Croatia and Panama will be playing at Toronto Stadium for the World Cup on June 23. (Courtesy: Canva)
It’s another exciting and monumental day today in Toronto as the fourth World Cup match is heading to the city with Croatia and Panama set to play at 7 p.m.
Although both teams lost their opening matches, supporters of Croatia and Panama are in high hopes of securing a win.
With approximately 50,000 Croatian fans expected to travel to Toronto, The Brandon Gonez Show visited Croatia Restaurant in Mississauga to hear how the community is feeling ahead of the second match.
Croatia Restaurant is located at 1989A Dundas St E, Mississauga, ON. The restaurant serves tradional home-style Croatian meals with live music nights on Saturdays.
Croatia Restaurant has been in business for over 40 years and Snjezana Krasic and Johnny Mrzljak are the current owners of the establishment for the past five years.
Known for serving authentic and fresh dishes, the restaurant’s most popular items are przene lignje — a dish of deep-fried calamari — and zagrebacki odrezak, which is a veal Cordon Bleu stuffed with ham and cheese.
The restaurant also has live music on Saturdays and is the go-to place for good eats and celebrations for the community.
Krasic moved to Toronto from Croatia 12 years ago, so the anticipation of watching her home team play in her “new” home country helps her feel a sense of pride, describing her culture as “warm, natural and happy.”
Snjezana Krasic and Johnny Mrzljak, the owners of Croatia Restaurant.
She shares how special it is to see so many Croatian supporters from all over the world from Australia, Germany and Croatia heading to Toronto to watch this World Cup match.
“We are such a small country, and it’s amazing to see how many Croatian people, it’s all over the world,” Krasic told The Brandon Gonez Show.
Krasic and Mrzljak are confidently anticipating a win for Croatia today which would lead to big celebrations in Toronto.
“4-0. Oh yeah. I don’t know why. I just feel that,” shared Mrzljak.
Although Croatia lost 4-2 to England last week, Croatia fans still have a lot of trust in their team.
“They’re excited about everything. They’re happy, they’re like sharing every moment, even that we lost with England. We were still happy because they’re here and they’re playing with the heart for our country,” said Krasic.
There is an expected pre-match celebration today in Toronto with Croatia fans marching from Dufferin Gate at 5:30 p.m. and will make their way towards Toronto Stadium. There are reports of a 100-foot Croatian flag that will be carried along the way during the march.
Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is also in Canada for the first time and was welcomed by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa.
