LJUBLJANA, June 5: Slovenia’s president Milan Kucan called Wednesday for the World Cup squad’s coach Srecko Katanec and his top player Zlatko Zahovic to forget their feud and continue their success story.

Katanec said earlier on Wednesday that he would quit at the end of the finals because of the dispute which nearly led to Zahovic’s walkout.

It was sparked during the 3-1 Group B opening defeat by Spain in which the midfielder was substituted.

“You’ve been winning because you trusted each other, you’ve trusted your coach and he led you to this great success,” Kucan said in a letter to the squad.

“There is no ideal collectivity, nor ideal persons, but their greatness is in learning to live with the differences,” Kucan said in a unusual intervention in which he also commented on the opening game against Spain which they lost 3-1.

“I’ve watched the game with Spain, they did not outplay you. With a little luck, it could have ended differently,” Kucan said and stressed that Slovenia’s qualifying for the World Cup finals was not accidental.

Slovenia — a tiny country of two-million — celebrated last week the 10th anniversary of its first official international match against Estonia. The team still face South Africa and Paraguay at their debut World Cup finals.—Reuter