January 10, 2023 • 27 mins
Identity is weird. We draw lines across the land and say, you’re from there, I’m from here. How do you define a national identity?
Well, if you’re Croatia, you project the patriotic fervor from winning independence in a bloody civil war onto the soccer team and get third in your first-ever World Cup.
The Best Soccer Podcast In The World is a bilingual podcast that tells your soon-to-be favorite soccer stories. The host, Nando Vila, will crack open some of the most iconic World Cup moments, putting them in cultural and geopolitical contexts. From legendary players to silly hairdos to heart-wrenching losses.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
When the bombs fell over Croatia, Mario Stanitch was wading
through the Sava River. He carried a pair of underwear
and his passport over his head. Slavin Village continued to
play a match as the sound of bombs got louder
and what felt like a not so distant background. Davorsuked
was stepping onto the field for his first match wearing
a city yet jersey, and Mario Manzukich escaped to Germany
(00:26):
as the bombs continued to fall. Luka Modrid hid on
the floor of a hotel room. He and his family
had just escaped the men who had executed his grandfather. Boundaries, nationality, identity,
that's what we do. We draw lines in the sand
and say you're from there, I'm from here, You're this,
I'm that. But how does a nation recover from a
(00:49):
bloody civil war? How do you channel the glory of
hard won independence? What's the best way for a new
country to form an identity? For kroat Shaw, it was
on the soccer field. This new small country emerged from
a war to secure third place in their first ever
World Cup. This is Croatious. Key thing have a sense
(01:13):
of purpose about them. They certainly weren't lacking for motivation.
It was a huge tragedy for the people, the horrors
of the Yugoslav Civil War. They were all brothers, the
bloody battle for independence. And this was a brilliant generation
of plass channeling that emotion, channeling, you know, that sense
of pride, you can do wondrous things. Hats off to them.
(01:35):
What a nation. Today we're going to talk about how
you forge an identity after the bombing stops. I'm Nando
Vila and this is the best soccer podcast in the world.
(01:56):
Goes with it. But if still Christiano Ronaldo, yeah, yea never.
(02:27):
In Yugoslavia won the World Youth Championship, which is now
the Under twenty World Cup. This is senior writer for
ESPN Yugoslavia with like the Brazilians of Europe because they
had so much talent and so much athleticism and so on.
And this is Michael Yakin, football writer. It was an
(02:49):
absolutely magnificent built from Serfs and cross and the Bostons
and Slovenians and Macedonians and Montenegrins. They set a scoring
(03:10):
record that still stands twenty two goals overall. But the
spine of the team was Croatian. The player of the
tournament was Robert Pressiniski, a Croatian with a bling earring
who had been smoking Marlborough's since he was thirteen, and
(03:32):
Dugoobo Davos finished second top scorer with six goals and
(03:56):
the decisive penalty came from a Croatian kid who read
comics and dust so you have ski and whose father
sold defective Adidas under the table exact bob Heba Yo
(04:22):
Boat Vonnie met Boban was another who barely stuck around
for the final. He and defender you go to steam
Match had met a pair of Chilean models and snuck
out with them until six am. Quote some things in
life you cannot miss, Bobbon said. They were very beautiful.
(04:43):
The coach told them to pack their bags ahead of
the semifinal, but the rest of the player's mutinied and
threatened to leave as well, so Bobbon and Steamatch stayed.
Bobbon scored the goal ahead goal and the decisive penalty
in the final. He made your novel Bring. Boban went
(05:05):
on to play for a Similan for a decade, winning
four Italian league titles. In the Champions League So Vonnie
Boban was I think a really enigmatic, very very charismatic character,
a real thinker, and he slightly played up to that.
He would use kind of the round spectacles with the
kind of right kind of facial hair to suggest that
he might have wandered in off a Tolstoy novel. All that,
(05:27):
and he certainly read his toll sty This is James Richardson,
the host of The Totally Football Show. He went to
Boban's house to interview him when bob and played in Italy.
It was there. It was a kind of a heritage building.
It was this old I think it was an old
It might have been an old kind of abbey or something. Anyway,
he was basically doing it up under their tutelage and
(05:47):
had a magnificent and there were tapestries of an incredible
kind of library with Dostoyevsky and et cetera. There was
his gloriously stunning companion was there as well. And and
this is where's Vonnie Boban lived, and it's Vonnie Boban
esque things. I mean, he so he was kind of there,
We were there, and I can't remember if he was
wearing a velvet smoking jacket. I like to think that
(06:08):
he was. But he he kind of sat across from
me and twinkled and shared some cerebral thoughts and but
in a charming fashion. But he was also you know,
he was also a very direct man, a man of action.
And you probably know the most is it, I think
the most famous Boban story of all, which is which
is him and the start of the Yugoslav Civil War?
