WILL ENGLAND SHOW THEIR TRUE FACE ON WEDNESDAY?
Alright boys and girls, it’s time to forget about the lackluster performance against Belarus and predict Croatia’s most important qualifier this decade. Here’s the scenario: Croatia currently sit in front of Ukraine for second place by three points. However, Ukraine has a game in hand; and for sake of arguement we will trust that they will beat Andorra one more time with that match. Croatia has two away games vs. England and Kazakhstan and Ukraine is away to Belarus this week before hosting England on the last day of qualifiers.
If Croatia can at least draw at Wembley on Wednesday, our chances of grabbing a playoff spot only get better. Should Ukraine drop any points in Minsk, which they very well can, their road only gets harder with England on the way.
Basically, it’s going to be one hell of a qualifying run down the stretch for our entire group. England only needs three points to officially qualify for the 2010 World Cup. How sweet it would be for them if Croatia can punch their ticket for them.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
Look for two things during this match:
1. Croatia absolutely need to score first so the wind doesn’t get sucked out of their sails.
2. A penalty kick for England. Call me pessimistic but I have a feeling that controvversy will be brewing after this match.
FINAL PREDICTION: Croatia 2 England 2 with two goals scored by Eduardo to shut up the English and Scottish press.
Now it’s your turn…
Well well well, better luck next world cup boys. Too bad that england lost to ukraine!!
Thanks for link Denis. I'm watching it too now and Belarus playing well. I Think they can get a result out of this.
Ukraine-Belarus
… I am watching live feed here, just click on game:
http://atdhe.net/
However, no audio
Last question before the game…
looks like most of you like myself had Juric to start with Vuki. Now that Juric has been ruled out, do we bring in Leko or Pokrivac or change the formation completely?
For those of you gamblers(my new years resolution was to stop gambling), here are the odds for tomorrows game
Croatia-England
For Croatia to win, bet $1 win $4.50
For a tie, bet $1 win $2.50
For England to win, bet $2 win $1
Ukraine-Belarus
For Ukraine to win, bet $10 win $7
For tie, bet $1 win $2.50
For Belarus win, bet $1 win $3.50
Good luck gentlemen.
@Vatreni
Great comment! I agree with you partly.
First, "Croatians need to believe and be confident that we will win. If we don't believe in our players then no one will. "
I believe in Croatia every time they step onto the pitch. I am not a pessimist but a realist. If I truly believed that England will win then why watch the game? Why watch sports if I know how everything will turn out?
"If you really think we will lose you should lie to us :)You are supposed to be a huge Croatia supporter but you don't believe in your team."
The odds are stacked against us, England is a full strength and are flying high with Capello, but this doesn't mean that we should roll over and play dead. We can be down 3-0 and I will still be cheering and will still believe that there is a chance, especially after watching Liverpool-ACMilan champions league final.
I am a huge Croatia supporter, I just don't like our chances. As far as "lie to us" haha thats funny. Sometimes people can't handle the truth. I can't and won't say that Croatia will win if I don't think they will. Also, this doesn't mean that I won't believe, cheer, and believe in that slim chance.
"People doubt Croatia and we continually prove that we are small country with some of the best athletes in the world. "
I agree with this statement 100%.
Lastly, I have this philosophy that people can jinx things. It happens to me all the time. Ante has done this several times, earning the name jinx on my phone. So in that sense I tend to give realistic results thinking that I wont jinx the team. Again, this is just the way my brain works and in no way have I given up on Croatia in qualifying, in tennis, in synchronized swimming whatever.
I take that back. I gave up on Croatia one time and one time only. The last game of EURO 2008. I was sitting 50 rows up behind the goal where the penalties were taken by Croatia and Turkey. As soon as the Turkey scored to send it to overtime, I knew that Turkey would advance and gave up before the PKs were even taken. After Turkey scored, it was like someone died in front of your eyes.
@Anonymous
Slovakia has a shit group. Serbia has an excellent squad and no England in their group.
Croatia has faced elimination plenty of times before. A greek win against Denmark in the final game of world cup qualifying and we stay home. Six months later we receive 3rd place medals, go figure.
Also, get a name and join as a member. Good stuff.
I couldn't have said it better myself Vatreni. We're the little country that could. The ones that keep surprising you when you think we're all out of surprises.
Now let's see what Bilic and Co. have in their bag of tricks tomorrow.
