HRVATSKA: Livaković – Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Barišić – Kovačić, Brozović, Modrić – Kramarić, Vlašić, Perišić
SLOVENIJA: Oblak – Stojanović, Mevlja, Blažič, Balkovec – Bijol, Kurtić – Iličić, Lovrić, Bohar – Vučkić
Post Game Recap
Rebić and Petković have been ruled out with injuries. Luka Modrić will tie Darijo Srna as the most capped Croatian footballer in history (134) with the start against Slovenia. Croatia are -135 favorites in Vegas to win this match – and as long as they show up at 80% – should win easily. Slovenia’s best player is their keeper – Atletico’s Jan Oblak – and will need to make a crucial save or two against Croatia to keep his side in the game.
Expect the Vatreni to control ball possession for 65% of the match with Slovenia playing the counter.
Here are match predictions from Ante & Ante:
FYI first time in history we’ve lost a opening qualifying game for world cup and second loss in all time qualifier’s. Slovenia beat us for once. Good news is, we have a decent record against Slovakia and Russia.
1st Vatreni game I’ve missed in about 21/22 years since a crucial euro 2000 qualifier I was unfortunately unable to watch and I guess I’m glad I did from the comments I’ve read and apparent performance put in. We have been absolutely shit since the WC and things need to change as we can’t ride the same players (aging ones, especially our back lines with more holes then Swiss cheese the past few years) as WC 02 showed us and other international teams who tried playing there same players next WC – France 02 also – Italy 2010, Spain 2014, Germany 2018, Argentina 2018 (although they were a mess more then the others mentioned) but a pattern arises with teams who make deep runs (final or even winning WC) and try to ride the same players – 4 years is too long to keep same players especially our aging team -covid fucked us for a good euro run as that year off didn’t do us any favours. It’s gonna be along time before we make a deep run again as we need to rebuild like Italy had to do years ago and other nations have. The chops look strong with depth also, could be there golden generation now nevermind the figo, maniche, deco, rui costa time
I’m confused, why was Perisic given the striker position and not Kramaric? I thought Kramaric was a striker or does he play another role on his team?
I wouldn’t mind seeing Caleta-Car and Uremovic on Saturday. Uremovic isn’t the best RB, but he was decent defensively. And who knows maybe he’ll pair up well with DCC in his natural position. If he does well, maybe it temporarily solves our Vida and Lovren problem.
Anyone that thinks Dalic is a good coach over the last three years should be shot! He has been outclassed, out coaches and out performed by every single coach. His line up selections and substitutions are horrendous. Vlasic and Kramaric don’t work = old news, Modric and Kovacic should never play together = see every game since 2015, Kramaric as a lone striker = every single game, Livakovic is not a starting goalie = see all Dinamo and National Team blunders way too many. Best LW in the world playing LB? Kramaric playing starting lone striker against a bunker team? No RW? 3 defensive mid Kovacic, Modric and Brozo together? This is a complete cluster fuck! Hand in your papers or it’s time for the red slip.
@ZDS Lifestyle
Sosa numbers wise is the most in form leftback in the world. There’s a chart with assists on the x-axis and key passes on the y-axis… Sosa is miles into that top right corner ahead of any other fullback. The game you watched he was probably just off his game that one time. And what do you mean by develop a little… we are talking bradaric who’s like 20 here! Sosa is 23, THATS old enough to start for a NT. I hate this notion most croats have that you need to be a veteran to start. Look at Germany, Spain, France, etc. They’re starting some 18 year olds! And they don’t even need to. I have the inkling feeling that Gvardiol won’t get a cap till he’s like 20 or some shit with Dalic behind the wheel. He values locker room atmosphere and veteran playtime wayyy too much to the point where it gets in the way of actual players who are more skilled.
Credit to Kek and Slovenija.
They played their A game.
Oblak creates a radius of confidence with his back line.
Ilicic is may be confused about where he is from, but his game clearly Croatian and world class.
Modrić is the MAN, but we do not beat anyone without Rebić.
Perišić came alive at LB.
Kramaric is a super sub.
Budimir at least runs and has some Mandžukić qualities.
Lovren and Vida are mediocre.
We need these next two matches to get some new guys a run out.
Oblak makes me dream of us finally having a world class keeper.
Kovačić made a slalom run and then instead of shooting drops off to no one in the box.
We need both width on the flanks and a reference point at forward.
Dalic made adjustments but was outfoxed by Kek before the opening whistle.
Slovenia will be tough on Russia and Slovakia too.
Can’t believe we keep wasting games with Luka the legend pulling the strings.
We are asking too much of him.
I would play him as a #10 and let others track back.
I watched the highlights and Slovenia’s goal was from poor defending and Livakovic wasn’t positioned right. This was bound to happen. I can’t even recall last time Croatia beat a quality team after the finals in Russia. Livakovic is all by himself and if that was our best back four then we’re screwed. Nobody can blame Dalic. He’s brought the team to the past two major tournaments. Start giving the subs like Sosa, Bradaric, Budimir, Orsic and Petkovic minutes. Don’t panic, still nine games left. We outplayed Slovenia too. Next two are easy wins on home turf. I’m nervous on how they’ll preform against Russia & Slovakia.
Dont forget this is a godsend .we start out slow like a 3 to sloth..then all hell breaks loose and our vatreni smoke the hapless nation’s who even thought they had a chance..we will prevail just like we did against the evil commy gov belgrade dirt chetniks..we will get through!!!!
So here is a legit yet hilarious question…does Melnjak start at LB for us next game?
Along with my previous comment, we also had a lot of poor performances today. Brozo who typically is a key player for us was pretty bad today. Oddly, Kova wasn’t horrible and although invisible for a lot of the game did make a few nice plays that gives me hope he won’t fade into nothing.
We missed Rebic and his aggression – really could have used it today.
Lastly, I can’t believe Dalic decided to play with this formation.
How do you decide to not play ANY true wingers on the wing?
It plugged the middle of the pitch and totally played into Slovenia’s hands.
He’s made a lot of mistakes over the last few years with his experiments but this was his worst in a meaningful game.
Orsic and Perisic should have started on the wings. I didn’t mind Orsic, he played with a little bite.