(06:31):
Bob and is credited with kicking off the Yugoslav Civil War. Well,
I mean, of course he didn't. But a quick bit
of background. Yugoslavia was a collection of six republics and
two autonomous provinces, so ytured our substitutes internal comitates like
Monoslavia Ugoslavia. At each class do you meet graginem No
(06:59):
or the Indo Slavia. Following the death of strongman leader Tito,
the corruption riddled government was forced to borrow from abroad,
which of course came with strict austerity imposed from the
International Monetary Fund. The economic collapse exacerbated ethnic tensions as
(07:26):
different federations fought over increasingly scarce resources. Croatian and Slovenia
withdrew from Congress and a few days later the biggest
team in Serbia, Red Star Belgrade, traveled to play the
biggest team in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb. Boban was just twenty one, Okay,
(07:54):
So this was Dinamo Zagreb with I think was their
captain at the time, certainly in moral if not real terms,
taking on Red Style bell Grade. And this was against
the backdrop of the growing tensions between the regions which
we're heading towards civil war, and there all there had
already been violence. There was also the fact that the
(08:15):
Red Style bell Grade fans were intertwined, were affiliated and
to some extent were the kind of actual paramilitaries who
would go on to become noturist war criminals under a
guy called Arkhan, who was one of the kind of Kura,
one of the Red Suburb Ultras. So this was a
tremendously charged match when the two teams were also footballing,
(08:38):
massive footballing rivals for the Yugoslav title. When they faced off,
how the match descended into a brawl. The match was
(08:59):
a bend and after ten minutes when Ar Khan and
his militant Red Star Ultras started attacking the home fans
instead of helping the police, started beating the Denomo fans
as well, at which points Vonnamir Bogan, who is still
on the field, just runs up without a second thought
does a kung fu flying kick on a on a
Yugoslav policeman. Stadio Sandra always been mucha brought into bobant
(09:31):
problem that is scene as being the moment when Vonnie
and Croatia went no, enough is enough, We're not taking
this anymore Bob and became a Croatian nationalist icon. He
was suspended for six months and missed the World Cup,
which turned out to be Yugoslavia's last tournament before civil
(09:53):
war toured apart. They qualified for Euro ninety two in
Sweden and actually there was sort of favorites to win
the tournament, but then the war started and they were
thrown out of the tournament just two weeks before it started,
(10:15):
and Denmark replaced and then wanted instead. So that was
a generation that lost that a lot of of chances
to shine on the big stage. It was a magnificent
team led by if it's Austin, the Boston coach as
actually resigned in tears when his hopetown of Saraya was
(10:37):
attacked and a lot of people were killed and lots
of the and injured and lots of their homes. So
he just before the European Championship started, he resigned in
tears and said that he was unable to continue his job.
To say that he is from Sarajevo and he wanted
all the people to know that this shouldn't happen because
(11:02):
on the beach they were all brothers. The training instructor
is a foreigner, one of Croatia's British mercenaries, one of
the British dogs of war. The Yugoslav Civil War was
Europe's deadliest since World War Two. Over a hundred thousand
people died amid the rape, genocide and war crimes. Well,
(11:26):
the whole story of Yugoslavia breaking up is a very
very complicated affair, but it wasn't for the war in Yugoslava,
in Chroastian and in Bosnia and in the Serbia. It
was a huge tragedy for for the people. The Croats
(11:48):
for independence with tennis shoes and hunting rifles. They had pistols,
the Serbs had planes. Bob and called Croatia the unwanted
child of Europe. Crow Asia's president at the time used
sports to help forge a national identity. He called athletes
the country's best ambassadors and gave them diplomatic passports. The
(12:11):
same person who designed Croatia's flag and currency also designed
their now iconic checkerboard tablecloth jerseys. The Croatian basketball team
won silver at the Olympics, losing to the USA Dream
Team of Jordan's Magic and bird Gosh shop him Clothove
(12:40):
they have hold here here technically. In soccer, Croatia had
played a handful of friendlies before, particularly around World War Two,
but their first competitive matches came in euro They got
to the quarterfinals, where eventual champions Germany dumped them out
(13:03):
Family Idea Ideals Yea. In the meantime, the talented roster
found roles at Europe's biggest clubs. Rossiniski became one of
the select few to play for both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Others joined teams in England, Italy, Germany and Spain. They
(13:26):
qualified for World Cup. They got to France via a
playoff against Ukraine and they quoted at a generous thirty
three to one. But coach midro Slav Blajevic has at
his disposal some of the finest footballing talent in Europe
and the Croatians could be one of the surprise packages
of France ninety eight. Well, I think the expectations of
(13:46):
Croatia were pretty high because two things really. One was
the fact that they had been to Europe ninety six
and done pretty well. And secondly was the fact that
Yugoslavia had been such a phenomenal collection of players, they
even dating some of them up between blocks as they fragmented.
You still had some great sides, and particularly that Croatia
(14:09):
team with Personnevski and Damasuka and Vanny bo band about.
