he made two appearances for croatia at the 2002 fifa world cup finals and also featured in all of their three group matches at the uefa euro 2004 finals. both these tournaments saw croatia being eliminated in the group stage, just like the 2006 fifa world cup finals, where he appeared in all of croatia's three matches. winning his 82nd international cap in the team's second match at the latter tournament, against japan on 18 june 2006 in nuremberg, he dislodged robert jarni (81 caps) as the croatian national team's all-time cap leader. in the final group match, a 2–2 draw against australia, he was sent off five minutes from time after receiving his second yellow card.