HRVATSKA Starting XI: Subašić, Srna, Ćorluka, Vida, Pranjić, Brozović, Modrić, Rakitić, Kovačić, Kramarić Mandžukić
Well, where has that been?
And I’m not talking about the scoreline or the goals. But I’m talking about the speed and urgency from this Croatian side. Just three days ago, Croatia played one of their poorest matches to date in Bulgaria; needing an own goal to win 1-0. The team looked slow and uninterested. So what happened over the weekend? Because team morale looks to be back up.
Nothing was reported publicly, but with Nikica Jelavić quitting the national team, we can only speculate that manager Niko Kovač pushed him out for having a “bad attitude” for not being played Friday night.
The atmosphere at Gradski Vrt in Osijek was electric and the Vatreni never took their foot off the gas for 90 minutes. Albeit Croatia played Azerbaijan, a team that is ranked 95th in the world and has never qualified for a major tournament, they played to crush Monday night. Rijeka’s Andrej Kramarić got the start and looked like he was playing with jet fuel in his veins for the first half, bagging his second goal for Croatia in the 11th minute. The 23 year-old looked like Ivica Olić in his prime.
Ivan Perišić came on for an injured Mateo Kovačić in the 24th minute and bagged two header goals (34′,45′) to put Croatia up 3-0. Marcelo Brozović would add a nice left-footed shot just inside the left post in first half injury time to make it 4-0 going into halftime.
But Croatia did not stop there and appeared to be looking for more goals. Luka Modrić would add a penalty shot before Ivan Perišić’s cross would be kicked in by the Azerbaijan captain to make it 6-0. Croatia could have easily scored 10 goals this match. Not because of the lack in competition, but because they all hustled and played to their ability.
Where was this kind of urgency against Malta, Iceland, and yes, Mexico in the past year? It wasn’t there. At all.
And now Croatia’s morale should be high going into their lone November qualifier against Italy in Milan. And what does Italy’s mere 2-1 win over Azerbaijan on Friday say about them? The match was tied all the way up to the 82nd minute.
And although Croatia and Italy should top the group and qualify automatically, this will be a statement game for Croatia. Italy has never defeated their Adriatic Sea neighbors and pride will be on the line come November 16th at the San Siro.
I’m happy with the result but more happy with Kovac. He was so stubborn with the 4-2-3-1 forcing Modric and Rakitic together. A coach’s job is get the most from his players. It was obvious our best players were being limited in that formation so he finally changed it. I understand he doesn’t want to confuse the players like Stimac did but if something is not working it must be changed. It’s still concerning the way we played against a very bad Bulgaria team. We only managed 1 shot on goal and Kovac did a horrible job not using subs to freshen up our team.
Italy beat Azerbaijan 2-1 4 days before we played them. I honestly think they gave it their all and were out of gas against us. Doesn’t mean our performance wasn’t great but in reality it was our first good performance this qualifying. Our real test will be against Italy. I haven’t seen Brozovic start against any good opponents so we’ll see how good he is that game. Im not convinced he will be a starter on national team once he’s sold. Runs and pressures a lot but doesn’t have skills like modric, rakitic or even Kranjcar. Good shot but for me he has a long way to go to becoming a top player. Looking forward to the Italy match.
Very unfortunate U21 team didn’t qualify. They were missing Robert Murić today. One of my favorite young Croatian players currently at Ajax. No one knows why he wasn’t called but people speculate because he left Dinamo for free against Mamic’s wishes. Hopefully we will get called to future national team meetings because there were rumors he’s been offered Dutch citizenship :/
One thing that is for sure is that we are starting to become a deep team and it is not easy to select a starting 11.
For instances look at the players that didn’t start;
Vrsaljko – Schildenfeld – Lovren- Srinic
———————Badelj
Rebic – Halilovic – Pasilic – Perisic
———————Olic
Plus Jedvaj, Pjaca, Perica, Livaja
Everyone on this website has their own line ups and most are legit fanatics. Kovac changes line ups according to the opponent and game importance (clearly more attacking formation last game). I have some different opinions on line ups and substitutions but then again I’m not at their training sessions nor do I break down every player’s play each week (for the most part).
Anyone else notice the level of execution on the set pieces…really impressive…although they all seem to be Corluka setting a basketball style pick for Perisic
Who wouldn’t go to Pavelic’s grave if you were playing professionally and living in Madrid. Actually makes me wonder if Modric has ever been there..
I’d be going there to have a drink on the regular!
Sepp,
Huuuuuuuuuuge hu hu hu hu huuuuuuge take of the day.
Brilliant my friend.
@JM/Allen,
Read Sepp’s comment. Everything is explained there.
The next thing you will tell me is that
1) “yes, the Americans landed on the moon.”
2) Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK
I can go on and on.
Do some homework and the truth will unfold in front of your eyes.
@JM,
one n buddy.
“Terrible journalism to simply make statements that have no supporting evidence around them”
Evidence = Sepp comment.
All you have to do is put two and two together.
Who was that African player in the world cup taking pictures with stacks of $$$$ ? In africa they pay players with cash because they dont trust anyone.
Not everything is fixed, but don’t be so naive as to think that there have not been any games that were fixed. And these games could be fixed for any number of reasons. And not all players might be in on the fix. Just read up on the US basketball point shaving scandels to get an idea of how these things work. And do some reading on the recent Asian match fixing syndicate to see how it works in soccer. A pair of Croat brothers played a large role in this syndicate.
As for the World Cup, certainly the Italy-South Korea game comes to mind as a suspect game. There was no coincidence that all those calls went against the Italians.
Which brings up the Croatia/Cameroon game. Would not surprise me one bit if some of the Cameroonian players purposely tanked. Just do some reading on how the African NTs are run and how players get paid and you won’t be suprised one bit if a team tanks on purpose or got paid to tank. The African NTs make Mamic/Suker look like pikers. The red card was suspect. It was a straight red, there is no doubt about that. But it was suspect because of how ridiculous it was. Have you ever seen a player try to elbow another player in the open field? Makes no sense. Except when you ulterior motives. The bottom line is that FIFA and the Cameroon NT have no interest in looking into this any further, as the truth would do a lot of damage to both. So just let it be and move on is what they are doing. You guys do realize that FIFA is more corrupt than the IOC, etc. To get an idea of the FIFA culture, I recommend that you read Andrew Jennings book, Omertà: Sepp Blatter’s FIFA Organised Crime Family.
JM going after Denis!! I love it. Couldn’t agree more with your take JM. Tired of all this fixed talk, it really ruins the credibility of the sport. Yes there scandals and awful calls that favor the better teams. That doesn’t mean every little thing is fixed.
Why do you guys bring up the Iceland performances as bad games? Did you see that the Icelanders beat the Dutch 2-0 at home yesterday? Croatia played well in that playoff and completely dominated them, they didn’t score 6 goals but they dominated possession and limited Iceland to something like two shots in 2 matches. Relax pundits you act like Cro has to win every game 5-0. Also why the negativity over the there in in Bulgaria? “They needed an OG to win” yea but that OG was created by Perisic and Rakitic two players that did the same against the Azerbaijanis. I understand you guys write your brief synopsi to stir the pot and create som congroversy, but come on man. Also Azerbaijan is not a bad team. The 6-0 result for Cro is because they are not good enough to play two away games back to back against two powerhouses of int’l football Croatia and Italy. They would hav given Croatia a game if they played us first, not y. On this form Croatia can pick up a win in Milan.
… unless it’s a Pride parade.
Which Živa has been organizing in Split for the past couple of years.
😉
nepoznat- I believe when Ziva said “Best thing about this game is to forget about it now.”…he meant the game is over, don’t take this victory as a measurement in any form, move on.
I get it, we beat a low ranked team and we finally played a complete game, after a very long time of being below our potential, lets not get too crazy and setup the parade.
