Main profile: Ivan Rakitic

Each summer, the Swiss border town of Moehlin really comes alive for a day. That is the day when Moehlin’s most celebrated son, Ivan Rakitic, brings a whiff of top European football into the otherwise sleepy place, tucked safely among the canton of Aargau’s wooded hills just south of Germany.

Rakitic owns the local club NK Pajde, whose name can most accurately be translated from Croatian as ‘chums’ or ‘buddies’. They play in lower Swiss divisions and are entirely a product of a family affair: Ivan’s dad is the chairman, his uncle is the director of football and his brother the player-manager. Ivan himself is the sugar-daddy.

“Yes, that’s about right – but it’s also a hobby of mine,” he laughs. “Most players there are my old friends, neighbours, relatives … These are the people who I played with as a kid, they are my lifelong buddies. We have a family atmosphere at the club and like to hang out on the football pitch. I still sometimes play, or even train with them whenever I get the chance.”

Once a year in the off-season, Rakitic gets his other friends, some of them Switzerland and Croatia international players, to come to his hometown and play an exhibition game against Pajde. The word on the streets of Moehlin is that he even got some of his old pals – like Germany’s Manuel Neuer, who was his team-mate at Schalke – to chip in for the club’s budget.

His birthplace means a lot to him. It was here that he first fell in love with his parents’ home country, watching Croatia play at the 1998 World Cup. “When Robert Prosinecki scored for us against Jamaica,” Rakitic told FourFourTwo, “I was so happy that I ran onto the balcony and climbed the fence in euphoria. To be fair, our flat was only on the first floor, so it couldn’t really end up tragically if I fell over...”

It was also here that, when Rakitic Jnr was 16, that his father, Luka, had a very serious and potentially life-changing conversation with a distinguished guest – a member of José Mourinho’s coaching staff who tried to woo Ivan to Chelsea, offering Luka a job in London. 

By that time, his son had already been a standout in Basel’s youth ranks and the family kindly rejected the offer, but not without much consideration. And it was also here that Ivan informed his dad of his decision to represent Croatia – the player later said the family never tried to force him into making the choice, but that his dad shed ‘tears of joy’ upon being told what it was. It wasn’t the easiest decision to make and the family was under enormous pressure. At the time, they were receiving anonymous phone calls and letters telling them to move out of Switzerland – and even death threats – almost on a daily basis, Luka Rakitic later revealed. Ivan was always reluctant to talk about it; he waited for the dust to settle and eventually it did.

This year the feast in Moehlin will have to wait until after the World Cup, where Rakitic will try to lead Croatia to glory – or at least past the group stage. He’s now one of the key players in the team and his playmaking partnership with Real Madrid’s Luka Modric forms the most exciting creative axis for the Vatreni since that bronze-winning generation of 1998. 

The team had hit a few bumps on the road to Brazil, but things started to fall into place with the return of Niko Kovac. Brought up in the diaspora himself, he welcomed the 19-year-old Swiss-born novice into the team as his captain back in 2007; now he’s Rakitic’s new gaffer.

In Croatia, Rakitic is remembered as a tragic figure of their last big tournament two years ago. He had the best chance in the deciding European Championship group game against Spain, but Iker Casillas saved his close-range header, taken after running across half the pitch and escaping Sergio Busquets’s attention to meet Modric’s sublime cross from the edge of the box. It may have been a career-defining moment, but it only inspired him to try harder and Rakitic really took off as a player after that.

He was made the captain at Sevilla, his third professional club after Basel and Schalke, and developed into one of the hottest playmakers in Europe. He is as versatile as his linguistic skills (Rakitic speaks five different languages), as he’s capable of playing just about anywhere in midfield: the Todocampista, the Spanish newspaper Marca dubbed him.

After a fantastic season with Sevilla, this will also be the summer of big decisions for the 26-year-old. Transfer rumours have linked him with several of Europe’s stellar names – with the Champions League finalists Real and Atlético Madrid among those repeatedly mentioned as possible suitors, as well as Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. 

