Brazil Defeat Croatia 3-1 In Orlando Friendly With 2 Counter Attacks And A SOFT Penalty Call

@ anonymous

I ended up going with the pitchside lunge hospitality package. At the end of the day, it was pricey but simply the best offering

Please don’t bring up the pj. With the war going on, the price of jet fuel is off the charts so it’s going to be a lot more costly to fly around this summer. Usually it will cost about 2500/hr in fuel charges and current run rates at certain airports fills you up at 3500/hr.

Saranic

8 wins in a row

1st place 2 points ahead of Rudes

😊

Esmir Bajraktarevic

https://x.com/TMplayersource/status/2039443799173173407

Look at this interview

The interviewer asked him 5 times “why Bosnia not US?”

Look at this answer

U can tell there was never a doubt (his parents are from Srebrenica)

Wish more of our diaspora truly felt like this too (well we know Franjo does)

Not the wishy-washy ones like Sosa, Stanisic, Segecic (“I have options if Australia doesn’t play me”) and others

I also don’t see much difference in Bajraktarevic vs. Jagusic – Esmir is probably slightly more explosive and crafty in the dribble on more of a winger (which is aesthetically pleasing to watch) while Jagusic is more of a hybrid/inside forward was the cannon of a shot

If Esmir is good enough to play for Bosnia – Jaga is good enough to play for Croatia

Guardian Power Rankings actually has us pretty high (above England) which is generous. Especially considering Holiga’s name is attached:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/apr/01/guardian-power-rankings-france-senegal-japan-top-10-world-cup-2026

Ghana and Panama are both way down the bottom. Surprising to see Senegal so high to me.

Last euros Gvardiol played against Albania CB we still conceded 2 goals. Perisic played LB was terrible that game. Brozo and Perisic stating was like playing with 9 men, yet everyone on this board blamed Šutalo or pong or whoever.

Until we fix our lack of speed in midfield we will struggle whoever starts on defence I have no doubt about that.

One of the big talking points from Tuesday’s shootout was Gianluigi Donnarumma’s behaviour towards Bosnian goalkeeper Nikola Vasil.
Shortly after Esposito missed his penalty, a heated argument broke out between Donnarumma and Vasilj, and many wondered what the animated conversation was about at such a pivotal moment.
It turns out Donnarumma sneaked into the goalmouth and grabbed Vasilj’s cheat sheet as his fellow goalkeeper celebrated the missed spot kick. He then appeared to damage the piece of paper, according to BILD.
“Afterwards, the cheat sheet, which listed all the Italian shooters and their preferred corners, was clearly damaged,” the report claimed. “Apparently, Donnarumma had intended to tear it up.”

Pongračić, Šutalo and DCC all are very poor defenders, they can’t read the game quick enough, they aren’t particularly quick enough and any sort of cutback, switch of play or player running at them means it’s over. Pongracic is the worst of the bunch I’m surprised we’re saying anything good about him, the goal vs Colombia was his fault, he didn’t close down his man and had Vuskovic doing all the work the rest of the game. The first Brazil goal was scored by sutalo’s man when tracking back but he lazily didn’t stick to him+Čaleta froze in front of goal rather than read the cutback. 2nd goal obvisouly wasn’t a penalty and a clear dive but sutalo should be defending better there anyway. 3rd goal was Smolčić and Pongračić+Šutalo also being positioned awfully with no pace to recover but even before that they couldn’t sweep up the danger when the ball was loose before the counterattack had room to breath, the one thing Martinelli is really good at is late game counter attacks with room to run in behind and we gave them that nearly instantly with Vušković gone for less than 10 minutes. 2 goals in less than 10 minutes without Vuskovic is just so telling of that backline, and yet we are barking at Perisic defending who actually timed tackles and engagements well. Vušković had triple the defensive actions than all other cb’s these past 2 games each, they cannot tie Luka’s laces much less start beside him.

We’re lucky Vuskovic is used to playing with poor defenders but at least in 3 back he can get involved defensively more rather than stuck on one side and hope his other sided cb can cover his side. It’s obvious we need Gvardiol and Vuskovic as our 2 CB’s no other will do. Gvardiol is better as a cb anyway and we simply do not have the defensive depth to have anyone else, it’s the reason we lost the euros and nations league. Did you know every goal we conceded in the euros was through sutalo’s legs? It’s true, pongracic also didn’t exist that tournament. Perišić was playing well and still attacking and getting crosses, same as if he was LW but getting more involved defensively which isn’t bad since he does it anyway, plus Gvardiol Vuskovic and stanisic need a bit of leadership and experience in the backline, all are super young. Perisic has been directing the backline these past 2 games and you can tell with the amount of hand motions he had to do when talking to Pongracic vs Colombia and sutalo vs Brazil today, he wasn’t pleased with their lack of a performance. The problem is the past 2 matches he’s been paired with the worst cb’s possible (besides Vuskovic), and has to do all the defensive work for his wide cb which is a bad recipe vs strong attackers like Brazil and Colombia. Luckily Vušković could hold it down+with some brilliant saves from Livaković, I’m pissed that stanisic never played in that RCB back 3 once in both of these games but I think it’s just Dalic testing what we can get away with instead of what he knows what works best. Stanisic isn’t a pure attacking wingback like Perisic, he’s a fullback/cb hybrid.

