“I was out on the grass when Suker scored in the semi-final. Then I turned my head around and saw it was 1-1, because Thuram equalised after 20 seconds. Then I remember when [Robert] Prosinecki passed to Suker, who scored against Holland and we won third place. It was an amazing tournament.”
Vedran Corluka’s words in a recent interview for the Independent can accurately imprint in a few sentences the excitement of his compatriots after the World Cup of 1998.
Croatia is a nation that lives for football, and the third position in that major tournament had been their ultimate success after the independence of the country in 1991.
Ever since 1998, various Croatian incarnations, which participated in the European and international competitions, failed to fulfill their fans’ dreams of bringing a silverware back to the Balkan country.
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Leading into Euro 2016 and despite three successive failures in the previous tournaments, Vatreni was regarded as an underdog that could surprise.
Although featuring the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Marcelo Brozovic and Mario Mandzukic in their squad, Croatia entered the group stage amid controversy, mainly regarding their manager Ante Cacic.
His techniques and lack of experience for major tournaments were heavily criticized by Liverpool’s star Dejan Lovren, who was subsequently excluded from the Euros squad.
The whispers around his competence were emphatically silenced straight after a dominating win against Turkey in the first game of the group stage.
Excitement triumphed over controversy, to just immediately lose out from misfortune.
With two games remaining everything seemed to go wrong for Croatia.
The dreadful news of the death of Darijo Srna’s father’s, the game interruption against Czech Republic, along with Modric and Mandzukic injuries before the last game against European champions Spain, were some of the events that could easily devastate Cacic’ squad.
Before the fight for the top place of the group against Spain, the Croatian manager changed half of the first XI featured in the previous couple of games.
Against all odds, without Modric, Mandzukic, Corluka and Brozovic, the Blazers managed to come back from a 1-0 deficit to win the game, as well as the top group position, raising a few eyebrows and establishing the national team as one of the tournament favorites.
Cacic’s tactics, the experience of the majority of his players, as well as the overflowing talent of the squad, could be spotted as some of the reasons why Croatia went through the group stage undefeated, but it is not the main one.
The secret lays on Srna’s tears during the national anthem before the match against Czech Republic, Corluka’s blood-covered head throughout the game against Turkey – and the players’ celebration after the win against Spain.
Football is not only about tactics, set pieces and defensive consistency.
It is also about passion, team mentality and thirst for success.
Before setting off for France, the Croatian players were lucky enough to receive the necessary tutoring from a bunch of veterans who have the ‘know-how’.
“We spoke with them before the tournament. They said nice words, they encouraged us to do big things, so it was nice to see them and to speak with them and to know that they have our back,” said Corluka.
“It was Slaven, it was Suker, who is of course our federation president. Boban, every big star was there before our trip to France and said nice words. It was really encouraging.”
#ESP have lost their first game at the Euros since June 20th, 2004 (1-0 vs. #POR)
A run of 4,385 days ended by #CRO pic.twitter.com/yZ8XMMLAnQ
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 21, 2016
While receiving some useful advice from their heroes, they also inherited a heavy weight on their shoulders.
Despite a number of pitfalls raising on their way to the trophy, Croatia managed to successfully overpass the majority of the unexpected obstacles during the group stage.
The route to the final seems more accessible than the one that their heroes faced in 1998.
Croatia are aware that the ongoing Euros are full of surprises – and from now on they should not be regarded as one. They have what it takes to make their compatriots forget the ‘golden team’ of 1998.
It remains to be seen whether they can release the weight of the expectations from their shoulders and subsequently bequeath it to the next generations.
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