Croatia was crushed 4-2 by England on June 17 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. But the camera rarely found the scoreboard: it had other plans.
Ivana Knoll, a 33-year-old Croatian model and influencer nicknamed the sexiest fan of the World Cup, made her tournament debut in the outfit that made her famous —a corset-style top with the red-and-white checkered pattern of the Croatian flag and ultra-short denim shorts— and within minutes her images were already circulating on Instagram at a speed no goal in the match could match. Knoll did not arrive straight from the airport: before the game she had already headlined the FIFA Fan Festival in Los Angeles as a DJ, revving things up for what was to come.
Her presence in the stands was enough for international media to shift their attention away from the field. Croatia left with a defeat that complicates its path to the next round, but Knoll left with exactly what she came looking for.
