RAKITIĆ LOSES 2 FRONT TEETH AND SUFFERS MINOR CONCUSSION
Ivan Rakitić didn’t play 15 minutes on Tuesday due to taking a boot to the face; resulting in two lost lower front teeth and a minor concussion. It appeared as if Rakitić was in a seizure-state after he fell to the ground, most likely from swallowing blood. However, he walked off the field under his own power and even wanted to be put back in the game. Rakitić was in good spirits while in the hospital saying, “The dentist will fix the teeth, but the U-21 Euro Cup will never come again,” while watching Croatia’s senior side defeat Norway from his hospital bed.
So what did we learn today?
Dejan Lovren is a typical Croatian hothead.
Domagoj Vida is an absolute beast- offensively and defensively.
Kelava has some potential in the keeper’s spot.
The better team won in this tie- Spain.
Kelava gets his left arm hooked on a punch-out attempt which results in a Spain goal after a corner. It’s surprising how a foul wasn’t called by the Scottish ref with what he’s decided so far.
Rakitić was accidentally heeled in the mouth, resulting in heavy blood from the spot of the injury. He fell to the ground and started to seizure (best way to explain how it looked). Everyone on the pitch quickly ran over in panic. It appeared he swallowed some blood but walked off the pitch on his own power. Rakitić was immediately subbed out for Oremuš.
U-21 EURO CUP BERTH ON THE LINE
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Spain U-21 @ Croatia U-21
October 12th
10 AM(ET) Kickoff
After a 2-1 away defeat to Spain on Saturday, Croatia’s U-21 team returns back home to host Spain in the second leg of their playoff tie on Tuesday. The lineup will receive tons of ammunition as Ivan Rakitić and Dejan Lovren join the juniors after being part of Croatia’s 2-1 win in Israel this past weekend. Mato Jajalo and Domagoj Vida will be in the starting lineup while Blackburn Rover striker Nikola Kalinić and Dinamo’s Šime Vrsaljko are out due to yellow card suspensions. Club Brugge ‘wonder kid’ Ivan Perišić is also back in the lineup.
Croatia will have plenty of firepower in a game they only need to win 1-0 in order to progress to the final 8-team tournament next summer in Denmark. Croatia’s juniors haven’t qualified since 2004. Can they overcome Bojan Krkić and the rest of the Spanish youngsters to put Croatia’s future back on the map?
Norway @ CROATIA Friendly
October 12th, 2:15 PM(ET) Kickoff
SRNA PLAYING PEAK-A-BOO WITH KRANJČAR
It appears that team chemistry is still strong as Croatia gained some much needed momentum this past Saturday with a 2-1 win over Israel. On Tuesday, Croatia host Norway in a friendly which should see Kaiserslautern’s Ivo Iličević in checkers for the very first time. Norway currently lead their Euro 2012 qualifying group with three straight wins over Portugal, Cyprus and Iceland.
Which Croatians faces should get the majority of play in this friendly match?
OLIĆ IS OUT 3-4 WEEKS AS HE TRIES OUT FOR THE LEAD IN ROCKY VII
LIVE COVERAGE OF THE MATCHES AVAILABLE ON CSR TWITTER
LIVE FEEDS:
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I didn't expect Croatia to advance in this tie, so any decent result would have worked for me. 2-1 loss in Spain was huge. Spain have only themselves to blame as they missed a few empty netters that would have sealed Croatia's faith early on. Croatia's overall effort in both legs was impressive.
I was never hot on Lovren, however, he disappointed me today. Picking up that silly yellow card, then following that up with an out of control challenge after the first Spain goal to award him with an early shower. The very little hope that Croatia had was squashed after this foul. You would expect more from a Lyon starting defender.
Vida is a beast. The guy was all over the pitch. Without a doubt my favorite U21 Croatian player.(Not counting Rakitic as he's already a standard senior.
Kelava was on fire all game up until the first goal. Besides this and the other two goals which he had no control over, he played well.
