Croatia are on the brink of a great World Cup!
But first: Argentina.
After a disappointing draw against Iceland, Argentina will be hungry for points against the Vatreni, which may lead to their downfall. Here’s how things will look after 90 minutes in Nizhny.
A Croatia win against Argentina not only builds realistic confidence for the rest of the World Cup run, but it will secure a Croatian berth in the knockout round. A win against the South Americans combined with a Nigeria/Iceland draw on Friday means Croatia will top the group before they even face Iceland in the group finale. Why is this so important? France, who are stacked with young talent, are expected to top Group C. Whoever finishes second in our group would have to face them in the Round of 16 and that wouldn’t be good for business. Argentina will be aiming for all three points against us and are rumored to be playing a 3-4-3 vs. Croatia. It will be an open game and if Croatia can counter well, a victory should not be considered a surprise. Chances Croatia beats Argentina: 30%.
A Croatia draw against the Argentines would be nothing to hang our heads on. Going into the World Cup, I said Croatia would finish group play with seven points: wins over Nigeria and Iceland with a draw vs. Argentina. A draw would keep Croatia on top of the group (with goal differential in play) going into the group finale with Iceland. The +2 goal difference vs. Nigeria may become pivotal in the end, but if Croatia draws Argentina, consider it a successful day. Chances Croatia draw on Thursday: 50%.
A Croatia loss versus Argentina, although not ideal, would not be the end of the world. It would have Argentina on four points and Croatia on three points going into the last group stage game. It would be a ‘deja vu’ situation from the 2014 World Cup where the Vatreni needed a win vs. Mexico on the last day of group stage to progress. It didn’t happen. Although Iceland have been on a Cinderella run the past two years, defeating England at Euro 2016, Croatia have always played them well. Iceland have only scored one goal against Croatia in the past four matches they have played. But this is obviously Plan B. Chances Argentina beat Croatia: 20%.
Hey Yugos, go duck your selves.
Jebem i wasnt saying it wasnt a penalty cos of where the contact started, i was saying it wasnt a penalty cos it wasnt a penalty since the contact was softer than my cock after seeing the 2014 pool party pics
Nah we’re good.
Last i heard mexico was being investigated for homophobic chants, and also the serbs got into some scuffle on the field didnt they? Typical serb serbiness there
@anonymous – yeah, they are on the lookout for anything negative. I was at the game in KGrad, and I noticed one of the flags had “ Posušje” written along the white stripe, but organized with the “U” of Posušje superimposed over the Grb, and maybe the U was even a little more bolded. I noticed later the flag was taken down though, and then put up again, but with the U no longer on the flag at all. We’re thinking someone from the Savez saw it.
Champions League draw yesterday
Dinamo Zagreb vs FC Flora Talinn/Hapoel Beer-Sheva
@Pog-Maybe Not incredible to Messi’s standards, but incredible by any other player’s standard. We rave about guys having a third of the chances Messi created for his team and his self.
If any of our players other than Modric created that many chances, I wouldn’t believe it.
“if we can keep the chanting positive and no hooligan activity”
I don’t expect any hooligan activity from Croatian fans, the world cup being in Russia makes me sure they want to see the tournament go down without a hitch.
@Iggy
When a player starts to be held outside the box but continues to be held inside the box, it is a penalty.
Unlike a tripping foul, where the first contact determines whether it is inside or outside the box.
This was explained on American TV by Dr. Koe Machinak
@Damir
South America has one win, Uruguay
Jebem Ti Usta says:
@Maminjo
VAR protects all teams against a penalty that is undeserved
Russia wants a word with you about the Mo Salah penalty last night
Funny, when Kalinic was benched by AC Milan, I wonder why he didn’t pull the same thing? Oh, yeah, $$$$$
At least Ronaldo shows emotion.
Messi Ageuro Di Maria and those meek smurfs barely look like they have a pulse between them.
@Maminjo
VAR protects all teams against a penalty that is undeserved.
@Toronto
How can you say that after what happened to us in 2014 against Brazil?
That ref was looking for any reason to call a penalty.
The refs can only do so much. If a game is close, then their influence makes a big impact.
