The green sea tells the world about the new feat of the Croats. “Drava flows, Sava flows”, in his hymn. And he resounds: “Not even you, Danube, lose your power.” Then the players laugh and look at Modric, the old man. His legs are a long and tremendous river, like lashes or endless snakes, like the sorrows of Moroccans or like rivers.
The whole of him could be the water that “falls and breaks and continues to be”, the whole of his gesture and his way over the vast sky that serves as a pool. He runs and shines. He feeds the endless thirst of Perisic, who plays in a wave and is at the tip of the mouth or wallowing on the shore. Head or left. Luka mixes with Kovacic, who is the rain that overflows the channel through the very center. Until Gvardiol arrives, the new tributary that floods and levels the game.
Slatko Dalic as the boatman who has been rowing in this small country for 4 years. His cunning led the rivals to the first waterfall. Although they recovered, in the upper course it was the Orsic torrent that made the Croats take the third metal from the bottom of their game. They repeat the bronze of 24 years ago, when it seemed that Suker could more than the Seine in Paris. They repeat the podium of Russia 2018 when Modric, more than a river, seemed like the Black Sea on the field.
Luka flows with a bronze flavor for the last time in the World Cup. Before, they had to fight to the death because the Atlas Mountains did not allow the water to flow. The lions lost the entire rear of their pride: they ended up with five defenders injured and risking their skin in every action. Amrabat had to become a full back and in Qatar he gave the impression that if they put him in command of a spaceship he would be able to do it too. However, the Fiorentina midfielder caused a penalty that the referee and the VAR did not want to see and was about to be a new scandal in the penultimate clash of the Cup.
Sofian was missing his co-driver Ounahi, apparently with discomfort that did not allow him to line up from the start. With his entry in the second half, the Maghrebis improved. And they were about to dry the Europeans.
That was the duel, humidity against aridity. The water against the desert. And if the sand did not win, it was also because of Livakovic, who blocked the Croatian delta. Despite some complicity in Dari’s goal, he was what he was throughout the Cup: a serious contender for the Gold Glove, something unprecedented for a goalkeeper from his country, despite Subasic’s excellent performance in the previous edition. .
It could not be the first medal for Africa or for Arabia, specifically. Like South Korea in 2002, Morocco is making history and is also just short of receiving a tangible reward for its feat. The crying and devotion of his fans remain, the enormous surprise of his performance. It remains for her pain to become sand.
For Croatia the foam of victory. To rewrite his anthem. And to take in the fullness of Luka Modric, who will continue to flow like all rivers, like the heat that yearns for her water, like the dust that fears it, like him…
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