ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Forget Croatia’s historic currency exchange or joining the European Union’s travel-free zone. The World Cup semi-final against Argentina is all most Croats are thinking about.
Within hours of Tuesday’s decisive match in Qatar, workers removed Christmas and New Year decorations from a central square in the capital Zagreb to make room for a more pressing holiday: the live broadcast of the soccer match for thousands of fans. expected fans.
The small Balkan state of some 4 million people, known for its stunning Adriatic coastline and resort islands, is on a roll: Starting January 1, Croatia will adopt the common EU currency, the euro, and will join the so-called Schengen area. the borderless free movement area of the 27-nation bloc, prompting the prime minister to say that 2022 will be remembered as one of Croatia’s most successful years.
The adoption of the euro offers economic benefits derived from deeper financial ties with the other members of the currency bloc and the European Central Bank. More tangibly, it means that any of the current 340 million eurozone inhabitants visiting Croatia will no longer need to exchange their euros for Croatian kunas and will be able to cross borders without stopping at border controls.
But all of that is temporarily overshadowed by Tuesday’s soccer game in faraway Qatar.
Thousands are expected to gather in Zagreb’s Bana Jelacica square and watch the match against Argentina on giant screens, despite the freezing weather. Fans are hoping Croatia will reach the final like they did at the 2018 World Cup, an impressive achievement for the small country, even though they lost to France, who play Morocco in the other semi-final on Wednesday.
“We are definitely making progress,” said a Zagreb student who gave only his first name, Luka. “I would love it if we could play against France, so I can give them back what happened just four years ago.”
The football craze that has gripped the nation is visible everywhere: people wear the national team’s distinctive red and white checkered jerseys, while the semi-final is on everyone’s lips and dominates the media. At a Zagreb bakery, employees dressed up in Croatian T-shirts to work.
“All of Croatia is with our team,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said. “Yeah, what they’ve given us is a riveting success from a brilliant generation.”
Plenkovic said the football distinction will be a big boost for Croatia’s global brand.
“Everyone is trying, we are all trying to promote Croatia, but this today is mega publicity that we can never forget,” he said.
For Croats, the national team’s feat is a source of pride in a country that only gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and waged a bloody war until 1995 to assert its statehood.
In six World Cup appearances, the country has reached the semifinals three times and finished second in the world behind France in 2018.
While they were hopeful from the start of the championship, fans were wary of having too high expectations until now. In the previous quarterfinal match, Croatia faced the powerful Brazil.
But after eliminating Brazil on penalties, Croatian fans say anything is possible against another South American favourite, Argentina.
“I am optimistic, Croatia is full of confidence,” said commentator for state radio HRT, Srdjan Fabijanac. “What Croatia has done is already fantastic, twice in a row in the semi-finals, that’s something even stronger footballing nations couldn’t achieve.”
Croatia built their team from scratch after the war. While the players and soccer experts had experience and knowledge from the former Yugoslavia era, it took years of patience and work before any success was in sight.
In the post-war period, Croatia also struggled to advance economically and rebuild, before joining the EU in 2013.
For many, the captain of the national soccer team Luka Modric, who lost his home and grandfather in the war, has become a symbol of persistence and effort in the aftermath of the conflict that cost more than 10,000 lives.
Fans say that even if Argentina prevails in Qatar, Croatia’s success so far is already so great that it leaves no room for disappointment, only gratitude.
“This (tonight’s game) will remain in history for generations to come,” Prime Minister Plenkovic said.
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Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.
