94′. GOAL Portual. 2-1. Two Croatian defenders. One is Gvardiol and they absolutely make a mess of the situation. How the hell did Portugal score there. Kramarić comes on. Fucken hell.
90′ SUB. Vlašić comes off for Gvardiol. We still have Marco Pašalić and Musa in the tank for extra time if we get there.
87′ Marioooo!!! PAšalić has a half free header in the box but heads wide. Great chance.
81′ Petar Sučić goes 1v1 with the keeper and bags the goal! But it is ruled off by half a foot by VAR. Just offside. But Croatia is cooking this 2nd half. This is some good football!
76′ KOVVVVAAAA. He whips in a perfect shot the clanks off the right post and then gets it again at the top of the box and rifles in another one. Nice save by the keeper for a corner.
68′ SUB. Baturina out for Mario Pašalić.
68′ Portugal is awarded the penalty and Ronaldo has Livaković go the wrong way. 1-1. Dumb, we completely gave them the ball, bad pass. Such a momentum killer.
65′ VAR check for Portugal. Vlašić holds the player and they gift Portugal a penalty. Jesus Christ the back and forth in this match. Ronaldo vs. Livaković.
60′ Still 1-0 after a VAR check. Ronaldo chips Livaković after a long ball for the goal. Linesman puts the flag up. VAR check is over. Ronaldo off by mere millimeters.
55′ Leao rocks the crossbar with a shot. Unlucky to score. Still 1-0 Croatia.
53′ GOOOOOOALLLL!!!!! 1-0 Croatia! Stanišić whips it across the box. Perišić cooly takes it down on the far side of the box and slots home. BOOM!
46′ SUB. Matanović comes on for Budimir in a straight #9 swap.
HT: Portugal the far more dangerous team in the 1st half with four shots, six corners and 69% ball possession. Croatia lucky not to have conceded. However, I know Dalić is happy with 0-0 at halftime. Not sure what subs to make. Budimir not getting much service. I would like a little bit more wing play. Take Budimir and Vlašić out for Musa and Marco Pašalić. It’s a shame Gvardiol is hurt, a healthy Gvardiol would do us so good right now.
36′ Ref calling all the ticks tack fouls on Croatia but nothing on Portugal. Pathetic.
15′ Free Portugal header in the box following a corner but it goes well overt the crossbar. That easily could have scored.
12′ Ronaldo lines up a free kick from 30 yards out but bangs it into the wall.
5′ Portugal on the front foot out of the gate! Leao comes down the left flanks and finds his guy in the box. Should have been a goal but Livaković makes the save to keep it 0-0.
Here we go! It’s win or go home from here on out at the 2026 World Cup!
I’m excited for this Croatia vs. Portugal Round of 32 clash in Toronto. Why? Our beloved Vatreni have yet to string together an attractive 90 minutes of football the entire tournament. The first half against England was great! The Panama match was disappointing with fans left wanting more. And the Ghana game was a chess match jockeying for group position.
And I love that because we haven’t seen Croatia play their best game yet and I have a feeing it will come against Portugal. I’m looking for Dalić to play our best all-around formation which would live in a 4-5-1. If Gvardiol does get the nod in the starting XI, I have a feeling he will be moved to a CB roll to minimize movement against Portuguese opposition running right at him. Remember, it’s clear as day that Gvardiol is nowhere near 100% after breaking his leg in January. Modrić and Petar Sučić must start as the CDM tandem with Kova starting on the bench. I would love to see Marco Pašalić start on the right wing to give Croatia width and 1v1 power on the wing. Don’t worry about his breakaway miss versus Panama…it only means he will need to make up for it.
I expect Budimir to start as the #9 in this match after scoring against Panama. Baturina will surely start at the #10 as he has been Croatia’s best player this tournament alongside Dominik Livaković.
Official lineups will be posted one hour before kickoff…
I feel hns filing won’t have the same impact as trump and a team of White House lawyers
The fact remains, the Croatia call was wrong.
Whether it was corruption or incompetent is unknown.
For those who think there is an inner circle of influence, the red card rescinding makes you feel like they aren’t even hiding it anymore.
Bottom line though is no one cares about croatia so the story will quickly be forgotten
100%
But HNS hasn’t done Croatia any favours
They waited 4 days
They conceded “the decision was made simply because the sensor indicated that it had.” – lol – they aren’t questioning the validity of the tech – couldn’t Rimac give them a bullet or two on why the technology didn’t/doesn’t work ?
And
Worst of all ?
They only asked for a “explanation” LMAO
What a bunch of MORONS
This does more DAMAGE to Croatia – FIFA knows they can keep f-ing them around and at worst they will get a request for an “explanation”
The “ask” should have been submitted 5 minutes after the final whistle – and DEMANDED the match resumes at 2-2 ASAP
And the team should have been kept in the hotel – until resolved
Instead, HNS announce they flying back to Zagreb and/or players gone on holiday
Honestly – a BUNCH OF MORONS
EMBARRASING
Have to agree on your .view on the WTF would portugal spain argentina england do in similar circumstances they would go absolutely troppo and sometimes like this time is justified.
Why would trump need lawyers? He just ask infantino to stop sucking his dick for a second and do what he says re Balogun etc.
The Croatian Football Federation has asked FIFA for a written explanation for what happened.
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1up6gsw/sportskenovosti_croatian_football_federation/
https://www.jutarnji.hr/sportske/nogomet/zadnji-cin-drame-o-izborniku-hrvatske-dalic-i-bilic-na-paralelnom-testu-igraci-su-vec-rekli-svoje-15725331
Also, Dalic will make a decision by Wednesday/Thursday if he wants to sign a new contract. However, if he doesn’t sign another contract the other option is Slaven Bilic.
Apparently, the experienced players told the Croatian Football Federation that they would be happy with Bilic.
Seeya Martinez u piece of shit serial bum coach
1-0,spain bringing portugese bus around to player exit
What a joke this Spain and Portugal game is. Total snooze fest and no urgency from either team. We were way better than both sides.
Spain and Portugal are both frauds, playing like shit now they have to face each other. We should have gone through.
Spain plays the lucky pork chops soon. I’m already feeling Portugal gets a penalty because mafia fifa wants Ronaldo to get his trophy. I hope Spain absolutely destroy this overrated team.
What we need is to develop a striker. Apart from Mandzo and Suker, we had nothing but mediocre strikers. Rebic, Orsic, Petkovic, etc. guys like this just have stepped up once in big games to help up but not consistently. It’s impossible to find players like Mbappe, Messi, Haaland, etc. Only teams that won without a premier striker was Italy in 06 and Greece 04.
***.jutarnji.hr/sportske/nogomet/jakov-dedic-sluzbeno-u-hoffenheimu-transfer-osijek-u-23-bundesliga-15725148
Jakov Dedic
The German article/news was wrong – here are the details from the Croatia side
He’s starting with the U23/Reserves that compete in the 3rd tier Germany (NOT the U19s) – that’s MUCH better
He was only on a scholarship contract with Osijek that expired summer of 2027 – hence why Osijek sold him (and only for peanuts really 900k) – as if they didn’t sell him this summer – he could leave on a free summer 2027
Anonymous feels much better he’s with U23/Reserves – that’s only one step away from the Bundesliga – who knows – if Hoffenheim have injuries up front this year (like Krama out for 2 months bc of tummy wall surgery) he might get called up (at least to the bench) and maybe even minutes in Bundesliga
As such, let’s KEEP EYES on Dedic this year
Jakov – get ur skates on plz – only 2 years until Euro 2028 and we need someone to back up Igor and probably/hopefully Franjo up front – get at it
Any you wonder why Anonymous’ tells Jaga to wear a helmut, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards when riding his bike (and not to text and bike) ?
Exhibit A – Jordan Henderson broke his arm moving over a little billboard yesterday – arm slipped and he landed on it – broken arm
That’s how life works – don’t pay attention – play stupid games – win stupid prizes
x.com/ceidwadol/status/2073992922161152412?s=20
lol
But why did he need oxygen mask and get on hop on a stretcher and get carried off the field – what a F-ing PUSSY – it’s only a broken arm (it’s probably his wrist – if only he listened to Anonymous and put on wrist guards before celebrating)
Can’t stand England. Certainly hope they lose sooner rather than later; disappointing they got through today.
Wasn’t surprised to see Norway beat Brazil either. I don’t think i really care for any of the teams left and now that we’re out i don’t really care who wins but i hope it isnt a super annoying pack of cunts like England, that’s for sure.
Is Dalic gonna coach on ? My main issue with him lately is the broadcasting of formation/lineup months out from the world cup. Like, can we roll out the red carpet to our opponents and invite them to watch us train too? Anything else we can do to make sure they are better prepared to play us? smh
thank god we did not have to play Mexico. It would of been bad. This team needs youth and it needs to have guys that are young fast and have conditioning . Like it or not England is good team. We were even at the half and if not for Dalic we might of either won by a late goal or tied.
This is the problem with seeding host countries.
Both Mexico and Canada were crap this tournament, but people thought they were good because they pumped their numbers on teams like Qatar, South Africa and Czech.
Now England and Morocco get a bye into the quarters.
Mexico never won 3 group games before and had England on their toes defending with a man down for the last 25 minutes. It makes sense, Fifa wants host countries to do well so they can make revenue. It’s rigged.
Next WC 2030 you will have Spain, Portugal and Morocco seeded.
Unlike with this WC you will want to avoid groups with host countries in 2030. Not sure what will happen with UEFA WC qualifiers in 2030?
Currently UEFA has 16 spots at the WC does it mean that only 14 spots will be available in 2030 with Spain, Portugal and Morocco getting automatic qualification as hosts.
Strong rumors are that 2030 WC could have 64 teams.
2030 WC you will have SIX HOST teams
3 centenary match/hosts: Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay
64 teams will be better – top 2 from every group go to Round of 32 (none of this best 8 3rd place/ranking teams nonsense)
Yea. But for those South American teams, I think that only applies to the opening match.
Still a disadvantage though.
Would be nice to use something like this to get a match in Zagreb in a future World Cup where we don’t actually host the tournament, but we get an opening match in our new stadium.
World Cup 2042 coincides with the 50 year anniversary of our first match against the US as an independent nation.
Working towards getting some Euro matches in Croatia (from now until then) and then getting a World Cup opening match for us in that specific World Cup in a new Category 4 UEFA stadium would be great.
Maybe some of y’all were right about the Pen awarded against us.
Mexico had a very similar penalty shout that they didn’t even do a VAR review for.
England finished them .
Anyone watching this Mexico England match? Two penalties, red card and 5 goals.
Jebani suci..
Giving England the PK was legit. The Mexican goalie got all player, no ball.
The PK in favor of Mexico was similar to the PK that Modrić was called for.
The only controversy was the red card.
I thought the Australian (Iranian) ref did a very good job controlling this match and the decisions were pretty much spot on with some help from VAR.
Mikic on D for U19, man playing with boys. excellent tackle skills and he tackles with power and Chelfi, what a little dynamo – we got some solid kids who can be serviceable
Since VAR has been introduced I think there hasn’t been even ONE that has been called in our favor…not a ONE!
Coincidence or pattern 🤔
We need to follow what the other teams that are small too. Morocco, Norway, Mexico. All these teams can keep up. What’s to say we can’t? Giants like Brazil, Belgium, England won’t ever win. Ffs Cape Verde only lost 3-2 to Argentina!!! Yet we lost 3-0 to them.
Morocco ain’t small
Norway has the bomba
Very true! We don’t have a 6’5 Viking that can jump 10 feet
Time to insert the youth and not stop squeezing the last drop of this Dalić 2017-2026 generation. We need changes and now. It’s not like we don’t have the infrastructure, youth, management, development.
Vuskovic
Gvardiol
Stanisic
L.Sucic
P.Sucic
Pandur
Baturina
Mantanovic
Musa
Mlacic
We have six games this fall against two teams we’ve struggled against. Enough of this Dalić, Modric and past team. Sure players like Kovacic and Vlasic should stay. The rest have to leave because it does more harm than good staying.
Who was the last giant we beat?
Spain will easily beat this Croatia U19 side. You have to remember this was a bad Serbia side today. Missing 6 of their top 10 players form this age group.
Yea THAT’s why they lost 😂
Serbs are saying 7-8 players missing lol
Sounds like Yugo propaganda
Why would 8 players be missing?
There is no club season right now and at best pre-season just starting
The Croats could make it
Unless they all play for clubs in Norway but even then I think they have to be released during this international window
Not believable
Serbs making up some 8 ghost/phantom players that don’t exist lol
Serbs are hyping up their own Alen Halilović types right now, but they hit a snag after their future stars have been getting beat down in recently friendlies and junior competitions.
They’d like to believe that it’s all Piksi Stojković’s fault, because they can’t come to terms with the fact that they’ll never be good.
Why did Krama go to the WC ?
And why did Dalic play him – 70-ish minutes ?
If he needs abdominal wall surgery and will out for 2 months
Dumb by Dalic
Selfish by Krama
Worse is taken Jaga – even if doesn’t get minutes – so he experiences it all and builds up scar tissue from Portugal
Bilic would have made the right decision
Ancelotti threw his 5m bonus down the drain by brining on useless Enrick and then Neymar after which Brazil level dropped to the basement
At the Brazilian fans got to see their 2 favourites – there’s that
Safe to say it was a disappointing World Cup. In some games we were undisciplined, in some we were unlucky. 4/10 overall in my opinion.
If Dalic leaves, whoever takes over will have a lot of young talent at their disposal. Between Vuskovic, Baturina, P. Sucic (I could go on), there’s a lot to work with and a lot to be optimistic about.
The young guys who haven’t broken through the senior squad are also going to get their opportunity now; Beljo, Stojkovic, Segecic, and (hopefully) Jagusic. Exciting years ahead for the Vaterni
I watched the highlights of the game as I wasn’t home. Kusanovic got a lot of praise from the commentator setting up both goals and hit the Crossbar. Chelfi looked good from what I saw. Really nice goal and looks pretty quick in the first couple of meters. Mikic had some nice defensive interventions other then that hard to say.
While we await MART’s report, here are the FOTMOB ratings for the U19 game against Serbia.
(Yes, I know these ratings are far from perfect, and yes we will get a better and more accurate report from MART . . . But for what it is worth, ratings and minutes played are set out below):
Patrice Covic
8.3
90
Tino Kusanovic
8.2
85
Noa Mikic
8.0
85
Lovro Chelfi
8.0
85
Ljubo Puljic
7.8
90
Matija Subotic
7.6
90
Maroje Kostopec
7.4
90
Marko Zebic
7.3
90
Kristian Mandic
7.2
90
Dino Godec
7.2
21
Andjelo Sutalo
6.8
69
Pavle Smiljanic
6.5
75
These player ratings are ridiculous.
Best player for us I thought was Lovro Chelfi who scored a great goal after 7 minutes from the edge of the box with his left foot.
I would give him a rating of 7.5 everyone else was below that i.e 7 and 6.5.
We were the better team in the first half and Sutalo on 15 minutes had one on one with the Serbian goalkeeper to make it 2 – 0 but he delayed too long to shoot and was blocked.
Second half Serbia started better and had more possession and were looking for an equaliser and they had one good chance from close range, but our goalkeeper made a great save.
An error when playing out from the back by the Serbian goalkeeper led to our second by sub Godec and late on in the 85th minute German ref gave us a justified penalty for Patrice Covic to convert for 3 – 0.
I like Lovro Chelfi from Barcelona, left footed, good dribbler and very skilful.
Noa Mikic was also good in this tournament so far, not so much going forward but his defence was great and has improved out of sight.
We are into the SF against Spain and that is going to be a very tough task as they have been so dominant in the other group.
Good news is that we have also qualified for the U20 World Cup next year which is great for the boys.
Thank you Cro911 for Hoffenheim prompt !
They also signed Sean Dulic
21 y/o CB and LB (!) who will be part of their Bundesliga squad this year
Anyone heard of his – any Croatia links ? He played for German U20 level.
Not sure by the surname – and Sean first name is just weird for someone born in Germany (maybe the mother is American or something)
Please investigate
Internet research shows he also holds a Bosnian passport.
I saw the Bosnia passport
But Dulic origins is from either Vojvodina or Bihac – so chance he’s Croat or Serb – it’s 100% not a Muslim surname
I saw the Bosnian passport
But Dulic surname is from Bihac or Vojvodina original
Unclear to me if Croat or Serb but 100-% not “Bosniak” hence the question
Anonymous 100% prediction hit rate continues !!!
WH admit and bragging their called FIFA about Balogun red card and presenting it as a victory lol
U can’t make this up
Life ain’t “fair”
https://x.com/whitehouse/status/2073818820901302482?s=46
Dragusin loan w obligations to buy to Fiorentina
There goes Pong starting spot taken away
Nasty
Croatia U19 UBIJ Serbia 3-0
And qualify for Semi finals
See – life is good and “fair” afterall
I’m sure @Mart will fill us in w the details – all I know it’s Covic that scored the key 3rd goal for us to qualify (bc of GD v-a-v Italy)
Mr T (presumably) got Balogun red card one game ban “suspended” lol
Life isn’t “fair”
Big bank takes little bank
If Bilić does take over, the negative for him is most likely restarting his coaching time without Modrić. We’ve seen how poor the team is without him in qualifying matches against poorly ranked teams to the point where Dalić had to bring him off the bench to salvage 1-0 wins against teams that should have been a blowout.
If it’s true that he takes over, I’ll be curious to see if he handles the younger talent any better. Luka Sučić is immature, but we’ve all seen his talent and creative ability that we sorely need. Vušković went from starter in the opening WC match to bench warmer in a 4-man system. I can’t imagine Slaven ever starting Pongrančić over him vs Portugal.
Will he treat Marco Pašalić any differently, who is one of the few true wingers we have at midfield. Will he “settle” on a forward instead of the turnstile we’ve seen the past 8 years, which seemed to hurt our chemistry with differing lineups every match?
We’ll find out soon.
Nah.
The next coach has it easy.
Very few coaches get a young CB pairing worth over 150 million Euro in Gvardiol and Vuskovic. In addition to this, we have two 65-80 million Euro central midfielders in Petar Sucic and Baturina. These guys will be stars.
Matanovic actually looks like he’s about to break out, and doesn’t even need to be a prolific scorer to be a useful starter for us. He can be that traditional pressing power forward that wears out the opposing CBs (like he did against Portugal) and frees up space for others.
That’s 5 youngsters in your starting eleven right there who will get a lot better over the next two years in preparation for the Euros, especially if they are developing chemistry with one another over these two years.
Add in Stanisic (who’s not old) and perhaps one or two more up-and-comers from a pool of guys like Stojkovic, Jagusic or Ivanovic…and suddenly you have a very young, fast and technically very gifted team.
Sprinkle in one or two vets in the starting eleven (Perisic, Kovacic) with Livakovic in goal, and this team is good.
The problem with the past three years is that we had several key players who were just declining, and we never replaced them early enough (if at all).
We were just overly reliant on Krama, Modric, and even an ACL-torn Perisic (in those UNL finals) over these past few years.
Igor did some good things vs Portugal but the jury is out on him. Way too much of a stiff for my liking and doesn’t make the fluid runs Super Mario used to.
Ivanović would have given us a “different” type of striker who actually has some speed, but I wasn’t really impressed with him even in the starts Mourinho gave him.
