We called it the ‘Z Squad’ all week long, but the ‘Z Squad’ showed up to play. Going into their game with Mexico on Saturday, the collective Croatian team only had one goal between them alongside a mere 29 caps. But knowing possible future spots on a 24-team Croatia ‘A’ team were on the line, the kids came to play.
Gent goalkeeper Lovre Kalinić stood on his head for much of the game and undoubtedly saved equalizing goals form the Mexico side multiple times. His only gaffe came on Mexico’s goal where he came out in the 6-yard box but could not reach for the high cross, which lead to Chicharito’s record goal for Mexico. Bayer Leverkusen man Tin Jedvaj, in his eighth game for Croatia, was solid on defense and saved a ball off the line for Kalinić which was heading for the back of the net.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
But 21 year-old Hajduk midfielder Fran Tudor, who was ‘Man of the Match’, was a sight to see. The kid was relentless in practice all week in Los Angeles and it showed on the field against Mexico. Tudor DOES NOT stop running! He assisted on Duje Čop’s opening goal with a nice trap and quick, sharp pass in the box and then chased a defensive pass back to Ochoa 25 yards down the field to beat the Mexican goalie and shoot from an incredibly tight angle to score Croatia’s second goal in two minutes. The Croatia juniors went into halftime up 2-0 and denied multiple Mexican attacks in the second half for the historic win.
Interviews with Čačić, Šuker, Šimunić, Tudor, Jedvaj after the match
The young guns came to play this week and although it didn’t seem like this result was possible, based on practice this week, these players were hungry. The atmosphere and fans at the Coliseum for Croatia’s first ever match on North American soil was electric. There was something special in the air yesterday in Los Angeles, and although just a friendly, fans who were on hand to witness this win will remember the day forever. Here’s a look in at the pregame tailgate party where Croatians and Mexicans came together in Los Angeles.
HAJDUK ALL THE TIME ….
While there, i would go to the blue lagoon for sure and check out the glaciers. In terms of nightlife, b5 for sure
Is anyone from this site going to the game?
Sure you did the troll. More lies
@ ganfri
I went to that Iceland game for world cup qualifying a couple years ago. Was a blast. I went to the hns website and got the ticket via them. Will require a cro passport
Does anyone know where i can purchase one ticket for the Iceland game on June 11?
Were the Mexican beauty’s at the game Selena Gomez and Becky G. I”m disappointed that Alen Halilovic is never in the Croatian team his talent is wasting away.
I actually Had a great time this weekend. I got to mingle with some fellow pravi hrvati (not the trying-to-dress up like grandpa chubsters/posers), listened to some hrvatska glazba, and got to enjoy watching some disregarded Croats surprise some people. Like i said, from the standpoint of the repka thua game was meaningless but it was nice to see some of these guys create a memory themselves…. Although probably their last
62k attendance, atmosphere was great, So glad i went to the game. As a fan of hajduk i knew wut to expect from those guys. Although Santini gained control of a few airballs, i was surprised cuz he looks smaller irl.
I haven’t read a the truth comment in a while……lakant is a tough read but I swallow the pill
@Nema Pojma-
Regarding your comment: ” I love the extreme negative and then the over the top positive.”
My response: Fuck you asshole, but we love you Brate!
LAknat, you complain too much!
Cacic has been great. I couldn’t care less about the scrubs on the bench getting no minutes so long as we win.
At least he’s not showcasing shit like Sammir for Mamic’s benefit.
I can’t stand ppl who get too wrapped up in their work.
It must be stifling having to work under someone like Cacic every day. When you have an ability and confident, but your coach restrain you to make such an impact by obeying his bunkering tactic,
@The truth/American puto
Singing Thompson songs, playing Ustasa dress up, that must’ve really upset an old Yugo like yourself?
So your weekend consists of laughing at your fellow Hrvati and not giving a shit if we lose 10-0.
Man does your life sound good!
I’m guessing you’ve got a lot of friends?
