Croatia close out World Cup qualifying with a 3-2 victory vs. Montenegro on a rain soaked night!
Goals from Perišić (penalty), Jakić and Vlašić brought Croatia back from an early 2-0 deficit. Dalić decided to play the B-squad with Modrić and Kramarić on the bench to start. Germany defeated Slovakia 6-0 making the Montenegro match a moot point. Vatreni will now be a Pot 2 side in the WC draw. This was a seamless campaign as Croatia went undefeated and only conceded four times and drew once.
Next stop: World Cup draw December 5th in Washington DC!
81′ GOOOOOALLLLL!!! 3-2 Croatia! Vlašić with an absolute dagger from 18 yards out after a Montenegrin defensive blunder. Wow, what a nice little comeback after being down 2-0 early.
78′ SUB. Modrić comes on for Perišić.
70′ GOOOOOOALLLLLL!!! 2-2! Musa takes a shot on goal and it bangs off the right post. Jakić comes flying in from the right side and cleans up the rebound on an empty net. It was originally ruled offside but VAR quickly overturned it for the goal. It wasn’t even close.
59′ SUBS. Kramarić and Musa come on. Ivanović and Matanović come off.
46′ SUBS. Dalić makes two defensive subs at half. Gvardiol and DCC come out for Stanišić and Pongračić.
38′ GOOOOOALLL! Perišić converts the penalty to cut the Montenegro lead in half. Jakić is fouled in the box and looks like nothing at first. Referee goes to VAR and points at the spot. Looks like a soft penalty call in my opinion. However, it is 3-0 Germany in Leipzig. Unless Slovakia can rattle off three goals, this Croatia game means absolutely nothing.
15′ 2-0 Montenegro! Krstović dances atop the 18-yard box and rifles a low shot through the traffic. It wasn’t quite in the corner. Maybe Livaković didn’t see it at all but he may have done better with the save. Germany Slovakia still 0-0 in Leipzig.
3′ WOW. Montenegro with the early goal. 1-0. What the hell is DCC doing? He makes 2 defensive blunders within seconds of each other. First he botches a header attempt. Then he attempts to kick it back to Livaković but doesn’t get enough on the ball. A break away for Osmajić who slots home. Nothing really Livaković could do.
1′ It is pissing rain in Montenegro and the pitch looks pretty soaked. Not the worst I have ever seen but it will definitely affect play.
Here we go! Croatia’s last World Cup qualifier of the campaign against Montenegro in Podgorica. There’s much more on the line today with Italy losing big to Norway yesterday. Now, If Croatia win AND Germany does not beat Slovakia (game at the same time as ours), Croatia will then leap frog Germany into Pot 1 of the World Cup draw.
However, Dalić has elected to rest the veterans and start a B-squad for this match. Montenegro has been anything but impressive. They barely skimmed by Gibraltar 2-1 on Friday.
I think my comment was missed below.
Anyone know if the MLS boys can transfer to a euro team now since that season is just about over?
https://www.maillots-foot-actu.fr/maillots-coupe-du-monde-2026
Man why does nike want to screw us for our World Cup win
Does someone know if they consult with anyone from HNS before deciding on the jersey look? They do a really good job for a lot of countries – it’s really surprising how ugly they can make ours!
I’d have thought they’d push do to something really nice to make us kinda regret our decision, not to punish us with an even worse jersey than the previous one lol
Only to the untrained eye you nose pickers would misunderstand the nature of the football beast.
Montenegro brought certain players because if they could beat our Mighty Croatia their ranking pathetic ranking of 81st would increase dramatically and of course for personal national pride.
In regards to Euro qualification, this would help remove them from future groups of death if they can slowly increase their ranking by the next tournament.
Sadly, Anonymouse must use his massive brain and vast football knowledge to explain the basics of simple math, good ranking allows for easier group, bad equals death.
Anonymouse, has spoken 😉
The well trained eye of Anonymouse has again shown his advanced football knowledge to all you nose pickers, The Vlocket Vlasic Pickles for the win.
