Okay, welcome back to the podcast everyone. On this episode we have special guests Alan Vukobrad
and Niko Grandov. Alan was the coach of the North American U-14 football team in the Memorial of
Vukovar Defenders Tournament. The tournament aims to provide a platform for young Croatian
footballers in the diaspora to showcase their talents while also honoring the memory of those
who sacrificed their lives in the war. Our other guest Niko is one of the players who participated
in the tournament and we're going to hear from him in a little bit about his first-hand experience.
But now we're going to hear from Alan about coaching the team and the goal of the tournament.
Alan, thanks for coming on the podcast. Thank you Stanko for having me on your podcast.
And again, it was a great experience for myself and for my colleague, her way that I also was
like the coach and like involved in this like the process from day one. Also I would like to
mention we had like a couple more like coaches that they didn't have like opportunity to go this
time with us but I'm expecting them like next year. The feedback that I got from the players
and the parents was like an amazing learning experience for them because they came from the
different environment to Croatia. Again, it's a completely different environment and for some of
them it was like the first time that they're visiting Croatia but in general like I didn't
get like one negative. Wow, yeah I mean it sounds like an incredible experience. I mean really for
everyone involved and you know I want to find out a little bit more about that but before we go there
you know I want to ask a little about you. You know can you talk a little about you know where
you're from and your background a little bit? Sure, born and raised in in Belovar. It's like
a small city like in Croatia not far away from Zagreb capital city and
I'm gonna say now like the last one years I've been in Toronto.
I had chance to coach Toronto, Croatia like the biggest club outside of Croatia for two years
and I stayed in football like I played back home nothing like you know like at the top like
let's say like a third division maximum but I'm gonna I'm gonna one of those guys that
you're gonna say like I like I should have like a great career but I had like a lots of injuries
but I'm gonna skip that part. Basically I like loved the game. Started to coaching, educating myself
to help like the young generations. Well I just mentioned that I spent like seven years wearing
like the football club Barcelona shirt. Was like an assistant technical director in FC Barcelona
academy here in Toronto and also like the coach for U-12, U-14 and after Covid that program was
like closed and I was just looking like for another things and last year we had like the first
high-ness camp in North America. Was like in Toronto and after that in Cleveland. I met with
few people from high-ness and basically they asked me like would you like to help us to
you know like to bring this like on the higher level to make like a selection and
and bring those boys like together to Wukowar in April and we did like this was like the first
year that I was involved with my colleagues in this process and I'm hoping that next year
it's going to be better. We're gonna idea is basically to spread more words
to Croatian families in Canada and North America. Again it's a huge
creation diaspora and I'm hoping you know like in the future more people is going to be aware of
what we are doing and you know maybe one day we're going to have our Christian Pulisic that is going
to play for Croatia. Yeah yeah that would be awesome. Yeah he's an incredible player. It's
I mean he's playing for the U.S. of course but it would be awesome if you know he played for Croatia.
