Croatia more than pleased with third place; Suker takes Golden Boot lead.

The Croats didn't win the title, but it didn't seem to matter much. Striker Davor Suker’s goal in the 36th minute gave the Croatians a 2-1 decision over The Netherlands for the consolation prize. In the process, Suker became the top scorer in the World Cup finals with his sixth goal of the tournament and will win the Golden Boot unless someone scores at least a hat-trick in Sunday's final.

Suker had been tied with Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina and Christian Vieri of Italy at five. He moved clear and drove an angled left-footed shot that swerved past goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar after going through the legs of defender Jaap Stam with what proved to be the winning goal.

"I am the happiest man in the world tonight," Suker said. "It's great for a small country like ours to finish third in the World Cup. It's almost as good as winning it. I am very proud."

Asked about the Golden Boot, he said: "Let's wait to talk about that tomorrow. The most important thing for me is the medal for coming in third."

Suker gave a perfect through pass to Robert Jarni in the 13th minute and Jarni faked a defender before finding Prosinecki. His right-footed shot from 10 yards found the net to give Croatia a 1-0 advantage.

"It was a great passing play," said Prosinecki, who played for Yugoslavia in the 1990 World Cup -- when there was no Croatia. "When I got the chance, I knew I had to score."

The Netherlands tied it on a solo move by Boudewijn Zenden nine minutes later. Zenden scooted from right wing to midfield, stopped and sent a left-footed drive home off goalkeeper Drazen Ladic's hands.

Ladic made two sliding kick saves on Kluivert before Suker made it 2-1.

"I have no regrets," said Prosinecki. "We are a small country in our first World Cup and we came in third."

Said Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic: "What we demonstrated is a small and perhaps unknown country is able to show with great elegance what it is capable of. For us, the most important thing was winning this game. We wanted to be the third best team in the world."

Third Place