Here’s the quick scoop. Croatia dominated possession at 59% but had absolutely nothing going on offensively in the final third.
Borna Sosa is good! We are in good shape moving forward with him at left-back. Mateo Kovačić also looked great in the midfield without Modrić. We will be fine with Kova after Modrić retires based off of today’s display. However, Andrej Kramarić cannot get anything going on the football pitch wearing a Croatian shirt. He’s slow with no explosive runs on the attack. The Croatian offense – as in recent times – is too slow forming their attack and doesn’t put enough shots on goal. It looks as if they are playing chess instead of soccer with their calculated strategy.
At the end of the day, nothing changes in the group. Russia and Croatia split the points. Slovenia and Slovakia played out a 1-1 draw. And Malta surprisingly beat Cyprus 3-0. Croatia remain top of Group H heading to Slovakia on Saturday.
Lineup for HRVATSKA (4-2-3-1): Livaković – Juranović, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa – Brozović, Kovačić – Kramarić, Pašalić, Perišić – Vlašić
The Vatreni begin their first of three World Cup qualifying matches this week Wednesday night in Moscow at 2:45PM (ET). No Modrić, no Budimir, no Brekalo, no Rebić.
This new Croatian side should look much more different than what we saw at EURO 2020, but there’s enough firepower to get the job done in Russia before playing Slovakia and Slovenia later in the week.
Here’s the link to the U21 match for anyone interested (free on YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTXRP4FpE9s
Where’s Vida in all this? Injured?
He got 2 yellows hes back v slovakia
Nice.
Any link to u21?
FYI, Croatia U19 beat Wales U19 yesterday by the score of 2-0. Stojkovic scored and Brkljaca had a very nice assist as well.
Lovren thinks hes chielini full of himself
Vs Slovakia Livakovic Juranovic Lovren Gvardiol Sosa Kovacic Broz Vlasic Ivanusec Livaja Perisic.
Uh Oh.
Our boy Duje refused to leave financially-strapped Marseille during the transfer window.
https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2021/marseille-consider-sending-duje-caleta-car-to-reserves-following-transfer-refusal/
They tried to sell him to Wolves, West Ham and Valencia and he didn’t come to terms with any of the teams on a new contract (he probably wanted more money, but they were all offering the same salary).
Marseilles has sent him to the reserve squad and this might get ugly. Then again, Marseille does need to sell him in January, so they can’t devalue him too much. We’ll see what happens.
The winner in all this: Dejan Lovren
Not too smart for DCC.
I hope Pongracic gets some first team action with Dortmund. Then he can move behind Skoric on Dalic’s CB pecking order.
When is Lovren going to fall out of Zenit’s starting lineup.
Not sure but he should fall the f**k out of ours already.
Agreed, but until he’s out of Zenit, Dalic will keep starting him.
Where’s the Sosa hate ? All these comments and not one mention of him being a traitor. Where are all the people saying they will never cheer for him or watch the team with him in it. Or that he would never be called up ?
oh it was all just fake outrage. Makes people on this website feel more croatian lol
Wait until he plays poorly.
When he plays well, then we are good Catholic who believe in forgiveness…
But when he plays poorly, we’re sending him to Goli Otok.
even a blind man can see the attacking third is completely unbalanced, yet game after game dalic puts players in their wrong positions.
not only did dalic lineup his infamous two CAM at the same time lineup, but this time he added a THIRD CAM to the mix! you can’t make this shit up! literally no coach can be this stupid. how many more times until dalic realizes vlasic and krama cannot play with each other.
yes, both krama and vlasic “deserve” to start based on their club form. but as coach, dalic needs to make the though decision to start one or the other, NOT both at the same time.
dalic thinks playing vlasic kramaric pasalic at the same time will make the attack more dynamic, but actually the opposite is true, they all get in each others way and the attack is stagnant. there is no striker who can post up and receive the ball that these playmakers can play off of.
Furthermore, we are getting KILLED on 50-50 balls. After, Livakovic gets even the slightest pressure he clears the ball, 10 out of 10 times kramaric does not win the header, same with vlasic. then the opposing team regains possession easily.
.
.
.
only ppl who should be playing striker are: budimir, petkovic, colak
only ppl who should be playing CAM are: kramaric, vlasic, pasalic
only ppl who should be paying winger are: perisic, rebic, orsic, ivansusec, brekalo
dalic continuing to play ppl like rebic, perisic, krama up top destroys our whole chemistry. without an actual striker playing we will continue to struggle and go scoreless.
some of best games we have had under dalic were the slovakia games BECUASE every player on the field was playing their actual positions. even though we had shittier players both those games like jedvaj, bartolec, barisic, peric etc. it didn’t matter cuz our attack was so balanced:
…..…….…petko………………
rebic……vlasic…..perisic
I agree 100%. Dalic final third philosophy is throwing a bunch of crap at the wall and seeing what sticks. Then when we’re in the 70th minute make some like-for-like changes with different guys mostly playing where they haven’t before.
