CROATIANSPORTS.COM

Uniting Croatian Fans Around The World

Croatia Survive Nations League Group On Final Day In 1-1 Portugal Draw, Book Ticket To Quarterfinals!

By 150 Comments

Croatia survive Portugal in 1-1 draw at Poljud; punch ticket to Nation League quarterfinals!

-Gvardiol scores equalizer from Jakić cross
-Kramaric, Budimir hit the post
-Awful formations from Dalić! Not a true winger in sight this campaign!

Much to discuss this winter! That’s for sure.

FINAL. 1-1 in Split. Croatia qualify for the Nations League quarterfinals after an awful campaign.

72′ What a save from Livaković!!! Mendes should have scored on the back post but Livi makes himself big and gets a piece of the ball to force a corner. However, Livaković in pain after being run into. He is hobbling but should stay in the game.

66′ GOOOOOOOOLLL!!! Gvardiol scores from the back posit. Jakić puts an absolutely perfect cross to him that only he can get to!

64′ SUB Matanović off. Budimir on.

63′ Well, that sucks. Would have been a beautiful goal by Gvardiol. He was off by a millimeter.

62′ Gvardiol with a wonderful header that hits the back of the net!!! But he looks offside. Going to VAR.

60′ SUB: Luka Sučić comes on for Ivan Perišić. No wingers in sight for this Croatian side, tonight or during this qualifying campaign.

58′ Matanović gets punched in the head by the Portuguese keeper after getting to the ball first. Could be a penalty but nothing is called by the referee.

49′ Perišić with a nice cross from the side. Deflected out for a corner. A little more life from Croatia.

46′ SUBS: Mario Pašalić comes off the bench fro Kovačić. Jakić in for Sosa. Not good. What is Dalić doing???

HT: Awful half from Croatia. It looks like they are playing for the draw, but Portugal are not. Dalić will need to figure out who can score him a goal. If this results holds and Scotland score one more goal, Croatia are out of Nations League in a group comprised of Portugal, Poland and Scotland. Not good.

45′ Leao 1v1 with Livaković and should have buried the goal. Should be 2-0. Croatia very lucky there.

40′ Gvardiol perfectly heads down a ball for Kramarić in the box and Krama rattles the ball of the left post. He had the keeper beat!

31′ A long ball from the midfield over the top to an onside Joao Felix. Felix takes a touch and megs Livaković to put Portugal up 1-0. At the moment, Croatia and Scotland are tied on points and goal differential. But Croatia still hold the uptime tiebreaker: more goals scored. Are we really going to go down to the wire in this group? Not good, guys.

30′ Leao giving the Croatian defense tons of trouble. He has a powerful shot from just inside the box but Gvardiol is able to get in there to block it. Not looking great so far for our Vatreni.

26′ Portugal controlling the game and definitely looking for a goal. Croatia only need a draw tonight in Split to progress. They cannot falter as Scotland are currently up on Poland 1-0.

8′ Matanović tries to put Kramarić on a break-away but his touch is a bit too much. The goalie makes an easy grab.

1′ Portugal knocking on the Croatia door early. Ball comes across the goal line but Sosa clears.

Dalić implementing a 3-4-3 with Perišić and Sosa as wingbacks. Matanović and Kramarić up top. Croatia looking for a draw or better against a Portugal side that has already qualified in order to book their ticket to the Nations League quarterfinals.

If Croatia do lose this match at Poljud tonight, they would still qualify for the quarterfinals IF Scotland does not beat Poland. Portugal have already sent some players home as this game is a mere formality for them. It means nothing.

  • That was difficult decision for Hodza

    Score, win the game and U21 get to Euros (which further promotes Olic, bringing him one step closer to taking Dalic’s job)

    Miss (which further safeguards Dalic’s position post WC 2026 i.e. by Olic being a failure)

    If Dalic now calls up Hodza we’ll know which one it was

    Reply

  • Let’s face it. The team is not very good. If Portugal plays their A team we lose that game easily. DCC is slow and would get exposed all day by a better team.

    Things will improve once we get Stanisic & Jura back. No choice we need Gvardi to play CB. We are not Man City and Dalic is not Pep.

    We currently have strange mix of old experienced players and young players learning gaining experience. Not enough mid ages players who have the experience playing top football and are near their prime. We also have a bad mix of old and slow players. Gvardi looks like the fastest player on the team.

    Watch Baturina play in the Champions League and compare to where Dalic plays him. He is not a left winger and will never be.