Beat it the troll. Nobody wants your opinion
sorry for not keeping you guys up to date on the truth over the weekend. I was occupied by the cro weekend out in LA.
a couple thing surprised me, and a couple did not. lets start with what did not
1) diaspora hrvati. wow, some of these guys. where do they get them from. you should’ve seen how many diaspora there were decked out in cro gear singing Thompson songs, most of them chubsters. but prob most of them didn’t even understand what the words meant. it’s like most of these guys got into their grandfathers closet and started playing ustase dress up.
these guys are like your typical social media millennial generation nowadays. they like to film this stuff for their facebook. and march around acting tough like they are defenders of the homeland. but the second any trouble in hrvatska comes up, don’t expect these guys to leave their cushy American lives and show up
2)The game: It was meaningless. I didn’t really care if we won 5-0 or lost 10-0. I guess maybe what it could show you is how undeserving many of these overhyped cro youth are to be on the NT. Here was a group of unheralded z-listers who vastly outperformed haliloshit, ante chode-itch, mateo krotch-does-itch, marko pee-ass-a
3) I guess the other thing you could say is that these guys put forward more effort, unlike the current generation. remember how I said cro used to play above their talent level, now they play at or below. I guess you could argue that today’s cro superstars maybe just don’t care as much based on how a group of terrible cro players who did care actually performed way above their ability (even though they were holding on by a thread….27% possession, nothing to be too proud of)
Early “post of the year” potential.
“Your logic is being an asshole.”
Beautifully said, LAknat!
I love this site.
1st post – Who’s this David Čolina kid
a couple of posts later – now we have unearthed a superstar LB ?
Before the game – cacic je govno
After the game – Cacic je Sir Ante Cacic
I love the extreme negative and then the over the top positive.
Coric lost in a thriller
the coach treats the subs as if they better not to play,
fuck u all, your logic is being an asshole, Cacic only know
11 players on the field and some of them are guaranteed!
my opinion on winning vs not important.
there are a few factors about this topic that make winning important but nothing is more important than getting the win…its almost as if its a learned behavior.
I understand coaches try new formations/strategies and players in different positions but at any level, you’re goal is to be successful at it…which means you’re trying to provide a solution to win. anyone can tell you they experimented with younger kids or a new formation but at the end of the day, thats what the training field is for…practice those things during your camp or have a few home exhibition games vs local clubs…once you play at the international level the ultimate goal is to implement your newer strategy successfully. coaches don’t come up with a new strategy during game time, they practice it with the team over and over again and they try to implement the process in these types of friendlies. make no mistake, the Mexican coach was incredibly pissed off his team had lost that game, he was open about it…and we were only the 2nd team to beat Mexico in something like 30 + games.
what does a team gain from learning how to win? everything!!! the streak continues, the camaraderie is stronger, you learn to find ways to compete harder and you become more successful at it. winning is very important psychologically and when a team wants success…it is measured in wins vs losses! winning promotes competition within the team, each player wants his spot and will work harder to get to be part of the success!
the second part of winning plays into being ranked and seeded. Slaven Bilic did a good job at monitoring this and during his time as coach, Croatia often was ranked in the top 10…which then offers some benefits when you are seeded for tournaments. I know its not the most important thing but I can tell you being seeded lower and then having to deal with tougher teams does make things more of a challenge.
the new development from this win is that Cacic has a few more options now whereas if they lost, the regular team was his only option. sometimes a young player can be affected by trema (stage fright) and his performance can suffer, other times you have the so-called ignorant syndrome. its when a person isn’t really affected by the overall environment of being surrounded by proven stars…we saw that with Rog last Summer…he was aggressive and paid no respect to the Spanish players…and thats kinda what I saw from Tudor on Saturday. he literally excited me (not in the sexual way you perverts)…the guy was enthusiastic, unselfish, aggressive, eager, hard working….it was the first time I saw him play and I really would have loved to had a player like him on the field with me when I was younger. players like him will force Cacic in the future, if he continues to work as he did on Saturday. he may not have the quality of a Halilovic, but neither did Olic…and his career was pretty damn good!
winning promotes a positive environment, I stand by that and don’t think any coaches and players would disagree with me.
Ivan Rakitić number 50 on ESPN’s list of 100 most popular current athletes. Ronaldo, Lebron, Messi take the first three spots. No other Croats on the list.
Hi all, good point, winning is not important, the key is always doing better!
You all will agree with my tattoo!
Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Your players tried at the Euros, they failed, no matter, try again in Russia, if you guys fail, no matter, so long as you fail better.
Being better is all you can ask, and remember losing does not mean you were not better!
http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1050901/los-angeles-2024-hail-unity-in-diversity-of-city-following-international-football-friendly
“Diplomatic relations between the US and Mexico are strained following the election of Donald Trump as American President last November.
Building a wall along the US-Mexican border in a bid to curb illegal immigration was a key electoral pledge made by Trump.”
Good to see the relations between the Croatians and Mexicans isn’t strained at all, always keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, something the majority of you puto Americans don’t know anything about!
Just like Bosnia is Croatia, LA is Mexico, you American putos should remember that!
I don’t think a single team played better than us in euro2016 but the better team don’t always win
Cico #50,000 . DISI ??? We Need your Love & Input .
Kalinic SAVED OUR ASSSSSSS . Hajduk goalies are the Best from our Country … HAJDUK Zivi Forever & Ever ! If it was not for Lovre , we would have lost 8 to 2 .. God Bless U .
@Soul Champ- You know I love Cacic. He has a few quirks, but I still believe that, when we were not getting robbed by referees or dodging flares, we played the best soccer in last year’s Euros. I go with a quirky Croatian over an Italian/foreign coach anyday.
Thank God for Our Hajduk Players !!
@jedan you know how many Mexicans live in LA
^ in a sense
Friendlies are often times used to give players a run out and tactics or to appease Sukers pockets
@BZ
So what you and Slavonac are saying is, it doesn’t matter if you don’t win if you’re not trying to win?
@anon – I vote Friendlies are meaningful, but the result is meaningless (unless practicing retaining a result, ; ) Slavonac
My top 5 meanings:
1) Allow first team to gel
2) Experiment with formation
3) Experiment with personnel
4) Give youth experience
5) Win
The first thing some of you guys have to do is find out whether you believe these friendlies are meaningless or not, once that has been ascertained, then you other guys can make solid comments like NK Susak as well!
Even though the match was meaningless, I think Number 11’s performance was significant!
It’s important to win meaningless matches, I also believe that the match is meaningless and that the result does not matter!
Slavonac is correct. Mexico wanted to win and it was like they were playing at home, I couldn’t believe that they had over 60,000 for this game. Much respect to Cacic and this young team. Very impressive performance. .
Mexico had a helluva lot more FIREPOWER on the bench…so we couldn’t exactly “fight FIRE with FIRE” if ya know what I mean…
What started out as playing against a Mexican B+ side, they slowly started to morph in to an A side as Vela, Guardado, and Dos Santos joined the party. So really there wasn’t much we can do except bunker at that point.
But I do think if we hadn’t gotten a red card, we probably would have been able to launch some counter attacks towards the end of the match.
@ Soul Champ
I too am excited by Fran Tudor. Heck Mexico, may not have been familiar with our “Z Squad,” but they’ll sure as hell remember the name Fran Tudor! And something tells me this won’t be the last we see of this kid!
@ Slavonac
The performance by Fran Tudor made the whole May 27th date worth it.
The kid was quick, tough and competed his arse off.
I hope this adds to his profile and he can transfer to a club where he can continue to develop while making some real money.
@ BZ
Like the way you break it all down with Čačić.
I will say that he may limited in certain areas but I enjoy the Croatian identity he brings to the table.
We seem to be slowly defining how we play.
Hopefully this will be clear as we head into Rejkavik. I do pray he uses all three substitutions as the Vikings run hard for 90+ minutes.
I appreciated the way the freshman team produced a result against Mexico.
Now I am ready for the Varsity to represent.
Ofcourse after we enjoy yet another Croatian in the Champions
League final !
the 2nd goal we scored was as impressive as I’ve seen in a long time. if you get a chance to watch the replay, watch how that kid Tudor anticipates the play 5 seconds before he even knows the pass-back is going to happen…that was an incredibly smart play, he read it long before it happened.
BZ – I think Susak made a great point yesterday. I don’t necessarily believe the team bunkered by design but moreso out of necessity. Mexico are all familiar with each other, they pressed us as soon as we had possession and it didn’t look like we could maintain any possession out of our own end…which lead to the defending over and over.
