most notable successes after impressively qualifying for next year's World Cup finals in Germany where both could make a real impression. The unbeaten Serbs won Group Seven ahead of favourites Spain by winning six and drawing four games, and conceding just one goal, while Croatia also remained unbeaten to clinch Group Eight with an even better record of seven wins and three draws.

Bosnia stayed in contention for a playoff berth in Group Seven till the very end, which came after a 1-0 defeat by the Serbs in Belgrade, while Slovenia missed out after qualifying for Euro 2000 and the World Cup finals in 2002.

Last roar

The former Yugoslavia's final roar came in 1990 when they reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Italy, hinting at how good they might have become if the country and team had stayed together. The nucleus of the 1990 side had won the World Youth Cup in Chile in 1987 and featured Predrag Mijatovic, Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki and Zvonimir Boban, who all later became world-class players.

Vlatko Markovic, the president of Croatia's football association, has no regrets that the old country never got the chance to take centre stage in the 1990s.

"The bulk of the players in that 1987 under-21 side were Croatian and our lads finally got the chance to show just how talented a soccer nation we are after Croatia gained independence," he told Reuters.

"They have certainly made the country proud with their accomplishments in the past 15 years." Markovic's point is amplified by the Croats knocking out Romania and Germany on their way to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup. They even briefly led against hosts France in the semis before losing 2-1. They then beat the Netherlands in the third place playoff to record the best performance by any Balkans team in the competition.

Croatia have reached five of the last six major events, ironically missing Euro 2000 after a 2-2 draw with the interim Federal Republic of Yugoslavia consigned them to third place in their qualifying group. International sanctions

Overall, however, the Serbs and Montenegrins suffered heavily as a result of international sanctions imposed from 1992 until 1996 because of the political conflicts in the Balkans. The country was expelled from Euro'92 after qualifying - its replacements Denmark went on to win the competition - and it was also banned from taking part in the 1994 World Cup and Euro'96. Tomislav Karadzic, the Serbia & Montenegro Football Association chief, outlined just how devastating that was for soccer in the country.

"Our most talented generation, led by Dragan Stojkovic, Dejan Savicevic, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Predrag Mijatovic, was denied a chance in their prime to win major honours for their country," he told Reuters.

"They missed two European championships and a World Cup, after which they did well to reach the last 16 at the 1998 World Cup and the last eight at Euro 2000.

"But the long international absence took its toll and almost ruined our soccer."

Their absence continued long after stability returned to the region, the team failing to qualify for either the 2002 World Cup finals or Euro 2004. Young talents

Karadzic, too, maintains that although it may have done some collateral damage to soccer, the former Yugoslavia's break-up gave many young talented players a chance to make their mark and play for the national team. "The old country's team often had to be assembled in line with its ethnic composition, meaning that some players never had a fair chance," he said.

His Croatian counterpart Markovic remembered Dinamo Zagreb's playmaker Marko Mlinaric, who did not make Yugoslavia's 1982 World Cup squad after being named the country's Player of the Year. "With new states in place and the ethnic factor out of the way, many talents now featuring for Serbia and Montenegro were able to prove their worth and play an instrumental role in our current success," Karadzic said.