Slaven Bilić is a fun guy.
He’s animated. He’s energetic. He’s in a band. And he’s just about got his coaching career back in control.
After leading Croatia to the Euro 2008 quarterfinals after an improbable 3-2 win over England at Wembley, denying the Three Lions Euro qualification, Bilić was on top of the world. He was untouchable. The players loved him. The coaches loved him. And Croatian fans loved him.
But then Turkey happened. Ivan Klasnić scored in the 119th minute to break the deadlock in the Euro quarterfinal match but focus was ultimately lost, along with the game. Turkey would equalize in the last kick of the game before ousting the Vatreni in penalty kicks.
It hurt. It hurt us all.
But Bilić finally got a taste of penalty kick victory two weeks ago at the expense of, you guessed it, a Croatian. Croatia defender Dejan Lovren skied the ball over the crossbar in Istanbul to send Besiktas through to the Europa League Round of 16.
But it was Bilić’s critical substitution in the second leg that would get Besiktas level with Liverpool. Tolgay Arslan was brought into the match in the 61st minute and scored the all-important equalizer 11 minutes later.
Bilić, being Bilić, celebrated like a school boy, jumping up and down fist pumping his way until he finally found someone to hug.
Bilić goal celebration 0:55
Bilić was a bust in Moscow following his Croatian coaching stint. He had an average season with Lokomotiv before leaving after one year. Then a match made in heaven occurred with Besiktas.
Bilić was received well and finished Besiktas third in his inaugural season. He nearly qualified the Turkish club for Champions League in 2014, but was narrowly beaten by Premiership club Arsenal 1-0 on aggregate.
Now Bilić not only has his club tied atop the Turkish table with Galatasaray, but he’s knocking on the door to make a huge push in Europa League. After topping a group which consisted of Tottenham, Asteras and Partizan, Besiktas managed to muscle through Liverpool in the Round of 32, winning in penalties.
On Thursday, Bilić takes his troops into battle into a tie which they are expected to win. Besiktas received a fortunate draw with Belgian team Club Brugge as their Round of 16 opponents. They should make the Europa League quarterfinals where they could ultimately meet Everton, Inter, Napoli, Sevilla or Wolfsburg.
Their work is cut out for them, but if Bilić can somehow get Besiktas to win the Turkish title and finish in the top four of Europa League, his stock will soar overnight.
We can then safely say that offers from bigger European clubs will come.
Bilić may end up as manager in Germany, or more likely England, but I think all Croatian fans know in their hearts that he will one day return as the coach of Croatia.
When that day comes. Who knows?
But Bilić has unfinished business on the international scene.
And whether you love him or hate him, there’s nothing like watching Bilić run up and down the sideline after a goal. Especially when he’s on Croatia’s bench. (It WILL happen again.)
Bilić leads Besiktas fans in celebration after Liverpool win
Luka Modric was excellent. Can’t wait for Real Madrid – Barcelona next weekend and Norway-Croatia the weekend after that.
It’s also pretty shameful that Atletico so quickly wanted to sell off Mandzo, even after he took less money to sign with them.
Whatever, it’s a business. but you’d figure they’d hold off for more than six months into his contract.
Athletico have been lacking the RAW POWER of Mr. Mario Mandzukic in recent games. The difference is telling. Hopefully the Beast will be Unleashed this Tuesday in Champions League action.
Mandzo is like a Miroslav Klose. He’ll be good for a long time thanks to that tireless work ethic.
There will always be a market for a striker like Mandzo.
This whole situation probably IS just a case of Atletico hoping that Torres could replace Mandzo, so they can make themselves a huge financial profit with minimal impact to the team. Much like Juventus, Atletico is a big club but very a cost conscious club as well. They never pay above market for anyone, and will always make the smart sale if some free-spending club comes knocking. But…judging by how crappily Torres has been playing for Atletico, it looks like selling Mandzo won’t be happening.
