Moscow • Since declaring itself independent on Oct. 8, 1991, Croatia and its 4-plus million people have posted a World Cup third-place finish when the country was not yet seven years old and now is a World Cup finalist when the country is not yet 27 years old, with a captain whose childhood involved training with a grim soundtrack of shelling from a lingering war.
Only in late 1991 did the country that has forged this towering small-nation achievement start making its own plans for currency, passports and border crossings. War did not end at that very moment, either.