Croatian fans on Tuesday were mourning their shattered World Cup dreams following the national side’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Mexico in Brazil.
The loss meant that Croatia’s interest in the competition was over with Brazil and Mexico advancing from Group A into the last 16.
“Goodbye dreams!,” commented the state-run HRT television speaker after Guardado scored for a 2-0 lead for Mexico in the 75th minute.
Cafe terraces across Croatia as well as main squares in many towns were packed with people watching live broadcast of the match and hoping that their squad, known as the ‘Fiery Ones’ (Vatreni), would win to stay in the tournament.
“Mexico showed they were the better team .... notably in the second half. I congratulate them,” coach Niko Kovac told HRT.
“It was imperative that we won ... we tried everything but simply the opponent was better.
“We gave our maximum and it was not possible to do more,” the 42-year-old former Croatia captain concluded.
The clash had been dubbed as Croatia’s “Match of the Decade” opening up the possibility of a first appearance in the World Cup last 16 since 1998.