Bravo dinamo.
so mandzo had issues with the coach at wolfsburg, bayern, and madrid ….. perhaps a pattern
but to that i say so what!
to be an elite striker often requires one to have an over confident, abrasive personality
mandzo scores goals and works tirelessly out there…seems like he does his job and then some
all that being said, he’s back from yellow card suspension and i think he’ll be back in the starting line up now
We are getting ahead of ourselves. But, all I will add is that Mahir Mandzuka has visible tattoos. And that is usually a sign of a flawed personality.
ok we all have done dumb things in our youth… wolfsburg was long ago but we do see the pattern
but i can see some of his frustration… he goes somewhere plays well and they bring someone else in when he is doing his job fine…
my question is how will he react say if kramaric gets hot and challenges his starting position… inevitably time will cause this. but i suppose in national team if he is playing well we all know kovac won’t be itching to not start him
i suppose more then likely he will go somewhere else… so if so… who is looking for a striker with marios skill set? what team would he best suit in everyones opinion?
Back at Wolfsburg, didn’t Mandzukic used to kick the footballs into the net after the youth team members had already collected them at the end of practice?
…and in some cases, Mandzo would try and peg off some of the youth players with the ball as well?
I think I read something like that in the Cro papers, lol.
Ahh, another fake account…….classic
I have no clue what the deal between Simeone and Mahir Mandzuka is or is not. Maybe the guy is a head case and trouble in the locker room. No clue, only speculation on my part. But, the signs are there for that possibility with the visible tattoos. That is a sign of selfish character.
Personally, I don’t think this is anything, at least not now.
Full disclaimer as I am a 100% homer when it comes to Hrvati.
But no need for Mandza to genuflect to Simeone.
Respect the beast and the out put.
Tired of Hrvati being treated like second class citizens.
Golden boy Torres returned, scored a goal or two and now you take a crap on my MANdzukic?
Jebi ga, Mandžukić will take his aerial prowess to the next club that values a goal scoring machine.
Bog i Hrvati
Atlético’s loyalty to Fernando Torres is costing them the season.
Never mind.
Good ‘ol Google!
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11838/9752706/mario-mandzukic-set-to-leave-atletico-after-falling-out-with-boss-diego-simeone
What’s this about Mandzukic and Simeone?
Thats news to me..
@ denis
what happened to posting the croatians around europe on the weekend up? two jobs, baby on the way, and wife causing you to slack
point number 2:
Diego simeone as coach of croatia!? was that what the chorus was before. look at the destruction of atletico ever seen simeone decided to cold shoulder the beast that is mandzukic!
Pre spat: 4 goals and 4 assists for mandzo in 4 of 5 victories
post spat: 0 wins, 1 goal in 3 games
the legend of mandzo grows!
sorry for the superlatives. thought i’d take a page out of soul champs book
dao bi sto amerika
sve na svijetu ja bi dao
pa da sjednem na tribinu
pa u picku materinu
saljem purgere
Balic with 3 goals in 8 games (but really only played the equivalent of 4 games if you total the minutes).
Kid might be something. No doubt Hajduk will be selling him to the ‘highest’ bidder next January.
Rakitic is wishing he had hair like that so he didn’t have to hide his receding hairline
Haha That’s what you get for trying to park the bus on Dinamo for the last 10 minutes of the match. What a goal from Machado. Almost as spectacular as that head of hair on Balic.
Anyone else think that kid looks like a combination of Joey Ramone and Keanu Reeves from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?
Lovely head of hair on that kid!
Dinamo’s “undefeatable” season continues!!! Oh yeah!
It’s good to see the young talents get a chance. How ’bout that kid Balic? Kid sure is something!
Hahaha that was priceless. AGAIN they choke in the final minute.
Jadan, mali i nemocan hajduk 1
Europski Dinamo 1
Garbage game, garbage league. Only good thing is that a bunch of kids are getting the chance to play.
majmun
I agree, I love Kovac but to make a decision under immense pressure is very hard and I hope he makes some successful choices, it’s like last call for drinks at the pub do you go for the big girl a sure thing or your dream girl who is a very low percentage.If you mount the big girl you will take some abuse from this site and do the walk of shame but the job is done. Good luck Niko samo pumpaj!
Kupovanje pravde i mukte karte to je vaša cijena za umjetno slavlje”. Mrzim Dinamo srpsko ime to haaaa. Hajduk can be jadan and mali as some put on this site but hajduk will live forever its a passion and one man will not destroy us fans unlike the pussies in zg. We lived as fiorentini Tudman stimac and others tryed to kill hajduk but HŽV.
