The monkey is finally off Croatian backs. The Vatreni have defeated France for the first time in their history.
Croatia defeated France 1-0 in Nations League Monday night by way of a 5’ Luka Modrić penalty kick. However, the MVP of the match was the entire Croatian defense full of youngsters, who held a hungry Mbappe and Benzema at bay. It was an incredible 90 minutes played defensively by Šutalo, Erlić, Stanišić, Juranović.
The difference between this match and the 1-1 draw in Split last week, France wanted this one, especially Kylian Mbappe. France played with their B-squad at Poljud but brought the big guns to the Paris match. Croatia went up early as Ante Budimir was clipped in the box inside the first five minutes of the match. That meant the Vatreni defense had to go a full 85 minutes against arguably the two most explosive strikers in football right now: Mbappe and Benzema. The Croatian backline of Martin Erlić (24yo, 3 caps), Josip Šutalo (22yo, 2 caps), Josip Stanišić (22yo, 5 caps) and Josip Juranović (26yo, 20 caps) shutdown Mbappe, Benzema, and the rest of the French team on home soil as they trailed Croatia for 85 minutes.
This is what Nations League is about. Give the young fringe players some time and see what they can do with it. Not only will Erlić, Šutalo, and Stanišić learn from this match (Juranović has been with the Vareni since the beginning of 2021) but it will only deepen their confidence and increase their value knowing that they went against the world’s best. This match was all about the Croatia defense so hats off to them! Not to mention a fantastic rebound game from Osijek goalkeeper Ivica Ivušić who stopped three shots and looked confident in the box. Ivušić let in three last week against Austria but I still like him as the Croatia #1 heading into the World Cup.
The Croatian midfield of Modrić, Brozović, Kovacčić held serve against the French with Les Bleus being the more dangerous team offensively on the day. Besides being tripped up in the box during the France match today, Ante Budimir did not have much to show during the four matches this week and has certainly lost some value. It’s a shame Petar Musa picked up COVID and wasn’t available for these matches after a stellar season in Portugal.
Although we’re talking about Nations League here, this was all-in-all a success week for Croatia. They picked up four points against France (A/B squads) and a win in Copenhagen against a Danish A-squad. This was all after a disastrous 3-0 home loss to Austria in Osijek.
However, it’s not all about results for me. It’s about lining up your fringe players for the rest of the year. And oh boy, did we learn A LOT about Erlić, Šutalo, and Stanišić this week!
See you all in Dalmacija! 🙂
Here is your Croatia starting XI lineup vs. France:
Great win. Finally beat the african all stars.
D looked great. A shout out to Stanisic for pocketing Mbappe….and for Erlic and Sutalo doing the same to Benz.
Our midfield play was amazing. Super technical…just passing it around and their brothers couldn’t touch us.
Let’s be real if that PK was called against us it would be a firestorm on here.
I’m still shocked it was called!
Whatever.
Budimir got fouled hard by the French keeper a little later in the game, which was definitely a PK.
We deserved at least one.
Budimir was great he hustled and did what was needed from him
=U= ZA DOM
Fucken dirty French fucks……
ZA ROBI NIKOGA
OL=U=Ja
92 Tudjman I Hercegovci
I Poglovnik…..
Scary and incredible, croatia has only 3 goals, but have 7 points. Croatia is (-1) vs goals against us. It been a defensive effort for sure.
So…Livaković was actually supposed to start, but he got a last minute injury to his adductor muscle and couldn’t play.
Oh well. Thought Dalić made the change due to not buying in to Livaković being our #1.
hmmm….thats disappointing to hear, i was gonna praise dalic for keeper change
Disappointing without doubt. Hopefully his performance at least puts him back into the equation.
10th time lucky for us. This time around Dalic got the tactics right by playing a defensive 5-4-1 against France and at times it was 6-3-1. That is the way to beat them, let them have the ball and try to get something on the break. We defended superbly and France did not create any clear cut chances in the entire match.
Yes they did have one or two headers and some shots but the closest they came to scoring was when Sutalo almost headed an own goal in stoppage time.
Ivusic had a good game in goal and our entire defence was superb. Also Brozovic and Juranovic played 90 minutes in every match which is amazing.
