Croatian friends set to take their country into football history
Before every tie at this World Cup, Croatia’s goalkeeper and captain, Danijel Subasic and Luka Modric, have sung the national anthem side by side, as they have done since they were boys.
Today they will do so again before Croatia play France in the final – their country’s greatest footballing achievement to date.
It has been a long road for Croatia, born from the turbulent break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and for the two players whose families were refugees from the violence of that time.
Subasic, 33, and Modric, a year younger, grew up in the city of Zadar and met during football training at the Stanovi Stadium.
Modric’s family moved to the city when he was 6, after his beloved grandfather Luka was killed while watching over his cattle. They lived for years in a shabby old hotel with other refugees from all over Zadar county.
Neighbours from that time have described Modric as a small boy with skinny legs who kicked a ball from the moment he opened his eyes until he went to bed.
Subasic lived just 200 metres from the stadium and started training at the age of 6. When he was 10 he asked his coach if he could try playing in goal. He has been there ever since.
Subasic and Modric are like brothers, says Boja Subasic, the goalkeeper’s mother. She says they are devoted to each other and always talking on the phone when they are not together.
Both have played key parts in Croatia reaching the final. Modric, one of the best midfielders of his generation, has driven the team forward and scored two goals, while Subasic made three saves in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Russia.
“We have the most experienced players in the tournament in terms of big matches played,” says Ivan Malik, an economist who played football with Subasic and Modric as a child. “I believe that they can bring it home tomorrow.”
The team has ground out wins in their past three games, all of which went into extra time, with two ending in penalty shoot-outs.
“Three games in a row they managed to return after conceding a goal. These guys are amazing. Barely alive but still running,” says Subasic’s father, Jovo.
“I am proud of my son but all of them, as a team, are magnificent.”