What we have all expected for the last year has finally been confirmed- straight from the horse’s mouth. Croatian coach, Slaven Bilić, has said that he will quit his post after the 2010 World Cup as he is fully confident that Croatia will qualify.
This should come with no surprise as Bilić has hinted that 4 years is enough for him; as national coache’s already have a short lifespan as it is. He should be fine after his Croatian coaching career ends as numerous English and German clubs will offer him managerial positions.
So with Bilić gone, who should replace him as head coach? My vote is for either Aljoša Asanović or Robert Prosinečki. Both played alongside Bilić in 1998 and are currently assistant coaches for Bilić. I would keep it in-house.
What do you guys think?
Ante Kvartuc
Yes, “I don’t even support international teams having foreign coaches.” However, this is where International football has become in the last decade or so.
Question, is Ciro Blazevich a great manager since he took Croatia to third? or did the true colors come out when Croatia failed to qualify for Euro 2000 in a mediocre group.
Capello, Lippi, Hiddink, Ancelotti, Ferguson, Wenger, and all of those Holland coaches are legends because of sustaining success for a years. As of right now, Croatian coaches seem to have a lucky streak and then disapoint. Where is Cico Kranjcar right now. He coached a national team ranked top ten in the world the last 10 years.
Just imagine a Wenger or Ferguson taking over?
Look at all those African nations. Small countries like Swaziland are hiring foreign managers.
That last comment was for those that say “the HNS is out of money”
I would prefer a Croatian coach, however, There isn’t any light in the tunnel.
Yes he did a lot more than I would of expected, and that’s beating England TWICE in one qualifying campaign. That put him and Croatia back on the world soccer map and got the attention from everyone. Remember that Hamburg and West Ham wanted Bilic immediately after that. And Ante, Vlad isn’t being negative as much as he’s being completely objective. He knows what’s going on and knows there’s ‘crookery’ in Croatia. As for Croatia getting an Italian coach, Don’t think that will ever happen -for obvious reasons.
Like I said earlier in the Cvitanich post, international football is sports at its purest form. I don’t even support international teams having foreign coaches. What’s the point. It shouldn’t have anything to do with money. That’s what the club level is for. I want our team to be Croatian, our coach, our assistants- even our water boys. And I give Croatia much praise for sticking to that since their inception in 1994.
England hiring an Italian, Ireland hiring an Italian, Serbia with a Spaniard in 2007, Russia with Hiddnik (who has coached on 3 continents) the list goes on and on. Keep it purely international. That’s what I would like to see and hopefully FIFA makes that happen one day- that’s my dream.
Vlad.. I don’t understand why you are so negative about Slaven Bilic. Help me understand, to me the guy did so much for Hrvatska and doesn’t deserve the slagging.
croatiafan:(
I would take Hiddink in a heartbeat. Look at this guy’s resume. He took the Netherlands to the semis in 98, took Korea to the semis in 2002, took Australia to the second round and should have beat Italy in 2006, and now took Russia to the semis and knocked out Holland in 2008.
“Russia were so close to flopping and Greece have succeeded once and flopped twice.”
Yes, we should have beaten Russia both times, yes, we saved Russia, however, they finished in the semis and knocked off England in qualifiers(by the way, I was at this match in Vienna, both Russian and Spanish fans make me sick)
I agree with Vlad, Krizanac shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence as Knezevic. Juve president went off saying “get rid of this guy, last name starts with K…”
“Capello and Hiddink are paid millions a year do you think Croatia can afford to chance that amount of money. “
Yes, Croatia can afford to win world cups and Euros..
“I have Greek friends and they are hardly impressed. Its not 2004 no more so please get with the times. “
Its funny how when you win once, you expect to win every time, anything less is unacceptable. Look at the Greek history. They qualified for the world cup once or twice, and for a euro once or twice. Correct me if I am wrong, but Greece has yet to win a world cup game.
All of a sudden Greece wins the second biggest tournament in the world… and “your friends are not impressed.”
