We have a Andrej Kramarić siting! Where was this during the World Cup? Krama scored the opening goal and game-tying goal (94′) Tuesday to chop the points in a 2-2 Hoffenheim draw versus Stuttgart. Both goals were noteworthy as Krama took home MOTM honors for his 2-goal performance. The first was acrobatic while the second was all placement with a possible pinch of deflection. Nonetheless, Kramarić comes out of the winter break hot as Hoffenheim need all the help they can get down the stretch; sitting only five points from the relegation zone. Borna Sosa did not dress for Stuttgart with an unknown muscle injury.
Josip Juranović made his presence known immediately in the Bundesliga this week as he completed a transfer from Scottish club, Celtic FC, mere days ago. Juranović got the start and played the full 90 minutes in Union Berlin’s 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen Wednesday night. In the 46th minute, Juranović sent a corner kick into the box that was met with the head of teammate Kevin Behrens. It would be the game-winning goal as Union Berlin now sit only three points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who dropped points this week with their shock draw versus Koln.
Joško Gvardiol turned 21 years old on Monday and celebrated with a 6-1 thumping of Schalke on Tuesday. From start to finish it was all RB Leipzig in this match. Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes and was half responsible for Schalke’s lone goal as he got turned around the wrong way while tracking back. However, nothing to worry about on the play. All eyes on Gvardiol for the remainder of the season as RB Leipzig are expected to cash in big this summer on their Croatian defender.
Former Croatian captain and manager, Niko Kovač, has Wolfsburg running at maximum capacity going back to October. Wolfsburg have won six straight Bundesliga matches and now sit only two points behind a Champions League berth. In their two matches since returning from the winter break, Wolfsburg have defeated Freiburg 6-0 and Hertha Berlin 5-0. 11-0 across two matches…not too shabby.
BONUS GOAL: Check out this goal from 19 year-old striker Gabriel Vidović Wednesday night. He is currently on loan from Bayern Munich at Dutch club Vitesse. Vidović grabbed the ball in the box and chipped from the tightest angle you could score from on the pitch. But was it deflected? You make the call. Nonetheless, always a great day for Croatia when young strikers are scoring across Europe.
Anyone have any info on kacavenda come Back?
Something about this kid I liked when I saw him play a bit
I sure hope it’s not a pjaca 2.0
He was another what If that’s for sure
Commentator suggested Gvardiol didn’t have the greatest of games today. I caught the hand ball/PK call and a “foul ball” clearance near the end that flew backwards and over own net for corner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn7CJyLMILG/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=
Livakovic linked to Fenerbahce. It really seems that nobody wants him at a 10 million valuation. It seems that even the tournament of his life won’t help him transfer out of Dinamo.
That is not good for him, and not good for the Croatian squad either. I don’t think that a move to the Turkish league is a good option for him, personally.
Dalić to AJAX ?
Isn’t his contract until June 2024?
Dalic has to be careful when he eventually picks his next coaching gig.
National team coaches transitioning to club football isn’t always successful.
He is a great coach for the dressing room, keeps the players happy…but to deal with tactics on a weekly basis will be a different game and his only successful experience is in the Middle East (and a couple of unsuccessful stints in Croatia and Albania).
Brekalo is doing his physical tomorrow to complete his transfer to Fiorentina.
– They signed him to a three-year contract (until 2026)
– Since his contract is ending soon, Wolfsburg only get 1.5 million for his transfer, and 10 percent of the next transfer
He did very well in Serie A last season for Torino. Scored quite a few nice goals.
He’s gotta get his career back on track, or he’ll be a bubble National Team player until the youngers guys come up (like Vidovic) to replace him permanently.
I agree..player’s like Rebic, Brekalo or others are temporary for us. They are not consistent enough to be secure starting players. Vidovic, Simic, Musa will be our only hope. Orsic, Perisic, Pasalic and Vlasic will have to due for now.
We have good depth, especially with our youth.
Gvardiol is a star, and will anchor our defense, and we will always have talented central midfielders, who will dominate possession.
When a guy like Rakitic retires, we have Kovacic to replace him. If not Kovacic, then Majer. If not Majer, then Luka Sucic. If you take a step sideways in your development, then you end up as a substitute (like Vlasic). It’s an endless cycle in the midfield for us, so I wouldn’t ever worry about that area of the field.
