A tale of two halves. Croatia dominated the 1st half but couldn’t find the back of the net. Petar Sučić picked up his 2nd yellow card just before halftime to kill all Croatian momentum. The Vatreni will now need a draw or better vs. Portugal Monday in Split OR a Scottish draw/loss to Poland to qualify for the quarterfinals.
We just can’t ever do things the easy way, can we?
FINAL: 1-0 Scotland.
86′ SCOTLAND GOAL 1-0. Kotarski can’t punch the ball far enough away. It’s lands to McGinn who rifles the ball through a busy box to give Scotland the 1-0 lead and hope in Nations League qualifying.
85′ Alright here we go. 5 minutes left plus injury time. Croatia have been awful closing out matches in 2024. They are 10 minutes away from a draw and Nations League quarterfinal berth. That would also make Monday’s match against Portugal a meaningless friendly.
82′ SUB: Pjaca on for Jakić due to injury.
81′ Jakić down with an injury. Trainers are cold-spraying his right leg and asking for the stretcher. Looks like Pjaca will come off the bench for him.
74′ SUB: Nikola Vlašić comes off the bench for Baturina.
73′ Modrić chips the ball to Pašalić to put him 1v1 with the keeper. He needs a touch in any direction to score but toe pokes the ball just wide. Still 0-0.
71′ Wow. Scotland definitely have their chances in the box but hit everything over the bar. It’s like they don’t want to score.
63′ SUBS: Luka Sučić comes out for Ivan Perišić. Kramarić off for Mario Pašalić. Krama had a good game. He just couldn’t find the back of the net on any of his shots.
62′ Baturina with a shit from inside the box but it’s blocked and goes out for a corner.
61′ Scotland playing with tons of confidence and moving the ball up field more compared to the 1st half. Looks like they are going for broke as a draw does nothing for them.
60′ Lots of missed chanced by both sides in this match. The rain and slick field has to be affecting the players and ball movement.
46′ The 2nd half begins as Croatia play with 10 men. No subs yet from Dalić.
Halftime: 0-0. Croatia will go into the locker room tied 0-0 after dominating the 1st half. Petar Sučić was sent off for 2 soft yellows and the Vatreni will have to play the 2nd half down a man. Shouldn’t be a problem if they are looking for a draw. Poland vs. Portugal is also scoreless at halftime. Two draw puts Croatia through to the next round.
44′ RED CARD! Petar Sučić picks up his 2nd yellow card in 14 minutes. It looked completely soft as he barely clipped the Scottish player with his cleat after missing the ball. Modrić argues with the ref and picks up his own yellow. That means Modrić cannot play against Ronaldo and Portugal this Monday in Split. Complete shame. Awful refereeing. There was no malice there from Sučić at all.
39′ Krama once again dancing in the box and lays it off to Baturina. Baturina completely whiffs on the attempt. Not having the best half.
35′ Croatia peppering the Scottish goal with chances. Just can’t find the back of the net quite yet. 3 total shots on target so far.
30′ YELLOW CARD: Petar Sučić receives a caution for a foul from behind.
25′ Modrić looking like a kid out there with both Sučić cousins and Baturina. Lots of quick 1-touches in the box with confidence. The goal is coming. Croatia definitely on the front foot to score first.
17′ Scotland with a quick counter. Ball comes to the top of the 18 but the shot is parried away by Kotarski for a corner. Decent save.
9′ Kramarić causing tons of trouble for the Scots running down the left side. He shakes his defender and shoots near post but Gordon makes a toe save to keep it 0-0. Ball goes out for a corner.
5′ Krama dancing around in the Scottish box. He lays it off to Baturina who feeds Luka Sučić on the right side of the penalty area. Sučić has a good look on goal but shoots too high. He will be disappointed with his miss.
4′ Scotland with a bad pass in the back that goes straight to Kramarić. Krama on a half break-away but his angle is cut off and shoots wide.
Croatia can lock up a Nations League quarterfinal berth with a win over Scotland at Hampden Park Friday night. The squad will be without striker Ante Budimir (yellow card suspension) and goalkeeper Dominik Livaković (red card suspension) for the match. They will both be able to return against Portugal on Monday.
Let the young guns play! Both Sučić cousins get the start alongside Baturina. Everyone out of position but let’s see how this goes. Jakić at right-back. Laughable but the options are scarce these days.
World Cup draw will be on Friday 13 December and we will be seeded in Pot 1.
Despite being seeded in Pot 1 and avoiding the big boys qualifying for the 2026 will be tough. Dalic is all over the shop with tactics, formations and team selections.
The team is in transition and the younger players that have come up lack international experience and are inconsistent. That is what happens with young players they are up and down in performance from being great today and poor three day’s later.
If you look at Daliç’s stats ONLY as Croatia coach, they are not great.
Approx. 93 matches in charge for 45 wins, 24 draws and 24 losses.
Far too many loses at 25% of all the matches in charge.