The team was built around what they called the Chileans,
the core of the Yugoslavia side that had won the
World Youth Championship in Chile. But the Yugoslavia team broke
up and they never quite made the grade. They always
say seemed to they will always last on some of
(14:29):
their parts. So it's really interesting to see in ninety
eight when you broke up those parts, we had less parts,
could they actually add up to more? And as we
found out, yeah, they could add up to more. This
is might Again, they had fewer stars, and so the
stars stepped into the responsibility in a way that maybe
(14:50):
they didn't know that they didn't always do back when
it was a former Yugoslavia and you know, you had
you were maybe on shore of your place on the
side or whatever. You know. Bablos Suker knew that he
was going to start no matter what, and so he
took it, you know, he took it on a level.
I think that that was a big part of what
(15:12):
allowed them to go on that run. Sukid was the
biggest name on the roster. He was born on New
Year's Day to an elite shot plitter. He'd signed for
Dina Mozagreb at the wedding of one of his teammates.
Before joining Dio there, he had a breakout season, finishing
second top scorer in La Liga. His friend, the grocer,
(15:36):
gave him a melon for every goal. Isn't that nice.
His breakout season led to a big money move to
Real Madrid and heading into the ninety eight World Cup,
Suked was fresh off winning the Champions League. But turn
him at foot was such a specific thing that if
you can get a group of individuals who are talented,
who don't have any as a team and a great
glaring structural weakness, I's kind of exploit, but also can
(15:59):
get on together and and I think this is croatious
key thing, have a sense of purpose about them, then
you are going to do as well as you know,
a nation you can do as well as a nation
ten times your side. It was a small nation of
four point five million people, a proud nation who actually
believe in something, a young nation, the ideals of whose
(16:21):
creation are still very much fresh, still burning within them.
I think that that's absolutely huge. So Creation's motivation in
the idea was that it had just was emerging from
a not very happy union, the state of Yugoslavia, and
was had been the victim in some cases, and pire
at least had been it was engaged in a bloody
(16:43):
battle for independence. At the moment when your nation is
battling for survival, your notion of what your nation means,
of what your nationality represents, your pride, your passion are
so elevated that it gives you, I think, huge ability
to play beyond the levels of somebody who's just doing
(17:05):
that because yeah, I've got a cool up and I'm
gonna go and do the national team and then oh
what So remember that Elmino caused droughts floods, tornadoes, and
tsunamis across the globe, leading to the hottest year yet
on record. Oh what little did they know? Back then,
a couple of nerds founded Google. Other nerds released the
(17:26):
first Apple iMac. Even more nerds put out Microsoft Windows
y eight. Europe decided to use one currency, the Europe
Oh how little did they know? Bill Clinton claimed that
he did not have sexual relations with a woman that
he had sexual relations with. Free Willie was released into
the wild, and Michael Jordan played his last game for
(17:46):
the Bulls Titanic one eleven oscars. Harrison Ford was people's
sexiest man alive. Brand Jelina was the thing second the
City made hiss. Theybut Seinfeld aired its last show. Monica
and Chandler hooked up and friends, you cried when you
didn't get a Furbie for Christmas. You were listening to
Baby one more time and I don't want to miss
(18:08):
a thing on your portable MP three player. And FIFA
hired Ricky Martin to write the World Cup theme song
for France ninety eight. In their first World Cup Games ever,
Croatia beat Jamaica and Japan to advance from the group stages.
Was the net skate fold them completely and it's gone
in on the far post. Couldn't keep it out. Two
(18:35):
one Prosinski's sneaky goal against Jamaica made him the only
player ever to score for two different countries in World
Cup history. Yugoslavia and Croatia shook. Understand you understand, I'll
put this final understand. I was like a school Oh yeah,
(18:58):
ba la la blahbi nobout. In the knockout rounds, Romanian
players came out with peroxide blonde hair to match their jerseys.
Very When Croatia won a penalty, Boban encroached into the box,
so Suked had to retake it. Suke had felt his
pulse by putting his fingers on his neck, waiting for
(19:21):
his heart rate to steady before scoring. The game's on
legal proposed a tightness penalty and lettice keep it out.
Throughout the tournament, the team was sent VHS tapes of
the reactions across Croatia celebrating their winds throughout the summer,
coach Cito Blasovic carried around the hat of a policeman
(19:43):
who had been beaten by Hooligan's early in the tournament
for luck Blasovic wore a white scarf that he'd worn
when winning a title in two He consulted astrological charts
when picking his lineups. What I'm trying to say is
he had superstitions. Named the coach of all coaches in Croatia,
Blasovic claims to have invented the three formation. He called
(20:06):
himself the best coach in the world and convinced his
players that they were world beaters too. But against Germany
in the quarterfinals, even Blasovich froze. He was up all
night preparing the day of the game. He tossed all
his tactical schematics into the trash and just told his
players they were Kama Kaze's missing Blu defender Ego to
(20:40):
Steamatch sprinkled holy water on his teammate's legs before the game.
