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What's up everybody, welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast. I'm your host,
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Stanko Zovak, and I'm bringing you the best of Croatia from around the globe.
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This episode is brought to you by Adriatic Tours, the best place since 1974 to book your
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information, go to www.adriatictours.com or click the link in the description. Now,
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eat a modalia and let's get started.
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Alright, what's up everybody, welcome back to the podcast. On this episode, our special guest is
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Daniela Rogulj. Daniela is a Croatian-American journalist and reporter who moved from California
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to Croatia, where she now covers soccer or football for the rest of the world, or Nogomet for us.
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She's live now, reading She Lives Now in Qatar. She's live now in Qatar, where she's covering
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the Croatian matches. And in this episode, we're going to learn a little bit more about her and
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hear firsthand how the World Cup is going in Qatar and how the Croatian team looks.
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Daniela, thanks for coming on the podcast.
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Of course, thank you for having me.
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Of course. We were just talking off camera about Qatar and everything, how the whole setup is,
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and I'm really interested to learn more about that. But before we get into that, you also have a
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really interesting story about yourself. So you're born and raised in Southern California.
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Yeah, born and raised in San Diego, lived there until I was 17 until I graduated high school
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and went to university and then moved to San Francisco and lived there for almost seven years.
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And then things kind of developed and I was in Nashville for a bit, then London for a bit,
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and then ultimately split. But yeah, both my parents are Croatian, were born in Croatia.
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My mom's from Metkovic. My dad was born in Split. My grandma from Stadigrad, on Hlar,
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my grandfather from a small village above Trogir called Prapatnica. So grew up very Dalmatian,
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especially, very, very Dalmatian household. And luckily, most of my dad's family moved from
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Croatia to the States. So I grew up with a kind of large Croatian family growing up in San Diego,
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in Southern California. So was lucky to have that. So Croatia was never too far out of sight.
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And obviously, we visited every summer as much as we could. And yeah, now I live in Split.
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I've been in Split for crazy, totally on accident, by accident. That happened. I had no plan
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to live in Croatia. Obviously, for me, it was my summer place. I had never stayed in Croatia
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in the autumn or the winter or the spring. I had only ever seen Croatia in the summer.
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But I came back to get my citizenship, of course, and got that quite quickly in a couple weeks.
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My parents had just come back to retire, to Split to retire. And I obviously had these big plans,
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like, oh, great, now I have my EU citizenship, I'm going to go to Berlin, I'm going to go anywhere
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about Croatia. But that was the summer of 2015, when Split kind of experienced, and I say this a
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lot, but it was just kind of like new renaissance. There were new bars, new places to go out,
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different restaurants, more international wine bars, etc. Split really had this different vibe
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than what I was used to when we would visit, when it was really just this kind of port city.
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So my parents convinced me to stay. And so I stayed and gave up my hope of living in Berlin
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or anywhere else. And best decision I ever made, got a job, great job, about six months later,
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working with Total Croatian News. And I had actually gone to university to study journalism,
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political journalism, so it's slightly different. And so in a way, my life kind of came full circle
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when I moved to Croatia. Then I came back to the homeland to do actually what I had set out to do
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in uni. And at first I was writing more about travel and Split and lifestyle and whatnot
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with Total Croatian News. And what I really wanted was to write about football. That was always my
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dream. I played for, got over a decade. My grandfather was a referee, my dad was a coach,
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my brother was a player, football can completely consume family. So at that time, Total Croatian
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News already had somebody writing about football and specifically Haiduk, which is my team. And after
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he left, then I took over as a sports editor and then started following the Croatian national team
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and all Croatian football, in addition to other Croatian sport. And I've been doing that now
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since 2016-17. I've been writing about sport in Croatia and it's taken me to a lot of places,
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including Qatar for the World Cup. So here I am. Yeah, that's crazy. If you look back,
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before you moved to Croatia, what was it, seven years ago? Seven years ago. If you would have
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thought seven years later you'd be living in Croatia, you're in Qatar for the World Cup covering it,
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what would you have thought? No way. I would have not believed you for a second.