I’ll take Coach Dalić at least through the World Cup qualifiers/World Cup. In spite of that record, he has 2 World Cup semi-finals and 1 Nations League final to his resume. Yes, this hasn’t been a good year, but he deserves the shot for ‘26. Viva Zlatko!
If we lose to Portugal, is there any chance at losing our World Cup seeding?
Dalić should have been let go after the Euros. Now the losing and lack of concentration at the end of games is continuing. He needs to be placed on the hotseat, and a loss to Portugal should do it… But I don’t want this at the expense of a World Cup qualifying seed.
See Football Meets Data on twitter – they have us as “100%” for Pot 1 as of all games played y’day
Good source also for all the permutations in our group, etc
Maminjo nailed it in the comments below. Record this year has been awful. I do not believe Dalic deserves a pass for such awful play.
He’s a disaster. Every coach eventually loses the room, no matter how good they are or what they’ve accomplished. Time for a change. Now. Regardless of the next result, we’re staying in Nations League A. That will have to be enough. Time to start focusing on World Cup qualifying and concentrating on our ranking(s) to ensure a better draw.
I am still giving the benefit of the doubt to coach Dalić. They point to his record for a reason to dump him. This time traditionally used to be a time for development and losses would happen. Keep in mind Croatia has not accomplished much at the Euros. He has two semifinals in the World Cup to his resume. From ‘99 through ‘17, Croatia did didly squat. He has two years to prove his mettle during the ‘26 World Cup qualifiers and hopefully the World Cup. Viva Zlatko!
🤦🤦🤦🤦
Dalic on his exchange with the referee:
“I simply told him that the Croatian national team plays football—we’re not a rough or aggressive side to justify four yellow cards in one half.”
Is Dalic familiar with the history of the Croatian team ?
In WC 2006 – Croatia got FIVE yellow cards the 2nd half vs. Australia
62′ Simunic 1st yellow
70′ Pletisoka yellow
85′ Simic 2nd yellow (and red)
90′ Simunic 2nd yellow (no red by Poll)
95′ Simunic 3rd yellow (and red)
🤦🤦🤦🤦
2006 was a long time ago. Croatia’s current squad is one of the cleanest in the game. Most of the fouls called against Croatia in recent years have been made up. Even Rebić in 2018 played the game cleanly. The last truly dirty player for Croatia was Marko Rog in 2016.
BTW:
Full marks to our fans last time
Fully throttle singing from the kick-off
Haven’t heard it that loud in an away game in a long-time
🤦🤦🤦🤦
lol
Simun Hrgovic called up to U21
In parallel – Dalic puts LB Hrgovic on his standby list
U21 play y’day and Osijek’s Cvijanovic plays at LB (Hrgovic stays on the bench)
So – if Hrgovic isn’t even the 1st choice LB for the U21
In what world is he good enough to be standby for the Senior team ?
Shouldn’t Cvijanovic have been the one on Dalic’s standby list ??
Baffling
🤦🤦🤦🤦
No logic in this federation. Hrgović is better than Cvijanovic but somehow didn’t see 1 minute of play.
Portugal since they qualified have let Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Neto ( whomever that is) leave and they won’t play be us. Good news. Not sure what the plan is on Leao though if we don’t have a right back.
And Lewandowski is not playing for Poland vs the Scots.
Am assuming the Scots will win so we better at least draw or are 3rd.
Pedro Neto (can play on either wing) is Chelsea’s outstanding winger (Spurs wanted to sign him over the summer – but decided against it due to his injury history – so they signed Burnley’s Odabert who ironically has been injured twice already – play only a couple of games – while Neto has been perfectly healthy so far)
They calling in other players – who will want to prove themselves
Tiago Djalo
Fabio Silva
Geovany Quenda – who is only 17 – funny how Portugal call up their star 17 yo – but we have Vuskovic and Durdov playing with the U21s and U19s…
Our record for the last 12 months has been very bad.
We have 4 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses.
The wins were against Latvia, Armenia, Poland and Scotland. The latter two were very lucky and not impressive at all. Not sure if we’ve ever had a worse 12-month stretch (record-wise) in our history.
Nations League: 2W-1D-2L
Euro 2024: 0W-2D-1L
Euro 2024 Qual: 2W-0D-2L
I was just thinking about that with us ending Scotland’s longest ever losing streak or whatever they were on. It occurred to me we have been pretty terrible for quite a while ourselves. Now when i say to my old man we’re playing Portugal in a couple days, he isn’t looking forward to it and says okay we’ll see how many we lose by, lol.. so i guess that’s indicative…
Vlasic summed up on that John McGuinn goal
Vlasic closes his eyes but forgets to protect his privates with his hands
That Ben Doak compilation misses a few of his actions
Here are the highlights from Scottish YT channel – there’s more to see
Pretty impressive for a just turned 19 y.o. to play 90+ minutes and as the game wore on he got better / faster
He will 100% be a regular in the PL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmXHHZYb_CI
Anonymous did mention in October that Scotland were missing their talisman John McGuinn – and folks on here said he didn’t matter lol – sure enough he’s the one that scored the winner (after Ben Doak sprint to by-line)
And full-marks to Jakic being a warrior
He went down in the 1st half holding the same knee
But decided to continue and try to play thru it until he couldn’t anymore
His mentality is admirable – hopefully he hasn’t done serious damage by continuing (weird we’ve heard absolutely no update about him)
He had that pink sports tape put all over the knee at HT (he never wears tape over that knee)
Ben Doak vs. Gvardiol compilation
https://x.com/search?q=ben%20doak%20croatia&src=typed_query&f=top
While he has been good for Middlesbrough – from this performance alone Liverpool will recall him early in January – he was outstanding against the “best” LCB in the world – he could be starting every game in the PL
But it’s not just the offensive side – bc Gvardiol knew Doak was very fast – Gvardiol was completely shut down going forward all night (before the red card) – as he knew he couldn’t get past Doak – how many dribbles did Gvardiol have (before the red card) – ZERO
The result ?