Only Anonymouse could predict the value that Vlasic offers.
Your welcome my Croat Brothers, it’s not easy being Anonymouse, greatest self proclaimed Croat Pundit ever 😉
“You’re”
Thanks Mighty Mouse for all your insights
Maybe it is just total frustration at this point of knocking on the door with no answer. Too much “nice try but no cigar.” We have come soo close at the senior level, federation wants to win outright some tournament. Runner up is now not enough, to the point that even a meaningless outright tournament win would be desirable at any level.
It is a only a small group of a half dozen countries, that dominates, with a only a single surprise Uruguay victory at the senior level.With that said, it is an amazing achievement each year to make the final 16, or even to make it through qualifications like we did this year, and still keep going. Would rather just keep knocking at the senior level.
For the people asking about Livakovic’s situation…
It’s just reports and rumours, but apparently Sevilla and West Ham are both interested in him.
FYI: U21 play vs. Turkey in another “critical” match March 31, 2026
I guess that means Vuskovic won’t be able to play in the 2-3 friendlies with the A team in March (Brazil, Colombia, and France)
Instead, he gets 10 days of training with the U21s in March in the lead up to the U21 Turkey game
Vuskovic will have won all the Bundesliga Rookie of Month Awards b/w now and then (including Sep and Oct he already won) – but won’t matter – the U21 take priority over everything else
Sad
Anonymous is confused
Montenegro started 18 y/o Bulatovic in midfield
Brought on 19 y/o midfield Adzic at half time
And bought on 19 y/o CB Perovic for last 30 minutes
That’s THREE ELIGIBLE U21 PLAYERS playing for the Monte Senior Team
U21s Montenegro play U21 Italy today in a “critical” match for 2nd place in the table
Why did Monte play THREE ELIGIBLE U21 players play for the Senior Team (in a game that meant NOTHING to Monte – they couldn’t qualify for the WC or PO) and not have them with the U21s ? Why ? Why ? Why ?
Anonymous will tell you again why
BECAUSE THE F-ING U21 MEAN NOTHING
ONLY F-ING A NOSE-PICKER IS R*TARDED ENOUGH TO SEND PLAYERS TO U21
Is Alex Toth and Gruber from Hungary Senior Team playing with Hungary U21 today in the “critical” match vs. Croatia ? Of course not
Yep, you ain’t the only one confused. It’s absurd being a feeder to the u21’s
I’m confused too did we lose? Did we not qualify for the WC. Did we not make it to League of Nations Knox out round.
Did all those kids win the game for Montenegro?
People need to get their head examined because the facts are Dalic has been introducing young players all along.
Last year he leaned heavy into baturina L.Sucic and P sucic during League of Nations. Now baturina and L.sucic have barely played at club level and form has dropped so no longer being called. But had they been playing for clubs they would have started yesterday.
Again he reassess the situation brought back vlasic who is looking more in form/ shape and had a jump. He’s tried bradaric he started playing Marco pasalic he called valincic on standby list who I think would have gotten called if he didn’t get hurt. Re called Musa tried Matanovic even though at no point did Matanovic deserve to be called. Brought back orsic, even played everyone’s boy vuskovic only 1 month after playing for a top 5 league. You guys act like dalic waited 5 years to call him.
But again not good enough because he didn’t start Vuskovic yesterday lol. You think Vuskovic is the answer to winning the WC then your all delusional.
Last game Vuskovic played the first goal poorly today it was Duje however for everyone her it wasn’t vuskovic fault it was both pasalic dalic tactics etc etc
We’ll go look who gave the terrible pass which lead to Montenegro transition quickly on the first goal but no mention of that today.
We have a back line issue maybe Vuskovic is the answer but I really don’t think he leap n bounds better than Sutalo
Erlic , pongracic or even Duje. They all have flaws Duje is prolly played his way out of the WC but.
