Speaker 1: Humans love predicting the future. We place bets, we fill
Speaker 1: out World Cup brackets, We tell anyone willing to listen,
Speaker 1: who will win, and who will score, and who is overrated,
Speaker 1: and who will finally, finally prove we were right all along.
Speaker 1: It's bailed by the way, of course, the solace we
Speaker 1: seek in telling ourselves we know what will happen in
Speaker 1: the future is bullshit. Case in point Croatia, two thousand eighteen.
Speaker 1: But first let's rewind to you. Remember amidst the backdrop
Speaker 1: of great boy bands taking over the pop charts, Croatia
Speaker 1: was emerging victorious. Croatia wrote a putt clingy enthusiasm, from
Speaker 1: winning a civil war to entering the World Cup semifinals
Speaker 1: with one hell of a talented roster. Fast forward twenty
Speaker 1: years later, and they rode well nothing really. Croatia's soccer
Speaker 1: scene was mired into corruption scandal that threatened to jail
Speaker 1: their best players, and they had an unknown coach who
Speaker 1: had spent just three games total with the team, And
Speaker 1: they had one of the oldest squads and not one
Speaker 1: of the most talented ones either. So they took all
Speaker 1: of that and somehow made it to the final. What
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say is that the world is a
Speaker 1: terrifying and unnable place and that things do not happen
Speaker 1: for a reason. Croatia's winding path to make it to
Speaker 1: the final of the World Cup proves this. I'm Nando
Speaker 1: Vila and this is the best soccer podcast in the world.
Speaker 1: Goes with them, but it's still Cristiano Ronaldo. Yes, Yes,
Speaker 1: Team Wonderful, Never sin. This episode is Croatia Part two.
Speaker 1: In case you didn't hear it or just playing forgot
Speaker 1: what happened in part one, here's a short reminder. Our
Speaker 1: producers were very kind to put together for you. Yugoslavia
Speaker 1: were like the Brazilians of Europe. It was an absolutely
Speaker 1: magnificent They qualified for Your ninety two in Sweden, but
Speaker 1: then the bar started and they were thrown out of
Speaker 1: the tournament. The war in Yugoslava, it was a huge
Speaker 1: tragedy for the people, but the Yugoslavitia broke up. So
Speaker 1: Croatia's motivation was that it had just was emerging from
Speaker 1: a not very happy union, the state of Yugoslavia the
Speaker 1: decades between two thousand eighteen. We're not very kind to
Speaker 1: our Croatian victors. Let's recap what our main characters got
Speaker 1: up to. And then coach Cito Blazevich, who claims he
Speaker 1: invented the three five to formation, moved on to a
Speaker 1: new team managing Iran. He promised to hang himself from
Speaker 1: the gold post if Iran didn't qualify for the World Cup.
Speaker 1: They didn't qualify, he didn't follow through. Zvonimde Boban studied
Speaker 1: history at Zagadab University in Croatia. His thesis was titled
Speaker 1: Christianity in the Roman Empire. He eventually became the Deputy
Speaker 1: Secretary General at FIFA, where he oversaw the implementation of
Speaker 1: v a R or video assistant referee. Davosuka retired and
Speaker 1: spent a decade lounging around the tropics devouring shrimp on
Speaker 1: endless vacations. He denied receiving betting tips from a convicted
Speaker 1: match fixer in Germany. He also found thirty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: worth of antique gold coins left on a plane and
Speaker 1: he just kept them. This earned him a fine of
Speaker 1: eight thousand euros, but these petty crimes prepped him for
Speaker 1: his next job. In two thousand twelve, suked became the
Speaker 1: president of the Croatian Football Federation compared to the optimistic,
Speaker 1: brimming patriotism of Croatia. The two following decades were rough.