As Croatians we expect a little more, because we qualify for tournaments and get a win or a few draws… Greeks should be impressed just to qualify…
Also, you are judging Russia by a loss to Israel and a 1-0 win over Andorra? Then you might as well judge Croatia on that Malta draw or Estonia draw a few years back.
Why don’t you judge Italy on losing at Hungary in a friendly before they won the world cup?
vlad
“i love bilic was my favorite player gave his carrer so he can play in 98, all im saying he’s given too much credit.”
I agree with you 100%
croatiafan:(
“But we have not much money so not sure how well we’ll do. HNS doesn’t have that much. It has a fare amount, but its not got lots.”
They have plenty of money. However, its not being distributed equally. Lets invest 2-3 million euros per year for a Hiddink. At this stage of competition, all you really have to do is get into the minds of these players, like Capello has in England. He mentioned this several times.
“I prefer Dario Simic over both him and Knezevic anyday.”
In his prime, yes. However Krizanac is 29 and Dario is 33. Dario made his debut for Croatia in Euro 96! He has a lot of miles under his belt. Bilic basically told him thank you for your services soldier…
“A innovative coach would organise a Croatia B match so we can have a look at the back up solutions.”
For the first time I agree with you….lol
since this rarely happens, most likely because clubs don’t let players off unless its a fifa day and only for “A” teams.
Yes
Great,
Let’s have Niko Kovac become the team’s Life Coach…
David James lol. You seen Pompey lately. David James has been absolutely terrible. You could have said Brad Friedel instead. England want to play Chris Kirkland as there keeper, but he has been told he can’t play international football due to his back. England has no goalkeepers who they trust.
Second choice is Carson who basically plays for the bottom club and doesn’t play great for them at that.
Niko maybe should join the coaching staff. It looks like he and Robert Kovac have had enough of football. Robert doesn’t want to play for Dortmund no more. Only 4 games he’s played so far. He mentioned about returning to Croatia. At 34 Robert is prob a bit passed it now. I don’t think there was any need for Simic to walk off though. He’s not even 33 or 34 yet. Could have at least helped us in qualifying. As i keep saying squad needs a overhaul. A innovative coach would organise a Croatia B match so we can have a look at the back up solutions.
Anonymous,
To your example on David James, goalies are the exception. As long as a goalie can stay remotely fit they can play till they’re 50. Look at Van der Sar and Buffon. I believe Casillas is approaching 30. It’s all about experience and leadership.
To say that Kovac is in the same league doesn’t work. You have to be fit and keep up with the young legs which is why so many field players can’t perform past 35+ where a goalie can be approaching his prime.
yes
Look at david james he is 38 or something he isnt Screwing up for england. Kovac was going to leave after Euro but the BOys and BIlic made him stay. i think he was awsome for us and bilic told us he is the person who most motavates are players. Kovac could atleast stood longer =(
Niko Kovac is 37 years old. Most players retire long time before. Everyone thought he was going to retire after the Euro. This is nothing unusual. Robert Kovac is next as he doesn’t play for Dortmund and wants to terminate his contract early. They’ve been good players, but we need to move on and freshen the side.
Niko Kovac left us =( Bilic said he was one of the best captains and we wil miss him.Also he said he has no clue why he left this early there was no fights but mabye it was becuase of the euro match. he also said after that first Simic now Kovac dont know what happend.
ok first Croatianfan we are not that poor as you think we are.. hns when they renewed Bilic Contract last year they even said they can pay so much for him to buy a big club thats how rich we are we arent poor as you guys think we are.
Re: Vlad
I’m not totally against a foreign coach. When you think of what Croatian coaches we can choose from they are really just HNL1 coaches so maybe your right, perhaps a foriegn coach that has coached in European football and a stronger league might benefit us. I don’t mind that much. But we have not much money so not sure how well we’ll do. HNS doesn’t have that much. It has a fare amount, but its not got lots.