Croatia looks to move up 4 spots in FIFA’s November rankings after passing:
England
USA
Mexico
Costa Rica
note: not all Oct games have been played and there might be a small chance to pass 1 more team, but only if a top 15 team loses which may not be very likely
Croatia beat Azerbaijan for third straight win
The dominant hosts equalled their best ever start to EURO qualifying with a commanding Group H victory in Osijek.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/qualifiers/season=2016/matches/round=2000446/match=2013880/postmatch/report/index.html
Kovač and Modrić laud classy Croatia
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/news/newsid=2164798.html
Ziva, you need to STFU with this line of crap: “Best thing about this game is to forget about it now.”
how long has it been since Croatia has dominated or completely dismantled a team like this?!? And we should just forget about it? No way! Now don’t get me wrong, clearly Azerbaijan is not a high quality team, but we blew them out and it is a terrific result… and the fact that we blew them out, rather then a 1-0 / 2-0 / 2-1 game is especially good considering our recent history of struggling to get by even lesser teams
let everyone rejoice in the win, and the showing that Croatia put on yesterday… yes it’s important to not get too carried away, but to just up and forget one of Croatia’s best games (by margin of victory) in < 24 hours is ludacris
Also, you are serving as a journalist on this site. Terrible journalism to simply make statements that have no supporting evidence around them
@ DENNIS
Sounds like you’ve been listeNing to some crazy uncles at the dinner table that like to talk. Cro-cameroon not fixed. Cam was down one man, one goal, and could only advance with a victory. Prefect recipe for them to give up a big amount of goals. Don’t become a crazy uncle that likes people listening to him talk as he says unfounded conspiracy theories. You’re better than that
Kuku riku
Novi je dan.
Dobro jutro svima !
Kramaric is quick, crafty and has a finishing touch.
Perišić has gotten more powerful since shoulder injury.
You score two goals v Italy then you come away with result.
You give Pirlo space you are dead men walking.
Stick with this formation:
4-3-1-2
We have better players then Italy overall.
Modric at back pivot is our Pirlo, every possession is intelligent.
I am glad he scored that penalty.
Give Modric Captain band for Italy.
Stick with 4-3-1-2.
__________Kramaric______Mandzukic
_________________Rakitic__________
Rebic ____________Modric__________Perišić
Strinic _____Lovren______Corluka____Jedvaj
_________________Subasic
Subs: Kovacic, Olić , Halilovic/Srna (score dependent)
Vrsaljko if Srna is unavailable.
You go into Italy with attacking intent.
Also NK makes a deal with Klinsman to ensure warm up friendly in London is clean. No non sense tackles before Italy.
U21 win today and this could be the week that we talk about as the moment that the Vatreni erupted !
Some good analysis boys!
Marko makes a good point on Pranjic and the shutouts. However, I’m still not convinced.
IvicA, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Bobby V, I agree with your three factors. Well said.
The rest of you came out swinging too. For the first time in a while, I enjoyed reading 90% of the comments. The rest of you in that 10%, step up your game 🙂
Like Jim Rome would say:
Have a take and dont suck
Cameroon-Croatia and Cameroon-Mexico were both fixed.
FIFA pushed brazil all the way to the semis. For those that don’t believe it, they don’t believe that games are fixed at the World Cup level and they don’t believe that FIFA is corrupt.
Most WC games that are fixed have an african or eastern european nation involved. WC2006 Italy-Ukraine was fixed.
Not counting friendlies and meaningless confederation cup matches, Italy only scored 3 or more goals away from home against Georgia in a Euro qualifier.
When are Males and Mocinic going to be fit? I’m pretty sure Kovac rates them highly.
I hope Croatia get slump vs Italy
and we insist for Ko Fuck to change squad completely >
especialy for Pranjic and small Vida …
The pic of the people with him at Poglavnik’s grave is what goes unnoticed by a lot of you. Do you know whom he is with?! That’s right…you’re looking at the OG Mafijasi from ZG. Sucker always ran with them, even when he was playing.
@dannyj
Nobody is sucking Kovac’s nuts.
Kovac got a forward/midfield lineup almost right today and it paid off. I say ALMOST right because it was helped significantly by the fact that his initial starter selection (Kovacic) got injured, and a MUCH better Perisic came in and buried two goals (three if Kramaric didn’t snake that one shot away from him).
That backline foursome is still weak and would definitely let in a goal or two against a team like Italy (unless you throw someone like Rakitic back at DM to assist with our backline, which is exactly what Kovac would do, and it would ruin our offense again).
If Kovac was fired tomorrow, I would have no problem with it.
It took him over 10 games to get the majority of the lineup correct (lineups that fans and media have been calling for, for months), and it will probably take him another 5-10 games to realize that the backline he has right now, will not work for the Euros.
If and when he finally puts together our maximum strength starting lineup, he will still have to learn how and when to adjust the lineup based on who his opponent is and what tactic they will play (and that is something I can guarantee you he will never know how to do).
So, all I can really hope for is for Kovac to eventually get the entire starting eleven correct by the time Euro 2016 rolls around. Once the tournament begins, I’m just going to hope we get a good draw and that our key players go on a hot streak.
But again, yea, if he was fired right now, I could give a shit. He’s still a shit coach who (after today’s game) may have improved his status to ‘below average’ level.
Taking a picture next to Pavelic’s grave does not make one a nationalist. In Puppet Suker’s case, it makes him a jock sniffer.
Even some of the commits were “nationalists” back in the early and mid 90s.
josipovic and Puppet Suker are both sranje.
@Jarac good compared to what? Even they knew where to exploit us they just didnt have the cattle, mandzo still had to run like a mad man to cover him. Yeah he was solid but look at the opponent, a quality ream would bury him.
As for josipovic If he doesn’t like how things are run surely as prez he can pull a finger out and do something about it, but he is just a dirty partizancina. Fuck philip seymour hoffman meets kevin rudd looking motherfucker 😀
fully agree with ziva… i bet a number of coaches would be licking their licks thinking what they could do with a team like the talent we have and a nation that consistently produces above average talent
and exactly with the job thing… what pisses me off is wasting talent with unproven coaching. sure if the fans knew we sucked anyways, who cares who coaches us… but we know they can challenge for euro cup with the right conditions with the current team
doktor prle
Josipovic can make anyone look like a nationalist, when asked why he doesnt go to the games he says only hooligans uneducated are there. As far a Suker he is way more of a nationalist, didnt he get some shit back in the day for visiting pavelic’s grave after a game?
i think people are happy but im pretty sure we can just go back a couple of days and you would see posts calling for kovac’s head
its a great result, no doubt, they owned them… but they fucking should own them. these are professionals at the highest level… they have been playing together long enough now to destroy these kind of teams
remember guys we had fuck all going in bulgaria… a better quality team
im not trying to be one of those negative nellies but lets hope to build from this… we have a big test coming and we’ll see where we are at
italy like us will be fired up for this game as realistically these two games vs. italy will be the difference makers for who wins the group. they full know they haven’t beat us… and our boys know the same….
hopefully the formation is right… but again lets not start sucking kovac’s nuts cause we beat a 90 something placed team… you think they went in at half time and said lets try to get this game back? lolol they knew they had no chance. usually when the flight gates open they don’t close
lets hope the boys keep playing well for their clubs and lets hope the page has been turned for the repka…
@Dalmo Ante
Gotta love pranjic haha. It ok to admit he had a solid game today.
Has nothing to do with being satisfied or not satisfied. Has everything to do with the people who run the savez and how unqualified people like Kum Kovac are able to get jobs. That pisses people off.
And lets stop with this homage to fans. The fans in Cro are fickle. First bad game they play in Osijek or whatever city, the fans will turn on the team.