Only guarantee starters at back line Gvardiol and stanisic. everyone else is who is in form and playing the best.
U19 FT – Croatia 4 v Serbia 1
Excellent performance by our boys. This is a talented squad of players that we have here. Half a dozen play in overseas clubs mostly in Germany.
We even missed a penalty when Patrice Covic tried a Panenka and hit the bar.
He tried heading the rebound not knowing the rules that you cannot touch the ball coming back to you from the post or the bar unless it has been touched by the goalkeeper.
U21 KO at 18:00 hrs against Hungary.
LIVE coverage on Maxsport 1.
19:11 poor Igor – he’s making a nice run in middle – but Franjo doesn’t pass to him – then Franjo passes to Vlasic – Igor made nice separation from both defenders – all Vlasic had to do is pass it in to Igor and it’s a goal – but selfish Vlasic tries to shoot with his weak left foot and fluffs it out
If Igor’s teammates aren’t passing to Igor who is getting into good positions – that’s Igor’s fault ?
Igor was rightly pssed off at Vlasic
16:21 Sutalo aerial duel ability lol He is the anti-thesis of Vuskovic – he is SO SOFT – he doesn’t want to duel – just lets the Montenegro player win and head forward – then dumb dumb DCC get stressed and passes it right to the Montenegro player – why ? Why not kick it anywhere else on the field, but not right to a Monte player standing 5 yards in front of you – neither Mario nor Vlasic block the pass from Jovetic – and Sutalo terrible position as pass comes in Krstovic easily bullies him and turns out shoot – DCC standing there like a pillon again
The funniest is the goal does in – and Sutalo look at Liva – and DCC waves his arms at Liva for letting it in – this is being a terrible teammate – both DCC and Sutalo are at fault for the goal – 100% – and instead of taking responsibility of the mistake – they try to blame Liva on field
You’d never see such poor teammate-ship from Vuskovic – he would be neutral – or go to Liva and say we’ll get it back
Basically Sutalo and DCC are softies – and looking to blame everyone else for their mistakes
They should both be BANNED from the NT and sent to wedding island with Luka Sucic wedding boy
Why did Dalic play Ivanovic out of position as RW ?
Ivanovic plays with #9, SS or LW
Franjo has NEVER played RW his entire career – NOT ONCE
Great profiling of your players Dalic lol
The nose-pickers are too lazy to even click on transfermarket to see what position the players they call up actually play
***.transfermarkt.us/franjo-ivanovic/profil/spieler/548028
Completely unfair to judge poor Franjo playing out of position at RW (Dalic might as well started Erlic up at RW to try him out)
This was of course to accommodate Perisic
However, Perisic has played a ton at RW in his career
So could have put Perisic on RW – and let Franjo play LW
But Dalic would never think of asking one of the senators to play out of their favourite position – that’s unthinkable
We learnt zero about Franjo playing LW – absolutely nothing
Franjo has actually played right wing in Rijeka when Sopic was coach. He used to switch positions during the game with Pasalic. If you actually watched HNL you would know this.
He also played right wing with Benfica, in a match or two I believe.
He played RW with Union St.Gilloise. Do your homework.
To show how bad Sutalo and DCC are re-watch the Jovetic chance/shot @ 10:53
DCC keeps backing up and does nothing – let’s Jovetic rip a shot – if that shot has better placement it’s a goal – DCC doesn’t step-up – DCC doesn’t block the shot – DCC just backs-up and gets out of the way lol
Sutalo isn’t tracking Osmajic in the center waiting for the pass – if Jovetic passes it in to Osmajic instead of ripping a shot – Osmajic has a free shot
Both DCC and Sutalo are twiddling their thumbs on this play – way too passive – and both are sleeping – hoping Liva will bail them out
Terrible CB play – both of them – this is not an isolate play either
U19 HT Croatia 2 v Serbia 1
Serbia took the lead early on after Noa Mikic failed to clear a cross into our box.