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I swear and I say that all the time. America, everybody says America is the land of opportunity.
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I truly do not believe I could have achieved what I have here in America. I don't think I would have,
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which is interesting because I think it's good to be in Croatia with an American work ethic. I
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think that's really important because I do think that that helps and obviously we are very persistent
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here and once you have your heart set on something, especially me, I don't like to be told no. And I
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will never forget. Before I had applied for to cover my first Croatian national team match,
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I had a colleague at the time and I was asking, how do I apply? How do I apply for press? At that
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point I had no idea and he's like, don't even bother, you'll never get a press pass. And that
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motivated me beyond belief. I was like, oh really? I'm not going to get a press pass. Okay. So of
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course I apply and I get a press pass for my first match and I think that was Croatia, Kosovo,
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a European qualifier. But I'm so grateful to that colleague because that had kind of paved the way
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for me to say, you know what? I can do this. I can, number one, be a football journalist. I can be a
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female football journalist in Croatia and I know it can take me places as long as I put my heart
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to it. And like I said, it has because I'm in Qatar now for the World Cup. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,
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sometimes that's the best motivation, you know, from other people like that. For sure. For sure.
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And actually, I do, actually, I want to ask about Canada a little bit and their coach and what they
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said because you know, that's sort of a similar situation. But before that, I want to backtrack
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just for a second. Did you say that you got your citizenship in a few weeks? Oh my gosh. Well,
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a few weeks, yes, a few weeks when I came to Croatia, about a year, it took about a year
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before that trying to do it outside of Croatia. Okay, okay. Yeah, but once I came, once I came
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to Croatia, and this was 2015, so I know the rules have changed since then. All we did, my mom and I
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went to MOOC. I just had to show their paperwork. And obviously, I had everything else done, like
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the Apostle and all that stuff. Literally two weeks, I had my ID card and passport. Wow. After a year
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of going to like the consulate in London and calling it, you know, the embassy in America and LA and
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whatnot. Oh my gosh, then here it was like, done. It's not that easy anymore. I hear, I hear it's
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a bit more difficult now to get your citizenship, but apparently, yeah, I applied, I think around
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six months ago, I'm still waiting, but I mean, we'll see anything under a year, I'll be happy.
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Yeah, anything under a year, my friend, my girlfriend back in California, she just got
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hers. I think it took 10 months and she did that all at this pace. So, you know, you might,
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you might get lucky if I get it. There's hope. There's hope. There's hope. There's hope. Well,
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well, Daniela, let me ask you a little bit as a reporter, as a journalist, what exactly are you
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doing? You know, are you close to the field? Do you talk with the players? Do you write articles
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about the game? Do you interview the ask questions, you know, in the interview room after the game?
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Sort of, what's your sort of day to day in that context? So here, well, it's been actually a bit
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interesting since I've been here because I haven't, I'm staying about 40 minutes ish from actually
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like the center of Doha. So it's been a bit tough. I really feel like I've been in the, on the bus,
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we have media transport and I've been on that more than anything, I think at this point. But
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so far as covering Croatia, there's a press conference before each, before each match,
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the day before each match, and that's always Dalic and a player. So those are the big ones to go to,
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because those are obviously 24 hours before kickoff. And, you know, people ask questions about,
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let's say the lineup, what can we expect? Obviously, they don't like to give away too much for obvious
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reasons. But those are always the most important press conferences, I think, to attend. And those
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are held at the main media center, which is where all the media activities have been running
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for journalists and guitar. So that's kind of our hub of everything. During the matches, I write
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live. So I cover the matches live, which comes with a lot of anxiety. And it's tough when you're
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also a fan, you know, and then you're just sitting there like you want to watch and enjoy, but you're
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like, no, I have to write and actually like take care of business. But I've also, I think it was a
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lot tougher for me doing it five years ago than now. Now I've really learned how to, you know, kind
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of, okay, take a step back. This not every little small detail needs to be written about, we can kind
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of observe and summarize certain parts. So those games, all games I write about live and publish,
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the results, the second, you know, the final whistle blows. After the games, we have a mix zone,
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and that's with the players. So that is where journalists can ask questions. So FIFA is doing
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it a bit differently this year, actually, or this time around. Right, as soon as the game is done,
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we go to this mix zone area, and they send three players right off the pitch. And that they come
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and speak to you. So the other day after the Croatia-Canada game, we had Gvarda the Old,
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Petkovic and Maier came and spoke to us immediately. And so there, there's a bunch of journalists
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there. You know, so everybody's asking questions, everybody has their phone out and recording.