Ante, give it a couple of years. The Dinamo-Rijeka derby will be interesting enough to watch.
This time, no Franjo Tudjman to interfere will Rijeka taking the title.
😉
ajmo Hajduk
Armada,
That’s nice…..but not the same. 🙁
If you by tournament records Bilic would have got passed group stage in 2014 i know id bet my pack of marlobro bili makiato and large zlatni pan on it!
@ Ante. B
hey, Ante
fuck you and fuck Dinamo – oh yeah, Mamic too.
Dinamo will beat Hajduk. They will celebrate the ‘decima’ in front of a capacity crowd of 29 in a few weeks and shit the bed in Europe next year. Rinse and repeat. Can’t wait.
How’s that for nice? 🙂 ha
Dinamo-Hajduk tomorrow if anyone cares. Crickets. Guess not. Continue holding hands and being constantly nice to each other. Wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
This is why you need an experienced coach at the NT level.
There’s no point in having a young coach who can grow with the team. There are very few games played per year at the international level, and lineups vary greatly from game to game.
You need a coach that can:
1.- motivate the players enough to give 100% for every single qualifying game.
2.- be gifted enough to see what tactics work against top teams once we’re in “tournament-mode”
I think Kovač ,so far, is showing that he can get these guys to play hard (even in meaningless friendlies)… but has flopped at the tournament level. He’ll get a second chance to redeem himself, but if we see anything similar to what we saw in Brazil, then we need to fire his ass and go in a different direction. None of this learning curve bullshit.
@ Ziva
well put… and especially with guys who are essentially veterans on the NT now; Corluka, Modric, Rakitic, etc. what is Kum Kovac going to develop with them???? For younger players, it’s slightly different i.e. a Kovacic, Vrsaljko, Kramaric, etc.
The thing NK has to focus on 110% is fusing all these pieces we have into a high performing team – which isn’t easy when you only are together for a handful of days every few months. Developing players on a one on one basis is a waste of time really at the NT level.
Vaha didn’t need Mamic’s shit. He has enough money where he didn’t have to obey Mamic.
@NK Susak…….Why not take it if offered. All depends on what his other options are. Some coaches prefer coaching at the club level and not at the national team level because a coach at the club level can actually influence the development of a player. I usually disagree when I hear a comment how Kum Kovac (insert any national team coach) can develop player XXXXXXX. How????? A national team coach only has his team for about 5-10 days every few months. No way you can develop a player. A player neds to develop at the club level. Once with the national team it is hard to “develop” a player.
@Maminjo
My commented wasn’t directed at Vaha as much as it was towards the Algeria FA.
Vaha is good in my book… One of the few Dinamo coaches to walk out after witnessing enough nonsense
I wouldnt be surprised if the Turkish FA offers Bilic the head coaching job of their national team in the near future. It would be ironic with him coaching the team that gave him his and Croatias most painful loss in a sporting event. But would he take that job????
Hey man. Vaha deserves that million for how far he brought Algeria (taking Germany to extra time too).
Does Bilic know how to make a brilliant kebab, if he doesn’t after a year or two, mrsh fuken!
I am pretty sure the Algerian govt pays much of the salary. No clue about BIH. That country is more messed and they make our federation look professional.
how does Vaha get 1M from Algeria LOL
Susic gets 100k more from Backwards Bosna
and Croatia, top 15 team in the world for the past 15 years, pays its coach a little under $300k … and thats still a huge bump from our last coach
or are you fake “anonymous”?
You guys wanted his head before . Now you want him back? What a joke you people are on this site . Fake,fake People .
@Armada
Here you go:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/the-world-cup-s-three-highest-paid-coaches-have-been-eliminated-while-the-lowest-paid-one-delights-everyone-022404856.html
Kovac’s salary is $271,740.
Right behind Safet Susic who made almost $100K more than Kovac, lol.
Yes, we did get $8 million for making the WC, but the savez didn’t keep all of that. The players and the coaching staff got around $3 – $3.5 of that money as part of their bonus. Hell, Strucnjak Stimac got money. Usually the player get around 40% of the payout, sometimes more. So, the chances of a giving a coach a 7-figure bonus will never and should never happen for Cro soccer.
