PROS:
-The Croatian attack looked lively and hungry vs. Portugal. Five goals in two friendlies this week.
-Majer and Gvardiol were exceptional moving forward in the 1st half. They were Croatia’s best players. This duo can be the extra added attack I have been asking for. You can lock in Gvardiol at left-back the entire tournament. Pep did great with him at City.
-Livaković was tested often and he did well with multiple saves. His confidence is growing.
-Stanišić did well with Leao when he came in. That was Portugal’s biggest threat this game.
-Mario Pašalić is the super-sub we have all grown to love! He comes off the bench, rattles the ball of the crossbar, Budimit heads home. That’s the energy we need off the bench.
CONS:
-Croatian defense looked nervy. It wasn’t the best performance with a CB pairing of Šutalo-Pongračić with Gvardiol playing so high offensively. Leao absolutely torched us today and should have had a goal or two. This Croatian defense may have issues at Euro against speedy wingers coming down he field on the counter.
-Kramarič had an off-day and took too much time in the box making decisions to shoot or not. He started on the right side today in lieu of Perišić. Will Dalić keep him there for Spain because Majer absolutely needs to be in the starting XI.
FINAL: 2-1 Croatia! A fantastic offensive display from the Vatreni saw them win on Portuguese soil in their final tuneup prior to Euro 2024 kicking off against Spain in Berlin June 15th.
81′: Sučić is 1-1 with the keeper and tries to toe poke for the goal. But Diogo Costa gets a foot on it for the save. Should have been 3-1.
75′: Croatian subs. Brozović out for Ivanušec. Vlašić in for Kovačić.
67′: Rafael Leao absolutely torching the Croatian defense. No answer for him. Portugal is peppering the Croatian goal. Livaković makes a great save off a deflection. Still 2-1 Croatia.
66′: Budimir out. Petković in.
60′: Portugal catching the Croatian defense on fast breaks and counters. Against speedy strikers/wingers, this Croatian defense may have an issue at Euro 2024 if they play too high and can’t find a strategy to defend quickly.
55′: GOOOOOALLLLLL!!!! 2-1 Croatia! Substitute Mario Pašalić fires a ferocious shot with his back to goal from 18 yards out. The ball rattles off the bottom of the crossbar and Budimir cooly heads home the rebound. Instant impact off the bench. Pašalić just came on for Majer 3 minutes prior.
54′: Croatian subs comig in! Perišić in for Kramarić on the left wing. Mario Pašalić in for Majer. And Luka Sučić in for Modrić.
47′: Portugal scores. 1-1. Gvardiol gets caught too high on the left side and the Portuguese break is on. Jota is few wide open in front of Livaković and easily taps in for the goal. Croatian defense fell asleep on that one.
46′: No subs for Dalić at halftime. I imagine there will be a few coming off the bench in 15 minutes.
HT: Croatia up 1-0 after a Modrić penalty. Vatreni should have easily scored 1-2 more goals. The entire team has been lively on attack and a bit nervy at times on defense. Gvardiol and Majer were Croatia’s best players on the pitch that half.
43′: Lots of action in front of the Portuguese net. Gvardiol looks like our best attacker. Krama with another good look at goal but he shoots right at the keeper. Budimir with a half-open header on goal but it goes wide. Could easily be 2-0 Croatia right now.
38′: Krama for the second time this game taking too long to fire off a shot in front of goal. He’s being too cute. Shoot the ball.
35′: Gvardiol looking really good offensively in this match. Confident.
18′: Bernardo Silva has an open look on the Croatian goal in the box but his City teammate Gvardiol pokes away the ball for a corner. Surely would have a been a goal. Well done by Gvardiol.
12′: Majer with a blistering, high shot from inside the box. The Portuguese goalie makes the save.
11′: Modrić half volleys from outside the box. The shot goes wide of the right post. Croatia coming to play tonight in Portugal. Fantastic pace!