Dalic is going with the popular move.
He’s starting the best players in attack, regardless of position.
It’s the ‘safe’ move because the media and fans won’t really be able to fault him too badly for it, because Perisic, Kramaric, Vlasic, and Pasalic (with Modric out) are probably our best attacking players right now.
It doesn’t seem to matter to anyone that none of these players are strikers, and three of them like to operate in the same space.
It’s not a good call, but most people don’t follow football closely enough to see this…and if you make an unpopular move (like benching one of them for a striker like Petkovic) then you will be destroyed by the fans and media (especially if you don’t get the result).
We see the same thing on this site with Petkovic.
Whenever he starts…half of this board goes ape shit.
Petkovic is a striker, and could fit up top (and generally does play very well with Vlasic and our wingers)…but he’s a 26 year old Dinamo player who doesn’t score many goals at club level.
Orsic is also in good form, and he was excellent in limited time at the Euros…but he’s a 28 year old who is still at Dinamo.
That’s what people tend to focus on.
Players who play in bigger league will always get the nod over them, despite these guys playing better or fitting better with our National Team.
Dalic will stick with this safe avenue because if he had started Petkovic and Orsic against Russia (and we still ended up drawing) all the supportive comments on this site and in the Croatia media would have said that we would have won the game had he played the ‘better’ players.
I’m not saying that starting Petkovic would have been better for this game. I’m just saying that it was an option that was squashed before the callup list was released. We called up two other strikers, with one of them injured and the other not being subbed in.
This is a tough position for any coach to be in (where your top 11 players may not necessarily be the best 11 to play on the field), but only the truly good coaches would figure this out.
Maminjo, I agree with part of what you’re saying here:
“It’s the ‘safe’ move because the media and fans won’t really be able to fault him too badly for it, because Perisic, Kramaric, Vlasic, and Pasalic (with Modric out) are probably our best attacking players right now.”
But Petkovic has had his opportunities and he’s done poorly.
Yes you are also right when you say…”This is a tough position for any coach to be in (where your top 11 players may not necessarily be the best 11 to play on the field), but only the truly good coaches would figure this out.”…But in my opinion, Dalic has been teetering on being the guy that offers a little too much respect and doesn’t or hasn’t created enough value for “better performances” and deciding on lineups based on a players competency. He’s offered soo much respect that I think its back firing on him…especially when he’s included a player in the line-up, out of position and then that player fails. I believe this is why some of the guys are losing or have already lost respect for him.
The players can be their own worst enemy.
None of our World Cup 2018 squad players want to hit the bench, but they’re also upset at the recent results too.
Lovren needs to be benched. He’s a depth player.
Same goes for Vida.
Krama can’t be a winger/striker combo. He may have to hit the bench some games depending on the formation.
Vrsaljko probably thinks he should still start too, despite him not being 100%.
Lovren has already made a comment in the media about the younger players not having respect. So, there’s already a divide here.
Krama made comments to the media about his own mother knowing where he should be played on the field.
Vrsaljko and Rebic sarcastically ‘liked’ the HNS tweet of the squad selections that excluded them.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire.
Dalic is trying to manage the egos of our World Cup silver medalists, by giving in to their desire of wanting to start every game until they retire.
He doesn’t want to rip the bandaid off.
He’s doing exactly what they are saying, and they don’t have respect for him as a result lol.
@ Markus
Great points about Dalic and this endless mediocrity.
I do feel these three games are about keeping stability.
It’s clear we need some vision.
The final third is about supreme confidence and Dalic never seems to access it.
He has had a great to good run.
We actually now need to go from good to great.
Sosa and Kovačić were worth the trip to Russia. Brozovic is a Workd Class #6.
We have loads of guys who play 3-5-2 alignment exclusively for their clubs.
Perišić and Vlašić up top.
Sosa – Kovačić – Brozovic – Ivanusec – Juranovic
Gvardiol – Cc – Lovren
We need NEW ideas.
Where can we watch the U21 game tomorrow in the USA?
I’m a firm believer in the worst thing about Dalić not being his horrible tactics, nor man management, nor squad selection skills, but it being his loser mentality that could be rubbing off on the rest of the team. If he’s out here calculating the minimum amount of points we need to go through or saying that a draw to Russia is a positive result, imagine what he says to the team in the locker room. He makes me think of the type of coach you get in Peewee hockey where all they preach is to go out there and have fun lol. I seriously think he tells that to the guys in the locker room. They probably thought it was some kind of modern style of managing in 2018 that led the team to the final, giving them more freedom on the pitch. Now I think everyone realizes it’s just pure incompetency. This is a crucial time in the growth of our NT and integration of the youth. This is exactly when we need a new manager, but this Dalić cycle seems to be going on forever. “Can’t fire him during a qualification cycle” but then when we qualify it’s not a good idea to replace the coach before a tournament. But then after the tournament, qualification starts then it’s bad to replace a coach in the middle of that. Then we qualify and again, can’t change coaches and not give them an adjustment period. It’s a fucking endless cycle and it genuinely frightens me to think we’re stuck with this guy for a few more years. The lack of fire and will to play on the pitch is so uncharacteristic for a Croatian side. Yes it resides in the players as well, but with a good manager and motivator, you’ll get that out of your players.