It was big because obviously Germany were the reigning European champions.
Gary Lineker says that soccer is a simple game. Twenty
two men chased the ball for ninety minutes and in
the end the Germans always win. You know, when you're
(21:01):
in Europe, everybody wants to knock off Germany. Everybody Germany
or the gold standard and they were back then too.
Rights thoughts as the Gary Lineker quote, It's always funny
if you ask an Italian who's your biggest rival in football,
they say German. If you ask a Dutchman, they'll say German. Right.
Simon Cooper wrote a whole book about it. If you
ask the English, oh, of course Germany. Two World Wars,
(21:24):
one World Cup. You know everybody wants to beat Germany.
They are the cock of the block right there, as
expect Yola one said about Marina, and I think with
Croatia as well. There's another element too. There's a whole
bunch of you know, there's a big use law of
immigration and specific Croatian immigration to Germany. You know, the
(21:45):
these guys had had been through the war. These guys
had dealt with the immigration to Germany primarily because they
are there the economic powerhouse of Europe. And they certainly
weren't lacking for motivation, and they showed on a day
that they weren't lacking for quality either. Stea Much said quote,
we needed revenge so badly. Christian Warrens was sent off
(22:09):
for Germany. Shoot. It was a dreadful Christian Frances basic
spending in Croatia scored three Would you believe in Croatia
playing their first World Cup finals, a tiny nation going
(22:32):
through to the semifinal, perhaps the greatest payment ever in
Croatian football history. Three nil, Croatia was into the final four,
where they'd meet host France in the semifinals. Incredible. I mean,
(22:52):
clearly nobody saw Croatia in the semifinals and they're against
the host nation. And again you look back on that France,
This French team was absolutely absolutely stabbed a mirror three
years after the Civil war, bombs quieted Croatia silence to
the eighty thousand people in the Stade de France. By
(23:13):
taking a shock, lead has picked up Tabasuka. I want
to start to the second half. Troatia take the late
immediately at it's that bad I get, but immediately coughed
it up. Fats my street shell shot that toads durn
Balliot back to it and this is linear at an
(23:36):
immediate response. What about this Boban was really struggling. He
had a temperature. He took a shower at halftime because
he couldn't feel his legs. Still as captain, he stayed
in the game. Great back towards oh he said it
adds got it, He's done it again, too cold, swatch up.
(24:05):
But in the sixty minute he coughed up the ball
and it led to France's go ahead goal. Boban called
it the biggest error of his life. He couldn't sleep
or forgive himself after the match. It's a dagger to
a heart for Croatia, but it also gives you a
sense that when you're the host nation, you have this momentum,
(24:27):
you have this sense of destiny, and there's a reason
a lot of times you pull it off in those circumstances,
especially I think when you're playing underdogs, sudled up the ball,
there is it's all over the host Frats are into
the World Drop Final and that's how it finished, France
(24:51):
to Croatia one. Croatia wasn't going to play in the
World Cup final, but that didn't mean that they were
going home. They still had to play the third and
fourth place playoff and before the match, the Croatia buss
was backing up to park Lasovich then jumped up and
(25:14):
said stop. My team can only go forward, never backward.
Croatia went on to beat the Netherlands for third place.
That was who could finish top scorer in the tournament?
Hey shook up. Let's say six to the World Cup.
France beat Brazil three nil in the final. Would Croatia
(25:36):
have won that game had things gone differently? It's one
of those questions. I don't think, Well, we'll never know
where the Croatia would have beat Brazil in the final,
even with pretend Ronaldo in that game. No, I mean,
my money would would still live been on Brazil in
the final. But you know, if you're Croatia, you're always
wonder channeling that emotion, channeling, you know, that sense of
(26:00):
side um, you can do wondrous things. Croatia built a
national identity around the plucking passion that took them to
third place at their first ever World Cup. The players
returned as national icons, but they did almost get their country,
which had been born only a few years before, into
(26:20):
the final of the World Cup. And you know, it
took a pretty phenomenal performance, if so phenomenal in fact
that it featured goals from Living in Too around which
the first time he ever scored for France. You've got
you got both that night. Anyway, it took the eventual
champions France putting them at the semifinal to stop them.
But they've you know, they threatened. It wasn't a flash
in the pan Croatia. They keep doing it. There they
(26:41):
were again, so yeah, I mean, hats off to them.
What what what a nation they were there again. We'll
talk about that World Cup in the next episode when
they spoiler Alert got to the final. The Best Soccer
Podcast in the World is a production of Exiled Content
(27:03):
Studios in partnership with I Heart Michael Dura podcast Network
and is hosted by Me Named Avila, produced by Anna
Save and zac Lee Rigg, Written by Zac Lee Rigg.
Production assistants by Stella Emmett. Our executive producers are Isaac
Lee Rose Reed and Myself Named Avila. Our executive producers
that I Heart are Gisel Bances and ar Lean Santana.