^me^
thats our trademark…. when we play teams that are better and even worse than us. back in the day it was bad go up 1-0 and try to see the result out, it just doesn’t fit the type of players we have, we are much more suited to go for the second.
furthermore, I would rather get scored on while trying to go for a second than while trying to hold 1-0, when you are bunkering and you get scored it is much harder to change mindset once again and get the second in comparison you to being on the front front.
@Slavonac- All good, there are benefits in everything. I agree about getting a result. In the end, we got the result we wanted. Love how we had ~10 paragraphs about bunkering and getting a result, without anyone mentioning mental midgetcy. Glad those days are over.
so how can u guys say bad coaching when we were down to 10! We had lead and bunkered because we were down a man like any smart team would do in that situation . If we continued to attack, our 1 less man on D would be way more apparent than if we always have team back defending together.
BZ – you make good points bro, I wasn’t trying to be hard on you, I was just trying to emphasize that learning how to win is something special in itself…getting the result matters.
Cacic has not have enough time with those kids to really make much of a impact on the overall style of play…and…that team really didn’t have anyone to calm the play and maintain possession in the midfield, this is why I was satisfied…he accomplished far more than I expected him to do and those boys played a tight game with very little possession.
Its very very hard to play a high calibre team, at a high tempo, with that massive crowd supporting them, against that type of experience. Mexico was very organized, they transitioned from defence to attack in 2 seconds and attacked in great numbers…we did not! Its an overwhelming experience to be on a field and always feel you are outnumbered…and that exactly what happened.
also, regardless of what the Mexicans think and say, I guarantee you that they wanted and expected the win. They subbed in their captain Guardado and Jonathan Dos Santos at half time, then subbed in Carlos Vela shortly after. Those are BIG named players…and they surely are far more experienced than anyone on our team, even more than Cop or Santini…or even Jedvaj.
learning to get a result in every situation is a massive lesson so I think thats something you have to take into consideration. This isn’t house league soccer, even in an exhibition you have to get that win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnrQkZU2P7U
what do you think of this one?
@all- sounds like Mandzukic is fine after that challenge on Saturday. Allegri was worried, but said he was good.
NK Susak , we probably lose 6-2 . Selfishness don’t win . Great Halo was Not THERE .
@Slovanac- you are nitpicking my nitpicking, but for the sake of conversation…
1) Some great teams bunker when leading.Agreed, Italians execute it better than most, because they practice the COUNTER. We had zero counter, almost like it was our strategy to not even try to counter. All I am saying is Cacic needs a better bunkering strategy for our first team. I hope he learned, because against better talent those shots & headers aren’t going to hit our goalie in the chest (no disrespect to Kalinic, as his positioning was what it needed to be). I am not sure how this is even an argument. Bunkering like that is a good way to get slaughtered AND fired (as it is the most painful way to lose.)
2) Regarding your false dilemma of giving us 2 choices:1) open up & get slaughtered or 2) bunker & preserve….dude those are not the only two options, you know that.
3)Given the choice, I would much rather lose a friendly & learn more about these guys against good talent THAN win bunkering the way we did. Traveling 11 hours to bunker is unfair to the kids that wanted to come and show what they could do. No scout is going to look at the 2nd half, and think anybody who came off the bench was any good.
Whats to say we don’t keep kicking these Puto’s ass had we just played aggressively?
Ante, it sounded like you were yelling at the mic in the beginning.
Also Ante, ja sam Hrvat iz Stockton, CA. Stockton is 50 miles south of Sacramento fyi Ante. Nice game coverage!
Siminic should be our coach- heart of a lion when he played- there would be not one player who would dare to mess with him- we have good players but all are puppets of the regime- who cares about Mexico and all the sun par teams- we have to set our standards like the Germans – we can do it but it’s going to be a huge leap in measuring ourselves to the highest standard
@ Svima
What a weekend!
Saturday ZDS performance by the Z squad.
Then Inter v Udinese was feast of Perišić – Brozovic/Balic.
Now we have unearthed a superstar 16 year old at LB in Čulina ?
Is the depth is going beyond mid 90’s?
@ Slavonac
Stric Čačić !
