Maybe it's because their uniforms give their opponents vertigo? lol.
They have a lot of balls?
None of them ever dribble, pass, pitch, skate, hit, field, punt, block, or slam dunk.
Some suggest it was a soccer match that triggered the war...
1990 Dinamo Zagreb - Red Star Belgrade Riot | The Football War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFGI7m7_SMM
Pent up aggressions after being under the communist thumb?
Having known the details of one Croatian Serb’s life story, I’d say this article answers its own question. Their country, geographically, is the crossroad of the world from west to east and east to west. They are the toughest of tough people.
In Troy University’s trophy cases there used to be (probably still is) a photo of the Czech National Basketball Team.
The Coach back the, Coach Archer was still a phys ed instructor, having retired from coaching. I mentioned about Troy playing them. He said they were huge, every one of them were at least 6’8”. Also very athletic.
They are world class misogynists (i.e. sock her).
HOORAY Croatia!
They don’t choose their teams through affirmative action, or balance them for diversity - they take the best players they can find and train them to the max - compete until the very best are at the top - it’s called meritocracy - we should try it sometime......
I think that are a lot of factors, but one thing that also helps is that when a country is small there are a finite number of options for the national team - thus those people play together more consistently than in a national team in which there are many, many options. It's a team sport, and just choosing who you think are the best players doesn't make it a team. Croatia is not only a great team, but may of the individual players on that team play on great club teams (Modric - Real Madrid, Mandzukic - Juventus, Rakatic - Barcelona, Kovacic - Real Madrid, Pjaca - Juventus, Lovren - Liverpool, Subasic - Monaco, Strinic - Milan, etc. etc.)..
For the same reason Lithuania is good at basketball. Or at least it used to be. I have no idea these days.
Staff in my building say Croatia has been underrated, England overrated. They are all Poles.
Maybe it's because their uniforms give their opponents vertigo? lol.
My question , with all due respect, is who cares? Kick ball is a foreign game of little interest to Americans. We play football and baseball etc.No one I know cares about kick ball.
That was a fun read...my church has a sister church in Split...so this really has been a fun ride.
I hope Croatia wins although I care nothing for soccer.
I did work with a vascular surgeon who referred to himself as the “Croatian Sensation”! LOL!
It is just my impression from watching Tennis, Soccer, Basketball etc. that Slavic people tend to be very athletic.
"Why is Croatia, with a population of only 4 million, so good at Soccer?
Well, just as Puerto Rico provides such stellar ball players...they got nothin' better to do.
First of all, Soccer is a LOW SCORING GAME.
Most matches average 2 goals for the winning team.
In other words it is basically a defensive game, and it takes luck to score goals.
Observe the 2nd goal scored by Croatia against England. It was a head deflection which went 30+ feet right at the kicking foot of a team mate who kicked in a close distance goal.
And then again if you have no NFL Football, No golf courses, No Pizza joints on every corner, No movie industry, few TV sitcoms, No Baseball stadiums, few bowling alleys, not many singers who are popular world wide (Beatles, ABBA, Karen Carpenter class), No cruise industry, what can young men do except play a cheap sport like soccer?