The Croatian national football team begin their Euro 2016 run on Thursday in Pula with a friendly against Cyprus. It’s a warmup match for the opening qualifier against Malta on Tuesday.
The Cyprus friendly, which kicks off at 2:15PM (ET), is expected to pit some of Croatia’s new young blood with stone cold starting XI locks such as Mario Mandžukić and Luka Modrić. However, with a watered down qualification looming, as the top two teams from the group automatically book a trip to France in the 24-team tournament, this friendly may not be the last time you see a group of young Croatians play together during the next 18-month period.
Manager Niko Kovač expects to start Barcelona B transfer Alen Halilovic Thursday as well as Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Marcelo Brozović. Tin Jedvaj is now getting solid minutes at Bayer Leverkusen while veteran Nikica Jelavic already has two goals to his name in Hull City.
Mandžukić goals
Well said Ziva, excellent comment.
Wow. Such an impressive win against such a strong side.
lolol ziva you should bill out for your advice
butcher all you want…….just make sure you bring up your kids so they don’t butcher it.
on a side note… first time going to cro for me this sunday after god knows how many years… i was there last during italija 90 before the war
i hope to butcher the language while i order drinks just for ziva
ok then we need to start an “approved” name list, so those who are having kids and are confused can be ZDS approved
on another note… some of you guys might not approve but fuck watching halilovic on that clip and what we have been hearing coming out of spain… he probably would have been fine at worldcup… at least the kid runs at guys and tries shit… and no im not talking about trying shit like an olic stepover… god love him but i still clearly remember that shit lolol
The worse are those Hrvati that name their kid – Alexander.
Ha!
That’s awesome.
Mercedes, Lexus, Asia, Bunny, Bambi, Destiny, Cristal, Cherry ahhhh the list is a long one…
I know a Hrvat who named his daughter …..,Mercedes. I told him this is a stripper name. Needless to say he wasn’t happy with me.
@Ziva
Depends.
What if she spelled it Šarlot?
^ ^
No worse than Dario, Mario, Leo, or any other Italian name.
My old man gave us Croatian only names so there’d be no confusion. I’d recommend the same to all other “veliki” hrvati..
Friends……question time.
How do you feel about Croatian parents naming kids with non-Croatian names. Example: a Croatian mother named her daughter Charlotte. Clearly, this is not the “za dom……spremni” way. How do you guys feel.
@ Bobby V
My Dida used to protect his prized cattle. Made sure they were well-fed and protected. What Mamic did was no different.
He kept Alen on the side to make sure he didn’t get hurt as transfer negotiations were being finalized.
And that 2 million Euro will grow to a heck of a lot more, with add ons based upon playing time and performance.
Who the hell said I was a Dinamo fan?
Not me? As I said nothing wrong with Dinamo or what they did. They didn’t even need to play the kid and they still won the prva liga. Everyone can crap on Mamic but the club seems to be financially stable and they pay their players on time.
Bobby V- I’m not very informed on the Croatian league but Dinamo is healthy, Hajduk is in a miserable state and most other teams can make pay day…these clubs have a responsibility to be financially stable and successful on the tablica…
I don’t like Mamic but your example isn’t a great one!
So, Mile, as a fan of Dinamo Zagreb, you would rather not see deserving talent play for your club as long as Mamic is able to pocket money from his eventual sale?
The right thing to do at Dinamo is to have 5-6 players on the sidelines, who are better than the starters you have playing, being saved from getting hurt because you can make money off them in the future – kind of like having a human trafficking side buisness?
Why, as a fan, would you rather see Mamic make 2 million dollars for himself than to see a good soccer player win games for your team?
Something wrong with Dinamo’s fans too.
Now I know how Živa feels
Gotta agree with you Slavonac. Ivica got served by Garo. Well done Garo and your line about hero/objectivity made me laugh. .
kreso…when you figure it out and can cite facts please let me know, until then….you’re wrong!
IvicA – you got your ass handed to you dude…Garo Yepremian followed up on all his arguments with valid points…good job Garo!
Olic has more experience, Halilovic has a ton more skill…both have a lot of energy but I would go with Olic for starters and slowly give minutes to Halilovic.
anyone have a link to watch a replay of the cyprus game?
