Croatia wins a weird one vs. Scotland in Nations League!
-Luka Sučić defensive blunder gives Scotland opening goal
-Matanović equalizes minutes later for his 1st Croatian senior goal
-Luka Sučić rockets a goal into the back of the net but the referee prematurely whistles the play dead. No reason was given on a play that looked onside
-Kramarić cooly places a header over a Scottish defender on the line for the game winner and 30th Croatian goal all-time
-On the last play of the game (94’), Jakić pushes the ball past Livaković for an own goal. 2-2 Scotland equalizer. The referree goes to VAR. Play is ruled offside.
-Why can’t this Croatia squad close out games in injury time this year??? First Albania. Then Italy. Now Scotland. What is the deal?!?!
FINAL 2-1 CROATIA. The Jakić own goal goes to VAR review. After three minutes of deliberation, VAR says a Scottish player was offside on the play. No goal. Croatia luckily defeat Scotland 2-1 at Maksimir. Why can this team not close out their opponents in injury time this year? Albania, Italy and now Scotland. It’s absolutely sick.
94′ 2-2 SCOTLAND GOAL. Croatia can’t clear the box with a bouncing ball on the last play of the game. Jakić comes in to help and deflects the ball into the goal past Livaković. Absolutely unreal!! How can Croatia not close out games in injury time?!?!?!
91′ Four minutes of injury time. SUB: Perišić off. Jakić on for extra-added defensive support.
90′ Scotland peppering the Croatian goal with chances but can’t score. They are unlucky to find an equalizer.
78′ Scotland on a mini break-away and he should have done better. Shoots just wide left. Should be 2-2.
71′ SUBS. Double striker switch. Kramarić and Matanović off. Petković and Budimir on. 2-1 Croatia with 20 minutes left.
70′ GOOOOOOALLLLL!!! 2-1 Croatia! Perišić plays a beautiful lob across the box. Sosa slams the volley right into the keeper, who makes a decent save. The ball bounces to Kramarić who very, very cooly heads the ball over a Scottish defender into the back of the net.
62′ SUB. Baturina in for Luka Sučić, who should have a goal to his name after that bottled offside call from the ref. Short after the substitution, Modrić pops off a shot from 18 yards out that just sails past the outside of the right post.
56′ Luka Sučić absolutely kills the ball from outside the box into the back of the net. It would have been a wunder-strike but the referee whistles for an offside. Not sure if Modrić was offiside on the pass following the corner but no explanation or replay has been given yet. Odd.
54′ Modrić with a powerful shot from outside the box. Scottish keeper makes the save but the Croatians are coming.
52′ Matanović with a fearless dipping shot from 24 yards out but it is parried away from the Scottish keeper. Liking these shots from outside the box.
46′ SUB. Mario Pašalić off. Dinamo Zagreb’s Petar Sučić on. Good sub.
HT 1-1. Vatreni are sleep walking through this one. However, nice that Matanović could grab a quick equalizer to calm the nerves. Gvardiol and Luka Sučić not having a great game. Recommended subs: Baturina in for Sučić. Petar Sučić in for Pašalić (on a yellow). Pjaca/Oršić/Marco Pašalić in for Perišić (on a yellow).
39′ YELLOW CARD. Perišić picks up a yellow card for a foul. Expect him to be taken off before the 60-minute mark.
36′ GOOOOOAL!!!! 1-1. Matanović scores his first goal for the the Croatian senior side three minutes after Scotland’s goal for an equalizer. Perišić nicely lays the ball off to Matanović in the middle of the box and he strikes home to beat the keeper in a contested box.
33′ SCOTLAND GOAL 1-0. Luka Sučić completely whiffs on the ball in the box to give Scotland a free shot on frame. The ball had Livaković beat already but it will go down as an own goal for DCC. DCC tried to get to it but nothing he could do. Not sure how Sučić bottled the one.
30′ Perišić with an awful pass in the final third. He doesn’t look great tonight. The pass leads to a Scottish counter down the field that is stopped.
25′ Choppy start for Croatia. Sloppy on offense and defense. Gvardiol and Livaković with some nerves to tend to in the back with errant passes.
15′ YELLOW CARD Some good back and forth from both sides right now with no real chances. Pašalić gets dispossessed in the Scottish third and he commits a follow. Yellow card to Pašalić on the play. This may mean an early sub for him for Sučić or Baturina.
Why is Dalić starting guys like Perišić and Pašalić over Baturina, Petar Sučić, Pjaca? A Nations League match against Scotland is the perfect opportunity to play the future in Baturina and P. Sučić. Is Pjaca or Oršić a better option over Perišić? Depends on the day. But for Dalić’s sake, I hope Perišić has a 8.0 rating against Scotland with a goal or assist.