Speaker 1: Croatia was considered the least developed nation in the U,
Speaker 1: The population experienced and exodus. In two thousand eighteen, it
Speaker 1: had decreased by three thousand people, with many forced to
Speaker 1: leave to find work, and Croatia's soccer ecosystem plunged into
Speaker 1: a widespread corruption scandal, one that upended its federation and
Speaker 1: its biggest club. One man embezzled over fifteen million dollars
Speaker 1: and claims to have bribed fifty referees before fleeing the
Speaker 1: country to escape the prison sentence. Well, yes, the football
Speaker 1: in Croatia has been a corrupt for quite a while.
Speaker 1: This is Michael Yoakin, a freelance soccer writer. By the
Speaker 1: time the World Cup rolled around, this scandal had ensnared.
Speaker 1: Even Croatia's best player was interesting because Croatia, again, you
Speaker 1: had a genius midfield of driving them, Luka Modrid, But
Speaker 1: the mood behind, the mood around the team was different
Speaker 1: in some pretty significant ways, not least the fact that Modric,
Speaker 1: Croatia's best player, was actually facing potential jail time for perjury,
Speaker 1: having taken the stand in defense of the erstwhile Croatian
Speaker 1: f a boss, Dravco Mammage, who was accused of pretty
Speaker 1: much having run Creation Football as his own, as his
Speaker 1: own kind of fifer for his own ends, shall we say,
Speaker 1: having a hand in transfers, having in hands in national
Speaker 1: team selections, and taking a percentage of whatever he could.
Speaker 1: That was the accusation. He added, this is James Richardson
Speaker 1: posted the totally Football Shop. But anyway, Modrid had stepped
Speaker 1: up to say that I believe he stepped up to
Speaker 1: say that manage hadn't received money for a move that
Speaker 1: he'd made. And then it turned out that dear actually
Speaker 1: yes he had, And then Modrid was in a bit
Speaker 1: of a position, and against the backdrop of the fact
Speaker 1: that he was effectively banged to rights for perjury, which
Speaker 1: was a jailable offense. So how did the ageless real
Speaker 1: Madrid midfielder get involved in all of this in the
Speaker 1: first place. It's messy. As you may remember from the
Speaker 1: last episode, when Luca Madrich was six, his grandfather was
Speaker 1: murdered by Serbian rebels. The Madrid family fled and joined
Speaker 1: other refugees in the Hotel Colovade Mudrid spent his childhood
Speaker 1: playing soccer in the car park or between mortar craters outside,
Speaker 1: and Madrid's childhood team had duck Split rejected him after
Speaker 1: a trial because he was too small and scrawny. He
Speaker 1: then spent a year in the Bosnian league, which was
Speaker 1: known for its aggression and one player of the year.
Speaker 1: When Lucas signed a tenure contract with Dina Mozagadeb, the
Speaker 1: first thing he did was by his parents a house
Speaker 1: his family could move out of hotel Is, where they'd
Speaker 1: spent most of the thirteen years since they fled their
Speaker 1: village during the Civil War. At the time, a man
Speaker 1: by the name of Draco Mamas was something like an agent.
Speaker 1: He would float players financially and in return they would
Speaker 1: sign over a percentage of all future wages to him.
Speaker 1: This was dubiously legal. Mamage made his money when he
Speaker 1: bought discounted shares of the company in the wood industry
Speaker 1: that was privatized as croatia transition to capitalism, also dubiously legal.
Speaker 1: In the wake of communism, nepotism and corruption took over Croatia.
Speaker 1: Mamage became the executive director of the Na mos agative
Speaker 1: and vice president of the Croatian Federation, running Croatian soccer
Speaker 1: like a mob boss for about a decade. He appointed
Speaker 1: his brother as Dna was coach and his son was
Speaker 1: an agent. They did things like have the transfer fees
Speaker 1: skip the club and go straight to themselves. And that's
Speaker 1: what happened in Madrid's case. When Tottenham Hotspur bought him
Speaker 1: for a club record of almost twenty million dollars, part
Speaker 1: of it was structured to go to Madrid, who in
Speaker 1: turn passed it along to Manage. In the court case,
Speaker 1: Mamage didn't even argue this sequence of events, He just
Speaker 1: claimed it was legal. Modred's got tangled up in statements
Speaker 1: he'd made when the deal between him and Mamage was signed.