I forgot the name of the kid who plays either on the U19 or U21 team who showed great poise and finishing ability. He seems like the real deal, even though I can’t remember his name!
You talking about that U17 kid (Jakov Dedic)?
Forget about Jakov
He’s off to Atalanta
80% we never hear from him again
Dumb he didn’t stay at Osijek and play a full season in HNL
In any event, he clearly grew earlier then his peers (height and filling out) – this physical advantage will go away – as his age cohort catches up to him (unless he keeps pumping the growth hormones to stay bigger than everyone)
Dedic is going to Hoffenheim. Puljic is going to Atalanta. Come on anonymous get your shit together
You’re right !
It’s a dumb move – he’s starting out with Hoffenheim U19 (he turns 17 next month) – after that would be their Reserves that play in 3rd tier in Germany – and after that the Hoffenheim first team
Its dumb bc he would develop more playing ever week for Osijek in the HNL against men – then playing U19 in Germany
Maybe 5% chance (if that) he progresses from U19 —-> Reserves —-> First Team
But his family must need the cash so make the move now
Yes!
Don’t forget Smolcic!
He’s going to be a very good addition.
For those CRYING about the ref calls for DAYS now
What World do you live in ?
Do you think life is always “fair” ?
Of course not, so why would you think the soccer biz is “fair” ?
Complete lack of judgement, experience and childish/naive expectation from most of u MORONS
Stop crying – life isn’t supposed to be “fair” – the only way to combat it from a soccer perspective – is to be MUCH BETTER than the bigger countries – that’s the solution
So grow up
Lean more
Do better
Stop crying
Hey tough guy why don’t you post your name so you can get slapped
I personally feel that Fifa is about story arks and not the sport, at least not anymore.
I have a big feeling that they want to see a Messi vs Ronaldo final. I have big feeling that in the game with Spain and Portugal we are going to see a lot of similar fouls against Spain just to put Portugal through.
This is what I think. I could be wrong but with the outcome of what we just saw it seems very possible.
Sorry I already said this below, I didn’t realize.
This has been going on for a long time. Look at other sports and you will see this as well. NFL with Brady and then the anointing of Mahomes assisted by the most favorable calls. NBA now trying to make Wemby the face of the sport after the masses rejected SGA as being a foul-baiting free throw merchant.
Yet I still watch because love for Croatia and we have the talent to overcome the BS orchestration that goes on for maximum marketability.
I really want to hope that it was incompetency vs conspiracy, but yes, the world can be downright evil.
I think the ref simply didn’t know the rules well. They showed him the heart beat graph and he just rolled with it ignoring any trajectory rule or additional hit by the Portuguese player
Croatia in the pecking order of European football going forward likely looks like this. Maybe in the 14-20 range
Tier 1
Spain
France
Portugal
Germany
Belgium
England
Tier 2
Norway
Italy
Switzerland
Netherlands
Tier 3
Turkey
Sweden
Austria
Denmark
Tier 4
Poland
Ukraine
Russia
Croatia
Bosnia
Greece
Serbia
Romania
Nice ragebait
Italy Tier 2? 🤣 Croatia with the Polaks and Ukies and below the Turks? Gtfooh you dummy. Mrs u tri pizde.
https://glashrvatske.hrt.hr/en/sports/croatian-football-team-returns-to-zagreb-dalic-we-had-to-and-deserved-more-12800289
– Dalic mentions he will talk to the federation in a few days to see what is best for the team.
– He said its most likely the end of older players an era.
– Also some players went straight to vacation instead of Croatia and one of them was Modric.
– The Norway referee isn’t going to be part of the world cup anymore
Or what’s best for himself
Down with flu shortly after the Portugal game. Bad time to fall sick obviously.
Need closure after exiting the WC in a controversial manner again, so please let me get this off my chest. My 2 cents.
I fully agree with @Stanojevic, @Mali Ante and @Robert. Imo, ref Espen Eskas made a blantant wrong call with Veiga’s attempted clearance. If you ask the neutrals, I am confident more than half of them would regard this as a deliberate attempt to clear the ball. It is very well explained in this X post which I recommend you to read in full and so I am not going to excerpt it here.
x.com/ArbitreVAR/status/2072954305796026682
***
That is not to say I accept the call on Matanovic. Like everyone here is saying, judging from the slow-mo replay, it seems like the ball went through his hair without changing trajectory at all. This makes me think that ref Eskas and the video assistant refs are not aware of what is stipulated in the FIFA rulebook. Is it because the rule is obscure and hardly applied? I don’t know. Also, I agree with @Maminjo. Why didn’t they show the evidence in its entirety? Obviously the blip from Veiga’s header was filtered out. If that was indeed the line graph shown to ref Eskas, with only 1 blip from Matanovic, obviously in the heat of the situation, Eskas is just going to focus on the fact that Matanovic touched the ball making Pasalic offside and as a consequence, shift his focus away from Veiga’s attempted clearance which would have played Pasalic onside. I understand the need for simplicity in these circumstances but man, instead of encouraging fairness, VAR only made matters worse here.
Also, great points by @A Tin U and @Slavonac below which I will not attempt to summarize.
World Cup only happens once every 4 years so it definitely hurts to go out like this, especially since we have not won it before. As @Elcroato said, by now the pain runs deep…
That X link you provided explains the Veiga attempt to clear the ball well.
I wonder if the VAR room’s focus on the ball apparently grazing Matanovic’s hair, caused them to ignore the obvious.
The fact they didn’t show the FULL snickometer synced up with ‘touches’ off Matanovic and Veiga is suspect and creates a lot of questions.
I saw somewhere that FIFA posted a second single graph showing the ball off Veiga. It all seems like a cruel joke and is so amateur hour.
I’m super happy to hear Perisic is back. What an incredible and selfless player. Blows out his knee and looks finished yet comes back to play at a really high level. Plays LB for 2 games and plays great…does what’s asked and always comes up big with timely goals/assists.
Also have to say I was really impressed with Kova too. He’s very underrated. Played incredibly well last game. Hoping he stays and maybe comes into his own with Luka leaving…he’s ‘only’ 32 which means he’s entering his prime lol
I’m happy to hear Bilic will take over for Dalic. He’s had a good rapport with players and definitely has the experience.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. No one has done more for the NT than Perisic.
Dalic was a mental midget who got lucky to be anywhere near such talented athletes- don’t want Bilic but if that moves us off Dalic, let’s do it- best move would be to move right to Modric and get organized for euros
I think Bilic was a good coach . I think he failed because of forces inside the Savez . I personally thinks it’s time to go with a outsider rather than a hrvat
I am glad we had this mental midget for 9 years. 2 WC semifinals is hard to beat. And questionable refereeing cost him a chance this time. As each game progressed Croatia got better. The pundits said that this was the strongest Portugal team in their history and that Croatia was a fading generation. Good job by the mental midget by keeping them in one heck of a game. It wouldn’t surprise me if Portugal beats Spain. Viva Zlatko!
I dunno. There were a lot of interesting calls in that game for us. I think it depends. If these same issue happen in the game against Spain then we now there is some shithousery going on.
I have a feeling Fifa wants this to be an Argentina vs Portugal final. Messi vs Ronaldo.
Something tells me this sport is more increasingly about story arks rather than the sport itself.
Agreed DALIC spoiled a Argentina Brazil semi final showdown that would have been off the charts in 22
Yeah OK, Brazil are looking as bad as Italy these days. They should look at Hrvatska’s golasos for inspiration.
This may have been mentioned already but it seems as though Bilic may be next in line to coach Croatia if Dalic steps down.
Shoutout to VAR for winning the game for France. And to the ref for not showing a yellow card to Mbappe for his flop.
I love the owner of this website who is telling us it will get better . No joke , I tip my hat you and I appreciate your work and the time and effort you put into spreading the good word and being our representative and advocate for Cro sports , especially here in North America.
However , is there anyone here who feels that the dagger has been pushed in too deeply ?
What is the next generation thinking ? Do they think it won’t matter anyway whatever they do and how hard they try , that the big teams and associations will always win out ?
Or is the opposite ?? Will there be a desire , hunger to prove everyone wrong ?
Personally , in Croatia I see a defeatist attitude . But in the diaspora , no.
I know I’m stream of consciousness right now , but is there anyone else out there that doesn’t agree it will get better ? This one hurt way to f’in much
You have a point but talent continues to come up through the HNL pipeline. Hrvatska has bigger things to worry about than our team getting bad calls, things like EU diktat, German economic collapse and never ending wars in eastern Europe, the Mideast and a huge portion of Afrika.
Nobody cares about wars in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. These places are permanently unstable, and you just have to accept it. Who cares about Germany too.
The EU diktatura is the only problem, but you continue to load up on weapons and light up anyone that comes onto your territory (like Croats have been doing for 1,000+ years).
Who are you? You don’t care about war with Russia? Why is there a wedge between Germany and Russia? Who blew up Bird stream? How is Europe looking economically since this war kicked off in 2022?
Nord*
Gvardiol needs to be sent to Paraguyan defence school they are driving France nuts all the french players are frustrated so funny.
No he doesn’t. He just needs to fully recover from the broken leg an get fit again.
The new Cro coach also needs to play him at CB where he belongs.
Having to watch Pong play starting CB in two straight tournaments was torture.
I agree he should be at CB. Our 2022 success was in big part to his play in that position.
Funny how everyone is saying how Pongracic did well.
He was responsible for the Ghanian goal, and the Portugal goal.
He was also responsible for several unnecessary corner kicks that resulted in close calls that (luckily) didn’t convert.
Yet somehow Vuskovic is “too young” or “doesn’t play in a back four” and gets scapegoated for Bellingham’s goal because Gvardiol was injured and shouldn’t have played (which should have been caught by Dalic in practice).
That leg is still an issue . He was not a 100 percent
Here’s multiple angles of Jaga’s WORLD CLASS VISION and ASSIST today
x.com/pana__X/status/2073430826411307156?s=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkZV6XpiNcs
@4:10
The only good thing about the loss is at least I’ll save on some jet fuel to Dallas and back
Quick takes
Var: The thing about hair needing to re direct the ball seems fake.
That being said, I think the question of the defender non deliberately heading the ball may be overlooked
It’s kind of funny cause it looks like matanovics hair touched the ball on the perisic goal also. The guy is the best at getting hair on the ball
I’m generally fine with var
Corners: is it possible for croatia to just head one out cleanly?
Dalic: At the actual tournament i give 8.5/10. Made tough calls of benching gvardiol, dubbed decently, and croatia got better as the tournament went on. Maybe 0 minutes though was the right answer for gvardiol,
Young hopes: p sucic and baturina were the main guys who elevated themselves. I was a few rows back in the tournament so got a goid luck at these guys. Impressed with sucic touch and m bats craftiness and toughness.
Defense: remains a question mark. Prior to the tournament, i stated stanisic is croatias most underrated difference maker and that proved true,
I long warned vuskovic height possibly stopping him from a successful career cause of speed and turning. Thankfully he stopped growing. We saw these weaknesses had a coach not trust him though. Lets hope experience will help him cover those gaps.
Gvardiol needs to return to a system where defense is more valued. Even when healthy , he wasnt defending great.
Going forward: there is enough talent here to keep croatia as a European team in the 8-15 range. Future world cups are far from guaranteed though
We also need to remember our ability to predict the future is limited. When the US was announced years ago, most of the board probably thought wed have a marauding wing attack of halilovic, brekalo and pjaca causing chaos instead we got a bunch of guys we never heard of at the time
Marin Ljubicic BRACE today in 12-2 win
Sigur doing well so far as the only Hrvat representative left. (The fraud Pulisick doesn’t count)
Hopefully Canada can pull it off and beat those dirty Moroccans
Sigur didn’t do much. 3-0 Morocco.
Unlucky game, honestly similar to Croatia. Were the better team for a half but just couldn’t finish their chances.
Naive performance. Canada ran at them the entire first half like it was a hockey game. Not sustainable for 90 minutes … even in air conditioning.
Still 0-0 at the half, we knew they were toast.
Don’t think it was a bad strategy. They needed to do something different if they wanted to beat the clearly superior team on paper.
The pressing worked, and they should’ve had at least 2 goals if their finishing was better.
Had they scored, they could’ve transitioned to a more defensive scheme in the 2nd half.
Definitely a high-risk move that didn’t work out in the end, but better and more admirable than just parking the bus and trying to hit them on the counter imo.
Anonymous told all u MORONS not to listen to random journalist and wait till Modric leaks it to Matteoni
Which he has done
100% prediction hit rate – every time!
🚨🇭🇷 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Luka Modrić is expected to 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄 from international football, according to sports journalist Robert Matteoni.
Matteoni, who also helped Modrić write his autobiography, says the captain is set to end his national team career as Croatia prepares for a generational rebuild…
[Sportske Novosti]
Anonymous with a major boner after that Jaga assist.
I think VAR is a good thing as log as its used properly. What happened to Croatia against Portugal was wrong I dont believe that a ball being kicked around would be able to ditect a touch of hair. The only touch was the Potugese player who ducked down to clear it . The NFL who in my opinion utilizes the best technology in all sports has a chip in their ball and use it only for measurements within a 6 inch radius The reason is the technology is not accurate enough past the 6inch room for errors. They relay on multiple angles from video and dont want to disturb the true integrity of the game. I think that Croatia played so well in the second half that perhaps fifa were afraid how far we could really go. Shame on VAR and fifa .The young players that got to be part of this now know 1st. hand what we’re up against going forward.
You also need irrefutable video evidence to overturn the refs call on the field….which the video was everything but irrefutable…fifa Var shameful
Yes thank you
2-0 PAO
What a f-ing Tik Tan football by Jaga at the edge of the box – makes a run in – gets the ball back – passes it across the box – and goal
After 30 minutes
Jaga
1 assist
1 hockey assist
He chipped the ball OVER the keeper across the box
Incredible vision and technique on the play and assist by Jaga
WORLD CLASS
pics or it didn’t happen
lol – I posted the link to the Ajax YT channel below – you can watch the entire match there !
Only watched the first half – he came off after 64’
Jaga hockey assist first goal !
As I said he has freedom to roam – so he went to the right flank to take the ball in build-up – he shielded the ball well – then turned and passed it centrally to a full-back running forward – who passed it to the striker Tetteh – and goal
This is actually the 2nd friendly – they won 4-0 in the first one – Jaga also started and played 45 minutes
Jaga playing centrally as a Second Striker / #10
He has freedom to move anywhere he wants on the field
More or less what Krama plays at Hoffenheim
Great omen
Means the new coach sees him as the MOST TALENTED player he has
Anonymous is not surprised
Another Jaga Vlog
See 0:52 – look at Jaga doing his leg extensions – one leg at a time – PERFECT form – feel that BURN Jaga – and look at his perfect arms/shoulders glistening in the sun – Anonymous repeats – Anonymous hasn’t see such PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT shoulder and arms – since Anonymous was his age !!!
***.youtube.com/watch?v=1bxE5f1zNBI
1:18 – Jaga rates the training 1-10 – he gives is a ZERO – implication is where all the other players are crying it’s hard – Jaga ELITE ELITE ELITE MENTALITY – says it’s only a ZERO – meaning “this is nothing guys, wait till you see me cook”
JAGA JAGA JAGA !!!!!!!!
Kid looks strong.
Skilled and a fitness champ. Can’t wait to integrate him.
I’m guessing you’re JAGING OFF to all those vids of your boy anonymous
Šaranić is his boy
Saranic has puny arms
They are VERY disproportionate to his big frame
Like little toothpicks
There isn’t going to be any room on the team left for Šaranić.
You got younger guys like Jaga, Stojko, Franjo (along with the already established Sučić and Baturina) in place.
And Segecic
Saranic is more the Marco replacement/upgrade and he’s two years younger than him 😉
Posted earlier but looks like it didnt get added. Horrible ending, but a lot to be proud about. VAR was not created for this.
Met Zivi Istina. There was some talk last week here that he died. Alive and well to me. Purchased a few beers for me and the guys I was with. Seemed like a really good dude.
How do you guys meet each other?
Was he wearing a Ziva t-shirt or something? 🙂
That guy did damage to this site.
Well said about the game. First half, we looked very passive and and I think all supporters were pessimistic. Second half, we saw the Croatia we hoped to see, with positive and creative attacking play. Hopefully this points to a future Vatreni that doesn’t just grind out results but showcases our attacking skill. I’m certain that we will sort out of defence going forward. Future looks bright moving on from Luka.
Did you meet Elvis too ?
They say he’s still alive
WOW WOW WOW
JAGUSIC FIRST START FOR PAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of u who gave up on Anonymous’ Jaga – will all be made to look like the MORON you ARE
Jaga eye tests are the BEST THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
***.youtube.com/watch?v=hVTJRNrPeNg
See 1:55
Jagusic “Tomorrow we will win”
ELITE ELITE ELITE MENTALITY – EVEN PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES!!!
***.youtube.com/watch?v=hVTJRNrPeNg
Jaga – plz don’t ride the bike and text – you might get injured – please stop – Anonymous worries about you and your perfect Anonymous-like arms !!!
And put on a HELMUT – one bad fall or collision – and you get get a brain bleed and DIE – be safe on the bike – helmet is a must – would also like to see knee pads and elbow pads and wrist guards too
We have 3 guys within half a yard of Ramos and he’s the one who gets his head on the ball?
Why does vlasic even get himself in a position where the ref might call him for a foul WHY grab the guy?
Nobody is talking about pasalics free header in the 6 yard box in the second half
We had our chances to take VAR out of the equation but failed
It’s obvious we need to completely dominate if we are ever going to lift a trophy 🏆
It’s not easy to completely dominate the good teams in the WC….cant be having Bar used against us like this
I couldn’t believe that Mario “Mister Header” Pasalic missed that one
We love Dalic and the players because of everything they have done in the last few years. They created beautiful memories together as Croatians and with our family. He will go down as one of the best coaches of Croatia and the tournament. If he leaves its his choice and a deserved one. Doesn’t mean he isn’t loyal. It would be interesting to see how he adapts if Modric ends up retiring or Modric joining his coaching team? .
Also the Argentina game there was a foul that wasnt called near the box. Does it look like a foul?
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1umuc2q/last_minute_foul_not_called_for_cape_verde/
Ante
We need the PRE-SEASON WEEKEND COOLER – PLEEZE
ANONYMOUS CAN’T DO EVERYTHING
Jaga vs. Ajax 11:00 ET Saturday
It’s been shown live on Ajax YT channel
***.youtube.com/watch?v=gh6NY_oIti8
btw: for those following Jaga on IG – you will notice the boy is JACKED – he must have put on 5kg of MUSCLE since leaving Belupo – Anonymous hasn’t seen such perfectly toned arms/shoulders with the perfect amount of bulk – since Anonymous was Jaga’s age – they are perfect !!!
🚨🇭🇷 Zlatko Dalić received an offer from the UAE national team worth €5M per year around a month ago.
According to Sportske Novosti, he ACCEPTED the offer before the World Cup.
