This is my personal “Wish List” for the Vatreni in 2025 as they move through World Cup qualifying in a group comprised of Czechia, Montenegro, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar. This is not something I think Dalić will ever move towards as his contract with the HNS ends in 2026, it’s just something I would absolutely love for him to do. But I know it’s not going to happen.
Croatia needs a proper right winger to compliment Perišić on the left side. I can only assume Perišić has one more cycle left in him at age 36 and will retire alongside Modrić at the 2026 World Cup. Croatia also needs an actual right winger to combat the fastest and most technical nations out there: Brazil, France, Spain, Portugal, England. I’m not talking about placing any-old guy in the RW slot, I’m talking about using a real winger. Someone that will take on defenders 1v1. Someone that will widen the field as much as possible for Modrić and Kovačić to do their thing. Someone to whip in crosses into the box to guys like Budimir.
Dalić has been incredibly guilty of playing guys out of position for the past three years. This means playing guys like Vlašić, Mario Pašalić, Baturina, Luka Sučić and Kramarić on the right side of the midfield. None of these guys are true wingers and will always drift towards the middle of the pitch where they are most comfortable. All of these guys minus Krama are #10 CAMs anyways. Has Dalić had options on the right side since him and Rebić parted ways in 2021? Not really. But he also hasn’t played guys in their natural positions and definitely has not nurtured anyone for a RW spot.
So how do we get to a proper RW in the next year?
#1 Marco Pašalić: Yes, 24 year-old Marco Pašalić has now moved from Europe to play in the watered down MLS. However, he has five goals and one assist in his first five matches of the season. Not a bad start at all…in any league. But what would it take him to get called back up to the national team? Probably a lot. And with Dalić playing the ‘flavor of the month’ on the right side for the past few years, why would he change now? Either play Kramarić behind the true #9 or don’t play him at all. Ante’s pipe dream: Pašalić wins MLS MVP with 20 goals + 10 assists and forces himself into the Croatia starting XI.
#2 Marko Pjaca: Pjaca is technically a left winger but could be interchangeable with Perišić in any given match. Pjaca turns 30 years old this year and is already on two knee surgeries. But at least the guy is a true winger who never really got his shot under Dalić. He’s not having the worst season for Dinamo Zagreb, who has been underperforming in the HNL; but over-performed in Champions League. In six Champions League matches, Pjaca scored a goal versus AC Milan in a must-win game and assisted against Bayern Munich and Slovan Bratislava (2x). In 24 HNL matches, Pjaca has 5G4A. Could he play at the international level? Yes. But you would need to give him a shot in the starting XI. Ante’s Pipe dream: Pjaca gets some playing time in June vs. Gibraltar and Czechia and turns some heads going into the summer break.
#3 Marin Šotiček: Only 20 years old. He has three goals in 19 appearances for FC Basel. For those of you asking for him to be called up and capped by Dalić, please. You need to do much better in the Swiss League and the Croatia U21s to even have that conversation. Ante’s pipe dream: Continue to monitor Šotiček and hope for the best.
#4 Josip Brekalo: What could have been! The 26yo has scored some stunning goals in his day but just never panned out. Although he is still property of Fiorentina of the Serie A, he’s already been loaned to Hajduk and now Kasimpasa in Turkey. He hasn’t done much at either. Ante’s pipe dream: a miracle resurgence at any club in the next year; just as Pjaca did after surgery. Not counting on it.
Our RW spot DOES NOT NEED a world class winger. Just need a body that moves well.
That spot will have so much joy and real estate to run, because of the other areas the defense has to focus on.
Super disappointing that Dalic has not given Marco P more opportunities.
Who cares about MLS being a sub par league. It is a physical league that keeps him in good shape.
Marco P needs to be called up this cycle and start against all these mediocre and scrub sides.
He is direct and has something in that left peg.
Do not watch a lot of MLS, but not sure why people are always questioning the standard of MLS ? Yes, it is not on par with the 5 top league’s in Europe and maybe one or two others but it is way better than the standard in HNL.
Apart from Dinamo and possibly Rijeka all our other clubs would struggle in MLS big time. So, if Marco Pasalic is playing well in MLS Dalic should call him up.
The one thing I do not like about MLS is the fact that many matches are played on artificial grass.
For lack of a better term, Eurosnobbery.
