[Sport] From bloody Balkan war to World Cup heavyweight: the making of Croatia as a soccer nation

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Panama, Mauritania, Georgia and Eritrea are four countries with roughly the equivalent population sizes of Croatia.

Those four nations share one World Cup appearance between them and that was when Panama played at Russia 2018, finishing the group stage with three defeats and conceding 11 goals.

Croatia’s World Cup pedigree is an altogether different story. In six World Cup appearances, the country has reached the semifinals on three occasions, while four years ago Croatia contested the final, ultimately losing to France.

Croatia only gained independence in 1991, during the bloody Balkan war which lasted until 1995 and its population is just under four million, though you’d never have known given the way it traded blows with soccer superpower Brazil in the quarterfinals, before winning a penalty shootout.

That success was very much a case of David knocking out Goliath given Brazil’s population is 214 million people.

Next up for Croatia is Lionel Messi and Argentina – population: 45 million.

Igor Štimac, who played in all of Croatia’s 1998 World Cup matches during its run to third place, told CNN that the country’s recent history has helped play a part in forging elite competitors.

“Our people went through many difficulties in its survival, in its independence, fighting for it, in the aggression which we suffered from our neighbors,” Štimac, who coached the Croatia national team between 2012-13, told CNN.

“These things are helping to stay with a great mental strength, great discipline, staying humble and surviving with the pride, whatever difficulties there are in front of us.

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