Agree, meant to say 2million but typed in 20million.
Probably not enough burek and cevapcici in Spain.
Well speakin’ of the Halilovices, turns out Alen’s younger brother Dino is gonna have to start eatin’ more spinach.
He was just cut from the Bacelona youth side. They said he wasn’t strong enough, but they admit he has talent.
The David Luiz signing is strange. There was some funny business going on with that one based on the financial fair play rules. The others are in England and EPL clubs always overpay because the TV money in that league is crazy. its on par with the TV money for the NFL.
David Luiz, Luke Shaw, Eliaquim Mangala, Dejan Lovren – why are defenders becoming more expensive?
Teams are spending a higher proportion of their money on defenders. Jonathan Liew investigates why
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/11076666/David-Luiz-Luke-Shaw-Eliaquim-Mangala-Dejan-Lovren-why-are-defenders-becoming-more-expensive.html
20 million??????? Dinamo didn’t get anywhere near 20 million for the Bosandzero.
Goals vs Cyprus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epStBT9hMgE
Halilovic vs Cyprus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZGdcyWvXIQ
Who knows but that is not the point? Point is why would they play him and risk it. .They did the correct thing.
@Slavonac from Canada – i think Corluka is past his prime and i feel he was at fault for a couple goals in the WC. that being said, I don’t know which youngster can fill that role.
How much of that 20 million did Dinamo get again?
Nothing wrong at that club at all, in fact they did the right thing by sitting him. The kid was worth 20million, you don’t take a chance on that by playing him in a meaningless games. If halilovic gets hurt or career ending injury kiss that money good bye.
i sure hope he kovacic and rebic pan out with hopefull perisic still growing stronger and with what we have… the euro cup team for sure can be stronger then the world cup one
maybe they didn’t play him in fear of getting injured losing out on millions???
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/fc-barcelona-uefa-champions-league-161421361.html
Halilovic makes the Barcelona 25 man Champions league list – and he sat on the bench at Dinamo.
Something is really wrong at that club.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/fc-barcelona-uefa-champions-league-161421361.html
Halilovic makes the Barcelona 25 man Champions league list – and he sat on the bench at Dinamo.
Something is really wrong at that club.
@Garo Yepremian
Well said on all points.
Nice to see you’re still alive. 😉
IvicA
“Easy there, Garo.”
Yes sir! What’s the matter, does this objectivity thing scare ya?
🙂
“Not sure why you wrote an essay comparing the two, because nobody was comparing Olic to Mandzo.”
You mentioned in your post that Olic lacked skill and could not dribble and you even pandered the question “what if Olic could dribble” in reference to your self-proclamations. So, I explained how Olic as a player indeed has more talent than lack thereof and also how he is actually a better dribbler than our current #1 striker when we compare skill sets between the two players. It paints a better picture when we compare.
“I said that Olic, despite his lack of skill, was effective and never gave defenders a chance to get ready. He would take it to them, and never hesitate.”
And my reply then and now is you’re condescension method is really not a compliment.
“It was good hearing that Halilovic ran at the defenders when he got the ball, and didn’t do the typical display our very skilled but very hesitant midfield players have
been doing for the past few years now.”
Agreed! He looked very good out there and he has great potential! Please start him on Tuesday.
“Halilovic has better technical ability than Olic, so that makes things very interesting and gives us a different option in the midfield.”
Halilovic has more technical skill than most of our players.
“Sorry if I insulted your hero.”
My hero is objectivity and objectivity cannot be insulted but thank you.
Poglavnik
Poglavnik my friend, Mandzukic is the better striker without hesitation and I said that in my previous post and I was not trying to compare them to each other rather than their skill sets to each other. I also said..
“his heading capabilities are outstanding!!” – Referring to Mario.
any one have a link to re-watch the game?
Garo
Good points. Something many forgot.
Just watched the first half…
Why didn’t anyone comment on Subasic’s two awful gaffes? LOL.
That first one being a low toe punt that went right to the opposing midfield. If that Cypriot player was any good, that long range lob would have been a goal.
Also, that other backpass play where he waited until the other team’s striker caught up to the ball and deflected his clearance.
