Why do we Croatians turn so cynical when it comes to big calls in big games at the World Cup? Because big calls in big games ALWAYS go against us. It’s a regular occurrence and we naturally build up a defense mechanism against them…the same thing the body does when being attacked by a virus. Build up immunity. But how long will it take Croatia to heal from this most recent attack?
I watched the Croatia-Argentina match at St. Anthony’s in Los Angeles with 500+ people. When watching a game of this magnitude on the big screen, you don’t have the luxury of hearing what the announcers are saying OR rewinding the play to watch it in slow-mo. On Livaković’s penalty kick call, which gave Messi an opening goal from the spot, it initially looked like Liva was the aggressor on the play and made all the contact on Alvarez. But that couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve now looked at the play multiple times from multiple angles. Livaković makes himself big, misses the ball, plants his leg, and is then steam rolled by Alvarez. (Just look at Livaković’s leg swing out from under him after he plants.) Livaković has a right to stand his ground. He is never the initiator of contact on the play. What is he supposed to do with his body after attempting to save the ball?
Look, it’s a bang-bang play. I get it. In any normal scenario you can argue the penalty being given both ways. But this is the World Cup semifinal. The winner has a chance at immortality. VAR is available. But the referee never goes to the screen to confirm a tight penalty call in such an important game. I just don’t get it. If VAR is an option but FIFA is subjective when they want to use it, what’s the damn point?! It’s not a true tool for justice in the game.
Where have we seen bad calls affecting opponent’s chances against Croatia at the World Cup?
-1998 semifinal vs. France: Thuram goes through Jarni. No foul is called. France scores the winner.
-2018 Final vs. France: Griezmann is not touched. Flops outside the box. Free kick is given. France scores the opener.
-2022 semifinal vs. Argentina: Alvarez runs into Livaković. Penalty given. NO VAR. Argentina scores opener.
Take a look at the video compilation below. It’s a regular occurrence that Croatians are all too familiar with. I’m not being a sore loser. But you have to call a spade a spade.
World Cup football (or any other tournament football i.e Champions League, EURO) is won by the slimmest of margins. One goal changes absolutely everything in a 90-minute knockout round match. It changes both teams’ tactics and strategy immediately. It’s not a 38-game club season where you can bounce back from three defeats in three straight weekends in September. In knockout round football, if you can’t recover from conceding a goal quickly, you are most likely doomed. Croatia have been great playing from a goal down for the past two tournaments. But playing from a goal down and two goals down are two completely different stories. Croatia could have come back from Messi’s penalty; even though that set the tone early. At that time, the Vatreni controlled the midfield and ball possession. But conceding five minutes later on a counter-attack from your own corner kick…well…that was the dagger.
They say players win games, coaches lose them, and referees ruin them. Well, here we are again. And the fact that Luka Modrić said the following after the game really encapsulates everything. Historically, Modrić is mild mannered and never speaks out at refs after bad results or poorly played games. This is what he shared with Madrid Xtra after the 3-0 loss to Argentina.
After review of the match and team this tournament.
Forwards very disappointing 0 pace up front from all players Perisic is a step behind all games against all defenders hes faced. and it killed us, we have talent coming through the ranks (18-21year olds) so WC 2026 / 2024 EU should be very interesting for us forward wise.
Rakitic gone has shown to be a huge hole in the offensive 1/3 midfield wise lack of threat on top of the box just outside the 18. .
Midfield is solid as always.great midfields coming through the ranks as well not worried at all in that department.
Defensively I think we exceeded expectations with our youth. our back line for years to come will be rock solid. Lovren out and Sutalo in for 2026wc and 2024 EU.
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Argentina game: as much as the PK made me sick of the game. We shot ourselves in the foot that game.
We gave Arg the game with goal 2-3 not
Goal2: a trick play corner that hasn’t worked for us all tournament? Cross it into the box properly and that 2-0 goal dosent exist. Example of play stupid games and find out. and we found out.
Goal 3: As everyone is saying “he should have taken the yellow” I mean yes that’s an option and one he will take next time. but there is more to that goal. And the Blame is not entirely Josko. Gvardiol held Messi to the outside without foul all the way to the goal line. He did his job as a Center back and beautiful display.
I’m looking inside out box.The Free Argentine player with no Croats around him ? That’s the midfields job, to drop with attacking player into the box. there was more than enough time to trail him into the box.That time midfield let down defenders to cover the open man.
offence:
Our worries from the start of the World Cup finally caught up. NO FINISH NO PACE NO THREAT. All of our forwards are simply not scary in the face of opposition. It’s time for changing of the guards and let the young blood free.
Forward core of this WC I hope will be the last because it is not good enough to win cups Plain and simple.
Was Lovren at fault for the first goal against Argentina?