We have talent and because of that talent we will win games in spite of the idiots who run the sport in Cro. Just imagine if we had structure and competent leadership. Its not a far stretch to think we could be a team like the Dutch: a team that is always consider a threat, gets close, but never close enough to win it. It think that could be the ceiling for Cro if we had the right people leading the sport.
And, I’ll admit there is a very small part of me that enjoys when we lose and play like shit because we don’t have to see the criminal element of Puppet Suker and Mamic taking a victory lap. It’s very hard to root for the repka knowing these clowns are the leadership of the savez.
It’s crazy to see how people aren’t the least bit satisfied with how we started these qualifiers even with 6-0 win. I’m happy with what they did tonight. I’d love to see it continue.
awesome- cheers for the link nepoznat – downloading now : )
Remember, this is the first home game since the players asked Suker not to play any more games in Zagreb.
That was the main motivation for the players today – to show that the Repka can play well away from Maksimir.
A few us wrote BEFORE the game that we finally somewhat agree with the lineup and where Kovac was looking to place the players.
We played a poor team.
Those are the three main factors for today’s result.
I’m impressed with Vida/Corluka combination. Modric finally had room to do his thing with Rakitic pushed forward.
Looking forward to the U21’s tomorrow against England. Last game to try and qualify for the Euro U-21 8 team tournament next summer. We lost the first leg 1-2.
Where would we be had Subasic played in Brazil?
Vs italy back to 4-2-3-1 Subasic Srna Corluka Lovren Pranjic-Modric Rakitic-Perisic Brozovic Olic-Mandzukic and that is what NK will do. The croatia press will read bjeda predstava hrvatske u Milan.
IvicA- let me be the first to say it since I used to bash the guy….Perisic has been fantastic in the Euros and since then…I’m glad the guy has been consistently very good!
@ Ziva
Agree about the game in Split…would love for them to show the ‘love’ for Mamic. As for a bad performance, I doubt it. We always show up to play the Italiani.
Yugoslav communist and serbophile Josipović hates Croats so much, he will end up making Šuker look like a nationalist.
Josipović is president of the country he hates. That is possible because, as lawyer Zvone Hodak said, “Croats are a special needs people.”
I have to hand it to Kovac today, he finally used a formation that brought out the best from what we have.
@ IvicA
Agree with your comments. Finally a formation that worked and having Rakitic play behind two strikers seems to be the right formation for this group of players. You have to use what you have and our strength is definitely in the midfield. Perisic really is stepping up his game and it’s great to see.
Our back line isn’t great and we need to incorporate both Jedvaj and Vrsaljko as our backs and say goodbye Pranjic and Srna (past his prime) although it won’t happen. Srna will be starting until the end of the Euro 2016.
@ Ante B
Spot on with where we should be playing our games.
We need to continue to play games outside of Zagreb. Players feed off the energy of the crowd and unless it’s a huge game, Zagreb doesn’t deserve another game. I agree, the big one against Italy should be played in Split.
@ nepoznat
Thanks for all of the great links…always appreciate the good reads!!
The red was definitely there, but IIRC cameroon had to remain goalless and there was a blow up when one dude took a shot. That may have been cos he blazed away or it was more a case of motherfucker if you score that none of us get paid. 😀
Whatever the case may have been that match was a true show case of why pranja can’t play LB in a match where possibly the opposition was lying down, he was still majorly exploited not to mention more than half the team had to cover him. Niko himself admitted that the LB position was weak and he needed back up, but here we are months later facing the reality that he might be there against italy. One who doesn’t learn from history is destined to repeat it, bilic learned it a little late, stimac made it his first and only good move to remove him from the squad. We will see where niko lands on this in about a month, maybe we all get lucky and pranja picks up an injury that rules him out.
and then we have this from Puppet Suker………the country has no money and he wants handouts from the govt.
http://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/josipovic-odgovorio-sukeru-ne-dolazim-na-utakmice–zbog-rasizma-nacionalizma-i-netransparentnosti-/777266.aspx
Best thing about this game is to forget about it now.
Some of you need to stop going overboard. We played well against a shit team that is capable of making things uncomfortable. Move on to the next game. When qualifying was announced I had two games that I thought would give us a clear indication of where we are at……At Italy and at Norway, assuming they are still alive. The rest of the games on paper should all be won, again on paper.
Back to the argument of playing the Italy game in Split next year. I want to see it for a few reasons: the fans going apeshit and booing Puppet Suker and Mamic when they arrive in the stadium and to see how the fans would turn on our team in case of a bad performance.
I just don’t see how it was fixed. It was a clear red by Alex Song elbowing Mandzukic. Now some people may say well Cameroon was having issues before the tournament in terms of not being paid their bonuses. They had several issues with the federation, which is understandable. Why didn’t any of that happen against Mexico? How come they stayed relatively competitive, even though they were outplayed? Also why did they wait 40 minutes before “fixing it”?
I get that there scandals in this sport. That is pretty evident, especially being Croatian and watching the last two tournaments closely. Still it was clear that Song just lost himself and did something idiotic. Cameroon has had someone sent off in the past three World Cups that they’ve been in recent memory.
Whatever believe what you want to believe. I know what I’m believing.
@Allen here is the original article that started all the talk about the Cameroon game being fixed:
http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/wm-2014-wettpate-perumal-spricht-von-betrug-bei-kamerun-spielen-a-978091.html
Gotta love the Osijek effect. Have we ever played a poor match there?
Looks like Kovac found a formation and set of offensive players that worked. Kramaric paired up front with Mandzukic. Rakitic slotted behind them. Modric, Kovacic, and Brozovic behind Rakitic (with Perisic coming on for Kovacic and tearing things up). I was VERY happy when I saw the midfield and forward lineup when the game started. Even happier when MY BOY Perisic came on for Kovacic, and showed everyone that he should be an automatic starter for this squad whether he’s 100% fit or not.
Pranjic at LB and Vida at CB is still garbage. Age will catch up to Srna too. Jedvaj should overtake him by the time the Euros roll around. Out of this foursome, Corluka will still be useful for the rest of the qualifying campaign.
I was never worried about qualifications for Euro. We’re guaranteed in. We need to start playing this selection of our midfielders and fowards more regularly together so they build that chemistry. Start phasing out Olic. Jelavic phased himself out. Keep playing Halilovic those last 10-15 minutes (he’ll be good in two years).
Our backline is going to be shit for Euro 2016 if it remains the same. We need to have Jedvaj, Lovren, Corluka, Vrsaljko, Schifo and Strinic playing together to get that chemistry going.
But I can’t complain. Finally got to watch a game where our pace wasn’t morbidly slow and timid. Hopefully Kovac just rolls this forward/midfield lineup again against Italy. Italy will prep well, and will probably watch this game and focus on neutralizing Rakitic and Perisic, but at least we’ll come out firing.
@ Marko I see your point. I was thinking more along the lines of vrsaljko being pulled and pranja being shifted gave mexico the upper hand, it was a bad move subbing a player that was solid.
here Iggy:
http://kickass.to/euro-2016-qualif-gr-h-13-oct-croatia-v-azerbaidjan-720p-t9704900.html
@Dalmo Ante…Not trying to get a Pro-Pranjic label, but he played left back for like 15 min, and was subbed off when the score was 1-0.
The first goal came from Corluka getting beat by Marquez on a corner, so it wasn’t Pranjic’s fault.
The post above mainly shows that Pranjic isn’t the 100% first choice left back. Strinic hasn’t been fit enough to contest him, and when he was fit Pranjic beat him out because a more offensive left back was more suited in those games.
A lot of things will be learned in Milan. Hopefully everyone is fit, to really see how Kovac selects his team.
I’m sure this has been said thousands of times on the boards. But what a difference a guy sitting BEHIND TWO STRIKERS makes, especially against bad teams. What was nice to see is that Kovac understood that we shouldn’t be scared of a team of such low quality and unleashed the boys.