We came back with two good goals and Bruno Durdov had two good opportunities to extend our lead, but their goalkeeper made a couple of good saves.
Both teams have qualified for the Elite round of qualifiers in March 2026 however winning the group gets you and easier draw. We have better goal difference, so a draw is enough for us to win the group.
Interesting that Durdov is being played as LCAM/LW (?) for the U19 instead of RW that he plays at Hajduk. Is he being profiled better by the U19 coach?
We need leadership from gvardiol at CB to make other CB play better.
I will take gvardiol vuskovic sutalo erlic jakic stanisic juranovic bradaric
Strikers will take musa budimir and ivanovic/matanovic/petkovic
I really hope mourinho gets sacked quickly or ivanovic looks for a new
Same for DCC and sucic and majer and baturina.
Jakic should leave too.
Bring in semper.
Midfielder pasalic brothers, modric, vlasic, l sucic, kovacic, moro or maybe majer. We can play jakic too. Worst still, we can recall brozovic
Attackers bring in kramaric orsic perisic marco pasalic. We dont have many options
Can musa and pasalic go somewhere over the winter transfer
Mls is pretty well done for them yeah?
One day we’ll evolve into a vaunted 3 man defense corps, much like the Italians had with the BBC nightmare being Bonucci, Barzaghli and Chielini.
When we get a real manager, we’ll have a similar if not better back 3 named the vaunted PVG corps.
Prpic, Vuskovic and Gvardiol.
A real manager?? What a lack of appreciation for what Coach Dalic has done- 2 WC semifinals and a Nations League final. Other than France who has done that the last 8 years? We have had a legend and we treat him like nothing. Viva Zlatko!
Dude don’t know how to roll with back 3
Mister Dalic could win the World Cup and y’all would still bad mouth him shame on y’all
Jakic was the best player again….someone below said it was Moro..give me a break. Jakic drew the penalty and scored on the rebound and played solid defensively. Your telling me that doesn’t deserve MOTM? Moro did ok….nothing special. Once Kova is back from injury this team has not need for Moro. His roster spot should be given to another forward who can score.
If Kova can come back strong from injury this team can go far. A midfield with Kova, Susic & Modric.
The starting backline is set. Jakic – Sutalo – Gvardi – Stan. No more starts for DCC, Erlic or Pong playing CB.
I think they were saying that Moro could prove to be a useful player not that he was MOTM. I dunno, I don’t recall reading that he was MOTM anywhere. I wouldn’t say he was that incredible in the match. He had a pretty good showing though and proved that he can retain possession. The comment I remember reading is that he would be a great alternative and substitute.
I think he was dispossessed once by Macedonian player but otherwise he was very good in the match.
The real test will be against Brazil, then we get to see how such players will fare.
I think this is why Dalic chose such a match for a friendly.
Given what we have seen, it is probably a healthy and in form Budimir who should start as striker at WC. Matanovic and Ivanovic are not quite there yet.
I know we have had some disagreement on this point recently, but I’d vote Vuskovic to start. With respect, I don’t think Pong or DCC are better options.
Stanisic-Sutalo-Vuskovic-Gvardiol.
We are not going to have the scoring punch we need up front, and we will need offensive contributions from Stani and Gvardiol joining the attack up the right and left flanks, and from Vuskovic getting his head on the ball on set plays. Vuskovic can score goals and that, among other things, makes him a candidate to start at WC.
One guy who has been lost in the discussions is Majer. When he was on his game and in form last year before his injury, he was fantastic in the Bundesliga. He is underrated, I believe due to being plagued by injuries, and he might well be one of the surprise contributors in WC 2026. Let’s see what happens to him and if he is transferred . . . Hopefully he can have a good run starting in January, if not at Wolfsburg then somewhere else. . . .
Vuskovic is on a steep upward trajectory. He’ll probably get a lot better over these next 6-7 months too.
It’s a shame that Dalic seems to be hung up on Gvardiol at LB.
