Yugoslavia Knocks Out Spain in OT
Midfield star Dragan Stojkovic sank Spain’s World Cup hopes today with two virtuoso goals to send Yugoslavia into the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory.
The upset second-round victory after 30 minutes of overtime put Yugoslavia into the last eight for the first time since 1962. Yugoslavia now has a chance to dethrone reigning champion Argentina in Florence on Saturday.
Stojkovic struck in the 77th minute, brilliantly controlling Srecko Katanec’s looping back-header, taking out the defender with a superb fake and stroking the ball past stranded Spanish goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta.
The increasingly frantic Spaniards, whose coach, Luis Suarez, was banished from the bench by the referee after staging an angry protest on the sideline, tied the game five minutes later.
Julio Salinas lunged at a low cross and poked the ball into the net to send the game into overtime.
Stojkovic delivered the coup de grace in the 92nd minute.
Stojkovic took the free kick himself and bent the ball around the Spanish wall, well out of reach of Zubizarreta’s despairing dive.
The heavily favored Spaniards controlled the game until Stojkovic opened the scoring, but they could not convert their chances, too often trying to walk the ball into the net.
If anything, the revived Yugoslavs looked more likely to increase their winning margin as extra time continued.
In one rapid counterattack, substitute Dejan Savicevic was denied only by Zubizarreta’s timely dive and in another, Safet Susic headed a fraction too high.
For most of the game, Spanish midfielder Rafael Martin Vasquez, playing a similar role to Stojkovic, created room and scoring opportunities but was let down by poor finishing by his teammates.
Spain’s best chance came in the 61st minute when captain Emilio Butragueno--evading his tight marking for once--rose to head Francisco Villaroya’s cross from the right. But the ball hit a post and rebounded into the arms of Yugoslav goalkeeper Tomislav Ivkovic.
Butragueno was substituted as soon as Stojkovic scored his first goal. Suarez had earlier sent on left-sided defender Manuel Jimenez to close down Stojkovic’s runs down the touchline.
“Spain played well, but we really wanted revenge against them,” Yugoslav coach Ivica Osim said.
Spain won the pair’s only previous World Cup finals meeting when it hosted the competition in 1982.
“We held out despite the heat, but the Spaniards weren’t at their best,” Osim added. “We had a bit of luck but our team played very well. I couldn’t have asked for more from them.”
Suarez said Spain failed to exploit its chances and “as happens in these situations, when your opponent gets near the goal, he scores.
“If any side deserved a win it was us. The players did their very best but it was very hot. We played a good match, but this time luck was not with us at the decisive moments.”
Five players, including three Yugoslavs, were booked by West German referee Aron Schmidhuber. None of the Yugoslavs cautioned, Zlatko Vujovic, Katanec and substitute Zoran Vulic, had received a yellow card earlier in the tournament, so all will be available against Argentina.