I think the game against Argentina will be a good one, but if Messi wants to draw a penalty, I think they will. It all depends on the ref. Not sure if FIFA is actually saying anything to the ref. It could simply be the ref’s personal bias that a team like Argentina should win.
I’m hoping we get a good ref just like the one we had against Nigeria. That ref didn’t fall for any of Victor Moses’ flops.
Good interesting article on the Kalinic situation https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/8scwec/inside_details_on_what_really_happened_in_the/ shows how much of a bum he is.
Until now. South America team will win. Hope not against us.
The talent gap around the World is beginning to shrink. Remember, it only takes 11 good players.
Now, if you were to say that if you eliminate, let’s say, the top 100 players from each country and then had a game between Brazil and Switzerland, using players ranked 101-111, Brazil would win by 10 goals.
But, again, it only takes 11.
For those thinking FIFA might want to keep Argentina in the tournament …I honestly thought in the last world cup there would be no way Brazil wouldn’t go to the finals… since it was on home turf and it was already somewhat unpopular among Brazilians due to money wasting….
And then Germany completely embarrassed them 7-1 on home soil. FIFA clearly didnt bail out Brazil for ratings.
So far in this tournament lots of underdogs have been pulling upsets …
Now with that being said, if anything is going to be fixed I’m sure Putin has it so that Russia wins lol
https://www.croatiaweek.com/video-the-story-of-the-croatian-communitys-huge-impact-on-soccer-in-canada/
This is an awesome story from tsn about how our croatian community from toronto ,invested won a nasl championship in the 1970s..all our cro brothers outside of canada watch this video about toronto metros croatia pro soccer team.
First of all, any name with pizdolizac in it is a wimner in my books, call me old fashioned. Do you think Brozo has the speed? Neither does Rakitic but he does play in Barca so he knows him well.
It’s going to come down to Vida and Lovren’s ability to stop Messi. Kovacic starting the match to mark Messi would be ideal, although I’m sure Brozo could rough him up with his yellow card to spare.
belgium
Maybe they sent kalinic to bos and rent a hideout place with mamic.I hope kalinic(suck)doesn’t take our team off the tracks with his b’s.antics.Cros are tough …crossroads of Europe in history..we can beat this hyped up arg(messi)team…just watch thurs..we shut them down.
Don’t you just have a feeling that Modric and Rakitic won’t let us lose? Playing for Real Madrid and Barcelona means something.
Having seen the rest of the teams once now, I’ve noticed that many of the favorites also have their best players on the downside of their peak.
For the first time in any major tournament, I can say no team stands out.
South American teams without a win yet.
Kalinic screwed us.
I see Mandza scoring. Aside from Fazio, I don’t think thier defenders are too tall a la Carvajal vs Mandza battle. We’re taller and Romero (former backup to Subasic in Monaco and backup in Man U) is injured. IF Mandza has good service. That’s a big IF.
@Poglavnik
Ronaldo has been MIA in a couple of the CL finals.
The most recent one was worse than MIA — he was woeful.
And, kam on, his whining (to teammates and refs alike) makes Messi look like a patient saint.
GO CRO
Really hope we get some points but I’m sure FIFA has a trick or two up their sleeve to do whatever it takes to ensure Messi advance. Watch for a higher than usual # of fouls against us being called near our box to set up high quality free kick positions for Argentina…no VAR allowed on that.
I’m hyped for the game. Our boys enjoy the games with the big spot light on them …I’m feeling the Euro cup – Croatia vs Spain vibe for this one.
In a strange way Messi and Argentina are predictable offensively.
They seem to play in patterns around Messi that we will be able to thwart.
Barcelona have given Messi all the freedom of movement for him to shine.
Messi keeps trying harder and harder with Argentina and success keeps on eluding him at international level?
@ Crotown
Exactly.
Line up and take names.
Show the world who we are?
Brazilians of Europe.
Kovačić needs 90 on Thursday. Too explosive and skilled to be on bench.
I’m expecting a loss if im honest but i would be absolutely ecstatic with a draw
Reports from Russia is that Croatia fans are rocking the stadium and bringing crazy positive momentum to the players- this will be a factor- if we can keep the chanting positive and no hooligan activity- we’ll have the fans in the stands ready to drive the players – this will matter – hope for a safe environment and good cheering for Croatia – brotko
@BZ
“We will not stop Messi, but they won’t stop Modric/Rakitic/Rebic/Perisic from brilliance either.”