LMAO
For all those HERO WORSHIPING Dalic
You got duped – he never HERO WORSHIPED Croatia or any of ur ass*s
He already signed a 5+m contract BEFORE THE WC with UAE
Bahhahahahaahahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha
He knew he was leaving – no loyalty to you or Croatia – but u give him ur blind loyalty like a dog – that’s why the players were so uninspired to start the tournament – bc they knew he was dropping them so why fight for him
Stop hero worshiping strangers kicking or managing football – like Diogo Jota – they don’t give two shits about any of u – but u care everything about them and fight for them MORE than you ever would your own family – that’s the irony
Dalic got them 2 World Cup medals and turned down multiple jobs with way more money to stay as the coach. You can criticize his tactics player selection but loyalty not really.
Looks like Bilic is set to take over which we played our nicest football under him. If not for the horrible result against Turkey maybe they would have won a medal with him but mentally that team was fucked up for a while.
I don’t know a coach more loyal than Dalic. If his plan was to leave after the WC, then I hope he has professional and financial success. Sve najbolje Zlatko.
Don’t bash Dalic.
Let the man move on and make some money.
So long as we don’t promote Olic or Corluka, then we should be okay at least.
Meanwhile you fawn over Jaga day and night scrolling his girlfriends Instagram. Get a life loser.
Of course we were robbed. The powers that be don’t like us and will never support Hrvatska or Hrvati. Having said that the Ramos goal was awful. Wtf were Pong and Gvardi doing there? Both were caught flat footed, one or both should have jumped to challenge the ball; neither did and the goal happened.
Agreed on both points. It’s just a sad way to end the game with that VAR image shown on the telecast looking like a here’s something we prepared earlier. It showed a faux spike when the ball went past Matanovic yet it hit the head of the Portuguese player and showed nothing. It’s indicative of the fear they had that Portugal were not good enough to win in overtime. If the reverse had happened it would have been a Portugal goal with no review. It’s a joke robbed in this one and also robbed in the 2018 final.
That ref was utterly clueless saw one still frame and an echocardiogram and ruled it took him a few seconds in a play that had so much going on. This one’s gonna take a while to heal from. And contrary to popular belief we definitely had a chance against Spain too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Portugal beat them…
Very true, the pain runs deep. Im still surprised they didn’t call dangerous play for Perisic’s equalizing goal against England in 2018. Of course FIFA made up for it in the final.
Anyone notice how Croatian media is selling out? Im trying to listen to SN’s mundocast and they say how much we have over performed and we are lucky to be here and who knows if we’ll ever experience a high level of success again. What Homers! Tribina with the title “Zbogom Amerika.” — instead of FIFA fucked us. Its like a canned title they created before the tournament. What indifference….
Zivela Hrvatska!!! We will be back.
Communists still run these media outlets.
Also, Croats who are over 60 years of age (even the non-Commies) were raised in Communist Yugoslavia so their mindsets are poisoned with this weakness.
They will always be happy with scraps and be subservient to Westerners.
Once that generation dies in the next 15+ years, then we’ll stop having to listen to this “we are a small country” rhetoric.
Perisic has confirmed he won’t retire
Based on this wc, that still looks like a good thing
I wouldn’t be shocked if modric does a nations league campaign
I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted too ( nations league)and he’d be fine for it ,who wants to retire on a game u were systematically robbed of after giving 110%
We actually still need Perisic, especially now that it seems like can play LB for us (and we can push Gvardiol to CB where he belongs, while keeping Stanisic at RB).
Wow. FIFA rules referred to here. Hair is not considered part of the body as a general rule:
However, Croatian fans and media have since discovered a flaw in that ruling based on the language used in FIFA’s rule book. FIFA’s rule states that “hair is only considered part of the body if it affects the movement or trajectory of the ball.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/soccer/croatia-escalates-world-cup-complaint-after-finding-flaw-in-fifa-ruling/ar-AA279ImD?cvid=6a488e7421e14a71951e99c884e6976c&ei=23
I hate to say it, but the more I look into this, the more pissed off I get.
Veiga definitely lowers his head to make deliberate contact to clear ball, cancelling any offsides status of Pasalic.
The Matanovic ruling should be a moot point really.
Tin I hope you’re not splitting hairs here. Just a joke, like VAR in this case. There is no way Matanovic’s hair altered the flight of that ball.
A discussion about the so-called “VAR threshold”, which seems almost LAUGHABLE at this point:
What does ‘clear and obvious’ mean, and why is it relevant?
“Clear and obvious” is terminology you will hear spoken about a lot when discussing VAR.
The VAR can only assist the referee in the event of a “clear and obvious error” or a serious missed incident. The original on-field decision cannot be changed unless the video review clearly demonstrates this threshold has been met.
This bar is deliberately set high: the “referee’s call” principle means that if a subjective decision is genuinely debatable, the on-field referee’s original call should stand. In practice, it means VAR should not intervene simply because a decision could have gone the other way — VAR will become involved only when there is little or no doubt that the referee has made an error.
Yes, excellent explanation. I’m still wondering why the ref openly said he didn’t see Matanovic make contact with the ball and that his decision came from the chip technology from the ball?!
How can both situations be true?
You added this “ The VAR can only assist the referee in the event of a “clear and obvious error” or a serious missed incident”
What triggered his decision based on the rules?
Slavonac,
Just to be clear, everything after the colon at the end of the first paragraph is a clip from an article on how VAR is expected to work at World Cup.
The first paragraph is mine. “A discussion about the so-called “VAR threshold”, which seems almost LAUGHABLE at this point:”
Everything else after that is from the article on VAR.
But how it is SUPPOSED to work just seems so far removed from what did happen. I am left pondering the same question you have raised, and I have no answer.
This year 2026 was supposed to be Gvardiol year from my perspective, a handing over the torch if you would of the team leadership. 2022 was just his introduction to the world.
Looking back, Gvardiol injury really changed the trajectory of our success unfortunately. Hoping he eventually gets back to his old form.
I am not crushed by the Matanovic call as much as the Veiga call. The ball, if it touched Matanović’s head, then deflected off Portugal’s defender Renato Veiga before it reached Pašalić, if a defender “deliberately” plays the ball and it goes to an attacker in an offside position, it is not considered offside.
To me, it looks like he is lowering his head to make deliberate contact to clear the ball. Don’t know why this is not clear to anyone observing it.
EXACTLY.
Ibrahimović expressed his opinion on Croatia’s disallowed goal, saying they were wronged.
“For me, that is a goal. Football is about what actually happens on the pitch, and when I looked at the replay again, I saw the ball bounced off a Portuguese defender before it reached the Croatian attacker. That changes everything. If there is an intentional touch or a clear deflection that resets the phase of play, then you cannot punish the attacker for being in that position,” Ibrahimović said, adding:
“That’s why VAR exists – to correct clear mistakes, not to create even more controversy. I think they made the wrong decision today. Anyone watching could see there was contact from the Portuguese player before the ball reached the Croatian attacker. In my opinion, the goal should have stood. When you make decisions like this in the final minutes of a knockout match, you are deciding a team’s fate. You have to be absolutely certain. For me, this was not offside – it was a valid goal.”
https://www.b92.net/english/sports/247173/ibrahimovic-believes-croatia-were-robbed/vest
https://beyondthe90.substack.com/p/a-crime-against-football-var-has
This ended in disaster, but I’d like to share something about this World Cup.
I got to see the NT play in Philadelphia. I got to see Modric play one of his best games against Ghana. I saw him convert a corner, and I saw him bail the defense out.
The experience was beyond belief. I was constantly surrounded by Croats everywhere I went. Every bar, there were the checkers. Every restaurant. The city hall square where that married couple got caught up in. The beer garden off the hotel in the square.
The train ride down to the game was something else. The car I was in was filled with Croatian singing. Going into the game was an experience. Sitting in the crowd was an experience. After the game was crazy too. And so were the airports to and from.
I had major ankle surgery when the tickets went for sale, and I didn’t even know if I’d be walking. I bought two tickets not knowing if I’d be alone. I good friend gave me money for the other ticket and asked for a Perisic jersey to wear.
And that’s another point. All my friends have become Croatian supporters. They have lived and died as I have since they watched the 2018 WC when I kept posting about it.
This was beyond the most amazing experience of my life and I will not be able to do it again. And I won’t let this VAR take away from it.
I love this site and the people who make comments. I wanted to share how watching in person changed my life and instilled something I have been hoping for so much since 1996.
You can’t expect this from others. It’s natural for a Croatian; even if a diaspora.
Awesome!
Thanks for posting, Josip!
Bog i Hrvati! 🇭🇷🇭🇷
Awesome Stari you made the most of it,good on you, I am sure you are one of so many that have lifelong memories from the Vatrenis presence at this WC.No matter what a bunch of inept pizdas from The onfield ref to the VAR actually did in the end.
Great comment Josip!
Fantastic experience for you bro, I’m very happy for you.
Well written Josip!
[“This was beyond the most amazing experience of my life and I will not be able to do it again. And I won’t let this VAR take away from it.”]
Poignant words. So happy for you Josip. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/croatia-got-robbed-plain-simple-152358025.html
Bilic was the best at putting the best 11 out there for the opponents we were facing. There were rarely any surprises. He didn’t even have the talent that we did in the past 8 years, outside of Eduardo and Srna. If Dalić doesn’t come back, I’m not sure why fans wouldn’t want him back.
If you don’t hire him, do you really want to hire a foreigner? We don’t have anyone else qualified to take over the National Team.
Foreign coaches at this World Cup haven’t really been doing that great anyway.
Tuchel, Martinez, Ancelotti, Bielsa, etc are way overpaid for what they bring.
I wouldn’t mind a foreign coach (if we don’t have any Croat options) but the risks are still there.
***POT 2 COMES BACK TO HAUNT***
As I predicted long ago, Dalić’s decision to play defensive in the qualifiers vs the Czech Republic came back to haunt us. He made late subs in the 70th minute in that match and nearly scored but wound up with a 0-0 tie. I get that he wanted to assure a WC birth, not give up a fluke goal and avoid the play-off where Bosnia wound up, but it DID cost us Pot 1. As a result, our defense got shredded vs England and had to face Portugal so early in the tournament. Had we won, we would have faced Spain.
Our paths to the WC in 2018 and 2022 were much better…and shank jobs by Lukaku didn’t hurt.
We were in the group of death in World Cup 2018.
We were supposed to finish second (behind top seeded Argentina) and then end up facing France in the R16.
Fun match, but a terrible ending. Not the way any of us wanted Luka to end it. Sort of surprised we didn’t have more croats in the stadium. We were loud but outnumbered.
I saw the discussion last week about Ziva Istina. Met him yesterday. Purchased me a few beers. Good guy.
It’s been 24 hours and I’ve had time to absorb this all.
First off, Ante, great job with your heartfelt words to Dalic. Most of us feel the same and the man must be commended for what he’s done the last 9 years. It’s amazing when you think about what we’ve accomplished during that time.
Also, big thanks to you (and the others that pitch in) for keeping this site going and bringing us all together. I missed you at Croatia House for the Panama game – what a great time that was and an equally great environment for the game.
As for the game yesterday…where to start. Our strategy of playing the counter game/rope a dope in the first half was tough to watch. We stayed compact but the corners/set pieces continue to be our Achilles heel.
We obviously dominated the second half and that soft penalty was sadly expected. I don’t think they’ve called anything the entire tournament off a corner like that and yet we get the soft AF call to bring Portugal back into the game. We didn’t capitalize on some great chances which also bit us in the ass.
The goal being called back at the end was a complete and utter joke. Matanovic admitted he felt it on his hair. As we all could see, the ball trajectory didn’t change at all.
According to FIFA guidance, a player’s hair is only considered part of the body for offside decisions if it significantly impacts the ball’s movement or trajectory, such as with a dense top knot. Light contact with loose hair that does not alter the ball’s path generally does not count as a touch for offside purposes.
If that isn’t enough, didn’t it look like it grazed Dias’ arm/shoulder? Many wonder if the the graph they showed was really the ball grazing his arm.
Lastly, it obviously is headed by Veiga. The fact they say he didn’t deliberately play that ball is a complete load of BS.
I find it hard to believe the defender would duck to let the ball through to a possible player behind him. Zero chance. In fact I’d argue he tried to head it – deliberately. Instead he misplayed it and skimmed his head to Pasalic.
This VAR stuff is going to kill the game and give FIFA even more ways to get their script right.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever get over this one….
Just read Dalic is going to likely stepping down next week….praying it’s not Olic.
Today was rough watching all the replays and BS calls. The way Croatia played in the second half was something special. Really looking forward to the Nations League to see what is upcoming for the team. We will all miss Modric but hopefully he sticks around as an assistant Coach or something. I don’t think I’ll ever get over this one but I feel like Croatia will be okay in the future.
Bilic would be a mistake 100%. Only Modric can take the head coach job . He has coached the team for 4 years already so just make it official
Too bad Broz leaving Al Nassr
He could have been coached by BIG F-ING ANGE taking that big Saudi $$$
Is Terzic hoping for too much?
Respect everyone, fear no one
Hey MAMINJO!!! cape verde going to be losing 8-0 this tournament? Let this be a lesson to you. DONT forget it
It should be 8-0.
The VAR team aren’t doing their job today. 😉
Argentina gouvna houses through to next round Cabo Verde great performance.
It looks like an Argentina was offsides in extra time (minute 93). Where was VAR on that call? The touch of the hair is a joke. What a travesty to the sport and Hrvati.
*It looks like Argentina was offsides in extra time (minute 93).
No proper check of course quickly approved to help them farkn joke
David Celtic let in 4 vs Mjallby
We’ll need Liva till he’s at least 40
Celic
Yup
When Anonymous opines
The World listens
🚨 𝐍𝐄𝐖: Current reports suggest Slaven Bilić has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Dalić, while Ivica Olić is not considered the frontrunner at this stage.
[24sata]
Bilić is in the same ball park as Dalić.
He usually makes a big splash when he takes over a new team. But he tends to fizzle out after a couple of years. If the HNS hires him, hopefully it’s not a long term deal.
So long as it’s not Olić.
We can’t take the risk of hiring former players with zero experience just so they can use the National Team to launch their careers.
I’m totally against Olic unless it comes out he was behind all the smart subs during his WC (maybe 10% chance it was him)
I know what you mean about Bilic – but just because it went like that last time – doesn’t mean it will identical this time
Hopefully he’s improved his coaching skills thru experience at clubs but still retains that hard core Croat patriotism
He was excellent in nurturing young players last time so hopefully he can do the same for Jaga etc
From an intellectual standpoint – Bilic seems about 100x smarter than Olic – so there’s that
Corluka doesn’t deserve it – neither does Kranjcar or Simunic who I think both got their coaching badges now
Bilic seems like the best of the bunch
Even if Dalic wanted to stay probably good to get fresh blood in there – when it goes pear shape – being Dalic back for round 2 ha
Simunic failed his coaching license test
How bout Luka Modric head coach
Modric announces he will stay on through the nations league campaign and decide after that
Who decided to yank the stars & vets (Modric first game), Gvardiol (2nd game), etc AND to bench vets like Krama and Budimir (mostly)
Was it Dalic or Olic ?
The approach to substitutions was complete different than anytime since 2017
Dalic was usually very late to make changes
So
If it was Olic – Anonymous would be more open for him taking over
Just to be more balanced then “Olic is bad!”
Not saying Olic was responsible for the change – but the only thing that changed was him sitting next to Dalic – and change in approach`
Your statement had no basis in reality if you are attributing that change to Olic. It was obvious that they needed to move Perisic up top. Had to drop the hammer! Great substitution by Dalic.
Listen guys, it’s not obvious that we never get a penalty and no calls our way in any major tournament. Let’s evaluate.
2026: Soft call on the hold by Šutalo that resulted in the penalty. (Ronaldo’s first knockout stage goal and of course its against us) 1-1 close to the end of the game. England get a second attempt too.
2022: Alvarez takes a run a Livakovic trying to get the ball. Livakovic is at fault for trying to get possession now? That was 1-0.
2018: Greizmann dives for that foul and then the Perisic hand ball. They made it 2-1 before halftime.
2016: Spain got awarded one but Suba saved it and we won 2-1.
2014: Fred dove and got the goal that put Brazil up 2-1.
It seems to me every big nation we play they always get the calls I’m their favour.
France, England, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Czech, Spain. I think the last 5/6 tournaments the opposing team has be awarded penalties.
Scam
Watched the post-interview with Dalic. I agree, Ante that was a great statement made to Dalic, you said everything we were thinking. Also, the reply he gives you it seems that he is stepping down? He mentions its an end of the era.
-Dalic mentions that its time for the younger players to take over
– Football is becoming more commercialized/business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVNcGiKgY2E
Ante speaks at 4:00
Also
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1um7vbj/petar_sucic_the_referee_told_us_he_didnt_see_our/
Petar Sucic “The referee told us he didn’t see our striker touch the ball, he said that the sensor in the ball said it did. It’s really difficult to explain but we expect an explanation. What I saw is that Matanovic didn’t touch the ball. Today is like that, luck was on their side.”
Modric’s take on it
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1uma47k/marca_luka_modri%C4%87_what_did_the_referee_tell_us/
Yes, well done Ante.
on another note and about the outcome of the game. I thought I felt my worst in 2018 but I was wrong. I’ve heard several versions of why the goal we scored didn’t count and the most consistent reason was because the ref said the chip in the ball detected Matanovic’s head touching the ball. how on earth can a final decision be made in this manner?!
at the moment I am so angry and miserable I just can’t believe this happened to us. what was such a good performance, one that I was hoping to re-watch has now become unwatchable to me. not only am I miserable, I cannot grasp this in any way. I remember us getting the penalty against us vs Argentina and even though I disagreed with it, I somehow in my head could understand a mistake was made by the ref but in this case…I CANNOT! the ref must have a very big ego in order to make a decision based on what he didn’t see and this just drives me mad!
I’ve been extremely quiet today. I don’t know what level of being upset that I’m at, but it still hasn’t registered yet. I should be even more upset that this is the level of respect FIFA feels Modric is owed.
Slavonac, I am with you. I have not been able to post, let alone consider re-watching this game. Like Josip, I have been quiet today.
I think you nailed it, Slavonac. A huge ego intervened when there was a humble approach available to a better referee.
I might well be wrong, but when something is so open to interpretation and discretion, so unclear, so lost to the human eye even on repeated video replays, and so seemingly indiscernible to the human touch (Matonovic cannot be sure if he felt the wind as the ball went by, or if it grazed a hair on his head . . . ) a good referee has to fall back on context and weigh it out, like a good, humble, judge who brings a human element to every decision. He has to exercise discretion, he doesn’t just cave in to a “chip”, which is only one piece of information available to him for his consideration.
This is why a human being acts as a judge in a criminal case. (Though we easily could, we don’t strap an accused to a lie detector and let the machine go to work and deliver the verdict in a criminal case. We know we are better than that.)
But this referee failed to bring his human judgement to bear on the game when it was his responsibility to do so.
He should have asked himself: how much should I impose on this great game being played by these two sides, with everything so unclear and uncertain and when I myself am so unsure? He should have been humble, and tried not to impose on the game.
He should have been honest about the very vague situation and asked himself: who will suffer the greater harm: (a) Croatia, if I rule it was offside or (b) Portugal, if I allow the goal to stand?
The answer becomes obvious to a good, humble, referee in that difficult moment.
Croatia suffers the greater harm if it is ruled offside.
If I rule “no goal”, this game is over. Croatia is out of the tournament.