I’m reading a LOT of negative comments after the Argentina game. Bros, we were in the semifinals for the THIRD TIME. Croatia has 3.9 mill people…! If any other nation of similar size had been doing the same as us in football, they would be lauded and written about, just like Croatia. We’ve won a LOT of fans around the world. Let’s not be depressed just yet. There’s still a third place/bronze final to be played. Independent of the result we get there, Croatia is right up there with the big boys on the international football stage.
I agree, we lack a Šuker og Bokšić type striker. If we had such a player up front, we would be in the finals every bloody World Cup.
Budimo ponosni! Za dom! ⚽️🇭🇷
Livaja, budimir, Pašalić, Petković, Sučić, if those guys are in better form then Colak and Musa then i must have missed something,,dalic needs to go,,we have a brilliant future of young players and for the Euro he cant be in charge,,,just look at nations league, im proud of what we did, country of less then 4 million..
And your replacement would be………
Let’s get serious here…..
Does everyone think that Croatia could have been World Cup Champions with the likes of Livaja, Petkovic, Budimir & Kramaric as our forwords?……lol
Livaja and Petko play in the HNL for a reason. Budimir and Kramaric are on the wrong side of 30 and are not starters for their club teams anymore. You can add Pasalic in here as well. He was completely inept at playing RW. Poor Modric had no outlet for two straight games and had to run is 37yr old ass of because of it. Dalic does not get a free pass just because they fluked out and with a lot of luck made it to the semis.
Now compare them to Argentina’s, France’s even Morocco’s forwards.
Who else do we utilize? Yes, we don’t have the right players for Modric and Kovacic to feed. Orsic is the only one can compete with the top teams imo. There just wasn’t any urgency after that PK goal. We looked mentally and emotionally broken. Almost like we gave up just like the France game. Our defence were also too young and inexperienced. Premier strikers are key to winning the gold but it’s also not conceding first, going down by 2-0 in the second half and chasing games. Let’s face it..France and Argentina tactically figured us out. We’ve conceded in the last seven consecutive world cups knockout stages. That has to be a new stat for us. Gotta stop using the referee as the excuse.
Well, Portugal won Euro2016 with an inability to score as well (and unlike us, they were unable to control the midfield).
Eder was the striker who scored their tournament winning goal.
Eder.
The short answer is yes. But you still have to score a goal somewhere in the game. All we do is play from behind. If the fucken Greeks did it in 2004, anyone can do it…albeit with a great defense. Ours was okay this tournament but not great all around…but they did have their moments.
Greece won every knockout round game in 2004 1-0. There you go.
At the end of the day the fact that this team made it to the Semi’s is beyond where they should have made it.
I don’t say that to take anything away from them but simply to speak the facts as I see it: their ability to play mentally tough and defensive soccer up until the semi’s is to be celebrated.
But we ain’t gonna win the world cup if we can’t score goals.
The first penalty I am honestly torn on. I have to look at it more but regardless Argentina was the better team. They capitalized on opportunities and went for the goal.
We need offense. Stat.
Proud of our boys.
Couldn’t agree more. We’ve never had a player that was a superstar upfront. Best we ever had was Perisic, Mandzukic and Suker. Germany had Muller, Spain had Villa, France had Mbappe & Greizmann. Bring on Musa, Simic and Vidovic!!!
Add in Ljubicic, Colak while your at it. Look risks sometimes need to be taken. It is how young stars are born.
Mbappe is one such star you don’t know till you try.
Same with Michael Owen in 1998. young guy burst onto the scene and got hot.
Didnt do a lot afterwards, but you just need someone to get hot to win you a game.
It’s a discount Italian and Spaniard Vs United African Nations Final. No argument that Italy and Spanish players helped them get to the finals throughout history. Same goes to France. They get all the help from colonialism they’ve done for hundreds of years. As far as I’m concerned. Spain winning the 2010 Final was the last team to win by using they’re own blood. The Germans had some Polaks, Turks and Albanians in the 2014 squad so I guess it’s fair to include them too.
Funny how Morocco has 13 players born abroad. Now we’re not only the European nation to not be colonized and go far. Morocco and Argentina needed colonization to get better. That’s a stat I’ll hold on to.
Coincidence that Qatar Sports Investments owns PSG and a France Vs Argentina is taking place? I think not… FIFA wants a Mbappe Vs Messi final. The young kid to take over PSG vs the legend ending his career at PSG.
This world cup was a strange one for me, since I wiped watching club football from my life this season, the only games I watch is when Croatia play, and when we go out I don’t give a shit about watching the ugly game until I can watch Croatia again. I really love watching the ugly game this way.
Craig Foster has done his best to put me off the ugly game once and for all with the absolute bullshit he speaks, biggest f****** sycophant in world sport lol! I’m really starting to get sick of Fifa and their story telling also.
So the 3rd place play off happy ending for globalist Fifa is obviously Morocco winning, but maybe if they want prove their ugly game isn’t rigged they let Croatia win.
I watched a YouTube clip the other day called “top ’90’s strikers,” it made me realise that the strikers of the today are absolute dogshit!
Besides the Croatian spirit, Neymar’s goal against Croatia was the highlight of this WC!
