Croatia escape Poland with 3-3 draw after having 2-goal lead. Sosa scores wunder-volley! Petar Sučić and Baturina assist each other for 1st Croatian senior goals! How is that a straight red card on Livaković?!?!
Such a weird week of events for Croatian football between Scotland and Poland matches.
However, a draw does the trick tonight to keep Croatia top-2 in group, which would get them to the Nations League quarterfinals in 2025. But what was up with the Croatian defense tonight? That was atrocious. Are we going to have to think about going back to a 4-4-2?
FINAL 3-3
80′ SUBS Luka Sučić comes in for cousin Petar Sučić. Erlić comes off for Labrović, who will now be goalkeeper the rest of the game.
76′ RED CARD! Livaković is given a straight red as he comes out of the box to clear a ball cleanly. He got a piece of Lewandowski on the way down but nothing looked intentional. This is a weird one. Has to go to VAR for review.
70′ Poland nearly score #4 off a corner. Here we go again. Will croatia be able to close out this match? A draw on the road is fine. A loss after being up 3-1 would be a disaster.
68′ GOAL. Poland equalizes at 3-3. Lewandoski brings the ball into the box and kicks it back to a wide open Szymanski running up field. He has all day to beat Livaković and two Croatian defenders in the box who were left in no man’s land.
64′ Baturina steals the ball in his own half and marches up the field 50 yards. He plays a perfect ball in the middle of the box but it’s broken up by Poland. This is the pace we have been asking for.
61′ SUB Matanović out. Budimir in. Straight #9 swap.
60′ Matanović nearly scores. His shot from inside the box is deflected and the Polish keeper has to extend wide to make the save and force the corner.
57′ Croatia peppering the Polish defense with pressure. Knocking on the door for goal #4.
55′ Modrić hits a looping half-volley from outside the box. It’s definitely on target but the Polish keeper tips it over the bar for a corner.
HT 3-2 Croatia. Offense looks good. Defense, not so much. We may need to go back to a 4-4-2 for the 2nd half. Recommended substitution: DCC in for Kramarić who has been quiet. This should give the control back to Croatia defensively. Poland will play open as they must find another goal this half.
45′ Poland pulls one back. 3-2 Croatia. Sloppy defense by Croatia in the back and a missed tackle my Šutalo in the box. Zalewski scores in almost the exact same fashion Zielinski did in the 5th minute. Shot from the left side of the box to beat Livaković inside the far post. Nonetheless, Croatia have a 3-2 lead at halftime.
40′ Game has settled back down. But WOW! 3 goals in 6 minutes! I don’t know if Croatia has ever scored three goals under 10 minutes this century. That was fun.
26′ GOOOOOOOALLL! 3-1 Croatia! Polish blunder in defense gives the ball up to Petar Sučić. Sučić feeds the ball to Baturina on the left side of the box to nutmeg the Polish keeper to make it 3-1. Unbelievable! Croatia rattle off three unanswered goals in six minutes. Sučić and Baturina now have their first Croatian senior goals to their names.
24′ GOOOOOOOAL! 2-1 Croatia! Petar Sučić plays the give-n-go with Baturina in the box. Sučić gets the ball back and fires to the far post to beat the Polish keeper. It is hist first Croatian goal at the senior level!
20′ GOOOOOOAL! 1-1. Sosa with an absolute blistering volley from outside the box! Oh me oh my! It was a perfect shot inside the far post netting the Polish keeper could do nothing with.
10′ Poland playing with tons of pace and already shopping for goal #2. Croatia has yet to settle this game down in their favor.
5′ Poland Goal. 1-0. Zielinski gets a free run into the left side of the box and sends a perfectly place shot just inside the far post to beat Livaković. It appeared to take a slight deflation. Croatia concedes first. What’s new??
5′ Poland on the front foot out of the gate. No substantial attack quite yet but they are full of energy.
Dalić has made three changes from the squad that took on Scotland three days ago in Zagreb. Petar Sučić gets the start in midfield instead of Pašalić. Baturina makes the starting XI in lieu of Luka Sučić. Erlić in for DCC in the back-3. All great pivots from the Scotland match. We are happy with the changes. Let’s see if Baturina can bag his first Croatian senior goal tonight!
Croatia takes on Poland in Warsaw in their final UEFA Nations League match of October. A victory would all but put the Vatreni into the Nations League quarterfinals next year as a top-2 finisher in group. However, a draw would do them just fine against Poland going into November’s matches against Scotland and Portugal.
One more thing to think about Dalic,
You can’t have Modric and Perisic playing on the same side, especially if they are both going to play the full 90min. 2 goals and a bone head pass back from Perisic that caused the red all came from the left. Sutalo was left exposed for much of the game.
Modric & Perisic should both have been subbed out before the 70th minute. Luka Susic should have replaces Modric and M Pasilic/Jakic replaced Perisic. It’s almost like Dalic is learning how to coach on the job.
Seems like Slovenia right now plays within themselves to their self-understood strengths and have a consistent identity and approach to being dedicated to the basics, playing complete team defense, allowing them to reach the final 16 in the euro cup, and should have beat portugal in the quarterfinals. They have some older players like Ilicic but they don’t rely on him anymore, except for an occasional sub.
Seems like Croatia is going through growing pains, trying to find the right players that are coming up the ranks. Each game wondering, who is going to show up. We are one Kovacic and one Modric away from a complete brand-new team from 2018. This team is evolving before our eyes. We could use a little more cohesive back to the basics Slovene approach while we are figuring out this puzzle, but I am hopeful.
Kek is better than Dalic though.
Every team he’s ever touched has overachieved.
Can the
“We “should” beat Scotland ?”
Crowd
Please
Explain how Portugal “only” drew them 0-0 ?
#EveryWingerMatters
The problem is how easy everyone can just score on us.
