This is why we watch. Football is not played on paper. Anything can happen!
This World Cup has been wild one, to say the least, and “unpredictable” if you’re only being given one word to use.
You can’t take anything for granted and hopefully Croatia learned that Sunday night against Denmark. Look at the Belgium/Japan match. Belgium were down 2-0 with only 20 minutes left against a technically less talented Japanese team, but scored three unanswered goals to keep their World Cup dream alive.
Like I said, anything can happen.
Croatia received a favorable draw; avoiding Brazil, Belgium, France in their half of the bracket, but there’s still world to be done. You have to win. No matter which opponent is in front of you.
They say, “you’re allowed one bad game at the World Cup.” Just make sure that game doesn’t send you home.
Brazil had their bad games in group stage: drawing the Swiss 1-1 and needing two injury time goals to beat Costa Rica. Belgium had theirs today versus Japan and Croatia managed to scrape by Denmark through penalty shootouts.
Bad games humble you. They bring you back down to Earth. They can humanize a team who have been “riding” the high horse. It’s a great learning experience that puts thing in perspective.
Hopefully that will happen to the Vatreni this week in front of their quarterfinal clash with hosts Russia in Sochi this Saturday.
Sorry but it’s not how good each players are but how good they are at playing together as a team. We are finally doing well now because the current players are finally gelling together consistently.
The golden generation of 20 years ago wasn’t just good because of their world class individual talents, but because they were mostly of the same age and had already been playing together since they were teenagers for the former Serboslavia (Suker, Boban, Prozinecki, Jarni, Bilic, Stimac, Soldo were all born between 1967 and 1968).
They had many years of common experience from the get go and knew each other very well on and off the field…That was the special recipe.
Majer has a silky left foot. Pep Guardiola has him on his radar. We will be just fine…
Halilovic can’t be forgotten. Only 22. Roma will make a man out of Coric.
Kovacic, Coric and Lovro Majer are the next generation of center mids…
@anon
Are you serious?
Did you also predict the career paths of Perišić, Manđžukić, Subašić and Rakitić when they were benchwarmers or playing on mediocre teams throughout their early to mid 20s?
A year ago, you probably thought Rebić’s career was dead, and now he’s a 30 million Euro transfer target.
Unless you own one of those Magic 8 balls, you can’t talk.
@Lovro
Italy is one of the greatest, but I meant to say the past 20 years.
They actually won it all in 2006, but haven’t hit the semis more than once in the past 20 years (including the year they won it), and you can add four more years to that tally since they missed the WC this year.
It’s an extreme example, but still valid to show how rare it is to hit the semis (or better) multiple times (let alone multiple times in a 20-year span. I can only think of Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands when we’re talking about the past 20 years.
I don’t think we are some special lucky case like Korea or Turkey. I expect us to be right back in the semis again in 2038.
🙂
Let’s hope France and Brazil beat each other up and leave either one hurting for the final.
@ Dannyj – Watched him play several games with Benfica. The Portuguese guys at the club I go to all praise him. Shame he got injured. Reminds me of the same style and position that Milinkovic-Savic plays, right behind the striker.
That krovinovic looks like he can become something special if u ask me
Again where was modric at kovacic age?
Give the kids some time
I think obviously we won’t be as good as now
But looks like we be ok in defense next few years
Maybe a legit striker comes along
Midfield will prob continue u to be solid
Don’t worry sve vil be ok!
Look, nobody has a scouting report on the current 4-10 year old across Europe, except maybe Zdravko Mamic, but, odds are tough for every nation to keep reaching the semi-finals in such a short span.
We have both talent and luck going for us now. That is always hard to duplicate.
I know that Croatia will always be competitive. I just think that our dip after this group of veteran players retire will be deeper than before. Nothing wrong with that – hoping some talent will develop quickly again.
Igor Tudor might have been our best young prospect that was mostly there for the ride in that tourney.
^ ^
Ah-hem!
Petar Krpan anyone?.. 😉
@Maminjo
Come on man, in a sixteen year stretch, 1978-1994, Italy won the World Cup in 1982, finished 2nd in 1994, finished 3rd in 1990, finished 4th in 1978.
In 1998, Croatia had no good youth players in sight, other than Dario Simic. This looks the same, but, it depends on what “many years” means.
@anon – what’s your definition of a young player at a top club? Would Pjaca be one? Ok he’s been loaned out to Schalke but owned by Juve (not one of the top 8 teams from the top 4 leagues in Europe although the Italian league has been on the decline the last while). Jedvaj is young. Does Leverkusen count? Also, it’s crazy to think that Jedvaj and Kovacic are 1 year apart when you consider how much big club soccer experience Kovacic already has. Inter gave him the #10 when he was 19 years old.
@Maminjo
None of the young players you mentioned will ever come close to playing for Real Madrid, Barcelona or any top Champions League club.
Almost every other country has younger players at the Cup playing for top sides. Of our starters, best we can do is Rebic at Eintracht Frankfort.
Good comment Maminjo, I read all 4 of ’em!