Please, I’ll take anyone as manager right now. We have so many better options.
I think the HNS would have fired him if he didn’t have another full year and a half left on his contract.
They probably thought there was a chance that he would leave for a club offer, but I don’t think any clubs are knocking down the door to make Dalić any large offers.
I think (without question) that he’s gone after the World Cup.
It’s a money thing with the HNS.
It’s also a money thing with Dalić likely not being able to secure a similar guaranteed salary that matches his current one. Can’t leave that much guaranteed money on the table without knowing for sure if you will make it back.
Right on , Markus. this is so anti-Croatian mentality that I can’t stand it- i was old enough to remember 1998 – we played with such swagger and love of the country- this is painful to see Croatian mentality completely reversed- we don’t think about lowest points we can get – get this goat farmer out of coaching our love and passion- Croatia #1
I’ll say to you what I mentioned to Maminjo.
in my opinion, Dalic has been teetering on being the guy that offers a little too much respect and doesn’t or hasn’t created enough value for “better performances” and deciding on lineups based on a players competency. He’s offered soo much respect that I think its back firing on him…especially when he’s included a player in the line-up, out of position and then that player fails. I believe this is why some of the guys are losing or have already lost respect for him.
The scoreline aside, we didn’t have a bad game. Finally we saw Kovacic break through and show some confidence (except for his shooting of course, but even then, it isn’t his job to be scoring). He dribbled very well, no one could take the ball off him. Great through ball to Kramaric as well.
Overall, decent performance. The defence looked solid, which is promising, but the attacking issues remain. There definitely needs to be a few changes before the Slovakia match.
Livakovic- 6/10 Only giving him this high because he made a few very nice saves. His play with the ball at his feet was atrocious, he kept kicking it out of bounds! I think it happened like four times in the first 20 minutes lol, Brozo looked so pissed off.
Sosa- 8/10 Great game. If only we had an actual striker (Budimir (injured I know) or COLAK (can he please play against Slovakia)), then maybe we would score a few. Defensively sound, very quick and good on the ball.
Caleta- 7.5/10 Very sound, excellent ball movement. Good lock down defending and I like his physical presence, very imposing.
Lovren- 6.5/10 Almost gaffed again at the end of the match, but to his credit, he did have a decent match. Made a few nice passes and tackles.
Juranovic- 8/10 Also very good game. Crossed the ball well, was involved in attacks, but also played his role defensively.
Kovacic- 8.5/10 MOTM for me. Great dribbling, distribution, everything. If he can play like this every game and continue building on it, we’ll be in good hands when Modric goes. No one can replace Modric, but an in form Kovacic is the closest thing we’ve got.
Brozovic- 7/10 Good defensively, fed Kova well too. Few silly tackles and typical Brozo stuff but overall an okay game.
Perisic- 5.5/10 Disappointed… he should’ve scored easily at one point.
Pasalic- 6/10 Pretty invisible for the most part, also fucked up a header or two. This game proved he’s just an occasional super sub.
Vlasic- 6.5/10 Bad game, but was more involved than Pasalic, Perisic or Kramaric. Fought hard for balls and tried a few shots (at least he had the balls, unlike everyone else on the pitch). Hopefully he bounces back next game, but I truly believe he needs to play as AM.
Kramaric- 4.5/10 Absolute dogshit. Get him off the pitch and on the first plane back to Hoffenheim.
Not gonna give the subs a rating due to limited time, but I feel like I gotta give Ivanusec a shoutout. He came on with ENERGY. One of the only hungry players on the pitch today, shows he truly wants to play for the checkers.
Disappointed we couldn’t score one because we deserved it with the way we dominated play. Maybe we’ll be luckier against Slovakia.
My Slovakia lineup: (sticking to the 4-2-3-1 because I’m not gonna kid myself into thinking Dalic will play any other way. I’m also assuming Gvardiol will be fit and DCC hopefully rested because he’s in bad shape right now. FYI, the brackets represent the subs I’d potentially like made.)