You know though that i disagree about you thinking our whole team’s attacking play should revolve around Modric and how you seem to be against Kranjcar for no reason. Eduardo perhaps should have made 06, but Cico was coach and didn’t do it. Prso and Klasnic were still talk of the town at that moment. He also gave Ivan Bosnjak his place partly as he outscored Dudu in Dinamo and same league in that season, plus Bosnjak can also play midfield. What i’m saying to you is that its fine margins. Its not a grossly political injustice. Tomislav Maric not being in 02 squad. That is what you call a injustice. Also Krizanac is in the squad now so it can’t be totally political otherwise he’d still be out the squad. He is actually ahead of Knezevic in BILIC’S plans now. From what i’ve seen of him though i don’t think he’s that good. I prefer Dario Simic over both him and Knezevic anyday.
I also find it strange that a player who CAN actually play deeper like modric and did it with great success and also who lets face it does not have the worlds greatest shot on him should be the forefront of our attack. Why would be base our attacking midfield around a dribbler in Modric and a left midfielder in Pranjic when we have two footed players like Kranjcar and Rakitic who can do what Modric can do, but can also shoot. In all those previous games Modric played, he played in front of 4 centre backs so he was completely protected. Also those 4 centre backs did not come forward much. Therefore he was able to go forward as well as help in defence. The reason why Modric in front of the back four is a problem now is cos Bilic switched Simunic for Pranjic so Modric is less secure as he doesn’t have Simic and Simunic backing him up no more like he used to. As i said before our team needs a new look as Kovac’s are to old and we have too many players who are as good as each other. We need to recreate a side. If Kranjcar and Rakitic are benched long term like it seems you want to do then it wouldn’t take long before we get disharmony in the squad. Those four (Srna, Modric, Rakitic and Kranjcar) should have to fight it out for their jersey. No favoritism for any of them. Personally i think Luka will be a top player in a year or so. He has only played in HNL1 so far. In the Premier he is getting better, but the league will highlight his weak points. If Modric practices more on his shooting, he’ll be a much better player.
one more thing look at our national team, croats from germany australia, switserland, a brazilian, maybe now a guy from argentina, thes arent typical balkan croats, thes are croats with a little west in them, your telling me a team with guys from all over the world wouldnt welcome a respectable coach croatian or not.
croatiafan, it’s funny how you bring up the one game modric played upfront, and ignore the past two and a half years he basically played besides kovac in mid. And i said our best scoring mid is playing defence as in pranjic.
you say greece was a flop, so what they have one championship which we dont, and guess what after 98 we didnt go to the next tournament either, and we didnt win a game at a major tournament for ten years, before 08 but we dont have any titles to our name.
And yes i would have brought da silva in 06 why not, bring him on as a sub he was our leading scorer in croatia, your telling me he improved so much in two months later that he was ready for bilic but not for cico, was our team so skilled in o6.
To say theres hardly a diffrence beetween knezevic and krizanac is funny. Krizanac is a player, a good player who can play against the best is was one of our best players in his first game in croatia in ukraine. knezevic sucks, have you seen him play in italy, just average.
last commet about this topic for all of those who say our players play with heart couse we have a croatian coach are wrong, they play with heart cause there croatian and are proud, when they wear the checkers, and they feel the suffering of our people, and their true pros, our coach dosent matter. cico was a drunk, and always in gambeling debts, a joke, you actually think the players liked him, the guy had no respect. What the great old otto baric was he so inspirational give me a break, ciro i liked ciro but camon he didnt really coach it was more like ok same eleven are starting again. i love bilic was my favorite player gave his carrer so he can play in 98, all im saying he’s given too much credit.
Bilic is leaving im going to cry when that happens beacuase all the good thigns he did.. Which means if he leaves Niko Kovac will leave becuase he said if slaven leaves i will leave to beacuse i do will not play for another coach something like that and robert kovac siad he will retire in the summer. But if we get a coach example from brazil and he has Croatian blood thats ok but if we get someone straight out of lets say Portgual without Croatian blood then that would be a screw up. ALl Croatians can tell you and rest of the world can tell you we play with the most passion ever and bringing in the forgein coach will never understand true passion of the country and also mess with the tactics what we are used to playing with.