Speaker 1: Croatia and Liverpool defender de John Lavran was in the
Speaker 1: same predicament. Fans turned on them. They were fed up
Speaker 1: with Mamach calling the shots at Dinamo and at Croatia.
Speaker 1: The Dinamo Ultras boycotted the team for years. Ja Jaw
Speaker 1: Once when fans confronted him, Mama yelled, quote I'll mall
Speaker 1: you one by one face to face, and quote, I'll
Speaker 1: beat you like cats. Listeners, please don't beat cats. There
Speaker 1: was even an assassination attempt. Mamage was shot above the
Speaker 1: knee while visiting his father's grave site, which he did
Speaker 1: once a year. This sounds like it's lifted from a
Speaker 1: mob movie, but I swear it's true. Double Sucker's connections
Speaker 1: with Mammages went a long way to sink his reputation
Speaker 1: as the nation's greatest ever soccer player. And it was
Speaker 1: very said to see how Double Shuger, the brilliant, brilliant player,
Speaker 1: striker Real Madrid, the striker who was the great style
Speaker 1: top scorer at that World Cup in France and ninety eight,
Speaker 1: became a very very corrupt president of the football federation.
Speaker 1: Sucker did things like claim he was working pro bono
Speaker 1: while collecting a salary and he was adored. Really he
Speaker 1: was a huge idol as a player, but then he
Speaker 1: became hated this passion as a politician and if you
Speaker 1: ask an never expiation. Now they just had really really
Speaker 1: despising which is very very sad because he turned out
Speaker 1: to be a crew. You'd have to ask creation if
Speaker 1: his reputation was yeah, sukatn Mamage appointed Anti Sacage to
Speaker 1: manage the national team. Sacha was a former TV repairman
Speaker 1: who had an extremely average coaching career with a bunch
Speaker 1: of low level Croatian clubs. He had been unemployed for
Speaker 1: four years running a cafe. When Davco Mamage first called,
Speaker 1: Sacha took the job and it didn't go well. The
Speaker 1: fans turned on the team. There were a lot of
Speaker 1: protests during the Croatia national team matches, especially tall and
Speaker 1: sometimes as a stands were empty. The Croatian Federation responded
Speaker 1: to aggressive fans by labeling all fans who boycotted games
Speaker 1: as hooligans. The tension came to a climax and culminated
Speaker 1: in a game against the Czech Republic. If you think
Speaker 1: back to euro the one where they flew where they protested,
Speaker 1: and you know they fired all the flares onto the pitch,
Speaker 1: Croatia fans are angry and their cynical. This is a
Speaker 1: senior writer for ESPN. He was at this game. Flares
Speaker 1: rained down, fans attacked each other, the game was halted.
Speaker 1: Called the fans sporting terrorists and unfortunately there's a cynicism
Speaker 1: where unfortunately, I think it may well be justified that
Speaker 1: they believe people in power are corrupt and take advantage
Speaker 1: of them. And there's no question that they viewed Davis
Speaker 1: Suger that way, and of course Momach and MoMA's brother
Speaker 1: and and Luka Modrich as well. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: go and you testifying the trial the way he did,
Speaker 1: they really turned badly on this team fans saying Luca
Speaker 1: Madrid little ship during Croatian League matches in Zadar. Graffiti
Speaker 1: on hotel is read manages bitch. You will remember this day, Modrich.
