Written by Marco Gaćina
Croatian midfielder Luka Modrić is widely considered the greatest Croatian soccer player of all time, but his glimmering trophy case lacks the single most important piece of football hardware: a World Cup trophy. In what may well have been the 37 year-old Modrić’s final international competition, Croatia had one last chance to deliver its generational superstar the world’s most coveted football trophy at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Though they ultimately faced a crushing 3-0 defeat to Argentina in the semifinal, it is impossible to look back at this era of Croatian soccer as anything but a booming success.
Croatia has appeared in all but one World Cup during Modrić’s 21-year professional career, with their best finish being 2018’s loss in the final. That 2018 team, despite falling 4-2 to the scorching-hot France, far outperformed even the most optimistic football experts’ expectations. They shared the ball magically behind Modrić’s transcendental playmaking, leading to a whopping eight players scoring goals. The leading scorers of those eight were midfielder Ivan Perišić and Mario Mandžukić with three goals apiece. Mandžukić has since retired, but Perišić remains as arguably the second best player on the 2022 squad behind Modrić.
The Croatians had four long years to reflect on the 2018 defeat, and manager Zlatko Dalić used the time to tweak the team’s personnel. The most notable omission was forward Ante Rebić, who Dalić cut after a series of behavioral outbursts ahead of the World Cup qualifiers. Additionally, Dalić overhauled the bench and the lesser starters, opting for a youth movement in 2022 — almost half of this year’s squad is made up of fresh faces aged 27 or younger.
Father time did the rest of the work. Veteran staples of the 2018 run such as Mario Mandžukić, Ivan Rakitić and Šime Vrsaljko all crept deeper into their thirties and retired from international soccer before this year’s World Cup. Goalie Danijel Subašić also retired, paving the way for 2018 backup Dominik Livaković to usurp the starting role. The remaining veterans still took the bulk of the shots this year, but youngsters like 20-year-old Joško Gvardiol proved they are here to stay.
Marko Žagar, who immigrated to Los Angeles from Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, speaks for his country when he expresses his admiration for the team Dalić put together. “There’s no flashiness to it — they’re all so humble…I think it’s a great message. You compare it to Cristiano Ronaldo and all the hoopla…Croatians are generally pretty humble people.”
Humble as they may be, the Croatians struggled offensively in Qatar this year. Modrić went scoreless through the whole tournament, and only Bruno Petković and Ivan Perišić scored outside of penalties and a 4-1 blowout over the far inferior Canada. Croatia drew against Morocco in the Group F opener, then blew out the aforementioned Canadian team, setting up a lose-and-go-home group stage finale against Belgium.
They should have gone home, and it should have been Belgium who advanced to face Japan in the Round of 16. In a match where a single Belgian goal would have sent Croatia packing, Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku inexplicably missed four point-blank shots on goal. Time expired, and the lucky 0-0 draw meant Croatia was in and Belgium was out. As Hall of Fame Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez famously said, “I’d rather be lucky than good.”
In the opening match of the elimination round, Croatia faced Japan. Forward Daizen Maeda put Japan up in the 43rd minute before Perišić knotted up the score at 1-1. From then on, Croatia’s propensity to draw was on full display, as their offense stagnated and Japan appeared possessed by the ghost of Belgium, blowing a number of wide open opportunities. The match remained scoreless through extra time, setting up the first penalty shootout of the 2022 World Cup.
In penalties, Japan and Croatia looked like they were playing two different sports. In the best-of-five shootout, Livaković convincingly saved Japan’s first two attempts, while the Croatian shooters buried their first two shots in the back of the net. The rest of the penalties were merely a formality, and Croatia advanced to face Brazil in the quarterfinal.
Not even the tried and true “David versus Goliath” cliché can sufficiently describe the chaos of Croatia’s come-from-behind win over tournament favorite Brazil. Brazil, headed by global phenom Neymar da Silva Santos, marched into the first half lackadaisically, expecting a painless win. The mere fact that the match was still drawn 0-0 at halftime meant Croatia far outplayed Brazil relative to expectations.
A scoreless end to the 90-minute regulation sent the match to 30 minutes of extra time, where Neymar quickly scored. The country of Croatia collectively let go a deep sigh — it was over. Žagar said that he had “not given up, but I thought it was over.”
Then, in the 117th minute of a 120-minute match, Petković miraculously found the back of the net to tie it up. Whether it was the grace of God, good karma for a country that had experienced so much war over the past century or just dumb luck, the match was now Croatia’s to lose heading into penalties.