At the end of the day i’m not 100% against a foriegn coach, but i think you lot are being nit picky when you talk about politics. You’re examples are so small. I mean Drpic has never got a game for us. We have no defenders so its hardly like its a big injustice against anyone else who is playing well. We barely have anyone else. Vlad goes on about Knezevic and Krizanac and theres hardly any difference between them. Krizanac would also have to sit on the bench and i personally think he would cause trouble if we benched him. There are some players who accept being benched better than others and Knezevic is one of them. You keep going on about Greece and yet they didn’t qualify for World Cup 06 and flopped at Euro 2008. I have Greek friends and they are hardly impressed. Its not 2004 no more so please get with the times. Also WE saved Russia. They were nearly long gone and whilst we were beating England for them they could not score against Andorra. What about their defeat to Isreal?????????
We should have also beat them twice. As far as i’m concerned Russia have a great generation of players – its not all just Hiddink as to why they are doing well. He’s a good coach, but why on earth do we have to think that money solves everything. Capello and Hiddink are paid millions a year do you think Croatia can afford to chance that amount of money. Russia were so close to flopping and Greece have succeeded once and flopped twice. A foreign coach may solve all the politics issues – but to be honest your examples are tiny tiny at the moment that they are almost irrelevant. Who cares about Krizanac and in 2006 we are reflecting on Dudu and Modric in hindsight. Don’t tell me that in 2006 who thought Dudu and Modric should play. Your just saying that after Bilic had shown you they were good enough. At the time it was not popular opinion.
Due to the big contracts Mamic has taken a lot yes – which they do in England, but due to those contracts Dinamo has gained so much money and are very financially healthy. A lot goes in the back pocket, but some goes in the team cos we spent £4m paid on three players a week ago. You talk like we spend pennies on our players. Can Hajduk do this – no they can’t. If those players had one year left on there contract we’d be getting less money for them.
croatiafan:)
“Its also good of him to do this now as it gives Croatia a chance to think about a new coach early rather than him suddenly springing it on us.”
Agree with you 100%. Hopefully, the HNS is looking for a replacement, or at least looking at some of our “Croatian” managers a little more closely.
I wouldn’t mind Prosinecki or Asanovic taking over the reins.
Vlad
“The reason why i would like a foreign coach is there would less politics involved, which has done well for teams like russia, greece, and most recently england. I think they next coach will be Prosinecki for some reason i have a feeling the Robert has alot of smart ideas and see’s things that help’s bilic more an than asanovic just a hunch dont know why .”
I couldn’t have said it better. However, there might e a great manager out there that has yet to coach a national team willing to coach Croatia just for the chance to win.
For some reason, I see Branko Ivanković getting the nod, I would rather see Prosinecki take over. I would take Capello or Hiddink in a heartbeat.
Vlad
Once again I agree with you 100%. I would not want a Ancelotti or a Mancini to bring boring Italian defense and charge the Croatian philosophy. However, a great foreign manager will have full control on who he chooses to play, and not worry what other “Croatian big shots” have to say. If Capello gets an ultimatum to start a certain player, he walks, no questions asked.
As far as not having $$, thats bullshit. Why Bilic is payed less than Kranjcar and Baric is bullshit. Someone is flying first class to Fiji spending some of Hiddinks $$$$
Vlad, I also think that with Hiddink we would have at least reached the final and lost to an excellent Spain.
Croatiafan:)
“Yes but as said Greece and Russia has money to waste”
Its called an investment. Its only a waste if it ends up like Clemente. I think the Greeks would pay their German coach double if he would have guaranteed Euro2004. Also, Russia got their money’s worth. Croatia is not Albania, however, its Albania thats hiring foreign coaches.
“I’d also disagree that Bilic has been tactically poor.”
Bilic, as much as I love the guy, has done wonders for Croatia, however was clearly outcoached by a more superioir tactician Fabio Capello.
“Mamic likes to give his hot prospects long contracts so he can command big money from them. Maybe some goes in his back pocket – who knows.”
Maybe some goes in his back pocket? hahahahahaha… wow. I’ll let you think about this one.
“Its purely football decision not politics.”
You are in la-la land my friend. Tell me why did Dino Drpic get a cap for Croatia? A football decision right?
