DAY 2: Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig made it look easy against the Argentine tandem of del Potro and Mayer, defeating the South Americans in straight sets Saturday afternoon in Zagreb. The first two sets were won comfortably in tiebreaks by the Croatians, and with Arena Zagreb pumping with electricity, Čilić and Dodig would close out the third set 6-3. With the doubles win, Croatia will only need one singles match victory on Sunday to be crowned 2016 Davis Cup champions. Their only other title came in 2005. Argentina has never won the Davis Cup.
DAY 1: Croatia and Argentina began their Davis Cup Final affair in Zagreb on Friday with both countries splitting the two singles matches. Croatia #1 Marin Čilić took care of Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-2 in three and a half hours with Argentina frontman Juan Martin del Potro evening the score by defeating Ivo Karlović 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 in four sets in the final match of the day.
The Davis Cup consists of the best tennis playing country for the year and this is the first time Croatia have reached the final since winning the whole thing in 2005. It is a best-of-five series with doubles always being played as the lone match on the second day. It was originally scheduled for Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor to compete against Argentineans Leonardo Mayer and Guido Pella in the doubles rubber on Saturday. However, del Potro and Čilić have been substituted in late. The winner of the doubles match will be one win away from the 2016 Davis Cup crown.
Full report: ATP World Tour
Stari calls me weekly and let’s me know ALL the sports that Hrvati are representing! And all things that make Hrvatska relevant. There is always something poppin !
One of our screen writers should have a Cro-American sitcom created.
Pulisic gets his soccer prowess from his Father’s Croatian-American guidance.
I do find it fascinating that he is an intelligent speedy winger that at present we could use for our beloved Vatreni.
If Klinsmans was not the USMNT coach and someone like Bilic was the Repka coach than I wonder if Pulisic would have been snapped up by Croatia.
If Pulisic was doing his thing at Dortmund and not yet called up for the senior USMNT then things could have played out differently.
Also if the HNS was a just a bit more organized than a Balkan soul sucking outfit, then maybe we would attract a few of our elite diaspora Hrvati that could support the cause.
Anyone who has been to Croatia is shocked at our NON-existence sporting infrastructure.
We produce world class athletes on talent and individual grit.
We add a bit of grassroots programming and we will increase sporting output 10 fold.
You add a character education piece to grassroot sports and then all the kids will become leaders if they make it as professionals or not.
Our education system in Croatia is too cynical and needs to honor the unique genius that we possess as a people.
That Jugo infrastructure is a soul stunting apparatus.
As good as we are in sport we could 10 times better as a society.
Bog I Hrvati
Ajmo Čilić !!!!
Forget him guys
Kovacic starting and playing well at real
Other’s Comjng up the pipeline who love and want to play for us
We all know the talent comes from our blood
And my point was that he speaks fluent German
Maaaan, his fathers voice tells me everything, the kid nor the father is a lick of Croat
You come off as the type that believes African Americans dominate the NFL and Nba due to their fast twitch muscle fibers and work ethic that was inherited from the slave days, just not a proper stand point, why do all the Portuguese and brazilians in New England suck at soccer
“I’m foreign I should play soccer” “I’m black I’m good at basketball”
@idemo
Then why didn’t he get a German passport instead of a Croatian one? 😉
Kid’s got Croat blood. His dad was a New York Croat who both played and coached soccer, and was more involved in the game than Pulisic’s mom ever could be.
Simply put, Christian Pulisic’s Croat-inherited midfielder skills were further developed by his soccer-obsessed Croat dad.
You take out that Croatian bloodline from his dad, and guaranteed this kid is not being force-fed soccer while growing up. Kid would probably be playing amateur baseball right now, lol.
Vice did a 20 min short on pulusic, the guy is more German than Croatian, featured mama and Tata as well
His heritage has no impact on his success, mommy American was a college player (successfully by American right) maybe he got it from her 😉
Nice Win today! Let’s keep our fingers crossed they can finish the job. Yes, Croatia is an athletic POWERHOUSE. I anticipate seeing more sporting success in the future.
@Mishko
So now that you live in Cro, are you going to officially make the name change to “Miško”? 😉
As for there not being any fans, that’s no biggie.
We are a small nation who are in a perpetual state of sports success. As much as we complain, there are very, very few countries that can impress in sports as much as we do on a regular basis.
Just looking at these past 6 months, we had the Euro 2016, 5 golds at the Olympics, and these Davis Cup run to the finals. Even Stipe Miocic winning and defending his UFC title was followed by Croats.
Even ‘minor’ things like us winning gold in the World Youth Waterpolo Championship, Dinamo qualifying for Champions League, the recent wins in 2018 World Cup qualification, and (wait for it) Croatia winning the 2016 beach handball world cup!
This is alot to absorb in less than 6 months. You have to just pick and choose a sport I guess, and casually follow the others. Obviously football will always take top spot, and I’m sure there are many who are casually following Davis Cup but aren’t going to actually go to the games (since they’ve probably exhausted themselves and their back accounts) on some of the other successes.
that atmosphere was unreal.. more like a football game than tennis
fucking awesome work guys!!
massive chance to win a big trophy tonight now !
some good news 😀
@Iggy, way more tickets were set aside for Argentine fans, I assume for tourist reasons. Makes sense to be honest.
@ Maminjo, since I now live in Croatia it was close to impossible to get tickets and the Croatian and Argentine fans have been awesome and have really been having a good time.
Don’t assume that all Croatian sports fans are assholes just because of a few soccer hooligans from time to time.
Advent in Zagreb started last night.
Most of the Cro fans probably opted to go to the trg and get smashed.
Which dickhead voted they don’t care about tennis? You wana go me!
Seriously. I’m watching now and it looks like a third of the crowd is blue and white. And they’re loud. Sounds like a football match.
can stream here:
http://live.robinwidget.com/streamvideo8/cilic–dodig-vs-del-potro–mayer-croatia-argentina-live-stream-62013.html
why the fuck are there more argentine fans and we’re like the away team IN CROATIA ???