Sydney: Nothing has united the Croatian diaspora more than qualifying for the country’s first World Cup final, with celebrations among expat communities rivalling the excitement felt in Zagreb.
“You’ve got to understand how huge this is,” said Veljko Bosnic, president of the Dalmacija Sydney Croatian Club in Australia, home to one of the largest expat Croatian communities in the world outside of Europe.
“We’ve been raised on football for many, many generations.
“It’s in our DNA.” Bosnic has to use the word “soccer” because Australians don’t understand the round-ball game is “real football”, and often confuse it with Australian Rules or Rugby League, played with a pill-shaped ball.
But the Pacific nation has caught World Cup fever with more than half a million people sitting up until the early hours of Thursday morning to watch Croatia’s “fiery ones” defeat England to make it to their first ever World Cup final against France on Sunday.
Ivan Spehar, owner of Ivan’s Smallgoods in the Sydney suburb of Chester Hill, had to employ extra staff to keep up with World Cup demand for cevapi, the traditional skinless sausage eaten in the Balkan states.
“Yes, there’s big demand for tomorrow — big, big orders, much bigger than usual, and next week if they do win first place there’s possibly even more than as they’ll be celebrating more.” Croatian-Australians have always had a strong presence in the Australian national team, including big names like striker Mark Viduka and Mark Bosnich, the former goalkeeper for Manchester United and Chelsea Football Club, helping to popularise the sport.
In Australia’s capital, Canberra, the First Secretary at the Croatian embassy Sandra Tvrtkovic visited French ambassador Christophe Penot on Friday ahead of the big match, which happens early Monday morning local time.
“To win would be a dream come true for our small country, plus for Croatians around the world. We are really just living the dream now. Hoping and cheering for the victory,” Tvrtkovic was quoted as saying by the Canberra Times.