The 2nd Petar red card is 100% on Gvardiol – he gets the pass from DCC – and because he is scared of trying to dribble past Doak (and loosing the ball) as Doak already blew past him ac couple of times – Gvardiol rushes and makes the wrong pass to the wrong player – the pass was a TERRIBLE PASS in the direction of Petar Sucic – who was surrounded by THREE Scottish players – that was the WRONG pass – you had an open Baturina in the center b/w the lines (who subsequently slipped) – but an even better (and the right) pass was to Kramaric down the “LW” channel who was completely open – look at the play in SLO-MO frame by frame – Kramaric was wide open in the “LW” position – or for bonus points Gvardiol could have switched play by passing across field to a wide-open Jakic on the right-side
Bc Gvardiol’s pass is SHORT and right to the Scotland player – Petar Sucic is trying to make-up for Gvardiol’s terrible pass – Sucic does pull up from the challenge and make sure his studs are down (look closely he closes his eyes ready for impact) but the Scottish player is moving in his direction and they collide – with Scottish player knee moving in direction of Sucic foot – now look at the referee – from his angle he can’t see if Sucic make contact with the knee (or what actually happened is the knee made contact with Sucic) – also there is another Scottish player in his line of sight
So to conclude – the Petar Sucic 2nd yellow is 100% on Gvardiol – Gvardiol had terrible judgement and made a terrible pass – and he should be ashamed of himself that he Petar in such a terrible position trying to make-up for his terrible pass
Dominated the game for 82 minutes even with a man down.
Biggest worry is Gvardiol getting beat a few times by that speedy winger (someone needs to teach him to take a foul when he needs to, obviously never inside the box, and to use his body to throw these little, agile speedsters off balance or to not play them too close or else he’ll get turned and be out run.)
Simply needs to review the film of when and how he gets burned and adjust accordingly (which he is fully capable of).
Definitely not Dalić’s fault. We had great control of the game but things just didn’t go our way (weak red card, didn’t finish our chances). That’s all on the players. The team make up was right, the tactics were there, we just didn’t execute.
No need to panic. Just get a draw against the chops and stay in League A of nations league as our developing youngsters need to be always playing against the big boys to keep us both motivated and sharp.
Ajmo dečki!!!
Bog i Hrvati
Sheesh, not a great day with both U21s and senior team suffering defeats and red card offenses.
Can anyone enlighten me with regard to any of my queries below..?
1. Each of the two scenarios below would result in us and Scotland having same GD, GF and GA. If either of these scenarios were to happen, do we drop to 3rd place in the group?
Scenario A: Croatia 0-1 Portugal and Poland 1-2 Scotland
Scenario B: Croatia 1-2 Portugal and Poland 2-3 Scotland
2. If we don’t finish top 2 in the group, do we still stand a realistic chance of being seeded in WCQ Pot 1?
Looking at the NL groups in League A, there is a possibility that Scotland, Serbia and Hungary could come second in their groups ? Highly unlikely but possible. Even if this was to happen based on FIFA rankings, we would be in Pot 1as the best 12th ranked team.
Not sure what would happen if us and Scotland had the same points and goal difference ? perhaps head-to-head results and away goal rule with Scotland scoring in Zagreb and thus having the advantage?
It could also come down to discipline ? we have two red cards so let’s hope that it does not come to that.
It could come down to fair play (least red and yellow cards) which would obviously eliminate us.
Thanks MART and Iggy. Ok so it seems Scotland will finish above us in the scenarios I have mentioned. I really hope we’ll find our mojo at a packed Poljud on Monday and get a result vs Portugal, rather than having to rely on Poland holding off Scotland and us scraping our way into the QFs. But it’s good to know we will likely end up in WCQ Pot 1 no matter what happens.
@MART, I have another question for you… about our U21s. How do you feel about our chances in the second leg?
I love watching all our youth teams play from U17, U19 to U21.
I have watched all our U21 qualifying matches and I have said it before on here that I have never seen a worse defence for any of our teams youth or senior in the last 30 years.
The defence has improved a bit with Luka Vuskovic joining the squad, but is still leaky and Georgia last night caused us a lot of problems on the counterattack. We had two good chances in the first half, however in the second half we had nothing. Overall poor performance and this despite the fact that the team arrived in Georgia 5 days before the match.
