At 13:10 on Wednesday, almost two hours after the scheduled arrival, airplane carrying Croatian national team landed at Zagreb Airport. Around 300 supporters, friends and player' s family members where there to greet the team that left the World Cup after the disappointing 3-1 loss to Mexico in a do-or-die group match.
Cloudy and rainy day in Zagreb was a perfect setting for the mood of the players as it was hard to find a smiling face. The players haven' t been in a mood to talk, either. Danijel Pranjic who was heavily criticized after the Mexico match was the one of two that didn' t escape from journalist.
"Of course we expected more but that first Mexican goal was too hard to handle" , Pranjic admitted.
Gordon Schildenfeld, central defender and Pranjic' s teammate in Panathinaikos, didn' t get a chance to play in Brazil but he shared frustration of an early exit with his teammates.
"After such a warm welcome from our supporters it' s a little easier to accept that we didn' t make it to the knockout round" , Schildenfeld said.
Croatia' s biggest stars Luka Modric, Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Rakitic and the others shared their time with the supporters but left reporters with empty notebooks and coach Niko Kovac did the same.
"I am going to do deep analyzing in the next few days but first I will take a rest somewhere in Austria. Don' t look for me, you' ll never find me", Kovac said to reporters before the team left Brazil.
The World Cup goes on without Croatia in it. The bars and the squares with big screens in Croatia will be less crowded. Disappointment is still strong among those who expected great things from this generation.
Unfortunately, they did the same thing as the generations before them. Croatia will have to wait for another chance in four years time when Russia will host the World Cup. Some players will not be there, some will be in different roles. Niko Kovac hopes that he will be one to lead them from the bench.
"We need some more time for improvements. You can' t do so many changes over a night", Kovac said.
What Croatia showed against Brazil and Cameroon should be a good example what the players are capable for. They will have a chance to prove themselves once again very soon as European Championship qualifying campaign starts in September.