(27:25):
Sound designed by fat Are Awesome. Theme song is by
lu Ja Special. Thanks to all the voices who participated
in this episode. Call MARCOTTI, Michael Yakin, and James Richardson
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When the bombs fell over Croatia, Mario Stanitch was wading
through the Sava River. He carried a pair of underwear
and his passport over his head. Slavin Village continued to
play a match as the sound of bombs got louder
and what felt like a not so distant background. Davorsuked
was stepping onto the field for his first match wearing
a city yet jersey, and Mario Manzukich escaped to Germany
(00:26):
as the bombs continued to fall. Luka Modrid hid on
the floor of a hotel room. He and his family
had just escaped the men who had executed his grandfather. Boundaries, nationality, identity,
that's what we do. We draw lines in the sand
and say you're from there, I'm from here, You're this,
I'm that. But how does a nation recover from a
(00:49):
bloody civil war? How do you channel the glory of
hard won independence? What's the best way for a new
country to form an identity? For kroat Shaw, it was
on the soccer field. This new small country emerged from
a war to secure third place in their first ever
World Cup. This is Croatious. Key thing have a sense
(01:13):
of purpose about them. They certainly weren't lacking for motivation.
It was a huge tragedy for the people, the horrors
of the Yugoslav Civil War. They were all brothers, the
bloody battle for independence. And this was a brilliant generation
of plass channeling that emotion, channeling, you know, that sense
of pride, you can do wondrous things. Hats off to them.
(01:35):
What a nation. Today we're going to talk about how
you forge an identity after the bombing stops. I'm Nando
Vila and this is the best soccer podcast in the world.
(01:56):
Goes with it. But if still Christiano Ronaldo, yeah, yea never.
(02:27):
In Yugoslavia won the World Youth Championship, which is now
the Under twenty World Cup. This is senior writer for
ESPN Yugoslavia with like the Brazilians of Europe because they
had so much talent and so much athleticism and so on.
And this is Michael Yakin, football writer. It was an
(02:49):
absolutely magnificent built from Serfs and cross and the Bostons
and Slovenians and Macedonians and Montenegrins. They set a scoring
(03:10):
record that still stands twenty two goals overall. But the
spine of the team was Croatian. The player of the
tournament was Robert Pressiniski, a Croatian with a bling earring
who had been smoking Marlborough's since he was thirteen, and
(03:32):
Dugoobo Davos finished second top scorer with six goals and
(03:56):
the decisive penalty came from a Croatian kid who read
comics and dust so you have ski and whose father
sold defective Adidas under the table exact bob Heba Yo
(04:22):
Boat Vonnie met Boban was another who barely stuck around
for the final. He and defender you go to steam
Match had met a pair of Chilean models and snuck
out with them until six am. Quote some things in
life you cannot miss, Bobbon said. They were very beautiful.
(04:43):
The coach told them to pack their bags ahead of
the semifinal, but the rest of the player's mutinied and
threatened to leave as well, so Bobbon and Steamatch stayed.
Bobbon scored the goal ahead goal and the decisive penalty
in the final. He made your novel Bring. Boban went
(05:05):
on to play for a Similan for a decade, winning
four Italian league titles. In the Champions League So Vonnie
Boban was I think a really enigmatic, very very charismatic character,
a real thinker, and he slightly played up to that.
He would use kind of the round spectacles with the
kind of right kind of facial hair to suggest that
he might have wandered in off a Tolstoy novel. All that,
(05:27):
and he certainly read his toll sty This is James Richardson,
the host of The Totally Football Show. He went to
Boban's house to interview him when bob and played in Italy.
It was there. It was a kind of a heritage building.
It was this old I think it was an old
It might have been an old kind of abbey or something. Anyway,
he was basically doing it up under their tutelage and
(05:47):
had a magnificent and there were tapestries of an incredible
kind of library with Dostoyevsky and et cetera. There was
his gloriously stunning companion was there as well. And and
this is where's Vonnie Boban lived, and it's Vonnie Boban
esque things. I mean, he so he was kind of there,
We were there, and I can't remember if he was
wearing a velvet smoking jacket. I like to think that
(06:08):
he was. But he he kind of sat across from
me and twinkled and shared some cerebral thoughts and but
in a charming fashion. But he was also you know,
he was also a very direct man, a man of action.
And you probably know the most is it, I think
the most famous Boban story of all, which is which
is him and the start of the Yugoslav Civil War?