Our goalkeeper and captain Cavlina got red carded last night and that might be a blessing in disguise. He is no good and sits on the bench for Osijek.
Technically we are the better team especially in the midfield and up front. Not sure if Beljo will be fit for the second leg ? but even if he is not, I’m quietly confident that we can win by a 2 goal margin?
For those interested on Maxsport you can watch LIVE U19 Euro qualifier Croatia v Belarus at 13:00 hrs Cro time. A win here and we qualify for the next round.
l
Scottish commentary:
Yes, the visitors were the victims of a ludicrous red card call at the end of the opening half, but Scotland can write you a book on bad calls, if you wish.
Croatia should have been a goal or two to the good, but weren’t. If they were frustrated, it was nothing compared to the state they were about to get themselves.
Sucic, on a booking, was adjudged to have barrelled into John Souttar and out came the red. It was unjust and, suddenly, Modric lost his shape.
We played well until the red card. Krama holds the ball waaay to long. Wasted a bunch if chances there.
I really hated the subs though.
Pašalić, Perišić, and (gulp) Vlašić.
I really hope Dalić didn’t sub these guys into the game because he intends to start them on Monday to pander to the Splićani.
I only watched the 2nd half… think the Vlasic sub on (for Baturina) was kinda unnecessary ?
We were in full control in the first half and didn’t bury our chances. The weak card killed our momentum.
Not sure what Krama was doing. Every time he got on the ball he waited way too long to get a shot off or pass it. We was unlucky with toe save the Scottish goalie made.
I really wish the short corner giveaway DIRECTLY to the Scottish player resulted in a goal, that way I’d never see us take another one again.
I will say if you look at our subs, who do you bring on instead? An out of form Orsic? Moro? Our bench is weak right now with all the injuries and out of form players. We have zero RB options and seeing Jakic go down (who as a mid was the closest thing we have to a RB) we are currently thin in a lot of positions. We very likely go 3 at the back next game with Perisic as a RWB. We are much better defensively with 4 at the back.
I absolutely hated the Vlasic sub. He’s shown us nothing the last few years – I just don’t get it. I really like the Pjaca sub…Mario Pasalic is a perfect sub for us later in any game. I would love to see Marco Pasalic come on at some point.
Hopefully when Stanisic, Juranovic & Majer come back guys like Vlasic and Moro get axed from the roster.
Lastly, we need to find a LWB/LB Gvardiol at LB for us isn’t anywhere the same as when he’s playing with Man City and given freedom to roam.
It was known before the match even started it would be cancer, dalic somehow managed to start 7 center mids, unbelievable. Dalic and the whole coaching staff have a total iq lower than a monkey.
Is it certain that Modrić did not get a yellow card?
On the UEFA site it has Kramaric and DCC with yellows and P. Sucic with a red.
Modric did not get a yellow.
Couldn’t watch. How did Kotarski do?
He did Ok, but you could argue that he should have done better with the cross that led to the Scottish goal.
He is very good with his feet in playing out from the back, much better than Livakovic.
He made a few pretty good reaction saves too. Playing with ten men is always hard, and he kept his composure. Really calm on the ball and never kicked it out.
Ante, you know what the problem is and you have been on it for over a year. Dalic cannot coach . There is no strategy other than pray. Professional players don’t know what to do when there is minutes to the end of a game ? Come on !!! Let’s get a big man coach and start moving towards our place in soccer finals. Play day with Dalic is over. Time to move on
As Ante pointed out, major concerns on the back line, DCC looked ok, Sutalo is a wildcard, but Joško has problems with speedy attackers, I don’t know if Stanisic will provide some help once he’s fully healthy and in form but this needs to addressed
Below is the BBC article on Doak v Gvardiol
At the end, it was the re-emergence of an old goalscoring hero in John McGinn that lit up the Hampden night, but in every other sense this was the dawning of the age of Doak.
Young Ben, 19, fearless and flying down Scotland’s right, against Josko Gvardiol, the renowned £77m man from Manchester City. No contest.
The margin of Scotland’s victory was tight. The margin of Doak’s superiority was vast.
I’m not sure I agree with that. This seems more like creative writing, with the British press talking up some young British hotshot. How many shots on target did this Doak kid have? Gvardiol was right there cutting off his angle the whole game. Also, Scotland was playing with a one-man advantage, and Gvardiol still managed to participate offensively AND get back to defend. Scotland isn’t that great. Today was their lucky day, but if Poland beats them, they’ll be in league B while Croatia compete in the quarterfinals.
Unlucky to lose this match but that is what happens when you do not take your chances. You have to say that Petar Sucic was dumb going in with the studs raised and getting a second yellow. His first yellow was a bit soft, but he did come in with a challenge from behind.
In hindsight I think we would have been better starting with Matanovic up front instead of Kramaric. Baturina was disappointing but was playing out of his position.
