Josip Šimunić

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Josip Šimunić
Personal information
Full name	Josip Šimunić
Date of birth	18 February 1978
Place of birth	Canberra, Australia
Height	195 cm
Position	defender
Club information
Current club	Hertha Berlin
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1995-97 1997-00 2000-	Melbourne Knights Hamburger SV Hertha Berlin	30 (3) 8 (0) 139 (1)
National team**
2001-	Croatia	48 (3)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 June 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 22 June 2006.

Josip "Joe" Šimunić [ˈjɔsip ˈʃimunitɕ] (born February 18, 1978 in Canberra) is a Croatian football player central defender whose ability to read a game compensates for his lack of pace. His football technique and ball abilities are rarely seen as a defender.

Šimunić is of Bosnian Croat heritage[1].

He was educated in the finer points of Football at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The defender broke into the Melbourne Knights first team as a teenager in the 1995-96 season and ended it with a championship medal. Šimunić scored his first goals the following term, three in 14 outings, before moving to Europe to join Hamburger SV in 1998.

Šimunić moved to Hertha BSC Berlin in 2000 after falling out with Hamburg coach Frank Pagelsdorf and has since become an integral member of a team which has enjoyed occasional forays in the UEFA Cup.

Despite his Australian-taxpayer-funded education at the AIS, he decided to play his international football for Croatia in October 2001. Šimunić did not play in any of Croatia's qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup but was given a place in the squad for the finals after injury forced Igor Tudor out. He played all three of Croatia's matches in Korea and Japan. He also played in the Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

In a well-publicised incident, Šimunić was sent off in Croatia's final 2006 FIFA World Cup match against Australia. Having picked up a booking in the 61st minute, the referee Graham Poll took out a yellow card for Šimunić's tackle in the 90th minute, but did not actually send him off. However, at the conclusion of the game three minutes later, Šimunić remonstrated with Poll and received a third yellow card, this time followed by a red card. FIFA initially noted all three bookings in its match report, before later removing the 90th minute (second) booking. This prompted the removal of Poll from the knockout stages referee pool. Shortly after the World Cup, Poll retired from refereeing international games, citing this game as a direct cause.^[1][2][3]

[edit] References

1. ^ 2006 World Cup Match Detail. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
2. ^ "Croatia 2-2 Australia", FIFAworldcup.com, 2006-06-23. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
3. ^ Worldcup06 22.6. Croatia - Australia 2-2. Retrieved on 2006-07-10.

[edit] External links

• Profile on JadranSport.org (English)

	Croatia squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Pletikosa | 2 Šerić | 3 Šimunić | 4 Tomas | 5 Rapaić | 6 Živković | 7 Vugrinec | 8 Prosinečki | 9 Šuker | 10 N. Kovač | 11 Bokšić | 12 Butina | 13 Stanić | 14 Soldo | 15 Šarić | 16 Vranješ | 17 Jarni | 18 Olić | 19 Vlaović | 20 Šimić | 21 R. Kovač | 22 Balaban | 23 Vasilj | Coach: Jozić

	Croatia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Pletikosa | 2 Srna | 3 Šimunić | 4 R. Kovač | 5 Tudor | 6 Vranješ | 7 Šimić | 8 Babić | 9 Pršo | 10 N. Kovač | 11 Tokić | 12 Didulica | 13 Tomas | 14 Modrić | 15 I. Leko | 16 J. Leko | 17 Klasnić | 18 Olić | 19 N. Kranjčar | 20 Šerić | 21 Balaban | 22 Bošnjak | 23 Butina | Coach: Z. Kranjčar

Hertha BSC Berlin - Current Squad
3 Friedrich | 4 van Burik | 5 Chahed | 6 Gilberto | 7 Baştürk | 8 Dárdai | 9 Pantelić | 11 Cairo | 12 Fiedler | 13 Giménez | 14 Šimunić | 16 Dejagah | 17 Boateng | 18 Lakić | 20 Zecke | 21 Okoronkwo | 23 Cagara | 27 Wallschläger | 29 Fathi | 32 R. Müller | 33 Stuhr-Ellegaard | 35 Samba | 37 C. Müller | 38 Ebert | 39 Ede