On the other hand, while Portugal is no doubt affected if I allow the goal to stand, they are a great side and they have every opportunity to win. If the goal stands, the game is tied, we will go to extra time, and these two sides can settle it on the soccer pitch over the next 30 minutes, as is fair and just in such a hotly contested battle.
That is the best approach in an unclear circumstance. And in that moment, with a referee unsure, that was the proper, humble, and human approach from a top referee: let them play.
Let the two teams battle it out for thirty more minutes and let the chips fall where they may. That is the way to go.
But no, the egotistical referee prancing back and forth to the video camera decided it for them, perhaps on nothing more than a hair, a hair that he himself never saw, and one which was not even discernible to him or any other human being in any event. That is what is so frustrating.
Proud of our team.
They played their hearts out.
Come tomorrow, let’s hold our heads high.
We move forward to our next battle.
Bog i Hrvati!
Very well put Tin. There had to be a ton of pressure on that ref at that moment. A computer was telling him he missed the call and he caved. It’s actually understandable. Now that he has time to reflect, I wonder if he thinks he made the right call?
You’re definitely an intelligent person with a great mind. Great comments and I really appreciate people like you on this site!
Thanks, you too, as well as several others I can think of on this site.
I agree with some others on here Matanovic made a real difference coming on in the second half he’s 6 feet 5 and a unit and getting right into them ,and they didn’t cope or like it( this was his best game).
Perisic he his our warhorse ,go to warrior ,always produces a badly needed goal or assist.When he has been played as Captain leads admirably he can leadc the younger guys upcoming tournaments If and when Modric retires.
Modric will decide when he wants to announce retirement ,he is a living legend our most generational talent best midfielder in the world bar none at his ageHe still had so much quality when it countedModric and our team went out on our shield fighting. To the last minute not like pussies!
Final VAR decision That was a complete travesty a joke set up a disgrace, against the spirit of the game and a convenient interpretation incorrect for a Fifa outcome to keep Ronaldo and Portugal in the tournament.
Of course the VAR referees are not going to challenge a referee’s call against big teams, they don’t have the guts and they know they will be skewered in the media. Much easier against teams like ours. I hope these VAR referees are replaced by AI one day. I think they will be and we won’t care anymore about what their nationalities are or about bias and human error . Vlasic’s pull down indeed is something I’ve seen in many games. Again it was a non call that the VAR refs instigated. That would not have happened against a big team. No way.
I agree that the inability to improve our corner defense is on the coaching staff.
I also think we play better defensively without Gvardiol. He is too risky and Sutalo and Pong were very effective being classic CBs.
Anyway, Modric deserved a better end. He is a class act compared to Ronaldo and Messi. But the world does not want class acts.
I wanted to bring up another coaching flaw that needs to be corrected; Croatia’s defense of corners and set pieces I believe was amongst the worst at the tournament.
The coaching staff decides how to defend corners and free kicks. The England game was atrocious with how many strong chances they generated from them. I would try to give the benefit of the doubt that maybe it was individual players fault or luck, but we still leaked a free kick goal against Ghana and the corner against Portugal caused a goal. This is a structural problem that I put on the coaching staff.
Anon:
Most likely he was born of Catholic parents who told him to always tell the truth. Pesky little character problem. Trying to live an ethical sin free life.
An object whizzing by might feel like contact.
Doesn’t matter, Veiga’s contact was clearly intentional re-setting Pasalic to onside, as I understand it.
@Ante Kvartuc- nice meeting you on the flag march
Also- did I see a video where it was you that asked Roberto Martinez the question at the main post-game press conference regarding his view on the extra time goal? Nice work.
Why did Igor say he felt slight contact of the ball ? 🤦♂️
He felt the rush of air. Nothing more.
Most likely he was born of Catholic parents who told him to always tell the truth. Pesky little character problem. Trying to live an ethical sin free life.
An object whizzing by might feel like contact.
Doesn’t matter, Veiga’s contact was clearly intentional re-setting Pasalic to onside, as I understand it.
Here’s the technology at work during Sweden Tunisia
https://x.com/madrispaniatv/status/2072864146333356381?s=46
Rumor has Vince McMahon is taking over FIFA to help with the story line as he’s established in non reality TV
Minus the referee treachery.
I feel this tournament has been a success for us.
Kovacic is back to his peak powers. He will lead us through the next 4 years.
Young talent all over the field.
Matanovic is our 6’4” striker moving forward. He started the move for the Perišić goal and that left foot dummy to create space for his right foot attempt!
Marco – finally have a winger
Martin – revelation
Petar – engine
L Sucic – class
Vuskovic – stud
Gvardiol – back from broken leg in January!
Core veteran crew:
Livakovic – most underrated goalie on the planet.
Vlašić
Pasalic
Stanisic
Šutalo
Perišić – has to continue with the level he is playing at.
UNL this fall we being a new chapter without Modrić, who bridged TWO generations for us!
I just wanted to say that watching the younger generation players cry their eyes out signaled a transition period, we no longer have the war generation. The young Hrvati are just normal kids, and that’s a big win for us.
Also we got robbed. The future looks decent though! And I hope Dalic stays but I don’t think he will. Maybe Luka will coach 😉
Budimir selfish to shot 2:40
Bati was flying in and much better angle
Budi sleeping/selfish should have handed it off to Bati for the shot – not try to shot across his Bambie body w no power
Too bad we had to play into the sun both first halves Panama and Portugal
100% impacts/blinds the players running and playing in that direction
Guess we lost the coin toss (although never saw a coin toss?) and why we got the terrible side both times
What happened to the coin toss to determine who gets ball and what direction u play ???
Man anonymous I jus sit at yourz foot stool and soak up all yourz knowledge man
The other problem was the three VAR officials were English, Dutch and Italian. That is never going to be good for us. The asshole Italian VAR guy in the 2018 final also gave a bs penalty in Euro 2020 to the Czechs for no reason. We’ll never get the benefit of calls like Portugal got. And countless other teams have gotten against us. When you watch a game like the Poland one a few years ago, and you see Livakovic kick the ball, and on his follow through Lewendowski goes into his leg, and Livakovic gets a straight red card, you know there is an agenda. UEFA hates us too, not just FIFA.
Jarred Gillett was VAR Ref
He’s English
We really got ass f-ed by the English this tournament
They probably didn’t want to face us in the semis or whatever again
Assistant from Netherlands (always jealous we’ve accomplished more then them) and Italy (who hasn’t even qualified 3 times in a row)
All three counties have an issue with us and jealous
You can stick VAR where the sun don’t shine
I’m rewatching the carnage of last night on FS1 as we speak, takeaways, FIFA the corrupt enterprise and organization despises us Croatia and the USA, they will fuck U.S. every chance that we get. Positives, great experience for our young kids including Baturina and Sucic, Kovacic and Perisic were great, on to the Euros and next WC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Jzpz-b89E
Remember this goal from Mbappe against Spain in the Nations League final? They said the complete opposite. VAR sucks. Just helps control the narrative. Give me the old days anytime day.
I think chip blip from a touch was the defenders head not the attacker that’s what was detected
That image is a fake.
Why aren’t there three blips on the line graph?
One for Matanovic’s hair, one for Dias’ shoulder, and one for Veiga’s head?
If their explanation is that they filtered out those blips from the Portuguese players…then that means that they doctored the line graph and that it’s been tampered with. Give us the raw data then.
They cannot fix games if they did that
LOL!
D is exactly right.
Mbappe gets the complete opposite call. He gets his goal. And we get shafted.
When I look at this I have to laugh. If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry.
What a sad ending what could be the end of the Dalic era. In America, challenges are permitted for overturning a call, but they may must be very strong to overturn the call. In this case, there wasn’t. Nobody would have complained if he kept to the original call. Terrible decision on his part.
If we do lose coach Dalic, we will lose a great coach. The second half showed he could make the adjustment- with the Matanovic substitution. We took over and lost because of some questionable calls. No matter what the haters say, Viva Zlatko!
Yes, Viva Zlatko!
Rehire DALIC man
FIFA is a fkn joke. You should
Need irrefutable video evidence to overturn the referees call. And earlier in the tourney the commentators were saying that they want Var less involved and rely more on referees….yet var refs were fking us…
Luka Modric next coach man
I guess I’m naive and believed we’d never end up in another massive controversy once again, but it happened.
first and foremost I want to give credit where its due. Dalic must have nerve’s of steel and he made his decisions on lineups and strategy based on what he saw in training sessions and for that I commend him. I haven’t seen us play a game so well in years…especially the second half, we were very good with some obvious mistakes and the biggest mistake was a lack of concentration to challenge for the head ball from Pongracic and Gvardiol…that was quite terrible.
aside from that, I give Zlatko Dalic top marks for sending out a lineup most of us were surprised to see…but we are not on the ground level and I have to accept that Dalic made some excellent choices.
1) stop listening to people on this site that crap all over Kovacic. those people are not futbal educated and have no understanding of how important and incredible Kovacic actually is…he was very good this tournament and those that crap talk him do not understand 5% of this game.
2) I myself have been a Pongracic hater, always calling him a “red card waiting to happen” but based on what I saw and based on Dalic continuing to play him…I have to believe Dalic made the right decision and he was better than Vuskovic in training sessions (we also saw Vuskovic is human and he makes plenty of mistakes which is understandable at his age), Caleta Car was injured, Gvardiol was out of rhythm and form…Pongracic did very well and got better every game so I was wrong about him
3) Vlasic impressed me after all these years I have slandered the guy, he was very good, responsible, energetic, intelligent and battled very hard. I was very satisfied with his play and I give Dalic high marks for giving him lots of minutes.
our team got stronger as the tournament went on and outside of the first game where Dalic tried to flood the midfield and suffocate England, our players did not execute his plan well so the blame can go more than one way. we were only getting stronger and very impressive on so many areas of the game and for this we must all accept that Dalic created the environment and his players played for him
as per the goal we scored in extra time…I’m having a very difficult time trying to process this. there is no doubt it was a good goal and once again pundits, ex players, coaches and so-called experts are all on our side. the final decision had nothing to do with technology, it came down to the ref and he definitely decided the outcome on his own. we can start a thread on this topic….at the moment I feel sick to my stomach and am trying to move forward.
Well said….the clown show of a sport needs to take a page from real football…..the refs call should stand unless there is clear and irrefutable evidence to overturn…..nothing about that play was clear not matanovic “hair touch” changing trajectory of ball and the defender deliberately playing the ball….
Slavonac:
I respect and honor your opinion, and see where you are coming from, and don’t believe or would frame your thoughts as crap. I clearly see his strengths but I clearly see his weakness and faults.
I too agree Kovacic played “very good” as well, and he has played “very good” for the last fifteen to twenty years, but he still leaves me wanting for more. Kovacic is good but is limited role player, as many obviously would agree. Feel free to have your favorites. “Very good” does not win world cups.
Please try to express your with trying to denigrate others if you would.
If someone does agree with you doesn’t mean their ideas are crap. There are plenty on this board who share my convictions as w
Kovacic is not a goal scorer nor should we expect him to be. on the other hand he plays a very difficult role that few players can manage. dropping deep in your own defensive end, receiving the ball with your back facing the opponents and then turning and moving forward is probably the most difficult and dangerous part of the game and Kovacic does it extremely well.
sure. my “crap” comments are rude but I can’t understand how after a game like yesterday, he’s singled out?!
The issue many of u face (which is common with tiny IQ as most posting on this site)
Is u form an opinion (based on ur low IQ) and when presented with new/different data which contradicts u cant change ur mind bc ur fragile ego is trying to protect ur low IQ
Anonymous being the highest IQ ever lives off data and eye tests and research to form their GOAT opinion
On Kova – this tournament – he was better and better each game – and yesterday he was OUTSTANDING
That’s the reality – this corresponds to improving his fitness and sharpness after being out so long the more minutes he played
Instead ur debating the definition u have of “very good” with Slavonic – and u guys will now go back and forth a hundred times arguing about what each of u define as “very good” instead of calling what’s in front of u
Also Slavonac don’t even reference u by name but ur low IQ and fragile ego jump to reply like he offended u when u didn’t even lol
This is all predicted how u will reply b4 u even do
I wish I could understand what you are saying, considering you have a very high IQ
🤣
I think the ref actually called it a goal…but it was VAR that reversed it.
Same with the PK. Nobody was calling for a PK from the Portuguese side, nor did the ref make the call. He just received a call from VAR, and had to award a PK.
Two shitty calls man
Pongracic’s defending on the Ramos goal was pathetic. Can’t help but feel Vuskovic clears that with ease.
Agree with all except I think Vlasic makes some careless mistakes. He does provide speed, power and energy. But he also makes more inaccurate passes than he should. I think he is better suited to come off the bench or against select opponents. Also on that corner, why wasn’t he in front of the guy he was marking? I think that was a lapse in his concentration.
I agree, he’s not a starting caliber player.
It is what it is. He had a good game against Ghana so I understand why we started him for Portugal.
But in two years from now (at Euro2028) I don’t expect him to be starting ever, especially with more talent in the pipeline.
I really hope we build off this, and start planning for the next Euros.
My biggest gripe about our campaign was the poor planning by Dalic and indecisiveness when it came to our formation, starting lineup and players we wish to play off the bench.
We have four games in a 10-day span in late September (Czech, Spain, England, Spain). We need to go with our youth and build a team for 2028.
Matanovic showed us something in the Portugal game. We need to start him immediately, with both Sucic and Baturina behind him. We need to start Gvardiol and Vuskovic as our CBs. We need to call up Stojkovic, Ivanovic, Jagusic and others to (at least) bring them off the bench.
We need to work on this young team RIGHT NOW, so that we’re ready in two years with our best 18 players, our best formations, and with substitutes we actually plan to USE in a tournament.
Exactly… I know bilic has had mixed success in domestic football- but I believe he’s there perfect guy to help guide another group of talented young Croatians .I hope olic isn’t the one to bring lol this together
you say silly things without any logical examples.
“My biggest gripe about our campaign was the poor planning by Dalic and indecisiveness when it came to our formation, starting lineup and players we wish to play off the bench.”
poor planning? if anything, Dalic is very organized so what darn planning are you talking about? I’m really tired of your constant bashing of Dalic…not because I think he’s amazing but because you never give any logical explanation and most of the time you inject stupidity like saying “Vuskovic should play” without truly understanding that maybe Vuskovic is not mentally or even strategically in a good space to take responsibility.
all you do is complain about Dalic…is that really all you got? then people like Iggy, who have no clue what day of the week it is and several others just repeat the same crap you say without them even knowing a damn thing about how the game is played.
I’m really surprised after all these years all you do is crap talk, suggest we invite Roko Simic and whoever else scored a goal the previous weekend. Jagusic was in a terrible mental state this season and anyone that has access to reading about him could tell you it was a terrible season for him, anonymous and others were non stop calling for him to be called. are you guys real? you think this is a pickup game at the local park where we just decide to bring in the next guy thats popular without any real consistent good performances. I can imagine a team you manage…it would fall apart in a week.
stop spreading garbage, especially when you really don’t clearly analyze the situation. all you do is create false-hoods and people recycle that crap
You want logical examples? Okay, here are some right off the top of my head:
#1.- Three months before the tournament, Dalic suddenly decides that we need to play three at the back. Then, halfway through the game against England, he decides to suddenly abandon it and never play it again. Why did he go all-in on three at the back, and why did he revert from his position mid-tournament? You call this being “organized”?
#2.- Dalic outright scapegoats a 19 year-old Vuskovic for a loss against England and doesn’t accept any accountability in his interviews for the decision that HE solely made that led up to this point. When the entire World was calling for him to integrate Vuskovic in the qualifiers, he was giving Vuskovic to the U21 team.
Then, when the Vuskovic hype is too good to ignore, he goes all in on Vuskovic and gives him his first full cap (in a competitive match) against England at the World Cup without any gametime chemistry with his teammates. Great planning BTW.
#3.- Dalic calls up a collection of players that he chooses to leave on the bench, with zero intention of ever playing them. Even when we had injuries, we just shuffle the same smaller group of players into different positions. So it seems like these other players are just there for social reasons.
#4.- Dalic calls up only two fullbacks (Gvardiol and Stanisic) and one that can ‘kind of’ play as a fullback (Jakic). He refuses to call up the in-form Smolcic (likely because he’s not part of the HNS family yet). After Gvardiol shows he simply cannot play, Dalic doesn’t even bother playing Jakic (or shifting Stanisic to LB) and just throws Perisic in there.
It luckily worked out, but this was an insane risk to take since Perisic is a LW player (and only once played some questionable LB minutes for us a long time ago). Very poor planning and foresight to think a man with a recently broken tibula bone would give you 90+ min per game every single game.
#5.- According to you, Dalic is in a better position to make decisions on what players to play because he is “on the ground level”. I agree with you on that. But, wouldn’t this mean that he had visibility into Gvardiol being so out of form? Or Vuskovic not being ready (despite us having 6 additional CBs on the bench)?
I commend Dalic for bringing in Vlasic against Ghana…but was this really a case of him seeing something in training, or is it just another case of musical chairs that ended up working out?
These examples above are all off the top of my head. Dalic should not be immune to criticism just because we have a good team. I think he has his strengths, but I also think his planning is a weakness of his.
On a separate note:
The reason why I bring up young players like Stojkovic and Jagusic is because they were the best in the HNL and should be brought off the bench to integrate them earlier (so we’re not in a knee-jerk position in the middle of a tournament). Nothing wrong with that.
We did this same thing at Euro2020 when Dalic started a heavily injured Vrsaljko and had to cap guys like Ivanusec, Gvardiol and Juranovic in the middle of the tournament for the first time because of poor planning.
It’s not a strength of his, and many people can see this.
You can like Dalic, but you don’t have to be some Dalic cheerleader who gets upset at any justified criticism thrown Dalic’s way.
“1) Three months before the tournament, Dalic suddenly decides that we need to play three at the back”
this was his best attempt to make a change and not be as predictable as well as being competitive with WHAT HE HAD. Dalic did his best to offer the best we had in defence and both Vuskovic and Gvardiol are familiar with 3 at the back but both played poorly…or even terribly! I don’t criticize the guy for trying what he thought would work and I don’t believe he made the decision on a whim. the players didn’t do well and he corrected it the best he could.
“2) Dalic outright scapegoats a 19 year-old Vuskovic for a loss against England and doesn’t accept any accountability in his interviews for the decision that HE solely made that led up to this point. When the entire World was calling for him to integrate Vuskovic in the qualifiers, he was giving Vuskovic to the U21 team.
Then, when the Vuskovic hype is too good to ignore, he goes all in on Vuskovic and gives him his first full cap (in a competitive match) against England at the World Cup without any gametime chemistry with his teammates. Great planning BTW.”
I did not see Dalic “scapegoat” Vuskovic, he’s the coach and has the right to comment and criticize. this isn’t cadet’s and Vuskovic probably knows his mistakes. also, he “solely” made the decision for the formation and strategy vs England and its up to the players to execute. you can’t say he has good players and not credit him when we beat or play a good game and then criticize him when the players play poorly. the game against England was a very poor performance on several levels and most of them were player gaff’s, not Dalic’s.
