Let’s, for a moment, imagine we just won the World Cup. Everything is going crazy. People are yelling, shouting, screaming! Gunshots, fireworks, honking, and songs all around you. Everybody feels immortal, people fall in love, some do stupid things. We will have casualties. People dying from joy, from stress, from too much drink and too much food. Car crashes, houses on fire, and general mayhem.
If we win the World Cup, half of the world will Google us tomorrow, and we’ll receive more coverage and interest than ever before. Search algorithms will remember the query and will trickle down on other Croatian searches, promoting the general brand of the country, latching ontp the digital footprint of billions of people. Others will see it on TV or read it in the newspapers, and the whole world will know about us.
That’s the kind of marketing and glory that money can’t buy. If we could translate it into money, to have such an everlasting promotion of Croatia would cost us billions of euros. To put us on the map in every country. To show them the flag, to play them the anthem. Add on the fact that the last tourist board promotion video is basically a football promo combined with videos of picturesque parts of Croatia. It starts with Luka Modrić saying „You have to see this video“.
It’s not just a question of tourism, but one of association. To move away from „war“, „crime“ and „poverty“ to the „beautiful land“ and „world champions“ is not just great for the whole of the economy, but also for peace and stability. Our economic and political diplomacy strengthens. All that and more for winning the World Cup.
But when we sober up, we have to go back to work. And one of the things we’re doing right now is prosecuting Luka Modrić for giving false statements and engaging in possible tax evasion. We should definitely not stop the rule of law and interfere with the legal process, but if Luka is found guilty, then the question of punishment will be decided upon.
And in Croatia, there are options.
Our former Minister of Regional Development, Forestry, Mud and Water Management, Petar Čobanković, was accused of stealing 30 million kuna. Čobanković pleaded guilty and he was sentenced to one year in jail. The sentence was consequently reduced to a community sentence in an exchange for full cooperation with the prosecutor in the corruption case against the former Croatian premier Ivo Sanader.
Čoby ended up serving the community sentence in a public kitchen where he peeled more than 4.5 tons of potatoes. Is that worth the World Cup?
Or maybe the president can pardon him? Kolinda can do it herself or she can gather people on the stadium and ask them to vote with the finger up or finger down. Crowds love when they are being involved in decision making.
Whatever happens, even if we send Luka to prison, one thing is certain, the final argument for defense this time won’t be „He comes from a good family“, it will be „He’s a world champion.“