Re: Barbaric
Yes i think Mamic is unpleasent. he is there cos he has money and everyone excepts that’s just what he’s like. Barbaric IS being developed. Mamic likes to give his hot prospects long contracts so he can command big money from them. Maybe some goes in his back pocket – who knows. Barbaric though should not be in our team. We already have a few inexperienced guys who we are allowing to make errors whilst they develop like Lovren and Badelj. Barbaric should go away and prove himself on loan at Lokomotive just like Lovren and Corluka had to do. He’s only 19. He’s not the answer to our defensive problems. We want commanding centre backs like Cesar back. Barbaric and Mamic will probably come to an agreement in the end.
By your reckoning it seems football is simple and Croatia should be beating everyone in the world 8-0. If you think that qualifying campaign was poor maybe you shouldn’t support Croatia. Maybe you should support Spain or the team which wins all the tournaments. Maybe you can change countries every time depending on who wins.
Your obsessed by Niko Kranjcar being played by Croatia. Don’t know whats the matter with you. 2006 has long gone. Forget about it. Luka Modric and Da Silva played no games in qualifying for the 2006 tournament. Does this come back to Dado Prso not getting much recognition again and being unhappy cos Modric and Da Silva weren’t there to support him. Please note we had a friendly.. Croatia versus Ireland just before the world cup. Modric, Pranjic and Da Silva all featured but didn’t really impress. Pranjic had the habit for a while of coming on as sub and slicing his crosses out of play. Players have to play well to hold their place. If those three had played better they’d have made the squad for 06 which i believe Modric did anyway as he gave some great games in friendlies like Argentina match. You talk about politics being the reason for their ommission.. it was fine margins. Da Silva and Modric were very very close to making 06 team as was Vugrinec. That’s the truth. However he went for players who were more involved in the qualifying campaign. That was his choice and he made perhaps the wrong decision. Its purely football decision not politics. And the same football errors will happen with a foreign coach.
Kranjcar played well in qualification for tournament so he was obviously going to be in the squad. Also Kranjcar at least gave us a decent shot on goal against Japan that hit their bar. i really can’t think of anything Prso did in that tournament at all. Maybe its your man Prso who should have been out and Da Silva in.
The difference between Croatia and England is that a Croatian kid knows he can reach the top of the HNL1 league whereas an English kid doesn’t. An Croatian kid knows he will get lots of chance to prove himself whereas in England they are sent to the lower leagues and the opportunities to get back to the top are few and far between. In Croatia yes some of the board members are shady, but they don’t have much strength to effect anything. They can only make money from transfer sales and HNL1 clubs will let players move wherever and they barely ever stand in their way. That’s why you get the big turnover of players in HNL1 clubs. They can’t make money of fans as they don’t turn up. In England its all about making big money – the kind of which Croatia and Mamic has never seen. A third division side in England can gain gates of 10-15,000 plus people paying £10 whereas in Croatia a mid table HNL side can barely get 5,000 and may have facilities like a brick wall like Zadar have near the touchline. Thats your difference for you in the finances between Croatia and
England. Thats the biggest pile of rubbish i heard that Modric is our best scoring midfielder. He was the one who had all the chances against Ukraine and the guy just cannot shoot. Often his shots are just pathetic. Most of the goals he has scored have been easy opportunities including at Spurs. He’s a skilled midfielder who links the play and makes chances for others. He barely ever scores. Rakitic, Srna (croatia’s second top scorer) and Kranjcar are more a goal scoring threat than Modric. I’ve got to be honest i think our team would be rubbish if you was our coach. I’d be booing you! Modric will be a much better player in a year or so once he’s come through this first season at Spurs. You mention that Modric sits in front of the defence. That’s amusing. Actually Modric played more forward against Ukraine and we drew 0-0. Vukojevic and Niko Kovac played in front of the defence. Looks like your change did nothing for us. You also talk about politics yet you have barely any examples. Krizanac V Knezevic what sort of comparison is that. There is barely anything in the standard of those two players. Krizanac moans too much so its pointless making him sit on the bench. He’s only really any use to us now when he is playing every game for Croatia like he is now. Also since when was Zenit’s main strength there defence. Try checking where they finished in Russia this season. Going by club form even Tomas has stronger defensive statistics that Krizanac this season and Krizanac is in the team. I don’t see your point.