    Reply

    • To be fair, we hit the post three times and hit the crossbar once.
      Gvardiol had his first goal called back (due to his shoulder being offside) and Pašalić missed a breakaway that any other player would have scored.

      The team played a lot better when we fixed the formation, and when we subbed in Luka Sučić and Ante Budimir.

      The issue is Dalić simply not being able to figure things out in the first half, which had led to our team falling behind in 8 or the last 9 games.

      I agree that we need to limit the playing time of these slow and passive players (like Sosa and Perišić).

      Reply

    • It’s sports, not math. Didn’t we play their A team only a couple months ago — in Portugal — and look decent in that 2-1 loss?

      Reply

      • Not really.

        We went down quickly 2-0 and Portugal took their foot off the gas, and we finally started playing better and score.

        The issue of constantly losing the first half to every single team needs to stop.

        Reply

  • U21s lose at home to Georgia.

    That’s okay. It’s just the U21s.

    The bigger benefit is Olić had a very easy path to the Euros, and failed miserably (requiring multiple PK goals to get by teams like the Faroe Islands).

    Hopefully he gets tossed into the garbage bin with the rest of the uhljebi (like Šimunić and Bišćan).

    On to the next one.

    Reply

  • It’s Croatia, always playing down to their opponents. We had an “easy” group for Nations League and were a goal away from getting beat out by Scotland, who stinks. That’s why no matter who we get in the WC qualifying draw next month, you know it ain’t going to be easy. Never is with Croatia.

    Reply

    • Yes, agree it won’t be easy. WC Qualifying draw is in December but apparently, we won’t know which group we are in till the QFs of NL are played in March. It will depend on where we finish in the NL.

      For the draw they will use NL Rank 1, NL Rank 2 and so on.
      Absolutely weird.

      Reply

    • Dalić is still light years ahead of Olić.

      Dalić is slow to make necessary changes, and relies too heavily on his veterans… but he eventually logs in here and listens to everyone on this message board. Even though he wasted our Euros and Nations league games with his stupid formations… I think he’s finally realizing that guys like Luka Sučič and Budimir need to start and Perišić needs to be benched. Hoping he can get these lineups right early, so we can end this terrible first half futility streak (falling behind in 8 of 9 games)…but our second half play has improved these past couple of games.

      Olić, on the other hand, a horrific record as a coach and has been hanging around the HNS for employment for way too long.
      You need to keep opportunists like this faaar away from the National Team.
      He had multiple chances to prove himself as a HNL coach, but chose to hang around as an assistant instead (hoping to fail upwards into the head coaching role).

      No former player should EVER be considered for the head coaching position ever again (without at least a decade of club coaching experience).

      Reply

    • I agree with you. We are the cardiac kids! But give Coach Dalić some credit where credit is due. He has gone where no Croatia coach has gone to- not counting the great Miroslav Blazevic. Viva Zlatko!

      Reply

  • Franko Kolic our goalkeeper saves the first spot kick.
    Gabriel Vidovic scores 1 – 0
    Georgia scores 1 – 1
    Frigan scores 2 – 1 Croatia
    Georgia scores 2 – 2
    Stojkovic scores 3 – 2 Croatia
    Georgia scores 3 – 3
    Vuskovic scores 4 – 3
    Georgia scores 4 – 4

    Hodza to win it – miss goalkeeper makes a save

    Georgia scores 5 – 4
    Biuk scores 5 – 5
    Georgia scores 6 – 5
    Soticek scores 6 – 6
    Georgia scores 7 – 6
    Badelj misses and we are out.

    Reply

  • Nice set play by Georgia

    But

    Our defense was completely sleeping their player was wide open on flank for the pass

    Vuskovic came over but probably should have done more to block the shot ie dived instead of letting the player get the shot over

    Reply

    • Just turned on for Beljo goal

      Do they have to score another (2-2 aggregate than away goals ?)

      Olic showing off on touchline for Rustic

      Reply

  • HT U21 Croatia 1 v Georgia 1

    Not looking good.
    No VAR we should have had a penalty for handball in the box but the Italian ref did not see it?

    Reply

  • U21 Croatia 1 v Georgia 1 after 28 min.
    Shot from distance into left top corner.

    Dalic, Pletikosa and Kustic in attendance.