Speaker 1: I think it said the football fans are stupid. It's
Speaker 1: just that they end up separating who the person is
Speaker 1: off the pitch, who the person is an individual, from
Speaker 1: what he can contribute for their team. So it's almost
Speaker 1: like they're they're cheering the shirt more than the guy
Speaker 1: in it. And again, I'm sure there's gonna be Croatia
Speaker 1: fans who don't care and they love Modrid, and but
Speaker 1: I think the vast majority of Croatia fans probably love
Speaker 1: what Modrids did for their country and admire his ability
Speaker 1: and his sense of sacrifice and whatever. But equally they
Speaker 1: would question his character and maybe they'll justify by saying, well,
Speaker 1: he made a mistake when he was very young, and
Speaker 1: then he kind of doubled down on it, doubled down
Speaker 1: on it and out of a sense of loyalty or
Speaker 1: maybe out of his sense of fear, because those are
Speaker 1: some some pretty nasty people, pretty dangerous people, who knows,
Speaker 1: And I hope they don't listen to this podcast because
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't want to give myself into
Speaker 1: any more trouble. You know, the public record, he's there
Speaker 1: for everybody to say. At the club level, Madrid did
Speaker 1: pretty well, with Real Madrid winning four champions leagues, but
Speaker 1: the Croatian national team was in danger of missing out
Speaker 1: on the World Cup. They lost to Iceland and Turkey
Speaker 1: and had a draw with Finland. Sacha was properly dismissed.
Speaker 1: They hastily replaced him with a man named Latko Dalis,
Speaker 1: who was appointed Forty eight hours before the final match
Speaker 1: against Ukraine. Dallage met the players for the first time
Speaker 1: in the airport on the way to Kiev. The entire
Speaker 1: coaching staff had been fired. According to that firing all
Speaker 1: of the coaching staff was like a form of shock therapy,
Speaker 1: much like the transition to capitalism. It seemed hopeless, but
Speaker 1: Croatia needed to win in Kiev to stay alive Kritia's
Speaker 1: World Up times up traction. They are in the comfort
Speaker 1: zone and just like that, somehow Croatia was back in
Speaker 1: the running. Croatia stumbled into a do or die playoff
Speaker 1: against Greece. They won for one and qualified for the
Speaker 1: World Cup. So who was this new coach? Zlatkotdal It
Speaker 1: had bounced around some minor clubs in Croatia and Albania
Speaker 1: without winning anything of note before landing in the Middle East.
Speaker 1: He won the league in the UAE and was runner
Speaker 1: up in the Asian Champions League. That's it, that's his resume.
Speaker 1: He was coaching in Abu Dhabi when he took over Croatia. Yes,
Speaker 1: and most of the Croatians thought that he was another
Speaker 1: puppet because that football federation only avoided puppets to the job.
Speaker 1: The managed court case was closing in, but he still
Speaker 1: hadn't resigned his position. A lot of funs thought that
Speaker 1: Croatia basically arrived to the tournament without a coach. A
Speaker 1: toll and Modric should have a Modric and racket Tish
Speaker 1: and the more experienced players should have done the job
Speaker 1: the quotch themselves. But it turned out that did a
Speaker 1: decent joke anyway. Ivan racket was the Barcelona midfielder who
Speaker 1: had played for Switzerland's youth teams. He formed an impressive
Speaker 1: midfield base with Madrich. The rest of the team was
Speaker 1: more pedestrian. The lineups average age was nearly thirty, one
Speaker 1: of the oldest at the World Cup. The goalkeeper Danielle
Speaker 1: Superstitch was a reserve at Monaco. In defense, Dian Lovern
Speaker 1: was world renowned for making bone headed mistakes, right, you know,
Speaker 1: on his day, he's fantastic. I think the difference was
Speaker 1: that the team wasn't wasn't as good you had, you know,
Speaker 1: the stars were in their palm. You could say Modride
Speaker 1: was on top of his game. Racketitch, I think was
Speaker 1: already in this, you know, on the slide a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, up front you had Mario Manzokich, who you know,
Speaker 1: old warrior type. But what you had was individuals who
Speaker 1: who rose to the occasion. And you get this in
Speaker 1: every World Cup, no one outside of Croatia expected much
Speaker 1: and no one inside Croatia expected much either for that matter.