6′: GOALLLLL!!!! Modrić steps up to the spot and perfectly places the ball in the bottom-left corner with pace. The goalie went the right way, but nothing he could do about the shot.
5′: Kovacčić steals the ball in the Portuguese box and is fouled immediately. Penalty for Croatia!
Here is your Starting XI vs. Portugal (confirmed):
-Budimir gets the nod in front of Petković
-No Perišić
-Majer gets the start on the right side
-Gvardiol will play at left-back
-Pongračić paired with Šutalo at CB
The Vatreni kick off their final friendly test against Portugal in Lisbon Saturday night before the squad packs their bags and head to Germany for Euro 2024. With Portugal and Spain (who will be Croatia’s first Euro test on June 15th) playing similar styles of football, it is my opinion that Dalić will start the same squad against Spain in Berlin that he does against Portugal. Zero changes. I would honestly be shocked if Dalić made any starting XI moves one week away from kicking off the tournament.
With that said, I’m focused on 4 things against Portugal:
- Will it be Budimir or Petković as the starting #9? I like Budimir.
- Will Dalić in fact start Gvardiol at left-back like he said?
- Will Majer be a starter? If so, where? You know what I want. Bench Kova and play Majer as the #10 in front of Modrić.
- Can Perišić play a full 90 at the international level?
Those are the four things to focus on versus Portugal. Starting lineups will be announced one hour prior to kickoff.
I was as delighted as you all were over this victory but Portugal looked very weak, which almost no one has really underlined.
Progressing in their half was really easy, and they played the game like pedestrians. When they sped up their game we were on the verge of breaking several times.
I think that Dalic knows this, but let’s all be careful about this!
Spain won’t be at this level that’s for sure.
Where can one buy the fire dark grey track suit w/ elegant HNS logo that Dalic was wearing in Portugal ?
To me the goal we conceded was weak and we had trouble dealing with fast counter attacks.
I am starting to agree that we need Majer starting and I wonder how much better he can get…
I wasn’t a fan of playing Majer at his less preferred position, but man, he’s been involved in so many goals for us lately that he has to start.
Maybe with gvardiol putting pressure down the left side it might give Majer an extra step of space to operate on the right, he’s not a winger, he just dosnt have the speed. But if he has time and space he can operate like a r attacking mid, still the smartest thing would be to platoon kova and Broz and let Majer cook
I have been wary that Croatias leading force has aged and at some point with teams like this the wheels just come off at a major tournament
This could still very well happen
On the positive side obviously the past two games warm the heart but they are also still friendlies.
Additionally as I’ve mentioned Croatias players have been in form and they will likely have a huge home crowd advantage in Germany which must be appreciated as well.
We can throw in a new factor that gvardiol at left back yesterday look like it brought something new to the table.
None the less, when you talk about how we should be expected to make the semis or finals, I still consider this wrong. This teams heart is still more aged than the last tournament and in that one Luck was consistently falling their way. Croatia should still be considered below the a list of teams
Anyone notice how those usual negative posters are no longer posting anymore?
Unless Croatia is doing poorly, they’re no longer interested in the national team.
I’ve sharpened my pen and feel this would be the lineup that brings the most punch against a team like Spain…. Why this makes sense well we have so many options on the left side and we should balance out utilizing them.. I like what I’ve seen so much from Sucic that I would give him the nod in-front of Brozovic.. Yes I do understand what Brozovic brings to the table especially in coverage on the field but I feel that we are lose balanced now as a team then ever that we need to focus on our strengths going forward and that man is Sucic. A the end of the day we are playing a very offensively minded team in Spain why not match up the best to them…
————————-—-Budimir—————————
—-—-Kramaric——————-——-Majer———
——————————Sucic——————————
—————-Modric——-—–Kovacic—————
Perisic———————————————Stanisic
——————Gvardiol—–Sutalo———————
—————————Livakovic—————————
Budimir Petkovic seem like they will split there time with Budimir starting..
