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TWO DATES TO BE REMEMBERED AND GOALS THAT WILL NEVER FADE AWAY

05.06.2020.

Two great events to be remembered by our national team football happened on this day. On June 5th 1974, Belgrade was hosting a friendly Yugoslavia – England, and it was a full house at FK Crvena zvezda stadium, with not enough room for all football fans, and those who were there had a chance to see a fantastic match and great goals, above all of Ilija Petković, and especially by Branko Oblak who maybe scored one of the most spectacular goals in the history of the Yugoslav National Team. The final score was 2:2…

On June 5th 1968 Yugoslav National Team won England with 1:0 (0:0), world champions of that time, in the semifinal of the 1968 European Championship. Head-coach Rajko Mitić and his assistant Branko Stanković opted for these 11: Ilija Pantelić, Mirsad Fazlagić, Milan Damjanović, Miroslav Pavlović, Blagoje Paunović, Dragan Holcer, Ilija Petković, Dobrivoje Trivić, Vahudin Musemić, Ivan Osim and Dragan Džajić.

What was interesting is that Ivan Osim injured himself on the very start of the match and was like a stunt extra on the right, since the rules were there were no substitutions. Most of the England players had become World champions at their Wembley two years before that match: Banks, Bobby Moore, Wilson, Bobby Charlton, Peters, Hunt, Ball… Our players played bravely, and when it was almost certain that extra time would be played, Dragan Džajić scored a spectacular goal in 87th minute, the most important and one of the most beautiful goals in his brilliant career. He took on his chest a long ball that flew over Bobby Moore and brought a great victory to our team with his magical left foot.