The small, skinny, teenage midfielder was very protecting of his flowing locks. However the consideration spent on his hair was turning into an issue for the coach.
“I used to be freaking out,” smiles Romeo Jozak. “After all, I did not know he was going to turn out to be the Luka Modric down the highway.
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“Any move he was going to do, it was [flick of the hair]. We even had a few fights. Effectively, I used to be the coach and I had the final phrase, so he finally minimize that hair!”
Modric, Croatia’s most profitable ever footballer, has since regrown these locks and that small, skinny body has carried him to 6 Champions League titles with .
He captained Croatia to a World Cup ultimate in 2018, third place 4 years in the past and, aged 40, will lead his aspect into their 2026 opener in opposition to on Wednesday (21:00 BST).
Modric and Jozak, who has performed a key position within the growth of the nation’s high expertise, can chortle about their early exchanges now.
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“He did say ‘are you aware you and the military [Modric spent a year doing national service] are the one ones that minimize my hair’,” says Jozak. “There is a respect and I really feel it every time we see one another, although he is now the celebrity.”
Modric’s rise to such celebrity standing – from a toddler displaced by battle to a nationwide icon approaching 200 caps for Croatia – is an underdog story synonymous with a rustic that constantly defies the footballing odds.
Modric performed 130 video games for Dinamo Zagreb earlier than becoming a member of in 2008 [Getty Images]
Modric’s childhood was formed by battle. He is among the few gamers within the present squad who lived via a battle that ran till 1995 after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
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He was six when his grandfather, Luka, was killed by Serbian forces near his dwelling close to the Velebit mountains, the place he would herd goats. The household dwelling was burned and Modric’s father went to battle.
The teen was pressured to maneuver to Zadar together with his household, dwelling as refugees in resorts the place he would play soccer with different kids displaced by the preventing.
The Croatia nationwide staff, in the meantime, had been admitted by Fifa in 1992, then Uefa in 1993, which means they missed out on qualification for the 1994 World Cup.
However stars corresponding to Zvonimir Boban, Davor Suker and Robert Prosinecki, who all beforehand represented a robust Yugoslavia aspect, reached the quarter-finals at Euro 96 and completed third on the World Cup in France two years later, beating and the Netherlands.
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The battle, Jozak says, performed a task within the gamers’ drive and character, however there was, and stays, pleasure in representing a rustic of lower than 4 million individuals and a affirmation of their capacity from outperforming greater nations.
“We do not use it as a motivation per se, as a result of that motivation is constructed throughout the gamers,” says Jozak.
“[But] some had family members killed within the battle and people issues keep within you. You are taking it out of your genes and use it while you want it essentially the most.
“Pleasure initially got here from the nation, from the patriotic issues that we have had up to now concerning the battle.
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“Sure, we’re a small nation, however currently with the outcomes we have had and even now we have with the youth, it’s not solely pleasure, it is self-confidence.”
Davor Suker gained the Golden Boot on the 1998 World Cup as Croatia completed third [Getty Images]
It will, nonetheless, take 20 years for Croatia to emerge from the group stage of a World Cup once more, bettering the unique golden technology by reaching the ultimate in Russia in 2018. However the seeds had lengthy been planted.
Jozak, whose personal skilled profession was minimize quick by accidents, held numerous teaching roles with Dinamo Zagreb’s youth groups earlier than at numerous levels turning into the membership’s academy director, sports activities director and most notably technical director of the Croatian Soccer Federation (CFF).
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He was nonetheless a younger coach main Dinamo’s second staff when Modric joined as a 16-year-old from Zadar, having been ignored by Hajduk Cut up.
“He was at all times a superb man, well-educated, humble,” explains Jozak. “He wasn’t a doubt, as a result of we at all times noticed one thing in him.
“However you could not say ‘Hear, he’ll be a celebrity’, as a result of he was quick and thin and the way are you going to say this man goes to be dominating the world, proper?
“He was at all times dependable in the way in which which you can put him on the staff, he isn’t going to lose the ball the place he isn’t alleged to lose it. He is at all times going to struggle, he is at all times going to run, he’ll ship.
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“However he wasn’t even within the high three prospects at the moment.”
The younger midfielder, obsessed together with his hair, was despatched on mortgage to Zrinjski Mostar of the Bosnian Premier League to earn first-team publicity, earlier than spending a season in Croatia with Inter Zapresic.