Pašalić in the middle in lieu of Kovačić? Why?
On the bright side, we need to love that Sučić and Matanović are getting starting XI reps for the Vatreni in these Nations League matches. Will Sučič bag his first Croatian goal? We hope so!
Off topic I think we need to play in split . The stadium in Zagreb half empty because it’s not safe to sit fans is a disgrace and bad look .
Scotland is garbage and we made them look good- let’s have a coach that isn’t a figurehead for HNS- awful defending when Scotland has no offense
Portugal scored in 87th minute to beat Scotland,
Poland in extra time.
They are a difficult side to play against for many reasons. We have always had a hard time with them historically.
Its funny, Know we are not happy with wins. We want to win pretty.
We’re back to the Croatia of old mental lapse. I think we forget the combination of hard work, talent and luck. 98 we had it all. 2018 was one great tournament but we were not winning in regular time, same as 2022 and Lukaku should have finished us and but he didn’t.
Hard work wins when talent isn’t working hard. Our talent hasn’t worked hard or SMART in the final minutes of these 3 games where we were scored on in the final minutes. All 3 games we had chances to either KILL the game or HOLD the ball in the corner and we did neither. That is not smart.
We’re also in a transitional period where we are incorporating new players who are young and inexperienced and we develop late so there will be mental lapses.
It will take time for us to gel. I like the young guys coming up but what happens is you lack experience, concentration, discipline and ultimately consistency.
I think we’re good but they need to address this because it’s clearly a pattern.
Also, we lack wingers.
I mean were not playing a formation for wingers. Also everyone can complain for younger players but you have to accept a mistake like Sucic made
Disagree with your take on the Susic error. At any level of senior soccer, for a player to shank an uncontested cross to that degree is never acceptable.
Portugal are absolutely smoking Poland away from home and look imperious tbh. Poland 0 – 2 Portugal 38 mins in.
oh the goal was overturned?? lmao i didnt know.. i turned it off and immediately hopped into bed in disgust cos i couldnt see any potential issue. That’s a really, really lucky break for us. We need to work on how we deal with added time cos it’s clearly not a fluke now, 3 times in 5 games is a pattern.
It looked like an obvious offside to me. Two Scottish players were about a meter behind the Croatian defense when the ball was played in, and the first player to touch the ball was Scottish. The match officiating was the worst I’ve ever seen in a professional match. The linesperson on the far side just was too busy watching the ball to notice that Scotland was keeping a player offside every time they made a counterattack. The referee took away a legitimate goal by Croatia and then refused to check his call. The yellow to Perišić was for contact that didn’t happen. Even the Pašalić yellow was a contactless one. It’s just getting worse and worse… At least they use Goal Check in the Nations League now. Otherwise, it’s like street soccer.
Not lucky Ilija. Offside is offside.
Just like the goal Sucic scored.
I know goal was overturned but these late game defensive brain farts and lapses need to stop. Matanovic is the future
1 win in our last 6, but we’re in good form guys!
Here’s a better stat: in 3 of our last 5 games, we’ve conceded a goal with more or less the last kick of the game, deep into added time.
Out of the last 9 Nation League games we have lost only 2
Portugal and Spain
Kovačić is our best player right now.
His absence was glaring.
Modrić, Perišić and Kramaric still have it!
Matanovic has been a presence once again and the goal was a quality finish.
That was a gritty 3 pts.
Nice to see us match the physicality of Scotland.
Marco P – LEASE !!
Is Kovačić back for Poland?
Agreed. Kova makes this a different game… people here say he shouldn’t be starting though because some kid scored a goal in HNL
If we could have eleven players of Modric on the field that would be great. He needs to get busy in the bedroom.
I wonder how much semen luka could sell to Croatian single ladies and lesbian couples??
11, so even the goalkeeper, at his size??? LOL
Looking to hear some reports from all who watched
Seems like some cons but good pros that popped up
I’ll go on this again
But young luka has potential to change the game with his shot at any time it seems
Always better then a broz attempt at field goal
It’s crazy to say that we actually miss kova now it seems
His form is becoming more and more apparently important for us
How lucky. VAR to the rescue. Just hopeless, cannot defend a lead. How many times are we going to concede in the last seconds.
Better second half but not a great performance, however a win is a win.
Luka Sucic really poor today, needs to work on his defensive duties. I thought Baturina was great when he came on. Clinical finish by Kramaric.