Oh man. I hope he’s just being a lazy Dalmatinac in this game, and this not being a reflection of how he really plays.
@Garo
Let me know when Olic heads a ball half as well as Mandzukic.
Love them both but Mandzukic definitely has that over him.
Easy there, Garo.
Not sure why you wrote an essay comparing the two, because nobody was comparing Olic to Mandzo.
I said that Olic, despite his lack of skill, was effective and never gave defenders a chance to get ready. He would take it to them, and never hesitate.
It was good hearing that Halilovic ran at the defenders when he got the ball, and didn’t do the typical display our very skilled but very hesitant midfield players have been doing for the past few years now. Halilovic has better technical ability than Olic, so that makes things very interesting and gives us a different option in the midfield.
Sorry if I insulted your hero. 😉
here to give plp proline picks in 2 weekss
wait a minute, are you saying Mahir Mandzuka scored tap-in goals today????
IvicA
“Despite his lack of skill, Olić never gave the opposing defenders a chance to get comfortable. Now imagine that with some dribbling skill.”
“Despite his lack of skill” LOL!!! Not too condescending now are we? LOL!!
Olic is a better dribbler than Mandzukic.
Play Mario at RW for a game and see what transpires. And I am not talking about a basterdized RW spot either. Have him play that position on the up and up. I assure you it will not be pretty. I am in no way suggesting that Olic is a better player than Mario but he can dribble better than Mario can that is for certain as Mario literally and figuratively has to be fed the ball. The beauty of Mario is he is a much more clinical finisher than Ivica and his heading capabilities are outstanding!! If Mario could dribble we would be talking about one of the best strikers in the world! A more applicable statement would be, “Now imagine if Mario had some dribbling skill.”
Let me know when Mario scores goals like Ivica can. At least I have witnessed Olic beat defenders one on one in his career in order to score goals as that goal against Man United in which he literally dribbled around Vidic and Ferdinand and scored the goal to win the game for Bayern. Those long range goals Olic seems to score week in and week out are not a testament to skill? Indeed they are.
You don’t score as many goals as Olic has in his career and last this long in the best leagues in the world without having skill. There is no way! Those two goals that Mario scored today involved skill? Indeed they did not.
yes, true!
I only watched the first half then turned it over to Doper Cilic’s match, so can’t really give much commentary about it. When you play a team that is outmatched it is hard to get an accurate read.
so Ziva…any comments about some of the new faces we saw today?
best thing about today is we saw some young blood and more importantly, no injuries.
IvicA- I half agree with you. although Olic did run at defenders he was always running, even when he didn’t have the ball and he chased down defenders endlessly. totally different players, different skill set and Halilovic has a long way to go to catch up to Olic’s contributions to this team!
Olic has sacrificed every ounce of himself for the team, he deserves to be there as a sub…Vida….no idea?
Really impressed with Halilovic and Kramaric today. Not sure why guys like Vida and Olic are still getting minutes in friendlies…
@Slavonac
This is why Olić was effective.
Despite his lack of skill, Olić never gave the opposing defenders a chance to get comfortable.
Now imagine that with some dribbling skill.
Karmaric is really our second best choice at striker if he continues to play like he did today.
He did his thing
Halilovic was a little selfish at times but I still do like his aggressive and constant running at defenders type of play. far too often we see guys without creativity and we’re left with waiting for that “into the box” cross. we have to have more offensive options in our attack and Halilovic was a threat regardless of if he was great or good…he puts defenders on notice!
Kramaric je dobro
But I thought the Bosandzero should not play until he sees some first team action?
😉
Živa, where you at?
In Kovac I trust!
I do think that running stat is significant.
Particularly with the upper echelon teams.
That could be the difference when playing them.
When we play a team that we can and should beat we need to get in the habit of out-hustling them.
Thank god for Halilovic and Kovacic.
Without these kids we have no directness or speed.
The same reason he plays Rakitic there, because reasons…lol
IvicA- well, where would you play him? we have a lot of midfield options so he is trying to fill in the gaps where we need it.
I don’t understand why Kovač would play him at DM.
Kovač coached Brozović on the U21 team and played him further forward. Brozović scored like 6 goals in that role.