Portugal hasn’t been playing well at all recently, but they still managed to put away a couple of goals on us pretty easily in the first half of our match with them.
We were lucky it wasn’t 3-0 or 4-0 at the half, with Liva bailing us out.
Portugal had less trouble scoring on us than they did against Scotland.
We enter every single game unprepared, and we get killed in the first half of every game when it comes to chances and goals. This is all on the coach.
Good teams (like Spain and Portugal) put away 5 goals and had a dozen chances on us. Bad teams (like Poland, Albania, Scotland) all took the lead over us.
This Poland game was the first time we actually won the first half, and Poland STILL went ahead early and ended up scoring a couple of goals on us in that first half ha ha.
We are supposed to be a top-10 team, and there is no chance we can beat any other top-10 team with the way we are playing.
In our next game against Portugal, they will probably score first and they will probably take a 2 goal lead on us (again).
Then, just like the first game, Portugal will sit back and we will probably claw one goal back (to make the score respectable) and everyone will praise our team and Dalic for the effort…and Dalic will use some excuse (like a missing player) as the reason.
We will continue to draw bad teams, and narrowly lose to good teams…until we (just like in these past Euros) get eliminated in the first round and the HNS slowly comes around to making a decision.
The appropriate time to make a coaching change was at these past Euros. We were eliminated in the first round and we played poorly, and most of that was on the coach. We had some coaching options in the Summer, but now they are gone, and we are taking the risk with Dalic and sticking it out. Our team is all over the place right now, and we just need to hope things stabilize…or we will end up with another first round exit at the Nations League and World Cup.
LOL That’s easy. Portugal are overrated.
Did you even bother to look at the stats for the game of Scotland vs Portugal?? Portugal should have won that match. 70 percent possession versus 30 is pretty one-sided if you ask me. Sometimes it’s luck bud.
Ok guys. I’m as disappointed as anyone about not beating Poland. But!! Let’s get some context.
1) this is by far the best Poland performance I’ve ever seen. The fluidity and pace in attack is not something I’ve seen from Poland before, quality young hungry players and a coach who has made them play high intensity counter pressing football.
2) gvardiol played the two worst games I’ve seen him play in his career so far. This is probably because he has played too much high pressure football already at his age. This is a minor blip on his rise to the top and won’t be repeated. To get a win and draw with our best player playing do poorly is a GOOD sign, not a bad one.
3) perisic needs game time to recover his best form. He barely played for a whole year and has joined a new club. Giving him big minutes was a clever move by dalic and will benefit us moving forward.
4) kovacic, alongside modric and gvardiol, is our best player and was missing both games. He will return
3) baturina, Sucic p, sucic l, matanovic have all showed they can be serious players at the top level. All are young, none of them is top level yet. But they will all improve and that is very exciting for us.
4) matanovic is big and young. He will develop his physical power with more playing time. Playing for Croatia will be a huge confidence boost, he needs to take it into club football, progress and come back stronger. He is a prospect. Not the finished article. Beljo, ivanovic, ljubicic…vidovic. I’ve seen these guys playing recently. There is an added aggression and confidence to their game. They have seen that playing for Croatia is realistic for them if they work hard and do well.
5) guys like marco p, pjaca, Jakić have been given a chance and they all did ok. Playing for the national team is not a right it’s a special privilege they have to earn with performances at club level. Don’t panic just because we don’t see them for a couple of games.
6) the defense has been shaky, but the new system is not easy. Three at the back is rare in modern football and takes time to master. This will improve. Erlic, pongracic, DCC are all good players. Good enough to play against any opponent. But they are not world class. If the shape and tactics are correct they will be just fine. Don’t worry
7) conclusion. We are good. Nothing to fear
Agreed. Good points. I would say Kovacic may be in his prime right now for club and country.
U21 EURO Play off draw:
Georgia v Croatia
Belgium v Czechia
Finland v Norway
Good draw, apart from the fact that we will have to travel twice between the matches as Georgia is the home team.
Matches to be played between 14 and 19 November.
Ooh yes, the amount of traveling is going to suck. I’m still glad we avoided Belgium lol.
We’d think Georgia the best draw we could get on paper (Georgia lowest coefficient of all playoff teams)
https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/027d-17333bb49edf-e7e4d9b31b37-1000/u21seedings.pdf
But than realize Georgia made their U21 finals debut (as co-hosts) in 2023 and topped their group ahead of Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium (!) before losing on penalties to Israel in front of a U21 EURO record 44,338 crowd in Tbilisi
Are we really going to travel back and forth twice (and not set up camp in Georgia for the week) ???
Is Olic worried some players might leave camp during the week to hit the clubs in Tibilisi or something ?
If that’s his concern – maybe it’s better they’re in Georgia – where they at least don’t speak the language – rather than in or near Croatia – I mean being in Slovenia didn’t stop Olic, Srna and Balaban hitting the clubs in 2006 the night before a game (and getting booted by Bilic for the Russia game for Euro 2008 qualifying)
timesofmalta.com/article/croatia-trio-to-miss-qualifier-after-night-out.42309
@Maminjo
https://croatiansports.com/croatia-0-poland-0-245pm-et-kickoff-nations-league-2/#comments/512514
Perisic is on a 1-year deal at PSV. It’s possible he will have to search for a new club next summer… so does Dalic intend to give him 90 minutes during WC qualification games when he is still finding his feet at a new club and not playing much? Modric is also on a 1-year contract at Real but he is still playing at a high level and will probably continue to do so for a while more.
If we qualify for WC2026 and during the tournament, Dalic trots out a starting lineup with 3 super aged veterans: Modric – 40 years old, Perisic – 37, Kramaric – 35 (and I note Budimir will be nearly 35), this might still be okay against the likes of Bahrain or New Zealand but against the big boys, this is definitely NOT going to work, and it isn’t something that can be compensated for by the youthfulness of the rest of the team.
