THERE is a corner in what once was the White Hart Lane dressing room that will forever be Croatia.

At a time when few of the bigger English clubs looked to the Eastern European country for relatively cheap talent, despite their record of producing seriously good footballers, Tottenham Hotspur had four. It was a clever move.

“Good pros, they come in, do their stuff, never a problem, terrific characters,” said Harry Redknapp, who in his four years as manager of Spurs had a band of Croat brothers whose patriotism matched their ability to play football.

Two of them, Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka, could be World Cup winners tonight. Niko Kranjcar, previously of Rangers, is now retired as is national icon and former goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa.

The living legend who is Joe Jordan – scorer of four World Cup goals over three tournaments while wearing a red lion on his chest – was Redknapp’s assistant when Modric and his countrymen lit up the Premier League to the extent Tottenham lost their best player to Real Madrid for £30 million, a bargain in modern football terms given he has lifted four European Cups.

It took Jordan one training session to see he was working with “as good a player as I had seen in my years coaching” while Kranjcar and Corluka were more than decent as well. Pletikosa was a loan who didn’t hang around for long but his 114 caps tell you he was a goalie of some distinction.

“Luka has been the best player of the World Cup,” said Jordan who admitted he would be supporting Croatia against France. “A wonderful footballer and a great guy. That is how I would sum him up.

“I didn’t go into the dressing room often at Tottenham, I never felt that was my place, but the four of them sat in the same corner where they had put up a Croatian flag on the wall. They were so patriotic and didn’t want to hide it. They reminded me of ourselves or how we used to be.

“I loved working with those guys. They never gave you any problem, loved training and had real heart. I mean, they really wanted it which you don’t always find even at the top level. The best people and brilliant players.”

Modric was the brightest light. He is Sir Alex Ferguson’s favourite all-time non-Manchester United player in terms of the Premier League and at 32 he has chosen the greatest stage of all to reach his peak with the timing of one of his passes.

France are a better team than

Croatia from one to 11, but they do not have a player of Modric’s supreme talent. It could be the difference in a game which is not far from 50/50. He is a world-class operator. He was the best player on the park during Real Madrid’s European Cup win over Liverpool, and in the victory 12 months ago against Juventus his performance will surely be the subject of a football PhD in years to come.

“Luka was already at the club by the time Harry and I got there,” Jordan said. “You could see how good he was right away. We wanted training to be competitive and intense, and that wee man stood out from everyone else during the games. It was on day one when I saw it. He took the ball so well, his reading of the game was second to none. I just thought ‘wow.’

“He always wants the ball. Watch him in a game and you will see the game. Luka will take a pass when marked and if the ball has to go backwards then that’s where he’ll send it. But it’s not negative. It’s never negative. As soon as the pass goes, he moves into a better position to get the ball back and so he can start an attack.

“It’s the weight of his passes, with either foot as well, which are perfect. Absolutely perfect. He’s a dream of a player.”

Of course, Modric shouldn’t have made it. He is tiny when giants rule the game.

“Look at his thighs and calves,” Jordan says. “Luka isn’t the biggest but his legs are incredibly strong. He never shows pain, always bounces up from a challenge and has an incredible ability to ride a tackle.

“He’s a winner. He deserves to be at the World Cup final, he deserves to be at Real Madrid. You want the best for good people and that is Luka.”

In a World Cup which has thrown up a plethora of stories, Croatia lead the way even if France, the best team in Russia so far, win in Moscow.

Croatia reached the quarter-finals of Euro 96 and, famously, the World Cup semi-finals two years later with Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinecki, who Redknapp and Jordan worked with at Portsmouth, and Slavin Bilic.

“I remember Luka telling me about that time and how it inspired him and the country as a whole, and this of course is a people who were not so long ago in a war,” Jordan said. “This, obviously, has had an impact and, in a way, explains their success.

“This is their second generation of great players. We in Scotland should take a look at their professionalism and attitude. We could learn from them.

“I couldn’t tell you why such a small country produced so many seriously good players but what I saw for myself was an unequalled work ethic and street-smartness which England didn’t have in the quarter-final. That’s three extra times Croatia have had to play and they fought though their tiredness. That’s the winning mentality I was telling you about.

“I would love them to win. I would Luka and big Vedran to beat France but that won’t be easy. The French are good and have got better as the tourn-ament has gone on. It should be a great game.”

So, why can’t Scotland be like Croatia?

“There is the billion pound question,” Jordan says. “I wish I knew. But then Scotland are hardly the only country looking at Croatia right now and wondering how they go there.

“I’m delighted for them. Football would be a better place if Croatia won the World Cup. They play the game the right way, the love their country, would die for one another and never, ever stop. Croatia are showing the way.”