    Reply

  • I didn’t watch the game so I can’t comment. As always good to make it through for nothing but watching more and more good exposure for the young kids to develop
    They are the future

    I’m super happy to hear about Jakic apparently strong play

    I’ve been mentioning his name her for a couple of years as one I think for a stable type versatile guy

    He was starting for Frankfurt at 3 at the back on the right in champions league. So surely he had to have some qualities

    Again it’s really unfortunate we have to stick guys in the wrong spots
    Both pjaca and young pasalic have had limited time for us but I don’t believe either especially pjaca have shown a lot of negative to say wow he doesn’t deserve more time. I think quite the opposite

    But whatever, we aren’t the coaches

    As others have said and I keep saying it, I know budimir isn’t zlatan but again. He shows he can get open, not afraid to look for the dirty spots and obviously can score well for a lower level Spanish team
    He is not a spring chicken but is in fine form still

    Sure I love to see the younger guys getting some time
    And I like matanovic
    But he hasn’t shown a ton more at club level then say beljo, maybe even ljubicic and whoever else I may be missing

    Musa maybe had a few missed opportunities but again, he shows he can score. Maybe he is limited in how he scores but he can score

    But ya hard to score without proper wing service….

    But so it’s been a disappointing campaign as a whole but we are here still , so again a huge positive

    We are in top wc seed group. Huge perk

    We did discover that most likely the sucic boys and baturina Will lost likely be above average and potentially pushing world class at some point later on

    So lots of goods

    The obvious cons is dalic will push Perisic while still having service and he is one of the best and most impactful guys in the repka ever but will push it till it really bites us unfortunately

    Reply

  • Folks, sorry for perhaps being a bit dense, but what was the purpose of the “Cigani” chant twice early in the match?

    The last time I heard it earlier this year, we had a Romanian referee. This time it was an Italian referee with a Portuguese opponent.

    Can anyone shed some light on what that was all about?

    Reply

  • Disappointing first half its hard to watch Dalic always playing catch up, were always all over the place. I think we have seen enough that 3 at the back isn’t going to work unfortunately. we simply don’t have the full backs even when stanisic comes back sosa is a weak link and we will always be one injury away from not being able to support that system. Perisic and sosa are not starter’s, gvardiol has no choice but to play left back we have no other options.

    Currently i feel like we are like england in the 2000’s with weak coaching and forcing players. I think modric and kovacic are weak tandem in the middle ideally modric would retire dalic would resign and we can move on. I know most wont agree but that’s just how i see it. We see the benifets of a fiesty player like jakic and i think the team needs a proper 6 next to kovacic. I would play baturina on one wing as he can at least attack players and i would start sucic in the middle above kova and a # 6 like jakic/moro. I would start budimir and go through all the croatians in the world for the last winger i would start with m.pasalic.

    I think 4-2-3-1 is the system we should go with as after a good try i feel confident 3-5-2 isn’t going to work. you can see in the first half perisic and sosa scared which made us sit back and portugal were free with space.

    However since i know dalic will go with status co this is what dalic should do.

    ………………………………………………Livakovic……………………………………………………..

    …………stanisic……………….Sutalo ………….D-CC……………..Gvardiol………………………

    ……………………………………..Modric………………Kovacic……………………………………

    …….L.sucic………………………………Kramaric……………………………………..Baturina…….

    …………………………………………………Budimir…………………………………………………………

    Reply

  • Too bad there is no way to mute the dumbasses that post political stuff on here. It’s Croatiansports.com, not mypolitics.com. Anyone with common sense knows both extreme sides in Canada and the US suck, at varying degrees. The left and right middle are drowned out by these numbskulls.

    Reply

      • Nope, not fun and games at all. The soccer is the fun and games. Good thing there are no Croatia games for a while anyway, so no Croatiasports.com for a while, and hence no “fun and games”.

        Reply

  • What is interesting is everyone was constantly calling for the new faces

    They got them this cycle. A lot of Baturina, the Sucic cousins, Matanovic, Sutalo etc etc

    And shockingly people then aren’t pleased with the results when you integrate in a bunch of HNL or bench level players

    It is clear Modric is still by far the best player for Croatia, which is shocking and tough to believe. It’s interesting to see just how much more consistent, creative, hard working than the young players are.

    Baturina does some fancy dribbling but he’s shown himself as lazy.

    Sucic shows strength, a little bit of trickiness and a rocket for a foot… but also slow.

    Neither will be able to replace Modric or Kovacic to keep croatia’s possession style of play alive.

    That risks leaving Croatia with no identity in the future.