The good news is that we suddenly have some interesting youngsters in areas of need like Vidovic, Beljo, Simic, and Ljubicic who are all doing well in leagues outside of Croatia. These guys are all very young too, and we’re not reliant on them for at least a few years (and it’s not like we don’t have young guys already on the team). Lots of depth with guys like Majer, Vlasic, Sutalo, Erlic, Stanisic, Sosa… who are all young enough to make strides forward in their own development as well. Guys like Brekalo and Duje are struggling to make the team, guys like Musa and Moro can’t even get callups, and we have tons of players in that 19-25 age range all fighting for spots.
It’s a good spot to be in.
Ya with what we have we should be qualifying and making it out of group stages
Then as we know anything can happen
A couple of those guys won’t pan out but then there will be a guy Like orsic coming out of the abyss for us no doubt
Modric with another key assist to beat Barca. Yet, there’s people on this forum that are saying Modric should transfer to the Saudi Arabian league. What a joke. It’s a league that lacks skills, stability and competition. Just because one of the greatest strikers goes there doesn’t mean Modric should follow. Modric will continue with this club until he’s 40. They’ll offer him a position too.
Croatian Canadian,
I think what a lot of people were saying was in reaction to what the pundits in Spain were saying about Modric, because some their comments were disrespectful and along the lines that he should leave and was no longer needed. I don’t think that people believed that he should necessarily move from Madrid as a good career move, atleast I can say I didn’t think it was the greatest move on these terms. That was more the sentiment here I think.
I for one atleast always thought he still has something left in the tank, but he did have some poor games coming back from the World Cup, understandably because he was tired. I think anyone would be if they were in his shoes.
This should be proof again that his actions have put Madrid back into semi final yet again.
Read the articles of what some people on the Spanish capital were saying.
I’ll ses if I can find one.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/dailypost.ng/2023/01/18/laliga-youre-no-longer-needed-modric-told-to-leave-real-madrid-replacement-named/%3famp=1
Read headline. Closed it. So much bullshit out there.
But come on, the sky is falling over there as soon as Real goes two games in a row without a win. Who has played great in their latest “skid” I’d like to know (perhaps Courtois). Vini Jr. can be electric but I swear to God most of the time he has a touch like I would have after 18 beers. • Modric played the full 120 today and Valverde/Kroos didn’t. • It’s a long season people need to rein it in. It’s the internet age though.
Can someone remind what’s going on with brekalo? Is he just an unused sub? Obviously wolfsburg are insane right now
But is there some sort of falling out? You would think Kovac would give him some time
Kovac doesn’t have time for players that don’t give 100%, don’t play proper disciplined soccer regarding field responsibilities, are not fit to run a full game, can be pushed off the ball easily in exchange for the odd dribble here and there.
Anyone have a good link for Real Madrid today?
These Spanish cup games never seem to be on anywhere in Canada.
Wish I would have seen this earlier. Yeah nowhere to be found in Canada. I watched here (can use for future games I’m sure):
http://livetv.sx/enx/
Thanks …I’ll try it next time
Croatia’s odds of medaling again in a world cup have fallen through the expansion from 32 team to 48.
It’s simply math.
Although Croatia has a better chance of getting in, they were always generally getting in by a large sample size of qualifying games. Croatia has qualified for 86% of world cups. So there isn’t much room for improvement there.
Meanwhile, a bigger field yet, just reduces the chance that croatia catches lightening in a bottle again.
If someone let me bet an over/under line for Croatia’s next medal, I would take the over on the next 4 world cups.
So it’s great that we all got to enjoy it. And for the next 20 years at nauseum this board will say phrases like
“This current team has no heart like the 18 or 22 teams. Those guys would’ve died out on the field for Croatia”
“This team just cares about club unlike the 18 or 22 teams”
“We should boycott the final qualifying game to force reform in the HNL to make things more like the 18 and 22 environments”
“(Fill in the Blank) is no leader compared to Modric” (this one could be true)
“This coach is terrible not getting the most out of the talent. I wish we had Dalic back”
Of course, the great humour is all you said all this type of stuff about the 18 and 22 teams as well.
dude – real negative spin here – what country(s) do you support?
truth is just grumpy because it’s a cold January up in Canada
Multi millionaires don’t feel cold
Only cold hard cash
Utter nonsense, as usual. The 16 new teams will be all crap, so it doesn’t affect Croatia chances at all. The 33 to 48 ranked teams will have no affect on the tournament, other than to add awful games. Like Spain beating Costa 7-0. You will see a lot more of that in 2026, because there will be much worse teams than Costa Rica in the tournament.