I predict a Croatian Victory Alot of times we were doubted but we prevailed . we play better as Underdog then favorite sometime. A World Cup is not a World cup without Croatia. Come on people teams like Slovakia, Serbia looking to book their place and we are facing almost elimination. totally unacceptable Lets go Vatreni!!
@Denis I'm surprised by your prediction. Isn't this your site? Maybe you should change the URL to Englishsoccerreport.com. If you don't believe that Croatia will win then why spend so much time on Croatiansoccerreport. Croatians need to believe and be confident that we will win. If we don't believe in our players then no one will. I don't care whether we're playing Brazil, Argentina, Italy, the World Allstars, etc. Our team is good enough to beat anyone when we play well. If we lose we lose but before the game I think that all Croatia fans need to be optimistic about our chances. The great thing about sports is that anything can happen and the favorite does not always win. Games would not be fun to watch if we already know who wins thats why I hate hearing a result if I watch a delayed match. It ruins all the suspense and excitement. If you really think we will lose you should lie to us :)You are supposed to be a huge Croatia supporter but you don't believe in your team. Not cool Denis. I hope Croatia proves to you and others that when we play well there are no limits to our squad. You may say I'm not realistic but was it realistic to say Ivanisevic would win Wimbledon as a wildcard? Was it realistic to say that a Croatian skier would become one of the best female skiers ever? People doubt Croatia and we continually prove that we are small country with some of the best athletes in the world. Tomorrow I hope that people will be talking about how Croatia beat England without Modric and Corluka..We can't give up before the match even begins..Sretno Hrvatska!
Well from now on I will make my prediction and give you my analysis before all the rest of you so I don't get influenced by some of these excellent analysis.
Croatia 1 England 2
My heart says that Croatia will win 2-1 in a similar fashion like world cup 2002 against Italy. However, ,my brain says that we will lose 3-0, so I will add the total score and divide by two. simple arithmetic.
I wonder if Slaven Bilic will keep an eye on Belarus-Ukraine that will finish right before the Cro-England match. Will the players get a chance to hear the result?
Without Modric(arguably our heart and soul of this team) and Vedran Corluka(Arguably our best defender) our options are limited.
Formation
Runje
Srna Krizanac Simunic Cale
Vukojevic Pokrivac
Eduardo Kranjcar Pranjic
Olic
When I first heard Cale as to start I thought they were out of their mind. Then I remember how badly Danijel got burned against England last game and surely will get burned once again. With Modric on the sidelines and with our midfield most likely uprated from 4 to 5, what a perfect opportunity to change it up. We have nothing to lose.
Also, I like Petric off the bench if we are down in the second half. Rakitic off the bench if he doesnt start.
I think we will surprise England on a counterattack. Bilic will have a heart attack, and we will slip up in the end on a Simunic penalty for 2-1.
Olic
Rooney, Lampard
@Marko Polo
are midfeild isnt there to control the game without luka this is what the game will look like defenders will be passing to the attackers most likely ! i hate to say
from pedro barbic!
yeah hopefully he/we can give Modric and Bilic a nice b-day present!
Tomorrows Date 9/9/09…Our number 9 should be having a good day tomorrow.
I am not too worried about Juric being out cos he had the potential to play a stinker anyway. Whoever kicked him in the knee though in training is daft.
Whatever side is out i'm just gonna support it 100%. Its so close to the game now and i'm desperate for a Croatia win. I believe in the players except Drpic. I think all of them have talent and potential to make an impression. Its just a case now of giving it everything. No time for gloominess or looking back.
Hmmm, Juric out now as well. Why hasn't Bilic called up Lovren yet?
If Leko and Pokrivac are all we have left then we have to use them…. Leko is capable of playing a good game in spot duty, I have no faith in Pokrivac, but would love to be prooved wrong
You cant compare the lost to Macedonia and this game with Belarus. Different situations heading into the England game. England is more healthy and we are not….the opposite was tue for both teams last time.
Plus that Macedonia game 2 yrs ago was played in the mud, it was not soccer.
Ivan Juric to miss England. Hey Ziva are you still wanting to keep Pokrivac and Leko out the team now??? We can only select from the squad we got. We have nothing left in the defensive areas except Vejic and Drpic FACT we have nothing in central mid left except Leko and Pokrivac FACT.
Cale to left back and Pokrivac to central mid. We didn't know if Juric was gonna work anyway. At least we'll have youthful energy.