    Overall I was perfectly content with this champions league campaign. They played in line as expected, which continues to be in the 10-15 range of European teams.

    Reply

    • From the KO you could tell that Serbia were the better side, stronger, faster and technically superior. Still, we have qualified to the next round following wins over Armenia (4 -0) and somewhat lucky win over Belarus (2 -0).

      Reply

  • U19

    At ’50

    Serbia 3 – Croatia 0

    As previewed, this is what happens when you have a Croatian Serb Sinisa Orescanin coaching Croatia against Serbia

    Anyone w/ 2 brain cells sees the “conflict of interest” (best case)

    Well done HNS

    Sad

    Reply

    • Milos Jovicic pulled after 45′ min for Durdov

      Did HNS vet his true allegiance ?

      All u have to do is look who he is following on IG….

      Reply

      • Also pulled at the half

        Matija Subotic (Lokomotiva)

        U know the 17 y.o. nobody every heard of

        Sinisa the Saboteur

        Reply

  • Miocic posted on IG finally an hour ago

    He’s alive and well

    Heartfelt posted to wrap it

    Beating Werdum in Brazil to take the title for the first time will be etched in every Croatians psyche for generations to come

    Now that he has some free time – maybe Dalic can invite him to become another assistant coach – rumours is that he loves the Wingers Union😊

    #EveryWingerMattersSaidMiocic

    Reply

  • Good to see some aggressiveness in that second half. Probably the first time I’ve seen this group of defenders actually commit a cynical foul or attempt to physically intimidate an opposition striker.

    I don’t think Matanovic is ready for this level, at least not as a starter and not while we have Budimir available.

    Reply

  • Good to see some aggressiveness in that second half. Probably the first time I’ve seen this group of defenders actually commit a cynical foul or attempt to physically intimidate an opposition striker.

    I don’t think Matanovic is ready for this level, at least not as a starter and not while we have Budimir available.

    Reply

  • Prob most important of all – we will now def be in pot 1 for WC 2026 qualification draw.

    The possibility of being drawn with another top seed and then maybe missing out on WC while it is in United States (maybe Canada – hopefully not Mexico for us) is def a bigger negative, than any positive of making to the QFs of the nation’s league.

    Reply

  • Portugal B team was hungry and fast. The A team would have mailed it in.

    We finally played through the final whistle.

    Our depth is impressive.

    Could you imagine if had just one winger ?!

    Reply

  • The second half was so good that it made me wonder: did Ćorluka take over the coaching at half-time? I mean, it definitely seemed like someone who really knows football, rather than the Dalić we all know. The substitutions were all timely and were all very effective. The defense was mostly tight, and the counterattacks were dangerous. No short corners were taken. Everything just started to work, and who was stepping up with iPad in hand giving orders to the field? Vedran Ćorluka. Let’s hope Croatia plays every minute from now on like the second half of this game.

    Reply

    • I doubt it.

      We started to play, after we went down a goal and it became known that we were currently behind Scotland.

      Again, this is an ongoing issue with Dalic, where he cannot seem to motivate these guys to play in the first half.

      We (yet again) lost the first half.

      In 8 of our last 9 competitive matches, we’ve allowed the opposing team to score first.

      Reply

      • Agree it would be nice if he could get the tactics and team selections correct from the first whistle rather than having to change things in the second half and as you say having to come from behind.

        Reply

  • Probably fair result in the end. Poor first half, way too cautious and not enough aggression. Perisic and Sosa not enough going forward.

    Credit to Dalic for changing formation and going back to four at the back and bringing on Jakic who was outstanding. Luka Sucic also changed things when he came on for Perisic. Gvardiol also for once very solid in defence and with a crucial goal. This was his best performance for the national team in a very long time.

    Budimir unlucky not to score, but in reality, should have scored when he latched on the loose ball following Sucic shot and save by the goalkeeper. Livakovic with a superb save in the second half when 1 – 1.

    Draw for the QF’s on Friday. It will be France, Spain or Germany with the first leg at home.

    Reply

    • Perisic and Sosa need to be benched.

      Sosa only knows how to pass the ball backwards. In the entire first half, he sent in ONE cross. Everything else was a backpass. Same as last game. He’s not worth playing 45+ minutes if that is all he can do.

      Budimir needs to get more chances to start.
      I like that Dalic is starting to play the young guys, but it’s funny how he’s going overboard with Matanovic (when we actually have a starting La Liga striker available to play).