I know most here aren’t Budimir lovers, but I thought that he did ok. I think that we would have been better off if he started up top and Perisic started at LB from the beginning. He at least showed some courage and took a run at Oblak a couple of times.
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Vrsaljko played his heart out, but his lack of playing time showed. His delivery was so consistently awful that he was actually always left uncovered.
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Maybe the late inclusion of Brozovic and Perisic worked against us. The team was probably preparing to play without them, only to have to switch gears at the last minute.
You need to practice against and have a plan for teams that bunker.
Congrats to Slovenia, but, if everyone played like that, soccer would have lower viewership than badminton.
Going to happen again in the next two games – need a plan. Happy
@Anonymous
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Offer the jib to Kek 😉
Who care about how bad his W-L record is. He brought us to the World Cup Finals. Let’s see how the teem does during Euro. He has time to tweek the line-up until then.
I watch Sosa play for the first time couple of weeks ago. looked ok but definitely not senior team material yet. Needs time to develop.
I really think that first goal rocked us. Until that happened we were dominating. Brozovic needs to change his attitude. It gets pretty old and pathetic when he keeps flopping his arms as he is disgusted with everything. We don’t need mental midget syndrome anymore. Fuck off and play the game!
For all those who say fire Dalic, who do we bring on? Nobody is proven at the moment. I guess you can take a chance with Biscan, cant be any worse than our previous choices. The only decent coach with experience that I see willing to leave their current post is Ivan Leko.
I think if we had Sosa or Bradarić at LB, it would’ve been better.
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We really didn’t go wide enough, and should’ve gone to Oršić or Brekalo earlier. Rebić would have been good to for this game too.
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Needed to have MORE passing stability at the back with Ćaleta-Car. I saw Brozović, Modrić and Kovačić too deep because of this.
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Petković eats teams like this up. He will probably be as good for us as he was last cycle against similar quality opponents. He would’ve made a difference.
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Dalić shouldn’t have been so cocky to think he could just recycle his lineup from the previous qualifying cycle (minus a couple of key players) regardless of position. He had no options after it wasn’t working,and didn’t have some of the more talented u21 players to sub in. Experimenting with Perišić at LB (because you gave away two LBs to the U21 squad) is a big gaffe. An important qualifying match is not the place to experiment. If he intended to use Perišić this way, then he should’ve tried it out in a friendly or UNL first.
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I don’t think he lost the team but him trying not to lose the team (by playing the ones with the most seniority all at the same time) may actually be what makes him lose the team.
Look what a new coach did for Chelsea?
Time for a change. He is now our worst
Record coach ever:
My view this a new low for our national team
Dalic needs to go along with our backline
We lost to Slovenia for fucks sake
Relax everyone, first game of qualifying…..not the end of the world. Everyone panicking like we lost to Malta or Cyprus. Thant being said I can’t stand watching Lovren. He is a disaster waiting to happen.
Dalic out!
We lack physical presence in the box. Mandzukic did this and Rebic is our only player who will eagerly eat dirt to fight for a goal in the box.
Kramaric is Kramaric. Scores for and anaverage Hoffenheim but who else can step up?. I am concerned about our strike force.
Time to go to the youth completely- all kids to go in- get a good international coach -non Croatian -been saying it for years.
Dalic actually thinks he had something to do with WC 2018-
His dream is over- that effort today is embarrasing.
Days of Dalic are done. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights and had no clue what to do. Using Perisic as a lone striker up front completely killed us.
Dalic should be fired. Period.
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It’s like he’s managing a fantasy football team. Just start who you think are you 11 best players, damn their positions and who cares about formation. If starting Perisic as a lone striker doesn’t convince anyone of his ineptitude, I don’t know what will. It turned into a 4-6-0 as Perisic kept drifting back and to the left, essentially clogging up the midfield and leaving us without a target man.
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Livakovic should have done better on the goal. I don’t care that it was deflected. His reaction was very lackadaisical.
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Why was Luka playing so deep?
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If you asked me, I’d say that Luka is finished with Dalic. At the halftime whistle, he smashed the ball out of bounds in frustration. The ref looked over and was considering pulling out a yellow card until he realized that it was Modrić and let it go.
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I watched the game on Nova and Luka didn’t do a post game interview. After a loss like that, you’d expect the captain to stand in front of the media. If Dalic doesn’t have Luka’s support, he’s toast.
I didn’t watch your game, but how come Modric didn’t score or get an assist? Did he just play his normal game of knocking the ball about and hope others get assists and score the goals or did Slovenia just do a good job of keeping him in check?
It’s easy to blame the lesser lights but what did the big little dog do?
You guys only conceded one goal, but scored none with Modric in the team. Is this where you guys start calling most of your team scrubs?
It seems Ante Rebic was the difference maker at the world cup and Modric can’t do anything without Rebic in the team.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMkKc_nn8ms/?igshid=sb59df8c3huf
Well we ca all say we have more depth now than we ever have but this is embarrassing. I really hope there’s some shake up that comes out of this before it’s too late.
I think some of you need to prepare for a really bad performance come Euros. Think we are headed for rock bottom.
…I watched the game while at work so it was tough to concentrate. Now that we saw Barišić got the start and we’ve bashed Melnjak all week, how did Barišić do? According to the press, he was pretty bad.
@Armada87
We’re not alpine Serbs, we’re a Catholic people just like the Croats, Serbs are krivoslavci. Unless you want to call us Catholic Serbs which is what Serbs call the Croats?
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It would be good for you to just shut the fuck up and talk sport and just be happy that some of these good Croats here allow you to be their jocksniffer lol!
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It’s always dumb Yugos like you that call us “alpine Serbs” because Catholic Croats wouldn’t call us that.
So, I’m gonna ask the question because we’ve discussed this many times and I know my opinion on this is not popular Babur first I’ll get this out of the way. Lovren and/Or Vida isn’t working…let’s agree snd let’s get to the bigger question.
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Remember me saying last week that I’m still not sold on Vlašić? I feel he disappears for long periods and the only thing that saves him (in my opinion) is that he can score. Where was he today when we need someone to change the game. We’ve also discussed Krama…is he really a solution when we play a team that’s tough defensively? Does he do much to create chances and setup chances?