Zagreb resident Entoni Sošić chalks the comeback to Croatia’s persistent underdog mentality. “There was still hope, since our team has shown over and over again that they have the willpower to come back,” he said. Sošić also partially blames Brazil for blowing a match that was all but over. “The Brazilians lacked the tactical discipline,” he said. “That is why we managed to score. I guess they were a bit too sure of themselves.”
Lining up for penalties, Brazil looked rattled; Croatia looked steady. Brazil was coming off a 4-1 thumping of South Korea in the Round of 16; Croatia had led for just 46 total minutes in the entire World Cup and barely squeaked by Japan. None of those things mattered as Croatia’s Nikola Vlašić lined up for the first penalty kick. Once again, Croatia had scratched and clawed their way from behind to force penalties, and once again it looked like they were playing a completely different sport than their opponent. Brazilian goalie Alisson Becker never so much as got a finger on the ball as Croatia tore through Brazil in penalties to book their ticket to a second straight World Cup semifinal.
Later that day, a fierce Netherlands comeback gave Lionel Messi and Argentina a scare, but the Dutch, like the Brazilians just hours before, fell in penalties. Croatia thus had to face Argentina in a semifinal to determine which aging superstar — Modrić or Messi — would retire without ever winning a World Cup.
Once again, Croatia was projected to go down easy, as betting website FanDuel placed Argentina as the clear favorites to advance with odds of -290. In other words, betting on Argentina was not worth it because the potential payout was so small.
Heading into the match, Argentina had clearly paid attention to Croatia’s win over Brazil. Where the clearly superior Brazilian team walked into the match ready to be handed a win, the Argentinians looked hungry — and they feasted. A Messi penalty kick put Argentina up 1-0 in the 34th minute, but it might as well have been 10-0 at that point. The remaining 60-plus minutes felt like garbage time, and Argentina buried two more goals just to be sure. As time expired, Modrić and Messi shared an embrace as a sign of mutual respect, and Argentina walked off the pitch to prepare for the very same match Croatia had reached just four years before.
There is no shame in losing to a team as great as Argentina with a player as legendary as Messi. Even though Croatia will enter its next era without a World Cup title, consecutive top-four finishes is nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering that only France can say they have surpassed this feat in recent tournaments. In fact, there are more internationally prominent soccer-playing countries that have finished outside the top four in consecutive World Cups — take Brazil, for example.
With Modrić more than likely having played his final World Cup match, it is time for Croatia to enter a new era of soccer. Gvardiol, Borna Sosa, Livaković and the rest of the young guys are certainly a great place to start.
Even though he never brought the country a World Cup trophy, Modrić’s legacy will live on forever in Croatia. “Modrić is certainly the best Croatian football player in history,” said Pero Mamontov, a Rovinj native and die-hard Croatian soccer fan. “He put himself in the same line with the best midfielders of all time.” For the working class — or in Žagar’s words, “humble” — country of just four million, to claim a player of Modrić’s stature means the world.
Thank you Marco!
Marco, excellent write-up, hopefully more to come!
Sad result and very unfortunate to never be seeing Luka lift that trophy. Regardless, I’m still so proud of this team.
It breaks my heart to see Messi jog and be surrounded by hungry legs running for their lives for him.
We ask our 37 year old Luka legend to run for Kramaric ?
Absolutely ass backwards.
Messi jogs and brings his magic when needed.
We got beat by a ghetto fabulous Argentina.
Our offense was trash and our defense got exposed.
Can’t play though our middle so BS long hall and break away.
It’s the World Cup and we call up slow bums and then start them?!
Every country has 20’s attackers that play.
There is a reason for this.
You have to run at some point in the attacking third.
We can invent electricity BUT figure out how to score goals with the best midfield in the world ?
No pass for me this loss.
We got beat by inferior team.
I don’t think it is fair to say our defense sucks at all. This is far too extreme. They played Argentina not Zambia. Did we expect Argentina to pose no threat at all?? Where is the realism in these comments??!!
The defence had many great games here we shouldn’t ignore that.
As Croatians at times I think we are far too hard on our players. What they managed to do to bring us to top four again, and possibly third, is nothing short of incredible and I am tired of people constantly trashing this feat they pulled off. They just beat Brazil and somehow it’s not enough for us. Sure we all wanna see them win the World Cup and I am sure they wanted the same as well. But let’s face it, Argentina is not an easy team this year, look at the players and what did. They had quality not just luck. They had good strategy and not just grit.
Beat by an inferior team? Yeah Messi, Martinez, Di Maria, all these players are inferior to us. Stupid comment there bud, and one not worth reading to be frank.
We lost because our strategy in this game was wrong, Argentina knew what strategy was which was to hang back and play it out. Dalic whether through poor team selection up front, or bad management choices this time didn’t decide to come out blazing and we didn’t really have someone to carry the front foot forward for us and score. So now we should shit on the rest of the team is your logic?!!