      Budimir won every single long ball that went his way. We really need to start him, and actually try some wingers with him out there.

      Since Luka Sucic is aggressive with his crosses, corners and shots from distance…the two of them starting together is a winning combination. They actually combined to create the go-ahead goals against Albania and Italy at the Euros…and yet we’ve never really seen them together on the field anymore after that.

      I would just start Luka Sucic on the wing, since we’re not going to start actual wingers anyway.

      Reply

      • This issue is Budimir is essentially 35 at the WC in 2026. Budimir is clearly better now, but we also need to build for the WC, unless we want two 35 year-olds up front.

        Reply

        • True.

          But you could argue that Budimir las “low-mileage” and only recently had his career take off.
          He was mostly a bench player throughout his 20s, so the wear and tear may be low.

          I agree with building for the World Cup, which is why we need to give Martin Baturina equal playing time as Kramaric in that favored spot behind the striker.

          In case there’s a sudden dropoff in Krama’s ability, you know what you have in Baturina there for the World Cup.

          Same goes for Luka Sucic playing some central midfield in place of Modric.

          We can continue to try out guys like Matanovic, Kulenovic and Beljo as a ‘tall striker’ replacement for Budimir (in the last 20 minutes of each game off the bench). This would give us that security if Budimir’s game suddenly ages.

          Reply

    • All honesty brother I don’t think we have a chance against any of those three . Still a lot of things wrong with the team . We have talented team but they are not clicking on all cylinders. Bad crosses poor defending giving up goals late in the game . We need to use games like this to work the kinks out. We are still a long way off from being a serious contender. We need to be better. We still have not found our striker

      Reply

      • I think Budimir is a good interim striker IF we just bite the bullet and start both Baturina and Luka Sucic on the wing.

        They’re not traditional wingers, but they’re both hungry and aggressive.

        I’ve noticed that when Luka Sucic and Budimir are on the field together, then good things happen. They seem to compliment each other very well. Luka Sucic always takes accurate shots from a distance (with Budimir up front to tap in any rebounds) and Luka Sucic always takes a proper corner (with Budimir in the middle ready for the header).

        Same as Baturina and Petar Sucic (due to their Dinamo chemistry they have together).

        We should probably look to start a lineup with both Krama/Budimir playing up top, and Luka Sucic and Martin Baturina on the wings (with Kova/Modric/PSucic in central midfield).

        This would still be a three and the back setup, but we can always swap out one of the forwards or wingers for a fourth backline player if needed.

        We definitely need to stop starting Sosa and Perisic.

        Reply

  • I think that Jakic has cemented his place as the energy/heart guy.

    Budimir has to be our starting striker.

    Moro actually looked ok.

    Even though he scored, there’s something about Gvardiol’s play lately that seems too lackadaisical.

    I love that Luka Sucic is an outside of the box threat.

    Livakovic with the big save, but from that angle, you should always save that. The goal he conceded through his legs was not pretty.

    Perisic is at best a substitute. With that being said, what an absolutely disgraceful display from the home crowd. If he was in Split playing for PSV, I get it, go to town. But booing him while wearing the checkers is disgusting.

    Reply

    • Coach Zlatko did what he had to do to advance. It may not have been pretty, but that has been the Zlatko Dalic era. He has aged me watching these games. He did experimenting in these last 6 games. We will see in March!

      Reply

  • Any more questions / comments re: Anonymous astute observation / conclusion that Baturina is a Packaged Deal with Petar Sucic

    Take Petar Sucic away and 4 times in last 2 months he’s been a ghost

    Never doubt Anonymous

    Reply

    • We have to doubt Anonymous because Anonymous kept putting down Nikola Moro and his one cap, but Moro played impeccably in his second cap and helped Croatia keep the draw, nearly helped Croatia get the win through Budimir.

      Reply

    • You may be correct at this stage of development for him. Perhaps another interesting analogy would be Mislav Orsic; when you take Dinamo or Modri away from him. Hope he is getting to full recovery.

      Reply

    • Easy wins.

      Dalic is playing 4D chess, and deliberately has us playing bad so that they don’t see his cards for the quarterfinals in March.

      If I’m one of these teams, I don’t know what to expect.

      Reply

  • Despite a coach that had no formations or plans other than play and pray. Must be our prayers that got us through, there was no semblance of formation as Ante clearly pointed out. The 2nd half was like night and day. What does it take to have that kind of effort?