“Denmark’s coach called us the best counter-attacking side in Europe.”
I don’t know if we’re the best in Europe at counter-attacking, I don’t watch all the teams.
But I have said for the longest time that we are a decent counter-attacking team, and gave it as a reason for some of Perisic’s struggles of late, that being that the shit teams tend to sit back on us and Perisic doesn’t get to use his best asset, which is his speed, on the counter-attack.
I was wondering, could Dalic drop Perisic to the bench and give the start to the powerful unit Pjaca against Russia, and unleash Perisic on a tiring Russia in the second half?
I also believe that Russia is shit.
fak, message moderated
The “oldest” side thing is overrated.
Brazil is older than we are, and they can run for miles and will still be fielding World Cup contenders for all future tournaments. Yet the youngest team (Nigeria) will probably perform no better in the next tournament.
We didn’t bring anyone of Halilović, Brekalo, Ćorić, Rog, Pašalić, Sosa, Benković, Vlašić.. when most countries would.
We’ve just become incredibly deep over the years that we don’t even bother with the young kids.
This isn’t our last chance for anything, nor is it some golden generation making one last run.
If we win against Russia, we will have made the semis twice in a span of only 20 years.
England hasn’t been that far since 1990, and we’ve done it twice since. England has done it twice… EVER!
Even recent World Cup winners (like Italy 2006 and Spain 2010) haven’t gone that far twice in such a short span…yet WE’RE the ones that always have to answer to some previous Golden Generation?
News Flash:
It’s not a Golden Generation. We’re just this perpetually good. We just had a talent delay period (from 2000-2006) thanks to the war in the mid-90s.
We’ll be fine now and in the future
The “oldest” side thing is overrated.
Brazil is older than we are, and they can run for miles and will still be fielding World Cup contenders for all future tournaments. Yet the youngest team (Nigeria) will probably perform no better in the next tournament.
We didn’t bring anyone of Halilović, Brekalo, Ćorić, Rog, Pašalić, Sosa, Benković, Vlašić.. when most countries would.
We’ve just become incredibly deep over the years that we don’t even bother with the young kids.
This isn’t our last chance for anything, nor is it some golden generation making one last run.
The “oldest” side thing is overrated.
Brazil is older than we are, and they can run for miles and will still be fielding World Cup contenders for all future tournaments. Yet the youngest team (Nigeria) will probably perform no better in the next tournament.
We didn’t bring anyone of Halilović, Brekalo, Ćorić, Rog, Pašalić, Sosa, Benković, Vlašić.. when most countries would.
We’ve just become incredibly deep over the years that we don’t even bother with the young kids.
This isn’t our last chance for anything, nor is it some golden generation making one last run.
If we win against Russia, we will have made the semis twice in a span of only 20 years.
England hasn’t been that far since 1990, and we’ve done it twice since. England has done it twice… EVER!
Even recent World Cup winners (like Italy 2006 and Spain 2010) haven’t gone that far twice in such a short span…yet WE’RE the ones that always have to answer to some previous Golden Generation?
The “oldest” side thing is overrated.
Brazil is older than we are, and they can run for miles and will still be fielding World Cup contenders for all future tournaments. Yet the youngest team (Nigeria) will probably perform no better in the next tournament.
We didn’t bring anyone of Halilović, Brekalo, Ćorić, Rog, Pašalić, Sosa, Benković, Vlašić.. when most countries would.
We’ve just become incredibly deep over the years that we don’t even bother with the young kids.
This isn’t our last chance for anything, nor is it some golden generation making one last run.
If we win against Russia, we will have made the semis twice in a span of only 20 years.
England hasn’t been that far since 1990, and we’ve done it twice since. England has done it twice… EVER!
Even recent World Cup winners (like Italy 2006 and Spain 2010) haven’t gone that far twice in such a short span…yet WE’RE the ones that always have to answer to some previous Golden Generation?
News Flash:
It’s not a Golden Generation. We’re just this perpetually good. We just had a talent delay period (from 2000-2006) thanks to the war in the mid-90s.
We’ll be fine now and in the future.
This is nicely set up. By the time Croatia’s game starts next Saturday, the World Cup will be down to 5 teams remaining and we will know who our potential semi-final opponent will be.
Dalic’s only 2 mistakes, in my opinion, was not to start Badelj and taking out Perisic.
Denmark’s coach called us the best counter-attacking side in Europe.
We sat back in the second half for large stretches because of two reasons : trying to force Denmark to come out of their shell and the fact that we are one of the oldest sides in the Cup playing against strong young Danish midfielders that caused us problems. Our stamina in the heat became an issue.
The only side I hope to avoid is Sweden. It would be our third Scandinavian side we’d face, and the best. The other three (Colombia, Switzerland, England) do not bunker. You would see a performance from us similiar to what we showed against Argentina.
Like I wrote before the Cup started, I truly think this is our last and best chance to reach a final for many years.
