You mean this? LOL. Whattup? :-)
Posted on 07/14/2018 6:37:38 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
How is it that four million Croats could build a team good enough to make it to the World Cup final, beating Argentina (43 million), England (53 million) and hosts Russia (144 million) along the way?
The country famously didn’t even exist the last time England made it to a World Cup semi-final in 1990.
The country declared independence in 1991, but was embroiled in the war in the Balkans as Yugoslavia split for several years. Most Croats were living in what is now Croatia, but a large minority existed in what are now Serbia and Bosnia especially. What ensued involved ethnic cleansing and bitter enmity between the nations which speak almost identical languages and had been part of same country for most of a century.
Star player Luka Modric, who was born in 1985, himself lived through some horrifying childhood events. He fled his hometown of Modrici at the age of six in the face of conflict. His father then joined the Croatian army – and his grandfather was shot, along with other elderly civilians, by a band of Croatian Serb rebels. His house was burned down.
“These were tough times,” Modric later recalled. “I remember them vividly, but it’s not something you want to think about. The war made me stronger.”
The war affected many of this generation of Croatian players directly. Mario Mandzukic grew up partly in Germany, where he began playing before returning to Croatia at the age of 10, while Ivan Rakitic was born and grew up in Switzerland, where he started his career with Basel. Vedran Corluka was born in Bosnia but fled for Croatia in 1992 amid the war.
The collective memory of a such a recent upheaval may have gone some way to motivate and unify the national team...
(Excerpt) Read more at inews.co.uk ...
You mean this? LOL. Whattup? :-)
Some things are best forgotten!
If you’ve ever stood in line for a Croatia Airlines flight, you’d understand. I’ve done it many times. They are like physical giants- very tall and well built. I felt like a midget.
No kidding. Any sport that doesn't allow you to use your hands is as un-American and you can get.
It’s like the number one sport in that country. Only other comparison I can think of, would be how kids in the Dominican Republic excel at baseball and have an inordinate number of people representing them in MLB. Same with the NBA, where blacks are the majority, while they only have about 12-13% of the general population. Black kids actually skip school in order to dedicate their time to, what many of them call, “their future”.
Lol, when I see their colors I think...Purina. That being said I will be pulling for them tomorrow.
A number of Croatians and Americans of Croatian descent have also been basketball stars including Rudy Tomjanovich, Stojko Vranković, and Gregg Popovich.
I’d imagine the US and Mexico wouldn’t stand for it because they’d miss a lot of World Cups; many second-tier South American teams are (usually) better than them.
When I see their colors, I think “Ustashi”. It’s as if Germany still had a swastika on their flag. But, I guess I’m going to be the stick in the mud here.
Go France!
What’s happening?
That’s great! There is a nice Youtube clip of a kids’ soccer practice where they practice diving like Brazil’s Neymar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_-pdIcAADQ
Back in the good old days of the Hapsburg empire, some of the best soldiers in the imperial army were the Croatian border troops, or Grenzers, tough light infantry skirmishers who gave both Frederick the Great and Napoleon all they could handle.
I’m somewhat prejudiced here because I believe the Austro-Hungarian empire has gotten a lot of bad press. It was imperfect, to be sure — but look at the chaos that ensued after 1918 and continues to this day.
As a proud Polish-American, I was glad to discover that most of my ancestors came from around Krakow, in Austrian Galicia.
If you absolutely must have your country ruled by foreigners, who would you pick a.) Germans b.) Russians c.) Austrians?
O gawd . Only girls I hope. Kick ball great for little girls. See ball, run, kick ball.! What a joke.
I appreciate that. This kick ball needs to be banned. It is emasculation of men. It should be stopped. I dislike it very much as unamerican.
Croatia barely qualified for the world cup. They have a few players that are among the very best in the world at their positions. Luka Modric and Rakatic are stars with Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
They are the best conditioned team at the world cup, a big failing with Germany this year. The Croatian team just keeps going when most other teams run out of gas around the 60 minute mark. They’ve also had a bit of luck in winning with penalty kicks after 120 minute.
France is probably favored in the final, but the Croatian midfield is superior. Luka Modric has been the best player in the World Cup and the most important player for Croatia. He is a brilliant passer, defender, and organizer.
“My question , with all due respect, is who cares?”
If you didn’t care you wouldn’t be here.
Do they all get pretty little” participation “ ribbons? What a feminist joke.
Bill Belichick and Nick Saban are of Croatian heritage.
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