Overall the whole team deserves credit for keeping shape and discipline for the entire match.
With 7 points in the bag we are almost assured of being in POT 1 for EURO draw.
France are in trouble and could be relegated ? They will need to beat Austria at home in September to avoid relegation.
France will beat Austria.
They’ll probably do us a favor and take points off Denmark too.
If we beat Denmark in Zagreb, we’ll probably only need a point against Austria to clinch the group and play in the semifinals.
I tend to agree, but you just never know.
3-5-2
Worth a look.
Sosa on the left and Perišić on right.
Budimir up top.
More space for our technicians to operate.
Ivusic !!
I agree Maminjo. But Perisic can play the right side. Back in our 2018 run, he and Rebic often swapped wings during the game.
Would loved to have seen Musa get a crack at the no.9 this round of games and see if he could do any better than Budimir. As of now, Budimir is our only true striker.
Out of all this talent we have, and given how as a people we are
generally tall, I’m amazed we can’t find a solid goalie or a true big target man up front.
I have been saying it since last Fall, Croatia is back!!! We have been playing the best football I have ever seen Croatia play.
If everyone stays healthy come November, we are going to be something to watch!
Great win! This latest round of LON was great for Dalic!
1- we have solidified our defence against two of the top 5 teams in europe. FYI Gvardiol will start whoever thinks otherwise give your head a shake.
2- We have a scoring problem which can only be solved by changing tactics. We don’t have horses to play 4-3-3. We only have 1 winger and no striker capable of playing alone.
3- Good thing we have all the horses to play 3-5-2, I truly believe that this is the only we can change our lack of scoring. Our players are better suited for this system than 4-3-3. We score only 1 goal in 4 games from open play. Created few chances we need to change things up we can’t rely on penalties to win games.
……….Sutalo …….Erlic ………Gvardiol
……………… Brozo …..Kova ……….
…..Stanisic ………………………..Perisic
……………………..Modric ………………….
………………….Kramaric…………………….
………………………………Budimir…………..
Starting Budimir (but no Sosa) is a mortal sin.
I’d like to see this formation tested, but somehow get Sosa in there. I guess Perisic on the right side would be the only way to do this…but it seems like a waste to put him there.
Perisic is good with both feet and has Played well on both sides. I read that Tottenham are planning to play him at right fullback. I would give it a go.
Perisic will play left wing back for Spurs
Same as he did for Inter
Budimir earned that penalty. His presence makes a difference. I love him starting and sub him when is too tired or ineffective.
Brekalo played his game today.
Stanisic competed against the most explosive LW on the planet.
Kovačić put in a shift and was good.
Gvardiol as LB would be BEAST MODE!!
Still would like to see Rebić given a chance this September.
Could you imagine both of them on the left.
Perišić on the right.
Budimir in the middle.
Modrić in the middle.
Dalic staring Ivusic was a revelation.
A simple big time catch at the end to preserve the shout out is a play that Livakovic punches into danger.
Jebi ga .. let’s win our group!!
Full World Cup mode this September.
Modrić is an inspiration.
At almost 37, he cares the most and he is the best player on the pitch.
They should do studies on his body-mindset and the positive performance outcomes.
Dalic impressed me today.
Make the Rebić return happen and you will win the World Cup!!
No to Rebić.
He can’t play this style with the tight dribbling and short passing.
This is a beautiful style to watch and after spending the past four years ruining our reputation…the Brazilians of Europe are back.
High technical ability players across all positions. No weak links.
Finally….monkey is off our back and maybe something to build on.
I missed the game but read most of the comments here to catch up. Sounds like a good problem with our D.
Since we don’t have a right winger do we possibly switch to the 3-5-2 with Erlic, Sutalo and Gvardiol as our back 3…Modric, Brozo and Kovacic as our mids, play Sosa as our left wing back and move Perisic to the right side ? Hate the thought of moving Perisic but he may adapt better playing RWB than most.
Budimir up front with either Krama/Majer/Pasalic playing up front/behind Budimir.
I have to think (unless injuries occur or someone is out of form) that Vida or Lovren or both don’t make the roster.
I liked the fact that Ivusic bounced back…we need to at least shore up one of our holes.
