Just how small the sporting wonderland of Croatia actually is is made clear by this number game alone: Argentina’s superstar Lionel Messi has around 100 times as many fans worldwide as there are people living in the country of the World Cup semi-final opponent. In concrete terms, this means: Messi is followed by around 387 million users on the Instagram social network alone. All of Croatia has about 3.9 million inhabitants.
In 2018 Luka Modric and Co. even reached the final. In 1998 the generation around Davor Suker and Robert Prosinecki reached the semifinals. “We are proud to the heavens that Croatia is again among the top four teams in the world. The whole world is looking at Croatia and admiring our character, our knowledge and our quality,” said coach Zlatko Dalic after the upset against Brazil.
Croatians end Brazil’s dream
The suffering of the Brazilian national team at the soccer World Cup is richer by another chapter.
Countries like Denmark (5.8 million) and Uruguay (3.5) also produce many outstanding athletes in relation to their population. But while the Danish Football Association invests a lot in the training of its youth coaches and Uruguay maintains a very centralized youth and selection system, the Croatians are apparently not trying to make everything academic.
Individuality does not exclude team spirit
“We also have professional and modern youth academies,” said former HSV striker Mladen Petric of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “But in Croatia every player should be able to develop his personality. If someone has always been the street footballer type, then they can stay that way.” Like long-time Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic, Petric grew up in Switzerland.
Sometimes the national team also benefits from the many diaspora Croats in the world. From the current squad, for example, Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea) and Luka Sucic (Salzburg) were born in Linz and Josip Stanisic (Bayern) in Munich.
Dalic formed all the big and lesser-known names into a tight-knit team. “As long as I’m a coach,” said the 56-year-old, “the national team will be a place of patriotism, solidarity, sporting quality and the Croatian flag.” National hero Modric summed up Croatia’s World Cup feeling in a tweet. “Never. Give up,” the 37-year-old wrote about top favorites Brazil after advancing in the quarter-finals.
The penalty shootout followed a 120-minute battle that saw the Croatians trailing behind after a Neymar goal in extra time, but turning things around once again. The kickers have a run like in 2018 when they reached the final.
Haven’t won a knockout duel after 90 minutes since 1998
There hasn’t been a knockout win in regular time at the World Cup for 24 years. Four years ago, Croatia went through extra time three times to advance to the final that was ultimately lost against France (2-4). The “Vatreni” currently have two 120-minute games under their belts. “We have to forget this game as soon as possible, even though we may have beaten the best team of the tournament. We can’t waste a lot of energy celebrating,” said winger Ivan Perisic.
The Croatians were hardly surprised that it only worked from the point in the round of 16 against Japan and then against Brazil. “I was pretty sure we’d do it again. Because we have a world-class goalkeeper. In addition, seven or eight shooters wanted to shoot. That shows the character of this team,” said co-coach Ivica Olic. Dominik Livakovic, who held against Rodrygo, became a hero. After all four Croatian shooters scored, Brazil’s Marquinhos fired at the post.
“We’re very experienced at penalties, that’s our recipe for success,” said Livakovic. The 27-year-old watched Danijel Subasic become a penalty hero four years ago in Russia. Now it’s him. The goalkeeper from Dinamo Zagreb saved three penalties against Japan, before that on Friday he thwarted great chances from Neymar and Co. Close the back and hope for a good moment up front was the motto. After Neymar’s dream goal, Croatia seemed to be out of the game, but “Joker” Bruno Petkovic (117th) managed to equalize with a deflected shot that was hardly thought possible.
“Only we Croatians can do that”
“Only Croatians can do that. We have strong characters, we don’t give up,” said Dalic. You could get the impression that Croatia was too old at times in the group phase. But the well-rehearsed ensemble has once again increased in time. Not only the 37-year-old Modric is a kind of stand-up man. Unlike against Japan, the captain held out and scored well in the penalty shoot-out. “He wasn’t tired. We asked him, he was ready,” said Dalic.
Croatia can still lose in overtime. At last year’s European Championship, Spain lost 3-5 after extra time in the round of 16. Since then, however, the players in the checkered jerseys have been hard to beat. Only one team has managed this in the past 5 months: Austria won the Nations League last June 3-0 away. Livakovic, Lovren and Perisic weren’t there then, Modric came on after an hour. It was the only loss in 21 appearances.