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And then if you wait about 30 to 40 minutes, you can get the rest of the players. So this is after
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they've showered. This is after, you know, they're all clean, la, la, la. So Mozretz stopped the other
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day for what he said, just one short question. He's usually great though. Mozretz actually loves
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talking to everybody. Loviden stopped for a little bit, Petyshic stopped for a little bit.
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But just to, as the team has to kind of, you know, also run on schedule, you know, we have to respect
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that and try not to bombard them with too much. This is the World Cup after all. And then we can
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as well go to training sessions. Croatia's training sessions. Media has the right to see about 15
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minutes of the training sessions. Obviously, there's not much to see in the first 15 minutes.
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It's usually just the warm-up. But you'll kind of see who, if any player is injured, and things
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like that, if anybody's maybe in question, or maybe training separately and things like that.
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So things that journalists would be interested in going into a game. And so yeah, it's been busy.
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There's a lot going on here. A lot going on here. And now, so do you know, are you, I mean, I won't
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say like friends with the players, but I mean, are you in contact with the players before? I mean,
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before Qatar, I'm sure the Haidu players, you probably have spoken with more often than the
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other players. No, you know, it's funny. I'm a bit shy. And I think it's, I think part of me is like,
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you know, why do they want to talk to another journalist? You know, it's just like that kind
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of thing inside. I'm like, like, give them their space. You know, obviously, a lot of the other
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journalists are very aggressive. And I tried to not be that, you know, I kind of want to be like,
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okay, if it feels right, I'll feel out the situation, then we can speak. And if not,
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they have too much on their plate, you know? So no, I would not say I'm in contact with players.
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I would don't think I would like to be. I think I would like to maintain that respect and kind of
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let them do their job. I don't think they need another journalist on their back. I'll put it that way.
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Yeah, well, yeah, that's definitely a tough balance. I mean, you have to ask questions. And
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but at the same time, you don't want to, you know, ask questions that you know are going to cause a
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reaction that they don't want to hear or that I don't know. I mean, yeah, that's definitely,
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that's definitely it's a tough job. Of course, of course. And, you know, before off camera,
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we were talking a little bit about sort of expectations going into guitar and, you know,
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were you nervous at all with sort of expectations that you have before you arrived and now that
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you're here? What is it like? Yeah, so I am so surprised by how incredible everything has been
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here. As we were saying before, I must have read every blog, every article on the planet
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coming into Qatar and I was petrified. Like part of me was quite scared, you know, to the point
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where, you know, I was messaging my friends and, you know, saying things like, I'm going to check
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in with you every day. And, you know, just just obsessing over things like the rules and the
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proper etiquette and the attire and this and that. And since from the second I arrived,
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I have not been in a more helpful, encouraging environment. Safe. I've never been, I swear,
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I've never traveled to somewhere safer. It is a, and that's the thing I've received so many
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messages to like be careful, you know, and I'm thinking, wow, like, I before I left, I thought
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the same thing, you know, and then I'm here. I'm like, wow, this is literally the safest place.
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And you'll hear that from everybody. This isn't just me. I was sitting down this morning. I had
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coffee and some two Qatari residents actually originally from Tunisia that have lived in Qatar
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for a long time. They invited me to sit with them. Two older men in the maybe their fifties. We were
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speaking about all of this and they were talking about the safety in Qatar and you know, like you
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could leave your mobile phone anywhere and somebody will return it to you. Like they, like you are
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so safe everywhere. Nobody will pick pocket. Nobody will steal anything. Everybody's here to help.
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And as we were talking a bit before as well, the hospitality is second to none. From your barista
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to your bus driver to your security guard to just a random local on the street. Everyone is genuinely
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there to help you. And they'll do it with a smile. I thought Americans were good at hospitality.
