By Tom Cowie/The Age
Half past one in the middle of the night is the right time for dreams.
And early on Monday morning Melbourne’s Croatian community were living a reality way beyond their wildest fantasies, when Ivan Perisic drilled home a shot on his left foot to even the scores in the first half of the World Cup final.
A jam-packed Croatian Catholic Centre in Sunshine erupted into a heaving sea of red and white, like a giant sentient gingham tablecloth, as thousands of fans wearing the nation’s chessboard emblem jumped, danced and shouted in glee. Some lit flares, filling the room with smoke.
The atmosphere was high voltage. Just before kick-off, the crowd were whipped into a frenzy by a band singing Croatian favourites like Geni Kemeni. The bars could not keep up with the thirst, running dry before midnight. Those seeking another way to soothe their jangling nerves took mass at the nearby St. Leopold Mandic church.
But 10 minutes later their dreams, like the flares, turned to ash, after France were awarded a dubious penalty on VAR review. Heads were in hands as the resulting spot kick put Croatia 2-1 behind, a deficit their team would not breach.
“We’re unbelievably devastated but they’ll get back to Zagreb and they’ll be heroes,” said one fan, Rose Smolic, after the game.
“It just wasn’t our day today but the crowd turned out. It was amazing.”
There was one brief moment of hope after half time for the Hrvatska faithful, when Mario Mandzukic forced a keeper error to narrow the score to 4-2 in the 69th minute, but they could get no closer.
After the game, fans were bitterly disappointed by the referee’s controversial penalty decision, arguing it halted Croatia’s momentum. Many wiped away tears. But they were also proud their team had got so far.
“If you lose fair and square that’s OK but to lose when you outplay the opposition that’s hard to take. The VAR changed the whole game,” said Daniel Luketic, wearing a red and white water polo cap.
“Our team has done us super-proud. To be honest we didn’t expect this.”
Despite the final result, the night was a chance for Melbourne’s Croatian community to come together and celebrate the country’s footballing achievements both here and in the homeland after a recent history clouded with conflict.
It was striking how many younger third generaton Croats were there, allowed out to witness history at 3am despite it being the last day of school holidays.
Many in the crowd wore Melbourne Knights apparel, the club which has been a stronghold of Croatian-Australian football, producing plenty of local stars, including Socceroo legend Mark Viduka.
At the club’s Somers Street headquarters, a viewing of the game was held for a smaller crowd, many of whom lined their stomachs with plates of cevapi and goulash.
Back at the Croatian Catholic Centre, there were more flares outside as the fans filed out to go home. The sentiment seemed to be more of pride rather than anger, however. The words “second best in the world” were repeated over and over.
“I’m still happy because we made the final. A small nation, to make the final it’s very, very hard from start to finish,” said Roko Simicevic, who came to Australia 52 years ago.
“We played so much extra time [in the tournament], it was like one game extra. But still, we wanted better than that.”
