Yugoslavia set for a win against Slovenia

Charleroi (Belgium), June 12: Yugoslavia face the easiest match in the history of European championship football here on Tuesday, when the...

Charleroi (Belgium), June 12: Yugoslavia face the easiest match in the history of European championship football here on Tuesday, when they open their Euro 2000 campaign in Group C against Slovenia.

Slovenia’s side inevitably draws heavily on their country’s top side, NK Maribor, plus a number journeymen playing in Austria, Switzerland and Croatia.

Yugoslavia’s assistant coach Zoran Filipovic made no bones about it: “We are very optimistic about our chances of qualifying from this group. We know that the opening game against Slovenia will be far from easy, but we are relaxed.”

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Djukic was equally to the point, saying: “We feel obliged to win this one.”

However, Yugoslavia may well have felt the same way about the South China/ Hong Kong Select XI they faced last week in the former British colony – only to come away with a humiliating 4-2 defeat.

Though it’s dangerous to compare friendlies with competition matches, the debacle which one Yugoslav newspaper dubbed “Four slaps in the face in Hong Kong” may well have left it’s mark.

Slovenia, which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, has a proven marksman in Zlatko Zahovic, who scored nine goals during qualifying and won three Portuguese league titles with FC Porto, scoring seven times in six group games for them in the 1998-99 Champions League.

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Yugoslavia’s defence may not be the toughest at these championships, but if they can keep tabs on Zahovic, there should be little to stop Boskov’s men celebrating an ideal start to the championships.

Slovenia’s Srecko Katanec, at 36 the youngest coach in the competition and who played for Yugoslavia in the 1990 World Cup, said: “We’ll try to show character and we’ll try to score. But we’re not scared to lose 4-0 or 5-0.”