I used to watch MLS religiously. But then came the Apple TV deal, and the fact that Toronto FC not only sucks but is boring … well much less so now.
Someone mentioned how sloppy Marco’s goals were the other week — that MLS sucks etc. PL also has emphasis on hustle over skill. It all has its place … but give me La Liga/Serie A before hustle hockey on grass like England.
I did no research, but I’m not sure the majority of MLS teams play on artificial turf?
Checked and 6 out of 30 clubs play on artificial turf. I thought it might have been more.
Suspect Petar Sucic will miss our two June WC qualifiers
Here’s why
His agent said y’day
“Inter wants to integrate him into the team at the beginning of June. They want him and are waiting for him, aiming to bring him in immediately. It is unlikely that he will be sent out on another loan.”
Croatia’s 2 qualifiers June 6th and 9th
Inter’s Club World Cup first games June 17th, 21st, and 25th
Winner Club World Cup gets 115-120 m (for 7 games (!)) – so big $$$ at stake
So
Putting it all together
If Pero decides to join Croatia in June – he will be at a disadvantage v-a-v Inter – the penalty of such could be to end up on loan (reads like a not so veiled threat)
Pero doesn’t want to go on loan – Croatia doesn’t want Pero to go on loan
So afraid Pero/Croatia’s hands are tied – Pero needs to get his b*tt to Inter June 1st and be ready for June 17th
Beyond Pero
Man City, Real Madrid, Munich are participating in Club World Cup
So it’s conceivable that Kova, Gvardiol, Modric and Stanisic are also all missing from our squad for these two qualifiers (I mean they will need a break once their regular club seasons are done ahead of the tournament)
Lol
Nonsense, they will all be available for the WC qualifiers.
We don’t need Sucic.
We have Modric, Krama, Perisic, Kovacic and (hopefully) Livaja will be back by then.
I think Anonymous likes social media. Just a hunch.
Honestly though the age thing doesn’t bother me as much as it does others I guess? Modric was fantastic in the first game, less so in the second.
You can’t chug out guys at that age twice in a few days against potentially the best team in the world? Even Gvardiol/Stanisic looked gassed. And they ain’t old.
It bothers me for future planning.
I still want all these veterans on the team (especially since they’re all in form now) but we don’t need to play them 90 minutes each.
We have enough young talent to mix it up and have half our vets come off the bench (or even take games off).
Maminjo’s hard on for Livaja. Lol. You should ask the guy out. Lol
I honestly doubt that he calls Livaja up at this stage after that stint. If he does than I think that’s stupid.
But yes you are definitely right (Maminjo) about starting the younger players. Dalic is taking far too long with this. If anything that’s second game against France should have been an eye opener. There are articles from Croatian Newspapers suggesting ad much as well. But knowing Dalic he probably won’t budge on this.
When Livaja scored against Canada …. tears of joy. Fuck John Herdman. But then he had a smug walk up to a PK and hit the post. Was prick-ish.
My father is a Hajduk apologist and loves him. I loved watching my dad watching Livaja come in as a sub a couple years ago. Livaja was going to put on a jersey and was sans kit so revealed his never-ending barrage of tattoos … my dad wondering who is coming in: “Tko je ovaj životinja??” …. only to realize it was his Livaja.
Just a light-hearted anecdote. Calm down people.
Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg:
Rapid striker Dion Beljo has scored 18 goals and provided 4 assists this season, alongside strong performances in the Conference League.
As previously revealed, Rapid plan to activate their option to buy for around €7–9m and sell him on for a profit, with a potential transfer fee of €10–12m.
There is interest from clubs in Italy, Spain, and the Benelux region. Bologna, Ajax, Hoffenheim, and Anderlecht have already shown interest in the past.
x.com/Plettigoal/status/1904603207185072194
Can anyone explain why Pašalić lost his spot on the team even BEFORE his move to MLS?
Yeah, there was a period he did slow down in the HNL, but he’s the only guy we have at midfield with speed.
What did the 5 subs do in the 2nd half for us vs France?
At the bare minimum, he could have came on for Budimir since it was a tough week to be playing Ivanović, a guy making his first two appearances in non-ideal situations playing to protect a lead. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have made it tougher against France to put pressure and break up some passes…and maybe even give them their first shot on goal.
I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t see a stubborn guy like Dalić give Pašalić a starting nod. I would bet a million bucks he hasn’t watched more than 5 minutes of an MLS match.
