Goals galore for Croatia this week in World Cup qualifying. Vatreni score 4 goals in 13 minutes during the 2nd half Monday to put Czechia away. Goals from:
Kramarić (x2), Modrić (penalty), Budimir (penalty) and Perišić got the job done. Gvardiol had an early goal called off for offside after VAR review. 18 year-old defensive phenom Luka Vušković was also brought on late to earn his first senior international cap!
FINAL! Croatia thump Czechia 5-1 to take control of the group trajectory; currently holding a +11 Goal Differential.
80′: SUBS. Modrić and Kramarić come off for Moro and Jakić.
79′: Czechia with some fight and hit the crossbar with a fine shot. Still 5-1.
77′: Croatia have now scored 4 goals in 13 minutes to put this match away. Czechia is no European slouch. This will put Croatia in cruise control for the rest of the group phase…already up +11 on GD.
75′: GOOOOOOOAL! 5-1 Croatia. Modrić WHAT A PASS!!!! Modrić waits and waits and waits at the top of the box like a patient wolf. He makes the silkiest of passes to Kramarić to put him 1v1 with the keeper. Easy shot for Krama. But what a pass!
71′: GOOOOOAL 4-1 Croatia! Czechia handball on the line. Penalty is given. Budimir steps up to the spot and makes the keeper go the wrong way.
69′: GOOOOALL 3-1 Croatia! Czech defense find themselves out of position. Kramarić receives the ball at the top of the box and dishes it off to Perišić. Perišić makes one move in the box and right foots the ball inside the far post. This is now the third straight game Perišić has scored against the Czechs.
62′: GOOOOOAL Croatia. 2-1. Modrić goes top shelf from the spot and makes it 2-1 Croatia moments after Czechia level. Nothing the keeper can do. Modrić went down the middle and high which is unorthodox for him.
61′: Penalty for Croatia! Referee makes quick work at the monitor. Czechia player clearly clips Budimir. Modrić steps up to the spot…….
60′: Budimir gets clipped in the box but no call. This should be a PK for Croatia. Referee heading over to the VAR monitor.
58′: Czechia scores. 1-1. Corner comes into the box. Krejci heads to Soucek on the back post. Soucek in better position and heads home. Nothing Gvardiol can do.
53′: Sučić with an amazing toe poke in his own box. He won’t get the credit he deserves on this play but if he doesn’t get a foot on the ball, Czechia has a wide open point blank shot on goal and it’s surely 1-1. Well done, Petar.
HT: Croatia up 1-0. Vatreni playing well but giving Czechia too many looks on net after getting caught on counters. Pašalić is responsible to the lead up for the goal but I would sub in a true winger in Marco for him soon. Kramarić and Budimir playing well up top. Budimir should have a goal to his name. Perišić is a man on a mission and whipping in balls from the left side like crazy. Our best player once again.
42′: GOOOOOOAL! 1-0 Croatia! Pašalić with a long, looping ball across the box. Gvardiol heads directly to Kramarić who redirects the ball inside the near post with his head. That one was SEXY!
40′: Perišić with a wonderful cross from the left side. Budimir with a point blank shot on goal but it is saved. Great save from the Czech keeper!
10′: VAR GOAL for Croatia disallowed! Modrić sends a perfect free kick to a wide open Gvardiol in front of the net. Gvardiol collies home but the VAR review says Pašalić was offside when he “picked” a Czech player on the build up.
Here we go! Last game before the summer breaks kicks off.
Czechia has been perfect in qualifying thus far; defeating Montenegro, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar. They would be happy with a draw Monday night in Osijek. However, the Vatreni will be in solid control of the group with a win. Top group finisher automatically goes to the 2026 World Cup in North America. 2nd place goes to a playoff.
Official lineup vs. Czechia: Budimir and Kramarić will play as Croatia’s strike force. Modrić, Gvardiol and Šutalo return to the Croatia starting XI.
Best part of this game .was Modric pass to set up another goal highlight of the whole tournament.
That was a beauty.
