TUDJMAN: CROATIA "UNLUCKY" NOT TO HAVE GONE FURTHER IN WORLD CUP

( Editorial: --> 7476 ) ZAGREB, July 13 (Hina) - Sports editors and reporters from the Croatian media on Monday interviewed President Franjo Tudjman over the country's wonderful debut effort in the football World Cup. Although Croatia won the bronze medal at France '98 by beating the Netherlands 2:1 in the third-place play-off, Tudjman said his national side were still unlucky to lose 2:1 in the semi-final to hosts and eventual new world champions France. "(Making) the semi-finals means a lot to the Croatian representative team and the state," he told reporters. "After all, we lost to the world champions, and unluckily, with chance mistakes... "Given how this world unwillingly accepted us, and even in the area of sport, this has enormous meaning for our internal situation and foreign policy position. "Someone told me that opinion polls showed that before the World Cup Croatia was only known by 2 per cent of the common people, while now it is 40 per cent," Tudjman said assessing the importance of the Croatian footballers gaining third place at France '98. When asked why some foreign media had only called the Croats nationalists because of their patriotism, even though during the tournament players from other countries had kissed their flags, sang anthems and identified with their nations too, the Croatian President said the world was hypocritical. Tudjman added this same world was for the maintenance of the former Yugoslavia at any cost. "Every normal feeling of Croatian patriotism is called Ustashism or racism," he said. "But when the common people or the state leader kisses a flag, this is normal. "They tell us that we are the continuation of the Independent State of Croatia (which existed from 1941 to 1945) but we are not. "We are just a continuation of the wish of the Croatian people to be free and independent. This is because we maintained ourselves as an old European nation and fought for our independence, which is only evidence of Croatian viability," President Tudjman said among other things in his interview with Croatian sports journalists. (Hina) mbr jn 141224 MET jul 98