Speaker 1: So I spoke with quite a few Croatian and journalists
Speaker 1: before the tournament and the general idea was that absolutely
Speaker 1: everything was possible. This team had telled to win the tournament,
Speaker 1: but the same well, they could also very very easily
Speaker 1: have gone home after the group stage and they finished
Speaker 1: last in their group. Absolutely everything anything was possible. Corruption, confusion, ambivalence.
Speaker 1: That was the scene as Croatia headed to the World
Speaker 1: Cup in the summer of two thousand eighteen. It was
Speaker 1: only four years ago, but a lot has changed. More
Speaker 1: about what happened next after the break. Hey remember the
Speaker 1: pre pandemic world when you were taking part in the
Speaker 1: tide pot of Challenge while this thing to childish gambinos,
Speaker 1: This is America on YouTube, Black Panther said all sorts
Speaker 1: of box office records and Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer.
Speaker 1: Prince Harry married Megan markle uh non royal billionaire. Union buster.
Speaker 1: Elon Musk was dating Grhymes when he wasn't pretending to
Speaker 1: help at tie youth soccer team trapped in an underground cave.
Speaker 1: Indris Elba was named People's Sexiest Man alive a banks
Speaker 1: he sold for one point four million, and then self
Speaker 1: destructive private Equity sucked the last out of toys r US,
Speaker 1: which filed for bankruptcy, snuffing out the last remnants of
Speaker 1: your childhood, and the world turned its attention to Russia
Speaker 1: for the World Cup. It's weird today Russia is this
Speaker 1: global pariah, understatably so. But at the time people seemed
Speaker 1: quite happy to include Vladimir Putin in all their photo
Speaker 1: shoots with Moscow's colorful skyline in the background. And he
Speaker 1: wasn't the only politician using the tournament to boost his image.
Speaker 1: Croatian President Kalinda Grabar Katarovitch became a meme. People couldn't
Speaker 1: get enough of her wild celebrations of Croatia's goals and
Speaker 1: awkward hugs with topless players in the locker room. The
Speaker 1: great adventure begins for Croatia and Nigeria. Croatia beat Nigeria
Speaker 1: two nil with one moderate goal and another assist now
Speaker 1: Leshae sensational goal from Luka Modrich and surely now Croatia's
Speaker 1: Golden generation are on their way to the last sixteen.
Speaker 1: Then they beat Argentina three nil. A win over Iceland
Speaker 1: made it three out of three and put Croatia into
Speaker 1: the knockout rounds. But it's Croatia who can finish it now.
Speaker 1: In style, even parish full time in rostov Iceland out.
Speaker 1: Croatia win Group D, winning too where Croatia drew Denmark.
Speaker 1: Up against Denmark, but one of those flags where we
Speaker 1: folded away for a few years after tonight. Both goals
Speaker 1: came within the first five minutes, both from weird lucky
Speaker 1: deflections in the box. I turned, I came from the equalizer.
Speaker 1: Mario Manzukich. What's a start for funds? Have they sights?
Speaker 1: Mario Manzukich was once fined a hundred thousand euros by
Speaker 1: his club Dina Mozagreb for a lack of effort in
Speaker 1: the Europa League game, which is weird because he went
Speaker 1: on to make a name for himself as a Yeoman
Speaker 1: center forward who was more of a laborer than a finisher.
Speaker 1: Manzukich played for some of the world's biggest clubs a
Speaker 1: Littio Madri, Bayron, Munich Juventus. He won league titles and
Speaker 1: a Champions League, but despite that, he never quite convinced
Speaker 1: his coaches that he belonged there as a full time starter.
Speaker 1: But he scored here in a World Cup knockout game.
