“…In 2018, Croatia became the first team with a population under 10 million to reach the World Cup final in sixty years. Four years later, they reached the semi-finals. They are knockout-stage regulars — one of international football’s great overperformers, whose successes eclipse many larger, better-resourced European neighbours. Now, still in its infancy, Croatia has become synonymous with its elite talent — the likes of Modric, Ivan Rakitic, and Ivan Perisic — and a fierce, indefatigable personality. Perhaps Croatia is a nation of fragile talent because, for the beginning of its history, Croatia was a fragile nation. It is a country that has been shaped by conflict, only declaring independence during the brutality of the Yugoslav Wars — which killed an estimated 130,000 people — in 1991. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Mandzukic and Modric in action for Croatia in 2016
Football Architects: How Croatia became world football’s great overperformers
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“For one of the key architects of Belgium’s golden generation, his aim was simple — ‘I want to teach the most difficult football.’ Bob Browaeys sits back in his chair at the Belgian FA’s base in Tubize, just south of Brussels. The 56-year-old coach is affable, a former goalkeeper with huge hands and a propensity to push his seat away from the table in excitement when he talks. This is a space-age facility — underlighting in the boardrooms, 11 first-grade pitches, and the literal footprints of the country’s former greats leading towards its doors. …”
“World Cup 1962, hosted in Chile, is up there with World Cup 1938 as the least fabled editions of the tournament. There’s a common link between them: they’re the only two World Cups where the defending champion has triumphed. And this one came as little surprise — it was almost impossible to find a tournament preview that didn’t imply that Brazil were strong favourites. …”
Scissors Kick 