Perisic has to take a lesser role. Dalic, please grow a spine and do what’s right for Croatia.
U21 EURO Play off draw is on Thursday 12:00 Croatia Time. I’ll be watching this on UEFA site with interest.
The five countries that we could come up against are: Belgium, Norway, Czechia, Finland and Georgia.
Ideal draw would be Georgia or Finland.
Same here, hoping for Georgia or Finland.
Anonymous currently ranking (in terms of how high their ceiling is) of 3 prospects based on matches so far / eye test
P Sucic
Baturina
L Sucic
P Sucic has impressed since the first minute he came on as a sub
He gets better each game
He’s the youngest – cant remember any of our midfielders having such an impact at 20 (maybe Kova first cap v Serbia at maksimir he played fearlessly)
Not sure his strength is going to b as a DM like broz more like an 8 who will crash into opposition’s box
The problem with the defense is not the formation but the quality of players playing in certain positions. Pong, Erlic & DCC are not National Team caliber central defenders. They are good to have on the bench but not starting games unless the opponent is Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar….etc.
Grardi needs to go back to CB paired with Sutalo. Without Kova in the lineup Dalic should not have gone with a back 3 vs Scotland and Poland.
The biggest problem with this team is Dalic. Why on earth would you play Perisic for the entire 90 vs Poland. He should have subbed him off at half time when he took is jersey off (what a tool…does he think he is Messi?)
Baturina and Susic proved they belong. One poster questioned if Baturina can play wing and the answer is no. He is an attacking CM not a winger.
Sosa played well and was active on the left side….but his crosses are pretty dreadful and he is weak defensively. He is also not fast enough to take players on and has to rely on cutting inside and then playing the ball back to Gvardi.
Perisic HT
Watch the footage again
He took his jersey off and exchanged it w a young Polish player – the Polish player was carrying Perisic blue jersey over his right shoulder (Perisic was carrying the Polish player jersey in his hand)
It’s outrageous and tells us exactly where his head is at
Imagine if Gattuso was our coach and he did they – Gattuso would freak out and Perisic would have been kicked back to PSV at HT
Tells us that players see Dalic as complete pushover
Also agree the 3 CBs aren’t NT calibre – that’s the issue – but it’s the best we have for now – until someone else comes thru – issue is other teams know they aren’t good enough
Call me crazy but still think Pong has played the best of the 3 (given difficulty of opponent ie Spain, Portugal)
Yes, Pongracic was called out by Dalic and many on this site. I also did not think that he played that badly but was made a scapegoat for loses to Spain and Portugal.
He is injured at the moment and has not played a lot for Fiorentina.
It might have been better going to France instead, from memory Rennes were keen on signing him before Fiorentina came in with a 15 million transfer bid which Lecce and Pongracic accepted.
I worry a bit about Matanovic. I fear he may have a motor that runs out quick. He’s not as bad Musa who for someone reason sleepwalked through his few NT opportunities. I think Matanovic is hungry, but I think his big body loses energy quickly. He may be more effective as a last 30 minutes sub kind of guy if that’s the case.
I hope not because I do like his physicality, which I think even if he doesn’t score goals is creating a lot of gravity which creates openings.
Too early to tell
He hasn’t played more than 68 min in a game for Frankfurt
So there’s that
And he’s young and was playing 2nd division last yr so not unusual for them to ease him in and up (in terms of min)
His impact will go unnoticed by most eg Sosa goal defender was worried Igor would win header so blindly headed it out to Sosa – if Igor not a threat there putting defender under pressure ball never gets to sosa
You know it was soul champ or Slavonac who always said we go as Perisic goes
This is for sure true for a while and showed yesterday
I hope he does the right thing and takes a smaller role
He has quality left but it’s clear he is not young Perisic
And I hope his and dalic stubborness Don’t cost us
It’s very clear baturina and the sucic kids have the goods
Are they world beaters right now
No but sure as heck showing they are legit and will be the next wave and can be very impactful potentially in 2026
They need play time. Kova being out was really good to show
Broz retiring while left a hole gave a real chance and broz knew he did the right thing. He did what he did and gave a ton and left more or less on the higher end of his reputation
With arguably one of our best performers for the past year and ball controlling piece of midfield out, we bring a big piece back
Is baturina capable of playing more of a wing type position for us??
Ya we can’t be hard on sosa. I actually think the dude tries hard for us and is responsible enough on defence with that ability to create
You pair him with a guy like mandzo there are more assists coming from him
It will be interesting how we line up in November
Dalic is a “ride-or-die” type coach.
I don’t expect him to move on from (or even reduce the playing minutes) of the older generation players.
Perisic is our starting RW, and it’s going to be 90 minutes every game.
We just have to hope that it doesn’t cost us during WC qualification.
I have always like Sosa, and Kramaric. Even when Sosa was falling backward while the Argentinians rolled right over him, and Kramaric is not providing his best Hoffenheim. He is still our best penalty kicker.
At Hoffenheim, Andrej would have scored on that breakaway no doubt yesterday.
If we can get these newer players to be offensively dynamic on a regular basis like yesterday, we can have Gvardiol refocus on anchoring the back line. We need both ends to be working moving forward.
When we used the Kovac German disciplinarian brothers, that did not workout so good either. I think we are best staying with our own kind, I would accept Kek.
Dalic is the problem. Always has been and always will be.
He’s a bad coach. There is really no point in discussing anything else when the root of the problem is the manager.
A bad coach? Two World Cup Semifinals and one nations league final. He is the envy of many coaches. What did Croatia do from ‘98 till ‘18? Enough said. Viva Zlatko!
Agreed, problem is people have no patience for team to grow and are quick to blame coaches and officiating ect
Hear, hear. People bad mouthing Dalic couldn’t coach a kids team.
That Red Card was bizarre at best?!
Sučić boys look strong.
Sosa is a natural wing back.