Interesting dilemma for Zlatko Dalic :
Where do we put Gvardiol when he becomes healthy. Do we put him at Left Back? Bench? Back 3 ?
Let’s discuss….
Personally I wouldn’t touch the Erlic Šutalo Stanisic synergy. Would maybe put him at LB instead of Juranovic.
That’s fine besides josko and stanisic being poor crossers. If you’re willing to live with that, then that’s probably a pretty good back line.
Yea I’m fine with that.
Id Rather had a solidified back line.
Sosa on coming off the bench is pretty nasty joke card for Dalic to play
Good problem to have. I like gvardiol as CB in a back 4. He is so strong and competitive. We get more out of him by playing him there because he is almost unbeatable. Erlic has been fantastic these last 3 matches and I’m so happy, but sutalo is even better.
So for me the new lineup is:
ivusic;
Juranovic/vrsaljko/stanisic (all tied), sutalo, gvardiol, sosa;
modric, brozovic;
majer, kramaric, perisic;
budimir
4231.
Kovacic to enter to replace modric or brozovic, or for tactical reasons at any time.
Pasalic as routine joker on 60 minute mark for a goal.
Erlic and DCC back up CB
Ivanusec, sucic, musa, vlasic, orsic, livaja as game changers…
That’s it
If we do do a 4231 thats also basically the lineup i would choose, with the exception of majer RW. I would try orsic there or rebic if he comes back.
Fun fact:
France had scored in their last 23 matches…………until today🤣
Very impressive defensive performance. It was the calmest I’ve felt while defending in a long time.
Ivusic- I’m ecstatic that Dalic went back to him, it shows that he doesn’t actually believe in Livakovic, probably won the starting role with this performance
Juranovic – ok, makes me nervous, but leaves it all out there
Sutalo – I’m blown away
Erlic – I’m blown away
Stanisic – Defensively solid, still prone to errors
Kovacic – Kovacic
Modric – Modric
Brozovic – Brozovic
Brekalo – I’m usually pretty hard on him, I thought he was excellent today
Budimir – Hard worker
Pasalic – invisible as always, maybe because he actually helped out defensively more than usual
Kramaric – poor
Majer – ok
Sucic – no rating, not enough time
Vlasic – Is Dalic freaking brain dead?Total garbage
Good assessment. I thought Brozo was off tbh- too many backwards passes and not switching the play to the wing. Pasalic can’t play wing so he gets a pass from me. Majer made some poor decisions that resulted in good chances for France. I think Vlasic gets too much heat. He was the best sub and took some chances. Overall, great defensive team play and calm, possession focused offensive play.
In fairness Kovacic did make some mistakes I think the other two in the midfield picked up slack. I agree on Vlasic though, I wouldn’t give him a call up or Ivanusec personally, they are dead weight at this point. Brekalo gave effort but he is not a Perisic. Pasalic was blocked so he may have had an opportunity but again I would put him up front personally to see how he is in the shotgun seat. Pasalic is not good on the wing that is more of an Orsic thing. Again Pasalic plays other positions but he also gave effort and ran back defensively. This was just a tough game all around.
This game was definitely won in the defensive and midfield lines.
We have a problem still with goal scoring capacity though, this is what is breaking us. Krama and Budimir are not showing enough. I would have wanted to see more of the 3 guys missing just to see the mix, and if it would help.
I also think, with this pwrfoance.Ivusic needs to start. One little mistake tho where he did run out for the ball, but otherwise great game for him. He had a lot more to contend with than Livakovic did in my view as France was the harder team for us. We just pair better with Denmark I think. Not that Denmark is easy at all they were quite tough just not as much firepower in their front line.
I think it’s a shame that both Petar Musa and Livaja picked up Covid. Everyone keeps writing off the latter. I still he deserves a go.
The defence had a lot of exposure.
Budimir works well with Kovacic. Love set him loose a few times.
Budimir creates his own space with his runs and positioning. He troubled the French defenders while in the game and he drew the penalty.
You swap out Juranovic for Gvardiol,
Brekalo for Peresic.
The only question is how do you get Majer in the lineup or do you use him as a super sub?