Gvardiol had major problems with the Scottish winger Doak who was just too quick for him and left him for dead on a few occasions including with the goal.
Doak was able to get by Gvardiol and get the cross in which led to the goal.
Tough match coming up against Portugal, hopefully we can get something out of it? we may need it because Scotland can beat Poland away.
We need wingers to be cultivated.
Marco Pasalic needs to start on Monday.
Mario centimeters from scoring.
We need a response in Poljud.
Cultivated where? This crap we produce now is over.
We can get speed then full racism will take over and we’re stuck in mediocrity again 4 ever.
Not good
We have a very consistent record under Dalic against very weak competition of losing. That’s a fact. Why? That’s for him as the coach to figure out and change it. He has not and cannot and for that reason he should be released as coach. Nothing personal but if you can’t dummy a very weak squad like Scotland who looked absolutely uninterested for 45 minutes, that’s on Dalic as much as the players. If his job is to release the player list and not control any of the game tactically then that’s not a coach that’s a cheerleader. We might as well have Taylor Swift coach HNS
Modric is playing vs Portugal. The yellow apparently was for Kramaric. That is according to the post game pundits on Cro TV who said they just received the news. Can someone please double check this, I haven’t found anything yet confirming this online.
We were great before the red. We had chances even after the red. Sucic skied one, Kramaric trying the meg goal a few times, Pasalic, Perisic, Baturina 3 v 2 giving the ball away. We tried to walk it in the net.
Good news, Luka didn’t get the yellow, it was Kramaric.
Luka plays next game.
I would liked to see our NT play without #10. I would have paid attention. That would of been interesting because we have to get used to it.
I firmly believe that is the best thing without 10.
Its time to move on
So Poland cant finish above us on head to head: but Scotland obviously can. Someone said we need to get blown away – that’s not true, they are only -2 and we are 0 – so all it takes is they win and we lose on Tuesday and they’re AT LEAST equal with us. If we lose by more than one OR they win by more than one with the results going as above, we’re out; this is quite possible since we have to play Portugal. We could easily lose by 2 and they win by 1 and that’s it.
I dont know what happens if it’s equal goal diff, if we lose by 1 and they win by 1, we would both be on -1 GD, they scored more away goals than us in head to head so would they go thru that way? Anyone know??? We basically need a favour from Poland.
If equal on goal differnential, its goal scored first…
We have scored 2 more than them right now….
head to head tie breaker was Scotland is not away goals….its not a criteria.
Basically we can lose by 1-0, they win 1-0 and we are still in.
We lose 2-1, they win 1-0, we are in…
They need to score two more goals then we do vs Portugal assuming we lose and they win. As goals scored will the tie breaker assuming GD only changes 2 (plus 1 them, us minus one).
Any result of plus 3 GD change us and Scotland, and we are out (if we lose and they win).
Okay thanks, i understand now.
Portugal has nothing to play for on Monday, and Croatia gets back Livaković and Budimir although probably loses Jakić to injury… Could go either way. Scotland needing to win versus Poland will open up and may concede. Both matches will be exciting. Gvardiol is playing well again.
Gvardiol playing well ? he might be playing well when in possession however he is a defender, and he is not defending well at all.
Have a look at the reply and see where the cross came from for the Scottish goal.
Surprised to see all the “sack the coach” comments after this result. This match is prolly the LEAST reason he’s given us to make those demands. The game was 100% in control until the red. Fans were SCREAMING for him to play youth and he does and now they want him sacked cos one of those very youth stupidly got a red and cost us.
Someone below even posted DALIC should have taken Petar off after his yellow!
LOL are u serious? In the first half? Geez you guys are a pack of whiners, sounding like bloody poms.
(a) The team played great and were in total control till the red
(b) he played youth like we wanted. All the speculation “oh he will definitely play perisic” etc was wrong, he did as everyone wanted
(c) even in the second half the shape of the team and control for long periods was great, we prolly had the better chances despite losing, if Pasalic puts that one away… different convo
(d) We played more than a whole half, a man down and away from home and we only lost to a late goal: i actually think even this result is not that bad under those circumstances.
Some of you guys dont know what you want and just criticise Dalic either way. Not saying he’s above reproach: he isnt; but THIS match isnt the one to have a whinge after.
Yeah, realistically no coach will take a carded player off before the end of the first half
Ok figured it out…
Win/draw we are in no matter what.
Poland win/draw, we are in no matter what. But I see Lewandowski didn’t play today so am assuming he is injured and won’t play.
Lose by 1 to Portugal, and Scotland wins by 1, we are in.
Lose to Portugal by any score, and Scotland wins by 2 or more, we are out.
Once Perisic and Pjaca were introduced as wingers we started generating scoring opportunities. Baturina needs to play in the position he plays for Dinamo CAM with 2 wingers.
We can’t continue to play walking soccer. We need wingers that can stretch the defense.
Scotland has to be one of the worst teams in terms of talent there is and we could not break them down.
Im glad Bjelica rested Petko for the big Champions League game against Dortmond on Nov 27.