—————————————-Colak——————————————
Perisic(Orsic)————Vlasic(Majer)—————————Ivanusec
————————Kovacic———–Brozovic(Moro)———————
Sosa——————Gvardiol———–Uremovic————–Juranovic
—————————————–Ivusic——————————————
I disagree with most of you guys. We had chances in the box, but Vlasić skied a few, and Perisić ran into a wall every time. Russia’s defending was impeccable. Our players weren’t diving in when pressuring the Russian defense because Russia was dangerous on the counter. It was a game of two quality teams with their different strengths. Livaković made a few key saves. Some lack of concentration set in later in the game for Lovren and Juranović, but Russia’s strength is defending rather than scoring, so we were OK. A lot of good things happening on the pitch. The next two matches have to be about scoring goals.
We’ll see what happens these next two games.
Zlatko Drawlić can get away with a draw in Russia, but it won’t be ideal to draw either one of Slovakia and Slovenia too.
Dalić will probably sell a Slovakia draw as some kind of victory as well (since it is also on the road) but 5 points is not a good result over three games (especially since we lost one to Slovenia already).
Eventually, we will need to win a game, and start pulling away from the pack… Or we’re one bad game away from dropping down to third place (and out of the World Cup).
Feels like living the Milan Rapaic era all over again during a transition period. This transition fortunately won’t take as long god willing.
Don’t disrespect legends like Ivica Mornar, Dovani Roso and Stjepan Tomas.
Lol
Ironic that we sorely missed one of our la liga stars and it wasn’t Modrić. Budimir would have enjoyed that Sosa Serivce.
I am happy the prodigal son has returned, our Catholic faith believes in forgiveness.
He is a slick left back and that Dinamo DNA is evident.
3-5-2??
At a certain point don’t coaches get paid to maximize their talent?
Russia had more chances to score than us.
Kovačić played his heart out.
Kramaric is too small and slow to ever dominate the final third.
He takes away space from everyone else in a strange way.
That through ball from Kovačić needs to be eaten up and scored past the keeper.
Russia is trash.
I’ll take the point.
I still feel Rebić is too good to cut. I know he hasn’t performed well but he brings an industry that could of been used in the second half.
And he does have an ability in the final third.
Brekalo and Petković I get.
But regardless of his frustration and dumb comments Rebić is dynamic.
We need a new formation and a line up tweak Saturday.
Kovačić and Brozovic dominate the midfield at the 8 and 6, but who are 10 and 9.
Vlašić has to play better .
Start Livaja.
Something has to change.
Most of the Croatia items at nike.com are on sale, just sharing, nike.ca/nike.com.
Is it a coincidence they want on sale after yesterday’s performance
We don’t know what day/minute they went on sale. Weak attempt at humour, I guess . . .
A lot of you complaining about not getting the win against Russia. You all need to be reminded that this isn’t the worse case scenario. We’ve only victorious against them once and that was in penalties at the last World Cup. Even then we drew them. We drew Russia both qualifying games 0-0 back at the 2010 qualifiers (second tournament we missed). They are not a walk in the park and still have quality. Nothing spectacular about them but strong mentality, solid coaching, structured defence and game plans manage to get you to tournaments and draw good teams like Croatia. Russia don’t have stars or anyone that stands out like us but they battle hard and are tough. I think both teams will prevail get through. The last game in Split will be a wild one. I believe this is Russia’s first match with a new manager. Also, hypothetically if they do qualify to Qatar, they can’t represent Russia because of dope. Back at it Saturday against the Slovaks and I’ll watch that match. Then Cyprus and no doubt both games will be dubs. Regroup and stay hopeful. Qualifiers aren’t our best strength and we are inconsistent.
We tied them twice in 2010 qualifiers?!?! Lol. We tied them in 2008 qualifying when we won our group in style knocking out England.
My bad..got my dates wrong lol. Regardless we still drew both games.
I was thinking Ukraine and England in that group for the 2010 World Cup qualifying.
I have a question.
Do any of you think Dalic might start Orsic, Livaja, Ivanusec, Majer…any combination of them and sit out Perisic, Kramaric, Vlasic???
He didn’t call Rebic, Brekalo, Petkovic…they weren’t performing…and if Dalic is true to his word, wouldn’t it make sense if he did start some of them and sit The guys I mentioned?
Out of those guys, I can see Ivanusec getting a start. I’d like it to be at RW and let Vlasic play as the 10. Though with concerns about Vlasic’s fitness, maybe he rests him this middle game vs Slovakia. If that’s the case, he seems to overvalue Pasalic.
Looks to me like Dalic’s propensity to play people out of position reared it’s ugly head again. Continuing the trend from the Euros and the last 3 years, aside from Perišić, he just slots the guys up front in positions they don’t have success with for their clubs. Pasalic, Vlasic and Kramaric all looked to be getting in each other’s way.
We always seem late to adapt the most modern formations. Our team really seems suited to play a 3-5-2. I think it would be more foolproof for Dalic since I don’t see us changing coaches anytime soon.
