Despite Ladić's solid performances for Dinamo Zagreb in
the European competition in 1997,
his two blunders for
the national team were still remembered by many people and
made them sceptical when he was chosen as
the Croatian national team's starting goalkeeper
at the 1998 World Cup finals in France. However, he showed
really good shape at the
tournament and already
distinguished himself in the second group match against Japan
with a great save of Masashi Nakayama's shot in a one-on-one situation.
He once again attracted the attention in the quarterfinals
against Germany by
saving a header and a volley from Oliver Bierhoff
at close range, helping the Croatian team to record
a surprisingly convincing 3-0 victory over the highly favoured German side.
In the semifinals, he was helpless against
two Lilian Thuram's goals
that gave France a 2-1 victory and a place in the Final,
but once
again performed well in the third-place match against the Netherlands,
clearing several promising goalscoring
chances from
the Dutch
side and conceding
only an unstoppable shot
from Boudewijn Zenden
for the 1-1 equaliser
Croatia won the match
2-1
in the end
and was
awarded
with bronze medals
in their very
first World Cup
appearance since the country's independence.
Ladić was seen by many as one of the three best goalkeepers of the tournament.
He appeared in all of the team's seven matches.