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This brings things to a completely different level. Everyone is so open. Their hearts are so full.
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And I really have not, I don't remember the last time I was in such a helpful environment. And I
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am not just saying that I truly, truly mean it. So Qatar has completely gone above and beyond my
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expectations. And that was from the second I landed. I've been here now a week, over a week, a
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little over a week. And it's just continued to get better. And organizationally, I have to say,
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yes, I am media. So the tournament is slightly different from my perspective. But organizationally,
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this World Cup is like flawless. It's so efficient. Media is obviously very well taken care of, but
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I've spoken to a lot of fans as well that are having a great time. And after each match, there's
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hundreds and hundreds of buses lined up to take fans back to their accommodation or back to the
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metro or this or that. So everybody's getting around with ease. It really seems like everyone's
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having a good time. So don't believe everything the media tells you. Yeah, yeah, that's sort of,
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you know, different than what the narrative is right now in the media. Another narrative that
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they're talking about, or they were talking about at first was the beer. I wanted to ask,
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are you able to, is there any beer over there? There's loads. No, that's great. Yeah, if you
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have the time to drink, you can. I have not, but there is actually, there's a bar in the media
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center. We have a bar in the media center. The every hotel has a bar. So you can go and drink.
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I've been watching Instagram stories from people from the states that are here. And I swear
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every day they've been at a different place partying, whether it's a cruise ship or that.
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There are parties every night and I get, I get notifications or SMS messages on my phone.
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There are so many different clubs here and music festivals happening that don't start until, you
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know, midnight and go until 6am. And they have international beverages starting from, you know,
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eight euros or something. So it's not like you cannot find alcohol here. Obviously, you have
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to respect the culture and respect all of that. But if you needed to find a drink, it's not difficult.
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And trust me, people are going and finding it. I definitely know the Croatians are,
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as our most national fans, national team fans, you know, so that is not difficult.
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Well, it sounds like it's, yeah, gone. Sorry, it sounds like it's more than just football.
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Do you said there's parties, there's clubs and music festivals going on?
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It's crazy. I mean, like just just before our call, I had two text messages of two different
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events happening one tonight, one tomorrow. And, you know, they tell it's like you're in the states,
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you know, it's like you get a message from a club like ladies this price international beverages,
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this price come hang out with these DJs until this time. And that's happening every night,
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every single night. And like I said, I haven't had time to partake. But I have spoken to people,
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especially there have been a lot of people have been here for the last month or so setting up
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with different broadcast teams or part of the organization. So they've obviously had time to
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get to get to know some of the locals better or get to go out a bit more. And they've been,
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they've been out every single night. You know, there's a different party every night to go to.
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So I have options, you know, I just haven't gotten there yet. I haven't gotten there yet.
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I don't know if I will. But yeah, I would not. It's not that difficult to to find things to do.
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Interesting. Yeah, it's nice to hear from a firsthand source, you know, what's sort of going on over
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there. And another another sort of a bone I have to pick is I've been hearing the narrative that
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it's so hot over there. You know, players won't be able to play blah, blah, blah. And I find out
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and I find out it's like 28 29 degrees Celsius over there. Yeah, it's literally 28 29. And
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yesterday or the day before it was 30 31. No, the day before yesterday it was 31. That was the
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hottest day we have had since I've been here. And I arrived on November 22. Also, the air cons are
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blasting like crazy. And so if anything, people should be more concerned about everyone getting
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sick, you know, from from the air cons. And it's so funny, because you see so many journalists now
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blowing their noses and sneezing. And I think everybody's really gotten sick from from the air
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con. But no, it's it's pleasant. It's so pleasant here. The weather is perfect. I've, I it's kind of
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like dream weather, you know, I haven't sweat yet. You know, like, I'm okay, you know, how it gets
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in Croatia in the summer, we're like dying. This is super pleasant. Really, really good weather.
