Is there a secret behind Croatia's success? Is there a new, never seen "Croatian system" that has managed to produce players like Luka Modric or Mario Mandzukic? Unfortunately, the answer is "no".

"I wouldn't say there is a system behind it. There are some explanations for this success but the system is not one of them," Mihovil Topic, a Croatian sportswriter told Xinhua. "I believe that genetics play an important role. People in this country are genetically strong and very talented for football," Topic explains. He noted that it is hard to climb the ladder of success in Croatia and sport is one of the shortcuts.

"Hungry people run faster. We are ready to sacrifice more than people in other western countries, while at the same time we have a strong football tradition and enough influence of modern football," Topic said.

Danilo Paunovic coaches youngsters at Zadar. He grew up with Modric and his best friend Subasic. They all trained together in Zadar during the war in Croatia and continued afterward. "We just love this game. We used to play football every day, all day long. When they were bombing our city in the war, we would hide in basements just for a while and immediately go back to the field once we heard the sirens symbolizing the immediate danger is gone," Paunovic told Xinhua.

"This environment is full of talented children but we need a better system, a better infrastructure and then one day we will have even more players like Luka Modric," Paunovic said.

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