Croatia

The Story

Croatia is a coastline with a country attached to it. Population 3.8 million, fewer people than the city of Los Angeles — and yet here they are again, qualifying out of a manageable UEFA group, walking into their seventh World Cup with the same coach (Zlatko Dalić, in charge since 2017) and the same midfielder (Luka Modrić, who has been Croatia's captain for so long that the players he now leads grew up watching him).

The headline is Modrić. He is 40 years old. He left Real Madrid last summer for AC Milan because he wanted to play for a club that needed him in the spring. He has said this is his last World Cup. He plays the position — central midfielder — that you cannot fake at his age, and he is somehow still doing it. If you watch one player in the group stage out of pure historical curiosity, make it him.

The rest of the team is the post-Modrić Croatia in waiting. Gvardiol is a generational center-back. Kovačić is the heir at No. 10. The wingers — Pašalić, Kramarić — are veterans now, and a new generation around Petar Sučić is ready. The math is simple: Croatia has medaled at three of the last seven World Cups. Doing it again would be one of the great running jokes in international soccer. They are absolutely capable of it. They are also one bad knee away from going home in the group.

3 Players to Know

Luka Modrić

He's 40 years old, three months from 41, and he just won an away match for AC Milan in February with the match-winning goal. He left Real Madrid last summer after 13 seasons and 28 trophies because he wanted one more season of meaningful minutes before this World Cup. Modrić has said publicly this will be his last international tournament. Watching him captain Croatia in 2026 will be like watching Tim Duncan in his last NBA Finals — a player who has nothing left to prove, doing it anyway, because his country needs him to.

Joško Gvardiol

The 24-year-old Manchester City defender who plays center-back like a libero from a different era — comfortable carrying the ball forward, comfortable making the kind of pass through midfield that scares opposing managers. He'll be the spine of Croatia's defense for the next decade. The Dinamo Zagreb academy graduate is what every modern center-back wants to be when they grow up.

Mateo Kovačić

The Manchester City midfielder who has spent his whole career being the second name on the team-sheet behind Modrić, and is finally inheriting the No. 10 shirt that means something in Croatia. Quiet, technical, the most underrated press-resistant midfielder in the Premier League. If Croatia goes on a run in 2026, Kovačić is the one absorbing pressure in midfield so the wingers can run.

The Food

Signature Dish

On the Dalmatian coast, dinner is grilled fish — branzino, orata, scampi — pulled from the Adriatic that morning, dressed with olive oil pressed in a village press, salt, lemon. Inland, it is ćevapi: small finger-shaped grilled meat sausages served on lepinja flatbread with raw onion and ajvar (a roasted red pepper relish that should be in every American refrigerator). Then black risotto stained with cuttlefish ink, peka (meat and potatoes slow-roasted under an iron bell covered in coals), and rakija — fruit brandy strong enough to cure both a cold and the desire to drive home.

Where to Eat in DFW

Balkan Garden Bistro in Grapevine — the closest authentic Balkan kitchen to DFW, with a ćevapi plate that D Magazine called the star of the menu. Owner-operated, family-run, the kind of place where the host knows what you should order if you've never had this food before. For Croatian deli ingredients and bread, Eddie's EuroMart in the Garland area is the only real source in North Texas.

Fan Culture

The Vatreni (the Blazers, in red-and-white checkerboard) travel like a country twice their size. The Croatian flag is one of the most identifiable in soccer — the šahovnica, the chessboard pattern that doubles as the nation's coat of arms — and it goes up in any stadium they're in. Expect klapa singing before kickoff, the ancient a cappella harmonies of the Dalmatian coast, suddenly breaking out in a pub in Arlington. Expect generosity: Croatian fans are warm with strangers and absolutely vicious with referees. If they score, the entire bar will be hugging you within three seconds.