Staying at Sevilla, where he has married a local girl and become a father, is also an option, but a few months ago his father Luka told the Croatian press that his son would “make the record transfer in Croatian football history”. That would mean topping Luka Modric’s £30m deal from Spurs to Real Madrid – if they perform well together for Croatia at the World Cup, they could even end up reunited at the Bernabéu.

But, whatever happens this summer, one club can be quite certain to have Rakitic on their books next season –  NK Pajde of Moehlin.

Tactics/questions

Gone are the days of relentless tactical experiments which ultimately saw Igor Stimac fired before November’s World Cup play-off with Iceland. 

Unlike his massively unpopular predecessor, Croatia’s new manager, Niko Kovac, is adamant to play ‘4-2-3-1-come-4-1-4-1’, as he proclaimed right from the start of his tenure. That formation may bring the best out of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, the team’s playmaking duo, but it still does not solve either of the two old issues: the shortage of quality wingers and the need to balance creativity with a physical presence in midfield.

Despite Danijel Subasic doing really well at Monaco, the 35-year-old Stipe Pletikosa is still the first-choice goalkeeper. Reliable rather than spectacular, he has held that post for almost 15 years. The captain Darijo Srna, of Shakhtar Donetsk, is the undisputed right-back, while Lokomotiv Moscow’s Vedran Corluka and Southampton’s Dejan Lovren should make the centre-back pairing. Left-back has been a permanent weak spot, which is why Kovac called back the almost forgotten Danijel Pranjic, now at Panathinaikos. The position will go to either him or Dnipro’s Ivan Strinic.

Real Madrid’s Modric and Sevilla’s Rakitic will be expected to run the show in the central area. But a place for Mateo Kovacic, Internazionale’s rising star, also needs to be found and the question is – where?

It is the same dilemma that Miroslav Blazevic had as the manager of the 1998 bronze-winning generation featuring Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki and Aljosa Asanovic: fielding all three midfield playmakers is just as risky as it is tempting.

Though the current trio are all tactically intelligent and apt as ball-winners, they don’t offer enough ‘muscle’; besides that, too much focus on defensive work could stifle their creativity. Adding a holding specialist – like the experienced, but often doubted Ognjen Vukojevic of Dynamo Kiev – is the safer option.

In that case, young Kovacic could be deployed to one of the wings, which should suit him much more than was the case with Rakitic, who had previously been routinely (mis)used in wide positions for the national team. 

That particular switch is among the things Kovac is considering for the tournament opener against Brazil on 12 June, when his star striker Mario Mandzukic won’t be available  due to suspension following his red card in the 2-0 second leg play-off victory over Iceland. 

The Bayern Munich player will be replaced by either Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk) or by the veteran Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg) – the latter has often been utilised out wide for Croatia, mainly out of necessity, but is more natural up front. Olic’s club team-mate Ivan Perisic is expected to start on the other flank.

It’s also worth noting that almost all of the players mentioned have a very good club season behind them and several enjoyed a late upsurge in form. They should be at their peak come the World Cup.

Who is the player who is going to surprise everyone at the World Cup?

In a team packed with experience, the wonderfully gifted Mateo Kovacic is at least five years younger than any other starter. And yet his role could be key to dealing with Croatia’s shortcomings.

The 20-year-old had arguably been neglected by Internazionale’s coach Walter Mazzari before he finally began to flourish late in the season – culminating with an incredible performance in Javier Zanetti’s farewell game at San Siro, when he sliced open the Lazio defence with three assists in a 4-1 win. 

Kovacic is a very technically skilled and explosive player, a great dribbler with an exceptional vision of the game, which means both that he’s able to make crucial interceptions defensively and provide key passes to attackers. But he’s rather weak in the air and not nearly as compact a player as Modric – rather than shielding the ball and keeping it moving with many short passes, he needs space.

Kovacic enjoys dropping deep to get the ball and then driving it forward with pace. With his light feet and impressive acceleration with the ball, he is perhaps better suited for one of the positions behind the striker (either central or wide) in Croatia’s 4-2-3-1 than to that of a deep-lying playmaker. How exactly Kovac will decide to use him is still to be seen, but the youngster could be a true revelation at the tournament.

Who is the player who is going to disappoint the most?

