Croatia moved a step closer to clinching a place in the World Cup finals for the first time after beating an unimpressive Ukraine 2-0 in the first leg of their European zone play-off yesterday.
Defender Slaven Bilic settled Croatian nerves after 11 minutes when he firmly headed home a deep cross by midfielder Robert Prosinecki.
The victory was cemented four minutes into the second half when Valencia's Goran Vlaovic latched on to a superb pass from Davor Suker and finished calmly.
Croatia dominated the match but could not force the third goal that would have eased their trip to Kiev on November 15.
But coach Miroslav Blazevic was confident his team had done enough. "This result almost guarantees that we will travel to France," he said.
Croatia will be weakened for the return leg by the absence of captain Zvonimir Boban of AC Milan and Everton's Bilic. Boban was injured and Bilic picked up his second booking.
"Bilic is one of our key players and his absence will be a great handicap for us," Blazevic said.
Ukraine showed some initiative after conceding the first goal and Croatia goalkeeper Drazen Ladic was forced to make a series of blocks after a fierce goal-mouth scramble. But it was the hosts in control most of the time.
Danijel Saric's shot after half-an-hour was well saved by Ukraine goalkeeper Olexander Shovkovsky and he had to stretch to tip over a deflected, looping effort by Vlaovic soon after.
Prosinecki shot over when well placed in the 70th minute and Shovkovsky saved another close range effort from Suker a minute from time.
Croatia: Ladic; Jarni, Bilic, Prosinecki, Suker, Boban, Stanic, Saric, Vlaovic, Simic, Juric. Subs: Asanovic for Stanic (59 mins), Jurcic for Boban (67 mins), Cvitanovic for Vlaovic (83 mins).
Ukraine: Shovkovsky, Dmytrulin, Skrypnyk, Koval, Vashchuk, Gusin, Maximov, Nahornyak, Kosovsky, Atelkin, Rebrov. Subs: Mykhailenko for Atelkin (53 mins), Zubov for Nahornyak (60 mins), Hetsko for Maximov (86).