(06:31):
Bob and is credited with kicking off the Yugoslav Civil War. Well,
I mean, of course he didn't. But a quick bit
of background. Yugoslavia was a collection of six republics and
two autonomous provinces, so ytured our substitutes internal comitates like
Monoslavia Ugoslavia. At each class do you meet graginem No
(06:59):
or the Indo Slavia. Following the death of strongman leader Tito,
the corruption riddled government was forced to borrow from abroad,
which of course came with strict austerity imposed from the
International Monetary Fund. The economic collapse exacerbated ethnic tensions as
(07:26):
different federations fought over increasingly scarce resources. Croatian and Slovenia
withdrew from Congress and a few days later the biggest
team in Serbia, Red Star Belgrade, traveled to play the
biggest team in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb. Boban was just twenty one, Okay,
(07:54):
So this was Dinamo Zagreb with I think was their
captain at the time, certainly in moral if not real terms,
taking on Red Style bell Grade. And this was against
the backdrop of the growing tensions between the regions which
we're heading towards civil war, and there all there had
already been violence. There was also the fact that the
(08:15):
Red Style bell Grade fans were intertwined, were affiliated and
to some extent were the kind of actual paramilitaries who
would go on to become noturist war criminals under a
guy called Arkhan, who was one of the kind of Kura,
one of the Red Suburb Ultras. So this was a
tremendously charged match when the two teams were also footballing,
(08:38):
massive footballing rivals for the Yugoslav title. When they faced off,
how the match descended into a brawl. The match was
(08:59):
a bend and after ten minutes when Ar Khan and
his militant Red Star Ultras started attacking the home fans
instead of helping the police, started beating the Denomo fans
as well, at which points Vonnamir Bogan, who is still
on the field, just runs up without a second thought
does a kung fu flying kick on a on a
Yugoslav policeman. Stadio Sandra always been mucha brought into bobant
(09:31):
problem that is scene as being the moment when Vonnie
and Croatia went no, enough is enough, We're not taking
this anymore Bob and became a Croatian nationalist icon. He
was suspended for six months and missed the World Cup,
which turned out to be Yugoslavia's last tournament before civil
(09:53):
war toured apart. They qualified for Euro ninety two in
Sweden and actually there was sort of favorites to win
the tournament, but then the war started and they were
thrown out of the tournament just two weeks before it started,
(10:15):
and Denmark replaced and then wanted instead. So that was
a generation that lost that a lot of of chances
to shine on the big stage. It was a magnificent
team led by if it's Austin, the Boston coach as
actually resigned in tears when his hopetown of Saraya was
(10:37):
attacked and a lot of people were killed and lots
of the and injured and lots of their homes. So
he just before the European Championship started, he resigned in
tears and said that he was unable to continue his job.
To say that he is from Sarajevo and he wanted
all the people to know that this shouldn't happen because
(11:02):
on the beach they were all brothers. The training instructor
is a foreigner, one of Croatia's British mercenaries, one of
the British dogs of war. The Yugoslav Civil War was
Europe's deadliest since World War Two. Over a hundred thousand
people died amid the rape, genocide and war crimes. Well,
(11:26):
the whole story of Yugoslavia breaking up is a very
very complicated affair, but it wasn't for the war in Yugoslava,
in Chroastian and in Bosnia and in the Serbia. It
was a huge tragedy for for the people. The Croats
(11:48):
for independence with tennis shoes and hunting rifles. They had pistols,
the Serbs had planes. Bob and called Croatia the unwanted
child of Europe. Crow Asia's president at the time used
sports to help forge a national identity. He called athletes
the country's best ambassadors and gave them diplomatic passports. The
(12:11):
same person who designed Croatia's flag and currency also designed
their now iconic checkerboard tablecloth jerseys. The Croatian basketball team
won silver at the Olympics, losing to the USA Dream
Team of Jordan's Magic and bird Gosh shop him Clothove
(12:40):
they have hold here here technically. In soccer, Croatia had
played a handful of friendlies before, particularly around World War Two,
but their first competitive matches came in euro They got
to the quarterfinals, where eventual champions Germany dumped them out
(13:03):
Family Idea Ideals Yea. In the meantime, the talented roster
found roles at Europe's biggest clubs. Rossiniski became one of
the select few to play for both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Others joined teams in England, Italy, Germany and Spain. They
(13:26):
qualified for World Cup. They got to France via a
playoff against Ukraine and they quoted at a generous thirty
three to one. But coach midro Slav Blajevic has at
his disposal some of the finest footballing talent in Europe
and the Croatians could be one of the surprise packages
of France ninety eight. Well, I think the expectations of
(13:46):
Croatia were pretty high because two things really. One was
the fact that they had been to Europe ninety six
and done pretty well. And secondly was the fact that
Yugoslavia had been such a phenomenal collection of players, they
even dating some of them up between blocks as they fragmented.
You still had some great sides, and particularly that Croatia
(14:09):
team with Personnevski and Damasuka and Vanny bo band about.