I can’t stand Vida… and this backline is looking shaky with Strinic as the only starter left…
And they start giving up good chances.
Brozovic losses another ball in the final third again. Safe to say, he’s not the answer at DM.
Olic has even come on as a sub. I don’t think Kovac is resting anyone. Hopefully Pranjic isn’t in the plans.
How pissed are people gonna be when they see a lineup with Pranjić, Olić, and Jelavić playing a slow game against Malta, lol.
Jedvaj finally coming on. About 30 minutes late, but whatever. Nothing significant really going on. Nobody wants to shoot outside the box.
Hopefully it’s not another “2:0 Wales” match, where we get all hyped at how well we played then stink it up after that.
@IvicA – lets not go over board. He might be resting Pranjic for the qualifier.
We’ll see though. As much as Kovac messed up and was out coached, it comes down to the players. We have class that should have been able to overcome anything Mexico threw at them.
regardless of how shitty this opponent may be and regardless of how many chances they’ve missed, for the first time in a long time I’ve seen some creativity, attacking…players running at defenders….now…the test will be to do this with a top 20 team in the world.
If Croatia gets three points in San Siro, then I’ll start proclaiming Kovac as a genius.
Kovacic almost scores, Mandzo there with the cleanup goal.
2:0
So…. Niko Kovač is a genius?
No complaints so far. Modric doesn’t seem very into it, but he’s got big games for Madrid. He’s not making any runs and got muscled off the ball twice in key areas. Hopefully Kovac takes him out, along with Srna and Corluka. I wouldn’t mind Manzo coming off as well.
Get the kids in.
Croatia steamrolling Cyprus despite the 1-0 scoreline….
We should be up 3-0…
I think I just saw French Montana in the crowd.
IvicA- Corluka has significantly reduced the overall average…we might make 26 km’s
Cro looks great
Manduzkic running back to defend like a mad man in a friendly. Respect.
It’s nice seeing Halilovic taking it to Cyprus. I’ve been sick of our slowly try to work the ball up field, and then play it back when there isn’t an opening. Kovacic not bad either with it. Now if we can get Modric and Raketic to nut up, maybe we have something.
Halilovic is looking like Raheem Sterling with these runs. Can’t remember the last time a Croatian midfielder had this much pace.
Are we at pace to hit 119 kilometres?
Somebody tell me
Damn. I’m missing out.
Gotta watch this game on SaaN.tv later
Suker just shown in the crowd on HRT channel. Ziva is jumping up and down with joy.
Brozović is ONLY useful when pushed forward into an attacking role.
He’s useless anywhere else. They’ve gotta stop playing him deep.
kreso- why cut Corluka…what has he done that makes you think he should be repalced?
Nice pass to Kramaric from Modric.
Damn Kramaric sending in another great ball, while dealing with pressure. I already might like him over Jelavic.
That was some hustle by Kramaric! And what a tap in by Mandzo haha.
Corluka had some nice skill before. And brozovic is trash
Corluka does look slow, but he’s still reliable. Solid center backs are hard to find these days in Croatia.
haha nice little shake and bake by our favorite ‘bosanac’
@ IvicA
That’s what he gets.
Great patience by Kramanic there. Too bad Brozovic heads worse than Rakitic.
anyone else think that its time to cut Corluka?
Hrgota watching from the bench at the Sweden Estonia game.
very curious to see how this Modric/Kovacic/Halilovic combination work….
Haven’t watched a full friendly since the one against Ireland in 2011. Found Croatia’s friendlies to always be boring, due to Billc and Stimac always playing the veterans far too long. Hopefully Kovac is different. I’m pretty excited.
Kovac will have his cycle. Just like his unqualified/amateur predecessors. And that’s that.
Hopefully it will work out.
Kovač, to me, with that arrogance is the exact same thing as Štimac.
Doesn’t really know what he’s doing. Learning on the job. Getting overly defensive when anyone questions him.
We’ll see how many formation experiments are used during this campaign. That will confirm if we ended up with a carbon copy of Štimac as coach.
Ziva – “I am a firm believer that people can learn from mistakes and gain knowledge from experience, so I am hoping that works with Kovac.”
yes me too, but we have to see if Kovac is humble or if he will do anything to continue down the path he believed is the right path…if I see Pranjic at any point on left defense, I’m done and will forever say Kovac is a mental midget!