To everyone saying modric had a bad game, sure he made a couple bad mistakes but his passing options are severely limited when Marco pasalic is not on the pitch (that’s right guys in both games modric didn’t play 1 minute with a proper winger like Marco Pašalić, the guy who made Gareth Bale, Vini Jr, Mbappe and CR7 run in behind has to play through balls to Kramarić just for him to halt any momentum and play a 2 yard pass backwards so we can’t even leave our half and attack.)

It’s obvious Baturina is already better than Kramaric in nearly every possible statistic of this sport, better conversion rate, pace, press resistance, playmaking, vision, driving the ball forward, even defending he was trying but we had a couple too many weak links near him. Budimir plays worse with kramarić too because krama keeps trying to take all his chances. We criticize budimir for not scoring or contributing on the ball but everytime he did get involved he created lots of space in the box and holds up CB’s giving our midfielders space to shoot but of course when krama was on the pitch it was just him taking chances since he’s lives in the box and he cannot score unless it’s on the ground and he has a metre of space, which is saying something since he’s so slow to the ball anyway. Even when they create something and play it into the box it always goes to Kramaric because he forces himself into the spot. Budimir is a good poacher but he knows we gain nothing with him standing beside kramaric, he needs to hold certain spaces. I’d rather Luka Sučić take a shot outside the box at least, all I could think of with that space right in front of the box all game especially when Moro took that shot wide is Luka Sučić would bury this. The worse sin is in build up, we essentially play with a man down, Kramaric cannot contribute in midfield in progression and press resistance, he cannot defend effectively or high press and isn’t strong or fast enough to be a striker, most obsolete player we got right now. I’d rather Musa, budimir or even Mantanović on the pitch rather. He’ll only be effective vs unorganized defences that spill alot of chances like Canada 4 years ago, and those kinds of defences are most vulnerable later in the match so no point starting him, plus krama can’t play more than 60 minutes anyway and I’d rather have him in a penalty shootout.

You’re also judging Perisic defensively with the WORST DEFENDERS WE HAVE. Look at O’Riley at Man City, when Gvardiol was there people were talking about how elite the backline looked all around and with Gvardiol out his defending is completely exposed and he’s been criticized for loosing them games, yet his offensive contribution makes such a cohesive balance when playing with 2 strong CB’s, the same will be with Gvardiol and Vusković + Perišić. Plus a good midfield 3 supporting them and Baturina at left attacking mid so he doesn’t have to break our midfield defensive presence and focus more on his creating and attacking will fix our poor quality offence.

Truth is Perišić LB (overlapping wingback which he has played effectively for Croatia, Inter and Spurs like the Spain game nations league or extra time vs Brazil 2022), Gvardiol LCB, Vušković RCB, Stanišić RB is our road to the final, the cb’s are just so strong defensively and Marco pasalic has the ability to track back and support the rb, stanisic evens out the wingback, in fact the tactic checks out as we get overloads in attack, Gvardiol can still contribute in build up and attack while being the cb actually defending instead of sutalo and gvardiol wingback racing back, I’d rather Perisic is the one getting back and defending wide areas as our cb’s just have that ability to intercept and block danger before it gets out of hand, they just have that security, at least the best we got but only option is gvardiol Vuskovic will probably be the best cb pairing in the tournament.

Petar Sucic gels well with modric, they cover each others weakness and give good shielding to our elite cb’s (Gvardiol and Vuskovic), modric still the best decision maker of all time, both of them as a double pivot will work but they need a 3rd midfielder to support them like Modric has in Milan and Madrid, same like Pirlo had at Milan and Italy. The 2 obvious choices are Luka Sučić or Kovačić, I’m leaning towards Luka because of the long ranged threat while still being super technical and good in deeper areas and in the box while Kovacic only in deeper areas. Of course Kovacic good rotation vs high pressing teams like Brazil today or even England possibly. I feel Baturina can give us a similar dribbling ability to drive the ball forward through and out of pressure like Kovacic so he can drop kova and still get that quality when needed while Perisic overlaps so Kovacic wouldn’t be missed too much. The problem was when he paired Mario Pasalic with Modric vs Faroe Islands and Mario just doesn’t have the technique to trap the ball in right areas, the goal vs Faroe islands for example came from a turnover that Kovacic would have never made, but Luka Sucic is also very good in congested areas on the pitch.

