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Football
Croatian midfielder Milan Rapaic (left) dives to score past Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon while midfielder Damiano Tommasi looks on during their Group G first round match of the 2002 FIFA World Cup at the Kashima Ibaraki stadium on Saturday. — AFP
Olic slipped behind three Italian defenders to score in the 73rd minute and a Rapaic volley deflected off a defender to sail into the net in the 76th as the Croatians recovered from a disappointing opening 0-1 loss to Mexico. ``This victory goes out to the entire Croatian nation,'' Olic said. ``With the two goals in the second half we deserved the victory.'' Italy had gone ahead in the 55th minute as Christian Vieri leapt over a defender to head in a pass from Cristiano Doni. It was the third goal at this year's tournament for Vieri, who has scored a total of eight goals in eight World Cup matches. The Italians thought they had tied the game in the closing minutes, but a foul nullified a long pass that trickled into the net untouched. ``I don't understand how it was ruled out,'' Vieri said. It was one of several chances for the Italians in the last 10 minutes. The best opportunity came in the 87th minute as a free kick from Francesco Totti hit the post, rolling behind the goalkeeper and bouncing away from the goalmouth. ``We had some bad luck today. The linesman more than the referee penalised Italy,'' Vieri said. ``He voided goals without any reason. Now we must absolutely win against Mexico to go ahead in the World Cup.'' Italy looked sluggish in the opening 45 minutes, managing only two shots on goal in a first half plagued with fouls but dominated by Croatia. The Italians, however, slowly improved in the second half and Vieri threatened at least three times as their attack gained steam. In the 50th minute, a Vieri header was disallowed for offside, and Vieri was yellow-carded in the aftermath. For Croatia, third-place finisher in France, the game marked a significant turnaround after its opening loss triggered a shakeup in the lineup and questions about the team's direction. ``I think we finally played a proper game to match our ability,'' Olic said. Croatia, Italy and Mexico each have three points in the group. Italy leads on goal difference, followed by Mexico. On Thursday, Italy plays Mexico — which first will meet Ecuador on Sunday. The two European teams have met four times with both teams winning a game and drawing two. The Italians last beat Croatia in a 1942 friendly while Croatia defeated the World Cup favourites during a European Championship qualifier in 1994.
Italians furious
Italy's players signalled their anger after its defeat leaves the `Azzurri' struggling to make the second phase of the competition. Raffaele Ranucci, the head of the Italian delegation here, was keeping his counsel about any possible protest that might be made but others were less reticent about the decisions by English referee Graham Poll to disallow goals by Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi. Ranucci, asked if a protest was possible, did not commit himself, saying: ``I need to speak with some people - we will take time to reflect.'' But coach Giovanni Trapattoni and his men were clearly unimpressed by the decisions, with `Trap' pointing out that FIFA president Sepp Blatter had attended the match. ``Blatter was in the stadium - he saw what happened,'' said Trapattoni. ``The overall valuation of the game is the goals scored and those cancelled means a draw would have been a fairer result. It was a good game with three goals - it could have been four.'' But Trapattoni made it clear that he felt Poll was only acting because of the instructions of Danish assistant Jens Larsen, saying: ``When a referee sees an assistant waving a flag it is entirely normal he will blow.'' Francesco Totti was less impressed by the officiating. Asked by Italian reporters about the English referee - in Italy, English referees have a reputation for not clamping down on foul play - he said: ``He was an English referee - and how. I was being kicked all the time and then something like that happens.'' Skipper Paolo Maldini would not be drawn on an official protest being made, saying the decision was not down to him. And Christian Vieri, who took his tally to three goals in this tournament and eight in seven World Cup Finals matches, said that he did not want his efforts to go unrewarded because of incidents the Italians could not control. ``Mistakes like this cannot be made when people have prepared for something like this (the World Cup) for a month,'' said the prolific forward. Others took a more lenient view, with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon telling AFP: ``Things like that happen in football - it is part of football. It always has been.''
The teams: Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 2-Christian Panucci, 3-Paolo Maldini (c); 5- Fabio Cannavaro, 6-Cristiano Zanetti, 10-Franceso Totti, 11-Cristiano Doni (Filippo Inzaghi, 79); 13-Alessandro Nesta (Marco Materazzi, 24), 17-Damiano Tommasi; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 21-Christian Vieri. Croatia: 1-Stipe Pletikosa; 3-Josip Simunic, 4-Stjepan Tomas, 5-Milan Rapaic (Dario Simi, 79), 7-Davor Vugrinec (Ivica Olic, 57), 10-Niko Kovac, 11-Alen Boksic, 14-Zvonimir Soldo (Jurica Vranjes, 62); 15-Daniel Saric, 17-Robert Jarni (c), 21-Robert Kovac.
— AP
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