“3) Dalic calls up a collection of players that he chooses to leave on the bench, with zero intention of ever playing them. Even when we had injuries, we just shuffle the same smaller group of players into different positions. So it seems like these other players are just there for social reasons.”
hard to reply to a comment like this and being serious at the same time. building confidence and trying to stabilize a lineup means you provide a standard 11 with minimal change. the more games we played, the better the defence was. our only real concern was striker and I completely agreed with Dalic in that regard. nobody stood out. each striker had ups and down where they were effective and not effective so he made changes based on what he saw and felt. when you are winning and have the freedom or cushion to not worry about the result, you can sub in Fruk, Jakic, Moro…we were always chasing and didn’t have that luxury.
“4) Dalic calls up only two fullbacks (Gvardiol and Stanisic) and one that can ‘kind of’ play as a fullback (Jakic). He refuses to call up the in-form Smolcic (likely because he’s not part of the HNS family yet)”
I agree with you on this!
“Dalic doesn’t even bother playing Jakic (or shifting Stanisic to LB) and just throws Perisic in there.
It luckily worked out”
we were chasing and as far as I’m concerned, Jakic is great but doesn’t offer offense and we needed that. unfortunate situation for Jakic
“5 According to you, Dalic is in a better position to make decisions on what players to play because he is “on the ground level”. I agree with you on that. But, wouldn’t this mean that he had visibility into Gvardiol being so out of form? Or Vuskovic not being ready (despite us having 6 additional CBs on the bench)?
I commend Dalic for bringing in Vlasic against Ghana…but was this really a case of him seeing something in training, or is it just another case of musical chairs that ended up working out?”
most coaches in Dalic’s position would wait until the final seconds for Gvardiol, he took a risk, hoping Gvardiol’s technical and physical abilities would make a difference and it didn’t. we all wanted this and so did he, not sure if anyone would have done differently? the two defenders we didn’t see in the middle were Caleta Car (back injury) and Erlic, whom I don’t believe we really needed to see as I explained earlier…the coach has to establish a regular lineup and this was his choice.
“You can like Dalic, but you don’t have to be some Dalic cheerleader who gets upset at any justified criticism thrown Dalic’s way”
I’m not a Dalic cheerleader, I just like his mentality, loyalty and old school decision making process. I can’t say I like all of his decisions but I’ve seen our previous coaches and prefer this to them. we all know Slaven Bilic is close to genius intelligence level and I adore the guy but even a guy like him, who may choose every player you listed and like will most likely not get the results Dalic gets because at the end of the day, there’s something more than talent that matters. several teams have far more talent than we do but they don’t get the most out of their players like we’ve seen under Dalic.
for the record, its not the initial comment from you or others that frustrate me. its the constant repetitive, full on, repetitive same recycled comments about things that are untrue that drive me nuts.
you used to constantly beg for Roko Simic, Brekalo, Vlasic (who finally improved), Antonio Colak, Vuskovic, Jagusic…and I’ll never forget the super aggressive slander and criticism where you lead the cheering squad for hating on Livakovic. its unbelievably unfair to do that and then to see several people repeat your comments that don’t have merit
You could package it however you want but Dalic made the “3atb” decision too close to the World Cup (sometime in March).
If your argument is that he decided to do so because both Gvardiol and Vuskovic play 3atb (which they were doing all season), then it’s even worse planning since Gvardiol was out with a broken tibula at this point.
So this decision really was made knowing full well that we may not even have Gvardiol (or an out of form version of him). Yet, we still called no backups and had no backup plan going into the England game.
If it weren’t for Livakovic, it would have been a 7-2 loss and a humiliation that would have been talked about for decades.
Dalic has the right to comment and criticize Vuskovic, but Vuskovic was not the worst player on the field against England.
Also, it absolutely IS scapegoating a player when you take out your starting player in the opening game and refuse to let him play a minute again in the tournament. Gvardiol was far worse, and Dalic still subbed him into the Ghana and Portugal games. Vuskovic was taken out completely for the rest of the tournament despite his replacement CBs not being anything special.
I believe that we need to set aside a couple of roster spots for young players (like France, Spain and England do). Sometimes these players don’t work out, but if they do, then it pays off immensely.
Bringing them in during Nations League and qualifiers (off the bench) allows you to see what they bring and you won’t find yourself in a position where you have to make these knee-jerk decisions during an actual tournament (which has already happened to us at Euro2020, Euro2024 and now WC 2026).
You can mock the players that I may have pushed for, but I also pushed for Petar Sucic, Baturina and Gvardiol in the past. Gvardiol being called up very young paid off IMMENSELY at World Cup 2022. He was arguably the main reason we medaled. Petar Sucic being called up early resulted in him being a top prospect at Inter Milan and arguably our best midfielder now. Baturina had a great tournament as well.
This has set us up well for Euro2028…but it will only work if (for example) Vuskovic starts from now on and is allowed to build chemistry with his teammates, play in different formations (4 or 3atb), and make any mistakes that won’t impact us as much as a World Cup match.
I never criticized clear and good decisions to bring in Baturina, Petar Sucic and Gvardiol. I watch games every week and know their value. I was always onboard for Gvardiol, P Sucic was excellent with Dinamo the first season he got there and the kid matured even faster than Baturina and several others. with regards to Baturina, the second half of the season at Como is when he began to catch fire but before that he only had a reputation and inconsistent play. I’m not sure there’s a bigger Baturina fan than me but I’m also realistic.
its extremely tough to play at that level. a lot tougher than any of us know so with that in mind sometimes we need to be patient.
players like Segecic should not jump the line and get a call-up based on 6 game performances. what would that do to team unity and the understanding of what it takes to get a call-up? 6 games is not enough. Jagusic has to get mentally stronger, Smolcic is a diamond in the rough and I hope he gets a chance. Fabregas said he has never coached a player who’s so quickly improved and that he wanted Smolcic to get a new and better contract…I’d focus on him before I’d bring in many others.
I’m not criticizing your eye for talent Slavonac, I am criticizing Dalic’s slow (and sometimes indecisive) process in bringing these young guys in prior to tournaments.
A couple of perfect examples are Gvardiol and Sucic.
In my opinion, Gvardiol was integrated too late prior to Euro2020, with his first full cap being against England in the opening game. That’s poor planning. As a result, Gvardiol didn’t have a great Euro2020 tournament.
Petar Sucic, on the other hand, was brought in at the perfect time (during Nations League) and he quickly became a staple in our WC2026 qualifying campaign. Now, at the actual tournament, you would never guess he was only 22 years old with how well he’s integrated into our team. He had a great tournament and plays like a veteran out there.
The Gvardiol scenario at Euro2020 reminds me of the current Luka Vuskovic situation.
Dalic has just too much hesitancy in calling some young guys up just to simply give them a few minutes off the bench with the senior team, and then (after a few months pass by), he changes his mind and throws them into the starting eleven and expects so much from them.
I suspect that if Brozovic did not retire, he would still be on the team and I would calling out Dalic for not playing Sucic instead of Broz (and you would be defending both Dalic and Broz). 😉
That being said, Dalic is not all bad with youth. He did bring in Sutalo and Matanovic early and they looked good when they first played for us. Their careers went a bit sideways with injuries and status at the club, but that’s okay. I am perfectly fine with this and it still likely paid dividends in the long run, especially with Matanovic looking seamless out there for us.
But if Dalic stays on, he needs to plan for 2028 and start thinking of which youngsters will likely break out over the next two years and start giving them bench minutes in these upcoming Nations League games.
I think Stojkovic deserves a callup. I’d bring him in off the bench at the end of games. Smolcic would probably be another. Ivanovic would be good too (especially if he transfers to Como).
More importantly, I’d like for us to start guys like Vuskovic and Matanovic (with Baturina and Petar Sucic’s starting status to never be questioned anymore).
Totally agree maminjo. We have the young players to very quickly become an energetic and quality team playing beautiful Croatian football and challenging for tournaments. But they need to pushed forward now
Correctamundo.
I really liked Matanovic today. His performance showed that he has the strengths of both Musa and Budimir, but he’s also only 23 years old as well and may get better.
We should try to replicate Como and have Matanovic up top with some combination of Baturina, Sucic, Kovacic and youngsters like Stojkovic and Jagusic (if they’re still having good seasons) behind him.
There is news that Como is negotiating with Franjo Ivanovic’s team on bringing him over from Benfica (which would be perfect for us too).
A team filled with speed, physicality, and technical creativity. I love it.
I think Perisic needs to stay on as LB for us since he’s done so well in this position, and it allows us to keep Stanisic at RB.
Gvardiol should get back to full health by the Fall and we can pair him with Vuskovic as our two CBs between Perisic and Stanisic.
Perisic can be captain and he (along with Kovacic) can be the veterans on the team.
Agree 100%
Did u see the top candidates to take over according to the “news” is Olic, Bilic or Corluka
Bilic has track record of nurturing youth – see Euro 2008
If it’s b/w these 3 – hope we go with Bilic
Don’t even think Olic nor Corluka have ever coached at a club ? At least Bilic has been out there at clubs including the Premier League
Did you see Perisic says he’s staying already – mixed views – he’s been great this tournament and exceeded everyone’s expectations – if he wants to stay and be a bench player (like Krama was this tournament) okay – but if we wants to start every game – this continues to block pathway of other young players up and coming – also if Ivan stays – u know Modric will want to stay as they love to “push themselves” – the longer they are around the longer it takes for Bati (who was quiet y’day), Pero and others to really take charge – and Kova was great yesterday – so let him stay for 2-4 years
So we not make much progress by Nations League – Pongracic and Sutalo were good yesterday – so how does a coach bench them for Vuskovic ? Luka is going to have to dominate at Brighton to break-through the NT lol – imagine if that was the threshold of all our CB through the years – i.e. you need to be starting in the PL at 19 to play on the NT – Croatia would literally have zero CBs in its history – think Lovren went to Pool mid-twenties – I guess Corluka went to PL early 20s so maybe him – that’s one
Olic had one club coaching tenure with CSKA (back in 2021) that lasted only three months.
Fans hated his coaching style and he only had a 44% winning percentage. He only won against the bad teams and lost all his games to rivals and better competition. They finished 6th and missed Europa for the first time in 20 years.
The coach he replaced (Viktor Goncharenko) was replaced because they were playing below expectations, but when they replaced him with Olic…then CSKA just fell harder.
Olic hasn’t even attempted to try club coaching since.
This alone should forever disqualify him from coaching the National team.
i am with you brother. Dalic needs to go and maybe we try out Adrian Segečić who i hope improves
I’m not about replacing Dalic if it means replacing him with Olic or Corluka.
We have to be careful here.
I understand but dalic cannot be the coach of this team anymore
Can we at least UBIJ SRBINA Sun 11:00 ET U19 match ?
You know your body has a magnetic field and emits electricity. No way you can tell me that sensor was that accurate. For all we know the ball could have hit a mosquito or a clump of humidity in the air and registered.
1) As soon as Ramos scored, every available attacker should’ve come on
2) For everyone upset about the offside goal, why is no one upset about why that goal needed to happen. Gvardiol and Pong (and I think Sutalo) should never have let Ramos get that
3) Vlasic made a dumb foul. He barely had him, but they will call that all the time
End of the day, Croatia only have themselves to blame for the loss
“They will call that all the time”.
Are you kidding? If that’s the case, there would have been dozens of penalty kicks this tournament. Guys are always grabbing the offensive player in the box on corner kicks. I think what you meant to type was “they will call that all the time against Croatia”. And the disallowed goal at the end? You really think they would have disallowed that against Portugal to tie the game? No chance whatsoever.
There would be 10 PKs per game if they called grabbing all the time
i am with you. He is right about the sloppy defense. we did have chances to win and blew it. But the game was not fairly officiated
i thought Petkovic goal was legitimate . We did have chances to win the game . I agree about the poor defense . As for Vlasic last night I saw 4 penalties for Switzerland on their corners and 2 for Algeria . That was soft BS penalty call , that is never called. Had Mappe or Messi scored that goal last night VAR would not check anything. If it did the goal stands . You make some valid points
Portugal’s touch from Veiga after it skimmed Matanović’s head ruled not intentional is painted as a matter of fact.
In fact, just the opposite is true. It was very intentional to get under it and deflect it out of the area. The main media does not onerously paint the picture as such.
It was clearly intentional, no doubt, and clearly reset the offside position for Pasalic. Igor “hair touch” or “non-body touch” becomes a non-issue.
Is incidental hair considered your main body?
As per FIFA’s own rulebook, if the hair does not affect the trajectory of the ball, then the contact is not counted.
It doesn’t matter what the fake sensor line graph (that FIFA is circulating) shows.
Every slowed down video from every angle shows the ball’s trajectory as not being affected.
Matanovic’s hair (whether it touches the ball or not) should not put Pasalic in an offside position AS PER FIFA’s OWN RULEBOOK.
https://x.com/realcreasybear/status/2073054113604988994
…and here is the best angle of the supposed contact:
https://x.com/PabloViruega/status/2072859971847328188
I doubt there was even any contact with his hair. But even this angle shows ZERO changes in trajectory.
Nope
The “not hair” relates to the player in an offside position (when they draw the silly lines) – the 3D models they have of players don’t include their hair
Has NOTHING to do with whether Igor’s hair touched the ball or not
I agree Dalic did a historic excellent job, and most important kept the family spirit and supported promoted the catholic religious culture.
It would not be the end of the world if he chose to stay, but a change might be a natural break with the retirement of Modric.
Over the inside apparent favorites of Olic, Kranjcar, Bilic, we should consider Jakirović (Hull), and Kek (Rijeka) as first choices.
Jakirovic would keep the cultural religious emphasis unique to Croatia.
How long can we keep this unique experiment keep going, where people from the nation state from 700 years back, still represent the nation.
Giving up our sovereignty by joining the mass-immigration happy EU has assured that. The rebellious Slavic teams are the last holdouts.
I prefer Kek.
He’s just been so successful with every coaching opportunity he’s been given, and his teams play beautiful offensive football.
Jakirovic would be a nice option if he were available as well. He was very good at Zrinjski, Rijeka, Kayserispor and also at Dinamo…and what he did at Hull was great.
Olic and Kranjcar have zero experience and should be avoided at all costs.
Bilic is pretty similar to Dalic, but he hasn’t coached in a proper league for years now.
“I prefer Kek.
He’s just been so successful with every coaching opportunity he’s been given, and his teams play beautiful offensive football.”
LOL. What are you talking about? Seven years with Slovenia and a winning percentage of 42%. For 2026 WC campaign not one win and they fail to make it. Stop with your ridiculous Kek talk over the years. Just ridiculous garbage you spew.
We fought like rabid lions 🦁 our back line is set for the next decade barring injuries and sucic plus bati are both going to be studs.We just need a Mario or Davor lite up front and we will be fine
It hurts but at least we have hope!
Still digesting yesterday’s game… so proud to be Croat not matter what but boy it hurts. One day we will get there, I know we have what it takes but as referees in big tournament are almost always against us we need to develop a constant killer instinct and win games by scoring a ton of goals (which we can do).
I would keep Dalić as manager as he has done wonders since he took charge but he needs to change one thing and that is give chance to younger players.
He’s not the only manager who relied a bit too much on the senators though, they all did except Bilić. How about Bilić coming back as an assistant to Dalić?
not to piss anyone off, but Croatia would have had a punchers chance to beat Spain as well – missing Nico Williams they are hamstrung a bit on offense…noy favorites by any means, but Croatia stood a chance as Portugal does now
And then, USA/Belgium for chance at semifinals would be 50/50 at worst…fine lines
Yup….sad stuff….Spain are beatable they are not some
Superpower right now.
VAR was brought in to football exactly for this reason: to allow greater corporate control of outcomes and narratives. It’s getting more and more obvious but that was always the aim. No surprise.
The performance yesterday was magnificent and puts a marker down for the standards we have. Starting from today the younger players and future generations have a score to settle.
There was bad luck with injuries. There was the rise of Luka vuskovic which made Dalić experiment with a back 3. These things contributed to our lose of form at the beginning of the tournament. It is what it is. I’m proud of the boys, and of us. And I know we can do even better moving forward. Here’s looking at you Stojko
First and foremost, I’m so proud of our country. We have the heart like no other team. The patriotic spirit we displayed every game, every city, the noise we made. I’ll never forget it. Coach Dalić, if this is your last time managing Croatia, Hvala ti legenda. I remember when our federation was in a dark place in 2017 and he came right before that crucial away game against Ukraine. We were almost not going to Russia had it not been for him. Less than a year later we were World Cup finalists. What a journey it’s been. Thank you to the greatest midfielder of all time for your 20 years of endless miles ran. He gave everything he had every game and always brought our team together.
As for the tournament as a whole. We started weak against a beatable England side. Then we finished strong against a Portuguese team that were clearly overrated. That first half reminded me of the Panama match. Nothing to be ashamed of when the referee has favouritism towards Ronaldo. He’s arguably one of the best players in modern football, his potential last match, in Toronto where Portuguese Canadians are prevalent. It’s not a shocker Portugal had the calls.
Ronaldo had never scored a knockout stage goal before yesterday. FIFA had to of course give him a penalty against us. Šutalo didn’t have his arms fully wrapped around the Portuguese player. If that’s a penalty, then why didn’t Germany get awarded one when it was obvious. Their second goal…a 5’6 squirt gets passed Šutalo again and Pongracic. Two tall guys and neither of them tried it seemed or jumped.
I’ve watched that reply from the Matanovic header. He never touched that ball once. It’s sickening that they didn’t even mention or see the outburst player intentionally try to clear the ball. Everyone just talks about our player offside. It’s disgusting how much they want Ronaldo to get his trophy. We were the better team. Kovacic hitting the post and that save, three offside goals, lots of trips that weren’t called on Portugal. I have no words. It’s time to move on. It’s time to move with a new generation and direction. Dalić Perisic, Modric, and whoever else leaves. We have to revamp our identity and system. Perisic…he doesn’t get enough credit. He has scored at four straight world cups. 7 goals; World Cup semi final, World Cup final, round of 16, round of 32. Kovacic, Perisic, Livaković, Pongracic, Modric, and Stansic all had outstanding matches. We have some much talent and youth. Lots to look forward to in future tournaments. Competition will be tough with Spain and England in nations league this fall too.
Just have to have faith moving forward. We played our heart yesterday. The best team doesn’t always win. That’s the game and life.
Bog I Hrvati!!!!!
So there’s a million camera angles to show that a player is offside by a inch but no videos to distinctly show the ball hitting his head? strange how they never showed the audiences last night a blow up of the shot in slow motion . fiffa did nor want a Spain Croatia game it was more profitable to see Spain Portugal
They keep showing us some cute little line graphic that shows what the sensor felt.
Such a scam.
Reading the commentary, I don’t what game people are watching. The first half should have been 2-0 Portugal at a minimum. We decided to play the whole game in our half. Give them 5 or more corners, I can’t remember. Hope for a 0-0 tie. That’s what we got. Then try and muster up enough energy to swing the game our way. It was a flawed strategy and not sustainable and we got our just reward a scam job. We’re a great football country with small minded leaders. Get ready for some pain at HNS for a few years as we try and start building young players when we should have been doing it the last few years. Sorry to our youth players , we gave you Olic, Dalic and other dummies to develop your skills.
The strategy in the first half was confusing.
We essentially ran the offense through
Pongračić.
This happens all the time for teams that are “underdogs.” Absorb, stay in the game and so on.
Croatia came out on the “front foot” in the second half.
…by running our entire counterattack through Pongračić?