Where is the fire? Has Croatian soccer become so commercialized by playing in other countries that these guys are just going through the motions? It looks like the fire is gone- big money has made us bloody soft or is it a product of this 20 something generation – either way- it looks and plays awful
An expected result and we’re still in the drivers seat. This was never gonna be easy. You don’t think Russia had something to play for too? Losing in Moscow in ’18 must’ve been a heartbreaker. No way they wanted to open up too much and lose to us again.
Nothing to get too excited about here
I agree but Russia had a much better team and played way better. Now they’ve dropped since that World Cup run. Only 6 wins in the last 20 games. 17 wins since we beat them in the quarters. I agree..still in drivers seat and Russia knows they need to win next two to stay in it. This game was a win for them. I’m predicting we’ll get first with 23 points. Russia will finish with 19-20. Slovenia and Slovakia probably 15-16 points. I feel this group will come down to goal difference. Expect draws and close games too.
Didn’t have chance to watch game due to work. How serious is Gvardiol injury? The result is fine today but need to pick up serious points next 2 games to start separating. Any thoughts on next line up?
Would’ve like to see Orsic starting instead of Kramaric. Orsic can score beauties..Kramaric is a tap in and penalty scorer. He is more of a play maker as well. Lovren should never suit up again. Perisic can’t finish, Livakovic is shaky. Positive takeaways were d look a lot stronger. Jurnaovic impressed me, Sosa has great pace and speed. Kovacic is getting more comfortable taking on Luka’s role.
Meh.
Had the game on, but was busy doing other things and couldn’t pay much attention to really analyze how well each player played.
Typical Dalić match.
It’s been three years and we still haven’t had a good win. In 20-something games now, it just seems like we struggle out there.
Dalić and others will point to the fact that an away draw in Russia is a good thing, but Russia has been a bad team recently and is going through a rebuild. Should we never expect to win an away game? Teams that don’t win away games will not qualify.
Expectations for this team have been set so low that we easily lose to all the teams ranked in the top 10 and we draw all the teams ranked in the remaining top 60.
Only teams we beat now are the Scotland, Cyprus and Maltas of the World.
Even in our darkest days (during the post-war years), we used to thrash some decent team in qualifying once in a while (like Belgium 4-0 or Bulgaria 3-1).
But now, a win is considered a bonus.
Back to your mom’s basement son. Let the big boys talk footie. Nothing is lost and we still control our destiny. The Ruskies need to still come to Croatia for the last game where we will win to likely win the group. Haven’t had a good win? We got into Euros a group winner of a group that ended up having 4 teams qualify. Russia also was quarter finalist at the WC and qualified for Euros easily, they are no slouch at home…especially when we are missing Luka.
Well to be fair, it’s been like this for some time but in my opinion the difference is Dalic is trying to train the public to not have any real expectations.
Today wasn’t bad for most of the game although the second half we kinda slowed down. The one MAJOR issue we have had for some time is in the box, we don’t have a goal scorer for our National Team, even if Krama scores in bunches at his club.
We’d be talking a different tune if he scored a damn goal or if Petkovic scored…or if anyone scored for that matter.
We used to be super concerned about our outside defenders and our centre back situation but today they played better than I’ve seen in at least 3 or more years. Kovacic was very good in the first half, we lacked imagination in the box.
Would Rebic, Brekalo, Petkovic have made a difference today? I honestly doubt it. We need to solve the striker problem ASAP otherwise we will play well but hope we can get some kinda goal from a secondary scorer snd try not to receive any goals!
…also, today was the exact type of game I would have loved to see a Vlasic or Pasalic score…make them relevant for us. It’s these types of games where we need those types of players to step up!
Some of you guys with the comments are in such denial.
The shit show contuines. We are supposed to be better than Russia and no this wasn’t a good result.
Mental Midget Syndrome has returned.
You sound very low IQ, probably a Biden/Trudeau supporter. lmao A draw still keeps us in first and in control of our destiny. We’ll hammer the ruskies at home.
It was hard to watch. It just felt like nobody wanted to rise to the occasion. Here’s my prediction, the team that finishes qualifying will be significantly different.
Sosa had a great debut, much more composed and impressive than the debut of Gvardiol. He impressed me a lot.
Kovacic’s played well but ran out of gas and of course had to remind us at the end that he can’t shoot.
Overall I liked the pace and hustle but we miss something crucial in the final third, a natural scorer.
I’m actually pleased with the game today.
We were the better team but Russia’s defense was well organized. Our strikers were just not fast and creative enough to make the difference. That happens. Maybe if Ivanusec gets a little bit stronger, he could be guy who makes the difference for us.
With Sosa and Juranovic there’s way more speed in this team.
By now almost all our players are comfortable on the ball (only Livakovic has to get better with his feet although his saves are more than okay).
I realize some of you expected to win this game but which Croatian team could ever simply go and beat Russia in Russia? Even the Croatia 98 team with Suker & Boban would have struggled.
