With a population of around four million people, Croatia are now long established as the gold standard of what smaller nations can achieve on the world stage.
A team who consistently punch above their weight in major tournaments, the Croatians are living proof of what can be achieved with excellent youth development.
Whilst only two of their 26-man squad still play their club football in Croatia, the vast majority of them came through the academy system in their homeland before being plucked away by various clubs around Europe.
The poster boy for this will always be Luka Modric, the captain and midfield maestro who started his career at Dinamo Zagreb before going on to Tottenham, Real Madrid, and, latterly, AC Milan.
A Ballon d’Or winner in 2018 after inspiring Croatia to the World Cup Final earlier that year, Modric is gearing up for one last hurrah in this year’s tournament at the grand old age of 40.
Scott McKenna keeps Curacao’s Tahith Chong at bat at Hampden on Saturday
With 196 caps under his belt, there is every chance that Modric will break through the 200-mark if the Croatians can put together another good run.
Croatia’s rise can be traced back to Euro ’96 and France ’98, when a team featuring the likes of Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki, Slaven Bilic and Co reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals of those tournaments.
Since then, their record has been quite incredible; World Cup finalists in 2018, semi-finalists again in 2022, various runs to the knockout stages of European Championships.
Given the similarities that exist in terms of population and overall size, it has often been said that Croatia are the team that Scotland should aspire to be when it comes to major tournaments.
Granted, there aren’t many players like Modric floating around in the SPFL Premiership. But consistent over-achievement for a country of such modest resources is something everyone can learn from.
As someone who now plays his club football for Dinamo Zagreb, Scotland defender Scott McKenna can appreciate the comparison more than most.
Croatia are a small country but have produced some sparkling talents like Luka Modric
‘Of course – just look at the players Croatia have brought through over the last 10-15 years, probably longer, and they continue to do so,’ said McKenna.
‘It’s quite interesting how they do it. They’re obviously doing it at club level over there as well and that feeds into the national team. They’ve had a lot of success in going deep in tournaments.
‘They’ve done the first stage in terms of qualifying, they’re starting to bring through some younger players, so let’s see if they can take it one step further this time and actually compete at a major tournament again.
‘Those excitement levels are definitely there. A lot of Croatia’s players are now playing in Europe, there’s not so many that play in the Croatian league that get called up. Our goalkeeper – [Dominik] Livakovic – is one.
‘It’s normal now for them, going to World Cups, going to Euros, and their expectation is to go and compete and get to semi-finals and finals like they’ve done in the last few tournaments.
‘I think that’s where their excitement comes from, trying to get deeper into those tournaments.
‘In Croatia, certainly Dinamo, they just keep bringing players through the academy. I’ve not actually had a chance to go in and see what they’re doing in the academy.
‘But it’s something that in the next few years I would like to go and see because the conveyor belt they have keeps producing.
‘There’s no club in Scotland that’s produced anything like that and I think population wise we’re much the same, so maybe it’s a culture thing as well.
Scotland defender Scott McKenna in action for Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb
‘Over the next few years, hopefully I can go into the academy and watch a few sessions and see what their process is because they definitely know how to do it properly.’
McKenna was part of a Dinamo side who won a league and cup double, further vindication of his decision to test himself in various new environments over recent years.
Over recent years, the centre-back has had spells with Nottingham Forest, FC Copenhagen, Las Palmas and now Dinamo.
‘Up until Christmas it was quite tight, but after that we hit a rich vein of form and ended up winning the league quite comfortably, as well as the cup,’ said the 29-year-old former Aberdeen man.
‘We played a few lower-league teams in the first few rounds, and I think it was the semi-final we played a top division team. Then we played a good team in Rijeka in the final, but we played well and it was comfortable in the end.
‘When you go abroad, every country’s got a slightly different style, managers have got different ideas.
‘One of the biggest things for me would be not so much the language barrier, just different nationalities all coming together and trying to communicate and learn each other’s games.
‘For me it’s been completely different to playing in the [Scottish] Premiership or the [English] Championship.
‘They were quite similar for me, then going abroad, with the different tempo of the game, it’s just about trying to adapt to that and learn as much as you can. I’ve just been trying to add as much to my game as possible.
‘It’s definitely sink or swim, but you’ve just got to try to embrace the culture as best you can and try to do whatever the coach is asking you. That’s ultimately how you’ll stay in the teams and hopefully be successful.’
Scott McKenna won his 50th Scotland cap against Curacao on Saturday
McKenna won his 50th cap against Curacao at Hampden on Saturday as Scotland ran out 4-1 winners, before Steve Clarke and his players flew out to America on Sunday.
They will face Bolivia in their final warm-up friendly in New Jersey next weekend, before the real stuff gets under way against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil.
McKenna felt the win over Curacao was a timely boost to confidence – and has full belief Scotland can make history this summer by reaching the knockout stages.
‘Of course we can – and that’s the test that everyone has been setting us,’ he added. ‘Now we need to try to rise to that challenge.
‘No game is going to be easy over there, I think that was shown on Saturday in the first half. But it’s up to us to go and rise to it.
‘We didn’t make it too easy in the first 30 minutes against Curacao, but I thought the second half were clinical, produced good finishes and could potentially have scored a few more.
‘We got in dangerous areas and it gives the fans what they want, gives us a feel-good factor and it means we’re in a good place heading to America.’