That’s because he was the one with the space. You do realise that opposition teams are also planning on how to stop us? So you can’t cover everything on a football pitch you have to prioritise who you press, who you stop playing. That means that sometimes less likely players are the ones who are left with a little space. Pongracic was in that position and he took on the responsibility. He was brilliant. What you think we can just give the ball to modric and he can run forward with it? Portugal will just let that happen Ofcourse they don’t want to win the game? Try to look at the big picture. Things don’t happen in isolation they happen in the context of everything else that’s happening.
+ 1
Um, Pong was the lowest rated player on Sofa and amongst the lowest on the Croatian news outlets I’ve checked. Going off memory he had one brilliant long pass to Vlašić on the RW but it was ruled offside. He was mostly solid throughout the first half in defense, but was involved on the go-ahead Portugal goal.
I’ll give Pong this he is good with the ball on his feet….man when sutalo tries to dribble I hold
My breath. As for the go ahead goal 2 guys marking and neither could jump lol
Another reason why you plan for this, and come prepared.
Portugal even said in advance that they want to pressure us and take possession from us (and not let us play our possession game).
Vušković has the skill set to play as a libero.
Pongračić did ok (but still made some typical Pong mistakes) but we really needed to invest in Vušković in this role.
I bet he would’ve been fine even in this game (despite being scape goated and unfairly left off the squad).
We went with the “safe” low ceiling option in Pongračić, and now we’re all here talking about what could have been.
The problem I had with the backline is they were not comfortable with the press and resorted to long ball after long ball.
We usually are much better against pressure than that and find the right pass to regain possession. I remember this in the Panama game as well. When under pressure we would mostly aimlessly launch the ball forward. It would go right back to Portugal.
This was either a strategy or a lack of comfort being pressured from Sutalo/Pong combo.
With Ronaldo up top and not interested in playing defense, we should have done better against the press.
It’s the Sutalo/Pong combo.
We are usually pretty good on the counter against bigger teams.
Despite Pongracic being technically gifted for a defender and ambidextrous with his feet, he’s still not good enough to spring a quick counter with a solid pass forward.
Every time we won the ball, we spent a lot of time playing it backward and inviting Portugal to add pressure on us (and give it away).
Moving forward, We NEED to invest in our young backline players. Luka Vuskovic needs to start from this day forward (no more excuses).
Look, I don’t think anyone can say 100% that the 3 offsides and the Portugal penalties were bad calls. That’s not the point. The point is, if it were the other way around, would Croatia get those calls? Obviously not. How many times do you see guys getting held in the box on a corner kick? Answer: all the time, because you see the ref half the time telling guys to knock off the holding before the corner kick. And how many times is it called? Never. Only to Croatia. And when has Croatia got the benefit of a call that could go either way in a major tournament? It hasn’t happened for decades. FIFA and UEFA don’t want us, period. If you just add up the bullshit from 2012 onwards, it’s sickening. And the bigger sad thing is, except for a few instances, they played great in the second half. They deserved to win. And I was telling my buddy around the 70th minutes when it was 1-1, when was the last time Croatia scored in injury time to tie or win, because it always happens against us. Sure enough, it happened again, but we thought we did the same. Of course as always with Croatia, it was too good to be true.
Enjoy the rest of the tournament for those guys who have the stomach to watch this garbage. Next game I watch is end of September.
Agreed. If that’s a PK then there should be 20 of them a game.
Ronaldo whingeing for being subbed. Selfish prick. I hope Spain pastes them 5-0.
I’d be more mad if I didn’t see this movie before.
Great headline.
Perisic wants to stay as long as he is healthy and making a difference. This is the right attitude. He’s still an important player and we should keep inviting him.
Perisic still has the fitness and skill to contribute ideal to help the younger guys .
I think Perisic has another EURO in him
Easily.
I can’t believe how good he was this tournament.
I’m also impressed with Matanović this game.
The first half was frustrating especially since our guys weren’t playing physical and were getting upset over the non calls.
Then in the second half, we were just powering through the Portuguese back line and we didn’t care if we got the calls or not.
I hope this experience inspires these young guys to play angry and continue to play like they did in the second half
My comment on the so called computer chip that shows two touches on the ball. Didn’t the ball hit the Portuguese defender’s hand and then head? And frankly hair has no volume unless you have a braid of something. Who cares if it grazes his hair, what’s next he breathes on it and it’s a touch?
I mean, the Portugal guy did move to hit ball with his head. Dalic is right
Dalic, thank you for your services over the years. Now please do the only right thing and resign, so we can move on and have something to look forward to in the post-Modric era.
agreed
[Ivica Olic enters the chat]
Let’s sign a petition to keep Dalic
Watched the post-interview with Dalic. I agree, Ante that was a great statement made to Dalic, you said everything we were thinking. Also, the reply he gives you it seems that he is stepping down? He mentions its an end of the era.
-Dalic mentions that its time for the younger players to take over
– Football is becoming more commercialized/business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVNcGiKgY2E
Ante speaks at 4:00
Also, there is a graph that VAR is showing when Matanovic “touches” the ball it looks like this ____^^^____. However, if Matanovic touches the ball and then it deflects off the Portuguese defender shouldn’t there be two lines?
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1um27ci/touch_that_leads_to_the_offside_in_croatia_vs/
^3d Model from BBC of the situation
ALSO
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1um7vbj/petar_sucic_the_referee_told_us_he_didnt_see_our/
Petar Sucic “The referee told us he didn’t see our striker touch the ball, he said that the sensor in the ball said it did. It’s really difficult to explain but we expect an explanation. What I saw is that Matanovic didn’t touch the ball. Today is like that, luck was on their side.”
I didn’t see the game.. and frankly it is too hurtful to watch, so i dont want to. But what i will say is even news.com.au and neutral sites have been saying there was some dodgy officiating going on. I guess the only positive is the world can see that.
I would have been more upset had Austria beat Spain but given how Spain look in imperious form, this hurts a little less.
If it was a case of beat Austria and then USA to make another SF, this one would’ve really hurt.
Anyway i look forward to seeing what Baturina and the other young guys bring in the future. I think Nations League qualifiers start about September or so… ?
Ante (Kvartuc)
I watched the Dalic press conference after the match and that was an amazing statement by you to Dalic.
Well done, you showed class and I want to thank you on behalf of all the Croatian fans around the world.
I will second that. You handled that with poise and respect. 🫡
Link to video?
Search for ‘Dalić Press Conference’ and it’s the 16 minute one. I think Ante had the 2nd question.
I just watched it.
It was nice of Ante to thank Dalic for what he has done, but I disagree with Ante’s assertion that “Zlatko Dalic deserves a statue in every trg”.
Funniest part was Dalic nodding as Ante was saying this, ha ha 🤣
Haha. At least a statue in Varazdin.
Bravo Ante majstore
Yet none of you have mentioned the illegal stutter step penalty shot.
Continuous motion is the rule, not only does Ronaldo stop motion as he jumps to the left, he does a full stop before starting his full forward motion.
I argue he has stopped twice but FIFA continues to ignore penalty shot rules.
So the conversation is mute if the basics of football are not followed throughout the game then the outcome was always predetermined.
If Liva makes the save, he jumps too early, retake. If Ronaldo does the Macaroni and score it’s worth two.
All we can pray for is a new generation that’s so amazing that even the FIFa cannot fix and move on.
I did hear the commentator say that Ronaldo waited to see which way the keeper went, if continuous motion is the rule then that’s not possible I would’ve thought?
Someone who can hit a tennis ball against a wall 1,000 time straight without error, doesn’t make them a great tennis player.
There is a special unique bar for Kovacic playing great which is so low, regarding he “almost executed this or that.” In the end if he cuts through some lines and keep the ball moving through the mid-field, this is a great historical game. There should be a higher litmus test.
If Kova provide an assist I would say he played excellent. If Kova scored a goal I would say he played excellent. If Kova hadn’t created a corner kick that produced the opponents winning goal I would say he played really great.
Breaking through lines and not having the killer instinct to put it the ball in the goal, if that is great, he certainly achieved it.
The gentlemen is taking up a spot from more in form younger healthier athletic players, that we hold to higher expectations. Kovacic greatness is sublime and can’t be measured in wins losses and results by his fans. He is just there to be admired like a picture in an art gallery.
Must be nice to get such easy adoration, regarding he almost did this or that.
Meanwhile our best striker, couldn’t get five minutes on the field in the last two games, after scoring in his few opportunities, the best striker goal of the tournament.
That’s borderline sacrilege around here. 🤣
As with Euro 2024, late goals doom us again as Dalić and crew had no answer for them again.
It’s time to give Zlatko a huge celebration and a statue in Zagreb for his achievements but time to move on from him and bring Bilić back, who you knew would always have the right substitutions and have the right starting lineup.
We played well for the most part except for the Portugal 2nd goal. Don’t know why three defenders allowed that header. VAR is good for off sides ruling not so crystal clear on penalties awarded and the studer step by players who actually stop and restart . Suker and Presinecki did it properly. When I first played for a Croatian team here in Canada our coach was a former player for Hajduk. I have never forgot how he told us that the left and right wingers should really be off side because they both would be looking at the field at a 45 degree angle watching the play from there team and the line of the defenders. When we see our players ready to send us a cross we took one step back while watching the line and quickly turn forward just as our player was making the pass. Off sides in the middle going forward are more difficult but on the wings it shouldn’t happen verry often. Perisic plays the off side verry well.
Can we go over that last goal. So they say it touched matanovics pubes on his head. But if the defender made a “deliberate” play it wouldn’t have mattered looked like he was fkn trying to hear the ball to me and he did…
The Portuguese defender doesn’t have time to react to make a deliberate action. Therefore, it’s irrelevant he touched the ball once it grazed Matanović’s hair.
What do you mean he line up and ducked his head to try to tap it over the end line over the goal or to the goalie…matanovics touch did not effect that the defender lined up there intentionally headed it…
After all 200+ caps Modric exits the WC bc he forget to tell Igor to stop using so much gel and styling his hair up ?
How can Ronaldo get the FIFA Men of the Match.
What a joke.
I think it’s a fan vote. Most casual fans just vote for the only name they know.
It’s not what ya know but who ya blow
So out of the 26 – 7 players didn’t even get a minute
Were Pandur, Kotarski, Duje, Erlic, Fruk, Jakic, and Moro there just for vibes ?
What was the point it taking these players – all late 20s – if there was no intention of playing them – instead of young guys like Stojko and Jaga and even Segecic – to get the experience being around the NT and absord while Modric was still around
I think Dalic got more substitutions right through the tournament and wasn’t scared to sit or yank the vets when needed – he gets a 9.75/10 for that – and maybe he picked these 7 players bc he knew they wouldn’t cause a fuss not playing – but pretty sure the young players would have caused even less of an issue just sitting each match – so for squad picking – he gets a 4/10
Poor Jakic – saved our ass at RB in qualification – and doesn’t get repaid come the WC – feel particularly bad for him
Also the preparation should be a 2/10. Going with 3 in the back in the friendlies before the WC and then pulling the plug on it after one match to revert back to 4 with a largely untested Pong/Sutalo combo was nutty.
If he was so hesitant with 3 in the back, then not trying Vuskovic in a CB pairing with 4 in the back well before the tournament was also poor preparation.
Agree, that is my biggest problem with Dalic he should have never gone back to experimenting with formations so close to the WC.
Why would Pandur and Kotarski play without Dominik picking up an injury? Am I missing something???
Jakić was there as a backup for Stanišić.
Fruk didn’t deserve to play over other much more talented midfielders.
Moro didn’t even deserve to be selected on the squad.
I am not sure if this is a serious post I’m responding to.
Overall good performance 2nd half they played great too bad we didn’t get that 2nd goal.
Kova was great!
I think the penalty was terrible it’s a bad call the end of game I think sucked too but I don’t know even if it grazed his hair it’s the right call but overall bullshit.
Only complaint I have is Dalić made the worse sub in I history. If gvardiol
Is unfit to start and then don’t sub him in. I would be more forgiving if perisic was gassed but he wasn’t coming in for him.
Why mess with your backline? You sub gvardiol which moved Perišić which moved Mario pasalic and then in minutes they score.
Don’t over think it if vlasic is gassed just sub in L sucic I don’t get it.
Also Modric was gassed playing so deep
In those final moments before 2nd Portugal goal he needed to come out earlier. Those were my only criticisms on Dalic today.
So Matanovic comes out in the post match interview and says he thought it slightly touched his hair but wasn’t sure
They have a chip in the ball and according to Matanovic the ref told him that the ball had touched his head/hair.
Modric, Krama, Perisic (and thus Dalic) – will 100% retire
Budimir doesn’t have to retire – he won’t get called anymore
Kova needs to stick around until 2028 at least (and was great today)
As such, time to focus on 2028 Euro and next generation (starting w Nations League this fall)
Let Anonymous start the ball rolling
Jaga pre-season games already scheduled below (more might be added)
SATURDAY 04/07/2026 | 18:00 ΑJAX
SATURDAY 11/07/2026 | 21:00 GRASSHOPPER
WEDNESDAY 15/07/2026 | 19:00 SK RAPID WIEN
THURSDAY 23/07/2026 | 00:00 PAKSI FC
THURSDAY 30/07/2026 | 00:00 PAKSI FC
That was one of the best halves of soccer I have ever seen. When Croatia started to pass, move off the ball, and create chances, we looked like world beaters. Unfortunately, even if we would have won, we would never have progressed past Spain, or France. I have never seen a team so poor at defending corner kicks. It seemed that a Portugal player was first on the ball after every corner. This is embarrassing. Hrvatska should hold their heads up high after such a magnificent performance.
My main VAR complaint is about Sucic’s goal called offside. On the initial replay, there was a Portuguese defender closer to our left wing who appeared to keep Sucic onside. However, the late VAR image only showed the defender to his right.
BEBA Place
@anonymous
All the stats in the world will not save you.
You just keep on picking your nose deeper.
The only one here crying is you lol. All those stats to defend your stupidity takes some serious mental gymnastics.
Anonymous BEBA Place
Rotflmao.
Faster than Anonymous picking his nose.
Stronger then slowest train in Osijek,
Able to eat 2 tons of cevapi in a single bound,
Look it’s Klepetan,
It’s Rimic Automobili,
No, it’s SUPER SLAV.
The counter / balancing argument
If FIFA / ref wanted Portugal to win why did they allow 16 minutes of ET – why not blow the final whistle after the initial 10 was complete and Portugal were ahead ?
Seems less conspiracy when u consider all angles
Our goal that was ridiculously overturned came in ~112th minute. Announcers said they were accounting for the 3 minutes of celebration from the Portugal goal.
Yup
I know that
But we had several chances after 110’
He gave 6 extra extra minutes
He could have given none or 1
At that point only downside for Portugal winning as Croatia could score and tie it up – that’s my point
If they really want to f Croatia just call it 110 or 111 – nobody knows where the minutes come from anyways – u can’t audit it
The extra time after the bullsh*t overturn was to give the impression of fairness to Croatia after having screwed them.
But they weren’t really giving us an extra chance because there’s no way they would have allowed a goal for us. If we did score in the 115th minute, the sensor in the ball would have that detected a Croatian pubic hair touched it and played our scorer offside.
Ya I think blaming this loss on reffing is a major cop out. The overturned goal due to the dubious touch from Mantanovic was definitely questionable but we litterally gifted Portugal their 2 goals.
We had all the momentum before their Pen but we tried to be too cute and gave away that brutal corner.
Also we really should’ve had 1 more goal but we just failed to capitalize on our chances.
Sure, maybe the ref robbed us from extra time but we can only blame ourselves for not winning.
This is one of the worst VAR overturns that I can think of and you think this is a cop out?
Also the penalty was soft. You think they would have overturned that if it was Portugal? You think this match was fairly officiated?
No I don’t think we can only blame ourselves.
Vlasic had his arms around the guy and rugby tackled him from behind. It doesn’t get anymore clear cut than that.
If that was done against us and there was no call, I would have been infuriated.
All I’m saying is that we could have easily avoided having a controversial last second call going against us if we didn’t make such boneheaded mistakes.
Yes, but the point is, and always is, they only call this bs against Croatia. How many times are guys grabbed in the box on a corner kick. Happens all the time. And how many times has VAR called it this tournament. Never until now. It’s absolute bullshit.
Don’t get me wrong, FIFA is corrupt and supports rapists.
But these things are unfortunately out of our control and leaves us with little margin for error in games like these.
Maybe I’m just use to us getting screwed over at this point…
Eh Vrag crnoga won tonight. Keep your heads up.
EA Sports Graphic Designers who were fired were given a new job.
Virtual evidence that Anonymous was only slightly picking his nose.
Rotflmao
***.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries
From those crying about Diogo Jota over and over again
Why don’t you also cry also about the other 1.19 m people who die each year from road crashes ?
Why bc he’s “famous” ? bc he’s a “footballer” ? LMAO
U should instead be crying about the tragedy of all the POOR PEOPLE who die each year in 3rd world countries (like AFRICA) from car fatalities (including pedestrian which is a HUGE issue bc they have to walk on dirt roads to travel)
They have NOBODY who gives a f about them – including any of YOU
But instead u want to cry over and over again about the rich footballer LMAO – who didn’t have his Lambo maintained properly (tyre blowout) – who needed to rush on a dangerous highway in the middle of the night to pass another car (tyre blowouts only happen at high speeds) – who could afford a driver to drive him (at normal speed) – who selfishly took his own life and his brothers – leaving his parents heart-broken and HIGH risk of SUICIDE because of his deliberate childish decision – and leaving his own kids fatherless
His deliberately bad and selfish decision are okay in your opinion ? LMAO
Hopefully that’s not what u teach your kids
U think of any of u died in a car crash – any football who give one sec of sh*t thinking about your death ? Of course not – yet you want to HERO WORSHIP a complete stranger bc he kicked a ball for a living LMAO
Give me a F-ing break – GROW UP and GROWTH A BRAIN
Here are the STATS:
– Approximately 1.19 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
– Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years.
– 92% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries have around 60% of the world’s vehicles.
– More than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
– Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product.
The United Nations General Assembly has set an ambitious target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2030
@anonymous
All the stats in the world will not save you.
You just keep on picking your nose deeper.
The only one here crying is you lol. All those stats to defend your stupidity takes some serious mental gymnastics.
Anonymous BEBA Place
Rotflmao.
Faster than Anonymous picking his nose.
Stronger then slowest train in Osijek,
Able to eat 2 tons of cevapi in a single bound,
Look it’s Klepetan,
It’s Rimic Automobili,
No, it’s SUPER SLAV.
@Stari
Don’t forget the new VAR artificial intelligence graphic they love to use 10 minutes after the infraction to prove FIFA was right.
It’s so stupid, did you guys see Columbia goal overturned against Portugal for the BIG TOE offside.
Btw the penalty was the right call but laughable. I’ve seen far worse, where players literally grab others, bear hugs, shirt pullings, and much worse then what Vlasic had committed.
The problem is FIFA applies the law of the land only for one team so let’s give Vlasic Pickles a break.
Faster than Anonymous picking his nose.
Stronger then slowest train in Osijek,
Able to eat 2 tons of cevapi in a single bound,
Look it’s Klepetan,
It’s Rimic Automobili,
No, it’s SUPER SLAV.
