World Cup: Scotland should be inspired by Croatia's footballing prowess – Scotsman comment

Despite its defeat by Argentina in the World Cup semi-final last night, the extraordinary success of Croatia should encourage every small nation – and, yes, we are thinking in particular of Scotland – to dream of achieving similar sporting heights.

Luka Modric of Croatia can be an inspiration to young Scottish footballers as well as Croatian ones (Picture: Francois Nel/Getty Images)

In 2018, they made it all the way to the final, only losing out to a talented France team in the final. All this, despite Croatia being a country with a population of just over four million, about 1.5 million less than Scotland’s.

Admittedly, their success will, to a degree, be based on the good fortune to have a crop of highly talented players like Luka Modric come of age around the same time.

However, as golfer Lee Trevino, among others, once pointed out “the more I practice, the luckier I get”. In the context of trying to assemble a national team of footballers capable of challenging for World Cup glory, “practice” means fostering a footballing culture that will enable our brightest talents to shine.

But in order to put in the kind of effort required, we as a nation need to have hope of success, just as young footballers need to know that if they put in the necessary hard work, they will be rewarded. It is almost impossible to maintain the required motivation if, in the back of your mind, you ‘just know’ it will come to nothing.

In 1978, Scotland sang arrogantly of how we were going to win the World Cup; in the years since we have added footballing failure to the Scottish cultural cringe. It’s time to look at Croatia’s success, and take heart.