Davor Šuker and Aljoša Asanović were an unstoppable duo on the field during the first generation of bronze-winning Vatreni, they built enviable careers even after they left the national team, and today they still cheer on the players together.
Croatia is a country that has achieved a lot in sports, and many will agree that the most special was the first medal at the World Football Championship. In that fabulous year of 1998, when the Vatreni in France fought for the bronze medal at the most prestigious and largest football tournament in the world, the whole of Croatia celebrated the historic result of the young country.
The players themselves, led by the legendary coach Miroslav Blažević By the waywere welcomed in Zagreb as national heroes, and Severina sang at their reception, singing the then unofficial anthem of the championship, the song “Djevojka sa sela”. Almost 30 years later, many still believe that this generation of players was one of the best in the history of the national team, when they ran on the field Davor Šuker, Aljoša Asanović, Drazen Ladić, Zvonimir Boban, Igor Štimac, Slaven Bilić, Dario Šimić, Robert Jarni and Robert Prosinecki.
Through the years, the players continued to build successful careers in football, so the inimitable goal scorer and best scorer in the history of the national team, Davor Šuker, became the president of the Croatian Football Association, which he was until 2021, when he almost completely retired from the public eye, while Asanović was the assistant coach of the national team during the time of coach Slaven Bilić. In April of this year, he was admitted to the International Football Hall of Fame in Mexico, a museum that honors playing legends.
Today, both are enjoying a well-deserved sports retirement, so these days they are in the United States of America, where they are cheering on the new generation of players at the World Cup. Aljoša Asanović, as the scorer of the first, historic goal of Vatreni in this competition, was chosen to represent the Croatian Football Association in the USA, while Šuker can regularly be seen sitting in the box with the most influential people in the world of football.
However, between all the matches and obligations that the championship entails, the former teammates managed to find time to drink coffee together. So Asanović published a photo from a relaxed get-together, in which the legendary football players are sitting in a cafe, and Šuker is even wearing a T-shirt with the HNS crest. “Talk over coffee with a teammate,” Aljoša wrote alongside the photo, which in just a few hours gathered more than a thousand likes and dozens of positive comments.
“For me, that generation is the best ever! Kudos to Modrić, but Šuker, Asanović, Boban, Prosinečki, Štimac, etc… They were special”, is just one of the series of positive comments that people left under the photo, which immediately reminded many of the legendary action when, in the match against Denmark, at the 1996 European Championship in Sheffield, Asanović beat Šuker with a diagonal long ball on the left side of the opponent’s half of the field. Suker then received the ball and played an ideal forehand. One of his most recognizable goals in the history of his long career as a forward is still remembered by many, and we can only hope that the new generation, led by captain Modrić, will achieve similar historic moments in the USA.