Morocco will be tough but we need to beat them to prove ourselves a bit. I’m good with some young blood. We will have a bit of a hangover/letdown because no one wants to play for 3rd obviously.
But guarantee that morocco wants 3rd if they can get it. So this game is bigger for them than it is for us.
Honestly i know it was the game plan to play with what we have but i dont love the fact that we go to the semifinal with 1 game won in regulation against the shittiest team in the tournament. We need another tick in the win column in my opinion.
Morocco are still morocco. And yes they play with passion, pride and intensity but they are still morocco.
Canada were in no way the shittiest team in the tournament, not even close. They beat Belgium 2-0 (world #2) and they really should have drawn v Morocco (had that header that bounced kinda over the goal line but not 100% clearly over). So to say they were “the shittiest team in the tournament” with the likes of teams like Serbia and Qatar in the tourney is frankly ridiculous. Canada only had 1 bad game, against us, cos they pissed us off and we smashed them.
Canada lost all three matches
lollll
Iggy i love ya bud, always have, but gotta get your facts straight.
I will conceed that Qatar was the shittiest team in the tournament. With a goal difference of -6, Followed by…….CANADA with a goal difference of -5.
They are the only teams that went 0-3
Belgcunts Beat Canacunts 1-0
Hrvatska Beat Canacuts 4-1
Morocunts Beat Canacunts 2-1 – with an own goal by the Morocunts
At least the Serbcunts tied Camaroon.
But out of 32 teams, yes Qatar, was worse, but they didn’t even qualify for the tournament, they got a free pass. Canacunts are the WORST PERFORMING TEAM TO HAVE ACTUALLY QUALIFIED.
LOL Canada had one goal and it was against us. That was they’re only shining moment. Canada was the only CONCACAF team that didn’t have a win or point. They don’t belong at the World Cup. To me the worst performers were Qatar, Serbia, Belgium, Canada and Germany. The Canucks should stick to hockey, lacrosse and curling. Even in hockey, no Canadian team has won a cup since 1993. That comment made me giggle. Canada can only excel at ice hockey.
Considering how this tournament could have gone (with a Canadian and Serbian golden generation) the results have been hilarious.
Overrated Canada (and their ethnic cleansing supporting Serbian keeper) finished 31st in the tournament. Serbia with their golden generation finished 28th.
Borjan even allowed a goal to attempt to screw us over, but it made no difference (and we went on a run anyway).
Piksi Stojković vocally supporting Croatia’s opponents (when asked in press conferences) was equally pathetic.
I’m still upset about this Argentina result, but man, how bad does it suck to be Canadian or Serbian.
“and their ethnic cleansing supporting Serbian keeper”
What did he say? Can you provide a link?
Morocco vs Croatia – winning goaltender gets golden glove? who else is in running, Argentina guy?
Maybe Argentina guy if he has a huge game.
Morocco guy was a little slow getting across on the 2nd france goal i thought. I know it took a deflection but it looked a little slow motion.
the guys will want to win that for Livakovic – the 2 shootout wins took us as far as we got
Not taking 3rd from the Morococonuts would be embarrassing . A wasted tournament oh but we beat Brazil.
Despite the France game, Morocco remains tough and dangerous
The good news is, Morocco will only get two days of rests
The bad news… no one from Croatia really cares to go to a third place game. The croatian fan showing will be light. Meanwhile, Morocco fans and neutral Arab fans will be all in for a Morocco bronze.
This will be a hostile away game for a questionably motivated Croatia team.
we got boned hard by bad reffing but there is no conspiracy here. just shitty reffing. at most FIFA places a shitty ref in these games in hopes of controversy but I highly doubt there is any match fixing going on. Without unsolicited confessions we’ll never be able to prove it anyway. sucks ass trying to play against three teams at the same time….argentina, refs, Fifa..
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/football/argentina-croatia-lionel-messi-qatar-world-cup-spt-intl/index.html
Watching the France V Morocco game. France is just way too fast. We should all be rooting for Morocco. We’d be the only team to not lose to them if they win it all.
As for the theories that FIFA, Qatar and other enriched Saudi billionaires using they’re wealth to get a France V Argentina final. Profit wise it makes sense. Messi be the most complete player in the 21st century to win every major tournament and football trophy. A World Cup, Copa America, Champions League, and a Ballon’Dor. For France getting a win. Two consecutive World Cup wins for the diversity quota. If Messi were to score twice in the final that would surpass Pele for most World Cup goals. If he were to play again in 2026. He’s five off from tying the Klose record. If it’s a France V Argentina final. France has much better defence and attacking. They don’t rely solely on Mbappe to score in big games.
Why does the “diversity quota” only have to be fulfilled by countries that were founded by white people?
Regardless of the penalty this group was lucky to advance past the group stage. This team could not generate any offence with the lineup Dalic/Modric picked. Dalic went with the Greece model of winning a tournament. I agree that the crosses and corner kicks were minor league and caused the quick counter attacks.