The team was built around what they called the Chileans,
the core of the Yugoslavia side that had won the
World Youth Championship in Chile. But the Yugoslavia team broke
up and they never quite made the grade. They always
say seemed to they will always last on some of
(14:29):
their parts. So it's really interesting to see in ninety
eight when you broke up those parts, we had less parts,
could they actually add up to more? And as we
found out, yeah, they could add up to more. This
is might Again, they had fewer stars, and so the
stars stepped into the responsibility in a way that maybe
(14:50):
they didn't know that they didn't always do back when
it was a former Yugoslavia and you know, you had
you were maybe on shore of your place on the
side or whatever. You know. Bablos Suker knew that he
was going to start no matter what, and so he
took it, you know, he took it on a level.
I think that that was a big part of what
(15:12):
allowed them to go on that run. Sukid was the
biggest name on the roster. He was born on New
Year's Day to an elite shot plitter. He'd signed for
Dina Mozagreb at the wedding of one of his teammates.
Before joining Dio there, he had a breakout season, finishing
second top scorer in La Liga. His friend, the grocer,
(15:36):
gave him a melon for every goal. Isn't that nice.
His breakout season led to a big money move to
Real Madrid and heading into the ninety eight World Cup,
Suked was fresh off winning the Champions League. But turn
him at foot was such a specific thing that if
you can get a group of individuals who are talented,
who don't have any as a team and a great
glaring structural weakness, I's kind of exploit, but also can
(15:59):
get on together and and I think this is croatious
key thing, have a sense of purpose about them, then
you are going to do as well as you know,
a nation you can do as well as a nation
ten times your side. It was a small nation of
four point five million people, a proud nation who actually
believe in something, a young nation, the ideals of whose
(16:21):
creation are still very much fresh, still burning within them.
I think that that's absolutely huge. So Creation's motivation in
the idea was that it had just was emerging from
a not very happy union, the state of Yugoslavia, and
was had been the victim in some cases, and pire
at least had been it was engaged in a bloody
(16:43):
battle for independence. At the moment when your nation is
battling for survival, your notion of what your nation means,
of what your nationality represents, your pride, your passion are
so elevated that it gives you, I think, huge ability
to play beyond the levels of somebody who's just doing
(17:05):
that because yeah, I've got a cool up and I'm
gonna go and do the national team and then oh
what So remember that Elmino caused droughts floods, tornadoes, and
tsunamis across the globe, leading to the hottest year yet
on record. Oh what little did they know? Back then,
a couple of nerds founded Google. Other nerds released the
(17:26):
first Apple iMac. Even more nerds put out Microsoft Windows
y eight. Europe decided to use one currency, the Europe
Oh how little did they know? Bill Clinton claimed that
he did not have sexual relations with a woman that
he had sexual relations with. Free Willie was released into
the wild, and Michael Jordan played his last game for
(17:46):
the Bulls Titanic one eleven oscars. Harrison Ford was people's
sexiest man alive. Brand Jelina was the thing second the
City made hiss. Theybut Seinfeld aired its last show. Monica
and Chandler hooked up and friends, you cried when you
didn't get a Furbie for Christmas. You were listening to
Baby one more time and I don't want to miss
(18:08):
a thing on your portable MP three player. And FIFA
hired Ricky Martin to write the World Cup theme song
for France ninety eight. In their first World Cup Games ever,
Croatia beat Jamaica and Japan to advance from the group stages.
Was the net skate fold them completely and it's gone
in on the far post. Couldn't keep it out. Two
(18:35):
one Prosinski's sneaky goal against Jamaica made him the only
player ever to score for two different countries in World
Cup history. Yugoslavia and Croatia shook. Understand you understand, I'll
put this final understand. I was like a school Oh yeah,
(18:58):
ba la la blahbi nobout. In the knockout rounds, Romanian
players came out with peroxide blonde hair to match their jerseys.
Very When Croatia won a penalty, Boban encroached into the box,
so Suked had to retake it. Suke had felt his
pulse by putting his fingers on his neck, waiting for
(19:21):
his heart rate to steady before scoring. The game's on
legal proposed a tightness penalty and lettice keep it out.
Throughout the tournament, the team was sent VHS tapes of
the reactions across Croatia celebrating their winds throughout the summer,
coach Cito Blasovic carried around the hat of a policeman
(19:43):
who had been beaten by Hooligan's early in the tournament
for luck Blasovic wore a white scarf that he'd worn
when winning a title in two He consulted astrological charts
when picking his lineups. What I'm trying to say is
he had superstitions. Named the coach of all coaches in Croatia,
Blasovic claims to have invented the three formation. He called
(20:06):
himself the best coach in the world and convinced his
players that they were world beaters too. But against Germany
in the quarterfinals, even Blasovich froze. He was up all
night preparing the day of the game. He tossed all
his tactical schematics into the trash and just told his
players they were Kama Kaze's missing Blu defender Ego to
(20:40):
Steamatch sprinkled holy water on his teammate's legs before the game.
It was big because obviously Germany were the reigning European champions.
Gary Lineker says that soccer is a simple game. Twenty
two men chased the ball for ninety minutes and in
the end the Germans always win. You know, when you're
(21:01):
in Europe, everybody wants to knock off Germany. Everybody Germany
or the gold standard and they were back then too.