Now we can offer Pjaca Ivanusec on left
Either or Pasalic(s) on right side… Vlasic Baturina can be utilized in central attacking roles and Brozovic comes on as destructor. Gvardiol can still be utilized as Lb certain games Sosa will be back up to whomever we have 2-3 good CB to sub if necessary and you have Juranovic on the Rb.. pretty solid starting lineup and great depth…
Perišić at LB is still very much an experiment that we’ve very rarely used.
I don’t think we’re going to do this, and after this game, Gvardiol is a lock at LB.
Sučić is an excellent young player and should be one of our first off the bench, but starting Broz is still the safer pick due to experience.
Great win and confidence builder. Our defence was great especially in the first half when Portugal did not have one clear chance. Gvardiol was great at LB and so was Sutalo and Pongracic as the two CB’s. Stanisic also did well at RB. Barring any injuries this will be our defence against Spain.
Two of our worst performers today I thought were Kramaric and Brozovic. Kramaric just could not get into the game and Brozovic looks like he has lost some pace and stamina. All the subs that came on did well including Vlasic who has not played for the last month or so.
No idea why we keep on trying short corners? we have some tall timber in the team and should be crossing them into the mix.
How was broz?
He was pretty good actually
Who am I going to listen to? Someone who posts coherent and well spoken posts or someone who says lovren and dalic is shit every second post???
Sorry maminjo, you are wrong;)
Glad they won, everyone seems to be saving themselves for the Euro. As good as Gvardiol is on the left, I still feel more secure with him at CB with Sutalo. Cro played 4-3-3 in 2022 with Gvardiol as CB with Lovren.
The play for Portugal’s goal may have started on the left but Sutalo literally took his eye off Jota to try and intercept that pass. The goal Portugal scored was handled extremely poorly and I feel that those types of things do not happen to Gvardiol when he is playing CB for us. He can also carry the ball out of the back, we are so much more compact. I’d rather have a weaker LB or RB than a CB which is involved in more of the game.
Also forgot to add, he was playing mainly as a CB for RB Leipzig prior to being signed by Man City.
Gvardiol does not play as a classical CB for Man City and thus you cannot blame Dalic for playing him at RB. I personally think that our defence is much stronger with Gvardiol at LB instead of Sosa, especially when coming up against strong opposition. Spain will be tough as they are better at keeping the ball then Portugal.
Gvardiol covers a lot of ground and still provided some great defense, breaking up plays.
The guy is pretty much a CB and LB out there.
Has Modric hit a better penalty? Hard, low, in the side netting. Took him 20 years but he finally looks effective on spot kicks.
He hit it well and wide enough to keep it out of the goalkeeper’s reach…but it was very obvious that he was going left, and this is a problem for us.
The goalkeeper knew exactly where he was going, and Modric luckily hit it in the perfect spot (wide enough to keep it out of the keeper’s reach, but a little more and it would have hit the post).
I called it out loud in front of my family who were all watching, and we all laughed when he went low and left (because we know how predictable Modric is at PKs).
He needs to learn to keep the goalkeepers guessing, and make them hesitate or go the wrong way.
Rakitic did this. Krama currently does this. This is why Krama needs to be our main PK taker.
Great win
My call on budimir looks spot on. Don’t get too obsessively down with the guy who is almost scoring goals. Look at his expected goals he’s creating. Eventually they will come
Perisic looks like a 30 minute guy
So far the midfield looks like it’s holding up against the wear and tear of age and desert air but they also haven’t been tested for 90 minutes or more yet
No need to beat the dead horse. Gvardiol looks like a revelation at left back and filling in for a lot of lost punch from perisic
Our squad depth is impressive.
Question?
Right now is Kramaric a better LW than Perišić ?
Perišić looks strong and he is still two footed.
Budimir needs more service.
I start Perišić.
He is a big time player.