I just don’t get Zlatko. He was playing Perisic when he was without a club and out of form and now when he is playing regularly for PSV and playing well he decides not to start him. Instead he decides to pick a formation without a natural wingers.
Modric is playing vs Portugal on Monday.
Yellow was an error.
How does tie breaker go vs Scotland if they win last game and we lose?
Is it away goals?
I’m usually the first one to shit on Dalic and the refs, but this loss was very much on the players.
Dalic gave us what we’ve been asking for and played the youngsters (minus the wingers) and we actually looked good albeit still just missing our chances.
The Sucic red was a major lapse in judgement on his part and there was really no reason for him to attempt that kind of tackle, especially on a yellow.
Even in the second half we still had many chances to take the lead, the Pasilic miss in particular should’ve been a goal.
On to the Portugal game, I guess where we all likelihood will still be able to qualify unless we get absolutely blown out and tank our goal difference.
Everyone’s going to talk about the negatives, and rightly so. First time I’ll say with some confidence I think it’s time for a coaching change.
Just to throw some positivity in, Pjaca is a super dangerous player. He played a really good ball in within the short amount of time he got. Hopefully he gets more chances.
Yeah, Pjaca has been good every time he’s played for Croatia since returning to the squad. His minutes on the field have been some of the team’s best. He handles possession really well and creates chances out of nothing.
Dalic should have subbed P. Sucic after the first yellow, he saw how the ref is bad and sucic being young and inexperienced doesn’t know how to play on a yellow
We did this to ourselves. We should have converted the chances we had. The two yellow cards that P.Sucic recieved didnt help. Also maybe Modric got a yellow card because of how much he complained to the ref?
When Pjaca came on he seemed effective on the wing. Why bring on Vlasic?
Honest question for all of the Dalic lovers/alologists:
Let’s accept for this exercise that he is a good coach. When do you believe that him not getting results (even if the players are to blame) is enough to replace him?
It’s probably a moot point because he is being trusted to oversee the transition to the new generation of players. But if he doesn’t get the team into the Nations League quarterfinals, he can be replaced before world cup qualifying starts, especially with Jurić now a free agent.
Jurić just got sacked twice in a season by two different team… not sure how good that really sounds
If we advance, Mr Dalić did his job then like Deschamps for France. Since there are so few friendlies now, the nations league almost has to be the time to develop new players. This loss was a tough one, but as usual, Croatia almost never make things easy. And how did Modric get a red card with all his experience??
No cards in the second. None to Scotland.Hmmm? It was set up from the start. Ref did his job in the first half and killed off any chance we had. We shouldn’t be surprised should we??
I agree. He changed the game completely and did so early. Even the yellows to DCC and Modrić were undeserved. Modrić is the CAPTAIN! Of course he’ll argue with the ref, he’s the only one allowed to. The yellow given to DCC was for a routine foul that the Scottish player planned for and dove. But look at how many fans Scotland has! That’s more money for UEFA and the broadcasters than Croatia could ever bring in. Not to mention that whoever bet on Scotland won big! It’s too easy these days for a ref to determine a game’s outcome. With all that said, Croatia’s players all know that they are up against the refereeing every single match, and they should have put the game away when they had the chance. It’s hard to blame this one on Dalić. He had the team clicking until the red card, and his substitutions put Croatia on the front foot even with ten men. Overall the players played well, but with the poor finishing and attention lapses in front of goal, it won’t be enough to win tough games like this one.
1. The short fkn corners are a pathetic joke
2. GK needs to kick the fkn ball on a GK no need to pass short and have to hold our fkn breath ever time unreal they continue to do that shit with the amount of times they get intercepted or near right infront of goal.
3. Shoot the fkn ball…these fkn guys pass pass pass pass on the box waiting for a perfect shot shoot the fkn ball and good things will happen…
That is all for now.
Time for change . HNS puppet Dalic has to go. This has no semblance of any strategy or coaching. Let’s get a coach for once.
The dalic and corluka and Ladic brainstrust is not working
Of course, Scotland gets their first win in like 10 games against us… what a disgrace
Dalic has no clue what he is doing. The guy is a fraud.
Never play kotarski again ever
I’ve seen enough
Pjaca is coming on for Jakic
Is there a reason why pasalic couldn’t finish that chance
Sramota.
That short corner was probably the worst corner I’ve every seen… passed it right to the Scottish player
We’re real lucky they couldn’t take advantage of that
Those short corner kicks are driving me crazy…. What a waste…
That was a weak call for the red. Yes he was a little reckless and had his foot up but the Scot made a meal of it.
Luka’s yellow for dissent is a bigger farce especially after the red. Mix in the calls where we deserved a few corners…isuse. This ref is trash….not terribly shocking though.
Looks like dalic has been sent off too
I don’t believe the announcers even mentioned it.
Game was totally in control, we had something like two-thirds possession, created a few good chances, never really under pressure other than that one shot our keeper had to save, basically the whole game being played at their end and Petar goes and gives away a dumbarse red and likely costs us the game and quite possibly a NL QF spot. Sigh.