Now, we probably won’t be able to play the same formation against a higher quality team, but if we can mix it up in game (depending on momentum) it just goes to show that we actually can score more than 1 goal…and it’s not just our forwards that are scoring.
Well in the Mexico match he was shifted to LB and then came the meltdown.
So the people who love the NT, want it to be the best it can be, are sick of it being whored for the profit of a few, are the problem? Niko set up well today the team played well against a fifth rate side that put in their all against italy and were drained because the playera arent used to this intensity. This the AFL and they are bush league amateurs. Niko has a long way to go a win against italy, topping the group and a good run at the euros is what we want and less whoring for mamic.
Or should we accept mediocrity?
1. A Iceland – Pranjic——-(Strinic INJURED)
2. H Iceland – Pranjic ——(Strinic INJURED)
3. A Brazil – Vrsaljko ——-(Pranjic benched) (Strinic INJURED)
4. N Cameroon – Pranjic –(Strinic INJURED)
5. N Mexico – Vrsaljko —–(Pranjic in midfield) (Strinic INJURED)
6. H Malta – Milic ————(Pranjic benched) (Strinic INJURED)
7. A Bulgaria – Pranjic ——(Strinic FIT)
8. H Azerbaijan – Pranjic—(Strinic FIT)
The two games against competent opponents, pranjic was NOT used at left back. Pranjic has been used as a LB against teams that we are clearly better than, and are looking for an added attacking option. It also has to be said that Strinic has not been fit for most of the competitive games under Kovac. It’s not like he’s not being chosen.
*The funny thing is that all the games where Pranjic started at LB, we kept a clean sheet lol.
what was dodgy about the red card? the aussie commentators at least t hought it was fair enough
mandzu is one of those annoying players who gets under your skin and why would u think a cameroon player who’s already pissed with their own lack of pay might lash out ?
i didnt think it was any more dodgy than a lot of other things ive seen
@Iggy,
1)The red card
2) The players not getting paid
Lets just say that someone got payed.
@Marko,
You think Strinic will start over Pranjic? We shall see. I doubt it.
I hope that I’m wrong, but the only changes that I see for the italy game are:
Lovren for Vida
Perisic for Kovacic
Olic could be in the mix for that match.
Kovac might go into that game thinking, a 0-0 would be great for me and my career. Start Olic, have him run around all game, kick the ball around a little and have a 0-0 in Milan result on my resume.
Dont get me wrong, a 0-0 result isnt bad. However, lets not go into the game thinking that or preparing for that result.
@Iggy,
Great results dont mean much in the long run. A great game means more in the long run.
Italy won 1-0 today. However, they hit the post 4 times. The key is that Italy dominated in every category.
I would be happy win or lose if Croatia played muški against Italy.
Ummm,
I’m not a splico but Split definitely should get Italy since Zagreb got Serbia.
@Iggy,
A draw would be good. it will be a tough environment in Italy.
Give it a few days and will be hearing how the fix was in for this game.
@Iggy,
A draw would be good. it will be a tough environment in Italy.
No way should the game be played in Split, bring it back to Osijek or Rijeka, even Zagreb is better.
With the attitude of some of you splicani no need to bring it to split.
well on the matchfixing there was some talk about that in the cam v cro game but i dont think anything was found
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10941246/World-Cup-2014-Fifa-finds-no-evidence-of-match-fixing-and-says-Cameroon-Croatia-claims-should-be-backed-up.html
having watched the game i didnt think it was fixed or i had no evidence of that
i think what’s more likely is cameroon was in a shitty state, having a pay dispute, players were kicked out of camp from abusing officialdom, they were in a bad place but i dont think they deliberately threw the game
in any case we’ll never know
hopefully we get a draw at least against italy, that’d be a great result away
There is a good chance that I will be in Split for the Croatia-Italy game. Hopefully, the savez schedules the game in Split. Hopefully, I can score an interview with Kovac.
@Denis I fully expect Brozovic to start vs Italy, and i don’t mind.
Obviously if fit Srna will start. Lovren and Corluka will make up the CB pairing. Subasic will be in between the sticks. The midfield will 100% consist of Brozovic, Rakitic, and Modric. Mandzukic will defiantly start.
Thats Subasic, Srna, Corluka, Lovren, Brozovic, Rakitic, Modric, Perisic and Mandzukic as guaranteed starters, leaving 2 open spots, one a LB role, and the other an attacking option.
Pranjic, Strinic, and Vrsaljko are in contention for the LB role. Kramaric, Kovacic, Pranjic, Olic are in contention for the ‘attacking’ roster spot.
My money is on Strinic, and Kramaric.
@ummm,
I’m not downplaying the win. I gave Kovac props for his lineup changes. But lets not make a 6-0 win over Azerbajan a national holiday.
the players were happy with the fans in Osijek. Like I said, the fans played a big part in the win.
Kovac is learning on the job and looks to have been influenced by Mamic. Maybe Kovac signed a contract with the devil to better his career? We shall see.
So far I dont see Mamic upset at Kovac like he was at Bilic.
Enjoy the win boys. But after you sober up, just remember that we beat Azerbaijan. A group of players that ran to Luka Modric to exchange shirts.
As I have stated before, in terms of atmosphere and playing games in Zagreb, Purgeri and Zagrebcani (Zagrepcani for the rest of you) are the first to agree with you. No more games in Zagreb until things change. Split NEEDS to get the game against Italy. Osijek did a great job today except for those weak minded losers who whistled against the HNS pederi chants…their ZA DOM SPREMNI chants were legit.
yes we hate the savez and mamic and Puppet Suker and th fact our current coach was hired by his Kum……….we live the repka, but not the shit around it.
Games should be played in Osijek and Rijeka, great atmosphere but the big ones should stay in Zagreb like when we played the Serbs, that was a great atmosphere.
@Allen
many dumb things today, they win but yet the majority have to downplay it, they hate Kovac, they hate the savez, wow these people just mad
@Allen,
Watch the Croatia-Cameroon game and tell me that the fix isnt in.
I have no idea how Croatia-Cameroon was fixed nor believe someone would post something like that. Wow dumbest thing I’ve read all day.
Bandwagon??? Is it wrong to call out a coach and players when need be? As stated by Denis, Kovac deserves credit for some changes in this game. At least he played guys that aren’t afraid to take on a player 1v1. We’ll see next month. The US friendly should be majority young guys around our core. and the true test will be Italy. by looking at their results they don’tseem too hot. we’ll know by next week if Kovac learned anything and deserves credit.
i’m sure today’s atmosphere didn’t hurt either. i wouldn’t play anymore games in zagreb until things change
@Sude MI
as you can see some will never admit, they have to quantify every statement, sramota
After a 6 – 0 win I REALLY doubt the starting line up is going to change.
@Marko,
I dont mean to rain on your parade but….
1) 6-0 Azerbaijan
2) 1-0 Bulgaria
3) 2-0 Cyprus friendly
4) 3-1 loss to Mexico
5) 4-0 win over Cameroon(Game was fixed, early red card)
6) 2-0 iceland
7) 0-0 iceland
doesn’t get you a trophy…. doesn’t get you into the second round…
I dont know what Iceland is doing today, but they were garbage against us in the playoffs.
Boys, lets not get overly excited about today’s result.
We got the result we wanted. The lineup and formation was 80% right, and from what I saw in limited time, the boys had a fire under there ass.
Mario worked his ass off coming back on d and crossing ,passing link play really unselfish player bravo .
Karma rice was outstanding with his attack and movements causing azer defence to revolving around him opened persic goals team played very good.
For all people saying who cares it’s azerbaijan well this team almost beat Italy and fact we stomped them +6 goals very pleased
@Sude Mi,
Who is sucking dick? Shit on him when you feel it appropriate, stand up and be a man and applaud a good job….fair is fair.
Its a line from pulp fiction. relax.
I gave Kovac credit. But lets remember.