Give me a break Soul Champ.
No attack .. no balls !!
Miraculous midfield carried us to semi finals of the World Cup and we couldn’t give them a decent attack option in the final third?!
Dalic has had two historic runs with the Luka legend.
We need fresh ideas going forward, pun intended.
Argentina was not better than us.
And we couldn’t score one goal.
In the 90’s we had world class forwards.
We need to cultivate these types.
Good article. Disagree that is was a “Miraculous”. I always thought they could have won. THey should have won. Not miraculous, more disappointing.
I would imagine this is a good article, but I’m not ready for the “feel good” take after having been f’ed over for the 3rd straight WC. Bad timing. Should have published this after winning 3rd place (if we do).
Being the better team for 20mins and not generating even 1 scoring opportunity was the theme for Croatia in this World Cup. Dalic cant be left off the hook for the impotent style of play.
Which forward do you have in mind to insert into the line up? Dalic isn’t a miracle worker. Livaja, Petkovic and Kramaric simply aren’t good enough. But we have no other options.
Marco, good first article. 👍
Great article, keep writing. Thank you. The criticism of the take of the game being over at 2-0 can be redirected to Dalic, who himself said: “it was already done at that point.”
Whoooooahhhh. Where the hell is all this hostility coming from?!?! You guys sound more like Argentinians when they lose than humble Croatians. Isuse….
Marco writes a well thought out piece during the WC and you guys shit on him that quickly? I get everyone is emotional right now but..shit.
Marco put himself out there, for the first time, and this is what he gets? CroatianSports is a Digital Dom. Anyone of you have the ability to write a piece/article at any time. But no one does. He did.
Disagree with the guy. Debate him all day. But to throw the new kid under the bus so quickly…not cool. You guys are better than that.
Agreed. I thought he did well.
Thought the 10-0 comment was uncalled for. Or perhaps very badly worded. We had to that point been in control and the better team. And that was over a half hour played.
Bs penalty and then unfortunately we fell apart. And we didn’t show our normal never say die attitude and resiliency.
Hey Ante- This is pure frustration and unfortunately Marco is taking bullets. No reason for that and no excuse. That should never happen. A day later , not so bad. We did what we could and we got lucky and took advantage of our breaks. I’m excited to see what kids are coming. It’s time for the next group to take their step just like Marco did. Great job, Marco. Don’t let anybody steal your thunder. Write another one.
Are you surprised? If a person has a differing opinion on here they get backlash from a seljak that doesn’t argue anything based upon facts or evidence but just spits out put downs and name calling.
Nice article, thanks a lot Marco for contributing. I quite liked the use of quotes from people back home; it gives a bit more flavour than solely game summaries, and this site has always been about ordinary fans giving their two cents.
Glad there’s at least some semblance of the hospitality we’re supposedly known for… once you get to the upper half of the comment section. Unbelievable, the size of the sticks up some of your asses. I’m absolutely for constructive criticism, but not for being snowflakes when the new guy writes a piece you don’t agree with or assume he’s an “Italian yugo.”
I look forward to future writeups from you, Marco, bravo.
Thank you Marco, for your excellent article.
Good luck to Argentina, but the story for me was Croatia killing Croatia more than anything to do with what Argentina did to us, very sloppy on those first 2 goals.
Some of you are mentally retarded. It was a decent article even if you don’t agree with it all. It’s much better than a lot of the crap half of you fools write.
Why are you guys crapping on his first article? I know he’s not like some of you, one in particular who I won’t mention, that gets all of their opinions from twitter, but he’s just trying to share his thoughts. If you don’t like his style of article then don’t read it. The whole point of this website is for Croatian fans to discuss their thoughts. You can critique the guy’s article without being dickheads.
Perorino…I guess Dalic fucked your mom too eh?
Yikes guys, take it easy on the author
Lol, thank you man. Appreciate that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiDqpY72gRs&ab_channel=FootballMadeSimple
this man is accurately telling you our problem
which not even conservative Dalic are aware of –
because I)alic is absolutely an amateur tactician!!
Perorino, did Lovren fuck your girlfriend or sister? What the fuck is your problem with him? Its getting tiring reading your bullshit all the time!
LOL
he sounds a lot like Cico #50,000
With the first goal, I blame Gvardiol more than Lovren. Gvardiol was caught out of position and left a gap in the defence that you could drive a truck through. Not sure what he was trying to do? catch them offside 10 yards from the halfway line? It is very risky trying to catch teams offside with such a high defensive line. If you stuff up like we did it is one on one with the goalkeeper.
