The title of this post may seem pompous to non-Croatians or anyone not familiar with English Premier League or Croatian soccer, but when you see how Luka Modric plays and when you see how well the five Croatian players that already play in the EPL perform, you would probably think differently.
Ever since Croatia defeated England twice in Euro 2008 qualifying with scores of 2-0 in Zagreb and 3-2 in London (with an aggregate score of 5-2), there was an uproar among the English and believe it or not, it was not against the Croats as many English fans are known for blaming the other team for their national team's failures. Instead, it was actually against their own players and of course former coach Steve McClaren who was fired by the English Football Association the day after the embarrassing defeat forcing England to rebuild. English players even went as low as trying to blame their own fans for the "pressure" that they put on them. One of these players was Michael Owen. Some English fans even jumped on the Croatian bandwagon. One such fan is Kevin McCarra, a fellow blogger, who wrote one blog post titled "How to build a decent team? Follow Croatia's lead" which I am not going to get into too much detail here (just read his blog).
Americans that religiously follow soccer (and believe it or not there are quite a few of them) watch whatever Fox Soccer Channel spits out them. If you know anything about the games they show, it is only the leagues of the British isles as well national team games from these British national teams (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and sometimes Ireland), MLS, Brazil, USA, and some occasional games from Italian league and Champions League and others that I can't think of from the top of my head. Being that this is one of the few soccer channels that actually broadcasts in the United States, most American soccer fans blindly follow England when it comes to another international team other than Team USA. One such fan is a youtuber with the name kurtmac who released these two videos when previewing the final Scotland qualifying matches and the England-Croatia qualifying finale for Euro 2008.
Now I'm not the kind of person that would go and attack this person's video. It is his right to follow and root for the English national team, and I really respect him for going against the typical American soccer fan who celebrate English soccer as if they can do no wrong and putting up this follow-up video after the match.
He then posted this video about Croatian Christmas traditions (most of which I didn't even know), but the fact that he took the time to research this, makes me think that these fans aren't ignorant. I know this isn't soccer video, but I thought I would post it anyway.
In a more recent video posted this month, kurtmac does admit that he will support Croatia in Euro 2008 and said he will compile a video on the Euro 2008 so I will talk more about this when this video is posted.
Now, back to Luka Modric, the latest of the Croatian players to play in the English Premier League. After the game against England, Modric returned to Zagreb to play the rest of the season with his club Dinamo Zagreb. As he was interviewed by a Croatian reporter, he hinted that he would be willing very soon to sign on to a club in much better European league. Well that time has come, and even though I am dissapointed to see this 22 year old soccer prodigy leave one of my favorite Croatian clubs, he will definitely come back with more experience for the national team.
According to this article from the Canadian Press, Modric signed a contract with Tottenham, a lesser known English Premier League Club that has not been doing too well lately. Modric was also linked in negotiations with Arsenal, Chelsea, and Newscastle, but his move to Tottenham has become official. He will make his move to the London-based club during the off-season if he passes a physicalland obtains a English working permit. The club has not revealed how much they will give him, but Croatian television has said that he will sign a five year contract and that he is worth about 26 million euros. This makes him Tottenham's and Croatia's most expensive player. I will provide more information regarding this big news later as more information becomes available. I will now end this post with a few videos from youtube featuring Modric.
Video of him previewing/watching a Tottenham match in the stands (as shown on Croatian television) during a trip to sign his contract this past Saturday
First interview in England regarding his new contract
A Video of some of his many goals
A video tribute to Modric
Interview and Background aired on English television
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