I think Sutalo is having a tough year, and Vuskovic is in better form. I think we really need to try out that Vuskovic/Gvardiol CB pairing, and stick with Stanisic at LB and Jakic at RB.
Hopefully we see this in March against Colombia and Brazil.
What do you think now that Ajax has changed coaches?
Maybe let’s wait and see how Sutalo plays in the last half of the season under a new coach? Last year he was great, can he can regain that form?. . . . You yourself once said, when everyone was doubting him in his first year at Ajax, that he would eventually prove to be the best defender (or one of the best) in the Eredivisie. . . And last season he proved you exactly right.
I can’t understand why he went backward this year, some have suggestions the injury at the start of the season and the now-fired coach. . .
Of course.
Anything can happen over the next six months…but I think Vuskovic has a pretty big head start over Sutalo right now as he is doing extremely well in a bigger league.
Sutalo is a good player and I am fine with him starting when he gets to full form…but I think there is overlap between him and Gvardiol’s skillsets and I am just intrigued by what Vuskovic offers (and Gvardiol can offset his weaknesses).
The bigger worry for all of us is if Dalic is actually serious about the “Gvardiol at LB” thing.
Stanisic is playing LB for Bayern, Jakic has been working well for us at RB, and Gvardiol has been plaing CB for Man City.
Not sure why we would just jumble all that up, only for Gvardiol to play at LB.
We need to go with a Gvardiol/Vuskovic CB pairing or a Gvardiol/Sutalo pairing.
Otherwise, we are going to hurt ourselves this World Cup.
Totally agree about Majer.
I have to admit that Ivanović was less than impressive in this game.
Matanović as well.
Musa was a surprise though, he almost scored again against Macedonia, it was rebounded in by Jakić. Not sure how that first official saw offside it was clearly inside.
Musa seems to have the right placement.
Šutalo had some decent games for us though. I think that DCC was more of an issue personally.
Pongracic was not bad in comparison to previous games, from what I saw.
I guess we will see what Dalic decides moving forward. I can’t remember who said it I a post below but I hope they are right about it…
That Dalic was trying things out by process of elimination. Some players right now seem to be falling off like DCC. Others players yet seem like they don’t have what it takes at this stage like Ivanović and Matanović.
Maybe, as some others have said, we should give Dalic more credit than we do. Maybe he is on the right track.
We will see what the friendly against Brazil tells us.
We’ll see.
I think the back four has to be Stanišić, Gvardiol, Vušković and Jakić.
You could swap Šutalo for Vušković… But the aerial ability of Vušković is incredible and is something neither Gvardiol or Šutalo thrive in.
I keep seeing Gvardiol pushed at LB in these recent games.
I assume it’s just because of injuries or whatever… But we had everyone available this round and we’re STILL seeing guys playing in different positions (than they do at club level) across our backline.
Our backline has potential to be the best in the World, and it would be foolish to throw everything out of alignment because of some percieved value Dalić sees as playing Gvardiol at LB
I hope we don’t get drawn to Mexico in an opening game . If we were playing somewhere else I would not be concerned. I think Mexico is a hostile place . Like Brazil in 2014 the fix could be in to make sure they get a win . They are at home and it’s huge advantage . I don’t hold any grudges toward Mexico that they beat us . We might have been a better team on paper , But we lost . We talked shit and paid for it . Nobody cheated us.. Kovac mis handled that entire campaign. They wanted to win more and we collapsed. Don’t know about the rest of you. I am uncomfortable with us getting a host nation . Maybe I over think things
I would be worried about Mexico and USA, as there will be bias and both teams are good enough to snake a point.
Canada is not quite there, plus I think they have PTSD from the 4-1 beatdown at the last World Cup and would play scared and safe (just to avoid another humiliation).