@Ivo Miljanovic,
"You may consider playing in the stock market."
A little luck my friend. Actually, today, I put the house on Greece to win and a few parlays on Greece, Italy-Serbia draw, and Montenegro-England draw…. I got lucky with Serbia. The way things started, no way Serbia would have squeaked out a draw.
"Spain deserves to qualify, no doubt about it. They have been playing better in both legs."
I agree. Its a shame that Croatia wasn't gifted with a better draw.
"Interesting fact, just taking a look to the team's value:
Spain: 130 million euros
Croatia: 30 million euros."
This is amazing..
@Michael,
"Can't really blame the loss on that foul."
I agree. Spain were the better team.
Mandzo's tattoos look like he shoved his forearm up some sheep's ass and forgot to wipe.
there is still the U20 World Cup…
I'll be cheering for Iceland btw in the U21 tournament lol
Well I finally got access to a comp in school and how disappointing. If Rakitic actually played, it seems like it could have been better. Lovern needs to calm down, since he needs to be the future CB for this team that lacks many CB's. Oh well for soccer this summer, guess I will be rooting for England.
I hate bitching too its just so pointless and never does anything beneficial. How often does the ref change his mind when you bitch at him constantly?! The call has already been made its not being changed so get on with it and keep playing. I could understand something totally ridiculous happening and an outburst happens because that would be natural but not this stuff throughout the match…but this is the U-21 side and dont worry it happens just as much in senior squads and squads who are much better then Croatia as well. They have let it become part of the game and its annoying. Refs need to get more disciplined on this and flopping and it will be a better game to watch.
Lovren must have went to the Igor Biscan school of anger management. Comical. I never liked playing with teamates who constantly bitched at the ref and I sure dont like watching it on TV.
Lovren, Perisic, Vida, Rakitic (obviously) are locks in the senior NT.
With better form: Jajalo, Badelj, Tomecak and Vrsaljko have the potential to make the squad
Vukusic, Ademi, Vrsaljko were playing with the U19s only 3-4 months ago, so they can still play in the U21s next cycle
Maloca, Jozinovic, Simic are not good enough to be more than HNL players I'm afraid
Kelava makes some good saves but he also makes some bonehead decisions on set pieces, nothing new for Croatian keepers
I guess we can look forward to who from this squad should get a shot with the senior team based on their play at the club level and u-21s.
Lovren….does not have the nerves to play for the senior side just yet, at least not based on what he did today
Vida….I thought he played OK. Playing in the bundesliga shows he has a future.
Rakitic…already a senior member
Jajalo……No
Presisc…..deserves a shot based on his play in Belgium. Don't know if he is any better than what we currently have.
Badelj…..No
Ademi…No
maloca….NO
Jozinovic…No
Vukusic….No
Kalinic….did not play today, but will be in the mix if he can ever actually score.
So, 4 guys who will be in the mix with the hope 1 or 2 of them can actually contribute.
look at the good news guys Azerbaijan is beating turkey 1-0 at half time of qualifying for euros
About the Lovren thing that was very immature anyone can say he should know better which he should but thats all about development. If he makes these mistakes as he gets older then thats where it will really hurt him(and us) but for now he still has time to learn. He really is one of Croatias prospect defenders who are up and coming I really hope he can develop into a decent player. For me I really like to see Vida he is an exciting player when he is running up attacking I think he could be a good shout in the senior squad for our right side in a few years if he makes a move up in his club position. I do really like him though he is so fast and shows signs of brilliance I dont think he is strong defensively but he wouldnt be bad at RM and if he does improve a lot defensively he can go back to RB.
Spain pouring on the goals, 3-0 now.
this is getting ugly now…they might as well end it, no need to play 10 minutes of extra time
Our U-21 team did look fairly good today, just could not capitalize and are very lucky Spain could not either.
Can't really blame the loss on that foul.
More game stalling going on, Dominguez looks like to have said something vs Vida and it prompted a yellow.
