Yet another nod for Croatia's 1998 World Cup squad.
June 6, 2018 - With the 2018 World Cup less than two weeks away, it’s important to reflect on your national team’s best moments in the tournament as a way to get you pumped up for what lies ahead. For Croatia fans, the 1998 World Cup was the one. The Croatia national team, after losing to France in the semifinal 2:1 and triumphing over the Netherlands 2:1 in the third-place playoff, took home the bronze in France. And not only was this the new country’s first time competing in football’s biggest international spectacle, but they also left a (check)mark in the hearts of fans around the world for their impressive red and white kits.
British daily tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail has not let the colors of Croatia in 1998 leave their sight and has thus compiled a list of the ten most beautiful kits in World Cup history. You better believe that Croatia made the top five.
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In tenth place is Argentina with their 1978 World Cup winning kit, followed by the USA’s 1994 jersey when the tournament was played on their soil. In eighth place is Englands home kit from 1982, which was their first World Cup in 12 years. Holland’s 1974 home kit saw legend Johan Cruyff wear the bold orange color, and what a way to make a comeback for their first World Cup since the 1930s. In sixth place is Germany’s 1994 jersey, which the Daily Mail says is arguably the most flamboyant choice of the 1990s, and in fifth is Mexico’s 1998 dress which was last seen in the tournament in the round of 16. Peru’s 1970 home kit, which saw them through to the quarterfinals, placed fourth, and Brazil’s home kits from the same year saw them take home the title.
In the second place, however, the Daily Mail reserves for Croatia’s 1998 bronze-winning World Cup campaign.
“Like Peru and the sash, it seems unthinkable for Croatia to ever veer away from their unique chequered kit. But try as they might will never improve on their strip used at France '98 where the team were within a whisker of reaching the final. Davor Šuker was top scorer in Croatia's first ever finals wearing the Lotto strip that slanted the chequered design over two-thirds of the kit. It has not aged a day to the point you wonder why they ever changed it,” write the Daily Mail.
And in first? West Germany’s home kit of 1990 which went on to win the tournament in Italy.
You can read the full list on the Daily Mail here.