Can anyone explain why Majer got so little playing time?
Dalic likes to play the hot hand and has always been hesitant to make changes especially during the game. If they get a result in one game, barring a bad injury, you’ll usually see the same lineup in the next game. Petkovic and Livaja were interchangeable. Pasalic/Vlasic were interchangeable.
Majer was his first midfield option off the bench, but only if it was obvious that either Kovacic or Modric were completely gassed.
I didn’t have a problem with it as it almost got us in the finals.
“Dalic went with the Greece model”
That’s not true, Croatia didn’t bunker and punt at all, they controlled large parts of games with their technical ability on the ball, working their way out of culdesacs consistently, working their way from deep in their own territory into dangerous forward attacks often. It was the final 1/3 where the forwards didn’t create enough full chances from tight spaces except against Canada.
Geez Morocco’s famous defence didnt last long against France
. the referee is a slothful .VAR has all the proof .
FIFA all penalty box fouls ..VAR is decision must be collective.
Great tournament for Croatia. So proud of our team. But…..
That bogus penalty call ruined the game!!
It wasn’t a penalty and it completely deflated the team and changed the momentum. It felt like if you are boxing some big heavyweight and he smashes you in the balls and you go down and barely get to your feet and the ref doesn’t do anything. The rest of the fight is going to be really hard.
The player got off his shot clean and crashed into the goalie.. it’s a non call. I would say the same thing if it was the other way around. I would rather lose fair than win by cheating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The referee saw the the Croatian defender cleared the ball and it wasn’t a goal and blew the whistle and bailed out Argentina and called the penalty. A classic fifa ref move. Maybe the ref saw it as interference, ok. A second look should have been automatic. That’s supposed to be the whole point of the Var. The fact that Var wasn’t used is the proof that it’s a tool for “cheating” instead of a tool for “justice”
It’s very convenient how they use it sometimes and sometimes they don’t????? NO BIG DEAL ITS LIKE ONE OF THOSE ONLY IF THEY FEEL LIKE IT DEALS. As part of this VAR system I think the coach/team should be given like 2-3 review challenges a game. For example in this case. The ref calls a penalty, the coach throws his challenge flag in the air and gets a review and it goes to VAR. They can still cheat through var and uphold the call but at least it’s exposed and everyone can see it for what it is. This would at least take away the power of only using VAR “when they feel like it” No VAR in the semifinals on that call which 100% deserved a review? Unbelievable! 2018 final when they rolled out the VAR cheating system was a perfect example of this manipulation! It’s wasn’t used for the Griezmann flop job which led to a goal. Great example of how the challenge flag could be used for a review by the coach when the ref “misses” the call and VAR IS NOT USED for some UNKNOWN reason. It’s actually a genius invention by fifa to control the game and give advantage. It gives them so much power and influence over the game. It can be used to create a goal or take one away when they want to use it and cover up a bad call or non call when they want by not using it when they should. Fifa loves to claim “fair play” And it’s presented as a tool for “Justice”?. Who’s Justice? Another Var scam against us which actually was the Grand opening of this was the Perisic “hand ball” VAR penalty! It was a non call on the field that mysteriously got a review for what reason no one knows til this day. Maybe if you throw your hands up in the air like the French players did it triggers it. But if you are a Croatian player and you question a call like kovacic you get a yellow card? Anyways everyone knows that Var review was a joke where he goes and checks it and comes out confused?The powers that be tell him in his earpiece to go back in and he checks it again and then he Comes back out and gets the go ahead from the powers that be and rewards a bogus penalty on a complete non call and basically hands over the trophy to the French. How can you win a game when the ref hands out goals to the other team like candy.
Back to the Argentina game.
Besides the refs and fifa corruption Croatia has some internal problems
With our striking/scoring options that didn’t help us during the tournament. We did the best we could and made it work and got deep in the tournament but our luck ran out with that penalty call and without the firepower needed to comeback it was just too much.
In my opinion the Kramaric option as our striker #9 killed us. He was completely ineffective against any quality or even decent teams. 0% production!! Against Canada he hit some shots. But it was because it was Canada. They aren’t good simple as that. This is my gripe about Dalic. We knew this from the Euro tournament and we still put our chips on Kramaric and he did exactly what we thought!! Nothing!!! I never felt he was a scoring threat AT ALL in any of the games (except Canada of course which is a crap team) and in the WC you are going to face quality at some point.
So FIFA- Qatar – PSG- Messi- got what they wanted and Argentina are in the final. I’m not shocked. Business as usual.
Argentina vs France final! In fifas view “it’s good for the sport”! But it’s actually only good for business and fifa has actually destroyed football/soccer for me. They’ve taken the fun and fairness out of it and made the corruption and scam of it too predictable. It was just a matter of time before they did it in this tournament.
The sad part is it will continue to happen .
