Croatia's red and white checkered flag reigned over the streets of downtown Dallas Tuesday evening as hundreds of supporters marched ahead of the country's match against England in the FIFA World Cup.
The teams will face off at Dallas Stadium Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT.
Fans carried a 100-yard Croatian flag from Civic Garden on Main Street down Commerce Street to Ferris Plaza. Along the way they played music and chanted "Mi Hrvati" — which means "We Croats."
Josip Markovic flew from the small town of Ozalj in Croatia to watch the team.
"We brought our flags, we brought our people here," Markovic said. "We want to finally win the World Cup."
Croatia last played against England at the World Cup in 2018 — and Croatia won 2-1.
"Every time we face them, we beat them," Markovic said. "So tomorrow is easy, easy job for us."
England during that match famously tried to score on Croatia while its team was celebrating off the field, but the referee shut the play down.
The small country of Croatia has been on a World Cup hot streak. The nation with a population of 4 million reached second place in 2018 and third place in 2022.
Bosko Katic, who moved from Croatia to North Texas 20 years ago, said the country is small, but the people look out for each other.
"All these people came from all over the world representing our nation and supporting our national team," Katic said. "Today we're going to have a big parade, tomorrow we all go to the game, and we're going to party all night and all day."
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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