My parents and other close family members are in their 80’s. Would love nothing more than to see them celebrate after going through so much in their lives. WWII, Communism, and then when it was time to retire and relax, another war.
Love to be able to see them celebrate. Love to see their faces.
Toronto Croatia, I read that there is no sign of ligament damage or broken bones.
I’d say “Group Stage All-Star” Strinic stays in the lineup.
I wouldn’t mind a Kovacic Modric Rakitic midfield against the Russians. Against better opposition I’d say no though.
Kovacic had to get an MRI done on his shoulder …dont know yet If he would be able to play in the Russia game.
Do we finally start Kovačić with Modrić and Rakitić?
Strinić was shaky, but unless that injury is serious, I would put him in the starting lineup again.
Pivarić is much too weak defensively, and Strinić was very solid in the group stage. He’s worth giving a second chance to.
Dalic is a better coach that we have so far.
He has a character like Blazevic and could be better if He quickly to change a fatigued player with a fresh one
1) He got lucky because Strinic wisely decided to retreat!
He doesn’t have a clue but still better than the previous coach about utilizing our subs players. But still, He doesn’t have a gut to change a flop star player
2) look at Perisic still inside the pitch and brought out Brozovic instead !~ Perisic has an ability in defense but not in offense ~ that’s why Denmark went out in attack because we had no intense in the offense once some player like Mandzukic and Strinic became worn out + Perisic wasted our opportunity with his shoot and sloppy pass. .
So what does everyone think about a lineup for Saturday ?
I’ll venture a guess and say same as last game except Badelj in for Brozo and possibly Pivaric to start over Strinic.
Strinic has played well up until last game…he really looked a little lost.
We need to get out early and force Russia to open up…if that happens we should move on to the semi’s.
@BZ
Agree, anyone can beat anyone at this stage. Mental toughness becomes a big factor here. We needed to be tested like we were….it’ll only help us going forward with our confidence. Same could be said about Belgium today…wow. They look like the real deal aside from the 10 minute spell where Japan scored twice. I see them coming out of the top half.
I have faith in our boys and now they actually have faith in themselves. It should take us further….
Stimac, was an absolute disaster! Dalic looked like he ran out of ideas last night…he wasn’t fully prepared to go against Denmark and their tactics.
Croatia now listed as favorites to reach the final and third overall with bookies across Europe, behind Brazil and France.
HNS played so tight – they looked like they were looking to Modric to carry us alone- it’s going to take everybody on the bus from now on. Historically, we play best as the underdog- I think being the favorite over Denmark didn’t sit well/ let’s find the underdog spirit and take the mothers from Russia down
Great, another post disappeared, lol. It seems like i can’t get any post to go through atm : /
Some comments about Kovacic could start but i just saw he played on with a dislocated shoulder vs Denmark so is he able to play at all?
Geez guys, we’re a long way off meeting Belgium. Let’s just get through Russia as they will be solid in defence and hard to break down. I reckon Colombia will beat Eng who haven’t been tested at all as yet and Swiss to account for Swedes.
@Maminjo-awesome post.
@all-Nobody is easy from here on out. We know we can beat anyone, and we know anybody can beat us. That said, either we dominate Russia or we get into a shit show war like yesterday.
Home field is a big deal.
The home loss to Belgium was our lowest point in our history.
We had our worst ever coach in Štimac, and he singlehandedly ruined our undefeated home record by losing to Scotland and then Belgium, all within a month. He also broke another futility record when we also lost in Scotland, making it the first time we ever lost three games in a campaign. Thank God we already clinched second place.
However, the game in Belgium was a draw and Belgium was lucky to keep it that way. We were the seeded team, held first place for the first half of qualifying, and Belgium were lucky Vida missed that open net header.
That campaign was all Štimac being a buffoon. The good news is that it effectively ended any possible involvement that Štimac had with the HNS and HNL. Dude was tarred, feathered and sent off to the middle east.
Prior to those 2 games historically we slapped Belgium in the sense that we outplayed them not necessarily the scoreline.
https://www.11v11.com/teams/belgium/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Croatia/
@scloro – I don’t think they threw us around like rag dolls. We tied in Belgium and If I’m not mistaken we dominated posession. In Cro a younger Perisic gave a bad back pass that Hazard picked off and send Lukaku off on a break away. The second goal Lovren completely missed the ball and Lukaku was running slightly ahead of a teenage Kovacic who was muscled off the ball. We left him alone in a one v one situation.Those 2 plays cost us the game. I remember it like yesterday and it can be found on youtube.
Every time we’ve played Belgium they threw us around like rag dolls. They are the most physical team on the pitch I believe.
Belgium has played Panama, Tunisia, England B team and Japan – lol WTF
Jebi ga, let’s give them Faroe Islands next.
Well said Ante!
Croatian media and fans were celebrating way too soon!
Winning 3-0 yesterday may not have turned out good in the long run. We needed to be grounded.
Hopefully we go all the way!
People don’t realize that Denmark 2018 was about to be the reincarnation of Greece 2004.
We did the world a favor and ended that before it could happen.