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Watching the World Cup with Philadelphia's Croatian community

It wasn’t your typical wall-to-wall Eagles-game crowd. But don’t underestimate the enthusiasm of fans from a small country whose team has made its way to a very big game.

More than a dozen Croatians stood around a center table at Chickie’s and Pete’s in South Philadelphia shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday. Hands on their hearts, they sang along with the Croatian national anthem as their team prepared to take the field for the final match of the 2018 World Cup against the mighty favored France.

Tommi Mischell, 50, an interior designer and singer-songwriter, who grew up in Trogir and now lives in Washington Township, had tears in her eyes.