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Why are we blaming Lovren and Vida for not creating goal scoring chances when it’s clearly not their sole responsibility to be part of the attack?! Sure, we can blame them for our defensive performance and their lack of good positioning and gaffes but we had a fair amount of possession and we are talking about Ćaleta-Car sending in long passes? This is directing attention to the wrong players.
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We needed to attack with speed and in numbers, that’s how you make a team struggle to keep their defensive shape and keep them moving and always repositioning.
Build up was way too slow and predictable. No killer instinct. Missed a guy like Petkovic as cross after cross came in but nobody in the box to meet them. Kramaric hangs out at the top of the 16 with his kurac in hand. Was it just me, or does Vlasic look like he bulked up, making him slower? Anyway, credit to Slovenia. They didnt make a single mistake all game whereas the ball made it into our box 3 times, and every time our D looked like chickens without heads. Not quite yet time to panic, but like Dalic said after the game, now theres no room for error. Hopefully it was the one shitty game we’re known for in qualifying and its out of the way.
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kova, brozo, modric, vlasic, kramaric, are all central players, on top of that u start perisic uptop as striker to play centrally. vlasic and krama play attacking mid, why would u start them as wingers when theyre both slow af. everything just got congested in the middle, we have no width. then we would finally switch it to vrsaljko who got out wide, only for him to try to cross it to 5’7 midgets like krama, modric, vlasic. how tf r they supposed to win a header over a 6’4 slovene defender??
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play a winger as a winger, and a CAM as CAM, etc. i hate this crap where all of our players are out of position. petkovic is injured, so dalic takes perisic out of winger and puts him in striker, but now we have no winger, so we have to put vlasic on wing to replace perisic, but then now we have no CAM, so we have to put Modric out of his CM position to play CAM, etc. do u guys see how autistic this is?? is dalic legit retarded? reminds me of when i think it was cacic who was playing brozo and kova as a winger.
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there are tough decisions dalic needs to make that may upset players; modric, brozo, and kova, only 2 of these 3 can play at the same time. Vlasic and krama, only 1 of these 2 can play at the same time. caleta over vida or lovren.
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@Eric
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LOL.
Kvartuč fucked us with the Hrvaška headline.
Congratulations to Slovenia.
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Next for you guys, Cyprus, now my French brother @Markus thinks the Cyprus game is meaningless and that you should rest Vrsaljko so he doesn’t get injured and possibly miss the Euros.
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I just ran an equation Dalic is statistically our worst record coach ever let that sink in
What time is everyone meeting at the airport in Zagreb to welcome the team home?
@anon
I don’t doubt that. They’ve become complacent over the last 3 years. Haven’t strung together a good 90 minute performance since the World Cup if you ask me.
Even the Serbs scored three goals today. The Czech Republic scored 6! Hate to see how many they get against us in a few months.
This game was doomed because of the “Hrvaška ” headline in the previous thread.
Steph from TO how you doin?
Weren’t the players begging Dalic to stay after the World Cup
Dalic out!
I would do it now. Give the new man a couple of months to get ready for Euro’s. Interim manager can handle Cyprus on Saturday. We have the talent we just need some life injected into us. Never a better time than now.
Ya know what’s at the back of these players minds??? The thought that why the heck is there a Vida-Lovren partnership, when you have a better player on the bench.
The knowledge of that demoralizes the players, and they lose faith in the coach. Hence, you have a performance like today.
@Stef
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Well, Dalić always had the excuse that the UNL was just experimenting for the real games.
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But it looks like today’s lineup was just a mild variation of the lineup used in our qualifying cycle last time. I guess all those embarrassing losses from UNL were for nothing.
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He has no more excuse to lose games like this.
Dalić was trying to win, and he was playing it really safe… And still lost.
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He’s in trouble and he knows it.
I wonder if he regrets giving away all those U21 players now.
Stuck with guys like Kovačić, Pašalić, Barišić… Ništa.
I would love to see DCC become a star for us. I have my doubts but I hope he proves me wrong.
What was wrong with Brozovic? Worst performance I’ve ever seen from him. He looked sloppy, disinterested, and angry.
Nobody trying to shoot from distance – no quick one-two’s inside the box against a team that parks the bus. Only way to beat it.
First question at every news conference from now on should vibe – “What attacking style have you practiced against teams that bunker?
It’s going to happen again in the next two matches. Kek isn’t something special. He’s only doing what other lesser talented countries have done to us in years.
Didn’t have time to practice against bunker defenses in the Nations League matchups – and it showed greatly today.
@Mixed Grill
I forgot Krama was even playing until I saw his name announced when he was subbed out.
@Mr. Black
I’ve watched him for Marseille and I’ve talked to Marseille fans about him. They love him and he is an EXCELLENT defender. He’s miles ahead of Lovren and Vida and you’d think that’d be a given by now. We are horrendous at integrating youth in our lineups. Also about the poor performance or two he’s had for us, I think it’s either nerves because he was actually becoming somewhat of a starter or just the fact that playing with our abysmal backline will make anyone look bad.
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On another note, Modric was fabulous today. He ran the game for us and without him this would’ve been 3-0 Slovenia. When he retires, we’re in a hell of a mess. Hopefully someone like Sucic or Saranic can fill his shoes.
That game made me miss Rakitic. He was at least a threat to score. Kovacic is not. He looked useless.
I also find Vlasic slow, a post up player that doesn’t flow or have the speed that is needed. I wonder if he will do well outside of Russia. I hardly noticed Kramaric.
Honestly I started typing and stopped.
I just can’t imagine losing for 3 years and still having my job.
I’m seriously speechless.
Mr Black
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Ćaleta-Car isn’t perfect, but he’s very comfortable with the ball at his feet. He’s also a great long ball passer.
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This meshes much better for our offence, and we don’t have to rely on Brozović or Kovačić coming all the way back just to make a pass.
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I agree that he’s also a bit slow and can make a mistake from time to time, but no more than Vida (and definitely not more than Lovren).
