Željko Petrović, a legend of Montenegrin football and a participant in the 1998 World Cup in France, is known as one of the favorites for the 23rd World Cup, which begins in North America on Thursday.
France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Portugal... Petrović didn't say anything new, and yet...
"Something is bothering me...", he says with a smile.
And he explains:
"The Netherlands have played in the World Cup finals three times in history. They are probably the strongest football nation that has never won the World Cup. Maybe one day they will get it all back, and maybe this World Cup will be it. Of course it will be difficult with many teams ahead of them and given a better chance, but who knows... I have a strange feeling," he says in an interview with Meridiansport.
"They're going to the World Cup without a classic striker. Malen, Depay and the others - these are wingers who have adapted to playing as strikers. There's no type of footballer like Van Basten, like Kluivert. And that might be a handicap, or maybe a strength - who knows. Football is strange, anything is possible," says Petrović, who grew up in the Netherlands as a player, and especially as a coach.
It would be a big surprise if the "tulips" became world champions, Petrović admits, despite a "strange feeling", because the favorites are others.
"France has the strongest team. It's not a team - it's two teams, equally good. Then Brazil - it doesn't have a superstar like Ronaldo or Ronaldinho, but it has a lot of good players. Then Argentina - world champions and very strong. Germany - always a force. Not to mention Spain, which is among the main favorites if everyone is healthy. Portugal also has a serious team, we'll see how their coach will arrange it. There's also England, although I don't see them among the three or four favorites," emphasized Petrović, who two years ago was the coach of one of the participants in the World Cup, the Iraq team.
The Netherlands put an end to the dreams of his generation in France in 1998, for which seven Montenegrins played at the time, six of whom were former Buducnost players.
In the famous round of 16 match in Toulouse, the ball bounced off the crossbar after Mijatović's penalty, and Davids took the powerful Dutch team to the quarterfinals in the final minutes.
"It's a shame, because the Dutch players were as pale as a rag in the second half - they were 'finished' when we tied at 1:1 and got a penalty, I saw their faces, I know those players, I played with many of them at PSV, or against them in the Dutch championship. And they had a 'dark' team - God forbid, what a powerful team it was. But we were strong too, Piksi, Peđa, Dejo, Miha, Jugović, Kovačević... They weren't indifferent either. The Netherlands is a team that, especially with such quality, naturally goes out high and takes risks, but they were blocked in the second half. It's a shame that we allowed them to come back, and in the end beat us in the last minute. Peđa missed the penalty, but that happens - after all, he took the shot, and someone who doesn't shoot can't miss," recalls Petrović.
He also notes that Yugoslavia did not miss a real chance against the Netherlands.
"We missed a real chance against Germany in the group. We were leading 2-0, we were much better, and then, like true Balkans, we allowed them to recover from the knockdown and equalize at the finish at 2-2. That's why we weren't first in the group - if we had, we would have gone to a completely different side of the draw, an easier one, and Mexico would have been waiting for us first. It's a shame, a big shame, because that generation deserved to do something great, to at least achieve the result that Croatia achieved at that World Cup. However, we were second in the group and had to face a strong, very strong Netherlands."
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