CROATIA v Brazil

Apparently there’s not very many Croats in London, but I don’t believe it. They’d arranged events at three or four London pubs for their opening game against Brazil, and we headed for the one that we thought would have the most action.

And I presume we chose right, because both the ground floor and first floor bars were rammed with fans, sporting their famous checked shirts…. and checked hats… and checked caps… and checked bandanas… and checked flags… and checked inflatable flags… and checked face paint… and, my personal favourite, checked minidresses. This corner of London’s swinging Kings Road really had been turned into a mini Croatia, complete with Hajduk Split flags on the walls.

There was plenty of boisterous singing in Croatian, proving that everyone here was Croatia through and through, but judging by the Aussie and English accents I was hearing, a healthy chunk of the support were second or third generation, explaining where all these Croats had suddenly appeared from.

And they were well up for this game against the champions. They had no inferiority complex. Not for the Croats any platitudes about simply being glad to be here, meeting the lauded Brazilians. No, they’d come to win. Good on them. Although they managed to spare some cheers for the ubiquitous Brazilian bikini babes who were wheeled out on the screen.

And the team were playing with the same admirable attitude, tearing into the Brazilians and enjoying as many chances as their illustrious opponents. The crowd were loving it and the atmosphere was fantastic.

I was loving it too. Even if I hadn’t been on my quest, I would have found it hard to resist the lure of Croatia; especially considering the unqualified praise lumped on Brazil by the press.

I was even getting behind Rangers’ Dado Prso who was somehow having an excellent game. But then disaster struck on the stroke of half time, with a top-drawer strike from Brazil’s Kaka. The crowd were stunned.

But they roared back into life in the second half, as did their team. Maybe my judgement was clouded by the intense atmosphere, but they were playing at least as well as Brazil.

The excitement mounted throughout the second half as they went in search of the equaliser they deserved, building to a crescendo towards the final whistle.

But when that whistle came they were deflated. They were pissed off to lose 1-0 to Brazil. We offered our commiserations. They said it was alright. We still knew they were pissed off. But maybe it was alright. On the basis of that performance, and with Japan and Australia to come, we should be seeing more of Croatia’s committed fans in this year’s tournament.