Vida and Lovren were awful with that shit back and forth passing. The amount of times we were passing between LB, CB, CB, RB then CDM… oh! then right back to the CB who goes left then an unnecessary cross to the right side… fuckk! How is a player who was offered 30 mil from Liverpool, who can defend, send a long ball, control the actual ball and who is 6’4 not start for us!!!
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Also how long are we going to wait to give Dalic the boot? Until we lose to England, Czech AND Scotland at the Euros?
The only good thing that could come from this loss is some serious changes. Starting from the realization that our best pairing is DCC and either Pongracic or Gvardiol (I know we can’t do that for the next two games but this is actually our best pairing).
@Iggy
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I think there will be a shakeup, but it is disappointing that Dalić considers Ćaleta-Car as a backup in the first place.
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I think everyone here was surprised to see him out of the lineup today. I thought him being a starter was obvious.
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If Dalić starts Ćaleta-Car moving forward, then yes, that’s something good that came out of this loss… But it was something unnecessary and obvious from the beginning.
We didn’t need to put ourselves into a hole for this obvious lesson learned.
Is Caleta-Car actually better than Vida and Lovren?
I only saw him play a couple of times. But I remember in our home game against Slovakia, he was awful. He’s technically okay, has a good long ball but… he’s also slow and often out of position.
We played too slow in our build up and our movement off the ball was too slow. For this reason, we never penetrated their defense and got a good chance on goal. The one time that we did move the ball and had better movement. Vlasic got through in the first half and was unlucky to hit the post after the ball went through Oblak’s legs. That could have changed the game had that gone in. Overall, far too little was created offensively.
@CiganJeCigan
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Come on man. We played a textbook 4-6-0 formation.
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Then we subbed out Barišić, and played a 3-7-0
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Once Budimir came in, then we strategically moved to a 3-6-1
UNL games may have meant nothing, but they really were an OMEN for things to come.
Maminjo do you think there’s ANY chance the good that will come from this loss is a shakeup to the lineup like u have been advocating? I think you said you had hoped we win but with a fuckup from one of Vida/Lovren so as to warrant their exclusion in future games, well, we obviously didnt win but it might give more impetus to change-up?
If DCC is better than Vida or Lovren. Why didn’t DCC start, it just boggles my mind that you keep a Ligue 1 defender (playing for Marseille) on the bench in favor of some guys playing B level leagues.
Honestly, if we started Gvardiol and Ćaleta-Car this game… We would’ve won.
(even with Gvardiol injured, lol)
I think we need to wake up. Yes we can say UNL games mean nothing and we turn it on when it counts but performances like this we won’t get those chances. Dalic was lost, there was no fire by our guys. Modric was the only one fighting. The World Cup honeymoon is over! Time for a new coach before it’s too late. If we can’t beat Slovenia, we’re in trouble for the Euros. We need to finally win something to be considered world class.
We had chances to counter too. This wasn’t some bunker game from Slovenia.
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Every time we won back the ball, we made sure that every Slovenian got back on defense before we moved forward. How nice of us.
why did dalic not start caleta-car?? you cant play vlasic and kramaric together. kova doesnt do anything, brozo playing with no heart. the middle was all bunched up and crowded just like slovenia wanted. wut the hell was the formation supposed to be?? who was playing in what position?? wtf is dalic doing!!?
We are too slow going out of the back with Lovren and Vida.
They don’t have the ability to make nice crisp passes forward to get the game moving.
Dalic has done nothing since the ’18 WC. We’ve been struggling since.
@ Maminjo…100%. The hesitation as you said kills any attack and let’s the D setup. Vrsaljko disappointed me but he also isn’t match fit. He will get better with more playing time. Barisic was pretty bad….I’m glad we have decent LB options.
The Lovren Vida partnership surprised me. How do you leave your best CD on the bench?!?!? Isuse Boze.
I look forward to the days of Caleta Car, Pongracic & Gvardiol.
Deserved win by Slovenia.
The players worked their asses off and Kek came with a plan which actually worked.
We had a lot of possession but we barely created a chance.
I noticed that almost everybody on this site doesn’t want Kovacic in our starting 11 but he was easily Croatia’s second best player today (after Modric of course).
Brozovic and Vlasic with probably their worst games for Croatia ever.
Nobody (besides Perisic) had the balls to make a decisive action or give a decisive pass.
I don’t want to sound harsh but at this point, but I wouldn’t be angry if Brekalo, Orsic and Budimir stay at home for Euro 21.
Brutal. BS small passes and no intent to fire bodies into the box. How do we play this game with 1 striker? I don’t care if we have a bunch of center mids. Play 2 bloody strikers. Play a 3–5-2 if you must. Go for goal. Brutal.
Text book Matjaz Kek game. Saw it a billion times at Rijeka. That first goal played right into what he wanted to do. I KNEW if they were to get the first goal, we’d have problems. I thought we could at least come back and get 1 and back it a tie. This is just embarassing. Between Nations League and now this start, something has to give here….
@Mali Ante
Yup. Tika Taka with too many hesitant players in the lineup (and two CBs that are incapable of playing tika taka, so it messes up the flow).
QUESTION…
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Does Dalic get fired if we draw (or lose) our game to Cyprus on Saturday?
Embarrassing. No creativity whatsoever. Tika taka bs without and attack. Qualifying might be tough this time around.
Worst part of this game is not the loss.
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It’s the fact that Dalic seems to be all-in on the Vida/Lovren CB partnership.
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Their passing hurt us this game. They occasionally gaffe and make mistakes on both offense and defense…but that passing kills me. Completely destroys our flow.
I guess some of you fellas can see why we were saying in the other thread a draw wouldnt be bad lol… a draw away from home against a decent team is never too bad.. obviously would’ve taken that for sure… if Russia beat us over there we could really be in trouble now
Kek played this match well.
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Fuck. I knew that when we drew Slovenia, that we were probably going to get screwed out of some points just because of this.
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Didn’t think it would be a full three points.
That was awful!
Of course Vida fouls a guy in extra time, and now the Slovenci are going to milk this and kill a couple of minutes.
Russia beating Malta 2-1 just to make it even worse.