Moro, Vlasic, Jakic, Musa , Orsic- wish we saw more from a few more offensive players but guys like Ivanovic had their shot and they can’t hang with the HNS- we got some guys but concerned not enough to push out some really old timers . Did we see enough young kids to know what we have ? Probably not but I’d say Moro might be something, congrats to the boys – let’s get some real competition now
Moro can be a steady backup, when you’re out of options and you want a possession guy out there to maintain a lead.
Vlašić won major points during this qualifying round.
He’ll probably play the exact same solid backup role for us like he did at WC2022.
Ivanović and Matanović struggled badly.
Musa easily surpassed Matanović now and will probably be on the World Cup squad despite playing in MLS.
Sadly, Dalić opted not to try out Marco Pašalić and Mislav Oršić today.
I am not concerned about the draw. Croatia has never been a top seed at a WC and yet has medaled three times. Plus I like when they play good teams and not minnows. Here is their WC history against the top seed:
1998 – Argentina (L)1-0
2002- Italy (W) 2-1
2006 – Brazil (L) 1-0
2014 – Brazil (L) 3-1
2018 – Argentina (W) 3-0
2022 – Belgium (D) 0-0
The 1998 game was not crucial, as both teams won their first two games and were already through to the next round. 2002 was the crazy game with two Italy goals called back. They actually played decently in both Brazil games, unlucky in 2006 and robbed by FIFA in 2014. The the great 3-0 defeat of Argentina in 2018 followed by the fortunate draw against Belgium in 2022. A lot of these games could have gone either way. For next year, most of the 12 teams in pot 1 are not dominant. The only one I don’t want is Spain. Croatia would hang in against the rest. I hope.
Funny how every euro they always paired us with Spain. I don’t believe it’s coincidence
Anyone notice how similar our third goal was to their first one ? Kinda funny.
The ghost of Ćaleta past visited that poor Crnogorac at the worst possible time
Lucky win, but who cares. Nice to finally have a calm qualifying campaign.
The only regret is that we didn’t finish in pot 1. How Belgium consistently stays ahead of us in the FIFA rankings, I’ll never know.
Hey man, it’s a tall task to draw Macedonia twice and Kazakhstan as well
Dalić is going to get a lot of criticism from these two matches, but I don’t think he’s being stupid. These matches were managed well. Against Faroes, he put to rest the idea of a back three, no more back three ever again. He also started Vušković and Marco Pašalić with the core of the team. He gave Musa and Vlašić chances to perform, and both did. He gave Fruk, Ivanović, and Matanović time, but none of them really stepped up to the level. He brought back Oršić and gave him playing time, which should he can still do something. He gave Moro a full match to be prepared for a what-if scenario in the midfield, and Moro did exactly what he’s supposed to do: get the ball in the middle and move it around (also had a very good shot saved by the keeper). Dalić confirmed Livaković as the number one keeper and Livaković showed why. Dalić made it very clear that there is a competition for CB spots, and we saw that Vušković is basically ready, that Pongračić may finally be getting over his national team issues, and that Duje Ćaleta-Car cannot be relied on anymore.
Dalić likes to work by process of elimination, not creative thinking. He gives his players chances to earn their place, and if they don’t perform, he eliminates them (or sometimes when they do perform but he doesn’t like them). Dalić seems to be not a nice guy at all when he is managing, which makes most people think he is not smart or not watching, but it’s just a different way of seeing the game, a more cynical one. It clearly has its benefits when it comes to the scoreline. He was too nice to Perišić and Brozović at Euro 2024 and look what happened. Dalić is working on building a team again, and the way he is doing it is to use competitive matches as tryouts and practice sessions. Say what you will, but I think he knows what he’s doing this time.
Agreed. Both of these games were really nothing games. We had essentially qualified and it was Dalic’s chance to experiment with formations and players. Duje typically has been solid for us but along with Ivanovic, may have lost their chances to make the roster. They were both awful today.
Moro was solid today as was Jakic.
Musa may have earned himself a shot at making the roster too. A lot will depend on injuries and form but we are finding out who we can count on.