1) Vida can defend against third world offense.
2) Pranjic can attack against third world offense.
3) Brozovic is Brozovic
4) Srna is still way past his prime.
5) Azerbaijan is still azerbaijan.
Still a huge improvement for Kovac and the boys. But like Ziva istina said “its just one game.”
Croatia starts Brozovic, Pranjic, Vida, Srna, and Olic against Italy. We can pray for a draw.
Anybody know what happened to Kovacic?
Watch Kovac start Olic in milan against Italy.
Brozovic, Vida, Srna, and Pranjic won’t be able to hang against the Italians. Srna will start if fit, Vida will most likely ride the bench if Lovren is fit. That leaves Brozovic and Pranjic.
Another clean sheet (as i guaranteed).
Thats 6 out of the 8 competitive games Kovac has managed.
We also are statistically the most inform team in qualifying. 3 wins +9 goal differential.
Great job from the boys, and Kovac. Lineup worked, and the boys couldn’t stop creating chances.
As i have said before, Pranjic is fine to use against these teams that are looking to bunker against us…. Vs Italy, i expect someone more defensive starting.
@Ziva Istina Remember my “goal scorers on the wing comment”? Perisic 2 goals.
Modric looked great in that ‘regista’ role, or Pirlo role. Kramaric was constantly in the action. Defense was solid until the 80th min, when the midfield stopped defending.
Croatia has some very talented players Kovac should be grateful…
woah woah… i didn’t see the goals… ok awesome impressive… but seriously shouldn’t these guys be doing similar perfomances over teams like this regularly
you can’t tell me azerbaijan is better then an mls side? not saying on any team anyone can beat another but seriously we keep saying our guys are on high quality teams and actual quality players on those teams
this is great, but don’t forget last week in bulgaria that quick…
but all things being said lets keep the ball rolling and hopefully this is a page being turned
Kovac gets the high grade today. However, it was only azerbaijan, “lets not start sucking each others dicks quite yet.”
Who is sucking dick? Shit on him when you feel it appropriate, stand up and be a man and applaud a good job….fair is fair.
Im not jumping on the Kovac bandwagon. But I like the changes today.
1) Olic in at the 75th minute.
2) Kovacic starting
3) Perisic in for injured Kovacic
4) Halilovic in for Modric
5) Kramaric starting
1) Pranjic is obviously his boy, so I dont see this changing. We cant agree on everything.
2) Kovac doesnt favor Schifo, so Vida it is. I disagree, but its not the end of the world.
3) Brozovic doesnt deserve to start. Mamic wants to sell. Who is to blame here?
4) Srna should have retired but no going back now.
Maybe the crowd played a big part in lighting a fire under our ass.
impressive game today, six goals. wow considering the difficulty the italians had against them
Nothing to do with bandwagon stuff. Ridiculous comment. Kovac did well today, some of you don’t like it and that is fine.
Nothing to do with bandwagon stuff. Kovac did well,
I missed most of the match so I cant really comment on what happened today.
I do like Olic coming off the bench late in games. I do like Kramaric to start.
Vida is only a temporary start, Lovren should be back for Italy. However, I still miss the Sibencanin.
Kovac gets the high grade today. However, it was only azerbaijan, “lets not start sucking each others dicks quite yet.”
At the same time, a good performance from the team. Maybe the Jelavic incident lit a fire under their ass. Even with the score 6-0, most of the players were still fighting.
Don’t get on the Kovac bandwagon yet. He’s gonna have to do a lot more to get our stamp of approval. Like a good performance against Italy for starters. Then a nice run in the Euros.
hey nepoznat if u find another torrent later on can u post in here? cheers man 😉
relevant WhoScored.com Article: The Increase in the Use of a 4-3-1-2
http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/ireqogekg0mh-yx9hpgicg/Show/League-Focus-The-Increase-in-the-Use-of-a-4-3-1-2-Formation
@Sudi Mi
Bravo for that statement. They won’t, they wish Hrvatska lost. Good for Kovac and the team and an amazing crowd.
i’d say about 70 percent of my friends are Italian. Let the shit talking commence. That day can’t come enough. I know many of us can’t stand the Italian national team.
All of you who have crapped all over Kovac, show some class and give the guy props for today’s performance….easy to criticize, harder to step up and applaud a good result when it is warranted.
And don’t tell me it was only Azerbaijan…..as pointed out at beginning of this piece they gave the taljani all they could handle a couple of days ago….
Nice win, seems we’re better of spirit without Jelavic 🙂
the good thing is we know goal diff won’t be a prob now
atmosphere
As the announcer said Bravo Hrvaska along with the great atmoshphere. Bravo Kovac and the players and the savez.
Well done.
it will be on ebay when he needs some coin, though he should wait a fair while it will go up in price 😛
Anyone seen the Azerbaijan player immediately run up to Modric after the game to exchange jerseys? Smart guy or true jock sniffer?
done*
take the points enjoy the highlights, its the kinda of result we should be able to expect against 5th rate sides, the real test is next month.
i always said guus is a shit coach and since he took over holland have dont sweet fuck all
GG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A7woRoVwyM This is what Iceland’s football team is made up of
Can’t believe Iceland might actually keep a clean sheet against Holland. They seem to be the new hot shot team to watch out for in Europe.
These games are tough to watch. They make MLS matches exciting in comparison.
Cro seems to have stopped playing for the last 10 min or so, foot is definitely off the gas pedal
Corluka has such a golden touch. Miss watching him play right back.
Is Olic coming in only to get his 98th cap? Can’t see any other reason to sub him in.
I wish Kramaric would’ve flipped off Mamic with both hands while being subbed out.
Bonucci will miss the Croatia match for Italy due to red card today (Malta is also down to 10 men)
Ziva Istina says:
italy always barely wins, but they win.
yes…and this is important and which is why they qualify for every BIG tournament, they know how to win when they need to!
Ivica Olic gets his 98th cap, soon to be subbed in
Of course, we can’t go a game without Olic coming on to do his little step overs.
yeah im hoping malta can get a goal
azerbaijanis only lost 2-1 in italy the other day remember
they arent completely useless
italy always barely wins, but they win.
Kramaric just stole Perisic’s hat trick doh
Love it how our guys are yukking it up when they are routing a country did didn’t even know they had a team.
PS- Italy barely winning at this moment.
their keeper was none to pleased when kramaric made him pick it up, shows the level they are at 😀
i wanna get 8 and break our record cmon guys go for 8 or 9
Srna showing Halilovic how to dive 😀
as far as pranja and his time at bayern i believe it ended with a bit of petulances a la the whole i cant play with sammir thing which he denies now. The dude has form, in a match like this it doesnt mean much whether he plays or not.
lol Iggy! I guess that beats zero highlights from Scotland games last qualifiers
@Mishko only 1 sub left because of Kovacic injury
fuckn hell if i make another vid for this qualifying campaign this game alone is gonna take ages even just for highlights with all these goals ROFL
OG 6-0 Croatia
Lololol what a entertaining shitshow.
own goal, we good at causing those 😀 nice assist perisic again 😀
Good fucking call, Modric off, Real will be happy with that. Halilovic on. How much you want to bet it Rakitic and the Mandzukic off.
Halilovic on for Modric
Yes we get to see Halilovic play for 30 minutes. Smart sub by Kovac. Now if only he made subs against Bulgaria, but I digress lol.
chance to beat the 7-0 record of our wins v aus and – i think was it andorra?? here
u boj… u boj…
Za narod svoj!!!
@Dalmo Ante it was a very high foot but like you I could not see contact to Darijo’s head, but it was close & dangerous at least
yes dude…I liked him but he isn’t that guy anymore…that was almost 5 years ago.
I didn’t leave out anything, his last season at Bayern is what I posted, and for good reason…why do you think he’s dropped in the type of leagues he’s played in since then?