Dalic is Dalic, full respect, but no Marco P for 30 minutes on the right?
We needed to match the intensity that Poland finished with during the end of the first half.
Kovačić back in November.
UNL is the best thing to happen to HNS.
No BS friendly matches.
Samo Naprijed!!
The weak links were Perišić and Erlić (and Šutalo for the missed tackle, but Perišić should have been there to help him). Two goals came down Perišić’s side, and one resulted from Erlić missing a header.
People on here are saying Sosa doesn’t defend, but I think he proved everyone wrong in both these games. Sosa covered Gvardiol a lot both these games, when Gvardiol was playing very poorly. No goals conceded resulted from action on the Sosa/Gvardiol side, which means that means that the tandem on the left is working. Sosa contributed to two goals and was involved in many chances. He looked like 2022 Sosa but with better defending. The problem in both matches was the defending on the right side. Stanišić and Juranović should eventually force Perišić out. Perišić was a negative presence against Poland. I think Pjaca, Marco Pašalić, and Jakić all would have done better because they have more to prove. Perišić was playing like the Poland match was a pickup game.
In other words, the 3-5-2 isn’t the problem. It’s that the team had a major weak link that it cannot afford to have.
Dalic is lucky that the dinamo boys had some great individual brilliance in the first half.
Weather we play 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 it’s just as important how our instructions are and player personnel is. Everyone is saying 3 at the back isn’t working let’s go to 4. During euros our defence was abysmal when we played 4 at the back so I do t think it’s a system issue. Also at least we are scoring goals now.
2018 dalic didn’t t really have to think to much. The squad was pretty much self explanatory and also guys were fit in prime and we had quit the athletic team. Now dalic has to actually coach and look for players that can complement each other instead dalic is lazy amd just play senior players.
I thought perisic was awful today like others have stated I don’t know what he’s doing half the time he clearly is t the answer what the heck is dalic doing forcing perisic.
Like when it was 3-2 in the 2nd half tighten up we don’t need to bunker but maybe take kramaric off for another midfielder like jakic, kramaric was not playing well. Maybe change it up and put Marco pasalic, instruct him to be defensive and run his ass off. Instead dalic does typical dalic stuff.
I don’t think that any of us can understand why Dalic played Perisic in both matches for 90 minutes? The guy has hardly played in the last month or so and gets 180 minutes in space of 3 days. Just crazy and it cost us big time including the under hit back pass from Perisic to Livakovic that led to the red card.
He has no faith in Marco Pasalic, Pjaca, Moro or Osric and is not prepared to give them even 10-15 minutes on the field.
When we were up 3-1 in the first half, all we had to do was get organized defensively and hit Poland on the counter. We usually do very well on the counter. It’s actually a strength of ours.
Poland doesn’t have the midfield quality to hold possession and create in tight spaces anyway. They would just waste chances.
Modric and Petar Sucic would have intercepted and broken up all of their plays, and sprung guys like Baturina loose for the counter.
Instead, we left huge holes in our backline having half our players run into their half…then walk back, like it’s no big deal.
It’s pure ego.
Dalic has been criticized for months now for never playing Marco Pasalic…and now he’s purposely taking a long time to integrate him into the lineup (if at all).
Dalic is the coach. You can’t tell him what to do.
He gets the benefit of the doubt as Croatia was an underachieving nation from ‘99 till ‘17. Then with him we are a world power. I trust his judgements even if I don’t understand all of them. Viva Zlatko!
It’s possible that he lost his touch with this team.
It happens to a lot of coaches. They just become stale after a while.
As far as group standings go, we cannot come 4th and direct relegation to League B. All other options are possible including coming first although that will be tough considering injuries and now suspensions.
Livakovic with a straight red in all probability will get minimum 2 matches for what will be deemed as violent conduct? This will be a problem for our shaky defence because Labrovic, Ivusic and Kotarski have very little goalkeeping experience at international level.
Budimir also picked up his second yellow so he will miss the next match against Scotland.
We have another 9 players sitting on yellows: Modric, Kovacic, P. Sucic, Baturina, Gvardiol, Perisic, Pjaca, Mario Pasalic and Petkovic.
Didn’t Baturina get a second yellow? Or am I mistaking something here.
Poland wanted it more than our guys. They hustled for every ball and pressed us when we had possession. Our players are way more talented but you gotta want it. I was surprised at how easily Poland pushed us off the ball and we just accepted it. The unjust red card should have made us angry and motivated to score despite being a man down. Fiery ones? More like flaccid ones (not Luka of course). And zero respect for Lewandowski. He went down as if his leg was broken by a graze (his own fault for continuing to run at the ball like an idiot when Liva clearly got there first). Then he was up 2 minutes later like nothing happened. I wish it was broken and ended his career. He’s on my shit list now along with Iga. I shit on both of them and wipe my ass with their flag. Too much guys?
Iga Swiatek? Why is she on your shitlist?
Jumping Jacks. Against Vekic. We never forget in the Balkans. Even though I’m in Toronto, Canada I can feel the memory from here.
It’s crystal clear that a three back system only works if you have true wingbacks that are responsible defensively. Stanisic could be that guy on the right but not sure Sosa is the guy on the left.
We had our chances today and it was an entertaining game to watch…but it was frustrating to see how poor we were defensively.
Gvardiol’s problem is that he isn’t playing as a LB for us and can’t play forward as much as he did. He’s been lousy the last two games and irresponsible.
Petar Sucic was great today and looks like he can fill Broz’s shoes.
For everyone shitting on Dalic, just remember he had no choice other than playing three at the back. He had zero RBs at his disposal. We looked more solid at the back when we switched to the 4-4-1 after Liva’s BS red card.
I think we play best with a 4-2-3-1. Integrating both the Sucic boys with Baturina on the right, Luka Sucic on the left and Krama behind Matanovic might be our best lineup.