Musa better vs higher lines because of pace to exploit space in behind, budimir better when box presence is needed and more pure effective target man when that’s needed plus experience vs high level football in La Liga, mantanović better when you need a more on the ball target man who links up and doesn’t lose possession and shields the ball incredibly, he prevented so many turnovers and kept attacking momentum vs Colombia.

Marco Pašalić is a must start and I’d even say get Oršić or someone as his sub and move Baturina or Perisic RW when Marco is subbed out just to keep at least one proper direct explosive wing player.

I see Baturina and Luka Sučić having a similar dynamic to Baturina and Nico Paz at Como, Luka and Nico have such a similar profile and we desperately need a proper attacking midfielder who can actually resist press, playmake and score from long distances+has really good technique and a bit of flair and physicality. Just to fuel our attacks better in half spaces, I expect Marco pasalic and budmir connect well with the two being on the ball attacking mids and Marco a hybrid forward and attacking mid and budimir a proper striker giving good attacking balance and anchor play, plus a wingback with Perisic for crosses and width.

4231/433/342/352
GK Livaković
LB/LWB Perišić
LCB Gvardiol
RCB Vušković
RB Stanišić
LDM/CM Petar Sučić
RDM/CM Modrić
CAM/CM Luka Sučić (maybe Kova)
LW/LAM Baturina
RW/RAM Marco Pašalić
ST Budimir (maybe Musa vs high lines)

If Marco drops in more, now it’s a 343, Luka Sucic also drops into cm it’s a 352 with Baturina 2nd striker almost, Marco plays RW normal and stanisić holds behind him and Luka Sucic drops in now it’s a 433, even if Perisic is forward and Marco is back Gvardiol is covering lb and stanisic covering RCB Vuskovic lcb isn’t the worst position every so often (not exclusively just when convenient.) Although Marco more of an explosive attacking mid. I see stanisic rb and Marco RW like Olise at Bayern, both explosive playmakers with a good left foot and can cut and curl it well for a shot or cross, stanisic isn’t a winger or wingback like he was used today, he supports a winger while balancing his defensive flank for coverage, sometimes he overlaps, underlaps, holds in midfield, plays 1 2s or hits the box, whatever he has to do to get his RW an advantage, plus he sometimes just stays back and marks a LW from counters and sweeps them up before they start.

Moro is a good sub for modric when we’re defending a game and wanna keep control.

Majer is a good sub for modric when we need his creativity and playmaking still+attacking threat.

Jakić is a good sub for a fullback or Petar Sučić

Of course Kovačić a sub for either Sučić’s if we can get away with modric kovacic double pivot that’s great too, although it may not be enough midfield coverage vs most opponents but I’d expect Dalic should test Jakic and Kovacic in midfield together with Majer probably the 3rd or Moro when defending (as subs of course).

Mario pasalic and Vlasic more so late game super subs for goals and just tossing players in the box for a chaotic late goal.

Of course if pulling Luka Sucic or Baturina could just push Perisic up to LW and keep one in CM/CAM and toss in jakić rb swap stanisic lb in a back 4 for a more defensive tactic.

I can only see Šutalo as a late game sub to rest Gvardiol for like 5-10 mins and same with Erlić for Vušković.

Otherwise that’s the team and anyone else is just moral support and vs weak teams to rest the A team, maybe some of those u21 guys can get a chance like Jagušić or that new Segečić, maybe even Mlačić depending on how the season ends which would be cool and first 2 good rotations for Luka Sucic and Marco pasalic with similar profiles. But they are probably not quite ready, I’m sure Dalic and Olić will figure that one out hopefully.

But if Gvardiol and Vušković are not our MUST PLAY CB’s then we’re gonna lose, simple as that. Midfield should be built around modric and attack built around Baturina, both sucic’s should help both and Marco pasalic and budimir or Musa striker, stanisic supports the 2 cbs and RW and Perisic adds width and crossing something Gvardiol and Baturina get tremendous value from.

Hopefully Dalić knows what to do now.

We had Brazil pretty even till Vuskovic left the pitch and I’m sure these little fixes in lineup would evolve our team into real contenders again.

I think these friendlies were the true essence of friendlies and maybe I get excited and ahead of mself. I think June friendlies will be true tune up. However with that being said only things I feel truly strong about after two matches.