Only good thing is Slovakia being held by Cyprus but i think Russia is the real threat anyway
We really coulda used some of those nice Caleta-Car longballs today.
The last World Cup feels like fucking eons ago
It is pretty bad that Dalic has made so many subs, and none of them were Lovren or Vida.
Yeah Dalic record since the WC has been
Poor.
Pasalic in?
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Ugh. Pointless sub.
Dalic is an awesome coach….Keeps putting out Lovren/Vida in the middle of the back line. That ship has sailed a long time ago. Kovacic has no business starting for us, provides nothing. Kramaric has been disinterested and unmotivated for a while now.
How much of a leash is this guy going to get after a WC that was 3 years ago. He’s been a nobody his coaching career. Yet some clowns on here think he’s better then Niko Kovac? Hilarious.
we are in DEEP SHIT.. Not as confident as Maminjo we will definitely qualify, i can see Russia finishing above us and apparently from 2nd it is really difficult to get in this time? Was really hoping for a draw from this game!
Honestly, even though Brekalo and Orsic are all over the place…they have the right mindset.
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They’re attacking and going for goal.
Another crap performance. Croatia has been crap
Since World Cup.
I think we need to take Vida out. He was late trying to get into a play and Ilicic beat him to the ball, that led to a run.
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Vida came back and fouled him from behind. Easy yellow card.
Lucky he wasn’t already booked.
@Slavonac
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We’re giving them too much time to get set up defensively.
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When they counter, they do it well. They’ve almost scored a couple more goals on us because of it.
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We’re just too slow to get going. Our buildup is too long.
We aren’t talking about the fact that we can’t break this cement wall from Slovenia. We own the majority of the play but so far we really can’t penetrate.
Kovacic is neither good nor bad this game. He had a run, but noone to pass to.
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He also had to drop back a few times to ‘help’ Vida and Lovren with the back passes.
Vida is not confident when he receives the ball, and tries to get rid of it as soon as any pressure comes from the opponents….and Lovren’s passes are waaay too hard.
He literally toe-punts these balls to his midfielders lol..
Kovacic sucks ass
Orsic in at halftime, see, Dalic isn’t stupid..
Another problem is we don’t have a target man up top.
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Kramaric really is just another skilled midfielder.
Re Vida miss, eh can’t expect a defender to bury every chance they get…
The way the game sounds like it’s going I want to see at least one halftime sub.
Re some of the internal Croatian division, all the problems in Cro are first historical, then metastasize to the now… A lot of people are ignorant about historical fact and a lot of that ignorance is systemic.
Damn, Perisic almost with an own goal lol.
Not sure I like him at LB ha ha
The Vida Lovren pairing has to go. Other solid CBs would have buried those crosses. Barisic was listless like usual. Interesting move to bring on Orsic and move Perisic to LWB.
It’s a nice option for us when we need a goal.
a faster tempo will help us expose Slovenia. I think if we can create some urgency, we will get our chances….LET THE BALL MOVE FAST!
Perisic at LB now I think.
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Barisic subbed out for Orsic.
I feel like Perisic does need a particular type of service…early and quick balls to set him away with space. If he doesn’t get that, he gets cranky. I remember him getting pissed at Strinic quite often because of those slow passes.
I’m worried that Dalic is turning into Bilic.
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Has some great initial success…then tries to play it real safe.
@Lovro
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Yea, Lovren had two golden chances (and Vida one great one too) off of those free kicks.
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They just don’t have that skill level to score those consistently.
They get into good position, but so frustrating to see such a miss.
Our national team needs a complete revamp. Emotions aside right now. It’s not 2018 anymore, some guys are washed and need replacing.
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Dalic, out. Lovren, out. Vida, out.
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I love these guys with all my heart for what they gave us, but they gotta know when to go.
We’re not playing poorly.
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Kek is obviously a good coach and Slovenia is very organized.
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Lovren and Vida just take far too long to move the ball forward when they have it, and they largely just boot it forward (where it becomes a 50/50 ball).
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Kovacic is also kinda doing his sideways pass thing too. No real mistakes from him, but not really seeing any creativity from him.
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Everyone else seems to be playing well. But the less talented Slovenci are holding their own, and have created quite a few chances for themselves too.
dalic needs to take out perisic(invisible), kramaric or vlasic(weak af losing every header ball), and put in orsic and budimir. we have no chemistry up top and no shape whatsoever, everyone is just kinda jogging around. budimir is average but i really believe if we have a big guy up top who endlessly runs and wins headers we will do so much better. also, orsic just scored hattrick against fucking tottenham, why is he not playing! smh.
Modrić is on a different level.
It is almost embarrassing that he has to play with so many sub standard players.
Lovren and Vida had 3 headers on a plate between them.
Kramaric and Perišić play like they never met.
We need a RW.
Oršić for Kramaric please.
Kek is King.
Dalic has to create a plan B to start second half.
Croatians always have a way of dividing one another. This stems from way back and is influenced by Serbian oppression and Tito yugo days:
A few points:
1. Since this is a diaspora site, Holiga should never have been given a forum to further spread Yugo propaganda. I think I’d love to run into him in the street.
2. Since we are mostly diaspora, we should always support all Croatian teams, love one more than the other but to hate is ridiculous, especially since we live outside Cro anyway.
3. I was brought up as a Croatian first, rather than a Hercegovac. Refer divide comment above.
4. I was brought up to be called Ante, not Anthony or Tony. Just saying.
5. I was brought up to understand why Tito was a govno. Similarly, that Partizani were smeće . Maybe this is easy when your family history is pure Croatian and proudly fought for the NDH, not allies.
I hope that above makes sense and the point I’m trying to make about Croatian divide.
At same time i prefer to not attack individuals, except Holiga 😆
We are relying on Vida and Lovren to score off set pieces. It’s the only offense we’ve learned against teams that bunker.
After one half, I’ve seen enough – bring in the youth.
It seems Modric is coming more to the right but he is not really playing right midfield while Vrsaljko is playing the entire right side. That is a lot to expect from a guy who has not played a lot since coming back from injury. Also with Modric being more to the right-central area, he is not opening the play up with his passing from the center as he usually does.