Ayyy Luka, good for him. Man I love this crowd, so many chants. Hope they come back for another qualifier. Maybe the one against Bulgaria next year.
boot raised to his head, i couldnt see on this stream if it made contact or not
MODRIC GOAL ON PK!
LUKA GOAL! wasnt a dive lol he got kicked in the head now he’s even more retarded…
goal modric
Penalty kick from a Darijo dive!
PENATLY! SRNA
penalty
Ziva- Can we get a nickname for Jelavic? How Croatia doesn’t miss him….
One thing I will say, the touches from MM have been really nice.
@Slavonac what about the 50+ from the 2 seasons prior, also at Bayern and which you conveniently left out
Pranjic was decent offensively and suspect defensively. Now he is terrible both offensively and defensively. The only games he should be getting any playing time is against weak teams, such as today.
can’t wait for the over reaction to start. i am sure we will get a few crazy comments how we can win the Euro now. advise for some of you: don’t panic after one game and don’t go ecstatic after one game.
I like Pranjic over Millc, who showed little to nothing against Malta in his lone appearance. Still think Strinic is vastly unappreciated. He needs to get out of Ukraine and play in a more prominent league.
” I remember him at Bayern”
he played 7 games for Bayern in 2011-2012 and none of them meaningful…
Pranjic is OK at an offensive outside position but as a wingback…no chance!
Yeah i remember him at bayern when olic was saving him like mandzo had to today and then he fell out of favour, you are clutching at straws dude, but i wont hold it against you everyone has their favourite players, right or wrong
This is the first time since 1995 that we have 4 goals in the first half, almost 20 years.
The problem with Pranjic isn’t Pranjic, it’s our back line isn’t that good.
FYI – Marcelo at Real Madrid is awesome, however playing for Brazil he sucked, WHY, their back line sucked.
If you play Pranjic in a forward roll you have to have a good back line. Ours can be very Swiss Cheese like.
You guys can say all you want but Pranjic is a stud. I remember him at Bayern etc etc etc.
And let the media build Croatia up vs poor Ajzebajan
good result. only thing that sucks is having Puppet Suker bask in the limelight after this.
So Croatia beating Iceland doesn’t look too shabby after all. They’ve destroyed Turkey and now picking apart Holland at home.
man…Perisic did very well on that second header he scored…both were nice but the second one was pretty amazing!
No more Maksimir that stadion is not what it once was for Croatia time for Poljud Osijek Pula Varazdin and only Maksimir if fans show up
Nice to say that for at least a month, Croatia will be in first place.
Incredible game, special thanks to the savez for playing the game at this location. Amazing how some are you are still bitter. You would of loved if we were losing. Sad.
Kovac well done.
Pranjic still sucks?!?! What?!? Easily the best player we had in the WC (not bathroom) and is killing it today. Unfair and untrue statement.
its 4-0…I don’t think anyone is thinking this is some huge achievement…Azerbaijan has lost focus after the 2nd goal.
Not even worth explaining one self re: the Pranjic comment….
thats the same as if i now said i was pleased with kovac because we are doing a great job of being flat track front running bullies against a 5th rate team
Mamic must be stroking his cock after that Brozovic goal, imagining all the euros he’s gonna get for him.
Hopefully Mamic can sell Brozovic now and we won’t have to see him in the starting 11 again.
Pranjic still sucks Italy will eat him alive so will USA if he plays. looks like Brozovic is in the 11 Semented. and nazalost Pranjic aka Sranjic aswell feel bad for Kovacic But Perisic is a good player were the Perisic haters? Kramaric should have been on team since euro 2012!
nepoznat…really?
have we always said he sucks defensively or were we saying he can’t cross the ball? I’d play well in this game never mind Pranjic…he hasn’t had more than 18 seconds of defensive duties…silly comment.
@ Nepoznat still here, i still hate him for all he has cost us, a couple nice assists in over 50 undeserved caps doesnt cut it
Fucking hell, another goal.
smashing occurring here
makes me feel good down me panties
mamic is very firm right now 😀
Where-o-where are the Pranjic haters?
O-where-o-where can they be?!?
This is the Croatia we know and love
Oh shit, Mamic is popping bottles right now.
4-0 holyyyyy
brozovic goal 4-0
What a nice ball by Pranjic.
Mr. Adolf Kovacitler I mean Kovac looks to be happy with the result
very nice header by Perisic…and a great cross by Pranjic.
Fucking hell another Peresic header.
Perisic, Kramaric. Studs for the repka.
Goal Perisic header again!
Gotta give the devil his due. Excellent cross by Pranjic. Perisic is a scoring machine!!
PERSISIISISISC GOAL
!!! HEADEAR AGIAN AWOOOIKOK
perisic with another
Speaking of potential upsets Iceland 2 Netherlands 0 1st half.
Iceland 2 – 0 Holland
holy shit iceland 2 – 0 holland ???
its not the score that matters as much as the way we play in this game…we have to produce chances, convert them and build on some good plays. I am satisfied with the display so far.
Problem with Kovac is vs smaller teams he puts good lineups but against big teams he fucks up Brazil Lineup Mexico lineups come to mind
This is how you play vs smaller teams maybe No more Maksimir?
And suddenly everyone is gonna love kovac again
Azerbaijan got fucked there.
Ante B
It took Italy 44 minutes to score against them and 82 minutes to get a second. You are right, but these Euro qualifiers have featured a lot of upsets. Nice to see Croatia look dominant.
Mishko- A for effort. I chuckled at that one.
We better keep attacking and not bunker, because we bunker like a prostitute owing rent money on the 1st of the month.
Just remember were supposed to be doing this to this team.
LMAO, I just said that and then Peresic scores a header.
fuck yeah i just woke up turned it on and we scored, 2 – 0 : )
Raketa assist from a FK to Perisic’s header for 2-0
PEREISICISICSICSIC GOAL HEADER Guess Ivan Rakitic’s school of Heading worked
Rakitic set pieces are unreal. Beautiful cross to Perisic. Wow I can watch that five more times.
Raketa on the dead ball Perisic with the goal
Great!!!!
Dude their goalkeeper looks like his 40 years old my god
Wikipedia – Ivan Peresic received his PHd in heading from the Ivan Rakitic School of Heading in 2014.
as for pranjic putting a shot on the frame even a broken clock is right two times a day, but again we see his deficiencies when mandzo has to run from the top of the forward line to bail him out, or when he wastes balls trying to get around defenders. doesnt offer enough to justify how poor he is in defence.
The only person that can give good head is Lovren….get it lolol
Is the new running joke going to be that nobody on the team can head a ball on goal except Manzo?
Not even the goalkeeper wanted to be in front of that shot when Pranjic took it you could see that he was flinching away lol
he could always shoot…he can also cross…but against stronger opponents with offensive wings he is a nightmare.
Rakitic’s head ball wasn’t so easy like the one against Spain…he did jump but the ball was a tad high for him!
Mandzukic putting in some nice crosses today. Hopefully he’ll get in the box soon enough.
Thanks for the links! 😉
fuck me Kovacic is injured, Perisic on.
@Croatia vs. Antwerp wow what a blast! prob would’ve ripped through the net if it didn’t hit the woodwork
Kovacic out (and limping) for Perisic
This is the best crowd I’ve heard in ages.
Am I seeing things or did Pranjic just smash a Pile-Driver against the post???
ZA DOM SPREMNIIIIIII
Corluka got worked like a rib in Compton just there.
HOLY SHIT WAS PRANJIC unlucky. What a fucking shot.
@Ivan Malilug: if in USA use espn3.com
this is supposedly one:
http://ineolive.net/2204/1/Watch-Croatia-vs-Azerbaijan-/
Pranjic with a rocket off the bar!
http://atdhe.sx/soccer/watch-croatia-vs-azerbaijan-6ibki
Pranjic with a near goaliiii. Wow that was pretty sick. Love the ball movement so far, very fluid and Kovacic looks aggressive.
