Translated material
I don't remember anything
The Croatian team goes to the record. She plays in the final of the World Cup for the first time in her history
This material was first published on Medusa on the eve of the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Before the final, we changed the heading a little, but did not change the main text.
Vodka, caviar, Mercedes
On the evening of November 21, 2007, people began to flock to the Croatian embassy in Russia. Someone carried flowers, someone-flags of both countries, someone-plush toys. The then Croatian ambassador of Bozho Kovachevich recalled that the most unexpected gifts were vodka and caviar. The next day, there were so many visitors that the embassy employees did not have time to communicate with everyone and started a book for congratulations - it is still stored in the institution.
Flowers, caviar and congratulations were due to the fact that on that day the Croatian national football team beat England in London with a score of 3: 2. Thanks to this, Russia, who won in the parallel match Andorra, entered the 2008 European Championship. Almost no one expected this scenario: Croatia by that time had already secured first place in the qualifying group, and the outcome of this meeting did not solve anything for her. If England won or tied, then Russia would not get to the tournament.
Similar situations in football arise quite often, but are almost always resolved in favor of the team truly interested as a result. From the Croats, it looked like a gift from Russia - and Russia thanked Croatia in response. Not only with flowers and caviar: the vice president of Lukoila and the owner of the Moscow Spartak Leonid Fedun, before the match, promised to give the players of the national team four Mercedes for victory. True, the Croatian football federation did not accept a gift to avoid proceedings with UEFA.
Almost the whole country expressed gratitude to the Croats. The newspaper "Soviet Sport" was released with the heading "Hvala vam, Hrvatska!" ("Thank you, Croatia!"). “Komsomolskaya Pravda” conducted a survey, according to which it turned out that in Euro 2008 43% of respondents would root for the Russian team, 31%-for beautiful football, and another 26%-for the Croatian national team. The commentator Vasily Utkin promised that he would buy red and white chess and will get up with the sounds of the Croatian anthem all his life (eyewitnesses report that he continues to do this so far-including during the 2018 World Cup).
To love Croatia with the whole country was just because in almost every Russian football club there was its important Croat for fans. One of the winners of the England national team was the goalkeeper of Spartak Stepa Pletikos (and then Stanislav Cherchesov trained him), the former forward of CSKA Ivitsa olich scored a goal against the British, the future captain of Lokomotiv and the 2018 champion Vedran Chorluka entered the defense. The champion of Russia and the owner of the UEFA Cup, as part of Zenit, became Ivitsa Krizhanats - not the most outstanding, but exemplary selfless player; These usually become the legends of the club.
And finally, the All-Russian sympathy for the Croats finally fixed Euro 2008. Having got there with the help of another team, Russia quite unexpectedly held the most powerful tournament in its history (before the 2018 World Cup), where it convincingly beat Holland. If today the Russian team reaches the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, then at least it will repeat the highest achievement of the USSR national team at the world championships (fourth place in the 1966 World Cup)-and the Croats will participate in this story again.
The best of the Yugoslavs
The Croats themselves consider the history of 2007 no more than a pleasant coincidence for Russia. The then coach of the national team Slavic Bilich recently confirmed once again that the team played with England exclusively for considerations of professionalism and for the prestige of their country.
For Croatia, football really became one of the means of national self -determination. The first and so far the main success came to them at the 1998 World Cup-there Croatia first acted as an independent team and sensationally took third place, defeating the German national team along the road-3-0.
Croatian journalist Sanyin Pepanich told Medusa that in addition to the historical victory over the Germans, the 1998 World Cup has another meaning: “Then the national team of Yugoslavia and the Croatian national team played the first and last time in history. We were perceived as upstarts that will never be able to achieve the same results with the new team as Yugoslav in the post -war years - fourth place at the World Cup, two finals of European championships. Therefore, it was very important for the Croats to show that we have not lost football traditions. Moreover, we can store them better than neighbors. ”
The players from the 1998 team began to be called the golden generation of Croatian football: the best scorer of the World Cup Davor Shuker played in the Madrid Real Madrid, the playmaker Zvonmir Boban - in Milan. After they finished football, they feared that the team would experience the crisis in Croatia, but it turned out quite quickly that players of no less caliber were replacing them - at least the club career of the current leaders is even better. Luka Modric won four champions leagues with Real Madrid in the last five years, Ivan Rakitich has been collecting titles in Barcelona, and Mario Mandzhukich in Bavaria and Juventus.
“It is logical that the current players were quickly called the“ second golden generation, ”Spanovich explains. - Perhaps these players are even more individual. Modric is generally the best central midfielder in the world in recent years, and they think not only in Croatia. Fans are watching matches every week with their participation in the leading European championships, but the further, the more they dream that Croatia once again manifest itself at the level of national teams with such players. Almost the whole country is sure that we can claim the final of the World Cup. And this will be the best proof that Croatian football not only has potential, but also constantly develops. ”
Fans against the best player of Croatia
At the World Cup in Russia, the Croatians were remembered primarily by how convincingly they got off with the Argentine national team and Lionel Messi. Croatia played impeccably in defense and destroyed the opponent in counterattacks. One of them was in a distant blow by the captain of the national team Luke Modric - and celebrated him so violently, as if he had already won the World Cup.
Modrich has a special situation - this year he plays against the backdrop of constant news from the court. The best Croatian football player is a witness of the Zdravko Mamich, the shadow leader of the Croatian football federation, who for many years appointed his proteges and stole state money, and also took 15 million euros from the transitions of Modric and other players from the Zagreb Dynamo to English top clubs. The court gave Mamich for six and a half years, he escaped from Croatia to Bosnia, no one doubts his fault. Modric first testified against his mother, and then suddenly took his words back, saying: "I do not remember anything."
You can understand Modric: Mamich for a long time took care of him and his family, and with his political opponents and other enemies, he always understood quite hard. However, some fans very painfully took such a gesture on the part of the captain of the national team and even called for the world championship, while Modric plays for Croatia. Or support the team, but not rejoice at the successes of her best player. Modrich painted the house and the car with insults, and someone even made a batch of t-shirts of the national team with the 10th number and the inscription “I don’t remember” at the place of the surname. The football player is facing a trial for a giving false testimony.
The editor -in -chief of Telesport.hr, Aleksandar Kholiga, told Medusa that the scandal around Mamich’s business is more likely to help the Croatian national team, and does not interfere: “The players have raised, they understand that you can only distract the audience from these conversations with a successful game. Most Madrich loves most fans so much, and if he lifts the World Cup above his head, he will not be at all unhappy. ”
Both Russia and Croatia are solving at this championship not only football, but also image problems. Vladimir Putin believes that Russia has already coped with this. Croatia to repeat its success at the 1998 World Cup will need to first beat Russia, and only then, possibly, England. In 2007, they already did it.
Ivan Kalashnikov, Sports.ru