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Oh, yeah, I was saying 28 29. Like that's not that hot. I was in the whole month of February. I
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went back to Los Angeles from Georgia. And for like five days in a row, it was 35 over there in
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February. And I'm and so I'm like, I mean, if the World Cup was supposed to be in the summer,
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it's going to be at least that hot probably more. Right? Of course, absolutely. And honestly, I,
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yeah, it takes time for the for the players to acclimate, you know, like, of course, a lot of
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them look at the ones playing in the Premier League where it's been cold there for a while, or
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anyone playing in other other parts of the world where it's where it's chillier. But
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I think everybody kind of got used to it quite quickly. You know, I know there was a lot of
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media buzz those first couple days, like the play, it's so hot for the players, like, what are they
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going to do? They can't adapt. I don't think that's an issue. I think everyone has adapted.
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Like Croatia moved their trainings to the evening, you know, like there's so many things you can do
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to make it work. And honestly, it's been very enjoyable, I will say the weather's been super
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nice. Glad to hear. Let's talk about the team a little bit. I sort of mentioned the Canadian coach
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and everything, you know, what he said, everyone knows what he said, we're going to f Croatia.
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And that was a big, you know, narrative in the media. And of course, us in the Aspera and all
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the Croatian fans, you know, got so heated. Is that something that you think the team actually
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like gets mad about? And that really motivated them? Or is that something, you know, people say
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that happens, people trash talk, and it's not really a big deal to the team? Or do you think
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that's actually, you know, they felt similar to how we did? No, I think they did. I think they
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did feel a bit similar. I know Kramaric in his post game interview, he came out and said,
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thank you to the to the Canada coach, you know, because that did motivate us. And I think Dalic,
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as a coach, has always preached so much about respecting other national teams and getting
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that in return. And so to hear that from your next opponent, you know, we're going to f Croatia.
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I mean, for Dalic, that stung, you know, because he's so big on respect. And so of course that
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motivated, of course that motivated them. I think especially, like I said, especially Kramaric,
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who then came out and scored two goals, you know, and I think he could wait in post match
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interview where he could say, ah, you know, look at look at who I've tuned, you know,
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so definitely, definitely think that the players and the fans shared the same sentiment in that.
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Ah, very cool. Very cool. Yeah. And I think I saw Dalic in one of his one of the post
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press conferences said something that that's only happened twice before, I think against
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Argentina and then against Canada that that the coach didn't shake his hand after the game or
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something like that. Yeah, which I loved Dalic's response as well. You know, he was like, yeah,
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that was the second time that's happened to him. He's like, but you know, the coach, the coach is
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still young. He's like, he'll learn it eventually. You know, it's true. It does. It takes experience.
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Like, look, this is the first time Canada qualified and how long? I mean, they this is an
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international stage they've never been on, you know, and people get heated and obviously emotions run
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high, you know, but there's also class that you have to show and there's composure that you have
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to show and respect that you have to show. And I think Dalic is right in saying, you know, he'll
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learn. He'll learn eventually. And I'm sure he will. Yeah, that's like the best response you
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can give to, you know, you're not insulting someone. But at the same time, you know, you're
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you're being the better, the better man, I guess you can say the bigger person.
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Now, I want to ask you if you can for sort of the keys, well, before we get into that, I'll ask,
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I mean, how do you think we look right now as a team? Chemistry wise and, you know, playing wise?
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Look, I think it's, it's taken a little bit. I think it's taken a little bit for Croatia as it has
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for most national teams to find their rhythm. The Croatia that we saw against Morocco is not a
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Croatia I ever want to see again. You know, I think that was a very, I think, obviously playing at
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1pm, I think was a disadvantage. I think Croatia looked like they were playing for a draw. I think
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we also underestimated Morocco. And I also think Morocco was just great, you know. And I think that
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game I'm so happy we had that game because I think it was the wake up call for Croatia to say, okay,
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here we are, we are at the World Cup, we need to show the real Croatia. And that was the big,
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that was the big kind of theme and message at the press conference before the game against
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Canada and Petyshich was really, really vocal about that. He said that what you saw against
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Morocco was not us, you know. And so I think we're grateful to have had that experience because now
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it seems like with this game against Canada, Croatia really began to find their rhythm again.