Lovren was facing the ball and had his back turned to Gvardiol, however Gvardiol was in a much better position to see where Lovren was and should have pulled back, but I think he was caught ball watching. Very poor positioning by him.
Man, shoulda started Vida. Would have been all good. CmonMART
I’m just trying to point out, that there are people on this site blaming Lovren every time we concede a goal. Like most of our players Gvardiol did not have one of his better performances against Argentina. However, if it was not for his performance against Belgium, we would not have made it out of the group. Gvardiol at 20 years of age is already one of the best CB in the world and will only get better in the coming years. As far as Lovren is concerned I think it is time for him to retire from international football and for Erlic or Sutalo to take his spot.
Neville, Wright & Roy Keane can step
up and call this game a farce why can’t you run a headline if “The Mirror” aint ashamed to? Forget the feel good crap, we already know we top 4. Fight for your captain. What is wrong with this Blog? Sit Kovacic the writer said. What do you have to lose? They players would get sanctioned. They’d love if u fought for them at least in the info war. SMH
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/soccer/gary-neville-ian-wright-and-roy-keane-left-speechless-over-argentina-controversy-wow/ar-AA15eJnz?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=14396c2bb4604b3b856a1b873967197d#comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIuy4gSnnYg&ab_channel=Saulty04
do you still think Lovren is decent?
look at how bad he was when defending the area!
not even look at the possibility of the upcoming player!
Marco, appreciate the article. It’s well written newspaper journalist style which is different for us. I’m all for more content and this may be the type of article that educates a young Croat that is just getting into the sport and helps them grow into the crazed fanatics most of us here are.
One correction is Marko Livaja also scored outside of penalties.
Thank you! Appreciate the feedback. It was my first article for the site, so I’m trying to get a feel for it all.
Rebic was our only hungry attacker since Mandzukic and he dominated Argentina 4 years ago. Also Vida should have played more this campaign. Dalic seems to fall apart under pressure.
Though this team is different than 2018 and Rebic doesn’t fit it. Rebic best attribute in 2018 was running like a maniac at the opposing defense alongside Mandzukic. In our high press. We had a 4 year younger Perisic leading that charge too.
We forced turnovers in dangerous areas and held possession. When one of those three are taken out of the equation, the formula ceased to work. And that happened with Mandzukic retirement.
The Spain Euro game really showcased the end of Rebic’s effectiveness for our new system without high pressure from our attackers. We needed to bring the ball out from the back when we regained possession and we would dump the ball forward to what should of been a hold up type player that can then link back up with our midfield or advance for a counter attack. Nearly every time the ball got to Rebic he lost possession. He doesn’t have that technical skill. Not his fault, but in my opinion he’s just the wrong tool for the job now.
Although I appreciate anyone’s efforts to write articles, why quote numerous random people and state so many facts that we are all aware
of? This isn’t for a newspaper to educate people, it’s for crazed and knowledgeable fans to stimulate conversation – sorry but this is almost as bad as Sosa’s whiff on the second goal….
This was my first article for the site, and I intended to write it just to get out my thoughts on the World Cup in the format I know best, which is newspaper journalism.
It’s obviously written in a journalistic style and I’m sure it could picked up somewhere. I just feel for this site, you’re audience is for people who are more knowledgeable that you’re average newspaper reader.
My advice is to you is to know you’re audience, especially in this case.
“A Messi penalty kick put Argentina up 1-0 in the 34th minute, but it might as well have been 10-0 at that point.” What is this guy talking about?! Croatia dominated the game until that penalty. Is he out of his mind??
Well, that was kind of my point. We were dominating before then, but the PK broke us open and forced us to attack, which allowed Argentina to score the extra two goals. I meant that the weight of that single goal was like the weight of ten goals.
You’re right on Marco!
Not the most eloquent way of illustrating that. Comes across as you saying they were playing as if they conceded the 10th goal.
“A Messi penalty kick put Argentina up 1-0 in the 34th minute, but it might as well have been 10-0 at that point.”
Garbage article. Must be that yugo holigas alt account.
We went as far as we could before the law of averages catches up to you.
Without a true predator like Mr. Black said like mandzukic, suker and da Silva we fought as best as we could.
We will learn and be better for it. The future is bright! Just need to produce that predator. We are loaded in midfield and defence. Looks like our goalkeepers are ok.
Just up front. Everyone is firing up on Sosa, to be fair nobody was there for him to send a beauty in the box. Whatcha gonna do. We did well. Be proud soldiers!
“might as well have been 10-0”? Who writes this $#!+? PK call was wrong. End of story.
his first name is Marco so probably an italian yugo