Charleroi, Belgium, June 13 - Yugoslavia produced one of the all-time great comebacks on Tuesday when down to 10 men and trailing Slovenia 3-0 they scored three times in six minutes to draw their Euro 2000 game 3-3.
In an incredible first meeting between two rivals, Slovenia led 3-0 after an hour as star striker Zlatko Zahovic scored two and made another.
But after Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off the Yugoslavs poured forward with substitute Savo Milosevic scoring two, either side of a goal by Ljubinko Drulovic.
Zahovic, already a national hero after his 10 goals in qualifying took Slovenia to their first ever finals, stooped to head home a curling Amir Karic cross in the 23rd minute.
It was a well-deserved lead for Slovenia, who were rated 33-1 to win the group and rank
outsiders for the tournament. They started the match full of confidence and were full of ideas and energy, particularly down the left wing.
Yugoslavia, packed with stars from Europe's premier clubs, barely mounted a cohesive attack in the first half and they were not helped when Lazio's Dejan Stankovic had to go off injured after 35 minutes. Dragan Stojkovic replaced him.
Yugoslav coach Vujadin Boskov brought on Milosevic for the ineffective Darko Kovacevic in the 52nd minute but within six minutes his side were 3-0 behind and down to 10 men.
In the 53rd minute Miran Pavlin headed in a Zahovic free kick and then a dreadful error by Mihajlovic presented Zahovic with an easy chance wich he duly accepted by blasting past Kralj.
Mihajlovic, who had been booked for dissent a minute before his error, then pushed Udovic and was sent off in the 60th minute to complete a five minute spell the Lazio man will quickly want to forget.
But Yugoslavia then had an unforgettable six minute spell but one that will go down in their history for all the right reasons.
Milosevic scrambled one back in the 67th minute and then Predrag Mijatovic, previously
anonymous, cut in on the left and laid the ball into the path of Drulovic to drive home a second. The previously dejected Yugoslavs were suddenly full of running and Drulovic reached the byline on the right before rolling the ball across for Milosevic to tap home his second from point-blank range.
They looked the more likely side to grab a winner but the match ended with honours even.
 | AFTER THE MATCH |
"We underestimated Slovenia. They were prepared very well and psychologically for the first hour we weren't there. But it was a great game, a great advert for football and its possibilities" (Vujadin Boskov, Yugoslav coach).
"Watching the first half from the bench was the worst moment
of my life. We were a disaster and if we play like that again against Norway they will put seven past us... Defender Sinisa Mihajlovic's sending off in
the 60th minute was like an injection. The 10 of us left on the field, we were like 10 different players. It was probably heroic, but there's so much we have to
sort out" (Savo Milosevic, Yugoslav striker).
"Losing the victory after leading 3-0 shows that we need
some more experience in such situations. Against stars like that
you shouldn't ease your pace not even for a moment even if they
have only 10 men. But I am satisfied, hats off to my boys. They had an
extremely good 70 minutes of the match" (Srecko Katanec, Slovenia's coach).
| STATS |
