Phoenix Bar Sunday morning while they were watching the final minutes of the World Cup final.

The mood yo-yoed inside the Twin Peaks Sports Bar packed with every score and miss. The Euphoria left room for disappointment: nearly 175 supporters, dressed in the team's red and white plaid jersey and wrapped in the country's flag, realized that their story of losers was over then that France led 4-2.

However, this did not seem important. Their team was the smallest country and the least ranked team to reach the World Cup final. Now, they were almost champions. Second place was more than enough for the president of the Croatian football club, Mate Kozul.

"We've done it up here," Kozul exclaimed after the match. "There is no shame in being the second best in the world, we are always proud to be Croatians."

The beer continued to flow and the spirits remained high as the defeated fans sang, danced and cried what could have been.

Kozul, a first generation American, was surprised by how the Croatian community rallied throughout the World Cup a month ago. The club convinced Twin Peaks to let them bring traditional homemade Croatian dishes to the bar for the match, such as grilled sausage with no skin eaten without a hearty portion of bread.

"Every game has become bigger" "All our problems are gone and it's as if the weather has stopped for this past month. Everyone we know has congratulated us wherever we go."

For the Croatian Veronika Susak, who has been playing for too long in the United States, the road to the World Cup has been long. She brought her whole family to the bar to watch the game together.

"We have been waiting for so long and it's finally here," she said, practically in tears while the match was still tied. "We are a small country and no one has ever taken Croatia seriously, but we are here and we have won that."

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