Let him go for 60+ mins.
Honestly I’ve only seen a few glimpses from Perisic that show he is back to something resembling his former self…
I would prob vote for playing him the last 30 min when he can give max effort against slightly more tired legs
Yes I agree Dalic can combine many players different roles strategy it’s a good thang..
I had a feeling we would utilize Majer on right and try Kramaric on left side.. makes sense we know what Perisic Ivanusec bring there and this made sense as now we have shown we have depth…. Perisic looked good the time he was on but what impressed me most was when Modric kovacic came off we looked more dangerous in attack yes it is a friendly but still our future looks bright here with Sucic Baturina..
Right side got burnt a few times… some indecisiveness at back especially Sutalo and Stanisic but movement on ball was solid.. Pongracic Erlic toss up.. I would still stick with Pongracic
Anyone else think Perisic is more than fine? Whats the point of him showing he’s back to his old self in these friendlies
I think the issue right now is that we have four players who are capable of starting on the wing (Perišić, Krama, Majer, Ivanušec) but we’re not quite sure which tandem is the best.
I think it’s safe to say that the two Pašalić boys and Pjaca will be depth players for us (so they won’t start)…
But with Perišić coming back from injury and playing for Hajduk… It’s a tough sell to guarantee him the starting spot ahead of Krama and Majer.
Not too long ago, it was Ivanušec’s spot to lose… and now it looks like he may be behind all three of these guys.
This is how competitive our depth has been. A couple of off months and BOOM you lose your starting spot.
This was a very good game. A few mistakes here and there, but that’s to be expected against top quality opposition like Portugal.
We showed more attacking intent today which makes me very happy, but we did squander some excellent opportunities. We need to be more clinical in our finishing. Kramaric usually is, but today he lacked some zip on most of his attempts.
Kovacic was very good. When he’s on he just seems so strong.
Gvardiol is a beast.
Pongracic and Sutalo did well, although I feel like Sutalo should have intercepted the centering pass that created Potrugal’s goal. He seemed to stop running a second early.
Sucic showed some really nice composure. He’s going to be great.
I like Budimir starting with Petkovic coming off the bench. They were both good today.
Pasalic seemed strong today.
Stanisic was excellent.
I don’t rate Vlasic too much, but today he did some strong defensive work. Maybe that can be his niche.
Livakovic played well, I just wish that he could make a medium to long range pass without kicking it out of bounds.
I’m going to sound like a homer here, but I really feel that we’re going to have a really good tournament.
Croatia is flying right now.
Gvardiol is a star. He’s going to have a bigger impact than Modrić this tournament.
I like that Pongračić/Šutalo CB pairing. This area was our biggest question mark, but these two are our two most talented CBs behind Gvardiol & Stanišić (who we’ve decided to play at LB/RB). So I’m glad to see them out there instead of Vida or something.
Perišić is good, but you gotta go with Krama and Majer on the wings. Both are RED HOT right now. That Majer strike on goal looked like it could take someone’s head off.
We’re essentially the 2022 World Cup team… But with actual OFFENSE right now.
Lots of in-form guys scoring goals for club and country.
We have to go far in this tournament. It would be a HUGE disappointment if we don’t go quarters or semis.
France and (maybe) England are our biggest threats, and we won’t see either of them until the quarters.
Nice to get the monkey off of our back and beat Portugal. Could have easily won by 2 more. Minivatreni hit the nail on the head, Gvardiol (along with Majer) has unlocked our offence. Really liked what I saw today. We created so well and had numerous quality chances that I lost count.
Leao was trouble on the left and burning Stanisic…crazy to think as Stanisic is actually quite fast and I thought played well. As I messaged with a Portuguese friend today – what we lack in pure speed we make up for with skillful & disciplined play. Aside from the goal, we played solid defensively. Pongracic – Sutalo pairing was solid.
Krama had an off day and took too much time with the ball squandering chances.