Dejan Lovren won many admirers in England during his debut Premier League season, but he has never really excelled for the national team. That is the main reason he’s still somewhat underrated in his homeland. The World Cup is the best opportunity for him to prove his worth and Croatia fans will certainly expect him to do so.

However, there’s one particular aspect of Lovren’s game his fellow countrymen dread could come into focus – and that’s his less-than-great disciplinary record. He tends to get careless every now and then and concede unnecessary fouls in the danger zone. Croatia will almost certainly play with a deeper defensive line than Southampton do and officiating at the World Cup could well be stricter than it is in England, so any lapses of concentration could prove very costly.

Hopefully not many of them will happen, though. Croatians need to learn to trust Lovren more.

What is the realistic aim for your team at the World Cup and why?

Given the size of our population, the standard of our domestic league and everything we’ve been put through in the qualifiers, qualification alone is a great achievement in itself. But it’s also true that we have a potent and experienced team, with key players at their individual peak. Neither Mexico nor Cameroon are better than us and we can give Brazil at least a good run for their money.

So progressing from the group stage, for the first time since 1998, is a realistic aim. And after that … well, anything can happen in those knockout rounds, right?

Anecdotes

Mario Mandzukic 

Mandzukic apparently never wanted to do anything other than play football. When he was choosing which high school to go to, his father Mato later revealed, Mario went for whichever was closest to his home. The idea was not to waste too much precious time on going there and back, instead spending it on the nearby playground where he used to kick the ball for hours every day. The type of education he received in that school was very specific: apart from being a professional footballer, Mandzukic is also a ceramic tiler. It seems that he hasn’t changed much. Whenever asked about his hobbies, Mario claims he has none. “My private life would bore you,” he once said. “I feel best spending time at home with my family and girlfriend.” He’s also been very successful at keeping his partner, Ivana, away from the media. They never appear in public together, but hers is one of two names written on the boots he wears on the pitch. Oddly enough, the other is the name of his dog. ‘My pug Leni makes me happy’ – was his only comment about it.

Robert Kovac – assistant manager

Many footballers date and marry models, but it’s usually one of the biggest stars in the team who has the most famous WAG. In Croatia’s case – it’s the assistant manager. Anica Kovac was the first runner-up in the Miss World 1995 beauty pageant and she married Robert Kovac  six years later. They have three children. But Robert – who is not only the assistant, but also the younger brother of the Croatia manager Niko – can also say he married a hometown sweetheart. Both him and his wife Anica were born and raised in a little place called Berlin, Germany.

Niko Kranjcar

Niko Kranjcar, on the other hand, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘cultured midfielder’. Tabloids recently broke a story that the QPR player has been secretly dating Zrinka Cvitesic, the famous Croat actress who won this year’s Laurence Olivier Award for best actress in a musical for her role in the West End production of ‘Once’.

Dejan Lovren

Defender Dejan Lovren runs his own fashion label called ‘Russell Brown’ and has already attracted some big-name endorsements for his streetwear line. They are not only his fellow countrymen Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic, but also Karim Benzema and Franck Ribéry – and those Frenchmen are believed to know a thing or two about style. Lovren’s Southampton team-mates were puzzled when they found out what he does in his spare time. ‘They were asking me where I bought it [the clothes] from,’ he said in a recent interview. ‘When I said I didn’t buy it, that it was made by me, they were shocked.’

Eduardo da Silva

If Eduardo takes to the pitch for Croatia in the tournament opener, he’ll do something unique: get his World Cup debut in the country of his birth, playing against that country’s team. The Brazilian-born forward came to Croatia when he was 16 and made his name at Dinamo Zagreb before his move to Arsenal. Although he is the second highest goal-scorer in the national team’s history, he is yet to play at a World Cup. 

Darijo Srna

When his Shakhtar Donetsk side played the Uefa Cup final in 2009, Srna hired a charter plane to bring 125 of his ‘closest’ friends and family members from Croatia to the game. In Ukraine, he often buys match tickets for orphaned children and finances their travel to the stadium. On one occasion, he paid for no less than 920 of them. Srna’s father was orphaned as a child in the second world war.