It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since Croatia last qualified from the group stages of a World Cup tournament.

Back then, the 1998 vintage consisted of Davor Suker, Igor Stimac, Slaven Bilic, Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban and others, and they’d go all the way to the semi-finals before narrowly losing 2-1 to hosts, and eventual winners, France.

Fast forward to 2018, and it’s the likes of Mario Mandzukic, Dejan Lovren, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic that have picked up the baton and written another piece of Croatian history. Continue reading →