October 7 – Sadly the result did not match the anticipation. Kosovo’s first competitive home fixture since being admitted by FIFA and UEFA ended in a 6-0 defeat by Croatia that leaves them bottom of their World Cup qualifying group.
The game was played in neighbouring Albania because Kosovo still lacks sufficient infrastructure but thousands of fans made the trip to Shkoder, only to see Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic scoring a first-half hat-trick and Matej Mitrovic, Ivan Perisic and Nikola Kalinic add further goals.
Kosovo earned a point in their first qualifier last month in Finland but their clash with Croatia was not all plain sailing off the field, let alone on it. Just like against Finland, coach Albert Bunjaki, struggled to assemble a squad while a dispute broke out about whether fans should wear the blue colours of Kosovo or the red-and-black of Albania from where many ethnic Kosovans hail.
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