If Luka Vuskovic can fast track and make a move to the senior team, pairing up with Sutalo, then Gvardiol can play LB.
the first and second goals are on perisic, he enters the starting lineup and runs around wherever he wants like a headless chicken, zero discipline in defensive positioning.
First goal perisic completely out of position is almost at the halfway line for some reason and tries to sprint back to defend, but poland already forced sutalo wide to defend on the line, and instead of running back and going to cover for sutalos position perisic just stops following the runner and sits there guarding no one lol.
Second goal is even funnier, even though sutalo failed the tackle, its almost as if perisic thought he was playing left wing, then realized he is supposed to play RWB and slowly jogs back into position as poland scores haha.
Third goal erlic failed to clear and then gvardiol stuck in no mans land because of poor awareness.
This fast paced and open match with lots of space made some players look good like petar sucic and baturina, but other players like krama looked invisible. Dalic should have put in Marco Pasalic in 2nd half for krama, putting luka sucic/Mario P was not a good sub imo.
Unlucky red card killed the game.
Dalic can put down any starting formation but unless the players are disciplined to stay in their position and fulfill their duties we might as well be playing a 2-2-5-1
I am happy with the game and the result.
Our youngsters Baturina and the Sucic cousins were excellent. They could really bring us far at tournaments.
Matanovic is class too, only needs to ger a bit stronger to be a classic 9. But the guy is only 21. His day will come.
Sutalo, Kramaric and Erlic were poor today.
A three central defenders-system doesn’t seem to work for us. Better find out now than in the qualificationa for the world cup.
Also we played 20 minutes without Liva, and arguably defended BETTER after the red! The Poles then had ZERO chances other than one long-rang shot that went well over the bar, prior to that they were having more chances.
Can’t quite understand why Kramaric could not put away the breakaway opportunity. His shot looked so weak.
He’s too slow and very easily lost ground to the Polish defender who was pursuing him.
He was probably gassed (since it was near the end of the game) so that probably explains the weak shot.
He (along with Perisic) should not be playing full 90-minute games. When you compare Krama and Perisic to guys like Petar Sucic and Martin Baturina, there’s a huge dropoff in speed.
Completely agree. Krama and Perišić both need to be 2nd half subs now.
Messi whispered to lewandowski that you just need to run into livakovic and they’ll call a foul
It was a great game to watch, always edge of seat when it comes to us but what are we going to do with our defense??? Never easy
We can play four at the back again.
We can also try some other wingers other than Sosa and Perisic, since neither of them defend.
Since Sosa and Perisic were involved in our goals these past two games, Dalic is going to start them every single game moving forward…so we’re unlikley to try out some wingers who are able to track back and help Gvardiol and Sutalo back there.
Before the Euro I was telling people I thought Croatian never had a better defense. Then I watched them concede 3 to Spain, 2 to the Albanians, and 1 to the Wops. I think Dalic swaps out guys too often and we just don’t have a stable run of the same defensive starters and and formation at the back. Goes from 4 to 3 at the back then 3 to 4, swaps Erlic for DCC, and back again. Played Pof at the Euro instead of the Dooj and it cost us a handful of goals. I think we have the players, just not getting the discipline and the necessary reps to settle the D.
One positive I saw from this match was Baturnina and Sučić and their impact on the game. We have always had great midfielders, but often time after the great pass they would make you would see them stop in their tracks like there was an invisible line they couldn’t pass. Baturina and both Sučić’s make the pass and then continue running forward into space to get themselves in better position. There was some classic give-and-gos that created some opportunities that we haven’t seen much of.
The negative was the defense. I know, obvious statement is obvious. But one observation I had was how bad Gvardiol’s positioning has been. It’s like a 13 year old has a joystick controlling him and moving him way up the pitch. I felt like he left šutalo and Erlić very exposed. Check out a replay of that almost third goal by Poland before the half as a prime example of this. The one that Livakovic made a great save on. Gvardiol is near the middle of the pitch.
I love Gvardiol and he is our present and future, but he needs to get back to WC 2022 positioning. He would pick his chances to move forward and had a knack for that. But he shouldn’t be granted his Man City license to roam on the National team when we don’t have a Man City defense to pick up the slack.
Gvardiol, I thought today was our best defender, yes, he made some mistakes but was better than Sutalo and Erlic. Positioning is one of his biggest problems.
Id like to hope they erase that red card and hopefully he wont have to miss any games like theyve done in the past for others.
Good effort in the end to hold out for a draw with ten men. Lading 3 – 1 we really should have won this match.
Livakovic unlucky to get a straight red with Lewandoski running into his path.
We defended better with 10 men then we did with 11 – we switched to playing four at the back. Not convinced that three at the back is the way to go ?
DCC was missed in the defence, due to minor injury.
Petar Sucic our best player, Baturina also great performance. Gvardiol also for once with a good defensive performance.
Four points is satisfactory, and we are still in a good position to make the QF’s.
Dude, Gvardiol was awful. And he’s been pretty bad for a while now for Croatia. He needs to go back to the middle in a 4 back line. Sosa at LB, Gvardiol and Caleta Car in the middle and whoever on the right (Stanisic when he comes back).
Gvardiol should be a stay-at-home CB in a 4-man defence.
…or he should be paired with defensively capable wingers and midfielders who can cover for him when he ventures forward.
Phew, what an interesting, exciting game; certainly can’t say it was boring, lmao.
Anyway, firstly, what an absolute BS red card, my old man and i were like WTF? lol.. ridiculous, one of the worst decisions i’ve seen in years and basically killed any chance for us to win. I thought we did well to hang on after that and they barely had a chance on goal, just one shot comfortably over the top which was good cos i wasn’t confident in Labrovic.
Good news is looking at the games ahead, i can’t see Poland getting more than 3 points in their last 2 games so realistically i would think a draw in either of our last 2 games is enough for us. Before the game i would’ve taken a draw and even though we should’ve killed the game earlier with those FOUR saves their keeper made in the second half, given the BS red card, overall the draw was a good result.