He looks scared too the prick
This Jewish referee has no buisness refereeing this game – no experience in Europe. Totally overreacting- all against Croatia
Ubi ga
How does modric get a yellow
He’s the fucking captain
Sick of these refs
HOLY SMOKES. That ref is giving out cards like candy. I think one of the trainers got one.
To us? I dont think a single Scot got one.
So as I’m thinking to myself that Petar Sucic needs to come off at the half due to really poor performance + being on a yellow card, he very lackadaisically gets a 2nd yellow. Very sad. How Modric gets a yellow for complaining is very unfair. He’s literally the only player who is allowed to complain, but still gets booked.
I found a good stream in the end but had to settle for SD. The HD ones just werent working properly. Anyway the one im using is here:
https://vipleague.im/football/scotland-vs-croatia-streaming-link-4
and it’s working perfectly.
Well since the NL aganist Spain this team has been absolutely mediocre.
Can we finish a game with 10 men for once?
On the red: i think Sucic’s second yellow was fair enough, he shouldnt have left his studs in. That being said, his first yellow was definitely no worse than their guy who clattered into Baturina near the end of the first half and i notice they didnt get a card. Big home ground advantage in how cards are being distributed. Who is this ref anyway, seems a right cunt.
Take Baturina out – can’t finish today
VIX mobile app in US is streaming for free (in spanish)
Modric will miss the next match against Portugal because of the complaining he did to the referee for the red card against P.Sucic
People always wonder why Dalic hesitates to play the youth
P.Sucic gets two yellows and a red card.
Smh that was such a unnecessary reckless tackle, especially knowing your already on a yellow
Overall we’ve looked decent so far, just as always lacking the finish touch.
Kramaric has been poor and imo Baturina hasn’t looked great either, giving the ball away a bit too easily.
Let the kids run around Modrić
He can put passes where he wants still
Let the ball and kids run. Luka can play till 45:)
I give up on a bloody stream
Tho it Does sound like we are absolutely controlling
But it does sound like we are pushing for goals rather then control looking to not get scored on type match
Time to move on from Kramaric
Becoming more and more ineffective especially with the new crop coming through
Kotarski makes me more nervous than Livakovic
Does not grab any of those several crosses in the box
All my usual streams lagging, anyone got a good one?
https://www.sportnews.to/headlines/serie-a-news/?ref=main
If it stops working just go to soccerstream100
Live on YT for those in Scotland (also Scottish National team channel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpE6PoAkULw
Game listed as being on Fox Soccer Plus, FYI.
As Anonymous previewed
Petar Sucic is the first name on team sheet
Not only that he gets coveted central 8/10 role (w Kova taking 6 per comments yday) and the other two get forced on the wings
Our weakness which Scotland will look to exploit is Liverpool Andy Robertson vs Jakic (given Jakic isn’t particularly strong defensively) bombing down the wing – Baturina will have to be very responsible defensively today – and hopefully Kova is actually skewing to that side as Jakic will need cover
Dalic fooled us all again. No wingers and no wing backs. 5 midfielders.
Lineup official
HRVATSKA (4-2-3-1): Kotarski – Gvardiol, Ćaleta-Car, Šutalo, Jakić – Modrić, Kovačić – L. Sučić, P. Sučić, Baturina – Kramarić.
My biggest concern is Sosa playing LWB. He is not in form and not playing regularly in Torino.
Perisic has been playing well for PSV. Expecting a good offensive game from him. But he like Sosa is not good defensively and can be exposed by the Scots.
I would have preferred Dalic play with wingers instead of wing backs like Dinamo did against SB in Champions League. Spikic and Pjaca were outstanding in that game with there attacking.
Good loss to Georgia today.
Ivica Olić is further exposed as a fraud.
He has his eye on the senior team, but being eliminated by Georgia should end that chance (and should force him to get a real coaching job like everybody else).
We need to drain the swamp of these uhljebs like Šimunić, Bišćan, Olić and Ćorluka.
I don’t mind them as assistant coaches (like Ćorluka is doing right now) but NONE of these guys should ever be considered for a senior coaching position until they complete 5-10 years of coaching experience at club level first (like Jurić, Tudor, Bjelica, etc.).
Agreed. The fact that a stacked Croatian U-21 team didn’t beat Georgia (and seems to have trouble winning games to begin with) reflects very poorly on the coach. Those players are all very good, so it’s on the coach.
I’m dreaming of Modrić becoming the coach as soon as he retires hahaha
U21 FT Georgia 1 v Croatia 0
Poor performance and lucky it was only 1 – 0 because once Cavlina got red carded Georgia had a couple of chances to make it 2 – 0.
Return leg on Tuesday in Rijeka.
U21 Red card for our goalkeeper Cavlina in the 60th minute.
Fails to control a long through ball and brings down an opposing player heading towards an empty goal.
Disaster for U21s right now. Down 1-0 from a weird own goal against a far inferior Georgian side and now Cavlina got a red card. Guess both senior and youth team goalkeepers love getting reds.