Lopez makes it 2-0 and that's game folks. Kelava had some good saves to really keep us in it.
Our only downfall was playing Spain to qualify. We did everything and we were deserving of a seed in the tournament but we get stuck playing Spain. Its just one of those things you cannot avoid. Spain is the better team no doubt but we are not a bad team and we have some talent coming up. All in all its reassuring to see we still will have players coming up the youth system in all levels for such a small country we maintain a decently strong side everywhere. Good job boys.
That's for sure. Spain deserves to qualify, no doubt about it. They have been playing better in both legs.
Interesting fact, just taking a look to the team's value:
Spain: 130 million euros
Croatia: 30 million euros.
Anyway, money doe not kick the ball on the pitch.
hmmmm,…..on 2nd view it does appear the arm of the keeper was hooked. Either way, you still have to keep your cool and not go all nuts on the ref when there are still 20 minutes left.
I'll have to look at the replay again. I thought if there was any contact that it took place after the ball was over hsi head. Could be wrong. Either way, the more deserving team is going to win.
@ Ziva: I disagree and I agree with you. I think it was a foul, just see how the Spaniard's arm block Kelava's. I agree on Lovren. What a stupid way to get expelled.
Match delayed due to fans throwing crap on the pitch. Going to be a lot of stoppage time.
Lovren = idiot. All day long bitching at refs. Play the damn game and stop worrying about the refs. Another hothead.
Down to 10-men now. Lovren with his 2nd yellow.
that was not a foul.
There is no debate who has the better players, but our effort has been great.
The first 20 minutes of the 2nd half we came out agressive. Some of it is due to Spain protecting their lead, but they seem to have this game under control.
Just as I type this we gave up a brutal goal. Kelava came out for a corner, whiffed on it and Spain scores. Some will complain about a foul on Kelava, but he whiffed on the ball. It went over his arms.
No foul called, 1-0 Spain. Can't really fault the young ones for this, this was a fairly entertaining game.
2 goals needed just to put it to ET.
Tomecak on for Jozinovic
Can't touch the goalkeeper in the small box. Foul.
@ Ziva – That back 4 had me worried, a few times, Lopez nearly burned them. Krkic/Lopez is a fairly formidable duo up front.
Why were they bitching about Za Dom, but had nothing to say about the Bojan chants? (Or did they?)
I lived in Varazdin and I have some good friends at this game I hope we can pull it off. Its been a tough fought game I dont know Spain are just so strong you can see that but we might be able to manage a win. We are fighting hard and have a chance to pull something off though. ZA DOM SPREMNI
It's true that the defense is looking very shaky but I think the problem originates in the midfield. They are letting the Spaniards mid and attackers go and play their game very easily.
Spain really should have put this tie away, they only have themselves to blame. Croatia's back line is not functioning well, Jozinovic and Vida keep getting burned and even Lovren is not that convincing. Kelava saved Croatia's ass on that save. Really nobody stood out in the first half, there were some moments but it was mostly Spain
Blazicko is a clown, who cares what the fans chant? They PAY to watch the game
The kick on the face was made by his teammate in Schalke, Parejo.
@ Denis: Lately you've been very accurate my friend. You may consider playing in the stock market. I sincerely hope you are wrong with the U21 match though 😉
Tough to see how we are going to keep a clean sheet. I am worried about Lovren, Maloca and Jozinovic in the backline. Their talent is not the question, but you can tell they have some communication issues with the offside trap. probably lack of playing time together. Spain have burned them a few times, almost scoring a goal.
Good effort so far by our guys. These Spainards are talented.
For those of you watching on HRT, did you catch the tv announcers bitching about the fans chanting "za dom spremni." Funny.
Rakitic out of match in 13'.
Took a boot to the face, after sticking out his leg (I think Krkic was the one).
U-21 Croatia will miss out on the championship after going up 1-0, then giving up a goal to finish 1-1…
Ilicevic will make his debut sadly off the bench, and Croatia will squeak out a boring 1-0 victory. (Mate Bilic)