Marco could score 50 goals and it wouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what league you’re in when you score on a bomb like he did on Saturday. That ball was still rising…and he’s scored several of those in the HNL already.
Ante, please no more Brekalo references, LOL! The guy laid an egg when we scored two late goals vs Spain and looked like this little kid who wanted to no part of a header when we lost in Extra Time.
The fans and media were pretty critical of Dalić taking so long to call him up and play him.
Dalić has a bit of an ego and reacted negatively to it, and (in my opinion) deliberately didn’t want to show everyone that they were right.
He stuck with his favored lineup at the Euros (despite us desperately needing width) and was probably hoping to show everyone up and prove that he was right.
I have always wondered how much influence the assistants have with Dalić over player personnel. I am guessing this is why Mandžukić’s tenure as assistant was so short since he was the only one that might have “challenged” him on giving certain players a shot.
Anonymous tried their best with some primitive reverse psychology
#EveryWingerDoesn’tMatter
But even that didn’t do the trick
Can’t blame Marco – he’s a cool happy go lucky kid who decided to take a mini-sabbatical in Florida (it’s not like he went to Montreal), 4x pay increase while only having to play 1 game a week (Saturdays) – pretty good gig
Re Marco’s disappointing move to MLS, I pin half the blame on his inconsistent form in HNL and the other half on Dalic. Agree with Maminjo that if Dalic had played him regularly, he probably would have tried to score a better deal in a good European league. Sigh… I like the player, guy has speed, a ferocious shot and seems to have a good attitude and loves Croatia.
And he goes one on one against players, a style that is lacking otherwise on the pass-friendly team. And no there is nothing wrong with passing, but a different dynamic never hurts.
Both him and Pjaca give us that.
Both are just role players with limited ceiling, but would have still been very useful for us (especially at the Euros).
Ljutic did it !!!
1st overall Slalom for the year
Incredible
Ante – we MUST do an article highlighting her – first ever profiling one of Croatia’s female athletes ?!
live.fis-ski.com/lv-al5052.htm#/standing
Forgot to mention
Matanovic posted IG y’day pic of him back on pitch training
Hopefully he’s ready to face Tottenham April 10th 😊
You forgot my boi Luka Stojković!
Not a true RW… but has been playing there great for Dinamo.
RW can wait for another day
Zrinka Ljutic skies Sun Valley today – last event of the season
Remember – she has to finished 3rd or higher to take 1st place for the year
She is bib 4
09:00 1st runs start
12:00 2nd run start
Believe (please confirm) these start times are Sun Valley local times – so 2 hours behind EDT
***.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=AL&raceid=123172
Did not ski well in both runs and finished 10th in the race, but lucky that her main opponents could not make up the difference in points, so she has won the overall title in the Slalom.
Great result and first title for us since Janica Kostelic all those years ago.
Nice! Thanks Anon and MART for skiing updates
Soticek was excellent for the U21’s in the recent Doxa Cup which Croatia won with six points ahead of Qatar and Australia on 5 points.
OK the opposition like Thailand weren’t top notch but Soticek was impressive and as you say Ante we’ll see how he goes at Basel and upcoming U21 qualifiers against Ukraine, Turkey and Hungary.
He’s a good prospect. Good speed and size.
It was the wrong move to go to Basel over Dinamo, but hopefully he nails down a starting position at Basel by next season.
We could have ourselves a nice in-form young winger very shortly.
Could Juranovic also be a potential stop-gap at the right wing? When he’s on his game, he shows speed.
Ya I thought JJ always with stanisic behind
Would make that side solid defensively with an upside of decent offence potentially
Yea its MLS but that Pašalić goal was not really gonna be saved by many keepers
Sure he had room but proper cut back in and top quality strike
I wouldn’t be upset if he rolled him out 5 games and showed zero and forget it
He showed promise with very little national time and seems to have a good attitude
Like why is he not good enough to play for a German squad?
Or did he just say screw it
Try the states make some money for a year and see
Obviously If he keeps this pace euro teams will be calling
He went for for the money.
I’m sure if Dalić played him regularly, he probably doesn’t go to MLS and tries to score a better deal in a good European league.
But he’s turning 25 this year and probably didn’t want to be stuck in the HNL heading into the latter half of his 20s (which makes it harder to score a good contract in a good team or league).
He probably figures that he can always come back to Europe within three years.