Speaker 1: It was enough to force penalties. Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmichael
Speaker 1: saved two of them, but it wasn't enough, and Croatia
Speaker 1: no that if they score the next penalty, they are
Speaker 1: through and he's done it. Croatians celebrations. Ivan Racketage held
Speaker 1: his nerve to put Croatia into the quarterfinals. President Grabar
Speaker 1: Katarovitch hugged as many sweaty players as she could, while
Speaker 1: her PR team posted videos on social media. Would it
Speaker 1: surprise you if I told you that Mamage funded her
Speaker 1: election campaign? She was again in attendance as Croatia took
Speaker 1: on the host's Russia in the quarterfinal. Putin was there too.
Speaker 1: Chary Chef's not stopped. Dennis Jerysha love, He's quite something.
Speaker 1: The boys a star. A goal each in ninety minutes,
Speaker 1: a goal each an extra time. Yep, it went to
Speaker 1: penalties again. Yep. Racketage held his nerve again. Ivan Racketache
Speaker 1: with the opportunity to strike the telling glow to when
Speaker 1: the Russian carnival, Racketage and Russia dissolved entitiest but it
Speaker 1: is Croatia for free on penalties. The lasting image of
Speaker 1: this game is grab Ar Kitarovich in a red and
Speaker 1: white checkered jersey holding her hands aloft and cheering over
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin himself in the heavily guarded box seats semifinal
Speaker 1: nights in Moscow, as Croatia and England set out each
Speaker 1: to clear the last turtle before the World Cup final itself,
Speaker 1: England took the lead. It is character plays delicious Croatia
Speaker 1: in the last World Cup We're not a magnificent phenomenon
Speaker 1: took an Abati's breath away. But they were solid, and
Speaker 1: they were good at times, and they were lucky. But
Speaker 1: yet again Croatia equalized, enforced extra time. Fine, oh boy,
Speaker 1: parasite proacous crimings are satisfied, at least for now. Ivan
Speaker 1: Parrishitge was a forward and wore the number four. That's weird,
Speaker 1: but he was always a little bit unconventional. At seventeen,
Speaker 1: Parrisage left home to save his father's chicken farm. He
Speaker 1: still hadn't broken through to the senior team and how
Speaker 1: did split When the French team so show sent a
Speaker 1: private jet with the family chicken farm in debt, the
Speaker 1: family decided he should take the offer. After a few
Speaker 1: years in Belgium, Parrisage burst through it. You're in clubs
Speaker 1: Barussia Dortmund. When he got dropped, he complained publicly, quote
Speaker 1: when I'm on the bench, I'm dying. Club handled it calmly,
Speaker 1: just kidding. Clubs said quote, public winding belongs to kindergarten,
Speaker 1: and he told him to shut his mouth. Needless to say,
Speaker 1: Parrishage left later when his club in Debt turned through
Speaker 1: three coaches in a disappointing season, Parishadge selected an odd
Speaker 1: summer activity. He represented Asia at the Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Speaker 1: Some would call him a renaissance man, but here he
Speaker 1: was back on the pitch in the World Cup, using
Speaker 1: his feet, not his hands, hitting the net against England
Speaker 1: in a semifinal. This time Croatia was a little too
Speaker 1: lazy to go through the rigamarole of penalties and decided
Speaker 1: to finish off the English in extra time instead. Mario
Speaker 1: mans And and Croatia, for the first time ever will
Speaker 1: play in a World Cup final. In the semifinal against England,
Speaker 1: you know, they were just a lot smarter than England.
Speaker 1: You know. I don't want to pick on Gara Southgate
Speaker 1: because he is a very very nice man, and he's
Speaker 1: a good person, and he's done a lot of important things.
Speaker 1: But that semifinal is kind of on him. You know,
Speaker 1: how do you let a lead slip when you've got
Speaker 1: this tremendous counter hackers, when Croatia are exhausted and you
Speaker 1: kind of throw that game away. And again I'm not
Speaker 1: I don't want to take credit away from Croatia, right,
Speaker 1: but it takes two the and I think it's also
Speaker 1: a skill too, as Doledge did, to maximize your strengths
Speaker 1: and and be smarter than the opposition, and to drive
Speaker 1: home your advantages and to you know, to react to
Speaker 1: what the opposition does to regain your edge when you
Speaker 1: lose it. And Croatia did all those things in that game.
