With sadness and grief mixed with pride, the Croatians followed Sunday the loss of their country's football team to France in the final match of the World Cup in Russia, which denied them the opportunity to win the World Cup title for the first time in its history.
The Croatian national team lost to its French counterpart, 2-4, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which ended its hopes of winning the title, knowing that it was playing the final match for the first time in its history. The national team has previously reached the semi-finals once, in 1998 in the World Cup in France, in the first participation of Croatia as an independent country, before losing to the host 1-2.
Football fever swept the small country of only four million people, whose best result in the World Cup (before 2018) was reaching the semi-finals in the 1998 edition in France.
And with the final whistle blowing on Sunday, tens of thousands of Croatian fans applauded in the main square of the capital, Zagreb, after they had gathered hours ago to watch the match, wearing the red and white national team shirt.
"Young men gave everything on the field, everything until the last drop of energy," Christian Strnic, 22, said. He added, "It was an amazing match. The nation is very grateful. We are proud of the golden generation. They fought like lions" on the field.
Since the morning, Zagreb has been covered in the red and white colors of the Croatian flag, with fans anticipating the match. And on Sunday morning, a bakery raised the slogan "We got the French", attached to a picture of a man breaking the traditional French "baguette". However, what "broke" was practically the feelings of the fans. Although many of them celebrated what the national team achieved, Aurora Krennic chose to withdraw and cry, despite her admission that the national team's performance "was amazing."
"I feel sorry for all the younger generation," she added. The team made them very happy, but they (the players) gave everything they had, and they are heroes for us.
The Croatian national team impressed in the current tournament, especially through its captain Luka Modric, who was chosen as the best player in the World Cup, in addition to talents such as Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic and others.
"Croatia can be proud, we have to applaud our youth," said TV commentator Drago Kosic on the official HRT channel.
"A big country in football (France) managed to beat Croatia with pragmatic but dominant football," he added. France will remain a puzzle for Croatia.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic congratulated the players on their achievements, saying, "These young men are world champions for us. They gave us the meaning of passion and unity. We lived with them an amazing and unforgettable stage for all of Croatia."
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AFP (Zagreb)