Perisic with an assist and a cross that led to the second goal. Overall better performance from him then many of us expected. Dalic almost cost the match by subbing Perisic meaning that the ref extended the match beyond four additional minutes.
Hopefully Kovacic will be available for the Poland match? we need him.
Anonymous
Dalić has just proved he has a better understanding of his team then you do
We “should” beat Scotland ?
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
One inch offside / var decision saved us
Portugal 87 minut to beat Scotland
Poland in extra time.
Scotland is not an easy team to play
My App says 2-1 Croatia final, and that the goal was disallowed. Is it 2-2 final?
Relax people. Sooner or later we have to get a VAR call
Modric does not seem happy at the end. If this was any other team than Scotland that goal would have not been disallowed
I thought for sure they would let the goal stand given these calls today….Isuse.
Baturina changed the game.
Did it really end 2-2
How the heck do we not get whistles blown and these stupid time additions non stop???
Dalic stupidly making a sub deep in stoppage time meaning that the ref added an additional 30 seconds.
What a let off
couldn’t watch 2nd half but just saw the 2nd own goal news is this a joke wow
Comes in for 3 minutes and scores an own goal lol. Guess who’s not gonna play next match
Not again
This is unacceptable
How did the referee not blow full time?
We sure know how to concede last second goals
joking…
I’m not watching cause I’m too broke for daizan in Canada and just haven’t looked for links
So looks like sucic gaffed but had a potential wunder strike
What are the odds for the other wunder strike being considered luck again
I’m not worried about his defensive mistake.
That will come as he matures I believe
He has the most potent shot on the team right now
For sure old luka can bomb but seems like young luka has that accuracy part locked in so far
IPTV service costs 40.00 a year on Amazon.ca. You get all the Croatian channels.
Just woke up and… we score as soon as i turn it on lol lucky
That was a good goal from Sucic when the referee blew the whistle
1st half recap
Dalic offensive plan (copy and paste from Spain)
Get ball out to Perisic on right and get the automatic pitching ball machine try to crosa
Yet zero successful crosses first half
Scotland leaving him wide open and were so dumb we keep doing it over and over again
Scotland happy as keeps ball away completely from Gvardiol on left
Our goal came from ball actually being played to left (for 1st time) to gvardiol and him world class cross into box
Perisic complete liability defensively on that side – where was he for the goal ? Instead of sucic scorpion kicking the ball in the box
Thank goodness he picked up a yellow – hopefully dalic subs him off for Marco Pasalic now at HT (he got his 45 min that’s enough)
As previewed, if u watch karma and Igor want to operate in exact same central spot in build up (when ball is w perisic on right) – they keep running into each other
Slow tempo from us as usual.
Luka Sucic probably our worst player, failed to clear the ball for the Scottish goal and invisible in the midfield. With their goal I think that Livakovic should have stayed on his line.
Gvardiol making some silly errors in defence, although that was a wonderful pass for Perisic to set up Matanovic for the goal.
Perisic- You can tell he isn’t fully the same since coming back from the injury. He doesn’t have the same speed or dribble around the players. It does seem he holds back in fear of getting injured again but he did make a good assist. Also, he complains a lot and at one point is seemed that Modric was becoming frustrated with him.
Gvardiol – Gave away the ball 2-3 timees in dangerous positions
If Scotland was a better side we could be down a few goals.
To be fair, we could have scored a few goals too from Kramaric and Sosa. Its good to see we’re crossing the ball more.
Sucic, Pasalic and Perisic should come out.
Matanović = the future
Am I the only one who’s getting tired of Croatia always falling behind and then to equalise and then go back to fucking around again
We are always chasing games rather than holding leads
Seems like a mindset we have
Also other teams have worked our style as well
At this point Perisic is just being selfish by not retiring or committing to playing off the bench.
Dalic obviously doesn’t have the balls to bench him or not call him up.
Nice assist count for nothing?
No. He’s been awful on both sides of the ball.
Gvardiol worst player on the field so far. Sramota.
AJMO !!!!
Correct.
