Croatian Cultural Club of Joliet celebrates World Cup Final

Despite the Croatian National Soccer Team’s 4-2 loss to France in the World Cup final Sunday in Russia, the team had a strong fan showing about 5,000 miles away in Joliet.

The Croatian Cultural Club of Joliet hosted a World Cup Final viewing party in which the place was packed full of people wearing the red, blue and white of their country and team.

The cheering started before the game during the playing of the Croatian national anthem. When the camera panned to Croatia’s star midfielder Luka Modri, again the crowd cheered, and someone shouted “Luka!”

The Croatian Cultural Club was established about 60 years ago, and since then, it’s been open for drinks, food, live entertainment and a number of other special events for the community. Everything from rock to polka is played.

Dave Strahanoski said many of the patrons to the club are second- and third-generation Croatian-Americans. He said, like many immigrant communities, their grandparents and great-grandparents left Croatia because of war and poor living conditions.

“They came to America and were all great Americans,” Strahanoski said. “They served in the Army, but they always held on to the good things about their Croatian culture, and we pass it on to our kids.”

So while during this World Cup they’ve gained a new reason to love soccer with the Croatian national team’s success, Strahanoski admits that many such as him usually are more interested in sports Americans tend to love such as football and baseball. But with the team advancing so far in the World Cup, it’s brought great enthusiasm for soccer in the community.

“As you can see today with the World Cup going on, it’s just everybody getting together and having a good time,” said Dave Jelinek, president of the Croatian Cultural Club of Joliet.

Jelinek said that the club sometimes gets a lot of people coming through the door for its fish frys. But Sunday, he said, it was probably the best crowd the club has had, with nearly every seat taken and plenty standing to watch the game on five TVs throughout the building. He added that the club even had to get a special permit from the city to be able to sell alcohol at 9 a.m. for the game, which had a 10 a.m. start time since it was being played in Russia.

The viewers all were fully engaged for the whole game.

Such as early in the 11th minute when midfielder Ivan Perisic nearly handled the ball right in front of goal with a chance to score, you could hear the crowd react. “Aw!” they shouted when he missed.

They weren’t afraid to react to when France scored or committed a hard foul against a Croatian player, with a couple of viewers making fun of a French player’s celebratory dance after he scored.

Despite the tough loss for their favorite soccer team, the atmosphere still was one familiar and enjoyable for those with a shared ancestry. The Croatian Cultural Club continued to uphold its place in the local Croatian-American community as a social hub for generations now.

“We were little kids coming to this,” Strahanoski said. “Our parents started bringing us here. We bring our kids here now. This is all generations through the years.”

For information on the club, visit croatianculturalclub.com or call 815-723-3154. The club is located at 1503 Clement St. in Joliet. The club opens daily to the public at 2 p.m.