Sucic is excellent. Great touch and ball movement, unlucky not to score (good stop) on his big chance.
This was a great confidence builder for us heading into the opener with Spain…Spain should be worried.
I agree with your comments regarding Portugal . We will meet them again very soon and hopefully we repeat the performance
This team and Dalić continue to impress. Good mix of veterans and younger generation. I’m looking forward to this tournament.
I might surprise people by this comment but I’ll just say it…I really like what I see.
Whoever shits on Livakovic going forward we need to put an x by their name and disregard the comments, he’s a really good keeper and it’s hard to find someone like him.
Stanisic has arrived on the world football scene and he’s gonna have a bright future…what a great player. Sutalo was fine, Pograncic gets too hyper and causes silly fouls from time to time. I liked the pairing today and it shows we have options without too much worry. Gvardiol…Bože hvala…this guy is sent to us as a gift.
I’ll skip getting into too much detail with our midfield…I’ll just point out that Kovacic was VERY good today so his haters can suck his ass.
Budimir is winning me over. He worked hard and got rewarded for his hard work. Majer was pretty good today as well and I was ok with Krama…he did well.
My biggest happiness was watching a kid i haven’t seen enough from and today I got to see his quality!! Luka Sucic is the real deal folks. What a fantastic player…great touches, phenomenal movement off the ball, he was just a bit unlucky today.
Perisic is half a step behind his usual play. Vlasic should be a defender…he’s not shown much in over 2 years. I don’t get excited over a goal here or there…he looks like he doesn’t belong at this level.
Overall I’m happy with what I saw…we are finding options to attack.
Not all surprising. The team has talent and was always better than people thought they were. It’s just a matter of getting the young players more experience , keeping and staying in form, I hope more of our talent get a Chance to play on elite team in Europe and get minutes to grow as players. Plus and minus today but offense was coming together . We do have options and a punchers chance at Euro
Vlasic hasn’t shown much over 2 years because he has been thrown on the wing for the last 2-3 years.
When he’s operating in the middle, it’s where he is most effective and did well coming on when he was around the middle linking up with the other players and drawing fouls.
Epicless Broz needs to go. Clumsy, terrible form and no legs. Time for YoungBlood.
Decent first half. Like ante said good going forward too open in D. Any other links please?
Gvardiol on the left side is insane, he completely opens up the attack
@mini
Agreed, Gvardiol confidence and form from Man City this year has put him light years ahead. Love the threat that he poses and it easily could have been a 3-0 lead into the 2nd half.
Why is Luka our main penalty taker? He is too inconsistent.
Link to game: https://www.sportnews.to/news/premier-league-news/?ref=main
Looks like my premonition v-a-v Pongracic for past months been spot on
Dalic was not happy w/ Erlic nor Vida so wanted someone else
Today he gets the start
Livi stanisic pongracic sutalo gvardiol mbk majer budimir krama 11 v Portugal
https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/under-21s-test-in-croatia-serves-as-a-reminder-of-how-far-irish-game-has-to-go/a26351570.html
Here’s an interesting read. We like to complain about our systems and infrastructure but other smaller nations seem impressed with what we have going on.
@2thetruth
Well, as always, the devil is in the details v-a-v the studies
If the striker is making runs from just inside the half-way line continually behind the defenders (bc they are playing a high line) and it stretches them back – those offsides are good (as opens up space b/w midfield and new farther-back defensively line for us to operate in)
But being offside when the play is already in the box is just bad timing, especially against tier 3-4 league defenders
Also – Budimir got nutmegged on and caused two needless fouls on the opposition near their own box – is it bc he isn’t strong enough to win the ball back legitimately ? You don’t want to help ur opposition by stopping the play just outside their box – so they can set up and get the rest of their team downfield ready for a long ball
Like I said – hopefully he improves his timing – but we need to be mindful that he thrives as a #9 in the box target man (and since we don’t lob in many crosses, but prefer to work through the middle – he way end up stranded in there – waiting)
Sofascore has the following ‘possible’ lineup:
Petkovic
Perisic, Kramaric, Majer
Kovacic, Modric
Sosa, Gvardiol, Vida, Juranovic
One would expect Dalic to start with our strongest 11 and then bring on the fringe players in the second half and rest some of our key players. I think Budimir will play upfront and Gvardiol will be at LB. I’m not sure who will partner Sutalo in the middle of the defence ? close call between Erlic and Pongracic. Majer should get the nod on the right-hand side and Perisic should be on the bench.