Well, you could try any one of Majer, Krama or Pasalic in that RW spot.
If we’re not going to get a true RW in that position, we may as well put someone in there who doesn’t disrupt our dominant possession and passing game.
Just test each of them and see who performs best. I like Pasalic off the bench though. He seems to do well in that joker role for some reason.
If we’re desperate for crosses on that right side we can try out Orsic or Brekalo there (with Sosa and Perisic on the left side) and see if that results in us widening the play (and giving more changes to Budimir up top, and more space for Modric and the gang in the middle).
That was a ballsy penalty kick call. 98% of the referees would have just looked the other way, especially in the 3rd minute of a match.
Would have liked to have seen how we could done playing attacking soccer, instead of sitting back for 90 minutes after such an early goal.
We sat back for 90 minutes?
Can someone post our official lineup
I can’t figure out if erlic played again?
Sosa gvardiol erlic stanisic looks like a workable lineup to me
No one is gonna run and gun with France
It looks like we played a solid technical game
We need to do this and can beat the bigger teams in this way instead of trying to out gun
We need a keeper more than a striker cause I think we can squeeze one or two goals out a game and shut it down with our midfield and defence
Oh wow I just saw
Sutalo and erlic
That’s got to be confidence boosting
If dalic goes with vida/lovren I will have an aneurysm
Shut down two of the better teams in the world
Away from home on top of it!
How bout if we need a real shut down line up
Gvardiol sutalo erlic stanisic
It’s a tough sell to not start both Sosa and Gvardiol.
Also…Erlic is solid, but he’s not ahead of Sutalo in the pecking order.
Sutalo is visibly more talented. Erlic is a steady CB who knows his limitations and plays it safe. But Sutalo has this discipline as well…AND he’s got some serious technical/passing ability on top of this.
Stanisic has his limitations offensively, and makes the odd mistake…but he is very disciplined and fundmental in his play. He makes the right passes, and defends very very well.
He has to start for us at RB, even if he’s not known for sending in crosses.
Our most in-form defenders right now look like Sosa, Gvardiol, Sutalo, Erlic, and Stanisic.
– Duje is talented, but has performed poorly for us in recent games.
– Juranovic plays with heart, but he’s both physically weak and a poor defender, which can be a big liability at times.
– Vrsaljko is not in form, and may never be back to what made him good in the first place (he’s behind both Stanisic and Juranovic).
– Pongracic is talented…but is out of form, and needs to put in a solid season under his belt, without injuries
– Barisic is okay, but as a late squad addition (he’s not really good enough to play for us)
– Lovren and Vida should both be off the team (Skoric too)
Agree.
I would still have a tough time taking out Erlic after those 3 performances.
My starting lineup at the back for our first world cup game would be:
Gvardiol Šutalo Erlic Stanisic
Ivusic, Juranovic, Erlic, Sutalo, Stanisic, Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric, Pasalic, Budimir, Brakalo
POSITIVES
1) Sutalo and Erlic look like the the 2018 WC version of Lovren and Vida (yes, I know there are haters of both out there).
2) Consecutive shutouts against top notch teams after a horrific backline display vs Austria.
3) Ivusic saves the game with a 95th minute tip save for a corner kick. Made other impressive stops.
4) Midfield was phenomenal with short possession. Didn’t allow France to tee off on goal.
NEGATIVES
1) Sadly, Kramaric was actually worse than Budimir when he replaced him late in the match. Not to sound like a broken record, but it’s a shame we have no forwards.
2) On the few attacking opportunities we had, the spacing was very poor as it’s been for all of the entire Nations League matches.
3) Subs as a whole were not impressive. Majer lost the ball several times in his brief time.
Are you suggesting that Budimir played poorly?
He may have botched a couple of half-chances, but he played his role very well.
He’s a true #9 and I think he may have forced himself into the starting lineup after this performance.
We really need to try out Musa to see what he brings (and maybe Roko too), but continuing to play the tika-taka style with our highly gifted midfield and backline (while we have a big striker working hard to wear out the opposing centerbacks) is what we need to do moving forward.
For me, the biggest disappointment was Majer. I thought he played very poorly when he came in. But he’s been good for us to-date, so we can give him a pass for one game.