croatiafan your so full of shit, england are full of businessmen ya so what, croatia are full of crooks. Its all mafia you think mamic and hajduk care about the youth give me a break, open your eyes my friend, thats why bilic picked knezevic because he cared about his youth not the fact his brother was his agent and let krizanac sit in russia, krizanac is a hot head so what all croatians are. Thats why mamic tried to screw barbaric into a shity contract because he cares and wants to develop him. Also i know croatia has no money to pay coaches like capello, but the hns,hasent done enough with their money in croatia to develop fields and programs and trust me they have money, every tournament they make alot of money and our coaches get payed shit.
I will say this when niko got called to the national team for the first time he could barely play 45 minutes in dinamo, bc he was so out of shape, no other top team in europe would allow this but in croatia the papers would say oh look at his passes the next zidane. pintar trust me its politics. You think if he gaets a transfer someone down the line wont get something, thers a reason hes always in the papers and its not cause hes so good.
When did pranjic get a chance tell me when he started as a mid in a game, and why wasent da silva and modric ready in 06 but niko was, he could barely run that pig in 06, i gueess there was no room in the mid we neede our five stopers. u talk about some players not beig fit and rakitic, had dactually played well, pranjic best games was when rakitic was infront of him in euro, and against england it was bc the whole mid was outnumbered, bottom line pranjic is not a defender. As for euro croatia will never have a better chance to win a title. The barely beat austria and played poorly, played well and outplayed germany in every way, and then played poorly against a depleted turkey team. And yes were outcoached as he plugged the rakitic and pranjic side and we had nothing. Bilic got so much credit for croatia during euro qualifying, alot of those games we didnt play well but it was overshadowed bc we won. we won cause we had a da silva who could score and a very dumb england coach, we barely beat estonia in tallin, barerly beat macedonia in zagreb, barerly beat isreal in zagreb, tied russia twice and in all those games we didnt play well and it show now in qualfying who have we beaten, so far no one good. we loose our best striker and what do we change to get more offense nothing, our best mid in modric plays half the time infront of our defense and our best scoring mid plays defense ya its our srtikers fault not the coach.
Ive read that he is quitting in november, so does this mean he will not be our coach the following summer if we qualify?
Vlad, I wouldn’t call those examples the result of “politics” either, but coaching preferences and nuances of international soccer. It’s one of those maddening things you witness from all countries, regardless of whether or not the coach is native or not. There will be players who, for whatever reason, do not make the first team cut despite all manner of success at other levels. I’ve seen specific coaching preference absolutely shatter a nation’s hopes, as well as find super talent that nobody expected. Again, I don’t think it’s dependent upon a native coach or one from abroad. I agree with some others that I’d like to see another Croatian coach. Bilic will be missed for his passion and leadership, to be sure.
Regards Hiddink by the way, i don’t see how you think Croatia win Euro 2008 with him. Bilic won 3 games in Euro and lost or rather drew one. Also i don’t see how you make a squad which only has one fully functioning striker in Olic who offers a goal only every 3 or 4 games win a Euro. Petric was unfit and out of form – n.b he stopped scoring at club and international level for some 4 months or so. Klasnic was not able to start every game, Kalinic not ready and Budan went home. I don’t see how you make this squad win a Euro when it has no strikers. Hiddink actually had better chance with his Russia squad. Russia are no mugs, they have some really exciting talented players. I regard Zhirkov and Arshavin to be as good as any Croatia player. Also they got Pavyulchencko firing in the goals. As shown at Spurs that guys a quality Cup player. Bilic was only going to win Euro 2008 with Eduardo, Olic, Petric fit and healthy and Cvitanich like he has now. At the Euro Bilic had no in form striker. Was nothing to do with his tactics.