2014 Brazil Fred Flop penalty
2018 Griezman fake flop call
2018 Perisic fake hand ball penalty
2022 Argentina/ Liva goal penalty!
2024 ????
2026. ????
Hear hear. Excellent retort.
Here is an old article I wrote years ago tracing back the history of the bad call phenomenon that Croatia tends to regularly experience.
https://croatiansports.com/croatia-underachieve-major-soccer-tournaments/
wc 2026 roster
? ? ?
kovacic (vlasic/majer/sucic/ ?)
brozovic
sosa gvardiol sutalo/erlic/? juranovic/stanisic/?
?
projected 2022 wc roster back in 2018
perisic kramaric brekalo
modric
kovacic brozovic
? ? ? ?
?
Decent teams combined with a lot of luck have spoiled us these last two seasons. It is more likely than not than Croatia will once again not make a world cup semi final for another 20 years. There is a pretty good chance they won’t make the next world cup, which would be a real shame for all the american based croatians on this site.
It will have been an entertaining 4 years though as we’ll get four summers of tournaments in a row. Euro 2021, World cup 2022, Nations league 2023, Euro 2024.
I think there is a decent chance Luka sticks around till 2024….but if he does, I think him being passed his prime will become a heated topic on this board.
Modric should stay through Nations league + Euros if he is uninjured.
Let’s face it, if Mandzukic had anything at all left to give – which maybe he did not because of injury…could have made the difference…could have done a cameo like ibrahamovic does after retiring
A “pretty good chance” that we won’t make the 2026 World Cup, you say? Europe gets 16 automatic qualifiers for the ’26 World Cup (up from this year’s 13 qualifiers) due to the field increasing from 32 to 48 teams. And yet, you think not only that there is a chance that we won’t qualify, but a “pretty good” chance. How about you put your prognostication skills to the test. Let’s bet $25,000 on whether Croatia qualifies for the ’26 World Cup. Agreed? Once agreed, we can figure out logistics to ensure neither of us weasels out of the bet (whether it’s pre-funding it to Kvartuc (who I don’t know, but would trust to serve in that role), or some other method).
we could possibly do it through a crypto smart contract. Of course with the proper odds weightings. I haven’t run the models yet, but I can get the analysts on it
You did say “pretty good chance” — which means at least even odds (and probably more accurate to have odds being slightly better than 50/50 that they don’t qualify).
I want in on this action.
I’m down for a $25,000 bet for Croatia to qualify for WC2026.
We lost this game because of Alvarez’s energy. He wasn’t properly marked leading up to the bs penalty call. BUT-he still find a space and bursted forward. He did what he needed to do get a call. Wrong call but he did the right things to make it happen. 2nd goal was beyond pathetuc. Made me want to puke we gave a goal like that but Alvarez head energy to burst forward.Our short corners were so bad. Over and over.
And Messi… He walked for long periods in the 1st half. Sure he netted a beauty pk but it was a gift from Fifa. And Gvardiol is now a poster boy for the 3rd goal. He needs to learn a thing or two from the great Chiellini. Grab Messi by the shirt next time. Take the yellow and don’t be a part of a marketing video for Messi embarrasing you. We lost but to give the 2nd and 3rd goal in such an embarrasing way is brutal. Idemo dalje.I hope France wins. Jebes Messi.
well said. the goal is not Gvardiol’s fault, but take the yellow – he will in the future … remember – guy is only 20!!
Regardless of what happens Saturday, I’m still beyond proud. It felt like a dagger in the heart yesterday. Evem worse than the final loss to France four years ago. The fashion we went out in was brutal and a score line like that should be happening in strictly qualifying and group stage matches. Not a semi final. I expected Messi to be top class and he never disappoints. We were weak at the back and Sosa to me isn’t ready for big tests yet. He can’t maintain ball control and has terrible crosses. As for Gvardiol, what can I say other than a fearless unit. He’s arguably our best player in the tournament. However, yesterday the nerves and Messi got the best of him. He looked out of place and played like it was his first game. I’m not worried. The boy is 20 and has at least 2 more world cups ahead of him. Bright future for the kid. As said before, you can’t win championships conceding first all the time. Argentina found gaps in our defence. Especially on the first two goals. A lot of our young players have never been at this stage. Gvardiol, Sosa, Jurnaovic etc. A good amount of Argentina played in the World Cup semis and final back in Brazil. Messi, Otamendi, Di Maria. Plus, they’ve played in Copa Americas and won too. You need experience to win as well and our experienced players were nowhere to be found. Perisic, Kramaric and Pasalic were in invisible. I was impressed with the Argentinian defence. They didn’t give us an inch and we hardly had any shots on target. I don’t know if it’s just me, but we stopped trying after the Messi goal..and it was already over at half time going down 2-0. On to Saturday, I don’t care if we win or lose. We came here to win and make history. Nobody remembers the second place or third place finishers. It’s definitely the last tournament for Perisic, Modric, Lovren, Vida, and perhaps a few others. I’m rooting for Morocco. I love the way they play and them winning it all will give me joy seeing a true underdog story being achieved in football. Time to rebuild once and for all. The Nations League is next year in June and qualifying starts in March. Start bringing up Musa, Vidovic, Simic and giving minutes to the guys next in line. No more Luka or Perisic. Allow your younger teammates to be provided the opportunity you were allowed. Put it this way, Germany starting competing independently in 1994. It took them twenty years to win a trophy. Portugal won its first trophy in 2016. Belgium hasn’t even been in a final. Italy has missed two consecutive world cups. The scoreline says we didn’t belong according to the media or doubters. Yet, we punched above our weight once again and made history knocking out the five time champions. Another chapter closed in Croatian football history. Just remember, the story isn’t finished. Were just getting started.