Yes, I was thinking the same…Major looked nervous
Your not a broken record this is our issue, noone to score goals except for Perisic. When he is not playing we can see it.
This is why I wanted to see Livaja once more, and Petar Musa to see if there would be any traction with these two players.
If not we have a serious problem. It wasn’t Pasalic’s day he got blocked with that one opportunity.
Beating France away is a huge Boost.
Knowing that we’ve beaten most of the footballing powers, gives us the confidence of playing teams like Germany, Italy, Argentina in a major tourney. And after all Croatia IS a Footballing POWER.
This France team had arguably the best player in the World: Mbappe. The upcomming Balon D’Or Winner: Benzema. Throw in Nkunku, and we are talking about the most devastating strike-force of any national team. And we beat them! We stopped them!
Along with midfield, looks like our defense is becoming key. We’ve had error prone defenses in the past, but these kids we got now are solid.
Does Dalic still go with Lovren Vida? It would be crazy if he does.
Nunez to liverpool maybe musa gets playing time.
Budimir great game poormans version of Mandzo needs to bring confidence up like in premiera liga.
I wonder what happens in the october when the list comes out 26 man squad.
Samo zdravlje hope we stay healthy idemo dalje
Vida and Lovren, no way he can go with them. With all due respect, they did some great things for the Vatreni, especially WC 2018. Where they actually hit top form. But they were known to be error prone. Time to move to the next generation.
They were error prone during 2018, nevermind now.
Vida /Lovren – Hvala za sve but time to go- the kids are alright and they will be better as a result of this kind of attention.
At this point I don’t even think Vida or Lovren make the final 26 man roster.
They’ve been surpassed:
Gvardiol
Erlic
Sutalo
DCC
Pongracic
Stanisic too ( his natural position is CB)
Where’s the spot?
I saw the stats are quite a bit in France favour
How did we play overall?
A tale of two halves again? Or decent from start to finish?
Croatia played very decent from start to finish. Remember that France losing this game today means they will probably be relegated to Nations League level B – depending on the results in the last two games in September of course.
To be honest France dominated the press, but we were missing some key players like Perisic, who would open that kind of play.
But Modric, along with the defence won us the game.
France was pressing, but our technical play was superior.
We made France run, passing the ball around them despite their non stop pressure…and our defenders did a great job smothering Benzema and Stanišić contained Mbappe.
In fairness Brozovic was also key cannot forget his defensive ability.
Yess Australia win vs Peru in penalties, going to the world cup in France’s group!
Missed the whole day
Kurac
But glad we sleighed the dragon even tho it as nations league
Did France play mostly a grade A team?
We were missing sosa Gvardiol and Perisic
So much fire power so we didn’t play a true A squad either
Yes aside from maybe Griezmann and Pogba. Girezmann came on in the second half.
Griezmann is not in their A team plans any more.
First off the bench is his new role for France.
Sutalo was impressive. A great defender and technically brilliant. He always does the right things. It’s like we found a new Brozovic in the defence.
Very calm at the back.
Allowed for us to play mali nogomet the entire game, bringing the ball up (starting from our backline) and completing nice short passes to each other (controlled, on the ground, and not bouncing high balls to one another).
France pressured us hard, and we were completing beautiful passes in tight spaces for long periods of the game.
Croatian tika taka.
Learned at the Dinamo academy 😉
Duje might have lost his spot to Šutalo
Duje HAS lost his spot to Šutalo
I agree…but does Dalić understand?
I wouldn’t even waste two spots on Vida and Lovren…but we still may see them on the squad.
Best Croatian cental defenders.
According to me:
1. Gvardiol
2. Sutalo
3. Erlic
4. Vuskovic
5. Lovren
6. Vida
7. Uremovic
8. Skoric
9. Peric
10. Pongraic
11. Caleta-Car
Is Gvardiol a better CB than Šutalo?
He’s more talented, but my worry is that he likes to venture forward offensively.
But is he willing to stay back, and play disciplined defense (like Erlić and Šutalo did)?
I would never bench Gvardiol, but we really need to pair Šutalo and Gvardiol together so they build that chemistry together (like Erlić and Šutalo did these past two games).