Yeah maybe if he had like this program like 10 years ago maybe he would play for Croatia but
unfortunately but again what's happened happened like I'm just looking forward with my colleagues
and I'm not hoping like I'm sure sooner or later we're going to have someone because
it's so much potential. We just need basically you know get those kids expose them to high-ness and
then I'm pretty sure they're going to be in good hands. I'm sure yeah definitely. I want to point
out real quick you know you said you moved from Vjelovac to Toronto that's a that's a big difference
you know how are you liking Toronto? Well you know after 20 years I'm okay now
like the first couple of years were like very challenging. First of all like the weather and
of course we cannot ignore that you know like you don't have like a France you need to start like
you know like a new life language as well. There was like so many like you know the challenges but
you know if you look positive you're going to adapt. This is like the one I'm going to say
of like our like human characteristics that we can adapt like you mentioned that you are born
and raised in LA now you are like in Zagreb like you know how that works right? Yeah yeah it's
definitely difficult moving to you know from one country to another for sure. You know I was sort
of getting back to the tournament and everything how many different teams was there only one team
in North America? How did the tournament work I guess how many different teams were there
throughout the whole tournament? Yeah basically they invited like the diaspora team like from North
America, US and Canada together and I think that this is like the right way also we had like for
the first time like the the boys from Australia as a team right and we had of course like the
kids from Germany, Sweden but they haven't been like before as well like there this is was this
was like a 19 tournament next year they have like a huge plans for for 20th and maybe we're going
to have like more teams but basically this year I was like the four diaspora teams plus all like
the first division like other Croatian clubs like decent on like U14 teams plus Vukovar and
Tzibalia which is like a total of 16 teams divided into like the four groups we are like in the group
at the Noghvini club like Rijeka, Sibenik and Varazin like all these teams that are playing
like the first Croatian division yeah. Okay yeah that's a pretty big tournament then and so how
long did that take? How many was that like a week that everyone was in? Basically it was like on
from April 14 to 16. I wish that we had like a more more time between or like before to have some
you know like maybe friendlies after the tournament we went to Bosijek and we played like the one
friendly game against like kids from a Noghvini club Bosijek also like a great experience but
you know when you're bringing someone from far I would like you know like to expose those kids like
in like a to more like other clubs and like the people over there and maybe to play like
five six games you know but this is the plan for the next year just you know when we are going there
that we're going to stay maybe like 10 days together instead of you know like three four days.
Well you mentioned that some of the players you know it was their first time in Croatia what was
that like for you to see you know this the diaspora come back and experience Croatia for the first time?
Oh it was like you know you have the kids that you know basically they don't train together they
don't play together and then like after a couple of couple hours you see them you know like they're
hugging each other they're talking they're smiling you know joking of course they're kids.
For me was like again I learned a lot you know in just like a couple days about the boys
I'm gonna say one thing I always ask like at the people in hotel did anyone complain about our
you know like the boys but behavior was like at the top on and off the field like I'm gonna give
I'm gonna give credit to the to the parents for that again all experience was like great
like I said not even one like a negative comment like on or off the field.
Wow that's awesome and so that's all from all over the U.S. and all over Canada together in one team
you know they're just meeting for the first time you know right as they're as they're going to play
in the tournament. I mean that's awesome to bring you know the diaspora together like that and then
of course to bring them to Croatia and part of the tournament as well was you know being in Vukovod
and you know remembering the veterans and everything that happened in Vukovod during the war
did you guys do any sort of you know like field trips or walking around the city to
to see some of the landmarks and everything? Yeah like the first day it was like idea to
to see more because like the was like the short trip and that like the first day we spent time
like to go to Ocarra spent some time there and just the boys they they can you know like
they can hear like some like facts and after that we went to the Vodotoran was like a
great experience for the boys and of course they had like lots of questions it's a good thing
at Ocarra we had like the presentation in English that they can understand. Also we had like some
parents that you know like they're like a first time in Croatia after maybe like 30 years and
was like good that we had like they're like a very good service thank you for the people there and
yeah like some boys they had like even like a couple days later like some questions you know
like what's happened you know why we are here I think again it's a good like the learning
experience for them as well. Yeah definitely it's definitely you know a good experience I think
everyone should you know learn the history and see you know what happened I've been to Vukovod
I think twice now and yeah it's really I mean I feel like it's important you know to go and
and learn about what happened and you know to keep that and remember you know so you know something
like that can never happen again so that's definitely awesome that you guys were able to
do that with the team. I want to ask is there any difference in sort of style of play between
you know sort of the North American team and then you know the the Croatian team?
You know just before I just want to mention something we had like a those like a day comes
like at the last summer but what we did after that basically we we started like preparing like
a selection because we knew already like some boys we got some informations about like the
another boys and like we brought them in in January in
in Hamilton where we did like another selection was like at the pool of like
30 players that we selected and we brought them there and basically from that selection
plus like a couple boys that didn't have like a chance to come we did the the final selection of
20 players 14 was like from Canada and six from US. A style of play you know
you know like it's not like the big difference between like the boys you know like
13-14 years some of them they're playing like in MLS clubs some of them they're playing like in
you know let's say like at the top years like in Canada maybe like at the you know like at the
physical component was like because we brought like five boys that are born like a 2010.