Remember Canada was the peak of concacaf
For sure states and Mexico can always be dangerous but then what….
Whose gonna get in?
China, india???? Israel??
Did euro really get much harder with more teams or less? Easier to have a poor group like Portugal proved in 2016 and still do something
But out of the bottom 8 teams who are qualifying for euro then when it was 16, who is truly capable of winning it??
We may not win it for a while or ever, but we can go and we can have a fighters chance
The new kids will be hungry
We all know we have the genetics to play sport. No one can possibly question that
And with our winning mentality now who knows
We can’t be called mental midgets Anymore and that’s the “truth”
It was painful to watch Albania, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, and Macedonia at the last couple of Euros.
Granted, those teams are capable of pulling off upsets and playing well in qualifiers…but tournament play is a different beast altogether.
Look at how well Canada did in qualifying, then ended up embarrassing themselves at the actual tournament.
There’s going to be alot more of that now.
Stanisic on bench again. He has to wait for mazraoui, followed by pavard, followed by kimmich to get injured or suspended before he gets a chance to play at RB
He has to wait for davis, hernandez, blind to get injured or suspended before he gets a chance to play at LB
He should leave bayern asap..they are killing his career
Ya I agree
He has learned what he can from their coaching and program
Needs to be loaned out or go somewhere else in summer
Needs to play now and develop
He’s got potential we have all seen it now.
Needs to get experience
Lower level bundesliga team loan?
Glad to see Juranovic out of that crappy Scottish league.
But you gotta feel for Antonio Čolak.
A couple of months ago, he was red-hot and probably thought he was going to start at the World Cup…to now, probably not even getting a callup ever again (since he seems to be battling for time in Scotland, and we now seem to have a collection of younger strikers like Beljo, Musa, and Simic progressing pretty well).
We will hate to admit it but it’s finally come to fruition with Father Time taking his toll on Luka and Ivan.
Can they rise from the dead these past few weeks of poor performances or is it really time to admit they are both very close to riding off into the sunset?
I just don’t see them being factors at euro 24 sadly.
I vote rise from the undead
I second that vote as it’s only a few games in, we have to see by the end of the season. Every one is entitled a to a few bad games, even the best of players like Modric and Perisic.
Modrić is still really good, and one bad game against a good team doesn’t change that, just as it didn’t change anything a few years back when 19-year-old Frenkie de Jong outplayed him in the champions league. Rakitić was not even a starter at the beginning of the season, and due to injuries and underperformance by teammates is having to put Sevilla on his back again. Sure, his mistake cost them the match in Copa del Rey, but he also won them their last two league matches.
Oh wait! You meant Ivan Perisić? That Ivan is still in his prime. No question. He might have to transition to being a fullback in order to be most effective, but he’s still a top player.
Look how hung over luka was in 2018
He is 4 years older and they didn’t have a rest really like in 18
I’m not saying it’s a sure thing but luka still gonna make some impact I feel
Perisic running hard in England
He should have made the move in 18 and been at inter again now
But he’s following his dreams. He’s a beast. He will continue to battle
I hope they both rise once more
UEFA yesterday has changed the format for WC 2026 qualifiers.
The number of slots for UEFA has increased from 13 to 16.
The qualifying group stage will feature twelve groups of four or five teams. The winner of each group will qualify for the World Cup finals, while the second-placed teams will either qualify directly or participate in play-off matches.
This means to be in Pot 1 for the WC 2026 draw we have to be ranked among the first 12 UEFA/European nations. Currently we are 5th, behind France, Belgium, England and Holland.
😂😂😂😂my son said ‘where was that at the World Cup?, about Krama 🤷♀️
Canada Game
Now that I see the vidovic goal again, it’s definitely deflected
Still nice work and effort on it
Let’s hope this kid becomes the goods
Wow kramaric, we just needed a couple of those in other matches in qatar
When he’s on he’s on that’s for sure
To his credit, he made the right play by attempting to pass it back to the open man in front of the net (the same way Messi passed it back to Alvarez on their third goal against us).
The defender deflected it into the net by trying to stop the pass.
I can’t see any deflection. If there was, wouldn’t it have gone down as an own goal?
What do you guys think vidovic potential is ? He is just a baby.
But who is he most like in terms of?