    Reply

    • Realizing at halftime that you are about to lose your quarterfinal spot to 51st ranked Scotland, while only having to avoid a loss to Portugal’s B team.

      Reply

  • Srna vs. Macedonia 2007

    ***.dailymotion.com/video/x3t3gv

    Bilic benched him in first half – Srna was p*ssed off when he came on 2nd half – he completely dominated / ran for 45 minutes straight – got a goal and assist on Eduardo’s winner

    After the game Bilic said he made a mistake benching him in first half and wouldn’t do it again

    This is how Jakic played today

    Reply

    • Going forward, Budimir has to start, Matanović with fresh legs off the bench. Sucic to start, Perisic on the beach. Not a typo, beach, not bench. Thanks to Perišić for all of his contributions, but it’s time.

      Reply

  • Well, obviously a much, much better second half! Arguably we should’ve won hitting the post a few times etc. And for once we did it guys: we completed a game without a red card or conceding a goal in the last minutes ! lol

    Reply

  • Jakic continues to be outstanding

    If Dalic doesn’t bring him on at HT not sure we’d turn it around

    Jakic by far MOTM

    Reminds of Srna vs Macedonia 2006 when Bilic benched him first half and Srna came out for 2nd half and had one of the best games of his life (none stop running for 45 min)

    Reply

  • Baturina completely anonymous in 2nd half – complete ghost – maybe a couple touches max

    I did tell you he needs Petar Sucic next to him – that they are a packaged deal

    That’s now 4 data points in last 2 months

    Reply

  • That header by Igor

    Is the bravest play by far we’ve seen by #9 since Mandzukic vs. Pickford

    Stop hating on Igor – he is a beast and will come due

    OMG Dalic pulling Perisic for Luka Sucic – here we go

    Jakic some of the best RB we’ve ever had since coming on since vintage / prime Srna – incredible

    Reply

  • Poland has scored to tie Scotland. That ties Croatia in the standings but Poland’s goal differential is much worse than ours.

    Reply

  • The Team has “split” from Split so far. Ha ha sadly! Come on guys you can do so much better. You’re home make it so.

    Reply

  • Based on the current standings, Croatia is still ahead on more goals scored than Scotland but if Scotland or Portugal score another goal, we are out of the quarter-finals.

    Reply

  • A few minutes before the Portugal goal I was screaming at my TV about Matanovic just jogging out there. If a 21 year old forward can’t run, he shouldn’t be on the field. If you watch the goal, right before the beautiful pass to Felix, Matanovic let’s up on the press and allows Vitinha to calmly turn around and do the damage.

    Reply

  • Glad to see the players want Dalic out as much as I do. This is what we have been getting for a month now as Maminjo pointed out. Time has come for a change.

    Reply

  • So even if the results stay the same at this match and Scotland match, we still go through?

    If Portgual finished their chances we would be down 3-4 goals…We have a good team but i think we need to play with each other more to work up the chemistry.

    We do have to ask questions about the role Perisic plays on the national team. Also, Sutalo as a defender hasn’t been solid for us. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Gvardiol developed more as a cb instead of playing on the side.

    Reply

  • Absolute dogshit half from us, painful to look at, other than the few minutes after their goal where we decided to actually try and play for a second, then our guys all remembered to go back to being utterly disinterested..

    Reply

  • The booing for Perisic is getting annoying. Its understandable if they do it once or twice but all the time isn’t good for the team.

    I don’t understand why we don’t let Kramaric shoot more he seems to be the only one with a foot for goal. Also, we need to start shooting outside the box more instead of trying to pass it into the goal…

    Reply

    • I wonder if him being on the field affects us in a defensive way? he seems to be offensive minded player and with Modric on the field we probably need players that can track back.

      Reply

  • As I mentioned in the other thread idk why Budimir isn’t starting instead of Matanovic.

    Matanovic has shown that his finishing needs work and he’s not even getting any minutes with his club team.

    Reply

    • One would think with inserting Sosa and Perisic that it would be an automatic Budimir start! Stats are stats and he performs at the highest level in La Liga. Is my logic flawed!?

      Reply

  • We probably should have started the veterans against Scotland and got the job done but it was a good idea from Dalic to try the youngsters. However, I have a feeling that after the result against Scotland with the youngsters that we will see the veterans play until 2050 :).

    The commentator said that all Croatia needs is a tie and we are through even if Scotland beats Poland?

    Reply
    • >
    Verified by MonsterInsights