Depends on the performance bonuses.
Cro got $8 million just for qualifying. I never understand why we would risk losing an $8 million bonus, by skimping out on a few hundred thousand dollars to hire zero experience coaches. Not low experience, we’re talking zero. That’s a huge wildcard of a gamble.
Offer a mediocre base salary, but a huge bonus (like a million or two). Cro always has several world class players, so any decent coach would be confident of qualifying and getting that bonus. It’s not like we’re Azerbaijan where performance bonuses are unattainable.
Our “Special One” will get it done!
@bobby v…….yep, there is Sjor Ivic and everyone else. Shit, imagine what could have resulted in 96 or 98 if he was in charge.
$500K is still shit money for a national team coach. Top coaches are getting 6 to 10 times more.
@ Maminjo
interesting, do you have the site that lists that? would be curious to check it out
It was still the third lowest salary at the World Cup for coaches (just by a couple of hairs too)
@ Maminjo
that 65k number is what’s been in my head… had no idea Stico and NK negotiated to get that up. Didn’t think it jumped up that much. Thanks for the info.
@ARMADA
Our national team coach’s salary will probably increase over the years to the point where it won’t be such a bad offer in the future. Actually, getting Bilić back might trigger that increase.
Remember… When Bilić took over as NT coach in late 2006, he was paid the equivalent of $65,000 US annually!
Now that number for being Cro’s NT coach is closer to $300,000 and we’re still hiring inexperienced coaches.
What triggered the raise?
Bilić did when we signed him to an extension. Also, Štimac did too when he negotiated his contract. I’m sure if Kovač has a successful Euro 2016 campaign, it will go up some more.
I’m not into paying coaches millions upon millions, but a 500K salary (plus performance bonuses) for an experienced coach is reasonable. I think when Bilić takes over in the future once again, he’ll be signing for something like this.
@nk
A 2-1 loss is not bad. That away goal can be crucial. Brugge needed a penalty to win too. I see Bilić winning the return leg.
The older guys on this site, like myself, can guarantee you that Tomislav Ivic was our best coach ever – brilliant soccer mind – almost every club in Europe wanted his services.
no kidding he will coach in the big league, premature to say they will win easy
No, not premature at all. Even if they go out this round, Bilic will still one day coach in a big league.
wow, they lost today to brugge, never under estimate your opposition, this article might of been a bit premature
I think anyone taking the job knows it doesn’t pay relative to what national team manager gets paid in other countries. Unlike other federations who have big money backers from corporate dollars/sponsors, that is not the case with Cro. Plus, I don’t want to see us use the old commie and socialism technique of having state-owned company’s sign up as a sponsor either. That is nothing more than money laundering and that is what Stric Franjo and Canjuga did back in the day with NK Croatia (errrrrr NK Dinamo for those of you who don’t know your history). If and when Bilic takes over again it will because that is the job he wants and doesn’t need it to increase his bank account. The next few years of coaching should do that for him.
Bilic will come back in 5 to 10 years when most of the players on his previous team retire. He will have different approach with fresh faces. He will have more expirence by that time. I don’t think that he would do it for money.
Naprid Bili!
Ivan Perisic is for the first time since his injury back on the roster for Wolfsburg. He sits on the bench. Glad to see he’ll be back for Norway.
Ya dejen a kovac en paz!!!
Ya dejen a kovac en paz!!!
if he gets into the championsleage he’s not leaving. the man is loyal, and turkey loves him, i can’t see him leaving after this year
If he does go to the EPL, he will undoubtedly get a decent wage… in the event down the road the HNS does turn to him again, would he be ok with getting a ‘low ball’ offer from the savez? croatian or not, you know the savez never want to shell out kune for our manager… would be curious to see how that situation would play out
ok would you guys straight up trade swap him out for kovac right now if you could??
id say yes… im sure he will be back one day and i’m sure we could do better with some other coach like a simeone but sure would be nice for bilic to take this group back into euro and make some serious noise
everyone knows the last two euros should have been better for us(no homer glasses).
i just hope he has a great crop of players still to use…