Maybe 3 in the back (Sutalo, Gvardiol and Erlic) with two runners on the flank in a 5-3-2?
Sosa and Stanisic left and right with Perisic as striker?
And now the joke about France being relegated doesn’t seem so silly either!
Well we all gotta admit beating Denmark and France away is fucking impressive even in NL. Those have to be two of the very best in Europe, we’ve all seen the form of the Danes over the past few years, they are right up there.
It’s especially impressive because we only played one half against Denmark (as we had a bum lineup in the first half).
Both games were intense, on the road, with the home team pressing for the win.
What a victory- now only Brazil and portugal we have yet to conquer
Aus v Peru in a penalty shootout now in case anyone wants to watch that one haha, about to start the shootout shortly!
I’ll just say it again, Juranovic is a real liability. He’s slow in defence, and he could cost us a goal again, just as he did in the first two matches where he really cocked up the defence.
He was only option here unfortunately as the other two were injured not much of a choice for Dalic. Considering how many of our player were out this was a good result.
Seriously?
The guy played extremely well.
He is a RB and helped us out as LB today.
He always gives his all.on the pitch. Don’t get the hate against him.
@Mr Black …. Did you watch his performance against Austria and France (in Split)….??? Juranovic is a liability for sure. I can’t remember a single match he played for Croatia where he played without getting outrun or outwitted or simply cocked up. Today we were lucky, because the French seemed to be happy trotting around as if this game meant less than it did to us.
You did not evaluate Juranovic today correctly- you are absolutely wrong.
Yes, he did make a few errors in the previous two games – but not today. He also ran with the ball up the wing excellently.
I didn’t see the game against Austria because of my work.
Real Madrid ain’t gonna buy him… but who would have done better today as LB? Sosa is injured and I don’t rate Barisic higher than Juranovic?
At least you have to admit he plays with his heart for Hrvatska. I respect that.
I agree – Juranovic made several excellent defensive plays and brought the ball up the wing with speed.
Karla, go back and watch Juranovic.
Sutalo. Erlic – excellent. Stanisic is error prone, including a bad pass attempt with a couple of minutes to go that almost cost us.
He is not the strongest player in that position. I believe that is what he is trying to say, even as a defender. It is also a fair as comment to make when compared to some of the other young defenders we have. Out of him Sosa, and Gvardiol who would you rather choose? Or compared to Stanisic who did exceptionally well when covering Mbappe.
So while the word liability is too strong of a word for him I would maybe put it that way instead.
Australia v Peru into extra time to one of the very last WC spots!
Have to say – two games in a row now we’ve had a referee where the calls didn’t constantly go against us. Against Denmark the referee was Polish, and I can understand that he might have respect for Croatia, and also they’re a very similar nation to us, hard working Catholics with culture, long history and all. In this game against France though, I was praying for a miracle to finally beat these pompous, arrogant overrated French Africans. The prayer seems to have worked – so far. Let’s pump in another goal in the second half and it’s a done deal.
Still early- FIFA will make the call to get us a stupid penalty to tie it up- that’s what France has in their pocket
@CROTOWN…. yeah I know, and corrupt FIFA calls is what could potentially cost us a victory today in Paris. Although so far, it seems that France is trotting around on the grass without any real purpose, like a sunny day at the Ascot Race. They only need a glass of wine or champagne, watching the horses run by them to the goal line.
Josko Sutalo Erlic back 3?
Back line playing well! Stanisic awesome against mbappe.
Pasalic and Brekalo on the wings not so good.
Orsic and Majer I would sub in too start half.
Minute 46. Did you see who blocked Digne’s shot? Budimir!
Technically limited but his work is extremely important to this team.
I also like Stanisic against the best striker in the world.
I especially like how Hrvatska (unlike the games against Spain and England) try to play out from under their pressure and don’t just kick away the ball.
Does gol.hr work in usa Canada Australia they have novatv stream croatian tv
Woman English announcer says contrasting styles. France is possession based and Croatia is counter attack. Nothing like having a clueless idiot commentating on a soccer game.
Those two must have used the term “well drilled” about 74 times in that first half. Dosta.
Seriously, just watch some games in prep!
