against Denmark, when he conceded a bizarre goal after misjudging the path of Brian Laudrup's cross due to strong wind deflecting the ball and allowing Denmark to get an equaliser in the final ten minutes of the match. The incident saw Croatia losing two possibly crucial points after the match ended in a 1–1 draw. The second blunder was when he scored an own goal that put the Bosnia and Herzegovina team 1–0 up in another Croatia's home match, but the team eventually managed to get all three points with a tough 3–2 victory. Croatia eventually qualified for the finals after beating Ukraine 3–1 on aggregate in the play-offs, without Ladić playing in the second leg. 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. Despite initially announcing his withdrawal from the national team following the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Ladić later continued to play for Croatia in the Euro 2000 qualifying and made seven out of possible eight appearances, eventually ending his international career after the final qualifying match against Yugoslavia on 9 October 1999 and Croatia's failure to qualify