Speaker 1: Robert Pressinski from tam said, quote, we murdered the English
Speaker 1: in the second half. One Croatian newspaper published the headline
Speaker 1: Football's not coming home, as well as a photo gallery
Speaker 1: titled look how the English cry after losing to Croatia.
Speaker 1: Isn't that nice? The team celebrated back at the hotel
Speaker 1: with the famous pop singer. Players stood on tables, clapping
Speaker 1: and singing because twenty years after reaching the Seven Eyes
Speaker 1: in their first ever appearance, Croatia was going to the
Speaker 1: World Cup final. They are the second smallest country ever
Speaker 1: to play in one. More about what happened next after
Speaker 1: the break, j thirty teams, thirty countries had their chance.
Speaker 1: There were only two left. It's the pandit's ultimate game,
Speaker 1: the final of the twenty one Football World Cup. Now
Speaker 1: Croatia meant France on the field. The match was played
Speaker 1: in Moscow and then parisage La France took the lead,
Speaker 1: Ivan Parisitch equalized. The French just screaming at bowl and
Speaker 1: the referee is choosing to look himself. What a cool
Speaker 1: to have to make. He's given a penalty, A penalty
Speaker 1: for France in the World Cup final. A World Cup
Speaker 1: final first a v A R penalty call Vonna me
Speaker 1: Bob and the Croatian legend who helped over ce v
Speaker 1: a RS introduction must have been wishing that he hadn't
Speaker 1: and Paris Whitch may have been regretting that little volleyball
Speaker 1: detour penalty goal. Griesman did a silly little Fortnite dance halftime. Eventually,
Speaker 1: I thought that the first half was actually one of
Speaker 1: the best half. Croatia a head in that tolerance was
Speaker 1: fatigue beginning to show an aging roster. Three one and
Speaker 1: twenty minute matches in a row, one fewer day of
Speaker 1: rest than France. I don't think so. You always have fatigue,
Speaker 1: but if you speak to the footballers, and I've had
Speaker 1: the opportunity speak to many throughout my career, the adrenaline
Speaker 1: kicks in. So as long as you're not injured, you know,
Speaker 1: being fatigue, you're in the World Cup final, you may
Speaker 1: most people don't get to ever play in the World
Speaker 1: Cup final. I'm sure he was in the background because
Speaker 1: they played a lot of minutes. And I also believe
Speaker 1: they had a one day if you were rent, one
Speaker 1: day less rest than than France did. But no, I
Speaker 1: think France is just a better team. France pulled away
Speaker 1: in the second half. France and possibly now the world.
Speaker 1: It's by the first teenage World Cup final goal since
Speaker 1: play himself. Eventually Croatia scored another consolation goal, but by
Speaker 1: then the result was settled. France beat Croatia four to
Speaker 1: two on July eighteen in the World Cup Final. Just
Speaker 1: like twenty years prior, France was the better team. But
Speaker 1: then again, if you look at the roster, there were
Speaker 1: plenty of better teams than Croatia, and they weren't in
Speaker 1: the final Croatia was a World Cup is seven games long.
Speaker 1: Hit a hot streak and you'll make history for those
Speaker 1: seven games. Transfer fees don't matter, ye a. Sports stats
Speaker 1: don't matter, perjury cases don't matter, Coaching resumes don't matter.
Speaker 1: The socioeconomic and demographic disintegration of your country also doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: And predictions don't matter. We'll still keep making them, of course,
Speaker 1: but it'll just make wild, unpredictable runs like Croatia's in
Speaker 1: that brief summer of all the sweeter you it's we.
Speaker 1: We've had so much important to the World Cup. But
Speaker 1: we should know after all these years that average players
Speaker 1: can become good players, and good players can become great players.
