Croatian-born Tauranga woman Ana Craig is ecstatic Croatia are into the Fifa World Cup 2018 final in Russia after beating England 2-1 in this morning's semifinal. Photo / Andrew Warner
England's Fifa World Cup loss is Croatia's gain, much to the delight of Tauranga woman Ana Craig.
The Croatian-national was quietly cheering on her team this morning while keeping an eye on the semifinal between her homeland and England on her computer at work.
"I was just quietly going 'yes, yes, yes!'"
Craig has lived in New Zealand for 28 years but feels a sense of national pride when it comes to football.
"It's very much a national game. It's like how rugby is in New Zealand," she said.
"My father actually played for former Yugoslavia, and I know my brother played for a long time, so yes, it's a bit of a tradition."
Craig said she had faith her team would overcome England to make it to the World Cup final on Monday morning (NZ time) but was still overcome with joy when Croatia went ahead 2-1 in with just minutes of extra time to play.
"I think that's absolutely amazing. You always think it may happen, but now it actually has."
Craig will be rooting for Croatia when they face France in the final, which will be the first time Croatia have ever reached the World Cup final.
Joining her will be an unlikely ally - English football fan Martin Damon.
"I want Croatia to win, but I think France might," Damon said.
The UK ex-pat has watched most of the World Cup cheering on the English team, but hopes of glory were dashed this morning. "It's just a shame getting this far and losing, but we are getting used to it," Damon said.
"We just weren't good enough at the end of the day. Croatia just got more and more into it, and we had a few breaks where we could have scored, but it's just one of those things. The more the game went on, the more I thought we are going to lose it."
Damon said the English team were young and showed plenty of promise for the European Championships in 2020 and the next World Cup.
But, for now, he'll pack away his English flag and cheer on Croatia when they face France.
Croatia's national football team have appeared in the Fifa World Cup on five occasions (in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014 and 2018) since gaining independence in 1991.
Their best result was making the semifinals in 1998, where they were beaten 2-1 by France.
Before that, from 1930 to 1990 Croatia was part of Yugoslavia.
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