Yeah, Ivanusec isn’t afraid to take a crack while Krama dilly dallies far too much.
Sosa was really energetic and nice to watch, Juranovic was also good.
We don’t have a true #9 and this is a damn issue for us. How the hell can we produce soo many decent midfielders and yet, not a damn striker in all of Hrvatska?!?!
Its puzzling no doubt. But hey, we still control our own destiny.
Don’t you mean in all of Njemačka?
Incredible that we still can’t score. Dalic needs to make changes or leave.
No. We just need one striker who can offer something brilliant out of nothing. Perisic sometimes does, he didn’t do it today. Same story with Vlasic & Kramaric.
Who could Dalic bring who offers more than our strikers now?
I’d say don’t change the team after every game. Have some trust, the more those players play together, the better they start to perform.
Bosnia tied France was joyful news.
Doesn’t mean anything. France will win this group in a walk and Bosnia has two points in three games.
Never said it did but it’s funny how we’ve never beaten or drawn France. They obviously will but idk about you but France has been slacking this last year. Losing to Switzerland, drawing Ukraine & Bosnia, Drew Hungary at euros.
yes, we tied France 2-2 at Euros when Tudor scored a beauty….(own goal).
That was a boring match..no energy, no passion or urgency to finish. It looked like a friendly game. We can’t finish and can’t expect to win if our forwards or wingers can’t get support. The last four games in these qualifying matches have been mentally exhausting to watch. Only four goals in four matches. When we concede it’s not often but we can’t score for dear life. Dalic needs to go. He’s completely lost. This is why we are never top competitors. We have games like this and then rely on the remaining matches and just squeeze by. Eventually it will bite us in the ass. I have a feeling it might happen this year. We’ll know if we make Qatar after this month. I could see Slovakia & Slovenia finishing instead of us.
Drew a below average Russia
Lost to Slovenia
Barley beat Cyprus
Beat Malta 3-0 after subbing in our starters
I don’t know what else to say. I still believe we can achieve the 7 points. Get a needed win against Slovakia on Saturday away. Then back home and get revenge against Slovenia. If we don’t get the two wins then we are in trouble. This will be a close group. Slovakia, Slovenia and Russia seek draws from us hoping to stay in the fight for first or second. I just don’t wanna see us finishing second in a group like this. Besides some decent chances in the first half, defending has improved, goaltending again worries me. Nothing else stood out. Same boring tactics as usual.
Mediocre result versus a mediocre Russian side.
Would be great if Lovren exited stage left permanently.
Lovren was dreadful. Giving the ball away with terrible passes in dangerous areas, most of Russia’s chances were the result of his poor play.
Dalic’s crappy judge of talent or being too loyal to the old guard is biting them in the ass again. If Vida wasn’t on yellow’s, he would have started instead of DCC and we probably lose.
Overall today is still a positive, as Danny said all the top teams tied but the good news is we held station playing Russia away from home so it’s more advantage to us than them. Not a bad result but i agree we just never had any golden chances, that final moment was missing badly today.
So frustrating to watch EVERY qualifying campaign and how we’re so much better than the other teams, and we ALWAYS have to scratch and claw to qualify. They win today and Saturday (especially after the Slovaks and Slovenes tied) and the group would have been won.
Ako Francuzi nemogu Bosnu dobit, nemoramo ni mi Rusiju
Two ties today
I guess today is essentially a wash
All we needed is one goal to take a hold
Bueller?? Anyone???;)
Liked Sosa and juranovic
I missed the first half..,Did gvardiol not start?
With Modrić in we probably score one
Lovren doing his best impression of lovren at the end then almost costing us
Already know dalics izjava x u moskvi is good bla bla we didnt conceed a goal bla bla
This is a joke already we are a open book Dalic odlazi
We still suck
The finishing today has been simply awful.
Not sure what to think? We have the majority of possession, we are getting down the wings, we are breaking out of our end relatively easy, we have “decent but not great service” and yet we can’t bust through and connect inside the box. There has to be MORE aggression to win the final ball…get into the open space before the defenders….Krama isn’t really effective even though he’s had the ball at his feet several time. Same with Perisic…he’s looking way off today!
Kovacic has been excellent. That run and through ball was the type of thing we’ve been waiting for!!
Sosa has looked solid and offers something from a LB we haven’t had since the Jarni days. We just are lacking that target man. Our issue is we have three No 10s on the field. I guess Dalic keeps hoping talent will prevail above playing their natural position…
Hopefully getting rid of the trouble makers is a new beginning for us.
Kovacic our best player so far.
I like our LB and RB. Sosa and Juranovic add some speed to our game (which was needed).
I think the game plan is: bring to ball to Sosa or Juranovic, then a cross in front of the goal and Pasalic to finish it with a header… or Vlasic or Kramaric who are always around and easily score.
I like Hrvatska so far. They dominate although they didn’t create a lot of chances.
