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Journalism of Courage
Belgium, JUNE 14 Ten-man Yugoslavia fought back from 3-0 down to salvage a 3-3 draw against Balkan neighbours Slovenia on Tuesday in a day of upsets at the European Championships.
Two goals by Zlato Zahovic and one by Miran Pavlin seemed to assure underdogs Slovenia of an easy victory in Group C until the Yugoslavs hit back with three goals in a six-minute burst in the second half.
Savo Milosevic scored twice and Ljubinko Drulovic once for a Yugoslavia side that was reduced to 10-men after veteran defender Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off in the 59th minute for a second bookable offence. The result left the two teams joint second behind Norway, surprise 1-0 winners over Spain in the opening Group C game in Eindhoven earlier in the day.
It was the highest scoring game of eight so far played in the European Championships, and one of the most exciting. The Slovenians, ranked by bookmakers as 150-1 outsiders before the start of the tournament, looked as though they were going to devour the fancied Yugoslavs.
A crowd of 20,000 at the Municipal Stadium in Charleroi saw Yugoslavia wilt in the first half as Slovenia made effective use of long balls to puncture their opponents’ shaky defence.
It was the first encounter between the two countries, since Slovenia split from the old Yugoslavia in 1991.
Slovenia’s Zlatko Zahovic set the tone in the 23rd minute when he outjumped the Yugoslav defence to head home a freekick from Zeljko Milinovic.
Just when it seemed that Slovenia was about to coast to victory, Yugoslavia miraculously recovered and exploded into life with three goals in the space of six minutes in the second session to earn the draw.
(DPA)
