It has been reported by English newspaper, Times Online, that Birmingham defender Martin Taylor, the man who shattered Eduardo’s leg this past Saturday, has received thousands of death threats since the incident- the majority of which are from Croatian fans. A website was even created hours after the incident just to express anger from fans and to voice their ‘pedestrian’ thoughts on the matter.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I was as pissed as any other Croatian when I heard the news Saturday afternoon. I’m an Arsenal supporter as it is. And what my Croatian compatriots need to understand is that this isn’t the end of the world; especially when Eduardo has already forgave Taylor for his actions and is already looking into the future for a quick and speedy recovery. Let’s not get caught up in the moment for 3 months now. You can’t win a tournament of this caliber (Euro 2008) with just one player; it takes a complete and full team effort to hold the trophy at the end of it all. And as I’ve said before about France ’98, star player Alen Bokšić, injured himself just before the tournament which led to Šuker’s Golden Boot campaign. So who knows what could happen this summer for the Vatreni.
So to all my Croatian fans in America and abroad, let’s not be ignorant when a break goes against our team and then wonder why we can’t host Euro 2012. Let’s be a smart people who don’t get caught in emotional swings so easily. It was only 3 months ago where we felt like we were on top of the world having beat England for a second time in qualifying.
We should worry more about the fact that we indeed did qualify and that our team was playing good soccer, not that England did’t make it. So let’s not be lame fans and keep pulling the same stunts that keep us from participating in great things.
Between our fans advertising war-related banners at games, ripping out chairs and throwing them at Maltese police after a 1-1 draw in Malta in 2005 and now this; how can we expect to move up in the soccer ranks, not just as a team but as a people. We should be remodeling the Poljud and Stadion Maksimir in preparation for Euro 2012; but our reckless, ignorant acts as supporters of the team prevent us from this great Croatian building opportunity.
Just know that all is not lost. If anything, we should want to win it even more now. Arsenal have said that they want to win the Premiership for Eduardo- that he will not be forgotten during the rest of the season. We as Croatians should do the same- stay together, stop blaming others when something doesn’t go our way and ultimately do it for Edurado. SO LET’S WIN EURO FOR EDUARDO!!!