I met a Portuguese woman at the gas station just now as I was purchasing my Hrvati Knockout Nightcap, I congratulated her for the win then told her I was Super Slav.
She immediately said, she felt the game was rigged for Portugal. She is a women, so I take her football IQ at face value but I still appreciated her observation.
I then complained about FIFA’s constant refusal to apply the penalty shot rules.
The FIGO step has burned my britches for over 2 decades and Ronaldo’s take made Harry Canes look legit lol.
Anyway, to all my Brethren I wish you well. This is our love song which unites as a people.
Let’s now look forward to the next Golden Generation.
I will also like to honour the Croatian Soccer crew, everyone here except those on my list for dental surgery and all the players on and off the bench who gave it their all.
Faster then ANONYMOUS picking his nose,
Stronger then slowest train in Osijek,
Able to eat 2 tons of cevapi in a single bound,
Look it’s Klepetan,
It’s Rimic Automobili,
No, it’s SUPER SLAV.
Toronto Screw Job.
I am in shock .
Why even play ?
Show me. Show me where Matanovic touches the ball. The ball does not change trajectory at all. So the chip in the ball can sense even hair brushing against the ball (which it doesn’t even look like his hair moves).
The call on the field was goal. I thought it has to be clear and definitive to overturn a call.
In his earpiece the ref heard this. You must disallow this goal. FIFA has spoken.
Sramota yet again from FIFA. They showed the replay like 2 times and got the heck out of Dodge on to other things as fast as possible.
We played a great game! We were better. A few errors here and there on our end but that’s to be expected against top level opponents.
Hvala to Majstore Luka Modric.
Hvala to the team and coaching staff our boys always play with heart and make us proud.
Glave gore!
Nema predaje!
Bog i Hrvati
Agreed. It is insanity.
They wanted Ronaldo to go through probably.
They show spike when Croat “touched” the ball but never a spike when ball hit Portugese defender. Fishy, very fishy… how do you KNOW that video and accelerometer chip data are in SYNC and not altered? Could be a touch from Portugese that was “magically ” moved forward in time?
Point is , we gave the game to Portugal and if we had a coach with 1/10th a brain , we would have won that game and quite easily. We gave Portugal way too much respect and finally Dalic will be gone. Take your lack of coaching skill with you.
Hey crotown I don’t agree with you 100 percent I agree a million percent with you . Same thing happened the last time in 2016 . The old guys did okay tonight. But going forward we need a knew coach .
Crotown with 9/10 better brain? What are you doing different?
I wonder if the players think Dalic is a coach with 1/10th of a brain. If the players felt that way Dalic wouldn’t have lasted 10 minutes.
I think I’ll take Perisic and Modric ‘s opinion of Dalic over all the armchair football managers on this site.
I guess you gotta have a scapegoat.
I dread to think what would happen to our Vatreni if we got a truly incompetent coach or God forbid a foreigner.
Živili Zlatko!
Did you happen to miss the entire Euros 2024 campaign or the performance against England and Panama this WC? Ghana doesn’t count because they didn’t even play for the win.
I feel like some of us are missing the point. Thats it for Modric, he played a good game for his age. Still a warrior. We will miss him!
The point is that Modrić should have at least one more game. But FIFA wanted Ronaldo because he’s more marketable.
I begged for Musa to play. Matanovich is a couple inches taller, and Musa has clean short hair cut.
The ball hit Igor hair maybe, but it did not hit any part of his body.
I really think this was Croatia’s game, with the only requirement was to play Musa the full 90 minutes, clearly the most talented of the three when it comes to producing goals for the NT.
Kovacic simply can’t score, unfortunately, meanwhile the corner kick he gave away destroyed the game.
If Vuskovic was in there, he could have headed that cross out rather than grabbing the player like Vlasic.
Kovacic was insane today, so important to our midfield. Without him we’d have been a shell of a team.
I politely defer in opinion. At least you know that Croatia would have failed without him in the lineup rather than won. That must be nice, I am envious.
He almost scored, had an assist but it was offsides. Even defending. He was great today. Mistakes were made when Gvardiol forgot to jump and allowed someone who is 6ft to win a header over him.!
Agreed where are the kova haters today?
Kova played great. Vlasic defending was terrible on that corner
I am so glad for you that you got to see Kova excellent performance today and you feel that way. It must feel good.
Great second half, VAR has not been our friend since its inception. However, both goals that we scored were Offside.
Penalty for Portugal is a different matter, I thought it was very soft and I wonder if it would have been given had the situation been reversed? Vlasic on the wrong side of the attacker and once again we were lucky not to concede from their corners.
Good to see Kovacic play well again. Bit disappointed with Baturina today while Sucic had a great match.
First half Stanisic had a lot of problems with Leao. What can you say about the Ramos header for the winner, good cross between Pongracic and Gvardiol and Livakovic could not do much.
We’ll have to wait and see what Dalic does, but I think this was his last match in charge?,
Thank Dalić for 2018/2022 and everything else he’s done, but it’s time for a new voice.
We lost a decade of superb players with a level 3 coach and today was no difference – late goal again – i think they give the coaching job to Modric immediately- he saw for 10 years what not to do so the rest should be easy- we should have had at least one World Cup championship in 2018
Really sorry this 2026 joyride ends here. Portugal was better, but not smarter, in the first half. We were the better team in the second half. Not easy to turn those tables. Thank you Dalic. We lost, but we were brilliant. Portugal knows who was the better side. We never stopped fighting. We played with such desire and class. We lost. But be proud.
You’re wrong about that . Portugal was not better than us. Had they been better they would have covered and beaten us by 4 goals. What happened to the blow out win ? Had that been Messi or Mappe. who scored that goal in the final minutes of the game that goal would have stood and no one would have bothered to check VAR . Dalic is loser. He is clueless and bungled this campaign like he did Euro . And Portugal is laughing at us and don’t consider us the better side .
Heartbreaking. We played our guts out in the second half.
If Dalic stays coach after this even though he should‘ve been fired after the Euros in 2024, I will boycott this team until that complete incorrigible moron is gone. I could write a paragraph about the numerous, obvious things he’s done wrong, starting with the first group game against Spain at the Euros 2 years ago all the way to this game. If he has any self-respect left, he will announce his retirement with immediate effect. If he doesn‘t, HNS should release him immediately if they are even slightly competent.
Thank you Modric & Perisic for the happiness and joy you brought to millions of Croatians around the world for years. For the blood, sweat and tears you gave for the checkered shirt for so many years. You deserved a much better ending. Heros and legends in every sense! Forever grateful.
The referee was going against us any chance they could get. Its a shame that players who want to show their talent and win must go against the other team plus the referee. It gets boring watching the same teams go through the finals France, Spain, England Etc. I think deep down we all know that FIFA fixes matches for their own benefit. Why do we keep watching? Ronaldo makes them more money than Modric. Modric is a hero for us but not for them no matter how much they like to compliment him.
Even that penalty was a little soft but we should have done better in that position. We played good but its sad the way it ended.
It went off the portugese player you can see his afro bounce. Also, with the extra technology from FIFA it seems that they paint the picture they want you to see and not what happens.
Yes, I believe it did go off the Portuguese player but I guess the ball faintly touched Matanovic before that, at least that’s what the ref thinks. Personally I couldn’t tell… maybe someone can watch the replays and let us know.
Bravo will said agree
I’ve got neutrals texting me about how rigged that was. We were robbed. The whole game was completely biased against us. FIFA and Fox get what they want with their princess advancing.
We were robbed. But we weren’t going to beat Spain anyway so who cares at this point… that’s the only thing keeping me going atp
And Spain will crush Portugal
Kovacic was immense
Yeah he was great. But I have to bring up that bad backpass that gave Portugal the corner they scored on.
Definitely that was poor. But overall he had an incredible game. If it wasn’t for an incredible save by Costa he scores goal of the tournament which would have put us 2-0 up and win the game for sure. Modric was amazing. Petar sucic was amazing. Pongracic and sutalo were fantastic. Perisic was great. Matanovic was fantastic. Stanisic gave too much discs to leao throughout the game. You scared of getting beaten for pace. Portugal winner came from stanisic fear. You have to close down the winger if he beats you with pace and skill you take him down take a yellow. Petar was inconsolable at the end. It’s time for the next generation to make us all,including modric, proud
Ajmo
Agree on all points. I thought Stanisic had a good game and for the most part kept Leao under control. Our CBs should have done better on that cross.
Stanisic also crossed it for Perisic for our first goal.
Pasliac missed the header that would of turned the game around
Thank you. Dont forget his lack of finishing as usual.
What happened to our ability to close out games? Albania and Italy in the last Euros and now this?
Also more needs to be said about Mario P’s miss before stoppage time. He had a free header at least get it on goal.
Lastly as others have mentioned why bring on Gvardiol? If you can’t trust him to start why bring him on at the most crucial point of the game.
Ffs. We did put up a good fight but at the same time that game was infuriating.
Yes you’re right. The same old problem of conceding late in the game…
Hmm I can’t help but wonder… if it was Vuskovic there instead of Sutalo, maybe Goncalo Ramos would not have connected so well with that cross to head in the gamewinner.
Correction, I meant to say “instead of the defender who was positioned in front of Ramos with respect to the incoming cross (not sure if he’s Pong or Sutalo)”
So entertaining and crushing. Damn offsides. If you’re a professional you should be able track where you are. Offsides is a crutch for lazy defending. I don’t get that rule. Hvala staroj gardi.
David vs Goliath is a myth in the real world ..corruption is rife in politics the judicial system and sports.
Life isn’t fair and this is just proof that a small country will NEVER EVER be allowed to lift that trophy 🏆
All I care about is a clean called game.
If you’re going to call one infraction in the box then Kovacic being punched in the bread basket should have been called prior to that, yet there was no VAR check for that foul in the box.
The penalty for me was warranted but everyone knew they would look for Golden Boy to finally break his curse of no goals in the knockout stage.
When Ronaldo hit the penalty shot and did a dead stop ala Figo which is illegal, there was no call but yet again the rule says he must be in constant motion and follow through but I digress
Either way, this team was not good enough to beat the match fixing. Sitting on a 1-0 lead is always suicide and there were so many other issues.
Dalic, starting Vuskovic in friendlies before the cup, terrible formation against England, hesitancy to play Marco or any youth before the vets get their handicap parking privileges are just few.
It was a good run but now we can finally usher in a full youth movement.
Thank you Dalic for all the great moments and for Ivan and Luka’s endless devotion to the Repka.
Never Fear, Super Slav is here 😉
Going into the game, I was mentally prepared to see Ronaldo score against us, as he has gone so many games without scoring in the WC knockouts and it’s just a matter of time before he opens his account.
Who the fuck cares about Diogo Jots ?
The guy was a MORON – driving his Lambo in the dark across a known area with dozens of previous deaths/crashes
Just to catch a ferry
They never said he wasn’t speeding which tells us he probably was
The guy could afford to pay a driver to drive him but no he needs to Lambo
U take stupid risk in life u win stupid prizes
So what’s the tribute for ? Being a MORON and selfishly leaving his parents to deal w the death of their 2 sons ?
Anon that’s.not ok
Moron is you!!!
Respect the others and mainly the deads!!
What could possibly compel you to post something this dumb
You’re a loser and a cancer to this site. I’m sick of your 100% hit rate nonsense (more like 10%) and raging about a poor player that lost his life and this post doesn’t get banned? Get a life
What a game! Croatia really should’ve won that one. It’s a shame they had to meet in the rnd of 32 because of Fifa’s group fixing that makes it so the U.S.A. and Canada can meet Bosnia and Sth. Africa in the rnd of 32 and make it to the round of 16, not by being good, but because of the group fixing.
Should been called a goal at end of the game Thx Fifa
Key to loss and all on Dalic
1) first half was zero strategy- just hanging on 2) never handled Vuskovic properly at all – 3) never read the bench and subbed out more players and played new legs after we scored- goodbye Dalic – time to go
One of two things will happen:
Modric, Perisic, Kramaric, and the rest retire, Dalic leaves, and the NT finds a new coach and licks its wounds for the next years until the WC. By that time, all these young guns are older and have formed their own “generation”.
Or
The NT goes into dark times for another 20 years like the cycle has been.
Only one thing remains the same. Croatia must score many goals per each game when it matters so VAR and FIFA can’t screw them over.
Should’ve just taken the draw with Ghana, smh
Yup
Anonymous said the same
But Dalic and Modric’s fragile ego they they NEED to win to show they won 2 in a row – instead of using their brains and being strategic
Would get extra 14.5 hours of rest too
*extra 26.5 hours of rest
Mate, that’s a stupid comment. You’re no farking Croatian supporter. Piss off!
Kovacic, so he can attack the goal, he did it tonight and twice almost scored. How strange he never managed to make that part of his
game. He and Modric were brilliant and showed more class than the Portuguese midfield tonight. Many positive things in the game. I don’t mind the tournament ending with us playing like this. BBC said that the real question on final goal was whether Portuguese defender had control and they claim he did not.
The only statement Croatia can make is that every player needs to shave their head for the next tournament.
Proud of our boys too portugal wont go further or england for that matter.
Anonymous where are you? Can someone explain that tieing goal call… that header was deliberate enough but is that the issue or is it that Pašalić was in off side position even before the tip of the ball?
I have the same question as OkoSokolovo. Can someone please explain..?
Stupid mistakes cost us that games, more than the refs. After their offside goal we ever should’ve conceded a corner.
Vlasic then gives away an egregiously bad penalty.
And on their winning goal how tf does Sutalo and Gvardiol let that midget win a header over them.
We were solid offensively but our mistakes were disgraceful.
He was between Pong and Sutalo if my memory is right. Gvardiol was right there too. Pathetic
Super proud of the guys. We really stepped up. I don’t mind losing when you’re trying to score goals isn’t of being passive. So much passion unlike the 2024 Euros. Spain will whoop Portugal on Monday.
We did ourselves proud and played really well. I don’t know about that last call.
I know the sensor shows it touched but I just can’t see it
The ball doesn’t deviate or does the rotation of the ball change. There was no touch, that was their out and the ref and VAR took it.
Completely rigged. Where is King Bronk.
So very, very PROUD of this team and their coach. Bravo boys. You were great and deserved to win!
In spite of some suspect refereeing, we could have won. There was a lot of criticism of Coach Dalic, but he went toe to toe with a very good team. If he leaves the National Team, he will be missed. Sad endings for Modric and probably Perisic and Kramaric.
Dalic won‘t be missed. Most overrated coach ever who caught perfect timing when he got hired. A golden generation of world class players in their primes with leadership qualities and mental toughness fell into his lap by pure chance. The moment that constellation of players started to slowly disperse, his limitations became more and more obvious. Euros 24 was the perfect example. Beating Panama 1-0 unconvincingly and Ghana 2-1, a team who didn‘t even play for the tie, any other mediocre team can do. England 4-2 thrashing is the relevant game that further showed he‘s a bad coach. His decisions with stupid, untimely subs caused Croatia to get beat by a very mediocre looking Portugal – just like in the Euros. Silly, idiotic subs and tactics. Portugal coach made 4 new subs at the 62 minute mark, 1 of which scored for them. Then look at Dalic‘s subs and when they came, and what they ultimately led to.
I am with you
Fkn joke we more than did enough but handed to portugal and ronaldo fk norway referee
Croatia has a way to make the unlucky teams lucky…
Really hard to believe they lost this one tbh
Well I will be ruminating on this for the foreseeable future
Last game of the tournament for me. The ref has won this game for Portugal.
At least Ronaldo still has a chance of going to the final. VAR made sure of that.
Spain will whoop Portugal. They play like shit
We were amazing. But man how can we not defend a set piece ever???
This is why u don’t get emotionally invested in Croatia NT
In the end FIFA / nobody gives a fuck about small country Croatia
They will blatantly make calls against Croatia to help bigger countries win
Just like the 2018 final
It’s never going to be different
It’s not fair – but life isn fair
And giving Argentina a penalty for goalkeeper interference in 2022…
And now in 2026, and offside at minute 110 with the game tieing goal.
So true and we keep coming back anyways. I don’t give a jebemti who wins now I am out
Didn’t go our way
Never a penalty. We showed our true selves. Against bad luck and biased refs. Fucknthem
It was definitely a penalty Vlasic literally had his arms around him and brought him. Stupid play by him
100% a penalty he pulls his shorts down
As seen on Reddit: Croatia’s coach decided not to start Gvardiol, and they conceded zero goals from open play. So what’s the point of bringing him on in the 90th minute?
It was the 90th minute in extreme heat. And who scored what would have been the tying goal? I guess that was the point.
I did tell all u MORONS that Josko shouldn’t play at all this WC as we need him for 2030
In the end he cost us – both England – and today
Selfish
And retarded of Dalic to force him to play when he’s not right
Handball?
Oh well.
Gvardiol didn’t jump…
Do the defenders know they can jump? It’s just embarrassing to have three defenders surrounding Ramos and still not defend that cross
Gvardiol and Pong 2 on 1 yet they do SFA.
What a disgrace Vuskovic would never
I mean Kovacic
Lovakovic is just as to blame as Vlasic. And, he hasn’t learnt from it
Stupid fucking sequence which led to the goal. Terrible free kick attempt then brutal foul by Vlasic… smh
Noooo we were winning … sadface
Brain dead decision from Vlasic. You just don’t do that.
Why the f do that pass
You guys are a special bunch. That was clearly vlasic’s man, he got inside. Its basic
Kovacic passing the ball back to the keeper. The Jug gave away the corner which lead to the cross followed by the penalty.
The problem was the corner which we badly gave away and then Vlasic had to take his player down.
Terrible back pass by Kovacic. Cant believe it.
I can and I’m not surprised.
Agree!! Fuck around and pay the price
There is always woke sort of collapse after Croatia scores the go ahead goal. Always. Always something.
Well he was draped all over him.
But it never happens in other games of for us!! I’ve seen this a dozen times in this WC and never a penalty
They will get stricter as the tournament goes on with these sorts of foul. Can’t play the victim it was a clear foul
True, I did see it ignored in other games, I think it was Ghana versus England.
This game is cooked. What a joke.
I said VAR would fuck us over and now it’s going to happen
PERISIC
huh? we are actually winning? what happened GIVE TO ME DETAIL
Perisic you hero!
We are doing what we need to do. They seem to be de-escalated a little. Let’s hope something goes our way. But they are clearly a better team, however.
Yeah I’m not feeling positive about this ref too. Not a single call going our way except for that yellow to Ruben Dias. Baturina alone has been fouled twice, first time in the 34th min when we were on a breakaway and the Porc player kicked his heel from behind but ref missed it. The second time he was pushed to the ground but luckily we retained or regained possession (so perhaps advantage played there?)
Definitely playing some haram ball but tbf that’s probably our only way to victory
Gvardiol and Vuskovic for pong ang sutalo, musa for Budimir and marco pasalic for vlasic pickles
Replace Budimir with Vuskovic as the #9 at HT
The Portuguese will be so confused might completely throw them off
Being serious
LOL i love it
Absolute miracle it’s 0-0 and as usual the ref is taking a bribe from the Portugese
I think the game is winnable. Our passing is actually really good and smart until we get to the final third, then it falls apart. If we can improve that bit, the goal(s) will come.
I don’t feel as confident but I hope so. They look very energetic and I’m just worried that I’m tired legs one tiny mistake or defense will fall asleep to let it in a goal.