Let’s be honest, the one given to Livaković was not a card he earned. He cleared a ball and Robert Lewandowski ran straight into him. If anything, it should have been a yellow card for Lewandowski for a reckless and late challenge
I 100% agree, one of the stupidest reds I’ve ever seen. Livakovic “foul” on Alvarez in WC2022 semis was one of the worst calls I’ve seen too.
I predict this weird 4–6 lineup will be fun to watch for the sole reason that nearly every player on the field will be a skilled 1-on-1 player. This is definitely an unusual approach to the game, but I can see it working against a technically inferior, bunker/counterattack Scotland side, especially when you look at the names in this Croatia squad. These guys (except DCC and Jakić) are all footwork magicians. They could potentially play futsal in Scotland’s box for 90 minutes. Idemo!
Yeah if we win, it will strictly be due to individual technical talent on the field
U21 Euro play off HT
Georgia 1 v Croatia 0. Soldo with an own goal in the 4th minute.
They caught us cold with Badelj and Soldo failing to clear a ball in front of our goal with Soldo having the final touch for an own goal.
We had two good chances with Zvonarek hitting the bar from an acute angle and Frigan latching on to a through ball over the top but just shooting wide.
We have more of the possession but Georgia look dangerous on the counter attacks.
For the OG who kicked the ball into Soldo – Badelj ? From the replays still can’t tell – I thought it might have been Vuskovic – but not sure (can’t see the #s on the back of the jerseys)
Ivanovic I think had a half chance driving down the left-hand-side too
But not much going offensively so far other than random long-range shots (Soldo had one of those)
Yes Badelj.
It was Badelj, Vuskovic (#2) wasn’t involved in that play
#4, sorry
Can someone pls explain where this idea that Petar is a #6 (and Broz “replacement”) comes from ?
In 4 caps he already has scored more goals in the box than Broz did in 99 caps (Broz’s 7 goals all came from long-range shots outside the box)
For DZ – Misic is the #6 – Petar plays in front w/ Baturina
Petar is an 8 with box crashing ability (i.e. 8/10) for DZ – but at same time is good defensively that can be tasked with sitting back / playing as / in a (double-)pivot (i.e. 6/8)
But his technical skill, creativity, ability on the ball, vision, passing range, ability to drive forward w/ the ball at his feet – these all profile as “#8”
Look at these highlights and all the offensive ability/skill he has
Look again at the two goals vs. Poland (Petar Sucic created both of them – he finished one and Baturina the other)
***.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ExGXr1y0o
btw: U21 losing 1-0 at HT
It’s largely from the fact that he runs the most on the field (like Broz used to do) and he puts just as much focus on his defense as he does his offense.
Outside of Modrić and Kova, we don’t have another midfielder like that. So it’s natural that people will just assume that he can just slot into that role immediately while we still have the other two.
Guess Dalic has realized how good Petar is offensively (and partnership w Baturina needs to happen further up field) so Kova taking on Broz role – see comments yday
Mateo Kovačić on playing as a ‘number six’:
“Playing in this role is new to me. I have to be even better and more responsible, and there’s a lot I can improve defensively. It’s a position I like and one where I can still make significant progress.”
Predicted lineup as of today’s news:
Kramaric
Baturina – P. Sucic – L. Sucic
Modric – Kovacic
Gvardiol – DCC – Sutalo – Jakic
Kotarski
Looks like back to 4 defenders for Dalic in a 4-6-0 formation… lol
Seriously though, this is inspiring because all THREE young dynamic midfielders would be on the pitch (and a huge trust move from Dalic), but this formation just isn’t effective? Two CAMs at the wings and Petar (a 6/8) in the 10? Better off using a 6 with two 8s and then the two wingers at that point. Krama at the point, we know all too well what that looks like. Let’s hope we can tiki taka and walk the ball into Scotland’s net because that’s what will be need with this kind of lineup.
“Packaged deal”
😉
Put the cousins in and see what they can do. I don’t mind it.
It’s looking like the following lineup:
Kotarski – Jakić, Šutalo, Ćaleta-Car, Gvardiol – Kovačić, Modrić – P. Sučić, Baturina, L. Sučić – Kramarić
No striker and no wingers…but I’m glad we’ve removed Sosa and Perisic. I was afraid of their goals/assists last game creating a false idea that they are critical to our starting eleven (they are absolutely not).
We also at least we get the young guys out there, which is good.
I hate Krama up top alone. It would have been good to have Budimir up there this game (too bad he’s out). Dalic could have gone with Matanovic up top, just to have a big body in there with the Scots…also in case Baturina starts flying up the RW and sends in crosses like he was doing last game.
But Matanovic is not a regular starter at club level, so that’s likely the reason he’s not starting.
Krama is to physically weak and isn’t good alone up top. He might become invisible this game.
Hopefully Dalic isn’t slow to make substitutions if this isn’t working.
Any line-up without the Automatic Baseball Pitching Machine is a win
Pretty cool if he actually starts 2x Sucic and Baturina – big chance to show their ability against well drilled / defensively strong opposition
You mean against Portugal on Monday