Croatians give warm welcome to World Cup squad

ZAGREB: Tens of thousands of Croatians gave a heroes’ welcome to their team in Zagreb on Monday after the squad returned from Russia following their World Cup final defeat.

A crowd estimated at more than 100,000 thronged the capital’s main square to see the players, led by captain and World Cup Golden Ball winner Luka Modric, parade through the streets on an open-top bus.

Cheering fans, many waving flags and wearing the famous red and white shirt of Croatia, held up banners celebrating the runners-up after their gallant 4-2 defeat by France.“This is how Croatia is loved,” read one banner. Another said: “We are few, but we believed and that is enough”.

Many even skipped work to celebrate the team reaching their first ever World Cup final.“I closed my office to welcome our heroes. I put a sign up reading ‘Today, July 16, 2018’, office closed due to our Vatreni (‘the Fiery Ones´ in Croatian),” doctor Sanja Klajic told AFP.

Earlier noisy fans awaited their side’s appearance by singing a popular song “Play on my Croatia, when I see you my heart is on fire!” while watching the plane carrying the team progress to the capital on a giant TV screen.

When the plane, accompanied by military jets and emblazoned with the logo “Bravo Vatreni” flew overhead the crowd cheered and chanted “Hands up, hands up!”.After landing at the city´s airport around 3:25 pm (1325 GMT), the players emerged to shrieks from fans at the terminal.

Meanwhile, a World Cup of surprises showed once again how small teams are finding a way to compete with the big boys, as was the case at the European Championship two years ago.It was Iceland and Wales who shook up the established order in 2016, now Belgium and Croatia have shown that smaller nations can dream of footballing success as the gap to the traditional powers continues to narrow.

“Every team is set up so well now and properly prepared that there is not much between anybody,” said France coach Didier Deschamps after his team overcame Croatia 4-2 in Sunday’s World Cup final.

With a population of just over four million, Croatia punched considerably above their weight to reach the final, going down gallantly at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.Belgium reached the semi-finals with a golden generation of players despite a relatively modest footballing infra-structure and will have legitimate ambitions of claiming a first major international title at Euro 2020.

At the European Championship two years ago, Wales were surprise semi-finalists and Iceland captured the imagination by beating England to make the last eight.With just over 300,000 people, Iceland followed that up by becoming the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup.

On other continents too, there are growing examples of consistent challenges to the established order and particularly from countries whose playing resources are limited by the size of their population size.On our bus there is a slogan that says “We are a small nation with big dreams,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic after the loss to France.

“That’s a good message to all. If you work hard, you can produce good players and get results.“You have to believe it is possible. Maybe things have to fall into place. But you have to have a dream and ambition and follow them.”