@Slavonac
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It was Vida, and he was overly aggressive in challenging the initial player, and lost his man as a result (who anticipated Vida coming at him and made a nice move to blow by him).
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Vida’s second challenge toward the player (in the box) was actually good and prevented him from shooting, but it still lead to a pass to the scorer (while everyone was still reeling and trying to recover).
Weird having important qualifyiers 2 1/2 months before a major tourney.
@Hrmic
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I think Dalic is trying to put out his most trusted and most experienced lineup, regardless of position.
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It’s the reason why Kovacic is out there and Vlasic at the same time.
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We’ll probably sub in Orsic or Brekalo to give more right side support to Vrsaljko (and give Modric a break from having to do absolutely EVERYTHING this game, ha ha).
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Kovacic will probably get subbed off sometime in the second half. He’s looking like his invisible self, and we’re not really dominating possession (which is what he usually brings).
I’d take him out and put in a winger.
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I’d also take out one of Lovren or Vida and put in Caleta-Car (obviously). It will put some more steadiness in the back, and we won’t have to see any more inaccurate long balls that go out of bounds from Lovren and Livakovic.
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Everyone else seems to be doing okay. We should have scored on a few of those chances, but hopefully Dalic makes this adjustment for the second half.
I’m at work and can’t find the replay to the goal. I did see we were heading up the field and then turned the ball over…how did that happen?
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Maminjo, was that really Lovren’s fault? Looked like he went to challenge and block the shot?
HT: 1-0 Slovenia
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So, it’s safe to say that if Caleta started, we would be up 2-0 rather than down a goal.
😉
Honestly…How many times have we seen Vida get into a good scoring position off of corners, and mess it up by heading it with the side of his face, lol.
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That should have been a goal.
@Hrmic
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It’s just Modric giving Vrsaljko support on the right side.
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Not sure who is officially RW, but Vlasic and Krama are moreso in the central area of the field.
Even Ilicic had a very good shot right now (that he missed) and it came from an attempted “top of the head” clearance from Lovren.
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Just too many little things that mess up our flow.
My question is, who is playing right midfield/ right wing? There seems to be no one on the right side of the field most of the time with the exception of Vrsaljko, who has no one to give the ball to. Also, why are wingers Brekalo and Orsic on the bench then if there is no right wingers on the field?
Perisic and Karma have zero chemistry together
Our defence has become a joke and Dalic is not doing anything about it
Any good streams?
I don’t care about this game. I’m confident we will qualify.
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I’m looking ahead toward the Euros, and watching how shaky our CB pairing is and low LONG it takes them to set up and make a forward pass is going to hurt us against the really good teams.
Lovren misses open net, off Modric free kick lol
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Let the show continue boys.
1-0 To Slovenija.
Alotta you guys panics like bitches lol seriously. Is this new that we’re down 1-0.?????? We couldn’t beat Azerbaijan with our Wold Cup team
Chill out.
Iggy is a loser defeatist two faced faggot moron who deserves to have the living shit kicked out of his ass. And I’m not joking. Imagine fighting in a war next to this guy, as soon as the first shot gets fired, he’s running with his hands up defecting to the other side. If anyone should be banned from this site it’s him.
Relax yo, 65 mins to go…
WOW.
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Slovenia almost goes up 2-0, but the shot was weak.
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Guess how it happened….
A guy decides to stand in between Lovren and Vida and receives the corner no problem lol.
It’s a competitive away match – we always suck
ESPN app
Wow, Lovren heads a cross downward and toward the middle of our box, right next to a Slovenac.
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Lol, honestly, the Vida & Lovren gaffe show from the UNL continues.
Iggy ALWAYS has a bad feeling about every game
here we go, the shitshow has begun.. had a bad feeling abuot this game : (
Vida’s fault.
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1-0 Slovenia
F!@# me we should be up already
People are literally complaining about Vida-Lovren?????
They played phenomenal in the World Cup. Biggest stage on earth. Say what you want about the final. Lovren played hard. I feel like Vidas been on the bench for 10 years and on the field for another 10 lol gives effort. Can’t ask anything else.
Imagine Ćorluka starting every World Cup gam???. Give these guys a break
Sandi Lovrić almost took out Lovren for us, lol.
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Both his parents are Croats too. I think he reads this website.
I tried posting link for ppl but it got censored cos of the link obv sorry but redditsoccerstreams site as usual has good links
@Vatreni
Holiga has a pretty obvious and negative agenda against Croatia period. He’s a Yugonostalgic, who will support anything that casts Croatia in a negative light and Yugoslavia in a positive light.
Lots of journalists have this agenda (Balkan Insight is another portal that does this).
They’ll gloss over any bad thing from Yugo, but go absolutely ballistic on anything that current Croatia does.
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I’d avoid posting any of his crap (even if you agree with some of it). You’re just a pawn in his game of creating an artificial divide between ‘north’ and ‘south’.
…or, Dalic is offering Vida and/or Lovren rope to hang themselves?
@Razbijač
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No. It’s because Dalic is a pussy and relies on being liked by his veteran players and keeping a calm locker room.
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I think it’s pretty clear that Duje is the best defender. He’s also already in his mid-20s, so I’m not sure what the wait is for.
Essentially, we get to move on from the Lovren/Vida pairing, when Lovren and Vida say so.
Heh Turkey beat Holland 4-2
Round of 16 bounce
There we have it boys and girls, our back four lineup for the Euros
Huge miss that we aren’t starting DCC…
Can someone please explain to me why Vida and Lovren are both starting???
Is DCC injured? If not, then when the hell will we begin making the transition in central defense???
The vida-lovren pairing will probably stay the same till it either explodes us or one of them gets injured
Let’s hope tho somehow they can carry us well in euro
Maybe they will gaffe enough early on and then dalic will make a change
But let’s hope this doesn’t become pletikosa World Cup 2014
Armada and Zoric, I remember watching a demonstration in Split approximately 4 or 5 years ago. As much as I want to sympathize with Hajduk fans, I’m not sure what I should be sympathizing about? Has Mamic influenced the league…YES, has he stolen 1st place, 2nd place or 3rd place from Hajduk…I honestly don’t believe he did but I’m honest enough to be open minded and accept some sort of proof.