And you still believe Argentina will win, 2-1 only? Mandzukic should be getting some good service if all those players can’t be stopped?
Anyway, the idiots are the people that pick Croatia to win absolutely.
Time for the boys of Crotown to show some swagger and show the world that the ever present dark horse should be ready to have the confidence to be considered a favorite. This game is 90% mental and 10% tactical play- very interested if we’re ready to move to a world leader in soccer designation- there is no reason that Argentina should be considered a favorite other than reputation- come on Croatian nation let’s step up and show what we’re all about- swagger and confidence and that game on Thursday is ours
@Lovro
The reason Ronaldo looks so good is because Portugal is no longer a one man team.
He can finally be a #9 and not have to back track or bomb up and down the wing playing defense, or drop into midfield to create.
There were years where Portugal were a pretty thin team and Ronaldo tried doing way too much himself. He finally trusts his teammates and he’s grown up a ton in doing so.
@BZ
Incredible is a bit of an overstatement.
He missed a penalty. In a big game. Again!
I doubt he feels he was incredible.
Sportsnet.ca writer John Molinaro (who I’ve always thought knows shit about soccer) had a story about not blaming Messi.
Well if he doesn’t want to be blamed he shouldn’t be taking pk’s he can’t finish!
@BZ – I hope we can at least tie. Croatia has scored only 1 goal in the last 6 matches from the run of play. The others have come from set pieces or penalties.
Having said that, it seems Messi and Ronaldo are more one-man teams in this tournament for their national sides than they have ever been.
I think we will lose, but I KNOW we can win. Arg 2-1…feel free to call me an idiot, cause I hope I am wrong.
-Messi was still incredible vs Iceland, things just didn’t fall Argentina’s way.
-Argentina had plenty of opportunities, more than we did vs Iceland when we played them.
Hoping for a draw between Iceland & Nigeria either way.
@ Truth
What FIFA is saying about the use of VAR is that they want to get a particular incident in a match correct.
The bigger reason is that it cuts back tremendously on the possibility of match fixing.
It eliminates the easy, obvious way a referee on the take can decide the snatch – an unwarranted penalty.
He can still call phantom fouls around the area and award free kicks, or stop a counter attack, etc., but, that is easier to weed out.
FIFA needing a star player to advance is much less important than wanting a bigger/popular national side to.
I feel as though we got Argentina right where we want ’em!
Iceland gave ’em a major punch in the nose, and right now they’re on the ropes reeling!
I’d be a lot more worried if Argentina won their first match, and they were coming into the Croatia match relaxed and confident. Instead, the pressure is on THEM. They have to come to us.
From the moment the match kicks off, they will be chasing the game–knowing if they don’t win, their WC could be in jeopardy. Losing would leave them hung out to dry like your Dida’s Pršut. As consequence they will open up, giving us opportunities to score.
And if we score a goal in the first 10 minutes. I can easily see this Argentina team collapse.
I agree with Ante K’s assessment above. I think the chances are small we will lose. A draw wouldn’t be so bad. But I say go and finish the job to secure a favorable route to the knock out phase.
We have the tactical advantage. Argentina needs to win. I hope Dalic can make use of this. The longer the Argentines don’t score the better for us! I think Rebic and Perisic will have lots of room to attack on the counter. Rebic has proven himself in a situation just like this, last month, namely the DFB cup final when he scored two beautiful goals against Bayern. We have plenty of ace passers that can get the ball forward fast. Bar some fluke goal, stupid mistake, or a biased referee I really think we will pull off an upset on Thursday.
I believe it is a 95% chance we win or draw against Argentina,we are a great team coming into our own with top quality players who are experienced and have played with one another for a long time.
Croatia 2-1
Let’s hear the conspiracy chatter pick up
Fifa letting messi out of the tournament in the first round?!
No way
Can one of the 10 or so pro-VAR people explain to me how they reviewed that Sala dive AND STILL gave a penalty anyway? WTF???
I expect more pouting and sniveling from Messi.
He may be the most technically gifted player but give me Ronaldo any day. A real leader and a winner!