The ECHO’s Chris Beesley continues his daily series of articles on Everton and the World Cup running throughout the tournament in Qatar.
Barely a month after being deemed not good enough to play in an Everton defence facing a last-day battle to stay in the Premier League, Slaven Bilic helped steered Croatia finish third in the World Cup in their debut at the tournament. Following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, a set of newly-independent nations from the Balkans started to compete in international football in the 1990s.
Croatia had already shown they were no mugs by qualifying for the knockout stages of Euro ’96 in England ahead of holders Denmark but two years later in France they made it all the way to the semi-finals. Jamaica (beaten 3-1) and Japan (beaten 1-0) proved no problem in the group stage and although a 1-0 reversal to Argentina saw the Croats finish runners-up, they defeated Romania 1-0 in the second round.
That result set up a showdown with Germany who had knocked them out of the Euros in the last eight a couple of years prior but this time Croatia gained revenge with a 3-0 thrashing in Lyon to set up a semi-final date in Paris at the Stade de France against the host nation. The dream ended with a 2-1 loss to the eventual tournament winners but Bilic – who played all seven games in the finals, including the subsequent 2-1 victory over the Netherlands to secure third place – found himself embroiled in a controversy that saw home centre-back Laurent Blanc sent off.
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With Croatia behind, a free kick was awarded, which saw Bilic marking the French defender. He held Blanc and to free himself, Blanc pushed Bilic, making contact with his chin and chest.
Bilic fell to the ground clutching his forehead. Bilic later admitted that he was acting, and went down only after encouragement from teammate Igor Stimac. Blanc was sent off and missed the World Cup final through suspension.
Bilic did not apologise but he did declare: “I swear if I could change that so Blanc could play in the final, I would.”
Although Bilic was a cultured, ball-playing defender, he suffered from indiscipline during his first season at Goodison and was sent off three times. He was left on the bench as an unused substitute for Everton’s final game of the campaign when they avoided relegation on goal difference with a 1-1 draw against Coventry City, unable to win a place in a back five that included Dave Watson, Craig Short, Carl Tiler, John O’Kane and an 18-year-old Michael Ball.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2015, Ball said: “Slav was probably more of a futuristic kind of centre-half to what we were used to at the time in his style of play.
“He didn’t have the pace but he controlled the game because he had the brains. Whereas others would just kick it up the pitch, he’d get a nudge in the back and go down.
“You’d never see that from a centre-half then, especially in England but we’d get a free-kick in our final third and it would calm the whole game down, we’d have possession and would start again.”
Bilic arrived at Everton in the summer of 1997 when they were managerless in between the reigns of Joe Royle and Howard Kendall’s third spell having agreed a £4.5million transfer back in March that year only to delay his move until the end of the season to help West Ham United avoid relegation. Ball said: “It was the start in a new way of defending that he brought to us. With the team that we had, the style of play probably didn’t help him too much but there were things that he was trying to get the youngsters to do to take on for their careers ahead and he certainly helped me.
“We had to think slightly differently when we were coming up against strikers from overseas than your typical British player. Whereas before you’d have got tight, now you might want to give them a bit of space because they’d often go down and while you might not have done anything, you could give away a free-kick in a dangerous area and lose the game.”
He added: “If you’re coming up against Dennis Bergkamp or Ian Wright there was two totally different ways to mark them. Half the time you think you’re doing the right thing but when Slaven points you in the right direction you can see what he’s trying to get across.
“You think ‘I’ll give it a little go’, it comes off and it sort of sticks with you for the rest of your career.”
Despite an age gap of over 11 years, local lad Ball struck up a great rapport with his cosmopolitan neighbour but he recalls there was one particular incident that the Croatian’s worldliness became evident to him. He said: “I got on pretty well with Slav.
“Living in the same area we used to take turns driving each other into training. I remember asking him once when we were on our way in, ‘what have you been up to today?’
“He puffed his cheeks, turned to look at me with those piercing eyes and said: ‘Michael, I used to live in London next door to Elton John and shop in Harrods... Now I live next door to you and I get asked for my ABC card in Sainsbury’s!”
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