I could only watch the first 10 Minutes of the Match, because I was over at my parents and stuff. That being said, I’m glad we were able to win without Kova and in a dominant fashion on top of that, which surprised me! Now we need to win the remaining games, so we can book our World Cup ticket early on and stuff!
Where can I watch highlights of the past two games? Any links greatly appreciated Hvala puno!!
Hoofoot.com
Usually in English, occasionally in Spanish.
Great to see Perisic with a second round of brilliance for HNS- he is toying with Czechs today- it’s unreal how he is dominating- Moj Ivane!!!
Excellent result and performance by the guys. Once Perisic returned to the left side we looked a lot more dangerous in attack. We deserved a lot more than 1 – 0 in the first half.
Second half we did not start well and surprise, surprise they equlised from a corner something that we all knew was their main weapon or asset. Budimir and Gvardiol should have done better on the far post.
I thought the Spanish ref should have given us a penalty in the first half for a foul on Budimir ? and luckily VAR intervened for Modric to give us 2 – 1. Also, with the second penalty not sure why the Czechia player was not red carded for stopping a certain goal with his arm. Not sure if they have changed the rules ?
Good to see Luka Vuskovic come on at the end. Nova TV commentators were saying that he is staying in Belgium for another year which may not be such a bad thing for an 18 year old.
Next match away to Faroes on 6 September and on 9 September home against Montenegro. Good news is that Montenegro host Czechia on 6 September, perhaps Prosinecki can help us and take some points from the Czechs?
Question , I know this off topic . I read online and I know it might not be true . I read that due to the violence in Mexico with the cartels and the recent riots and protest that fiffa as well the Olympics might choose another country. If Fiffa moves the cup! Which country be best for event , and what are the chances it’s moved
IF all of this is true, it would mean no games in Mexico and instead it would be a tournament co-hosted by USA and Canada.
America would not be an option either. Recent protests here in the America over migrants and rioting in Los Angeles has them thinking. They knew about Mexico. Perhaps there decision to change venue maybe political. Several media outlets have reported the event maybe moved. If they do move it I would prefer Europe over South America
Staged riots aren’t going to change anything in the States.
Everything will go ahead as planned.
Too bad El Salvador didn’t finish their National Stadium yet.
It is going to be completed in 2028 and the design is amazing.
Could we actually have a qualifying campaign where they qualify with games to spare? It’s been rare. If Montenegro beats the Czechs at home on September 5 and Croatia beats Montenegro 3 days later in Zagreb, Croatia is basically in the World Cup. They would have 0 dropped points, while the other two would have 6 each. So Croatia could lose at Montenegro and at the Czechs, and would still get first because their goal difference looks to be insurmountable even now. They’ve played only one of the two minnows, while the other two have played both.
As long as we don’t regress and barring any fluke I see us beating Montenegro , even if we draw we will certainly smash the Faroe Islands . By the end of September we have 10pts and be in . Even if we loose to Montenegro our saving grace is the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar . With our huge goal differential no way we don’t qualify
Weirdly enough, our most difficult qualifying cycles were the ones where we finished first place with games to spare.
These were WC2006 qualifying when we had both Sweden and Bulgaria in our group (when Sweden had prime Ibrahimovic/Ljungberg and Bulgaria had prime Berbatov/Petrov). We also did it two years later during Euro2008 qualifying, when we had Beckham’s England and Arshavin’s Russia in our group (and we eliminated England just for fun).
But I really hope we clean sweep this group.
Would love to go into the World Cup as a seeded team.
Luka’s assist isn’t getting enough praise. The whole world (and more importantly, 4 Czechs) thought that ball was going outside, and he no-look slotted it right past them. Every step he took was deliberate and manipulated them right out of the path. Masterclass.
It was a nice round for the team in general. Never would have predicted +11 from 2 matches. Can’t complain much. Would have liked more minutes for Ivanovic today, and some for Majer, but it was a good team to get some others involved. I thought Stanisic lost his cool under pressure a little too often today, but I really like him as a player from a physical standpoint.