Holy Cow, Kramaric is just taking the game to the Azeris. Give’im an inch and he’ll take a mile.
Any links please?
Kramaric showing everyone why Jelavic retired lol
Kramaric is goood…I’m impressed with him so far!
studs up challenge on Srna nets Azerbaijan the first yellow card of the day
Should be Raketa not Darijo for this dangerous free kick… at least IMHO
Srna still taking free kicks. Did Kovac not see what Rakitic did on Friday?
HNS PEDERI NOGOMET STE SJEBALI!!!!!
A goal in under 11 minutes? That has to be a record for us, can anyone confirm?
Corluka running well and Srna putting in good crosses. What year is this?
Kramaric!!! Jebes Mamica!!!!
GOAAALLLL
GOAL KRAMARIC
Kramaric!!!!
GOALLALALALAL
I can see it now. Sign up this summer for “Ivan Rakitic’s School of Headers”.
I”m confused I”m watching the Croatia game but my commentating is for some greek/norway game…..
Rakitic still hasn’t learned from two years ago. Jesussss. Great ball from Kovacic though. Very promising start.
OH NO. Ziva is going to have a field day now.
lol Rakitic header miss / shout-out to Ziva
Listening to this crowd makes me hope they never play another game in Zagreb again….and on that note rakitic misses a header.
Rakitic misses yet another header.
@nepoznat Thank you for the link I owe you some cevaps after the game xoxoxoxo
@Allen LMAO, your fucked up dude. A cleat to the face isn’t funny.
R.I,P Corluka’s career as a pimp.
any one else hear Joe Simunic in/leading the crowd? 😀
Love the crowd noise and full stadium.
Oh shit, SPREMI ZA DOM. LMMFAO, here comes another fine.
Lol…the Spremni Za Dom has started
U bol already, I love it
@Croat if you are in USA, http://www.espn3.com
Just watching on the HRT feed…lineup is
Mandzukic – Kramaric
Rakitic
Kovacic – Modric – Brozovic
Pranjic – Corluka – Vida – Srna
Subasic
Finally starting with Rakitic playing behind two strikers…I have no issues with this lineup formation….as for Pranjic again – Kovac won’t learn until Pranjic royally messes up…another 50 times.
Any links for today’s game?
I understand the line up somehow.
The defence gave nothing away in Sofia, so why change our defence.
But we created too less (I’m being positive), so our attacking midfielders Olic and Perisic pay the price.
@ mishko
how’d that heart workout for iceland in the WC qualifier? one shot on goal by them in 2 matches?
croatia is 2 and 0 in qualifiers. let’s not overreact with the no heart comments. i think the players are playing hard. and today with the actual crowd support in osijek, i expect that to be especially the case
What is amazing to me is that Iceland has a population of 300K, but they play as a team, skill and more than anything else they play with HEART.
If we don’t play with heart today, I’ll stop giving a shit.
It’s ok we’ll be like Spain during the Euro’s and play only defenders and midfielders no biggie….jk lol
Official lineups:
Azerbaijan: Agayev – Qarayev, Allahverdiyev, Allahverdiyev, RF Sadygov – Medvedev Ramaldanov A. Abdullayev, Nazarov – Amirguliyev, R. Aliyev.
Croatia: Subasic – Roe, Vida, Corluka, Pranjic – Modric, Rakitic, Brozovic, Kovacic – Kramarić Mandzukic.
Looks like its Allegri’s 4-3-1-2
—–Mandzukic-Kramaric—–
————–Kovacic————-
—Brozovic-Rakitic-Modric—
-Pranjic–Vida-Corluka–Srna-
————–Subasic————-
Olic, Perisic out. Kramaric, Kovacic in. (From last game)
I personally like the team selection. Maybe Halilovic over Brozovic/Kovacic in a 4231. Ok with starting Pranjic in THIS game.
test test Azerbaijan
Pranjic still on starting eleven. . TOTALY BORING! !
here’s an interesting comment from Ciro. I really don’t know the relationship he has with Suker but according to this comment, he doesn’t shy away from calling people out:
Svi mi živimo od rezultata i nadam se da će Niko dugo živjeti na našoj reprezentativnoj klupi. Ne daj Bože da mora otići, to bi značilo da nema rezultate, a to je za sve nas onda loše. A ako se dogodi da zbog rezultata Kovač bude morao otići, onda ne treba otići samo Kovač nego prije svega Šuker jer je on odgovorna osoba – zaključio je Ćiro.
I think Rebic is the real deal.
He must be struggling with some injury that he and his team are trying to cover up.
I hope he doesn’t become another Ilicevic.
Allen Optimistic haha sounds a lot better when I was Allen Overjoyed
My buddy is sick from reffing all weekend in the rain, so I’ll be watching the game with my mom Ziva Istina style. Will be commenting here as well. Not gonna lie, wish Kranjcar was on the team so I can yell get that man a big mac if he scored.
lets hope rebic turns out well.
rave reviews of him post england game
not sure why he can’t play in 2nd league germany. commentators saying he should be in the premier league playing
@Slavonac, I totally agree. My biggest concern is that our players are only playing at 80% for fear of injury, because it sure looks that way.
would like to see some kramaric today to see some more of what he’s got
post jelavic, our forward depth is becoming extremely thin
eduardo and jelavic retire
olic nearing retirement
drmic playing for swiss
hrgota chooses to play for sweden
on another note, jelavic’s selfishness has to be highlighted one more time.
– he had actually been getting minutes (he wasn’t like vukojevic who never saw a minute under kovac)
-croatia’s fwd depth is low. one missing player (like vs brazil) and he’s in there
– at least wait till after the azerbijan game. how selfish can you be to do it in the middle of two games
Mishko- if you’ve ever noticed my comments, I’ve always said no teams can be taken lightly…soccer has evolved across the globe and there are no longer “weak” teams, as in 7-0 a sure bet.
as per our team, all I want to see is a good performance with a strong lineup and good subs. I really hope we create chances and provide solutions to their defence, we have several good offensive players, now we need a good game plan and good execution.
BTW – Anyone else noticing the success that Iceland is having? There are a lot of teams that have all gotten better. I mean Sweden barely beat Liechtenstein 2-0. Netherlands lost to the Czechs 2 -1. So no one can be taken lightly these days.
@ Allen Optimistic?
Brate enjoy the match at Scorpios today.
Maybe Kovac goes with a young attacking crew, being home.
Tko zna?
Jebi ga.
I am enjoying this ride with all the latent attacking potential. Sooner or later we will breakthrough.
@nepoznat
You are earning your 1 kuna stipend for all the links you put us on to.
@ Svima
Uvijek vjerni
Actually going to Scorpios today for the first time in a while for the game. It’s Columbus Day so might as well get a few drinks and watch the game.
I’ve gotten back to caring and loving the national team, after being really down in 2013 and not caring at all. I know many people are negative, which is fair. Still somewhat looking forward to today. Hoping to see some promising performances before the big showdown in San Siro next month.
IvicA, u21 game is tomorrow not today so no links yet. A Team vs Azerbaijan will be on ESPN3.com here in USA
Regarding Saan.tv, you can just make up an address. they don’t do a check. saan.tv is one of the best values out there.
Ivica A,
You’ve got to subscribe to Saan.tv.
They show all national team games and the streaming is probable a lot better than most other sites online.
However, when I subscribed years ago, you needed to use an address in Croatia.
Am looking forward to seeing what stupid thing Kovac says/does today. Dude brings on more drama on himself than a Kardashian.
HNS | CFF ✔ @HNS_CFF
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Još samo tisuću ulaznica ostalo je za utakmicu Hrvatska – Azerbajdžan. Požurite na blagajnu! #BudiPonosan
Any links for the U21 match against England?
Also, any links to the Azerbaijan match?