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How did Mamic negatively affect Hajduk to the point that Hajduk fans are willing to sabotage games, paint a swastika on the field to make us embarassed in front of the world, hang banners stating “svi izgubili dabogda”? I’m being 100% serious about these questions. What exactly did Mamic do to make Hajduk fans in particular go out and do some of these crazy things….in order to sabotage the nation, not just Dinamo or Mamic?
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Bruno Maric is head referee…I’m just asking you Zoric…directly….have you not seen some of the missed calls this year that went completely against Dinamo?
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…and, you said Mamic monopolized Croatian football…can you elaborate how? what did he monopolize and how did he achieve it? how does that negatively affect Osijek, Sibenik, Rijeka, Hajduk….saying things is different from proving and providing real examples that HURT the league and clubs!
Vida-Lovren pairing…
@ Slavonac
I wouldn’t classify him as a “enemy within our country” it’s a little extreme to label him as such, I mean it gave me a good chuckle! He’s a proud Hrvat, like the rest of us and come the day when the repka takes the field, he cheers them on, like the rest of us.
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Do I agree with Torcidasi or Hajduk supporters in general and their POV on other teams in Europe? No, not really but I kind of get it, given that’s just how the club culture is. Let Torcidasi and Hajduk supporters think and do what they want. They have another mid table finish coming up this year, potentially won’t get any Euro games and as these guys said in the video, are light years away from Dinamo and have been surpassed by teams like Osijek and Rijeka in terms of development and success on the field.
Paid journalists have agendas. Holiga has a very negative agenda towards croatian football but I have no problem admitting if he has a good point. I am not a journalist and I want WhAts best for Cro football. HNS should always be neutral and fair towards all teams in HNS. With Mamic in charge at both DZ and HNS that was impossible. We still see it now with Bruno Maric being named head of referee committee. This guy is a Mamic pawn and has no business deciding who referees which games. Hajduk has a long lost of their own problems. I don’t blame mamic for them but I also can’t say that his monopolization of Cro football has helped other clubs besides
Maybe Rijeka who he does lots of business with
is there an app for that Bobby?
HRVATSKA: Livaković – Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Barišić – Kovačić, Brozović, Modrić – Kramarić, Vlašić, Perišić
ESPN3 – go to ESPN website, just enter your tv provider and password- no subscription needed. 3:45EST
I got mixed up in my last comment but I’m sure folks here know what I meant.
All good Zoric, I guess I can’t justify myself siding with a Serb about a comment in Croatian politics and then saying I support that Serb on a particular topic. If the Serb is out to destroy and disrupt Croatia, why would I give that Serb fuel….so he can then say even Hrvati side with me?
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I’m not saying you sided with a Serb, I’m using this as an example.
To watch from Canada I am using a VPN and streaming it on Gol.hr
Any streaming links for Canada would be appreciated.
I honestly wish you could support all Croatians Zoric…but thats on you, nobody else! As much as I get offended by Torcida culture, I still want Hajduk to do well and stop blaming others for their own downfall!
I’ll say this one last time. Everyone that followed me on Twitter during the World Cup knows I called out Holiga for being a Croatia hater many times. I agreed with some of his opinions on Zdravko Mamic because I thought it was a conflict of interest to be in charge of Dinamo and HNS. HNS is supposed to be neutral. Holiga is not croatian(even though he calls himself a croatian journalist) and makes problems for Croatia through his articles but if he has a good point I will admit it. I don’t like his sensationalism and his negative articles but yes I agreed that mamic should not be in charge of HNS. Very simple. I can not like someone and still agree with them about certain things
Armada and All, we already have our regional enemies, is it worse that we have an enemy within our own country?
Anyone have a good streaming site for someone in Canada? My old sites are down and don’t really want to try random ones and risk a virus.
Well done Slavonac for calling crap like this out.
I missed you slavonac 😘
Nobody has insinuated you should wear a Dinamo jersey, its just common to demonstrate sportsmanship and respect to your countrymen and some members of the NT. Kvartuc asked you on 3 separate occasions and you couldn’t bring yourself to say you support Dinamo over Tottenham…thats the issue here. You think you’re less a Hajduk fan if you support another Croatian team…which is plain and simply, PRIMITIVE!
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These silly and childish comments about living “rent free” when less that 24 hours ago you chose to make a public display and demonstrate your caveman mentality…I was totally right about you! YOU RECYCLED A BOSNIAN ARTICLE AND HOLIGA’S ARTICLES…BOTH AGAINST THE HNS AND MODRIC….YOU ARE HAJDUK…and an embarassment to Croats!
@ Slavonac
Yes, Zoric isn’t Romeo Jozak (or someone at that level) but I wouldn’t say he’s a dummy either. There’s not a lot of folks on here who can break down players strengths/weaknesses, where they play best in a certain formation, etc. etc. I’m one of them. I never played organized football (I was a kosarkas since 5) and while I feel I know a fair amount, I could never break things down the way you do or others… Would say that’s the majority of repka fans here on the site and Twitter 😀
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“I’d say I am a hard core fan but I’m also logical and civil…I was brought up to be Croatian, not Slavonian.” Well, as we know, a lot of Dalmatinci are wired to be dalmo’s first, croatians second. Not saying either Ante is like that, but as you and I know, that is a thing. Also is a thing in Istra, no surprise, given the history there. Funny enough, my dad is like that. No matter who Istra has been under (Italy, SFRJ, RH) my dad didn’t care for whatever ruling side and just feels love for Istra. He respects RH but thinks the government is a joke. Him and I have gotten into tons of heated arguements since I feel Croatian first… thank god for my mom’s roots in the Kvarner, huh? 😉
Glad to know I still live rent free in ur little brain Slavonac. I’m no expert im just a Croatia fan. Ante should have you on next so you can give us some real insights about Croatian football. I’ll never wear a Dinamo shirt. I said i think it’s great a Cro team is in the last 8 and I didn’t throw any hate towards dinamo. I congratulated many of my friends who support dinamo but the rivalry between the two clubs does not allow me to support DZ. From a footballing aspect I respect Dinamo and I’m glad their fans can enjoy a deep run in Europe. Ask Ante BBB if he would ever cheer for Hajduk or wear a Hajduk shirt. I respect that love for his club
Great job Slavonac from Canada!!