+12 not 11
Usually, we have more point than goals .
Everyone did well…but it wouldn’t be fun without some criticism! 🙂
Gvardiol: No criticism here. He’s our most valuable player, and it shows. Always pushing forward. He did everything right. Shame he lost that first goal to VAR.
Perisic: Another one with no criticism. Played just as good as he did last game. No drop off at all. I was surprised about that.
Kramaric: He struggled with the stronger and more physical Czech defenders in the first half, and he flopped a couple of times trying to get the foul call (which led to some dangerous Czech counters). But he worked hard all game and eventually it paid off in the second half.
Mario Pasalic: Was largely invisible in the first half, except for when he screwed up Gvardiol’s goal by being offside. Then he made up for it by saving a ball from going out of bounds by crossing it in for Gvardiol & Krama to head it home.
Stanisic: Was very sound defensively, especially when he took away a great chance from Schick in front of our box, by stripping him of the ball before Schick was about to shoot for goal. He did give away a stupid corner though, but that’s all really.
Modric: Actually made some bad passes and lost the ball a few times in our own half (during the first half). His passes in the opponent’s third were great though, and he finally took a calm and cool PK (roofing it nicely).
Petar Sucic: He seemed invisible most of the game, but actually played a sneaky good game. He always dropped back when Sutalo pushed forward. Not much criticism for him.
Budimir: Always fighting in the box. Flopped a bit too much for my liking…but one of those flops got us a PK. He only really received a couple of great crosses, and almost scored on them. He’s very efficient with crosses and we need to get him more.
Marco Pasalic: Very feisty and aggressive. We really need to give him more consistent minutes. He play a lot like a right-sided Mislav Orsic with those accurate bombs on goal. Just needs to swing them more into the corners (rather than toward the keeper) and he’ll become Orsic 2.0 for us.
Duje and Sutalo: Both were generally positioned well, but I didn’t like that breakaway by Schick. Not sure who was at fault for that, but a faster striker would have blown by Duje for a clean break. Duje did well to physically body him off the ball, but he’s still a bit too slow of a CB for my liking (which is why I want to see more of Luka Vuskovic there).
Livakovic: He’s replaced his “out of bounds” clearances, by kicking them directly to the Czech players themselves. He ended up doing this TWICE in the first half, within our own half (which led to some Czech chances). He need to really practice these. He is also getting a bit too confident faking out the opposing strikers (doing it twice to Schick) and it’s only a matter of time until some opposing team figures this out and takes it off him for an easy goal.
Ivanović: Similar to Marco Pasalic, he’s very aggressive and feisty out there. Both need to come off the bench more regularly for us, especially in those sleepy deadlocked games. He ‘overpassed’ it on that one play when he should have unloaded onto goal. Otherwise, no real criticism.
Vuskovic, Jakic, Moro…too little game-time to assess.
Luka Vuskovic looks bigger than 6’4″ out there. Looks like a cyborg in the backline. We really need to play him more.
Hahahaha. U PICHKU MATERINU! (The accent function is not working on the laptop.)
5-1 volim piti volim piti!
Sorry on a laptop, and no, I don’t post with a God damn phone…..
“Actually” …. Jebote you are his biggest basher lol. Brate he’s still our best player. And 10 times the player that Luka Sucic is. No one out there didn’t do a pass wrong. I don’t care that he’s pushing 40, it’s the truth …. or the truth2.
Maminjo we love ya baby…..
One curiosity from today, not real sure what the penalty pecking order is? Modric then Budi then Krama? Was a bit surprised Budimir took that second one.
Budimir should be taking every penalty for us! Statistically he converts a higher percentage than anyone in Croatian history!
How many goals do Perišić and Kramarić have for Croatia now?
The commentator mentioned it, i think it’s like 34 or so for Krama and high 30s or low 40s for Ivan?
Outside of Livakovic being scared to grab a ball in the air and his cheeky nonsense playing with the ball in the back, I have zero criticism of anyone in today’s game. Well played all around in all positions! Happy Vuskovic got to play… Soon we may have the two most expensive CBs (even though Gvardiol is now on the left) in the world
Well you couldn’t ask for more
Odds for World Cup qualification go up to 95 percent with this result.