RE: Ziva
To be honest we did lose last time against Macedonia and then beat England. I guess at least we beat Belarus this time which puts the pressure on Ukraine. I actually do believe Ukraine has as much quality as Croatia i'm afraid. I rate all those players like Chringinsky, Aliev, Sheva, Milevsky, Gladkiy etc. They can turn over Belarus. But Belarus must feel hard done by in the group having had injuries at terrible times – played well against England and lost and played well against Croatia and lost. They were also cheated out a draw in the first Ukraine game. I think Belarus is desperate for a result.
Regards Pokrivac or Cale i don't mind either. I think Pokrivac perhaps will be more solid, but Cale will be able to offer something going forward as well. Cale is like a more reserved Pranjic. The reason Pranjic doesn't work at left back is cos he vacates his position too often. Because of Kranjcar's eagerness to cut inside and lack of running ability, Pranjic often feels the need to play the left wing role as well when at left back and we can't do that against England. As you say we don't know if this is all obvious to Bilic. i'm awaiting team news.
how is the team getting confident more and more by the day…..We just got outplayed by Belarus and about to go up against an England team that is confident, hungry and looking for revenge.
I am hoping for the best but expecting a 4-1 England win.
i think that picture posted in the article is the face of the team
@alex it would be foolish to say tactics and formation are not important. I believe passion, focus, and finishing opportunities are also key. We all know this game will be the most difficult in qualifying thus far. Bilic must choose the right players and put them in the correct positions. We can't afford to have 2 or 3 players have off games. Everyone must play amazing for a win at wembley. I prefer the 4-2-3-1 but I won't say it's impossible to beat England with a 4-4-2.
is there any where we can watch the game online, like a stream, that atdhe site is always freezing and slowing down,
Vatreni, I totally agree that alot of it is psychological- and I understand what Bilic is trying to do, but tactics (Lineup/formation) are absolutely, 100% vital to getting a result. For example, if Bilic had played a proper LB v England, it wouldve been a very differant match because they wouldn't have scored that first goal which completely changed the complexion of the game.
The reason I'd go with Pokrivac is that he is a strong defensively minded player with decent pace who-unlike Cale-has at least some experience playing on the big stage. Simunic wasn't a full back either(neither was Corluka) but was excellant there because he understood how to defend.
I think the squad is getting more confident day by day.We know deep down we have a great squad that is more then able to beat england. We wont play with as much pressure as everyone thinks. We dont really have any other option but to win. So yeah win or lose, i dont care. I just want Croatia to play their best!!! And if we do good things will come….good things. 🙂
I just wanted to add that I believe what Bilic is doing in the media right now is very good..Its very smart to create controversy before the build up to a big match..Bilic is looking for reactions from the English that will fire up our players..Coaching is not just putting 11 players out there and saying go play..It goes much deeper and Bilic is trying to find as many ways to increase the intensity before the match starts. I'm looking forward to other articles and comments from Croatian and English players/coaches..
@Alex I can't see Pokrivac at left back because its not his natural position..I think it would be too risky against England to try..You say this lineup is obvious to us but that doesn't mean Bilic will favor it..We have no idea what's going through his mind..Bilic played for top clubs and an amazing Croatian national side so he has been in many difficult situations..Formation is important but its not as important as how much passion and focus our players have on Wednesday..We know all of our players can compete with England now we must take it to another level and prove we are better..What it comes down to is 11 players vs. 11 players and its war..Croatia must win loose balls, tackle, and attack with speed..We have 90 minuts to prove that the England win in Zagreb was a fluke..
The 4-2-3-1 that Dinamofan put up is the way to go, except I'd put Pokrivac at LB instead of Cale- he looked too nervous v Andorra. That formation/lineup is so obvious to me but the question is- is it obvious to Bilic?
@dinamofan I like your optimism..If we don't believe we can beat England then why even play..I'm disappointed in all the Croats here who are saying we will lose..We must believe in our players and support them through these difficult times..We have been extremely unlucky in qualifying thus far and I believe our luck turned against Belarus. Everyone is disappointed in our play but I'm actually happy..We were not impressive but we found a way to win and in the end its the 3 points that matter most..I agree with @Vinko that Croatia plays best when in put in difficult situations..Our players are on top of their game against great teams and I can't wait to see the look in their eyes during the national anthem..I get chills when I watch this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nUVjWuOOWs
Its going to be a crazy game..England want revenge for embarrassing them at Wembley last qualifying..I'm sure the English fans will be all over Eduardo because of his recent diving incident..I believe the atmosphere at Wembley will fire up our team and especially Eduardo. He will have something to prove so I think he will be as focused as ever..We need him to be great to beat Capello's England..