Vlasic may have played himself back into contention too. He could be valuable as he’s good at PKs and can come up with a timely goal.
I think Marco Pasalic has become our automatic starter at RW. If Kova comes back in time and Luka Sucic gets back on form, our depth will
improve dramatically.
Our B team is not up to par.
We need to always play our starters, introducing others one or two at a time. No debate.
100% agree a lot of the fringe players aren’t up to par. Matanović, DCC, and Ivanović just aren’t at the NT standard. I thought Musa had a good showing in both games, though.
But we definitely shouldn’t “always play our starters”. A pointless game against Montenegro is the perfect chance for our better non-starters (Jakić, etc.) to get some minutes.
We learned absolutely dick all this game.
2+ hours of my life I’ll never get back.
A win is a win, although a bit lucky to get it.
Moro our best player by some distance today, I hope that people on this site will from now on stop questioning why he is in the squad.
Livakovic despite not playing for months with that remarkable reflex save at the end.
DCC with a shocker, he has not played in three weeks for his club, and it showed. DCC and Ivanovic who has had 14 minutes for Benfica in their last five matches our worst players today.
Dalic also to blame not sure why Erlic did not get a start ahead of DCC unless the guy is injured?
Agree about Moro. He looked the most professional of the field players. He only lost the ball once and it was because of poor communication from teammates. The guy’s technique in every aspect is impressive. Livaković also a top player today, as was Vlašić. I think Dalić had doubts about Duje and gave him the start to test him. Pulled at halftime and replaced with Pongračić (also to test him) who played much better. At least one of these CBs needs to be cut, so it’s just a question of who will defend the best, especially with how weak Šutalo is in the air.
Ridiculous game tbh with you. Crazy penalty for us btw.
Great goal by Vlasic
Also, a great save by Livakovic near the end.
I thought Vlasic was done for. He wasn’t heard from and didn’t make any headlines or commentary. Yet here he is. Good!
Jakic mr universal can play all positions bravo
Why the fuck arent marco pasalic and orisic playing we are slow as fuck
Has anyone here seen anything from Matanović on Friday and today to be impressed with?
No hahaha but in all fairness the tactics are horrible no creativity ideas
Its amazing that since 2018 we havent produced a winger
Why the fuck is krama coming on
So Kovačević is on fire i dont care if its janez liga he also scoring in konferencija liga and linolada calls matanovic top. I was shocked musa got called
Ovaj ivanovic out
Pong
🤦🏻♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I know!! Wtf is pong even still with us
To be fair, he’s playing the best of the three CBs today, actually making the stops when needed, making strategic fouls, winning balls in the air
Basically, we have to root for Slovakia to knock in 5 goals in the 2nd half vs Germany and Hrvatska to score two more (and not give up any more) with this cast of characters.
Seems reasonable.
Pašalić is too slow. He gets beaten every time he has to defend
Croatian Comentater just frownd upon ZDS chants saying its disrespectful hahahah
These subs at half should turn the game around for us…..said no one ever. Isuse.
Ajmo linolada ale
Terrible first half from Croatia because of Duje, Šutalo, Matanović and Ivanović. The defenders are responsible for Montenegro’s goals. Matanović and Ivanović look really nervous, not playing the way we know they can do and wasting possession with poor vision. Moro and Vlašić honestly both look worth their places on the team. Moro as the main playmaker has played a good possession game and been a bright spot, nailing all his passes (smart passes too) and keeping composed with the ball at his feet. Showing why Dalić always calls him. Vlašić has looked dangerous besides the sitter he missed. I still see Croatia winning this game. But Dalić is clearly using this to try out his players. So far Duje Ćaleta-Car loses his place as does Matanović. Šutalo hasn’t been good either of these two matches, but I doubt he will be cut. Moro and Vlašić keep their places. The rest are mainstays anyway and playing well enough. It just shows that possession and defending require the whole team to work, not just 7 individuals.
We’d better not lose this game.
We’ve never lost to a war foe, and I don’t want today to be the first time we do.