Rights thoughts as the Gary Lineker quote, It's always funny
if you ask an Italian who's your biggest rival in football,
they say German. If you ask a Dutchman, they'll say German. Right.
Simon Cooper wrote a whole book about it. If you
ask the English, oh, of course Germany. Two World Wars,
(21:24):
one World Cup. You know everybody wants to beat Germany.
They are the cock of the block right there, as
expect Yola one said about Marina, and I think with
Croatia as well. There's another element too. There's a whole
bunch of you know, there's a big use law of
immigration and specific Croatian immigration to Germany. You know, the
(21:45):
these guys had had been through the war. These guys
had dealt with the immigration to Germany primarily because they
are there the economic powerhouse of Europe. And they certainly
weren't lacking for motivation, and they showed on a day
that they weren't lacking for quality either. Stea Much said quote,
we needed revenge so badly. Christian Warrens was sent off
(22:09):
for Germany. Shoot. It was a dreadful Christian Frances basic
spending in Croatia scored three Would you believe in Croatia
playing their first World Cup finals, a tiny nation going
(22:32):
through to the semifinal, perhaps the greatest payment ever in
Croatian football history. Three nil, Croatia was into the final four,
where they'd meet host France in the semifinals. Incredible. I mean,
(22:52):
clearly nobody saw Croatia in the semifinals and they're against
the host nation. And again you look back on that France,
This French team was absolutely absolutely stabbed a mirror three
years after the Civil war, bombs quieted Croatia silence to
the eighty thousand people in the Stade de France. By
(23:13):
taking a shock, lead has picked up Tabasuka. I want
to start to the second half. Troatia take the late
immediately at it's that bad I get, but immediately coughed
it up. Fats my street shell shot that toads durn
Balliot back to it and this is linear at an
(23:36):
immediate response. What about this Boban was really struggling. He
had a temperature. He took a shower at halftime because
he couldn't feel his legs. Still as captain, he stayed
in the game. Great back towards oh he said it
adds got it, He's done it again, too cold, swatch up.
(24:05):
But in the sixty minute he coughed up the ball
and it led to France's go ahead goal. Boban called
it the biggest error of his life. He couldn't sleep
or forgive himself after the match. It's a dagger to
a heart for Croatia, but it also gives you a
sense that when you're the host nation, you have this momentum,
(24:27):
you have this sense of destiny, and there's a reason
a lot of times you pull it off in those circumstances,
especially I think when you're playing underdogs, sudled up the ball,
there is it's all over the host Frats are into
the World Drop Final and that's how it finished, France
(24:51):
to Croatia one. Croatia wasn't going to play in the
World Cup final, but that didn't mean that they were
going home. They still had to play the third and
fourth place playoff and before the match, the Croatia buss
was backing up to park Lasovich then jumped up and
(25:14):
said stop. My team can only go forward, never backward.
Croatia went on to beat the Netherlands for third place.
That was who could finish top scorer in the tournament?
Hey shook up. Let's say six to the World Cup.
France beat Brazil three nil in the final. Would Croatia
(25:36):
have won that game had things gone differently? It's one
of those questions. I don't think, Well, we'll never know
where the Croatia would have beat Brazil in the final,
even with pretend Ronaldo in that game. No, I mean,
my money would would still live been on Brazil in
the final. But you know, if you're Croatia, you're always
wonder channeling that emotion, channeling, you know, that sense of
(26:00):
side um, you can do wondrous things. Croatia built a
national identity around the plucking passion that took them to
third place at their first ever World Cup. The players
returned as national icons, but they did almost get their country,
which had been born only a few years before, into
(26:20):
the final of the World Cup. And you know, it
took a pretty phenomenal performance, if so phenomenal in fact
that it featured goals from Living in Too around which
the first time he ever scored for France. You've got
you got both that night. Anyway, it took the eventual
champions France putting them at the semifinal to stop them.
But they've you know, they threatened. It wasn't a flash
in the pan Croatia. They keep doing it. There they
(26:41):
were again, so yeah, I mean, hats off to them.
What what what a nation they were there again. We'll
talk about that World Cup in the next episode when
they spoiler Alert got to the final. The Best Soccer
Podcast in the World is a production of Exiled Content
(27:03):
Studios in partnership with I Heart Michael Dura podcast Network
and is hosted by Me Named Avila, produced by Anna
Save and zac Lee Rigg, Written by Zac Lee Rigg.
Production assistants by Stella Emmett. Our executive producers are Isaac
Lee Rose Reed and Myself Named Avila. Our executive producers
that I Heart are Gisel Bances and ar Lean Santana.
(27:25):
Sound designed by fat Are Awesome. Theme song is by
lu Ja Special. Thanks to all the voices who participated
in this episode. Call MARCOTTI, Michael Yakin, and James Richardson
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