Why is that a shame? Do you know what sramota means or perhaps you only know a word or two and it’s it’s cool to interject the odd Croatian word in a sentence.
hahahaha. this is why I don’t post much here anymore. hvala.
wow…
why are we wearing the blue jerseys lmao its at home and scotland usually wears blue
Igor and Krama play in the EXACT same position at their clubs
Hybrid #9 / false #9 roll
U can’t put them next to each other on the pitch – it’s moronic
This is like Carsley putting foden Jude Palmer (all play similar position clubs) all together last game – doesn’t work
Sad
Igor needs two proper wingers next to him line Frankfurt marmoush and other guy
Not another false #9/9 hybrid and #10
People will complain after the game re Igor but it’s not his fault he needs wingers next to him
Unreal
I don’t mind this lineup. I think it would be better to start a younger player on the right wing, but with Perišić starting and playing well at PSV, I have to believe that he will be an important contributor to securing a win today, especially since he was a big part of our last dominant win against Scotland. About Mario Pašalić: Scotland main attacking threat is Scott McTominay who is 6’4″ and physically strong. Mario Pašalić is without a doubt Croatia’s biggest and physically strongest midfielder, and since he has been put in the lineup with Modrić, Sučić and Kramarić, I think we will see Mario Pašalić play as a holding midfielder to neutralize McTominay. As I wrote earlier, the plan needs to put the game away early and then use the match as training. This lineup is probably a boring but effective way to do that if every player plays well (Pašalić solid, Modrić and Kramarić creative, Sučić aggressive, Sosa and Perišić crossing, etc.)
lol at line up
Dalic prioritizing perisic and his 110 min so far psv regaining fitness rather than actually winning game
The team has become a charity shop
Not surprised as dalic thinks Petar sucic played vs Bayern 9-2 lol
Marco Passaic could have slotted into Sosa slot a la Saka
At least Igor and l sucic starting (could b worse)
Unreal
When Croatia wins you can suck Mr Dalic’s Nuts
Budimir has to sleep with p diddy to get some starting minutes it seems
But maybe Dalić says start the young guy and let him run, bring budimir after
Would have loved to see the other pasalic start
I sure hope Perisic doesn’t taint his legendary status and forces himself on the team too long
He may still have quality, but not really currently
I hope I’m wrong
It’s like dalic hears the calls for some changes and he’s like I’ll just do this then
May I eat my words. It’s not terrible but doesn’t also really make sense
Dalic will go down as one of the best Croatian manager of our time. That said, if he is opting to start perisic, Mario pasalic and Sosa over guys like baturina Petar sucic and pjaca then he truly isn’t the coach for us anymore.
There are like 4 (possibly 5) gaffes in this starting eleven.
I’ve seen on various sites that Mario Pasalic is starting in place of Kova and Sutalo is out with Erlic in his place….not to mention Perisic on RW and Sosa on the left. This lineup is way too slow.
We must inteoduce some youth/pace to mix in with our vets in our STARTING lineup, not just give them 10 minutes at the end of a game.
Yes, Sucic looks to be cementing his spot, but with this lineup we may as well play without wingers. Sosa has regressed considerably and sadly Perisic (who many of us are huge fans of) might be done.
I can’t wait until Stanisic is back and more importantly Kova for the next game.
Kova has been our best player the last few years in typical late bloomer Cro fashion.
I am also seeing a starting eleven posted which includes a Krama/Matanovic pairing up top…a central midfield trio of Modric, Luka Sucic, and Mario Pasalic…with Sosa and Perisic as wingers.
This is just Dalic doing Dalic things.
Mario Pasalic is a good sub, but in no way shape or form should he be ahead of Petar Sucic or Martin Baturina (especially since we lose some of that possession game with Kovacic out).
This is a typical Dalic move by forcing the veteran into the lineup. That being said, I think Mario is good for this game…but as a backup (if we still need a goal and need an additional man to crash the net for a header).
Sosa at LW can be useful in this game, but he’d better deliver on the crosses right away. If not, then he needs to be yanked immediately.
Perisic on the right side is a worse option than both Marco Pasalic or Pjaca. Another case of Dalic favoring the veteran.
Budimir not starting is pretty bad. He’s our best striker right now. He needs to start.
Krama should probably be slotted back into the midfield (over Mario Pasalic) so we could have Budimir in the game up top.
Weren’t the “predicted” line-ups for the September games COMPLETELY wrong ?
Dalic must have learnt from the Euros – u know when he told Spain THREE weeks in advance that Gvardiol will play LB (lol) and right after the Portgual friendly that the same line-up will face Spain in opener
Exactly. Pasalic is an excellent super sub. You can see the difference by adding Peter Sucic and Baturina. Quicker movement and more direct play with Baturina.
Luka Sucic swing and miss was awful on that first goal.
Matanovic looks like the real deal striker option for us.
What do we want with the Poland Portugal game incidentally? Draw?
Since there is relegation to League B if you come last in the group, it is better for us that Portugal wins against Poland. Also, if we can beat Scotland today and having already beaten Poland, we would have a good chance of finishing in the top two in the group and advancing to the QF’s.