This tournament mostly was like focused on boys like a 2009 but again the idea was just to prepare
them maybe for next year that they you know they are not surprised that they have you know like
already experienced from the last year and I'm expecting from those boys one of them is Nico
Brando who will be our leaders next year because they saw today I mean this time like the older
boys how they you know like basically stepping up on the field you know like supporting the
younger boys and that was idea like expose them to this kind of environment and next year like
I said I'm expecting again from Nico and the rest of the boys that they had like a chance to be
this year to be those like leaders and you know like help those younger guys because idea is also
to next year to bring like if we have like other those boys that they deserve to go with us like
to bring like a few younger boys as well. Sorry for the interruption but this episode is sponsored
by me and the book I wrote All Things Croatia from Los Angeles to the home. I talk about growing up
in the Croatian diaspora and ultimately moving to Croatia to further connect with my roots.
It's available on Amazon as an ebook if you want to check it out. Now back to the episode.
Yeah and you mentioned Nico we're gonna he's gonna speak in a second here
about his experience and everything and I just want to thank you Alan for taking the time to
come on you know the podcast here and I want to ask just you know sort of last question
how can people get involved you know and help out both you know kids who you know say they're
they're listening or you know kids who are playing football who are in the diaspora who didn't hear
about this program before and like you said for the next year you know you guys are trying to
expand and make that bigger. Where do they go is there a website or someone they can reach out to
to see you know about sort of trying out or you know being participating in some way. Yeah the
social media is doing like the great job. I need to say like a thank you to you as well because
I'm pretty sure like a lot of people is going to see like this like a podcast and we have a you
know like some like the flyers that they went out basically with my email the people down there
like they're reaching out like those like the social medias also like through the parents
because the parents you know like they had like a positive experience and they are spreading the
words. I just want to mention you know like we know how is like in North America it's pay to play
system. My idea from day one was like when we started like the process to selecting the kids
I said everything is to be free because we want to we want to see we want to put like the boys
first like not money. Lots of parents called me said like hey how much we need to pay for those
trainings in Hamilton. How much we need to pay for the uniforms, truck suits, backpacks,
transportation during the tournament. We're going to find the people you know that
they recognize this project like and we had like a couple of sponsors that they help us. My idea is
to have like the same concept like a next year like a just you know like a focus on the boys.
Those ones that they deserve to be seen and exposed and continue with that. Yeah.
Well that's awesome. Yeah it can definitely be expensive you know those types of tournaments
and things so that's awesome that you guys were able to you know provide that with sponsors so
that you know kids of all you know different backgrounds and you know everyone who's
deserves to play is able to play in the tournament. Exactly. Yeah that's really awesome. Allen I think
it's really great what you guys are doing. I almost got goosebumps when you said you're talking about
you know Pulisic and saying we could get the next one the next Pulisic and even when you said 10
years ago if this program was around maybe he would be playing for Croatia so that's awesome
to think about how you know the Diaspora can become get more connected to their Croatian roots
through this. I mean you know Rakitic, you know Simunic, the Kovac brothers, Klasnic, Petric,
so many like we have like a players that they you know play for Croatia but they came from you know
like Australia, Germany, Switzerland. And now I was like thinking why we don't have someone like
from North America because I'm here like the last one years. Thanks to Barcelona I travel around
like Canada. I went to US as well and I saw so much potential you know like I was thinking okay
like if we put that like together it's impossible that you know like sooner or later and that's my
goal basically and then the people that you know the old coaches that are volunteers here
this is our goal basically the one day that we can say you know here we go we have like a baby Nico
it's going to be that one or another kid from Canada or US that it's going to you know like
participate in the youth selections or even better to represent Canada by Croatia on the Euro or World
Cup. Yeah that would be incredible. I'm getting goosebumps now yeah that's awesome Alan.
