10 Greatest World Cup Underdog Stories
5. Croatia (1998)
The 1998 World Cup was Croatia's first tournament as an independent nation. They found themselves in a tricky group alongside Argentina, Jamaica, and Japan, but progressed comfortably to the latter stages of the competition with convincing wins over Jamaica and Japan and a narrow loss to Argentina.
Croatia went on to make short work of Romania in the knockout round, before absolutely obliterating Germany with a 3-0 win in the quarter finals. In the semis, the found themselves up against host nation and eventual champions France. Croatia opened the scoring in the 46th minute, with legendary striker Davor Šuker racking up his 5th goal of the tournament on his way to the Golden Boot award.
Sadly, it wasn't enough as France's Lilian Thuram brought Les Bleus back into the match with a second-half brace. Croatia then played the Netherlands in the third place playoff game in which Šuker scored once again. The game finished 2-1 to Croatia who thoroughly earned their excellent third place finish.