I like @dinamofan's 4-2-3-1 because it give us a solid defense with a mix of fast paced attacking players..Vuki and Juric would break down the game in the midfield..If we can control the mid Croatia have a great chance of winning..I don't think we should force Pranjic at left back because he has proven he's much more effective as a winger or offensive midfielder. Cale has been in good form playing for Trabzon is Turkey which is a a hard place to play..He should be fine if he gets the start at left back..Our players are in top form their clubs and I believe we will surprise people after our dismal performance vs. Belarus. On that note I believe Belarus will at least tie Ukraine..Croatia had an amazing performance in Minsk to beat Belarus and I don't believe Ukraine have our quality..If we beat England we will be only 1 point behind them with England still going to Ukraine and playing Belarus at home..I know we have one less game played but the group could get crazy if we manage to beat the English..We still have a chance of first in this group 🙂 I'm going to say Croatia 3- England 1. Goals Croatia- Da Silva, Olic, Kranjcar..England- who cares
i agree with petar radman… pranjic should be in the midfield because he is way too small to be playing on the back line especially agaisnt england
by the way, did anyone send in videos/ pics to this site for the game against belarus?
On a positive note. The Mens National Basketball Team just won their opening match against Israel. My hometown Raptors will regret trading away Ukic. The guy just needed a chance to play. He will get plenty of minutes out in Milwaukee. I cant see Luke Ridnour presenting that much of an obstacle.
I'm staying positive about this as well. Basically i live in England which is great as i can watch the game on ITV1 without any stress. Just can put my feet up in the living room without searching for streams. However it will be horrible if Croatia lose. I'm really keen for a win. I believe we can do it. I'm not even thinking draw. I'm thinking win.
If we play a 4-2-3-1 we can beat them. Pranjic cannot play LB. We need either Cale or Pokrivac there. If we keep the team tight and compact, we can hurt them on the counter.
Does anyone know of a good pay-per-view streaming website? I always have trouble with the free peer to peer video and I don't want to miss a minute of Wednesday's match.
Final score: England 3 Croatia 1
I think possibly/maybe the team needs some musical inspiration to listen to in the dressing room before the match. Maybe they keep drumming that boring rap soccer anthem and it puts the players to sleep. I know it has that effect on me. Maybe they should play some homegrown Croatian metal or industrial music in the dressing room, or at least some Satyricon or something. It couldn't hurt. State of mind.
As for subs in that formation of 4-2-3-1.
I think RAKITIC for KRANJCAR or OLIC
MANDZUKIC for EDUARDO
LEKO for VUKO or JURIC
I don't think Wednesday is the game for Klasnic or Petric. Any player that can run and has stamina is needed. Are we allowed to call anyone up for Corluka by the way cos Scotland has called up a replacement for suspended McFadden.
RE: Adrien
Cale is a left back though whereas Pranjic is a left winger. He's been a failure at left back from his days in Osijek and Dinamo, but has been a clear class act as a left midfielder. I'm not choosing Rakitic as i don't think he works hard enough. We need runners against England. Pranjic as a attacking mid is also just as good if not better than Rakitic at creating and passing. We also need someone like Rakitic in reserve to freshen it up cos Kranjcar runs out of energy after 70 minutes. i'd just not have Raki and Niko in the same team for 'this' match considering we need two defensive mids and also believe we need hard workers. Also we need Olic and Eduardo in team if possible as otherwise we may be too defensive. Raki and Kranjcar are good for holding possession, but Eduardo and Olic are more likely to get closer to Englands goal. I call Olic on the right of a attacking three behind Eduardo as we need his work rate to his tracking back and coming forward.
Pranjic in attacking mid is actually the popular opinion in Croatia at moment. Nogometni Magazin is talking of either Cale or Pokrivac at left back and i feel the same way. We can't give them a easy way through the back of our defence. Pranjic to left attacking mid and Olic to right attacking mid gives us a lot of pace going forward and a fine out ball. With Eduardo right up the top and Kranjcar supporting. I think it will create a lot of problems for Englands defence as it is not a normal system and will be hard for them to pick up Kranjcar. As i say i'm still waiting on Bilic's team as i'm not sure he's gonna do this.
Btw, Vinko that crap about the pic isn't funny. Cut that shit out, you're giving us all a bad name.