I understand the culture behind the Torcidasi…I don’t understand the hesitation to feel positive towards a Croatian team as a diaspora…like Zoric…thats the issue. Add to it that he spent several days recycling Holiga’s articles and some Bosnian’s anti Modric/anti HNS article and we have something more than just a Hajduk fan…”ya know”….we have a low IQ and primitive Hajdukovac among us.
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“Zoric is a good guy and really knows his stuff” – ummm…Zoric is the encyclopedia of jersey’s, tournaments, trivial shit about the players and tournaments we’ve played in…he couldn’t define or break down a players strengths and weaknesses other than to be generic…its like reading regurgitated news…you’ll never learn anything about the game from him but he will tell you what year Croatia wore a Lotto jersey! Knowing trivial shit is far different from watching a game and identifying things as they happen…being informative and understanding it….listening to Zoric is the same as listening to the commentators or reading a few articles…you never see perspective in those things, you get someone that dictates the play but can’t explain why or even how it happened? I don’t put value in that but I can understand people who don’t really know much and aren’t tuned in…they can feel they’re learning something (I’ll take this opportunity to let people know you can follow him on his twitter feed 🙂 )
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I’d say I am a hard core fan but I’m also logical and civil…I was brought up to be Croatian, not Slavonian first. Primitive comments from primitive people. You know the saying right….”if it looks like… and walks like…then it is”
@ Slavonac
It’s not just Zoric. Zoric is a good guy and really knows his stuff. It’s just most Hajduk supporters and their culture overall. Many Hajduk supporters are ‘hardcore’ (true Torcida, especially) and it’s just not in their DNA to support another domestic team, especially Dinamo, in Europe. If anything, Ante and Ante are in the minority where it seems like they can pay Dinamo some compliments and were kinda, sorta happy for Dinamo and their run this year – but of course, never truly rooting or pulling for Dinamo. Given Hajduk and their culture, I can respect their POV’s on Dinamo.
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I’d be curious if say in 10 years, Hajduk gets it together and they have a deep run in Europe whether Dinamo/Rijeka supporters wish Hajduk the best… Being a Rijeka fan and being in the diaspora, I’d be able to root for Hajduk in a Europa League or CL game one day and then curse the club and their fans 10 times over a few days later during a Jadranski derbi and hope Rijeka beats them 5-0. But again, I’m not some hardcore Armada member living in the domovina…
1-1 in a drab affair
Prediction:
NDH – 2
Alpine Serbs – 0
Hesgoal usually has pretty ok streams
As far as the whole not cheer for dinamo or hajduk
All I got to say is step up your game rather then hate
It’s not like hajduk can’t do it
Many kids would choose them if their quality picked up and they didn’t mismanage money.
Anyways, this is the sane mentality that keeps Croatia from being even more special.
“my nemesis” didn’t trigger me, I respect everyone. its his comments that strike me as awfully petty and primitive…”ya know”!
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don’t forget to follow him on twitter
Had hopes for a moment that Slavonac wouldn’t be triggered by his nemesis appearing on crosports again.
Any streams available from Canada ? Searching around and can’t seem to find. See it says it’s on ESPN 3 but can’t seem to find access. Shame DAZN doesn’t have it instead showing snooker and shit not to mention Canadian sports cable networks with there garbage. Not available on uefa tv either as there showing under 21’s only. What a joke World Cup qualifiers (biggest sporting event in history and 21st century with all the technology) and can’t even find simple access to stream
yup…couldn’t bring themself to cheering for a Croatian team…its typical man, real petty and shallow mentality!
@Slavonac
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What are you responding to?
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I didn’t watch the video above. Did someone say something about not cheering for Dinamo?
I guess some people can’t get past someone else being more successful than them so they end up being envious to the point of cheering against your own kind, even if it means cheering for the opponent. How can we explain that a Hrvat won’t cheer for another Hrvat when playing a team from a country that traditionally isn’t a friend…I guess we can say that ignorance and being shallow minded comes into play…”ya know”!
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This isn’t a whole lot different from when Croatia was playing in the World Cup and every team in Croatia sent their hopes and regards, supporting the HNS and wising them well…except for 1 team…yup…can we say its a petty and primitive mentality? You can be the judge of that!
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I often wonder what being a Hrvat means to some people? Does it mean a Hrvat is from a particular region or city…or are we all Hrvati…or…are we all Hrvati only when we win something and its time to celebrate but then tomorrow we go back to hating someone else because they’re the enemy within our borders!?
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How far is too far? If we played Zvezda instead of Tottenham…and lets bear in mind that we keep the same mentality as we did for Tottenham…would that mean its a sport and its ok to cheer for anyone against our rival? When is it unhealthy to cheer against our rivals or is there any such thing where we should have boundaries and have a line drawn? For the record, I’m askin for a friend 😉
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Petty, primitive, illogical, childish, envious…these are words I use to describe people that can’t bring themselve’s to accept they’re the problem rather than to blame a club and a few people for their own downfall. Its really tragic that someone can be so damn selective and cheer for anyone else against their “sport” rival…this goes beyond sport…this is pure jealousy and primitive thinking!
1-0 Orsic- same goal as goal one against Tottenham- same shot- amo decki!!!!
Suba
You sure about that. I’m reading these Croatian papers and they are saying he was visiting his brother and is now back in Cro.
I think all Croatian kiwis are going to Lorde’s house for the game
Does anyone know if we can watch the game online. Im in New Zealand. Cheers
Zoran mamic has left croatia for BiH
Croatia will score a last minute winning goal or draw
0-4, easy win
My prediction is 2-1 for us. I think Croatia will dominate most of the game but underwhelm in finishing. Oblak with a great game as well. Slovenia will pot one off a penalty.
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Cro goals: Kramaric, Modric
Svn goal: Ilicic
ajmo kiki lovricu, analno sarmanje slovenaca
Good stuff
https://hailtoyou.wordpress.com/2018/07/05/world-cup-2018-croatia-team-100-white/
1-0 nervy win