Speaker 1: For a couple of games at a time, they became
Speaker 1: for seven matches at least great Croatia, a country that
Speaker 1: didn't exist when most of its players were born, got
Speaker 1: to a World Cup final. A PostScript worth mentioning about
Speaker 1: that final game. The second half was interrupted and stopped
Speaker 1: when members from the punk band Pussy Riot stormed onto
Speaker 1: the field to protest Putin. They were dressed like Russian policemen,
Speaker 1: with white shirts, skinny ties, and blue berets. They were
Speaker 1: dragged off the field. Back when Russia switched over to
Speaker 1: a capitalist economic system, oligarchs took advantage by gobbling up
Speaker 1: newly privatized industries, just like mamage. They put a guy
Speaker 1: in charge named Vladimir Putin, who eventually consolidated near complete power.
Speaker 1: There's a lasting image from the trophy presentation. French President
Speaker 1: Emmanuel McCrone is there, Croatian President Colinda Grabber Katarovitch is there.
Speaker 1: It's pouring rain, so both of them are soaked, and
Speaker 1: standing ominously behind them is Vladimir Putin with a lackey,
Speaker 1: holding an umbrella over his head. He's dry. The camera
Speaker 1: zooms out, everyone's cheering, loudspeaker music, confetti, downpour the cup,
Speaker 1: France players diving and sliding across the water log grass.
Speaker 1: It makes sense that politicians and oligarchs and petrol states
Speaker 1: use sports to launder their images. The emotions we get
Speaker 1: from them are so pure and so fun and so tingly.
Speaker 1: Of course they're going to co opt that. It doesn't
Speaker 1: make the emotions less fun or less tingly, And I
Speaker 1: think it's all the more important to enjoy them while
Speaker 1: we still can. So Croatia did enjoy it half a
Speaker 1: million fans, over ten percent of the country's population turned
Speaker 1: out to welcome the players home to Zagreb. Croatian railways
Speaker 1: cut prices by so as many as possible could be there.
Speaker 1: The city of Osak rented an entire train just to
Speaker 1: join them. Is it fair to say that Croatious players
Speaker 1: walked away with heads held a little higher? Luca Mudrid
Speaker 1: was cleared of his perjury charge. The reigning sexiest man
Speaker 1: alive it or Sell but presented him with the award
Speaker 1: for best player in the world. So here we are
Speaker 1: The best best faith men's player of the year award
Speaker 1: goes to Manzukich retired and became Dolledge's assistant. The Parishitge
Speaker 1: family chicken farm went bankrupt anyway, Ivan now has a
Speaker 1: tattoo of a chicken with a soccer ball on his
Speaker 1: calf and Zavco Manage was sentenced to six and a
Speaker 1: half years in prison for embezzling fifteen million dollars. He
Speaker 1: fled to Bosnia or Zegovina, where he has citizenship and
Speaker 1: therefore won't be extradited. Three referees were arrested trying to
Speaker 1: launder four hundred thousand euros. Manage allegedly bribe them with
Speaker 1: Mamage himself turned them in. The Best Soccer Podcast in
Speaker 1: the World is a production of Exiled Content Studios in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Michael Dura podcast Network, and is
Speaker 1: hosted by me Nando Vila, produced by Anna and zach
Speaker 1: Lee Rigg, Written by Zach Lee Rigg. Production assistants by
Speaker 1: Stella Emmett. Our executive producers are Isaac Lee Rose Reed
Speaker 1: and myself named Avila. Our executive producers that I Heart
Speaker 1: are Gisel Vances and Arlene Santana. Sound designed by Ula
Speaker 1: Mendoza Are Awesome. Theme song is by lu j Special
Speaker 1: thanks to all the voices who participated in this episode,
Speaker 1: Michael Yokin, James Richardson, and Gabriele Marcoti. For more podcasts,
Speaker 1: listen to the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.