Zagreb  - Croatians breathed a collective sigh of relief Thursday following their country's away win over Belarus - which has kept their dream of going to the South Africa World Cup alive.

Wednesday night's game also marked the return of striker Eduardo da Silva from a long injury.

"We passed the minefield: the dream of South Africa lives," "a football lesson," "glory in Minsk" and "return to the old path" were some of the headlines in Thursday's newspapers in Croatia.

One of Europe's strongest teams over the past decade, Croatia needed the three points from Belarus to be in with a chance at qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa next year.

The 3-1 victory served the purpose, newspapers agree and also demonstrated that Croatia is a much more dangerous side with its naturalized Brazilian striker, Arsenal's Da Silva, who had been absent since suffering an open leg fracture on the pitch 18 months ago.

"Everything seems easy with him," the 24 Casa daily said. Da Silva added a goal to a brace by Ivica Olic for the important win. "Many designated Eduardo as the key man in Olic's squad and he proved them right," Jutarnji list said. (dpa)