I thought the same exact thing, she’s so clueless
France can’t possess shit. They lack creativity and finesse, and they don’t have Luka Modric 😉
We are playing well but there is a lack of purpose to it all:ie. to score
Link:
http://1stream.top/soccer/MjM2OTg2ODQ4?sport=soccer
sorry was watching Aus game
playing very solid so far, if kramaric was on the field modric would still take penalties which is unfortunate. We should have got a yellow on that mbappe fast break.
Does anybody have a link for the game?
Vix.com. In Spanish but great feed.
Thanks…seems to be the only link that doesn’t have malware on it.
The lineup looks OK, but I’m worried about Juranovic at LB. Also, I’m not convinced with Pasalic as a winger. I guess we really don’t have any better options on the wing until Perisic returns.
Right on Eric- Juranovic- U10 at best -every highlight is him chasing a guy because he gets beat so bad –
Sucks that Musa picked up COVID this week and we won’t see him play. Could we see a third straight solid performance from Erlic? That would be huge for him, for club, country, and his wallet.
Yeah really wanted to see him. Croatian media keep pushing for petkovic to get his head straight ajaja.
Sucks Sosa got hurt hopefully september everyone is healthy and we get a preview of 2022 lineup.
@ante you see Vida Lovren making squad and some young hungry player get left off
For the love of God, can we not see Pasalic as a false nine and Kramaric on the wing again? It worked perfectly the one time Dalic did it and never went back to it again. The stupid keep getting stupid.
Kramaric
Orsic Pasalic Vlasic
Kovacic Modric
Juranovic DCC Vida Stanisic
Livakovic
Play as many kids as we can – we need to figure out what we have – maybe Broz stays in for a bit but honestly, we have to vet these kids.
I agree see what they can do. The problem is not everyone is available now due to injury, illness or something else. Kinda sucks but everyone is going through the same crap I guess.
Has Budimir ever played with Sosa yet?
Curious to see Sosa out there with a tall striker for us. Would’ve loved to see Musa out there with Sosa too. I think Sosa can be a key player for us, in freeing up space for our central midfielders when things get congested in the middle.
Sutalo, Erlic, and Stanisic is the right call.
Playing Vida and Vrsaljko provides zero value. Vida is done, and Vrsaljko is a backup. I’d rather keep playing Erlic and Sutalo to confirm if these guys are for real. They’ll both move up the pecking order if they play another good game (especially against France), and Sutalo may challenge Duje for that starting spot next to Gvardiol if he does well again.
Pasalic on the wing is bad, and I would rather he comes off the bench in place of Kovacic or something, and have him push forward for a second-half goal. Dalic is just being reactive here, because Pasalic scored last game.
I’d rather try Orsic at RW to see if he is capable of sending in crosses with
that quality right foot of his…or just put Majer there (if we’re just going to go with a midfielder). I could see Majer doing well against France.
Brekalo at LW is fine, since we have no Perisic. At least he’s a winger. He also has chemistry with Sosa, since they’ve played together a lot on that left side on the U21s. Really hoping Sosa plays though. Don’t want to see Juranovic on that left side.
Sosa might play unless his injury is a problem and Musa has COVID along with Livaja so they may not play in Nation’s league. Unfortunate we have to see what some of these players can produce and this was the best opportunity for that, but they may not get that opportunity and it’s disadvantage because they were not even able to train with the rest of team. So even if they play they may not meld with the rest of the team now because of that. Not the greatest thing to happen.
I dunno about Brekalo personally. Orsic had a pretty shitty game so I would favour Pasalic, his numbers justify it. Pasalic has pulled us back into many games and scored important goals.
Brekalo for me is kind of the only option right now based on who is available and I think that is why he is being played. You have to remember Orsic is left footed, and Pasalic favours his right. I don’t think Dalic is able to favour one over the other for this reason. Plus they play different positions Orsic is strictly a winger whereas Pasalic is an attacking midfielder, slash attacking central forward. They are two completely different positions so it all depends on the setup. Personally, Pasalic offers more in every respect but that’s just me and I am going by the stats and analysis that I have been reading.
