'Nothing is impossible'

Coach Katanec crucial to Slovenia's chances

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) -- Slovenia's maiden appearance at the World Cup will be the biggest challenge so far in Srecko Katanec's short coaching career.

A former player in Italy's Serie A, Katanec also played the leading role when Slovenia made it to the European Championships in 2000 -- a major surprise pulled off by a country that only gained independence a decade ago.

"Everybody charged that it could not be done," Katanec said. "But I kept telling my players that they must believe in themselves, that they must rid their heads of an inferiority complex.

"If you are determined and believe in yourself, nothing is impossible."

Slovenia played some dazzling soccer at Euro 2000. Still, the country of just 2 million shocked the pundits when it advanced to the World Cup after eliminating Romania in a playoff of runner-ups in European qualifying groups.

"It was no fluke," Katanec maintained. "It was a matter of quality. My boys realized that they could, and they never relented."

Not giving up when the chips are down is a trait Katanec knows very well.

Katanec grew up in a poor, working class family on the outskirts of the capital Ljubljana. Many coaches overlooked his talent as a player and dismissed the lanky midfielder as a no-hoper.

But Katanec persevered, making a name for himself in the soccer-mad grotto of the Croatian capital Zagreb, with one of Yugoslavia's leading clubs, Dinamo.

The 39-year-old also had stints with Germany's Stuttgart before finding his niche in the Italian first division with Sampdoria.

"Srecko's rise in the world of soccer was no bed of roses," sports writer Branko Veic said in Sportske Novosti. "His path was full of thorns and he deliberately chose to tread through it with bare feet."

Katanec planted some of that never-say-die spirit into the Slovenian national squad, which is largely made up of low-key players from the domestic league or players who regularly warm the bench on humble teams from Belgium to Israel.

Under the guidance of Katanec for the fourth year, the former soccer minnow now draws its strength from playing as a tight unit, with lots of short neat passes and plenty of running. What the team lacks in skill, it now makes up for in cohesion and tenacity.

"It's true, my players aren't stars and a host of them don't regularly play in the first-choice lineups of their clubs," Katanec said. "But maybe we have something others don't -- a unique compatibility and fighting spirit."

The Slovenes have already gone farther than anyone dared to imagine. The timid Katanec could well be on to something.

 

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