The charade is up for Dalic. Time to get a coach and a non puppet of HNS- let’s try a real coach for once. These guys can’t play offense and defense in the same game. Dalic can’t coach young players -it’s obvious.
He’s a mess
And scrap this 3 defender bs. If the 3 defenders are good, fine, but they are not. Bring back the 4-1-3-2 or whatever the hell we did before.
Can’t play three at the back, when two of them want to be forwards and your flank players can’t play a lick of defense.
Defence was waaaay better when we were four at the back. And Gvardiol was in the middle two years ago at the WC, and played great. Stick him with Caleta-Car, Sosa on the left and Stanisic on the right when he gets back from injury. I know Sosa isn’t the best defensively, but it would be better as a group than the garbage we saw today, and against a shitty team. We have a lot of options now offensively that guys like Gvardiol don’t need to produce offence.
We played four at the back at the Euros, and our defence was garbage there too.
i blame that on Pongracic and Saudi form brozo
True, but we still have far too many guys on the field who run like they’re playing a scrimmage.
Perišić, Sosa, Mario Pašalić, Kramarić are pretty weak defenders.
Guys like Petković, Majer, Luka Sučić could do better as well.
Modrić, Kovačić, and Petar Sučić are our best defenders and all three should start moving forward.
Baturina is not naturally a good defender but he’s still young, runs alot, and gives a lot of effort defensively.
For this reason alone, we need him in our starting eleven.
I would bench Krama, Sosa, Perišić and (maybe even) Luka Sučić.
For me, our midfield trio should be Kova, Modrić and P Sučić with Baturina replacing Kramarić behind the striker (who would be one of Matanović or Budimir).
Marco Pašalić gives a lot of effort and should be playing the wing too. Ridiculous that he can’t even get minutes off the bench.
You would see our defence improve drastically.
100%
Don’t blame the refs or var…this has happened how many times now?? You blow a lead against Poland..this is all on Dalic, he’s the coach he’s obviously knows it why doesn’t he work on it
Poland was meant to win this game to make more money for UEFA (more fans=more money). Croatia played quite well under the circumstances. With the Portugal/Scotland draw, the result should be enough.
As bad as that red card call was, this wasn’t some fix.
We were a complete disaster defensively (as usual) and Poland deserved all their goals.
3 games out for liva??
I thought it’s only 1?
Can it be overturned to not have a suspension
3 games missing for that would be some salt in the wound and not the good Adriatic salt
Suspensions are reversible. Direct red cards are reviewable by VAR, but the ref said no!
Those 6 min and 3 goals in H1 some of the most euphoric football we’ve seen in a long time
Over all very entertaining match
All thanks to our talented youth.
Yeah the old man and i were really impressed all the young guys getting the goals was really great to see.
When talking about last minute goals that kill us we should also included those right before HT
Today and Spain last Euros
1. first goal by Poland was after a foul on Matanovic
2. second goal by Poland was after an assist by player on the ground who used his hand to stop Modric from getting to the ball
3. red card for Liva was never a red
Daylight robbery! where is VAR and why are the refs always so incompetent.
Bullshit call – daylight robbery. Where’s he supposed to put his leg?
This team is a mess. No ability to hold a 3-1 lead against POLAND? Just lock that down against an offensively inept side and your cruising. Instead they continue to be unable to hold a lead and then open themselves up to god awful officiating. They NEVER learn. Morons.
The best part was going down a man, and subbing out our CB.
So I guess when you kick a ball, you have to either 1) make sure no opponent is near you that you can make contact with or 2) amputate your kicking leg as soon as you make contact with the ball to avoid contact. Utterly ridiculous call, and of course VAR won’t overturn it. When it is a “judgement” call, in the eye of the beholder of the officials, Croatia will ALWAYS get fucked. In the last game, they had to get the VAR call, because it wasn’t a judgment call, the Scottish guy was offside.
One of the worst calls i’ve seen in years
Guess w Livakovic missing next 3 games we’ll have to call up Pandur
Why erlic off and not perisic
Or karma whose invisible last 2 games
Playing for the win instead of settling for a draw?
Kramaric our worst player today.
Idiotic substitution as always
What a shock (not a shock)
Our keeper from Bundesliga gets brought on
Not the one from Cyprus
Even though he barely played, I didn’t like that Labrovic stayed on his line when that cross came over.
Var saved us last game
This time screws us (we don’t even get a var to make sure it is red – unreal)
Unbelievable. Guess you have to watch when you follow through when kicking the ball?!?! Atrocious call. Fix is on.
What a joke
All this new young blood means nothing. If you give up three goals to a mediocre Poland team, it doesn’t matter. Croatia has zero good defenders, and that includes Gvardiol.
Gvardiol didn’t suddenly become bad defensively (after being the best CB at the last World Cup).
It’s on the coach to play the right formation and direct how he wants his defenders to play.
Why did he take out Duje from the starting eleven?
Why are BOTH Gvardiol and Šutalo pushing forward?
Why are we sticking with Perišić and Sosa for a full 90 minutes each if neither can defend?
Why do choose to ONLY play four at the back and now suddenly it’s ONLY three at the back?
Dalić has been lost since the beginning of the Euros and is just going to throw the entire offense and defense onto Modrić and Kova’s shoulders.
That’s why I said u need to have a new man glued to RL for rest of game
So dumb
A lot of people on this site could not stand Lovren and Vida but they were effective for a long time. Look at our defense since they left including the last minute goals we give up all the time.
How about Orsic and Baturina together. That tandem can fly.
Igor w hands on the head after 60th min shot
This is 2nd time seen him do it
Needs to stop as ball still in play and game is live
When lewandawski comes on
Dalic should bring on Jakic Moro or Mario p w instructions to be glued to him and follow him around the pitch rest of game
Time to get Perišić out of there. Put in Ćaleta-Car and go with 4 center backs. Lock this down.