Top 5 most hated football character ->
1) Rooney
2) Pique
3) Fellaini
4) Diego Costa
5) Cacic
6-2 if Halilovic plays
what a bunch of overhyping you guys about him
That’s like putting a Honda Civic engine in a Ferrari!!
This guy won’t win anything, mental midget will be repeated.
As I mention you before -> Anyone can win with our talent.
5-2 vs Mexico if no chicken coach leads the team with all the subs being used without getting way too long to manage substitutions and so much attractive football that shows individual skill with some confident they have.
Who’s this David Čolina kid that ManCity is looking to buy from Dinamo?
He’s a Left Back.
the weird thing is that Cacic got his players to play for “him”…read any article you want, they all say “HE” believed in his players. On the other hand Kovac used a totally different means of managing the team, which we eventually found out that it didn’t work. Having some intuition while getting buy-in it crucial.
I’ve said this here before. Ciro Blazevic wasn’t a great coach, but he was definitely someone that could manipulate the environment to his benefit…and thats what he did in ’98! Tomislav Ivic was the better coach but Blazevic got the job and did well enough for a 3rd place showing.
Cacic is good. He needs these friendlies with the Z squad to dscout the future team. At the World Cup, assuming we get there, he might not be able to count on every internationally established player. Remember in 2014 when Kovac had a team planned and several players were injured? It was chaos. If Cacic can make squads A-Z functional at international level, then he will be doing his job very well indeed.
@slavonac…. you’re right. The bunkering we did wasnt by choice but more of Mexico forcing us to. Santini and Cop were the only 2 strikers on the roster. When you’re dealt a red card, with a 2-0 lead, the first guy coming off with any sub is a forward. In this case, both were taken off. With Mexico controlling every aspect of that game late and fatigue and inexperience settling in, completing a couple of passes to get the ball past midfield was always gonna be a struggle. At that point, it was Mexicos veterans that came on 2nd half that dictated what we were gonna do more so than Cacic.
…ohhh and about the bunkering comment!
this cracks me up every time. here are the choices:
1) bunker and try to preserve a win…this promotes learning how to get a result when you are not expected to…I can go on and on about this, Italians do it all the time but for some reason we should somehow consider playing a different system for the fans?
2) open up and get slaughtered! plain and simple….we had 27% possession and we maintained a result but you’re suggesting we open up to a far more experienced team, with 55,000 fans helping them, lets just fuck the result and roll the dice?
dude, you really have to think about what you are asking for!
BZ…you’re right, you are a nitpicker. Cacic had 5 subs in total, 4 were players and 1 goalie. Prior to the game being played, did you know of Nikola Katic? He subbed out Santini in the 83rd minute to add another defender. Who, in their right mind…on an exhibition game, would sub out their player just because he got a yellow card? remember, this game was meaningless, it was a game to learn about your options and see how well your players can do their assignments. why would Cacic sub out a player in a game where he is trying to see what he has as future options? maybe Cacic felt Skoric was necessary to stay in the game…why would you even bring that up?
come on dude, thats a serious case of nitpicking man!
nemoj bit sitnicar!
@Nk Susak- I get what you are saying, but I hope you get what some of us are saying. I know it is nitpicking.
-i thoroughly enjoyed the game. Gave credit to players that played well. Tudor, Vlasic Stood out.
– Cacic killed it in the first half. Great coaching.
-but if u know you are going to bunker and defend, sub off a guy with a yellow, so the sub can defend without fear of a red. Coaching 101
-champions don’t bunker to that extreme. Bunkering to that extreme in a meaningless friendly is a weird move. I fear Cacic will believe extreme bunkering is the best way to kill a game. Whereas with our first team’s MF, we should kill games with some possession, with good options for a counter.
-Would learn alot more about our players had we not bunkered.
That said, I very much enjoyed the game (even with the bunkering). Very proud of those kids.
Since ’98 and with the decline in diaspora Croatians on the team there has been a general belief (rightly or wrongly) that the team is full of big stars who won’t work hard enough, or die for the shirt.
It was VERY refreshing to witness this past Saturday what can be accomplished by hungry, young players who work together for a common cause….that mix of big name players with passionate, committed and talented worker bees is the key to any success.
Bravo decki, bravo!