Yes but as said Greece and Russia has money to waste and Greece also never qualifed for World Cup 06 and were the worst team in Euro 2008 by far. I don’t know how you can compare Croatia to England. Do u know how much that guy gets paid just so England can reach the same level we did at Euro 2008? Also Hiddink is paid lots. Also if we were to be like England the whole of Croatian football is run by businessmen who rip off the fans and opportunities for English kids to play at a high level in English football is limited. they Don’t invest no time in developing their kids. Croatia is doing things fine in comparison and looks after its young players.
All the examples you gave have nothing to do with politics associated to Croatia as a country. Its all football matters. I personally have always been a massive fan of Pranjic since he was at Osijek, but Marko Babic deserved to keep him out the team for a while as he played well with Bayer. Daniel also didn’t really prove himself when he got opportunities and didn’t show what he can really do. As for Modric, Eduardo and Corluka they were not ready to play until Bilic put them in. It was a good idea to put them in at that point and not before. Modric would have only been about 19 or 20. Krizanac – that guy is a hot head. I’ve seen him at the front of the queue for a fight whenever a dispute breaks out in a Zenit match. I get the impression that Ivica is not first name on the team sheet he is not good to have around so have no problem with him being excluded from Euro 2008. Also he is no better than any of the defenders we selected. I don’t think just cos we have a foriegn coach these footballing disputes will stop. Look at Serbia with Clemente’s attitude to Kezman. The guy was banned from playing no matter what he did for his club. A dispute can happen no matter who is coach. I’d disagree that it was politics associated only to Croatia. I’d also disagree that Bilic has been tactically poor. I think he has in fact revamped the team and tactics been ok. The problem has been the players being out of form really rather than the tactics. Pranjic and Rakitic on the left could have worked if Rakitic had actually played well and stopped giving away the ball which was causing Pranjic defensive problems and nobody told Pranjic to wack the ball against Robert Kovac. That game against England perhaps came too early for us. Some of our players were still not fit. People like Petric are playing a lot better now than they were then. Sometimes success does not come over night. I think Spain built their team to make it what it is and we just need to keep building. Their is no quick fix solutions. As a Croatia fan i’m satisfied. I guess others want the glory, but in the process could smash apart our building process. I don’t actually see how Bilic could have made us any better or any more successful than we are.
Im not saying that a foreign coach is the way but i will say this, most croatians are brain wahed. In croatia there is alot of politics, and it will never leave. ya cico got us to world cup 06 but why didnt da silva play or modric they were both ready politics. Pranjic has been playing great for years in holland why did it take so long to get called, and then when he did get called it took a crisis on defense to get him in the team. why cause god forbid he took nikos spot on the wing, politics. why did it take so long for krizanac to get called politics, and i dont wanna hear what he said in the papers that got bilic mad. why did knezevic get called before krizanac, I would love nothing more than a croatian coach if hes qualified. But to say all our succes is because we have a croatian coach is crap. we could have done better and should have done better. Should have put a better team in 06, should have gone futher than we did in 08, dont care what anyone says if croatia had a gus hiddink we win 08. yes bilic has done good things for croatia but shit he has had the best squad in years, one of the best in europe. he is way overated and very green, many games he has been outcoached. like i said i would only hire a foregin coach with experience and we cant afford that so it will never happen. Also england is a very proud nation and they hired a man that cant even speak english properly, and looked what happen. Russia and greece are like croatia with their politics in the system and their foreign coaches ignored it and has done great for them. Im not saying were need to change anything, or need a foreign coach but i think if we want to challenge and be the best you need good managers croatian or not, and bilic or cico, or whoever vlak are not qualified.