Also watching back that second goal:
https://streamff.com/v/8da7a91f
Wtf is Perisic doing? he’s suppose to be our “right wing back”, why is he out of position all the way on the other side of the field
He did the same thing last game.
He does what he wants.
Dalić is just a passenger.
Croatia’s defence is awful. Probably the worst it’s ever been. And that offsets the good with the front 6 or 7. To give up 2 goals in one half (should have been 3) to a shitty Polish team, without Lewandowski, is sad.
Agree our defence is awful, they almost equalized if not for Livakovic.
Are people really struggling to find streams these days? It is so easy now, just bookmark vipleague.im like the rest of us. Here you go for the game you lazy so and so’s.
https://vipleague.im/football/poland-vs-croatia-streaming-link-1
Also, Portugal not beating Scotland yet… Serbs losing which is of course good..
Well, that was an exciting half, fun to watch! Great to see the young guys getting the goals. Watching it too, i noticed Luka not having to do as much as he usually does, we weren’t as reliant on him and asking poor 38/39 year old Luka to do everything, lol, which i found really encouraging. There was a better spread of effort and control amongst the team. Generally good to watch i thought. I missed the first 5 mins (and their goal) but that 6-7 minutes where we scored three was pretty dynamic, inspiring stuff.
WTF
PERISIC EXCHANGED HIS SHIRT WITH POLISH PLAYER
AT THE HALF-TIME WHISTLE
THEY WALKED OFF WITH EACH OTHER’S JERSEY
COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE
DO IT IN THE TUNNEL WHERE NO CAMERAS CAN PICK UP
PERISIC KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT SIGNAL THIS SENDS
IF DALIC SAW THIS HE NEEDS TO TAKE HIM OFF HT
AND BAN PERISIC FROM THE TEAM ONCE AND FOR ALL
Poles are pretty physical, would like to see Matanovic be a bit stronger in the hold up play
Jesus what’s happened to our mental fortitude?
Absolutely collapsing after letting in that 3-2 goal… should’ve been tied if not for Liva
Ik there’s a lot of talk about Vuskovic’s offensive skills lately but is he sound defensively as well? If we we definitely could use him in the squad, we are making way too many errors in the back end
If y’all need a stream 😉
https://next.soccerstreams100.io/event/uefa-nations/croatia-vs-poland-live-soccer-stats/698981
Defense not looking good.
Saw Baturina life in Zagreb. Bloody kid is fast . This is what we need – quick give and goes and shot after shot. We could get 30 shots or more.
Maybe we see some sort Marco action on the wings in second half
Been saying it for a year. He finally puts the kids in and let’s them run. Unfortunately, Dalic may stick around longer with the kids flying. Oh well, great to see the kids having fun . Run up the score if we can. Goal differential I’m sure is a tie factor.
Ugh no luck with streams. Awesome news about the goal
Dalic is forced to play the youth with kova giving birth and Broz leaving
But it’s good cause it will force him to try
Having the sucic boys and baturina come up will maybe say push to try something like vuskovic earlier then otherwise would have
Brozović would still be starting if it was up to Dalić.
I am so glad Dalic is finally giving younger players a chance
Baturina and Sucic what a connection!!! Thank for Dalic for finally playing the young guys
Well the poles have blown their load
Wow three goals in six minutes. Explosive.
This is more like it!! dinamo boys!!
That’s a nice one two play that
Don’t expect that from other sucic
What’s happening haha
Horrible decisive breakdown on that first goal… old man perisic got caught ball watching while his man got free and scored.
But wow what a strike from Sosa!
What a goal
Still a overrated player lol
He’s not overrated he is valued exactly as he is 😂
Sosa with an absolute beauty! Couldn’t be a more perfect strike
Soooooooosa!!
We have all these defenders who can’t defend to the point I am missing Lovren
Life is going to difficult post modric era
Croatia has an innate ability to make shitty teams look better than they are. Happens all the time.
This is how Poland started off in their last match against Portugal also, full steam… let’s see what happens when they tire out
Reminds me of Canada WC match
Does anyone have a streaming link?
https://crackstreams.dev/poland-vs-croatia/
Can this team get any more comical
Links ?
Anybody know what channel is showing the match?
You can watch it on YouTube viaplay
It was on Fox sports for me but I had to illegally stream
https://crackstreams.dev/poland-vs-croatia/
Gvardiol and vuskovic will turn into left winger and striker 😉
But seriously, talk about two defenders who obviously have a nose for goal
Gvardiol was HORRIBLE again Scotland. I hope he has his head on straight today.
Hey nerds it’s starting to get cold here in Zagorje currently 13.4c, but moving here from L.A. was the best decision ever. Poland is going to be a tough match, it will be interesting to see who shows up to play.
Mishko
Tell me why the best decision. I’m thinking of moving as well.
Gvardiol and Sucic due for a bounce back performance.
Seems like we have quite a few strikers amongst the young players that are promising now.
Beljo seems to come back in scoring form, Ivanovic, Matanovic, Durdov and am probably forgetting a few haha
How beautiful would it be if someday we didn’t even know which one we wanna choose cause we have too many good ones haha
Ljubicic, Kulenovic, Frigan, Matanovic are all having good seasons.
Crnac and Simic are lagging behind, but are getting minutes at least.
There are quite a few young strikers. We just need one to pan out for us.
Bummer, I work and can’t watch it and can’t follow the comments on here so plz enjoy the match for me yall
Was tempted to add Vuskovic to the list lmao
U21 FT Croatia 3 v Greece 2
On Thursday draw for the play offs.
per Anonymous analyze DCC was a disaster last game – Dalit always listen Anonymous – DCC dropped Erlic in
Anyone who said DCC was good last game stop give up soccer and def stop posting – ur a moron !!!