Vučinić in the background trying to amp up the crowd should light a fire in Sleepy Zlatko Dalić to make the right substitutions to get the win.
Not true. We lost to Macedonia many years ago useless qualifier. I’ll talking Du Du era.
Macedonia were never a war foe of ours
On a 4 on 2 break, Ivanovic passes it right at a Montenegro player. Just awful.
The announcer couldn’t even hold in his disappointment.
I get Dalić doesn’t care about Pot 1 (for reasons I don’t get). I get he’s accomplished more than any other Croatian coach.
However, he’s got to be the luckiest SOB in the history of sports with his bizarre moves over the years, that somehow happen to pan out, but today aren’t. Moro has no business being in any starting lineup (already mentioned here). DCC had no business being called back to the team, costing two goals and a senseless foul from 30 yards out.
I could go on and on…
Maybe we get two more PK calls in our favor via VAR in the 2nd half 🙂
Pot 2 it is for us.
Ivanovic is way too tentative for my liking. He’s been terrible today.
I hope Luka Sucic gets back into form and out of the doghouse. We really need someone like him who plays more direct a la Marco Pasalic.
Good thing it doesn’t matter in the end with the WC seeding, but this lineup is just bad. I’ve never seen Moro, DCC, Ivanovic, Matanovic do anything useful. And if you play like this against Montenegro, what are you going to contribute against a decent team.
Atlewst the hooligans came to montenegro and are actually Cheering unlike the home games whre hercegovoci come nad ganga nertva play
We all on this website unless injuries happen the starting 11 next summer
Livakovic Stanisic Sutalo Dcc Gvardiol Modric Sucic Kovacic Kramaric Budimir Perisic. Look how fast this lineup is
Ref bailing us out with a PK.
For the world cup we really need at least one player like Luka Sucic who shots a lot from outside the box
You can’t play Mario Pašalić and Nikola Moro tandem in the pivot and think you can just win a game with that
No Vuskovic
No Pandur
No Jagusic
2-0
What happens when Dalic / nose-pickers don’t listen to Anonymous
Linolada this game why this lineup vlasic pasalic are not staring 11 material.
It saddens me how Duje just created two massive blunders for himself there. I always used to see in him a Plug and Play-type of player right there. One that can always deliver, no matter his club situation and stuff. Now he’s just on his way out there.
That said, I feel like Mark Goldbridge in this game now. Just ranting about conceding goal after conceding goal!
We are so slow its funny to watch at times. Beacuse linolada thinks the same lineup as euro 2024 will work in 2026 please tell me how?
2-0 What the HELL is going on
Defensive shit-housery is what I would call it!
This was a lineup that we would never try in a real match.
This is a waste of a game (whether we win or lose) as it will teach us nothing.
It would have been great to see what a Vušković/Gvardiol CB pairing could do against this spirited Montenegrin side.
But no, we need to watch Duje develop chemistry for game minutes that he won’t play.
We’re the only national team on earth who is a feeder for our U21’s. No other national side does that.
Unreal shit
If Germany loses and we lose out on Pot 1 because he put mostly B players out vs Montenegro is inexcusable.
Another DCC mistake leads to another goal. 2 nil down. Sramota!!
Well, that should be DCC’s final game for the Repka.
I don’t know the game nearly as well as Crnkovic and others who have played at a good level, or watched for so many years. Fairly new to it, and still sorting it out.
When we see Ivanovic line up on the wing like that, do we expect him to play just like a winger — is he assigned as a winger for this game and sort of playing out of his usual position that he played, say, in Belgium where he played so well? — or does he play more in behind Matanovic like a second striker? What are we watching for there?
I am particularly interested to see how Matanovic and Ivanovic play. I have high hopes for those two.
Looking forward to the game!
I hope it’s 442 with vlasic on the right and mata and ivanovic up top. Missing the game as playing over 50’s league match now 😊
Good line up. But please, mario try to be good