‘We are built differently’: Croatia relish second shot at World Cup glory

13-Dec-2022 10:00:46 | The Guardian

With two semi-final appearances in four years, a nation of under four million continues to punch far above its weight

It is quite a ridiculous idea. To come to the World Cup, four years after making it to the final as one of the best underdog success stories in the tournament’s history, thinking you could go one step further this time and win the whole thing. This is football after all, the No 1 global sport, not handball or water polo, the other two team sports Croatia are any good at.

In those two sports the competition is much narrower and you also get a chance to win the world championship every year. It is not the Davis Cup either, which they have managed to win twice in the last 17 years, with two different generations of players.