Baturina and p sucic – also per anonymous recommendation
Perisic in so he can get a goal to surpass Mandzukic for 2nd
Sosa was very good last game so of course he’s still in
No other changes
Look fwd to seeing the wingers w their picket signs along the touch line all match
#EveryWingerMatters
U21 Croatia 3 – Greece 2
Luka Vuskovic with a header from a corner 75 minute.
U21 Poland Germany 3 3
So Croatia can’t qualify directly unless they make up c10 GD
They were up 2-0 but let in two goals in extra time first half so 2 2
Qualify playoffs win or draw
HT Croatia 2 v Greece 2
We were leading 2 – 0 with goals from Kacavenda and Beljo and then in stoppage time of the first half Greece score two goals in 43 and 44 minute. Unbelievable.
Poland Germany 3 3 done
So unless make up c10 GD you in 2nd half best case playoffs
How was Vuskovic on the 2 against ?
We got some really good teenage prospects here with Roko Mijatovic and Ljubo Puljic being 16 and 17 years old, but both starting for Bayern Munich’s U19 team already.
Add Bruno Durdov and Luka Vuskovic to that, and we may have a golden generation to add to our bronze generation and silver generation.
Just need the Brazilian (Belinho) to pan out, and UEFA will give us the World Cup Gold for successfully implementing DEI, ha ha.
CroatianFootballScout2 posted twitter list of German born in u17 it’s several players (at least 5)
Adjacent benefit Igor starting is this long list of dispora born Germany / elsewhere (1 guy Sweden which we’ve never got b4) is they see “if im good enough and keep pushing I can play myself on team at early age” – very strong selling point
All eggs not just on belinho – we also have Francis, Vajda and Kante – plus others 😊
Realistically – if 1 player from each age group ends up being good enough – that’s great
Anything additional ie more than 1 would be outstanding
U17
Croatia 3-1
From HNS.Youth IG
If this Marijan Budimir continues such outstanding results at U17 level – surely he’l move up the pecking order – pressure is on Olic – don’t f it up vs. Greece today
“Čestitam dečkima na velikoj pobjedi, baš kao i članovima stručnog stožera, koji su zaslužni za odličnu pripremu utakmice. Igrači su ispoštovali sve ono što smo se dogovorili prije utakmice i odgovorili zahtjevima koje smo pred njih stavili, pogotovo na taktičkom planu. Odigrali su zrelo, s pobjedničkim gardom. Igrali smo protiv vrlo jakog protivnika, Nizozemska je prva na Uefinoj ljestvici U-17 reprezentacija. Na žalost, u prvoj utakmici protiv Albanije nismo ostvarili željeni cilj i pobijedili, ali ovaj put smo pokazali pravo lice. Drago mi je da smo još jednom dokazali da hrvatski nogomet ima svijetlu budućnost. Naravno, još nismo sve napravili, čeka nas izlučni kvalifikacijski turnir za plasman na #U17EURO. Nadam se da ćemo se vratiti u Albaniju”
🎙️ Marijan Budimir, izbornik Hrvatske U-17 nakon pobjede nad Nizozemskom i osvojenog prvog mjesta na kvalifikacijskom turniru u Albaniji 💪
Croatia U17 3-0 Netherlands
63 min gone
Very impressive given Netherlands confident at U17 (28.0) vs all the other teams eg croatia 9.667 (never seen anytime like it b4)
Ante –
Anonymous has reached 500 comments 😉
No doubt Nebojša going to have another mental breakdown
Love,
Anonymous
Clearly Dalic is a MASSIVE Tottenham Hotspur fan in particular their manager Ange Postecoglou – this quote from Dalic y’day is basically a rip-off of Ange’s “It’s who we are mate” re: their offensive / high-line focus (at all times / costs)
The truth always comes out in the end – we at least now know why he’s not doing his job and watching our own players (e.g. thinking Petar Sucic played vs. Bayern 9-2) bc he’s focused on big Ange / Spurs
#####
“We’ll play our style. We don’t know how to sit back and defend. According to some calculations, a draw would be enough for us, but if you play for a draw, you end up losing. We came here to compete and try to win. Our style is not to defend. We defended against Scotland and still conceded a goal, but it was offside.”
#####
Folks those that have access to Max TV at 18:00 hours Croatian time it’s the crucial match for our U21 v Greece in Karlovac. Need a draw for a spot in the play offs for the EURO. A win might be good enough for direct qualification? however we need some other results to go our way.
Also the U17s vs. Netherlands in the last game of Round 1 for the 2025 U17 Euros starts shortly – both will qualify into Round 2 – but Netherlands has by FAR the best coefficient of all the teams seeded (28.0 vs. Croatia’s 9.667) – so good test to see how Croatia does vs. the “best” (last game we beat Faroe Islands 7-0, not sure why U21s do the same when they played…)
Re: the U21s – as you say looks like it will be tough to qualify directly (even w a win) bc of GD / three other results have to go our way – if we win we’ll have 16 points so 3rd behind France b/c of GD +17 vs. Croatia’s +0
See “Ranking of second-placed teams”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_UEFA_European_Under-21_Championship_qualification#Ranking_of_second-placed_teams
Poland – they play 1st place Germany – they can’t catch Germany for 1st – so need them to lose today (a draw seems them grab 3rd as currently +14 GD vs. Croatia’s 0)
Switzerland – they play 1st place Romania – actually doesn’t matter what happens – if Switzerland lose or draw today (they don’t get 16 points) BUT if Switzerland wins today than Romania becomes 2nd place team with 13 points (deducting 6 points vs. Andorra)
Belgium – they play Hungary – can’t catch 1st place Spain – but they need to draw or lose today
Gonna get up early and watch this one with the old man so for the love of god can we not embarrass ourselves.
545am is not particularly early Iggy lol
it’s 4.45 for me