JULY 17 CROATIA CELEBRATES WORLD CUP LOSS

JULY 17 CROATIA CELEBRATES WORLD CUP LOSS

Despite losing the World Cup Championship game to France, the people of Croatia are ecstatic. Around half a million people jammed into Ban Jelenic Square in the capital of Zagreb. Since the country only has four million people, this means an eighth of Croatians were there to celebrate the loss! See...up until the famed soccer tourney, no one in the world cared about the nation. Or, as Duner Blog staff member stated: "Before today, I had never even heard of Croatia." Let's answer the top five queries posed during the match:

How long has Croatian football been around?  The current nation of Croatia began in 1991. It was one of five new states to emerge from the breakup of Yugoslavia. After independence, one of the first acts of the new government was to establish a national football club. They're good: This is the fifth time Croatia has played in a World Cup in six attempts. They finished third in 1998.

Does Croatia have a king? Not anymore, but for a span of 600 years, Croatia was a thriving monarchy. It began in the year 925, when King Tomislav proclaimed himself King of Croatia. The catholic nation united Croat-speaking peoples into a common entity. Things changed in 1527, when massive Ottoman armies came. That's when Croatia decided to place Austrian King Ferdinand on the throne. It was a necessary move, but with dire consequences. For the next 500 years, Croatia would be a province in someone else's empire.

Who is the woman in the red dress? That's Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Croatia's president. It's a solid move for a leader of a nation competing in the World Cup to cheer your country on from the stands. It's even better if you're photogenic like Kolinda. She can even make Croatia's silly red and white checker-board emblem look good! She got the current 'celebrate a loss' movement going. After the game, she went onto the field to hug each player on the National team in the rain. DEETS: She's 50 and married with two kids.

What does Hrvastska mean? It's simply the word for "Croatia" in the Croatian language. Although everyone else in the world calls them Croatia, they have a special name for themselves. Two other European nations do this as well. People from Hungary are Magyars, and folks in Finland call themselves the Suomi. It only appears in a couple places...their Internet domain is .hr. and their soccer jerseys have a large HR on them as well. Just don't ask us how to pronounce Hrvastska...only a native speaking Croat is qualified to do that.

What's the coolest place to visit in Croatia? Being a remote province in Austro-Hungarian Empire has one advantage. It means Croatia was forgotten in most major European Wars. The historic cores of their cities haven't been constantly shelled and rebuilt. Dubrovnik is a great example, but I've always wanted to visit the medieval walled island city of Sveti Stefan. Looks cool, huh?