Pasalic reminds me of Olic , “Tap -in” expert, a knack for being in the right place. I think Kramaric, eventually may get hot. There were times we were down on Mario, and Luka during their career. ” They are not producing for the national team”, would be the common criticism. Mario wasn’t good with his feet,Luka is not a prolific scorer. etc.,etc. I think we are still looking good. Brekalo great finesse, might not be enough in the big leagues.
oh wow, never thought of Pasalic /Olic- good call- a bigger Olic but yes same garbage man goal maker
I just got the lineup of a Croatian site, if it’s right the lineup will be as follows:
“The band practically communicated, although it left some questuons. Livaković will defend , Stanišić , Erlić and Šutalo plan to move in defense , and Sosa will go to the left if he can. If he does not pass the fitness test due to adductor, Juranović will have to “fire” for the fourth time . The midfield will be Modrić , Brozović and Kovačić , and the attack will probably be Pašalić , and certainly Budimir and Brekalo.”
The above was copied from a Croatian site.
So I am on the fence about Brekalo personally but some people seem to like him. It seems Juranovic will be the only option now if Sosa is not fit and Gvardiol it seems will be out for the Nations League as he is injured as well.
Not sure about Musa and Livaja they apparently have COVID and are out due to the policies and procedures from what I have read in different articles.
So we face some challenges in this match up.
My bad Markus, didn’t realize you already posted this below.
As of now it looks like Livakovic is in nets, Stanisic RB, Sutalo and either Erlic or Vida will be CB with Sosa at LB (if he’s fit, if not it will be Juranovic).
Midfield will be Modric-Kova-Broz
And up top it’s not confirmed yet but rumours are Brekalo LW, Budimir ST and Pasalic RW
If this is true, I like everything but Budimir and Pasa
Budimir looked awful last time vs France and Pasalic is most definitely not a winger
I think Pasalic is a decent choice for a forward thinking player, and I think it is worth trying Budimir again his presence is better than Krama, I think. Krama doesn’t have the stature he does and Musa and Livaja are both out due to COVID so there isn’t really another option.
I get the hesitation as Budimir has not scored yet, but I think he deserves another shot. We will see, I think Dalic is putting his strongest team forward so I am definitely giving him credit on these choices. For me Brekalo is the only one I am not sure about here personally.
One thing for me, Broz deserves rest half way through, I would substitute Majer in for either Broz or Kova mid way if there is not enough happening in the attack. If Budimir is lacking then I would substitute Krama in as well.
Considering how good players like Sutalo, Stanisic and Sucic have played for the senior team….
Does the HNS fire Igor Biscan as U21 coach if they don’t qualify?
Igor Biscan has had such an advantage over other U21 coaches, in the sense that he seems to get all the U19 overachievers (Simic, Kacavenda, Vidovic, Matanovic) and the U21-eligible players good enough for the senior team (Sucic, Sutalo, Stanisic)
The guy went through this qualifying cycle, by taking talent from both the U19 and senior ‘A’ team…and is likely only barely going to get in to Euro2023 via the playoffs route.
We probably should have been integrating Sucic, Stanisic and Sutalo into the senior squad the past year…and didn’t because we wanted to do Igor a favor.
Well from the articles I have read about Igor Biscan he seems to believe he knows everything and can do a better job than everyone. So I don’t really have sympathy for the guy.
Predicting a three goal loss but hope im wrong
You’re not exactly a glass 🥃 half full kind of guy IGGY but I tend to agree.
France will awaken from their recent slumber at our expense I fear.
It won’t be an easy game that’s for sure.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/12/tragedy-and-triumph-the-remarkable-tale-of-croatias-first-football-steps
Nice read.
Whenever I see mbobme do that stupid pose like the picture I always bust up because it looks like he forgot to put on deodorant and he is checking his pits because it smells so nasty B.O.
hey mbobme raise your hands if your sure!!
Either way you look at it, Mbappe is exactly the kind of player Croatia could use, someone one with that speed and eye for the goal. He is also technically gifted, and very good on the ball.
So he is gonna pose a big threat to us, my hope is that the young defenders will be able to cancel him out, we will see this will be there true test, personally I think France is much harder to play than Denmark but I am giving Denmark all the credit as they have been playing exceptionally well.