How long have I been saying this for? Once again I am proven right. I told everyone yesterday before the game that the refs will hurt Croatia and on que they did exactly that.
I am glad you have all come around to what is going on.
There is a massive push to crown Messi as the greatest. He plays for PSG which coincidently is owned by Qatar. Argentina have received a record 5 penalties this tournament to push them to the finals-many of the soft variety, as we all witnessed yesterday.
Watch FIFA Uncovered on Netflix and you will understand what keeps happening to Croatia. More importantly pay attention to episode 3 and the deal that gets made between France and Qatar to get the French vote to host the tournament.
Will France make it to the final to make it an all PSG Qatar affair? We will find out today.
I don’t really know the official rule for that penalty, but my guess is it’s close
It’s interesting to hear Luka come out so vocally and directly at the ref though
But bottom line is, at this point it’s out of my mind. why you ask?
Because you know who are the only people that still care about the push by Thurman, the phantom Lovren foul on Fred, the questionable Perisic var reviewed handball, and now the questionable Livakovic penalty off what should have been a Croatian corner??
US.
Just us.
No one else cares for more than a minute and no one else ever will and nothing we can do about it. Time to move on.
I almost feel like this world cup event has ended for me and I’ve kind of shut down. It’s strange to think the Croatia team is actually still playing again.
If you ask me though, I just don’t think they’re going to be able to get their mentality right to play in this game.
Both games will be tough. We’d hope for Morocco, but that is going to be still a highly motivated side essentially playing at home and France is simply France.
Part of being a fan! If you care about something you have no direct control in, you feel helpless…just got to keep on going and try to have fun. Even Italy, with all the success – fans suffer with 2 world cups in a row not qualifying
Croatia is getting into the rarified air of non-cup winners out there…3 semi final appearances…In terms of success, it’s the cup winners then the Dutch and Croatia. In some lifetime, Croatia or the Dutch will break through…just as France and Spain have done
Just give the B team a try in this 3rd place match and let them prove themselves. Too bad we don’t have a young striker to try out.
I couldn’t agree more. Let the young guns make they’re mark.
I agree with the theme this video shows
I take it we will play to win third, but wonder if all the players, who didn’t get a chance to play will, such as Simic, Erlic, Sutalo, Majer, Orisic……etc. Nice to see what they could provide. We beat france with this line up right.
How many times did we actually get a corner or in swinger into the box ?
Luka was short on every single corner or they would pass it short on a corner then eff around with it.
Think how frustrating that must be for a defender who then has to chase back after not even getting a chance in the box?
Getting the ball into the mixer with perhaps a header or deflection or lucky bounce was our best option of scoring considering our futile attack.
Don’t forget the yellow card given to Kovacic. Couldn’t play his regular game with a caution that early.
VAR did look at it, but since they deemed it was not a “Clear & Obvious” error, it was not sent down to Orsato to see for himself.
They considered it a judgment call…one we probably would have never gotten.
I watched the replay again. Livakovic was way to slow in coming out to get the ball. It was bouncing right in front of him. If he committed 100% he would have touched it for sure and no penalty. Instead he game out 50% then stopped and spread his arms and legs out hoping the ball would hit him. If was bad goaltending. All he had to do was touch the ball but he was afraid of the contact.
His weaknesses are still there.
He’s not great outside of the six yard box area.
Most of the shots from our opponents have been close range shots, at tight angles, within an arm’s reach of him. Saving these types of shots are Livakovic’s bread and butter.
His good on-the-line header save from that Argentinian penalty is an example of that yesterday.
Obviously the PK saves are a big benefit too.
But any sort of contact or challenging balls off his line is a problem.
Also, we didn’t see many long range attempts either. He has problems with those on occasion too.
We will likely have to stick with him now after this World Cup performance, but hopefully our other keepers continue to develop as it doesn’t seem like Livakovic will be improving in these weaker areas…and it could be a problem in the future, especially if a club buys him and it results in him being benched.