I’ve played for coaches that think they can “create” a role for a player…some players just do not have the ability to play a certain position…and we have at least 3 players not functioning well at their current positions…Modric, Rakitic and Pranjic…waiting to see how Kovacic responds.
imagine 3 of 10 players not reaching their best level of performance…thats almost a 3rd of your team not performing at the top level.
@Slavonac……he does come off as a bit to arrogant to me as well. I honestly don’t care what coaches and players tell the media because 95% of it is BS. I rather judge the on the field product and what we have watched from him so far is blah.
You have Mamic and Puppet Suker to blame for that in hiring a coach with ZERO experience for the World Cup. I would have preferred someone with more experience in a caretakers role and would have let that person know you will only have this position during the WC and after that we are going with Kovac or someone else.
I am a firm believer that people can learn from mistakes and gain knowledge from experience, so I am hoping that works with Kovac.
@Ziva
I prefer to get to work last and leave first.
People actually think I work my ass off in order to be able to do it.
IvicA- when Kovac was selected as head coach I admit, I was immediately sold on him without seeing his work on the field. When we went to the World Cup there were a few things that raised my eyebrows:
1) insisting on Pranjic playing
2) not being able to get the most of Modric, Rakitic and Kovacic…not even one of them stood out as a leader
3) no plan vs Mexico, we were simply embarrassed
4) did not produce much offensive tactic
when I see his interviews I’m not sure I believe what I see anymore so I will take back my support of him and stand by as someone that wants production before he gets my vote. he seems very very confident in himself, almost arrogant. his responsibility vs how he presents the teams performance is unbalanced. he chose the player, he made the formation and he made the tactical decisions and yet he blamed his players for not running enough…what was the game plan vs Brazil? why did he start Kovacic vs Brazil and then start Pranjic in the middle of the field in a MUST WIN game vs Mexico? where is the logic? who’s more agile, who can beat players, who takes players on, who creates more chances…Pranjic or Kovacic?
there is merit to the stat of 109 vs 120 km’s ran in a game but thats not the entire scenario. he suffocated Rakitic, he over utilized Pranjic and he had no solution at our mid field position…lets not even start with Sammir…I cautiously accepted him on the field simply because of the fact I knew little about him as a player….but he’s not better than what we already have and he’s not good enough for anyone to select him as a Croatian National Team member!!
Does anyone have the running stats for all 32 teams in the WC? If so, I would like to see it because I have my doubts that it translates to wins. I wonder if some of the teams that didn’t do anything were also high up in the amount of km run total during games.
In a way that stats reminds me of the guy in the office who is the first to arrive at work and is the last to leave at work. it looks nice and shows he is committed, but the person does nothing in the office and productive.
He is not jumping on it rather he had some time to reflect.
Hopefully some of our players take note and pick the pace.
Cyprus did score 4 against Portugal a few years back.
@Slavonac
Yes, it is an important stat… but why is this the first time we’re hearing this?
Why didn’t Kovač use this stat while he was defending himself after the World Cup failure?
I don’t think he even noticed anything on the field to suggest this variance in running between us and the upper tier. Someone recently pulled this out, and now he’s jumping on it.
@Peter North……it is Serb Subasic’s job to lose.
although Cyprus is not as competitive as the majority of European teams are Kovac said he felt this test would be a better one than playing Malta.
Should be good game regardless of result just wanna see our youth in action cro4 cyp 0
hello guys ,.
may i have sugestion to create this one:
and we can get chat while the match under way
http://i.imgur.com/QkXe7vS.png?1
I am interested to see how the goaltending situation plays itself out during this qualifying process. For the love of God, please have a goalie between the sticks who can command the backline and be aggressive.
Agree with the “play the kids” sentiment. It’s a friendly so who cares about the result. We are looking for the end result in two years time at EURO 16′ so let’s see what the young kids have to offer.
Btw, Cyprus has not scored a goal in a qualifier/friendly match in two years. That’s gross and very San Marino/Andorra like. It’s just as bad as having to bang Nina Hartley at her age, i can’t believe she still is in the business.
