Croatia, England, how to rekindle hope?

The Croatian team that will face England at the World Cup semifinals tonight is representing a completely different country from the last time we arrived at this stage in 1998. At that meal, Croatia was a country with fresh memories of war and a shared dream of becoming part of the European Union, with promises of its prosperity and stability. It was time for Croatia's nation-building. A few years later, when I traveled through different countries and told people I was from Croatia, they seemed to have only heard of former communist leader Tito, and of Davor Schuker, who became the 1998 World Cup top performer.

Now, 20 years later, Croatia is known for Dubrovnik, the picturesque spot on the Adriatic coast that served as a location for the famous Game of Thrones series. And the name of the Croatian footballer on everyone's lips is that of Luca Modrich.

This perfectly shows the trajector of the country's history: Croatia was once part of socialist Yugoslavia, part of the Non-line Movement [marking of translators: Countries that were not with any of the powerful blocs during the Cold War, dedicated to global peace and transnational co-operation, building huge infrastructure projects across Africa and the Middle East. Today, Croatia is known only for tourism and football.

Sports has always been a highly politicised form of national expression in post-Social Croatia, with footballers often described as “> ” or as “fighters”. The first Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman, announced that <x4fitries in football form the nation's identity as much as wars”, echoing George Orwell's quota, saying football is nothing more than “a non-striking fight”. Football was used to generate popular support for Tudjman, his idea “national [that was leading us towards an EU of “civilized”] and to legitimise his rule.

Similarly, the World Cup is currently being used by nationalist forces and current president Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, who, seen dancing during the matches, is campaigning for the upcoming presidential election.

In 1998, the excitement accompanying the World Cup was essentially linked to the excitement about the country's future in the European Union; today's excitement is more a liquefaction for the past, when a good future was still possible. Now, our economy and society have fallen to their knees, with mass migration and an unemployment rate of 43% among young people.

While today's players are haunted by the ghosts of that missing semifinal [to France], the ghost that follows our country is that of a failed “trasis [from communism to capitalism]. And the only collective hope and the only joy left is football.

What is interesting about today's Moscow match between England and Croatia is that both countries have more similarities than they can see at first sight. The last time England was in the semifinals of the World Cup in 1990, Croatia still needed to gain independence. We managed to become part of the EU in 2013. Unaware that this meant entering the Titanic, just before this ship hit the iceberg and sank. United Kingdom [ The UK today is trying to jump off the ship, only to find out that the crash site is also in the sink. With the recent resignations in the government cabinet and the recent Braxet, it looks like the World Cup is UK's hope of a last rescue, too.

For at least an hour and a half tonight, until the match is played in front of the large crowds of both countries, there will be a time when the entire population of these countries can get drunk in euphoria and waiting for a good outcome.

In other words, Croats are aware that the only chance to win something, whatever it is, these days, is in a football field. And isn't that the same for England?

Instead of the World Cup romance, we need to see what it is about: a reversed reflection of what is missing in today's policy, hope.

The lesson we have to take on the left of this World Cup is its ability to make us feel part of something greater than ourselves and to recreate the municipality/communal essay that was lost in progressive politics. This was illustrated by Mexican fans who leaped for joy after their team defeated Germany. There were so many fans that together they created a mini-rrour. Perhaps this is telling us that nationalism and populism are not, as we feared, the only forms of collective mobilization that people can make along with a common belief in the future. What we need to do now is reinforce the sense of unity that this World Cup has created in participating politics.

Thus, whoever achieves the finals tonight, the most important question for us left is not whether we can free football from nationalist entourage, but how we can, regardless of national boundaries and national identities, re-enact the collective hope and spirit of building a common future. If the World Cup is being described as a European war, is there a better future for Europe than just good football? The Guardian ♪ Periscope