1- Krama never start again I’ve felt this way for a long time but he needs to go he slows our game down way too much. Someone has to be sat down out of the seniors and it has to be krama

2- Budimir out also, felt this way for a while slow doesn’t work.

3- we won’t play 3-5-2 in WC doesn’t work even though keep dreaming of it. 4-5-1 is our way plug it up slug it up bore other team to sleep.

4- Smolcic way to slow guy isn’t a real option

5- Stanišić and Gvardiol are the only two players capable playing RB and LB I want no one else playing, we have no one who can.

6- Perišić can’t play defence sorry weather we play with back 4 or 3

7- I like Pongracic to me he’s better than Erlic and D-CC. Sutalo , Vušković and Pongracic should be our top 3 CB.

8- I think D-CC was not good tonight I would not start him anymore.

9- Moro is good.

10- Livaković was good in these two games.

Did anyone have on their bingo card that Luka Vuskovic would be the best Croatia CB during these two games?

On the Brazil first goal – watch it again – Vuskovic gets taken down in the box – watch where he and Sutalo are at that point as counter attack starts – Sutalo starts running back (Luka needs time to get back up) – Sutalo had at least 10 maybe 15 yards head start on Vuskovic running back – watch the reverse angle – Luka basically did a full field sprint back and caught up to Sutalo – while Sutalo was running back but he’s not fast enough and/or didn’t put in full effort and pulled up before he got to Danilo who was free for the Vini pass in

Liva – outstanding

Anonymous did mention Croatia will struggle with having all the slow-pokes on the field together i.e. Budimir, Krama, Perisic, Modric – at their clubs they are surrounded by fast players and they are all the slowest – it works at the club bc you can afford to have one slow player if everyone around you is fast and running – but when you play them all together for Croatia – it’s like watching paint dry – it doesn’t work – there is only so much Baturina and Pero can do – Dalic has done well swallowing his pride and integrating Vuskovic – now he has to do it again and sit at least 1 if not 2 of the slow-pokes (they can’t all play together at the same time – it’s retarded)

It also didn’t help us that the referee’s name is Guido Gonzales Jr. 😓

Next time we play Brazil, we need an unbiased referee from a neutral country.

Josip Šimunić brother is still on the team in spirit we found out. Luka taking a hard hit for the team.

Vuskovic reminding us all he is still a kid…

Just like the Argentina Semifinal, we give up a goal on a corner kick on a counter-attack. We already knew we were slow.

Musa is fast as a forward and Marco Pašalić is speedy. This lineup is not ideal for a fast team, but I also understand the need to get Baturina and Budimir their minutes.

Brazil scored the exact same way Argentina did on us after that corner kick in the last World Cup

This is not televized in Canada it’s really weird. DAZN had the game versus Columbia but not this one? How does that make any sense?

Interesting line up are we playing 3 at the back again? Or is sutalo playing RB?

Anonymous is the F ing GOAT of all GOATS as always

Vuskovic with the start

Told you all

Never doubt Anonymous’ brilliance it’s unmatched

Shout out to @Maminjo who said the same

Barca here we come – over to you Luka 😊

Having Espisito take the first penalty is CRAZY

Way too much pressure of a 19 y/o kid

All 4 Bosnia penalties were OUTSTANDING – I mean the technique – all incredible

Taxi for Donna – he should have saved the last one – but he knew it was over already

The last Bosnia guy looked behind himself (no look) as he was shooting – Donna couldn’t follow his eyes

Alajbegovic – wow what a winger – also the guy on the RW – wish Croatia had two wingers like these guys – this Alajbegovic is going places – so direct, not afraid to take on his man, very crafty – very impressive

England lost 0-1 Japan

TERRIBLE result for Croatia

Just means Tuchel has time to refine

Wish they pumped in a few goals instead and got cocky and Croatia caught them in the over-confident mood

@mart

Gil.hr sports journalist says Covic was the best player today and will be a NT player in 3 years

I thought you listen to the pundits ?

https://x.com/mario_katusic/status/2038948864472830376?s=46

Moj JAGUSIC !!!!!!!!!!

1 goal down

Need one more G or A

Let’s f ing go Jaga !!!

U 21 Croatia v Turkey 0 – 0 after 34 minutes.

Matched stopped after Turkish coach or official collapsed near the dugout.
Ambulance arrived and the players were asked to leave the field.

In the same minute Turkish player was sent off for second yellow.

We are all over them having 9 corners but unable to score, although we did score one however it was ruled out for a foul on the Turkish goalkeeper.

Not sure if the match will restart ??

I am hoping he gives Musa a chance to start . Seems MLS did Musa a world of good . he has found form and seems confident . If he continues to improve hopefully he can return to Euro and play for major team there