Local Croatian pride shown for country’s World Cup run

Underdog Croatia is taking on soccer power France in the World Cup final Sunday. Croatia’s success is unleashing some pride for one local woman in Palm Springs.

“I am so ready to go, I cannot wait. Tomorrow is my day,” Suzan Felando said.

She’s not afraid of showing off her ancestral pride, especially after Croatia reached it’s first ever World Cup final.

“I had no expectations because in the World Cup, anything goes. So when Argentina got knocked out, Brazil got knock out, this is it,” she said.

Felando is three-fourths Croatian, and has visited the country every other year since the 1980s.

She’s decked out in everything Croatia from head to toe, and added to her “shrine” at home as the soccer team progressed in the tournament.

“My couch is full of flags and towels and then on the left hand side here, I’ve got a candle burning, my village picture there from where my family’s from, the flag and of course, celebratory wine,” she said.

Felando says it’s pure euphoria back in the native land.

“I was calling my cousins, and they were either partying, celebrating, post and pre and I don’t think there’s any work going on right now,” she said.

To understand the sense of jubilation, Felando said to look back to the country’s recent history, wracked by a war for independence in the 1990s, followed by a rise as an up and coming democratic country in the 21 st century.

“People want to be free and have choices and they want to go ahead and be a country where their people can stay and be productive citizens,” she said.

Already proud of how far Croatia has come, she’ll be sure to cheer on the national team, whatever the result may be.

“We’re going to be cheering, ‘Come on Blazers!'” she exclaimed.