Found this article by searching “Croatia’s defense was awful”. I’m a team USA fan…here is 2 cents. I thought the penalty was 50/50. I thought the keeper played the ball. In no way shape or form was that a yellow. Goal #2…absolutely a comedy of error. Awful defending, terrible ball clearance and the Argentina player got lucky with bounces. Goal 3..the scorer was standinf..not running, standing in the box amd no-one picked him up. I saw the Goal coming a few seconds before it happened. Shame on Croatia for not picking him up in the box and denying the pass…it was the only place Messi had to go with the ball. Argentina did their usual cheating of tugging in jerseys and pushing players off the ball, bit they ran to everything both on offense and defense. They were the aggressive team that came to play. Argentina didnt even waste as much time as they usually do. Croatia’s defense appeared to still be celebrating their win against Brazil. The officiating wasn’t great but nonetheless less…goals 2 and 3 should have never happened.
Great analysis Chris, really good insights regarding what was going on. You should write for Croatian sports.
Why does the 50/50 big call always go one way?
Spot on .. goalie ball in 6 box
Never should have been a PK
Croatia defense wrong side of post n failed to clear
Defense missed coverage
Found this article by searching “Croatia’s defense was awful”. I’m a team USA fan…here is 2 cents. I thought the penalty was 50/50. I thought the keeper played the ball. In no way shape or form was that a yellow. Goal #2…absolutely a comedy of error. Awful defending, terrible ball clearance and the Argentina player got lucky with bounces. Goal 3..the scorer was standinf..not running, standing in the box amd no-one picked him up. I saw the Goal coming a few seconds before it happened. Shame on Croatia for not picking him up in the box and denying the pass…it was the only place Messi had to go with the ball. Argentina did their usual cheating of tugging in jerseys and pushing players off the ball, bit they ran to everything both on offense and defense. They were the aggressive team that came to play. Argentina didnt even waste as much time as they usually do. Croatia’s defense appeared to still be celebrating their win against Brazil. The officiating wasn’t great but nonetheless less…goals 2 amd 3 should have never happened.
Ask yourself why is the world cup even in Qatar..maybe because FIFA mafia was paid by the Qatar Royal Family?…OF COURSE!!!!!!
Qatar Royal Family is calling the shots and telling FIFA what they want. Qatar Royal Family owns PSG. Who plays for PSG?? Messi and Mbappe…
Who do they want in the Final?- Argentina and France….it’s not even FIFA, they are just well paid puppets who need to listen and pass on the ‘agenda’ to the officials on the field and in the booth…..Corruption at its best and if you do not agree, in my opinion you are naive…
We had an impotent attack.
Miraculous midfield got us through to the semifinals.
Not one forward to run and attack the box.
Kovacic explosive runs and through balls to slow Kramaric to know where.
Let the next generation fight for bronze this Saturday.
Let the veterans come off the bench.
Yes I love Croatia and the run was awesome but when are we going to actually go for a major trophy for real.
Rebić running is unparalleled in our talent pool.
Musa and Ljubicic are absolutely ready.
I pray we access our attacking prowess going forward.
Did anyone see the video of Argentina team throwing the Croatian jersey in the garbage while celibrating in locker room?Any possibility Fifa will sanction them? Maybe remove them and Put us in the final. It’s a huge sign of disrespect towards Croatia.
they are who they are – shitty humans, as proven by their actions…
I will root for France today and in the final if they go through – I don’t hate on France, even though they are a tough rival…but I really don’t like Messi’s Argentina. (I do like Maradonna though)
Cigan je Cigan
I heard that this is fake news, and that it was a dark blue Argentine training shirt that a player was throwing in the dirty laundry bin.
Didn’t see that video ! I do know Messi always crying to the Referee…
I look at it this way, if that was kramaric with the ball going at the Argentine keeper and the ref doesn’t call a pk I would be livid. If livakovic would have touched the ball there would be no pk but he didn’t so it is.
Again you can’t tell me if it was the other way around and the red didn’t call it you wouldn’t be mad
Baka
If that was the exact same play and it was Kramaric it wouldn’t be a penalty. Ref would have checked VAR and the ref would wave play on.
We all know this. lol
I dont agree. The PK against France was bs last world cup but for this I really feel people are reaching. To each their own.
Croatia’s fault they should of kicked the corner in the box because we had a height advantage and their should of been a defender in the middle of the field. So 2 big mistakes on 1 play.
Yeah that was a back breaker. I remember yelling at Brozovic through my TV as he was lackadaisical getting that cross in.
We lost 3-0 end of story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hl9NbmO9lQ&ab_channel=KingKabawoTV
High-Class manager vs Low-Class manager is so different
I don’t think it should have been a penalty, but I think the Argentine guy should have scored there anyway- so 1-0 Seemed about right.
The 2nd goal is where we really fucked up, don’t know why we never take proper corner instead of short- the Brozovic fucked up, then Sosa gassed and couldn’t clear it. That is where game lost.
Still, a comeback was possible with all that time left – but we never got the 1st one back
GG Alin
But he didn’t score, he missed. So this play could have built momentum for Croatia had the ref not made the call.
In watching that replay over again a few times (and trying to take my Croatian glasses off) I feel it’s more 50/50.