Another remark: the players fight hard on the pitch. It doesn’t look like they want to get rid of Dalic.
He’s football good stream too. Saves you money from getting DAZN. TSN and sports net suck ass.
Decent first half…I expect a 1-0 win after 3-4 good chances. Perisic missed, Orsic had a good header and that pass from kovacic up the middle was impressive. Slovakia and Slovenia tie would be good for us. Either side winning isn’t good and especially Slovakia because that puts us in second.
So that was a good half from us, especially away from home, dominating possession 61 to 39 and putting em under pressure for sustained periods at times. Just lacked the final touch from Perisic or Krama in those moments unfortunately!
Slovakia leading Slovenia 1-0 away from home
1-1 and Slovakia looks good.
Has to be said…Livakovic is below average. Plays nervous and lacks confidence. Kova actually winning a few duels. Maybe he turns the corner with Luka out. It’s his time to step up.
Livakovic…I cringe every time he touches the ball.
Where’s Vida? Is he hurt? Didn’t even make it on the bench. He helped crush those Russian dreams in 2018
Two yellows. He’s suspended for one game.
Really good stuff from our guys, putting em under sustained pressure and holding possession now.
Any feeds?
sportsbay.org
im watching here:
https://sportsbay.org/watch/115346/1/russia-vs-croatia-live.html
Thank you for the feed. It is very clear and good.
you have to enter your credit card for that site Iggy? Is it safe?
No, you dont enter a credit card, dont click the blatant spam, the game screen has a spam screen and then slightly below the actual screen.
got it…thanks Iggy!
Thanks finally worked. I would happily pay a fee to watch the game but that never seems to be an option.
So in terms of Slovaks and Slovenes i guess a draw is what we want hey?
We have quite a few players on yellows. Hopefully we can play a relatively clean game.
Well no Gvardiol…injured in warmups. Caleta Car in his place.
Gvardiol out. Caleta Car in
Gvardiol is out. DCC is in.
Good lineup. Kramarić will do what he does for Hoffenheim with Pasalić as the true point man (big guy with good positioning and heading technique). Vlasić on the right, where he played very well against Scotland. Sosa with a chance to live up to the hype. Lovren plays against these Russians regularly, so not a bad choice there. Also, he is our only really physically imposing CB, which is important when the other defenders are all more finesse players. Midfield is as it should be.
Don’t like this formation. Very fortunate that this qualifying group is garbage.
Should be an interesting game and don’t mind the lineup.. It’ll be a glimpse of what life will be like without Luka. Trouble with the Tourist Sosa starting is that we don’t have a target man for his crosses. Maybe Colak comes on given his recent form and Krama plays behind him in his natural role. Pasalic does deserve a start though… it a big fan but he seems to be able to find the net.
Either way I like seeing Gvardiol as a CB…I can see Gvardiol and Duje forming a decent partnership. Shame that Pongracic had various health issues. I hope his move to Dortmund is a positive.
Ok ok
It’s not bad
Let’s see what comes out of it
Dalic is a bitch ass
Belief is real and his plan was to ride Modrić till the wheels fell off and now he is
Riding his success and riding it now that he is injured
Sosa has his shot
If there ever was a time for us to get a new hero, I think today is the day. Can Sosa take this opportunity? Will it be someone like Ivanusec? What about Vlasic….is he our new leader?
Gvardiol and Sosa beside each other are gonna be nice to watch. Something we should’ve seen last year! Would way rather see Vida in for Lovren though.
Yeah all this calculating points by Dalic and people shitting bricks about maximum points is dumb. We’re top of the group and being chased by teams that will drop points. I’m not worried at all
Maminjo and Slovanac- right on with regards to Dalic- minimum point required- insane talk- he needs a Lika makeover- 2 shuffles and plenty of ice for the swelling- what kind of team leader is this guy- he should be pumping the guys as an opportunity to set their own history and forget Modric – this is your chance- Dalic couldn’t lead himself out of bathroom stall
i’m sacred 🙃
Better to be sacred then scared Ivana 🤔
Vecernji List has this lineup:
– Livaković –
– Juranović, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa –
– Brozović, Kovačić –
– Vlašić, Pašalić, Perišić –
– Kramarić
Nothing too surprising, especially with Dalic playing Krama up top.
Nice to see Sosa and Gvardiol in there, but Sosa doesn’t really play as a LB in a 4-4-2 so it’s a risky move defensively.
I don’t like Pasalic starting. Krama or Vlasic are better in that role, with Pasalic off the bench. Orsic is better than Pasalic and should start instead.
I agree about Pasalic but I do think the guy has been played in soo many different situations, he deserves a starting spot. He’s been patient, supportive and I’ve never heard a single negative comment about his attitude. I’ve never liked his style of play but if you ask me, you may as well play him in this lineup with this group of players, otherwise don’t even call him!