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We were playing offensively like we were used to. We were playing on the wings like we were used to.
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Petyshich was great, you know. Obviously Kramaric tournament player scored two huge goals.
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I think having Livia as the striker as well and having Kramaric on the right, like that was such an
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incredible combination. So when all these little things kind of started being pieced together and
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the team started finding their rhythm. So I think right now Croatia looks good, but the real test,
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as everyone has said, will be against Belgium. So if Croatia can obviously replicate this,
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I think we're in a good position. Coming into this tournament, I had another interview with Talksport,
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quite a big sports radio station in the UK. And they were asking how far do you think Croatia will go.
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And I said, my goodness, like on paper, you know, coming off the successful Nations League campaign,
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this team is 10 times better than we were, you know, coming into the 2018 World Cup.
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We barely qualified, you know, for the 2018 World Cup. So on paper and looking at it, I would say we
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should not, we should get to at least the quarterfinal, you know, I would be happy with that. But I think
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technically we should probably go further, you know, obviously we're Croatian fans at the end of the day as well.
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But I think it will really depend on this game against Belgium. And I think we are quite
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lucky that Belgium doesn't look too great right now. And it seems like the atmosphere within their team is not great.
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But it does seem that the atmosphere within Croatia is, and it really seems like the senior players are
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showing their experience and bringing in the younger players. And hopefully we can replicate,
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if not be better, than Russia 2018. But we'll see. Yeah, I'm hoping for that, of course, too.
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Well, yeah, Belgium, of course. But yeah, Belgium, I mean, either didn't look too strong or Morocco was actually,
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you know, really underestimated, but it would seem that we should be able to beat Belgium.
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I think so. I think there's a lot in our favor in going into that match. And like I said, I think obviously the kind of
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disarray that is happening within the Belgium team will probably work in our favor. And I think
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that there is so much that comes into play when you speak about, you know, the atmosphere within a
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team. And I know that that was such a big thing for Croatia in 2018 was that the team was just so close,
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and everybody was so positive. And there was this euphoria going on in Croatia, and that kind of drove the players.
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And if the atmosphere within the team isn't good, you can't, it's hard to replicate, you know, good play on the pitch.
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So if things are going as badly as we are hearing about in the media with Belgium, I think Croatia
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definitely has a couple of things in their favor apart from just good football. So let's see. I mean, at the end of the day,
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it is still the brilliant. And like, you know, when you when you name these players, you think, oh my gosh, we're going against Belgium.
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But let's see. Yeah, we will see. I want to ask Manjela, if you can give us sort of two different levels of
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breakdown, looking ahead to, you know, the future and the next, I don't want to jump the gun, but you know, hopefully we beat Belgium
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and continue on. If we want to get deep in the tournament, can you give us sort of the keys to going far in the World Cup?
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One on like a technical strategy analysis, you know, that I'm sure you're used to writing about, and then one on sort of a lesser analysis
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for like the casual fan that maybe only tunes in during the World Cup, sort of in simpler terms, you know, what Croatia needs to do.
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I'll say so technically, I think Croatia needs to stick to their play that we that really helped us through the Nations League, and that is playing our wings, which are super quick, you know, you have
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Yodanovich and Sosa as the on the left and right. And every time they get a ball into the box, it seems as if we score. So I would say technically we need to continue playing those wings and relying on those players to get a good ball in,
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because that was our kind of trump card during the Nations League. And that was, you know, going against teams like France, you know, and Denmark. So I think that would be our strong suit.
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Obviously, oh, let's see to simplify my goodness. That's a good question. I don't even know how it simplify it. Could you repeat, sorry, could you repeat the question on how on what I should simplify just
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sort of the keys to Croatia going deep in this World Cup.
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Okay, so okay, so I can really simplify it. The key would be obviously to keep a positive atmosphere within the national team.
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But I think I think being led by Luca Mogerich, that's quite, I think we can expect that. And let's say I'll say because I am a high Duke fan, Leviah scoring, it will be a key Leviah and Kramanich continuing to score I think will be a key to us going further for sure.
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Great. Yeah, that was a lot simpler for me to understand that.
