Luka Modric's World Cup career ended the way so many great ones do — not with a trophy, but with a final whistle he could not answer. Croatia's elimination at the hands of Portugal marked the last World Cup appearance of the veteran midfielder, closing a chapter that had come to define an entire era of Croatian football.

What happened

Croatia fell to Portugal and went out of the tournament, and with the result came a farewell. Modric, the organizing intelligence at the heart of the side, walked off the World Cup stage for the final time. His departure ends a personal run that stretched across five World Cups.

Why it matters

Modric has been the engine and the compass of Croatia's golden generation, the player who carried the nation to the 2018 final and to repeated deep tournament runs. His exit removes a generational midfielder from the international game. It also forces Croatia to finally confront a rebuild it has deferred for years by leaning on him.

By the numbers

The career closes at 202 international caps and five World Cup tournaments. Those figures made Modric the face of Croatian football, a status few players in any nation ever reach.

What to watch next

The open question now is one of identity. Croatia must reshape a midfield around the absence of the player who defined it for more than a decade, and how the federation answers that will shape the next generation's ceiling.