I'm really on board with what you guys are doing I think that's great
we're going to go to Nico now to hear about his experience but Alan thank you so much for coming
on the podcast. Thank you Sanko I hope you'll stay in touch. All right well now I'm here with Nico.
Nico thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you too. You know really awesome having you on.
I want to ask about your experience in the tournament but you know first if you don't mind
can you just tell us about a little bit about yourself and about your background.
My name is Nico Grandal of course I'm a 2010 I played for New York Red Bulls and I went to this
tournament Rookabye. And how was it did you enjoy it? Yeah it was really fun. What was the process
like so there was a selection process for you to qualify for the team? So I went to a camping in
Toronto Canada and basically they picked the kids for a 2009 youth group and they were
all in the same group and then we all flew to Rookabye and we had like one training and then
we had a couple games there three games in a friendly. Okay so you only had one training
so you met all these other teammates for the first time or did you know anyone? No I met them in
Canada. Okay okay and then flew how long after to Rookabye? A couple weeks. Okay and was that
in Croatia? No I go there often. Oh really was it your first time in Rookabye? Yeah. What was it like
there aside from you know tournament and playing did you get to walk around the city a little bit?
Yeah it was really nice. Yeah it's not like where I'm from in Zadar it's like it's different
like in that part of Croatia. Yeah yeah Slavonia I guess is the region there so your your family's
from Zadar then you have family there still you go in the summers and do you see relatives there?
Yeah. And so how long have you been playing soccer your whole life you've always been a soccer fan?
Well I started playing like soccer like on the team when I was six but I always played soccer
like for fun before there. And now is it something that you're I mean how did you find out about the
program did your mom or your dad tell you about the program were you excited at first did you
not really you were excited? Yeah so my parents basically found it off of Instagram off of their
page and then we decided just to go to the camp to see what it's about and then we thought it was
good so we just went to Rookabye with them. That's awesome would you recommend the experience for
other other Croatian diaspora like yourself? Yeah of course of course it was very fun. Oh that's
awesome I have just a couple quick questions for you. The first one being you know is there a
difference in play because you were playing you know of course the Croatian teams from over there
and you know you're from you know on the North American team was there sort of a difference in
style difference in play? Well I would say in America it's a lot more about physicality and
but and they're also like better at the fundamentals there. Technically and like they're also like
better at shooting and stuff like that like maybe Americans are like better at like dribbling
but they're like very good at the simple things which were not as good as I hear.
How were the results of the the games that you guys played? So the first game we lost to
Šibenik which was a must win we should have won that game but then we had an all-side goal
and the second game we lost to Nocilieka and the last game was a 1-0 loss to Vlaardersdien
who won the tournament and we had a friendly against Oztek 2010 and we tied them 1-1.
Oh wow okay wow so 1-0 to Vlaardersdien who ended up winning. Yeah. That's a good result then yeah
so they must have been a strong team. Were you able to talk to the the opposing players at all?
Was there any sort of meeting with them or anything outside of the tournament or no?
Well we had a hotel that was organized for us and it was all the other diaspora teams so we
got to hang out with them a bit. So you met some of the other players that you played with?
Mm-hmm. So you met some new people from from the other where were the other diaspora teams from?
Germany? I think it was Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria and then Australia.
That's cool was it cool to to meet with other people and you know you have different experiences
and you know they're from parts of the world that's awesome. Well Nico you know I didn't want this to
go on too long so I just want to thank you for for taking the time to come here on the podcast and
you know share your experience you know that's a really awesome I wish well first of all I wish
that I was good at soccer and then second of all I wish that I would have been able to do this program
you know when I was your age you know that would have been so cool for me to meet other you know
Croatian diaspora around the world and Croatians you know in Croatia to be able to go and do that
I think that's an awesome thing that you were able to take part in. Last question before we go
not soccer related what's your favorite food to eat when you're in Croatia? Cevapi. Cevapi of course
mine too I think. Well Nico thank you so much for taking the time to tell us a little about the
tournament. Thank you bye. Thank you bye.