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There you go. There you go. Yeah.
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That's someone who still calls it soccer. Now, you got to change that, you know, I stopped doing that I stopped doing that.
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Yeah, yeah, I never call it soccer anymore. I actually get quite embarrassed calling it soccer. But my field is different. I am a football journalist, so I have to call it football, you know, it's totally different.
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That's true. Yeah, for me it depends what I'm talking to if I know someone's an American I'll say it but if I know from anywhere else and I'll maybe I'll drop a soccer but I'll do like a slash you know like soccer
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I put it in parentheses and like you know football you know I mean I mean soccer you know your
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Exactly.
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Oh my gosh. I sort of have one last question for you. I also feel like I'm jumping the gun with this because it implies you're going to be Belgium and of course you know I don't want to underestimate any opponent, but looking ahead to sort of the next round we would
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face, if we beat Belgium we would face the second place of the group with Japan, Germany, Spain, and
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So our basically our three contenders are our Spain, Germany and Japan.
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Dalic would love to face Japan. He said that in his interview yesterday.
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Why is that.
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I think he likes the way they play I think it would be an interesting match.
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I think Croatia should win, but I don't think Dalic would say that. I think facing Spain. I just have trauma because I was at the, the euros last year.
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And obviously Spain kicked us out in the round of 16 and extra time. And so I don't face Spain and around to 16 again.
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We can avoid Spain by all costs great. Germany would be an interesting opponent. I don't remember the last time we played Germany.
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They're also a bit iffy right now. And like I said I think that during this tournament it is just taking a lot of teams a bit longer to find their rhythm you know like I said like I said before they're coming from the middle of the club season.
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They're coming into different temperatures you know they're they're forced to try to figure everything out for the largest tournament in the world with a week of preparations.
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So I do think after this round or even in this last round of games here this last round of group games we will start seeing the teams kind of coming together a bit better.
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But I think Japan would be great if we can get Japan. But let's see.
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We got it we got it I think it draws good enough against Belgium, but that also depends on other games. So, you know, really, but a draw could get us through.
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Well it depends on what happens in Canada Morocco you know like there can every in every group has been having these upsets and surprises so I'm really trying to stay humble you know and say, Okay, I'm not going to try to jump the gun you know,
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there's been so there've been so many surprises this tournament. And yeah I think predictions are just everybody's predictions are going out the window at this point.
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Yeah, sort of seems like anything can happen this World Cup, which is exciting exciting for the fans. Absolutely it is it is and I have to say yeah that's, it's keeping everyone on their toes that's what I was looking for.
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Exactly. Now I lied actually one last question before I let you go. I know we have a hard stop coming up here in about a minute.
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I know.
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But do you think this will be Luca Mulderich is last time with the national team last World Cup.
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Last World Cup, yes last time no and I will tell you why it's not his last time with the national team, because we obviously are in the final four of the nation's league, which is happening next June.
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And Croatia has never played in that before and I think Luca is going to want the chance to get if we can get a good result there that's obviously another thing that he could win or get a medal in.
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So I think he'll definitely stay through next summer.
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After that, I can't say.
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I know he's always said he's available and open to the national team as long as he's needed up until now he has been needed. You know, it's like we just always needed Luca.
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But, you know, there are so many good young kids now on this team.
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It'll take some time to fill his shoes, you know, but I am hopeful I am hopeful hopefully my goodness by the next World Cup will have a new Luca but yes this should be his next World Cup or last World Cup because he'd be what 41.
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Yeah, you know, like that's not easy. That's not easy for anyone.
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So let's be a little bit realistic. I know we want him to live forever and play forever but we have to like to new players as well so.
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Yeah, well of course we're all the fans are hoping for a little bit more from him but yeah, ultimately it's up to him and you know his body and the national team and what everyone wants to do.
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Daniela I'll let you go now I know you've got other things to do. Actually my time here is running out. So I'll end this right now but thank you so much for for coming on the podcast and I really appreciate your input and you know firsthand experience of what what's going on over there.
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Thank you so much for having me this was a pleasure I'll keep you posted about how things go.