I’m sure many have heard me advocating the influx of foriegn players at Dinamo to raise the standard of HNL1 and for the recruitment of Cvitanich, but i’m sorry got to agree on this one. There is no need for Croatia to have a foriegn coach. Croatia is one of the most stable national teams in international football. No real major disasters for us thus far. Even when we’ve been mediocre under Jozic and Baric and Kranjcar we barely lost a game and outplayed France and Italy and Brazil. We have some of the best players in the squad since the days of Suker, Boban etc. I think a Croatia coach has to understand motivation of the Croatia national team, its fan and how the team plays. They also need to understand HNL1 and to pinpoint the hot prospects. Also the guy has to live in Croatia and speak the language. A lot of the squad are multi lingual but i’ve always thought Croatia was always a tight unit as a squad and staff and think a foriegn coach will make the national side more like a job than a enjoyment or passion which i think most of the players thrive on. Also yes as just been mentioned Croatian FA has little more. To put loads of more into one mans pocket at the cost of not advancing the Croatian youth structure would be a disgrace. We’re doing just fine with Croatian coaches. The national team can achieve without wasting money on a foriegn coach. Those teams like Russia, England, Greece firstly have money to waste and secondly Greece and Russia were in the football doldrums re: their national side and we’re looking for someone to drag them out of the abyss. Regards Prosinecki i’m not convinced. He has no experience. He’s a good guy, but he should stay on our coaching staff. Whilst i give the example of Greece and Russia and how they have more to chance on a foriegn coach, i’ll also say great players don’t make great coaches. Notably Hagi, Savicevic and Stoichkov who took Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria backwards. Bilic was right for us as he had experience. I think a Marian Vlak, Katilinic, Scoria, Ivankovic or Zoran Vulic supported by the current Bilic assistant team will do just fine. I fear if HNS appointed a foriegn coach on our budget we’ll get a dud like Clemente.
Which international coaches are worthy of coaching Croatia right now? Remember that we’ve never had a non-Croatian coach.
Bilic has done a great job for croatia, but he is replaceable. He is a great leader but not the best tactican. Every croatian coach has brought their team to the big stage and most with alot less talent. Though they will make it a in house hire, i do not oppose a foreign coach, if it was a respectable manager, but that will never happen as we wont pay that kind of money. The reason why i would like a foreign coach is there would less politics involved, which has done well for teams like russia, greece, and most recently england. I think they next coach will be Prosinecki for some reason i have a feeling the Robert has alot of smart ideas and see’s things that help’s bilic more an than asanovic just a hunch dont know why .
He’ll be impossible to replace as really he is a ‘one of a kind’ individual.
Well i think that was always going to happen to be honest. I think Bilic constantly being linked to go elsewhere and him constantly saying he wants to manage elsewhere can be a bit unsettling so is best for him to move on at the end of the World Cup. Its also good of him to do this now as it gives Croatia a chance to think about a new coach early rather than him suddenly springing it on us. I guess at least that shows he cares and he is focused on the project in front of him.
I think Bilic has done a good job and it is just a case of someone continuing his work. We have good players so it should not be a case of starting new things with a new coach. I think keeping it in house is good idea too and definitely a Croatian coach, because Croatia play a particular way which has been a continuation since 1990.
If we appointed a journeyman foriegn coach like Serbia did with Javier Clemente it’d be a bad decision. I would argue Blazevic, Baric, Jozic and Kranjcar all built something when they were in charge and kept Croatia stable. Lets not forget Croatia has only missed one major tournament and that was hugely suspect considering Suker’s header V Yugoslavia went over the line. So yeah basically what i’m saying is Croat’s are doing just fine coaching the national team so no need to do anything drastic. Asanovic and Prosinecki i’m not sure about. They are great assistants and maybe can assist Ivankovic or Katilinic or someone like that, but Croatia Under 21’s took a slide in form when Asanovic stepped in for Bilic in the play off with Serbia so maybe, i’d prefer he stayed an assistant coach. I think Croatia do well under Bilic as the coaching team are a tight unit, but Bilic’s character and composure gives Croatia something more than if they were just to have Asanovic and Prosinecki. I think of all the 1998 players i think Bilic is the most level headed and experienced coach. Asanovic and Prosinecki have not really coached a HNL1 side like Bilic did so i’d not be sure if they were ready. Might be wrong though.
I agree with the in-house decison
We have all seen it coming for a while. However, what are the chances of Aljoša Asanović and/or Robert Prosinečki taking off with Slaven Bilic to coach abroad? Odds are they won’t, as I am sure they have their own coaching aspirations for the future.
I have always thought that Branko Ivankovic has a fairly good chance of getting the NT head coach spot eventually. He seems destined for it sometime during his career.