“Soccer could be very unpredictable, personality-wise,” says Jozak. “His persona drove him. Spending one 12 months in Bosnia made him more durable. He actually survived.
“He was a child, he was skinny and younger, however he had this drive, he had this starvation – like a bull terrier, he wished to tear off each potential sort out and duel he was confronted with.”
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Growing expertise & at quantity 10
What Jozak created at Dinamo was enormous inside competitors between younger gamers, with virtually all of them representing Croatia at youth degree.
“That was a gifted group – a pure privilege for me as a coach,” he explains. “Due to the interior high quality in a coaching session, it was survival.
“You can not afford to lose any ball as a result of the opposite man is true there stepping in.
“Inner high quality is among the essential parts within the teaching course of that you just can’t artificially create. ‘There’s this little lion subsequent to me. He needs to make it as effectively.’
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“You must really feel the strain to push you and be higher each single day.”
Later, when he turned academy director in 2008, Jozak helped flip Dinamo into one of the vital prolific expertise factories in Europe.
Romeo Jozak was lately appointed sporting director at Sharjah FC within the UAE Professional League [Getty Images]
That very same 12 months, Modric , following former team-mates and Eduardo to the Premier League.
However extra skills emerged. Mateo Kovacic earned a transfer to , and Sime additionally went to Serie A, Alen Halilovic was signed by .
Such was Dinamo’s status, in 2014 a 16-year-old went the opposite method – leaving Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy to affix the membership.
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One of the vital essential elements was getting the correct coaches in place, as Jozak says “behind each drill, there needs to be an individual”.
“Unsuitable individuals can’t keep on the bus,” provides Jozak, who additionally nurtured an incredible appreciation of the ball.
“Whenever you go to the toilet, you go along with the ball. Whenever you decide up your cellphone, you go along with the ball. Every part’s finished with the ball.”
Manchester Metropolis defender Josko Gvardiol was one of many beneficiaries, becoming a member of the academy throughout Jozak’s tenure and being deployed in midfield or as a quantity 10 all through his growth.
“That is why he is obtained this left foot,” smiles Jozak. “He was enjoying midfield. He was gifted, rising within the density of the interior high quality. He has an excellent method. Then later he grew to be tall and quick.”
That benefited Dinamo, in fact, however Croatia too. Nearly half this World Cup squad is made up of gamers who’ve handed via the Zagreb membership.
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However as Croatia’s technical director between 2013 and 2017, certainly one of Jozak’s duties was to construct a “bridge” between all golf equipment and the nationwide staff.
“The academy administrators are the important thing to the success of any nation. So that they felt appreciated and revered,” says Jozak.
The youngest participant within the squad, for instance, is Luka Vuskovic, the 19-year-old Tottenham centre-back who progressed via Hadjuk Cut up’s academy – he was not even born when Modric made his Croatia debut.
“He might be one of many high superstars for the longer term, for positive,” provides Jozak, who wrote the nation’s teaching guide and recognized the rules for growing younger expertise.
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The setting is vital, too. The Croatian league is aggressive but in addition a superb platform for golf equipment to blood younger stars earlier than they transfer on – 18 of the World Cup squad now play for top-flight golf equipment in England, , and Germany.
Jozak was unable to persuade to symbolize Croatia – regardless of the CFF serving to him acquire a passport that allowed the midfielder to affix aged 16.
However their footballing status is now so established the Balkan nation are benefiting from a diaspora wanting to drag on the purple and white checked shirt.
“The locker room of Croatia is because it’s alleged to be,” provides Jozak. “They’re very passionate, very patriotic, very disciplined in the way in which they wish to struggle for one thing. It is at all times with pleasure and at all times a privilege.”
Zlatko Dalic took cost of Croatia in 2017 [Getty Images]
For all of the expertise coming via, although, Croatia solely gained one sport at a World Cup after 1998 earlier than head coach Zlatko Dalic was appointed in 2017 – who has steered them second and third in his two tournaments in cost.
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“He understands the social, emotional relationships and the individuals. He is compassionate. He is a educated coach and tremendous gifted,” says Jozak.
“He understands the mentality – the emotional connections and when to place your foot on the gasoline, when to take it off, when it is time to yell and when it is time to hug any person.
“In , we’re very emotional and really social individuals. We wish to get collectively. You are by no means going to see gamers within the locker room not talking to at least one one other.
“In the event that they push in the identical path it is an enormous energy and he is the one sustaining these relationships and feelings. I might name him a really clever emotional and psychological coach apart from the pure soccer data he has.”