For the past few days the only thing I see from Dalic is that Modric will be greatly missed…and that comment is making me sick!
He’s gotta start behaving like a coach/manager and demonstrate he has confidence in his squad and stop fucking creating alibi’s even before the game has started. What a sheep!
Nothing worse than him calculating how many points we need to squeeze through and setting expectations for 14 points in these remaining 7 games (with a possible 21 points).
Ugh. Loser talk.
100%
There’s a few ways we can line up today. I think the plethora of attacking midfielders called up allows us to be very tactically flexible in that are of the pitch.
What I’d like to see:
(3-4-2-1)
—————————————-Colak(Livaja)———————————————-
——————-Kramaric(Pasalic)——–Vlasic(Majer)——————————
—Sosa(Perisic)—–Brozovic(Moro)——Kovacic—————Juranovic—-
———————-Gvardiol———-Caleta———-Lovren(Uremovic)————–
——————————————-Livakovic————————————————–
We have so many options off the bench. If Krama remains unconvincing after 45-55 minutes, take him out for super sub Pasalic. I think this is Kramaric’s ideal position in his ideal formation and I say it’s worth a final shot trying to unlock him. Vlasic, in my opinion, is a lock here, and he will be motivated after his West Ham move. Colak is scoring like a mad man and he’s proved himself worthy of receiving a chance. Livaja, Pasalic and Majer are all amazing options in case anyone is underperforming. Sosa > Perisic in this formation but if we need a late attacking presence, sub in Perisic and utilize him as more of a winger. Colak is decently tall at 6’2 and a lethal finisher in the box, so Sosa whipping in crosses all game could be important. Juranovic is best as a RWB and Gvardiol as a LCB so this formation fits them excellently. I’d like Uremovic to start over Lovren as he’s more in form on a worse team, but I highly doubt this so I just stuck with Lovren, who’ll receive more support from two other center-backs in a back 3.
What I’d like to see if we have to play a 4-2-3-1:
——————————————-Colak————————————————-
Orsic(Perisic)—————Vlasic(Pasalic)—————Perisic(Ivanusec)
————————–Kovacic——————Brozovic——————————-
Sosa(Barisic)———–Gvardiol————Caleta———-Uremovic———
——————————————Livakovic———————————————-
Orsic deserves a chance after the Spain match, but if Perisic is playing poorly on the right and Orsic needs to get subbed out, place Perisic at LW and bring on Ivanusec for Orsic at RW. I’ve also put Pasalic over Majer as my sub at AM because of his clutch factor. Guy can score in 20 minutes if needed. Majer is the better player, but I feel like he needs to start the match to get in the rythm and be dominant. My back 4 is very fluid, I’d like to see Sosa pushing up the pitch and feeding Colak, but also helping on defence, kind of like a LWB. Gvardiol is the LCB but also a cover for Sosa on the LB, allowing Caleta to be more central rather than on the right. Uremovic is defensively sound, which is needed if we are going to play Sosa as LB. We can’t have 2 wingbacks in a back 4, we will be exposed (so, leave Juranovic on the bench). Essentially, we’re forming a back 3 of Gvardiol, Caleta and Uremovic, allowing Sosa to be more attacking, but when he comes back to defend we switch into the back 4 again. Perisic will thus have some defensive duties on the right hand side, but Brozovic is there as well so he can shift back as a right defensive midfielder if needed.
What I expect Dalic to play:
—————————————-Kramaric——————————————
Perisic(Orsic)————–Pasalic(Majer)————-Vlasic(Ivanusec)
———————–Kovacic———————-Brozovic————————–
Gvardiol(Barisic)———Caleta——–Lovren—————-Juranovic
—————————————-Livakovic——————————————
Only Dalic and God know what he’s thinking lol.
Good luck decki and lets stick it to these fucking commies!!
very hard to comment before we see the lineup!
I highly doubt Dalic will start Majer, Orsic and even Ivanusec even though I think they should get the opportunity to play all 3 together in one of these upcoming games.
Almost got Dalics lineup right caleta car will not play hasnt played for Marseille this season. An insider is saying back 4 of Juranovic Lovren Gvardiol Sosa.
Any word on the official line up yet
Geez, Cro are paying $2.70 to beat Russia. How are we not shorter?
Months ago someone posted a link to a Croatian news site that streamed national team games. The quality was very good and all you needed was a VPN to pretend you were in Croatia. I lost the bookmark does any one recall it?
what VPN that you use to watch it? >
Type in GOH for your VPN short for god of halilovic it should work
VPN unlimited and I chose Croatia. This allowed me to watch the feed. But I still don’t recall the feed and no one is answering with the name.
Why don’t you guys just buy an IPTV unit. Has all of the Croatian channels. No need to watch on a computer, you can watch it on your TV.
That feed was on gol.hr, but it depends entirely on whether they have the license to carry the match