The 4-3-3 I earlier discussed was a bit stupid. Don't know what I was thinking. I'd agree with the 4-3-2-1 formation dinamofan:) is arguing for but with some small modifications (where's rakitic in your first formation, dinamofan:)?). I hope Bilic goes with:
Runje
Srna…Krizanac…Simunic…Pranjic
Juric…Vukojevic
Rakitic…Kranjcar…Olic
Eduardo
Pranjic should stay in LB as I think he's doing a good job there. True against England in Zagreb it wasn't his finest hour but it wasn't working for the whole team and I'm not sure Cale would have done any better.
I'd definitely go with Olic in left midfield, he can give Johnson a horrible time and expose the defensive frailties he (Johnson) showed in the Slovenia game. Also, Juric and Vuko as DM will be able to fill the gaps left by Srna/ Pranjic when going forward and when not, hopefully nullify the threat posed by Gerrard and Lampard, but I think everyone already agrees with me there.
One things for certain, this won't end in a bore 0-0 draw, that's something that has and will never happen against England. I think we'll score at least 2 (Olic, Eduardo) I just hope England don't score more but I think they'll also bag 2 (Terry from a set piece, Defoe). I think there might also be a 5th goal in there somewhere, I just hope it goes our way. That said, I'll agree with you Ante on the 2-2 prediction.
i think some of you are coming up with some crazy numbers…we all know we dont have corluka or modric…so i think we will probably win 6-2 against england.
Hi everybody, I think a different Croatia will show up on Wednesday.
We will play a solid 0-0 draw and even miss a couple of big chances.
Naprijed Hrvatska, samo naprijed!!!
I'm not gonna say anything till i see Bilic's line up. I think he's made some bad decisions during these round of qualifiers. But can still redeem himself. If he plays
Runje
Srna, Krizanac, Simunic, Cale
Juric, Vukojevic
Olic, Kranjcar, Pranjic
Eduardo
I will predict 2-1 Croatia. Goals by Rakitic, Olic
If he picks
Runje
Srna, Krizanac, Simunic, Pranjic
Rakitic, Juric, Vukojevic, Kranjcar
Olic, Eduardo
I think that team has holes. I predict 1-1. Goal by Olic.
Im gonna be realistic, were not as good as we think we are especially without Modric,
4-0 england
Oh yah, Eduardo with the goal for us.
Hate to say it, but England 3 – Croatia 1.
Really hoping for a Belarus win or draw vs. Ukraine. That will make or break our playoff chances, IMO.
Ante read my mind, I had the thought of 2-2 earlier today, but for the sake of novelty, I'm going 4-2. Srna, Olic, Dudu with the winner late, Petric long bomb to cap it, like last time.
I think we'll beat them we always manage to do things that we don't expect from ourselves we have a knack for coming out swinging when cornered and it always works. But we wait for our swings we don't go flailing. Bilic says he has identified a weakness in the English team that we are going to exploit on Wednesday. He's whipping up a storm and I like that make them go crazy trying to figure it out it will throw them off completely. Also there fans make them nervous as hell and as for the chants at Eduardo it's only going to put a smile on everyone's faces even mine and relax our players because they already expect it. 09-09-09 9 is my favorite number cuz it's my lucky number. Hell I was born the 9th of February and the address of my house in Split is 9 so we I'm counting on it Wednesday. BTW I can't figure out who's holding the flag in the picture Walcott, Defoe, Heskey, Richards, Lennon, Ferdinand, or Brown HU! HU! HU! ENGLESKI ZOO!!! HAHAHAHAHA I'M LOVIN THE PICTURE SO MUCH I'M IT'S GONNA B MY PROFILE PIC JUST FOR ENGLAND.
Ugh. I'm so pessimistic after the last game, and the fact that Modric and Corluka will be out, that it's hard to predict even a tie, but I'll give it a shot . . .
1-1 in a nervous battle, with the woodwork saving Runje more than once. Goal from Olic.
after the last game I'm thinking we can only manage 1 point from Wembley if we are lucky. Their strikers will make a mockery of Runje, if he pulls any of those moves he did in Zagreb. Let's hope for the best, and the first goal would help as you said
I really hope for the best. Our team looks unconfident, but I'm sure they'll be energetic against a well-prepared England side. If we contain Rooney our chances in the game will be extremely high. We need to play keep away and control the ball like we did against Germany in Euros. Without Modric it'll be a tough task, but it really comes down to our backfield and how they sustain England's offensive capabilities. Here's hopin'.
me and my friend went to brit's pub in Minneapolis to watch the Croatia-Belarus game and there was only one Croatian fan other than us.
1-1
Olic, Rooney