I hope Dalic plays Gvardiol @ LB today (so Spain continues to scout us / prepare along those lines) and than surprises them w/ Gvardiol lining up in a John-Stones role vs. Spain
Marco Pasalic as LB
See Saka potentially for England (typically, left-footed “RW” – played LB historically)
And Osijek’s Bukvic y’day the U21s (typically, left-footed “RW”)
@ anonymous
Fair points but let me educate a bit. No brownie points for offside goals and no almost penalties sounds ok but in reality it’s not accurate
The studies show the better players are consistently putting defenders in precarious positions almost drawing penalties and scoring offside goals
Like many sports, soccer is at the margin. A player has a mean (average) output. From there they have a variance around that mean. A player that is constantly scoring offside goals or coming close to drawing penalties likely has a mean output that is higher to scoring goals than a player who is not. It just so happens the distribution of outcomes will sometimes put things on the no goal side.
If an opposition were constantly scoring offside goals and almost drawing penalties on us, we wouldn’t feel good about the direction of the game would we? We’d know a true goal or penalty was coming
Ireland starting 11 on track to soon comprise of a majority of players of Nigerian/African ethnicity (y’day U21 had 4 such players)
***.sofascore.com/croatia-u21-ireland-u21/XvcsvCc
***.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland_national_football_team#Players
Looks like Luka Vuskovic wasn’t on the U21 bench after-all (weird as he was previously announced to the squad when announced) – no mention if he was injured or otherwise causing him to miss the game
Moreover, looks like he won’t be returning to Poland next yr, but they’ll have to loan him on to a better league (e.g. Holland or Belgium) under the GBE points system
***.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/transfer-news/luka-vuskovic-transfer-decision-facing-29264647
Did not see the whole match but the TV commentator on MaxSport mentioned that some of the original players chosen were injured or sick and hence unavailable? Most likely, some just did not want to play.
Ireland starting 11 on track to soon comprise of a majority of players of Nigerian/African ethnicity (y’day U21 had 4 such players)
https://www.sofascore.com/croatia-u21-ireland-u21/XvcsvCc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland_national_football_team#Players
Someone said they thought budimirc played bad last game but he looked great to me
Got to a tough header over a defender on a cross that forced the goalie into an excellent save that bounced to pasalic for the rebound goal
Almost scored a slick dribble around the goalie goal that was offside but showed a lot of composure and movement
Almost drew what was very close to a penalty
I’d say that was a pretty good half. Based off that and his season production, I’d be interested in him starting
Budimir timing was way off
Firstly, look where the Macedonia defenders play – these are tier 3 or tier 4 league players – a major step down from LaLiga
His timing was off – he was offside 2-3 times – he needs to time his runs better – there are no brownie points for being offside
The “very close to a penalty” he was grabbing the defenders jersey himself and then flopped himself to the ground (he could have been booked for simulation)
At Osuana – the entire offensive is driven around him being the primary “target man” as the #9 i.e. with crosses coming in to him, non-stop – he won’t get that level of service on the National Team – so will be exposed more – unless he is able to create more himself
The match is being shown live in the US on Fox Sports 2 at 12:30 pm.
Enjoy!!! ????????????????????????
I was trying to put the emoji of the Croatian flag, but it shows up as question marks instead.
Great, thanks for the info!