After one of the most surprising and climactic exits (to say the least) at Euro 2008, Croatia is finally back in action and on a mission to repeat as qualifying group winners on their way to South Africa. In their way- an embarrassed England squad with revenge on their mind.
With only the group winner receiving an automatic bid to World Cup 2010, picking up points early and winning on home turf will be crucial. Croatia opens up their qualifying campaign with 2 games at Maksimir in Zagreb. Kazakhstan, ranked 120th in the world, face off with Croatia this Saturday (September 6th) at 20:15 local time (2:15 pm ET). I have Croatia winning 2-0, but Kazakhstan should not be underestimated. They can play the role of spoiler, as they did to Serbia, beating them 2-1 in Euro 2008 qualifiers.
Four days later, the ‘Lions’ come to Zagreb where 6,000 of their fans will be on hand to cheer them on. The England-Croatia match will set precedent for the rest of the qualifying campaign for group 6. But that’s not till Wednesday. I’ll be happy with 3 points and no injuries from the Kazakhstan game.
Here’s how I expect the group to play out when all is done 14 months from now:
1. Croatia
2. England
3. Ukraine
4. Kazakhstan
5. Belarus
6. Andorra
So how will Croatia’s group turn out? Let us know now or forever hold your peace.
@Luka…
Let’s say Andorra finishes last. That means that all games played against Andorra will be void for the rest of the group. Points and goal differential are thrown out the window for sake of group complacency.
Dear Fellow Readers,
I would just like to thank all of you ‘regualrs’ (Darijo,Joze,Luka, Ivan,Ivo, Adrien and anyone else I forgot:you know who you are) for making this site what it is today. We are still in our first year and greatly appreciate all the effort you put into getting your opinion across. We value all of your input as you are all very educated on the soccer world.
I would also like to point out that CSR is apparently so popular that is has already obtained a ‘cover website’. For those of you not so familiar, a cover, in the music world, is a song or band that copies other’s original music (with permission of course).
Above you can see the comment Anonymous sent us (or should I say Denis Susac).
I especially like the website name: CroatianSoccerNews.com. Simple yet original. Right? And I especially love the petition he has on the front page: To bring the Croatian National team to the U.S. I wonder where he could have possibly gotten that fantastic idea from.
Now, I’m not hating on the guy or discouraging him in any way, but all I have to say is, C’mon.
Good luck and keep the original ideas coming my friend.
Videosport works i use it all the time but its like a 7 euro charge, and if the points from Andorra don’t count does the goal difference? and I agree with Denis’s final result, Kazakhstan may pull off one surprise win but they are not strong enough to finish in front of Belarus.
check out my new site CroatianSoccerNews (dot)com
I just finished it hope you like…
You can pay to watch the Croatia – Kazahkstan game on this website ………..http://www.videosport.com/qualifiers2008/index_11_gb_US.html?&session=
Yes, this is correct. The best 8 2nd place teams from all the 9 groups get thrown into a lottery. They are then drawn against another team to play a 2-leg home and away series which the winner is determined on aggregate. Meaning 4 2nd place teams from Europe will also make the World Cup. Also, since there is one group with only 5 teams, FIFA has determined that games against only the top 5 teams in your group will count towards your total point total going towards 2nd place. This means, for example, if Croatia should finish second with 24 points and they beat Andorra twice, and Andorra finishes at the bottom of the group, Croatia only gets 18 points to compare with the rest of the 2nd place teams.
But I think we’ll be worthy of the auto bid.
@Joze: Adrien is right, just take note only the best eight of the nine second-placed teams go into the playoffs.
All the 2nd places fight it out for the 4 remaining places for UEFA’s contribution to the world cup.
Personally, I’d like to see England try and fail that part. They’re still too cocky:
http://www.skysports.com/story/
0,19528,12010_4095548,00.html
If 1st place goes straight to the world cup what happens to second place?
Here’s how I expect the group to play out when all is done 14 months from now:
1. Croatia
2. England
3. Ukraine
4. Belarus
5. Kazakhstan
6. Andorra
Not off the top of my head but I will look into it. The best thing you can do is try to find a pub around the area that shows all the games. That’s what we do in LA.
does anyone know any live streams of the kazakhstan game?
beacuse they’ve stopped the hrt channel streamings on the internet
Belarus has some young talent. I have them finishing above Kazakhstan when its all said and done.