And I’m not crowning him as the best coach out there or that we have ever had. He does have his flaws and has a lot to learn, but he does know more than any of us on this site. To criticize him after Saturday’s match has nothing to do with his coaching abilities, and everything to do with Suker and the Mamic bullshit and that is getting old. Yes it sucks what they’ve done with the savez. We are lucky enough to watch our repka play maybe 5-8 times a year and when they are on that pitch for those 2 hours, it’s a feeling like nothing else sportwise, and I ain’t gonna let 2 shady clowns that are corrupt take that away from me. I got news for you, the next guy taking over the savez will most likely do the same.
I’m going to admit I was wrong…very wrong!
When I learned that Croatia was sending 16 players…only two and maybe 3 that could be a reserve player for our NT, I thought this game is over before it started…man, was I wrong. This is the difference from being an armchair coach, watching from my sofa and knowing things from the ground level, which is something none of us really do know.
I was really proud of that team on Saturday. Those boys (for the most part) played hard. They were compact, they doubled up their defending at every turn, they displayed feisty and hard nosed defending…I was very impressed.
Cacic has to take credit for that result, just as he should take credit for out B team beating Spain last year. He definitely has his finger on the pulse, the guy knows what he has and he knows how to put it together and use it. I give him top marks.
@nk Susak, well said my friend!!!!
Love my country
Don’t fret fellas we good. On to the next battle in Iceland. Only thing that matters. We ok. We will prevail.
Great interview with Simunic. The man has class.
Only retard on this site is you Laknat. Your constant talking of Halilovic being the next messi. As pointed out above people are mad we won. They wanted to bash Cacic and the team. Get over it. Samo naprid.
Now you wanna use the anyone can win with our talent as coach attitude . Did you not see the 16 that were called up for this game? How much talent was there to work with? Just because a guy picks up a yellow, doesn’t mean he should be subbed off. That player has to adjust his game due to the yellow. I agree that maybe the timing of some of his subs, in particular against Portugal can be argued, but last night? Come on, wake up. Just call it what it is. Yous people gotta get over Mamic and Suker and the whole puppet thing. If you’re that upset about them, do what Denis did and fuck off with the national team. You guys root for Cacic’s downfall. Who from last nights talent pool would’ve been a great sub to put on? You know who? No one, because you couldnt name more than 5 players on last nights roster. You’re just mad that they won and can’t rip into Suker for being a crook and embarrassing Croatia.
https://cdn-e2.streamable.com/image/9pt2a.jpg?token=1497231009_b85f77db79e265af95937caee11682179be83bf9
Perisic today. Impressive.
I truly respect what you guys do. It was great to see the pre game video.
Ljepa Nasa je Nasa !!!
What the hell was all that bunkering down crap ? We weren’t on there side for 90% of the 2nd half . Bad coaching & boring to watch .
Well, the logic is that everyone can be the manager and win every match with such a talent in our country. Poor coaching means you only stick with few players without compromise to the other potential players (we had done with Bilic), always keep lousy players and even depend on him (we had done with Kovac, looks like Cacic has the indication), Late subs and doesn’t have a clue about who’s gonna be subbed (Cacic seriously fucking retard).
I have supported Cacic from day one, but yesterday was poor coaching in the 2nd half. It isn’t really bitching, but rather constructive criticism; in hopes he doesn’t make similar mistakes in future big games.
When all was said and done, it turned out to be good weekend for all involved. We were quick to bash Cacic after the Estonia debacle, and rightfully so although I think the players deserved more of the blame that day. We should be just as quick to praise Cacic for what he was able to accomplish with the shit hand he was dealt. Never once did he complain or create an excuse the days leading into the game, while we sat back and bitched about it the whole time. He was able to squeeze out what he could with the limited players he had available. But im sure there will be those crying about how he didnt use subs at the so called “right time”. All im saying is, us Hrvati will never be happy. The guy deserves a little respect. Hes shown nothing but class with what he says and does and has the balls to not call up players he thinks dont put the national team interests at the forefront. Oh and by the way, hes only lost once in regulation (friendly) since taking over. Not bad for a so called “puppet”.
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/youre-a-superstar-ep/id1241467490?l=en
This EP has amazing sounds. Let me know what you think. Thanks!