I say 6k… I mean look at the Azeri NT. Bunch of domestic league guys that will immediately park the bus upon kickoff. I’d rather watch a Treca HNL game than watch the Azeri NT.
Per the usual, our guys are going to have a tough time breaking the bunker, should be a 2-1, 1-0 type of game. Snooze city.
Um is Azibahanni is Europe?
Any guesses on how many people should be at the game today? Hopefully cooler heads prevail and it is a low turnout to show the savez the fans are sick of this shit show. I’m sure the savez learned their lesson from the last game and is basically giving tickets away at this point in order to get a decent crowd.
@ Marko
Say it ain’t so … no Mateo?
Brate we play slow as Xmas !
Everyone knows my respect for Modric, Rakitic and MANdzukic … But they all lack PACE.
We need SPEED to compliment them:
Rebić
Kovacic
Olić (45-20 mins TOPS!)
Perišić
Kramaric
Jedvaj
Halilovic
C) Cico is a drunk but he is entertaining!
I’ll go with G: The Hedgehog. He is very good at head games with the ladies and he still squeezes every inch of effort out of his hammer on a daily basis.
Still goes hard 24/7, even at his age. True masterclass.
or G) Ziva being the new Prime Minister of Croatia
Friends,
Who do you think is more qualified:
A. Kum Kovac as national team coach
B. Pletikosa’s wife as a life coach
C. Cico Kranjcar leading an AA class
D. Niko Kranjcar leading a weight loss class
E. Rakitic giving lessons on how to head the ball
F. Puppet Suker teaching a financial literacy class
I fully expect us to win but based on form, cohesion or lack thereof im not expecting much in the way of a spectacle. We will probably see another 90 of olic running himself into the ground, srna giving piss poor crosses, pranja having no influence both ways, vida being shaky etc etc. Adolf refuses to see his errors thinks he knows it all and is above criticism and yet he doesn’t even run the team, he is merely a pawn. All that will be followed by a quick dash back to salzburg
We will win, but I am more curious if Kum Kovac will direct the players on what they can talk to the media about, again.
hey do you know what !!
LANJUTKAN TREN POSITIF > carry on the positive trend
http://m.sepakbola.com/2014/10/prediksi-kroasia-vs-azerbaijan-lanjutkan-tren-positif
i have created for that poster to my editorial
thanks to upload that one right here .>
by the way … i am from Indonesia !!
@Marko
In 3 of those 5 games, our opponents played with a man down, and scored in their own net in one of the other games.
We’ve been strong defensively because of the very timid and safe way we play. We bring that ball up very cautiously and slowly, at a very slow pace. It’s cost us our creativity (which is supposed to be our strength).
This cautious play will work against inferior opponents, and we’ll easily qualify for Euro2016…but once we get there, we’ll need to completely change the way we play and focus on maximizing on our strength.
I fully expect us to beat Azerbaijan 1-0 or 2-0, and I fully expect us to directly qualify. But unless we change the way we play on the offensive end, it will be another ‘first round and out’ cameo in the next Euro.
Wait what? I didnt even say anything bad about the team… I just meant that if we think that we are superior than our opponent then that could lead us into trouble…and we need to play against them differently than we did against Bulgaria….registering more than 2 shots or so….because if we keep playing like we did our last match we’re bound to get outplayed by the bigger teams….we need to think about the future and instead of the short term success…basically like Lican said…we need to to wake up inject ourselves with some kind of high caffeine supplement before the game…
I purely stated that there are no certainties, its not a mortal lock that we keep a clean sheet, you state it as if it’s a fact.
I have to say I was very disappointed in their win against Bulgaria,with such a stacked team to their disposal, but they shouldn’t take Azerbaijan lightly,look what happened when we played Scotland! This team needs to wake the fuck up and show teams how dangerous we really are!
I’ll be happy if we can get more than 2 shots on goal. Fuck, we can’t even hit the net right now.
I never said they’d get scored on I said they need to be disciplined….we need to create more.
In the 7 competitive games Kovac has managed for the NT, 5 have ended up being clean sheets.
A: Iceland
H: Iceland
N: Cameroon
H: Malta
A: Bulgaria
Mexico and Brazil we let up goals. (Pretty cheap ones vs Brazil, and a 10 min meltdown vs Mexico.)
I see no reason for the strong defensive performances to stop at home vs Azerbaijan.
Anybody willing to bet a 2 week break(ban) from CroatianSports? If Hrvatska keeps a clean sheet, Dalmo, Croat, and Slavonac take a 2 week break, if hrvatska gets scored on you won’t see my input or fictional lineups for 2 weeks. Bet?
I agree….Azerbaijan can score if we aren’t disciplined!
*Azerbaijan WILL NOT score on us* what makes you so sure about that? They have 11 players just like we do they have strikers who can score just look at the Italy game we can never be too sure! if we played like we did against Bulgaria both teams will be bunkering
In order to break a bunker from other positions than a dead ball (corner, indirect, direct) we need players that can take on defenders so I think Kovacic would be a good fit to start this game….maybe Halilovic as a 2nd half sub…but we need quick and offensive styled attackers. They will give us the outside and contest the middle…expect stoppages and slow throw ins and free kicks….they have nothing to lose, we do!
I like the confidence but other than birth, taxes and death there are no certainties (if you don’t pay the income tax you sure as shit will pay GST, land tax and the like), factoring in all of that in it is possible they can score. Playing bunker means we should get a few corners, as opposition coach one would surely have a designated runner to exploit one our lack of speed and two pranjic’s incompetence for the position, just as much as we plan for them (which under current management I guess wouldn’t be much) they are planning for us. 22 players on the pitch at kick off is a certainty the rest is up in the air.
For the aussies how many of you expected priddis to win the brownlow? He is a deserving winner but wasnt even on the radar. So I sure as hell hope the players dont see this a walkover.
Azerbaijan WILL NOT score on us, all that matters on monday is if we can, or can not break their bunker.
I predict a 2-0 win.
Break the bunker, or get killed on the counter, every coach with half a brain knows where we are weak. Pranja on LB with vida central should be every coaches wet dream.
The problem with having Pranjic at back is that will be the regular lineup…this isn’t some new development, it happens to be a regular occurrence that just isn’t a solid move.
This topic of Pranjic is exhausting and I just don’t see why Kovac has brought him back for this. The original reason was for more offense and yet he is a flop in both offense and defence.
@DalmoAnte
“If Kovac insists on using Pranjic at LB, I’m fine with it if its against Azerbaijan at home.”
Strinic is my first choice left back, but i don’t really care if Kovac just wants another player to help break Azeribaijan’s bunker.
Pranjic and Olic are Kovacs Boys!
After all the shit house performances pranjic has put in over the years, he still makes your starting 11?
damn, I owe IvicA and Marko lunch. Let me know that next time you are in LA
“Who cares if someone offered 25mil for Kovacic. That shouldn’t mean he’ll automatically be in the first 11. Tbh he honest, he doesn’t fit with Rakitic and Modric in the middle. We need someone like Brozovic, Pasalic, Radosevic, Males, Mocinic. Someone with some defensive discipline and willing to run their socks off and protect the D.
I’m 100% on board with Brozovic or Kramaric starting every game. (Brozovic against tougher opponents, Kramaric vs teams that will bunker.)
I hope to see 2 changes in the lineup vs Azerbaijan on monday.
Kramaric for Brozovic
Halilovic for Olic
If Kovac insists on using Pranjic at LB, I’m fine with it if its against Azerbaijan at home.
vs Azerbaijan
————Mandzukic————–
–Perisic–Kramaric–Halilovic–
———-Rakitic-Modric———–
-Pranjic–Vida-Corluka–Srna–
————–Subasic—————-”
I’ll just leave this hear.
Indonesian btw. I’d like some steak, or some burek, as my prize.
Indonesian