Winning this game 5-1, was essentially like beating the czechs twice as even if we lost to them later, there is a very slim chance they will make up that goal differential and gd amongst tied teams is the first tie breaker.
In terms of the model, sometimes i think its too favorable for Croatia against Montenegro (70 percent victory chance), and Croatia could obviously still get caught there but the czechs would still have to run the table.
This type of certainty of helps. I was thinking of locking in jet fuel prices already for the summer 26 so I can proceed more confidently. The only issue is you know how the bandwagon goes. My plane only fits 11 people. It would frustrate me to leave my plane sitting in the hangar and have to charter a bigger one for more friends and family if now suddenly they want to go.
Go back to playing your Atari ziva;)
Great win. Many great plays and fine displays of individual and team quality! The repka is exciting again! A detail that really struck me was Budimir’s penalty: isn’t he right-footed? I wonder if he just totally confused the keeper by taking that one with his left
Sorry. Stupid question. He plays with both feet but favors his left. I guess I’m used to seeing him shoot well with his right, so I was confused
Watched the whole game again, what can you say, very impressive. One of the things i like about these two games is our goals are coming in spurts, if we get one we push for another quickly.
In the past, i think we can all agree we would get a goal and then sit back and laze about, so it’s encouraging to see this more aggressive play to try and get multiple goals quickly.
This total ruination of their goal diff pretty much assures our spot at the apogee of this group now. I’ll bet Ziva’s Xbox calculations has us at some 90-something per cent chance to qualify now.. good all round !
If someone said we’d pot 12 goals in these 2 games I wouldn’t have believed it…..great start to this campaign.
So this just confirmed what we’ve all know. Krama shouldn’t be on the wing or the primary striker 😂😂
Couldn’t ask for a better start to qualification
I love this team. I don’t give a care for the haters. This is magic jabote!!!!
I hear ya
I am sure glad Coach Dalic saved his job today. But maybe 5-1 wasn’t good enough. He will just have to prove himself again in September. Viva Zlatko!
Any streams brothers??
Can’t give up corners against this massive Czech squad.
Good thing ref bailed us out with that PK.
We should be leading anyway.
Agreed. So far the midfield control looks just fine which is a positive development.
A fairly enjoyable game. Free flowing, no bunkering, few fouls
Croatia deserved the 1-0 lead, but it hasn’t been dominant enough that this game couldn’t have easily been 1-0 czech as well.
Up 1-0 at half and Croatias qualification odds have moved up to 87 percent.
Reminder though that 87 percent is not 100 percent
Spanish referees suck. There are so few of them – even the minimum amount of the mandatory ones that are refereeing top matches – all horrible and not used often.
Glad the referee read my post at halftime
Looking at this line up and midfield, you’d have to be surprised if Croatia can control the midfield like it once did. We started seeing this trend already
They’re controling the midfield just fine
I hope we win this one by one goal, but I also could see the Czechs win this one due to their physical strengths and stuff.
2-0 Croatia win.
Everyone is in full form. Even our backups. Lots of goals against Gibraltar pumping everyone’s confidence as a great warmup for today’s match.
We should dominate possession and take full advantage of our in form špica up top.
If we’re slacking, we have several options off the bench to change things up.
No excuse for a draw or loss today.
They are raising their glasses to ZLATKO DALIC 12-1 in the last two games coach DALIC knows when to turn the screws man
AJMO !!!!!!
My pushing-80 father thought that Livakovic’s neck “cupping” marks were Brozovic-like tattoos. He was pissed. It was great talking him of the ledge at halftime.
But is it kotarski or whoever the third guy is now with legit neck tattoos
I pray for your fathers sake he doesn’t get any game time 😉
Anteeee!! The streets are starving for that pod heat bro 🔥🎙️
Let’s fire one up tonight or real soon !! 🇭🇷⚽️