Did any of you guys see Kovac’s comment regarding his team at the WC? He mentioned that Croatia does not run nearly enough to be competitive and threw out some stats…if I remember correctly…Croatia averaged 109 km’s per game while Germany averaged 120 km’s per game.
I do find that stat important and I think this may be a reason he is looking at bringing in some younger players.
@ IvicA
Agreed. I just don’t see Srna and Corluka as starters post Euro 2016, so I’d like to test these kids early and see if they have the jaje to be starters for the repka
@ARMADA
Yea, Tin Jedvaj needs to play.
We need to take out both Ćorluka & Srna in the second half and see what a back line of Strinić, Lovren, Jedvaj, Vrsaljko cam do.
Well at least Pranjić isn’t starting.
Good to finally see us playing a bunch of youngsters during our friendlies.
I don’t like Brozović at DM (he can’t play there) nor do I like Kovačić at LW. Kramarić will probably never play as an AM on our squad due to the depth we have at the position in the present and in the future. Kramarić is still a natural CF and should be tried out there (since we lack depth in that area).
Again, I would expect this from Kovač, so I’m not surprised. I like that we’re playing the kids, but you have to give them purpose within a long term plan.
Much like his ‘running’ statistic, he’ll have these kids running around with zero purpose. At least they’ll get some exercise.
in regards to the game…
-would really like to see Jedvaj get more time than Carli
-would like to see Strinic get 60 minutes or so and Milic to get 30 or so… Same goes for Srna/Vrsaljko
-really not a fan of Brozovic yet… maybe it was tough coming on in a pressure packed games in the WC, but my gut tells me he isn’t the long term answer at DM – multiple reports stating NK does see Rakitic as the long term solution at DM, not sure how that’ll pan out though…
-Not interested in seeing Olic or Jelavic either… Would like to see Cop and Kramaric get some burn though
-Hope our little Bosandzero shows us something today
Predicition: 3-1 (Mandzukic, Kramaric, Kovacic)
wow that stand in Aldo Drosina is really nice… can’t wait to check a game out there next summer
funny, the two most modern (and could say two of the best looking stadiums) stadiums in Croatia (Aldo Drosina and the soon to be built new Kantrida) are not in typical Croatian ‘hotbeds’ (Istra and the Kvarner) haha I love it!
ISTRA U SRCU I KVARNER DO GROBA
Play the kids, play the untested players. I don’t care about the result because, 1., it is meaningless and 2., it is against Cyprus.
While I doubt we will see all the young kids thrown in at once together once the qualifiers begin, now is the time to see who we can rely on and who is not quite ready yet.
Ultimate goal is to be ready to do some damage at Euro 2016. So, i don’t mind having to go through some growing pains in qualifying. Short term pain for long term gain, if you will.
@ IvicA
That’s what it looks like. According to Jutarnji he’s been doing a good job in that position at Rijeka. I don’t follow HNL so I have no idea.
“dok će na poziciji srednje polušpice iza Mandžukića, priliku dobiti Andrej Kramarić koji tu ulogu odlično odrađuje u Rijeci.”
Live HRT2 stream of todays match:
http://sportska-tv.in/hrt2.html
(and FYI the Malta Qualifier will be on ESPN3 for those of us in USA/SAD)
Kramarić as attacking mid?
Isuse Božje.
-————–Mandžukić—————-
–Kovačić—-Kramarić—–Halilović-
——-—-Brozović—Modrić———–
—Strinić–Lovren–Ćorluka–Srna—
—————–Subasic———————
http://www.jutarnji.hr/kovac-u-problemima-ivan-rakitic-i-nikica-jelavic-zbog-ozljeda-preskacu-dvoboj-s-ciprom/1217523/
Rakitic and Jelavic not playing today.
Apparent lineup for the starters:
Subašić, Srna, Ćorluka, Lovren, Strinić, Modrić, Brozović, Halilović, Kramarić, Kovačić, Mandžukić
I am more interested in the formation ?
We have way too much talent to labor on the pitch.
We need a new system plus game tactics moving forward.
Let the young studs run all over the pitch and please feed the BEAST that is MANdzukic!
Uvijek vjerni