The victors had been poor in the first half but Modric, 32, gained a foothold in the match and helped the team win 2-1 after extra time in Russia.
They are now in the World Cup final against France on Sunday while England faces Belgium in the third-place playoff the day before.
Modric’s wife Vanja Bosnic, 35, was cheering him on in Russia – she had been seen in the stands in previous matches.
The pair met in 2007 while Vanja was working at Mamic sports agency, with the midfielder a client of theirs while at Dinamo Zagreb.
Modric's wife has since left the agency, following her footballer husband to Tottenham.
After the midfielder left Mamic, Vanja became his agent and secured a monumental deal to take him to Real Madrid in 2012.
She prefers to keep a low profile and doesn't even have a public Instagram account.
The two got married in May 2010 in the Croatian capital of Zagreb.
Modric's former Tottenham and Croatian team-mate Vedran Corluka was the best man at their
Since they have had two daughters, five-year-old Ema and Sofia who was born last year.
Modric blamed the English media for the victory yesterday.
He told ITV following the match: “We proved everything differently that people were talking.
“Especially English journalists, pundits from television, they underestimated Croatia tonight and that was a huge mistake.
"All these words from them we take, we were reading and we were saying 'OK, today we will see who will be tired.' As I said, they should be more humble, and respect opponents more. That's it."
He added: “We showed again that we were not tired, we dominated the game physically, mentally in all aspects.
“We should have killed the game before extra-time, but this is an amazing achievement for us, a dream come true.
"After such a long time we are in the final, the biggest success in Croatian sporting history. We have to be proud."
“Especially English journalists, pundits from television, they underestimated Croatia tonight and that was a huge mistake.
"All these words from them we take, we were reading and we were saying 'OK, today we will see who will be tired.' As I said, they should be more humble, and respect opponents more. That's it."
He added: “We showed again that we were not tired, we dominated the game physically, mentally in all aspects.
“We should have killed the game before extra-time, but this is an amazing achievement for us, a dream come true.
"After such a long time we are in the final, the biggest success in Croatian sporting history. We have to be proud."
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