This ref is a joke. Had a glimmer of hope when he called that early yellow, but since then he’s been awful.
He’s been incredibly biased.
Fuck this ref… not a single call can go Croatia way
It’s the same refereeing Dinamo gets in the HNL. WTF did you expect?
At least the Croatians are very loud at this game that’s nice to see
Norwegian piece of %&$&%*:
We are playing way too many long balls to try to get it out of our own half.
Budimir doesn’t play well in counter attacking football like this, Musa or Matanovic would have been the better start for today to run into the space in behind, Kovacic has set up so many dangerous counters but we’re missing that striker to run in behind. Let’s see how it plays out I guess.
Our supporters are going good
Sounds like we’re getting bullied early?
Portugal with most of the possession. Hard to get it out of our own half again. Give it away when we do get it back.
Portugal look youthful and energetic. We look like we are hanging on for dear life
I’m actually at work so cant really watch this game but i’ll be following comments in here !
Lucky you
I’m scared
For?
I’m just scared we will lose 3-0 or something
welcome to the club brother
This ref is very biased for Portugal if I may so myself
Time for Dalić to go
Just on this line up
We are just trying to make a statement. Croatia can beat you with our oldest 2nd string line up. Pretty gutsy conservative move. That is why Dalic is paid the big get-by middling salary.
Time to grind out a victory. It just might work. Wish the team did better against England. That awful result change everything. He never tried Vuskovic on a back four, so he does not know.
This is it guys. This is why we do it. Ajmo. Ask god for hrvatska win and promise to be good 🙏🏻
Not the ideal lineup considering Portugal‘s squad and its strengths. Defensively not the best defense either. If Croatia loses, Dalic MUST go.
Wow Dalic really is going with the same lineup as last game.
If someone had said pre-tournament that we’d be playing a knockout game with both Gvardiol and Vuskovic available and on the bench I would have never believed it.
I pray this decision works out, but if we lose and play poorly defensively, it will be a very hard pill to swallow knowing that we started a CB duo worth $20 million when we have a $150 million duo on the bench…
💯
Definitely a fireable offense
no kidding
Lineup out; Livaković; Perišić, Pongračić, Šutalo, Stanišić – Modrić, Kovačić – Baturina, Vlašić, P. Sučić – Budimir
Frustration 😤
In my opinion the best lineup vs Portugal specifically would be:
GK Livaković
LB Perišić
LCB Gvardiol
RCB Vušković
RB Stanišić
LDM Kovačić
RDM Modrić
CAM Petar Sučić
LW Baturina
RW Marco Pašalić/maybe Vlašić
ST Matanović
Subs:
– Musa sub in around 60-70 min
– Luka Sucic -> Modric (whenever he needs it, it will be hot but he closes the game well so depends on how it’s going but we play objectively worse when modric comes off, especially when we need a comeback he needs to be there)
– Mario Pasalic -> Kovacic
– Vlasic -> Marco Pasalic
– Jakić -> Perisic or stanisic
– If extra time Kramaric for Baturina for penalty shootouts potentially or a squeeze an ugly late goal with good
Mentality and experience
Matanovic to defend set pieces and keep possession nullifying 2 of portugals greatest strengths. Musa comes on later when they’re tired to run in behind and get better chances.
Hes not gonna drop Kovacic and modric, Baturina and Peter Sucic need to play meaning Perisic drops to LB, he’s still good there. Gvardiol needed at cb, he’s fit just not in a rhythm yet, I’m sure he can get moving sooner if he locks down the box blocking shots sooner than defending 1v1. Vuskovic quality needed to surprise Portugal. Marco can wear down Nuno mendes faster with runs and dribbles making Vlasic better to finish off the match and we need Vlasic for potential extra time or penalty shootout.
I always knew Perišić was the archetypal wingback as he’s played there for years so I’m not surprised he was doing well. I’d prefer him at fullback than Gvardiol but of course Gvardiol in cb 1000%, Cancelo for Portugal is similar where his offensive abilities are what makes him elite at fullback going forward. I am worried about the heat in Toronto though, it might be difficult for Perisic because of that and I can definitely see Jakic coming in at some point, but that’s something for Dalic to consider.
That’s why starting sutalo in our back 3 ruined it, the point was Perisic was more like the fullback and Marco the winger who tracked back, but dalic shoving 3 cb’s made Gvardiol more like the fullback. Having stanisic as the RCB in the back 3 instead of sutalo would have been the same as a back 4 with Perisic LB, Gvardiol lcb, Vuskovic RCB, stanisic rb, and stanisic as the fullback who is more defensive and Perisic more offensive. But Dalic read it completely wrong and thought stanisic was an attacking fullback, 1000% wrong, also wrong to think that Perisic was enough to field as our only winger offensively, we had no proper RW vs England which absolutely screwed our build up and modric needed an outlet to play to, without it he got pressed and lost the ball causing people to complain he’s old even tho a 27 year old modric would do the same without an attacking outlet. Perisic isn’t as offensive as other wingers like Di Maria or hazard, Perisic game surrounded his great ability at giving width which many fullbacks do, not getting in the box as much except for headers and numberical advantage, Perisic also usually getting long ranged goals too across goal on the volley like many attacking fullbacks do rather than always cutting across and curling it. I mean I don’t think Perisic 2026 is much different positioning wise and defensively as 2022 Sosa, similar in general anyway. In fact, Dalic should have used Orsic in 2022 starting every game and just moved Perisic to RW or LB, that’s what screwed us vs Argentina. Once he subbed orisic vs Argentina it was too late, Argentina just sat 4 in midfield and defence and sat back.
In my opinion the best lineup vs Portugal specifically would be:
GK Livaković
LB Perišić
LCB Gvardiol
RCB Vušković
RB Stanišić
LDM Kovačić
RDM Modrić
CAM Petar Sučić
LW Baturina
RW Marco Pašalić/maybe Vlašić
ST Matanović
Matanovic and Marco are very supportive players so it enables Baturina and Petar Sucic to score more likely, not to mention all being good long range goal threats, even Matanovic. I don’t think a scrappy goal or overloading their defence is gonna work early game, it’s probably gonna have to be a screamer or high quality goal that takes Portugal by surprise for us to score on them, just taking our chances with the highest quality which will be difficult but judging by our goals this tournament so far very possible. I just don’t see Musa getting many chances early game, late game probably when the fatigue comes in warranting the off the bench role this game. Portugal possession play and high line won’t let budimir get too much, they’re not the type to just sit in their box which Budimir can break down. Budimir won’t get much with limited chances and we’re not gonna get too many for him to play around with. It’s gonna have to be extreme quality and clinically from difficult angles with limited chances, budimir wont find the easy goal not defended well like vs Panama, no major mistakes for budimir to exploit. Musa needs a run in behind with a smart ball played behind, Musa scores as long as the ball is at his feet in the box as simple as that, will Portugal allow that space for him early on probably not, he’ll get that space by running in behind but I think he’ll get that around 60-90 minutes and half an hour of intensity rather than 60 minutes in the heat vs early game Portugal, wait until they’re fatigued.
Subs:
– Musa sub in around 60-70 min
– Luka Sucic -> Modric (whenever he needs it, it will be hot but he closes the game well so depends on how it’s going but we play objectively worse when modric comes off, especially when we need a comeback he needs to be there)
– Mario Pasalic -> Kovacic
– Vlasic -> Marco Pasalic
– Jakić -> Perisic or stanisic, concerned a bit that stanisic hasn’t had too much rest and has played 90 minutes for the past 3 games, he was looking a bit tired vs Ghana. But Perisic also clocked a lot of minutes, I’m sure he’ll be more careful and balanced, he’s super fit but I’m sure they’ll figure it out, if they allow 6 subs because of weather then I’d say a cb goes in too like DCC or Pong and Gvardiol goes LB for 10-15 minutes at the end of the game with Perisic subbing off. Gvardiol just can’t be forced to be LB for 90 minutes because of how it influences the pace of our game in possession and defending counters with the space he opens up early game, late game he’s just gonna tighten up the defence anyways.
If extra time – Baturina -> Kramaric, it may be too much to ask for Baturina after the 90 minutes so the experience in extra time might squeeze us an ugly goal and obviously put in a solid penalty taker for the potential shootout. The experience, mentality, composure in extra time might help, Baturina will give the best quality over 90 minutes tho. Teams always get another sub when it goes to extra time.
Although Vlasic got the late winner and was playing well, if we went to penalties we’d definitely want him on the pitch, starting would prevent his late game influence, Marco starts off stronger and will wear down Nuno mendes faster, plus supports our RB best too vs either Joao Felix or Leao, maybe Vlasic would be better supporting our RB vs Leao who has been off the bench so far also warranting using Vlasic as a sub.
Mario pasalic is always a good late game sub and clearly Dalic plans him to swap as our #6 rotating with Kovacic since he will not drop him from the starting XI, meaning Perisic needs to be our LB in this setup because Baturina, Petar Sucic and modric have to start and if Kovacic is there then Perisic is LB.
Although I think Musa is the best starter usually, this game is gonna be humid and Portugal will clearly play very compact and slow holding possession most of the game, I’d hate Musa to only get a couple chances and get gassed out early with a fresh opponent early on. Matanovic is better on the ball and I suspect keeping possession in a game like this will be vital since the second Portugal get it they’re gonna hold onto it for a while, not to mention Portugal love set piece plans and we’ve had trouble with that. When we were struggling vs England Dalic put Matanovic on and suddenly the corners stopped because he’s 6’5” and better in the air than Musa, Matanovic actually is probably the best in the air for us besides Vuskovic, I could only imagine both would have us dominate corners. Again, Musa’s the better goal scorer and played in Portuguese league but I think playing a bit safer early on to keep it even with the best technicians possible was is our best start, we simply cannot afford to let them get into a rhythm. Matanovic is still decently quick, although Vlasic would pair with him best since Matanovic sets up Vlasic who wants to score in the box more then Marco who keeps width more. Maybe Marco and Musa come off the bench as impact subs just for this game to inject that bit of pace and directness to a very likely fatigued late game Portugal from the humidity.
Basically think Matanovic defending set pieces for us best and his 6’5” presence scares their defence, and his technical ability shielding their press and keeping the ball for us will frustrate Portugal and limit their best strength which is their midfield control and possession play. Midfield control is also our best strength so Matanovic tipping that in our favour will be good.
I don’t think Matanovic does well as an impact sub, the game vs Colombia he had a very strong start and Musa came on very fast and strong receiving chances everywhere which totally put us in full momentum, however he might not get that impact at the start depending on the set up and defence of the other team, usually I’d say start Musa and sub budimir, budimir being a very good impact sub vs low blocks; but in my opinion Matanovic starting with Musa oof the bench might work best vs Portugal.
Not to mention how Matanovic could still squeeze a good headed goal aerial duel from a cross or corner or possibly score some half chance volley outside the box with great quality, he doesn’t score a lot but it’s usually high quality. But if we score in the box it’ll likely be Baturina or Peter Sucic crashing the box, scoring long range, maybe Marco pasalic scoring on a counter attack started by Kovacic or Marco cuts in and curls a good goal. Modric might get a shot but who knows. This isn’t many ways to score so it would be very useful to have Gvardiol and Vuskovic at cb for our set pieces, I could 100% see Gvardiol squeezing a goal from a set piece if it drops to him on a back post and from that his confidence and form skyrocketing. I think Gvardiol is fit and healed, just not in his rhythm yet, he needs a big moment or chance to get him started, he’s not gonna have big moments in 1v1 defending out wide but maybe locking down the box as the cb blocking shots will get him at his best. Vuskovic of course being our best goalscrorer in general for set pieces, just the sheer quality of Vuskovic gives us the best chance of surprising Portugal and pulling a goal out of nowhere.
But knowing Dalic he’ll run the exact same XI vs Ghana with Gvardiol maybe starting and probably replacing Budimir, that’s it. Šutalo and Pongračić got away with it vs Panama poor final third ability and Ghana not taking the game serious until 2nd half, by the 2nd half modric and Perisic locked down the defence, not sure we can rely on that alone vs Portugal, they’ll 100% need some quality defensive support which I’m sure Gvardiol and Vuskovic would give from CB.
I don’t think anyone realizes how much defensive support modric, Perisic gave throughout the years. Only reason 2018 France had Mbappe and Pogba scored (other than targeting Subasic injury), was because we were losing unjustly at half time and Dalic said, ok we’re down one in a World Cup final, we gotta go for goals, then told modric and rakitic to go forward more despite the fact they played deeper and covered our cb’s with a double pivot, modric always plays better more reserved than going forward playmaking all the time as a #10, once they went forward there was a giant gap for Lovren and Vida to defend themselves, I’m sure you can imagine they were never gonna defend Mbappe or Pogba 1v1 very effective without help, it’s just too much to ask for, with numbers and modric and rakitic working hard giving the numerical advantage defensively and supporting the cb’s from deep, they were fine. Same goes for the England game, if Dalic gave Vuskovic support in the England game instead of making the exact mistake as the France final, we probably would have won and better controlled the pace of the game. The goals weren’t cheap because Vuskovic couldn’t do it, they were cheap because he shoved his best defensive players Gvardiol and stanisic forward too much and put Vuskovic alone with sutalo and Mario pasalic who are wayyyy too slow to defend that much space with Vuskovic alone, it was Dalic tactics creating too much space for teams to attack, he doesn’t know how to run the 3 back properly. If he gave Vuskovic more support in the system we used vs Ghana with him replacing sutalo, he would be dominating. But now Dalic basically blaming him, and not giving him minutes, plus that transfer drama, idk how he’d do now, Vuskovic a month ago 100% was ready, hope he is still because we need him for sure.
Toronto Star. Must say that I enjoyed the subhead.
The grace of Modric. The ego of Ronaldo. Only one captain can advance from Croatia-Portugal
One is 40, the other 41. But only Modric has shown an ability to act his age.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/world-cup/the-grace-of-modric-the-ego-of-ronaldo-only-one-captain-can-advance-from-croatia-portugal/article_4fe61448-18d5-4cf1-a210-b57bdbcaf000.html
Great column. An old time sports column.
Thanks gbvh!
Lets go boys !
Aimo Djecki!!!
Bog i Hrvati
ZDS
We scored 5 goals in the group stage, not bad but have let in way too many so far… if we can keep our defense solid and composed, not give away any penalties or easy goals, and make them work hard for any chances we can win this one. Praying to God we have a decent ref who wont scew us
Told all u MORONS how good Leicester’s Jeremy Monga was when he played vs Croatia U19
Well
Man City just signed the 16 y/o (Arsenal tried to sign him up lost to Man City)
Anonymous eye tests are the best the World has ever seen
So he drops vlasic after he has a great game ok that makes sense 🤦🏻♂️
It will be a hot humid environment. A fresh Vlasic at 60 minutes works for me.
Any Croatian gathering events going on in Toronto pre game?
As predicted, the line up is the same
This is a logical move by dalic
Croatia hit its peak in the early 2020s when it knew its identity, its style, its line up each game
It built chemistry and cohesiveness
What dalic had to do the first three games where he’s constantly shuffling is very dangerous
Similar to euro 2021
Even if you have to downgrade talent, cohesiveness is probably worth more
Reintegrating vuskovic or gvardiol at this point just too risky
I agree + given the weather, all subs will get used so gonna have some opps to bail us out if need be late
Agree with many sentiments and observations expressed here by @Robert, @GG Alin, @Croatian Canadian, @Maltese Johnny, and so many others. We can win this game. We have a good combination of youth and experience in our lineup. Keep the defence tight and disciplined, control the midfield, and make the most of our opportunities.
A fantastic group of people posting here, and a big thanks to all the regulars who contribute their time and knowledge. I have learned a lot over the years reading your posts. It has been great to be on this World Cup 2026 run with everyone, so let’s keep the party going. We have two wins in a row . . . . Five more would be nice!
The Vatreni will play their hearts out. The outcome will be the outcome. Love this team regardless! What will be will be.
As @VIS said: Let’s go!!!!!!!
Bog i Hrvati!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well put Tin! Play our hearts out and the result is the result. No fear.
Thank you Tin, it’s been a pleasure reading your posts all this while, not just during the WC.
Trying to relax now before the game kicks off.
From SN
Formation: 4-3-3
* GK: Dominik Livaković
* RB: Josip Stanišić
* CB: Josip Šutalo
* CB: Marin Pongračić
* LB: Joško Gvardiol
* CM: Petar Sučić
* CM: Luka Modrić
* CM: Mateo Kovačić
* RW: Martin Baturina
* ST: Ante Budimir
* LW: Ivan Perišić
I like this lineup, though I would have preferred Vuskovic to Pong. . Other than that: 👍👍
Half the team play for PSG (CL winners two-years in a row)
The other half play for Man U, Man City, Madrid, Barca and Juventus
No room in squad for 99M midfielder Matheus Fernandes lol
Nothing to lose – everything to gain – no pressure – activate Dalic masterclass (please and thank you)
Beyond 115 degrees – there are going to be thunderstorms – so the game will be stopped at least once for at least 30 minutes – could end up being 4-5 hours long
Let’s go! Keep the run going.
Control the midfield, keep as much as possible possession and stay compact on defense.
Tonight is what you wait 4 years for – as a fan, enjoy the journey as we have no control on the outcome
It’s a historic match because it will probably be Modric or Ronaldo last world cup match
I think your wrong in the beginning of this article. Croatia played a full 90 against Ghana. We held our own and managed to get the victory. This game will be about endurance and speed. The heat in Toronto has been disgusting these past two days. Croatia have to insert the youth as the game progresses. Players like Musa and Matanovic need to be brought on.
Teams only get better as the tournament goes further. Giants like Spain, England, Portugal have been struggling at times. This won’t be an easy game.
Modric and Ronaldo share lots of history and they both know this is their last attempt at a World Cup trophy. Neither of the two has scored a knockout stage goal.
We have the experience and know how to stay composed in these tight games. Ronaldo is the only one that has felt this pressure before.
Ajmo decki!!!! I’m proud regardless! just play your hearts out.
ajmo ajmo ajmo …….U …glad to see Amerikanci wearing big U against baaznija
We’re the ones with 2nd in 2018 and 3rd in 2022, the pork chops have done nothing. Show them no respect and give them a good ole LIKA beat down with rusted shovels just like my dido did.
What’s going on at the Croatian house today?
Individuals don’t win games, Good Team Spirit is the key, Luka Modric is the greatest example of Team Spirit.
CROATIA will win for this very reason.
Teams with big egoes don’t succeed.
Leave it all on the field boys, be afraid of nothing.
To All Croatian supporters, when that whistle blows for the start of the game,
LET’S ALL MAKE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS, GIVE THEM OUR SPIRITUAL SUPPORT
We’ll know if Austria or Spain won by the time this game rolls around and on the very off-chance Austria win that, this game is going to become way more important.
Why is this game important only if Austria win! All games are important in the knockout phase regardless of opponent. Also Spain isn’t looking great these days anyways.
I didn’t say “only important if Austria win”. Reread my comment.
I get u Iggy
U mean Croatia will be thinking “God is on our side again (by Spain being knocked out like in 2018) so let’s go”
See you all at the Croatia house! Be ready to party!
The hell with Croatia House. Be at the game and loud. Drown out the Portuguese voices. Sing and keep singing.