Alvarez no doubt runs into Livakovic, but the fact that Livakovic doesn’t make contact with the ball is the reason this gets called. I am absolutely shocked that at the very least a VAR check wasn’t done – ridiculous in a game of this magnitude. I was worried a bit about the refs prior to and hoped they were fair.
From what I’ve been able to piece together, the players were complaining just as much on the missed corner call the play before.
As Slavonac posted on a previous thread and in watching the HRT postgame analysis, the ref was in a straight line 30 yards behind the play!
What’s more is that the defense was disorganized on that play. Some are saying Gvardiol was preoccupied with Messi and wasn’t back helping Lovren, but I think it was Lovren’s fault and the other way around. The entire back line was further up and only Lovren had dropped further back. If he’s in line with the rest of the back line then Alvarez is easily offside.
This goal set the tone and I felt it really deflated us. As Ante said, Modric rarely complains and for him to say this means something.
The second goal was a series of poor defending and bad bounces.
Bottom line we played poorly defensively and it cost us.
I will say we haven’t had 4 penalty calls awarded to us this tournament….
The second and third goals never happen if that call isn’t made.
That call destabilized Croatia and they were forced to press for an equalizer.
This is how I see it (and I don’t get why some people see it differently).
1/ Qatar bribed the FIFA to have the WC being played in Qatar. This is already proven.
2/ Qatar has a huge influence on the FIFA. This is not proven but the leader of the Fifa lives in Qatar (Infantino) and always supports them. With all the wealth in Qatar and their way of taking care of business (bribing, see what’s happening in the European parliament right now), it makes a lot of sense.
3/ The people who run Qatar also lead PSG.
4/ Messi and Mbappe play for PSG.
Now does someone here actually believes that the Qatar organization (with all the influence in the Fifa) would like a final without their own players?
So Qatar would have organized a tournament where a Real Madrid star (Modric) could shine while their own players would sit and wait in the background?
Qatar invests money into football to gain positive attention in the world (sportswashing is the word – it’s a term used to describe the practice of groups… or governments using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. They would do everything for the honor to have the star of the World Champions in their team. If you talk about recognition, publicity, pride, that would be a way bigger achievement than winning the Champions League, maybe two or three Champions League titles.
Imagine if Mamic would be extremely rich and bribing the FIFA to have the WC played in Croatia. I bet a team filled with Dinamo Zagreb players would go very far.
To end, Hrvatska didn’t play great in the semi-finals… but there was zero chance that we ever would win this tournament. Not with the current FIFA board.
Maybe you’re right but that’s just how it is and Croatia has to be better. I always said when Cro gets into these games not only do we have to beat the team we are playing but the refs too. And this goes for all small teams at almost any sport.
We need to face some hard facts and truths . we got a bad call , but we lost the game . I saw on YouTube subtitles Spanish pundits who were very gracious praised Luka and our team and called our run skill and not luck. I never like the statement no shame in losing in to Brazil or Argentina . Because when w beat them its shame for them . The pundits Brought out a fact that although we had the best midfield in the cup we still could not score goals, and put games away . Both is Russia and Qatar we had some bad breaks but lacked the quality and skill overcome . AT THE END OF THE DAY BOTH ARGENTINA AND FRANCE GOT IT DONE . No excuses about the ref. Yeah he was horrible and not for us . But we could not score . I feel bad for Luka he deserved that cup , not Messi . Luka will never be remembered . We will always remember him , but the world will forget him and us and call this run like the Russia run was luck. How did the asshole pundit put it , Cinderella fell back to earth , it was never in any doubt. That is the insult I don’t forgive and what upsets me more than anything . My dad one told me if Luka was as great as Messi or better because he was Croatian they would break his legs and end his career , because a Croatian is not worthy to be the best player. I used to think he drank to much wine and raki . called him nuts. Looking back now that he is dead because he drank that stuff , I say to myself that maybe he was right . Thank you Ante for letting me rant
I agree with you that we weren’t a good enough team to overcome the handicap or create our own luck, but saying that Luka will never be remembered for not winning a WC final is a touch dramatic, don’t you think? He’s a club legend at the biggest club in the world, with 5 UCL trophies, a WC best player award, and a Ballon d’or to go with it all. Less accomplished players from decades ago are still celebrated, and without the benefit of their memories being preserved and readily available online in HD. He will always be considered among the top of his generation, and more importantly, inspire generations of our players to come.
Yeah, Modric will be remembered no matter what
Hey D I hope that you are right. I say that he wont be remembered because the pundits bashed him. When we beat Brazil nobody said how great luka was or how he led his team to victory . The story was all about Neymar and how he choked . Messi win over shadowed our accomplishment. One pundit said if Brazil attacked with 4 midfielders instead of 2 they would of won. Our victory was completely dismissed as luck. Each time our team from 98 to now has had any run its considered a Cinderella Story . A story where we crash and burn. Our run here was considered luck and not skill . I don’t believe that Croatian soccer or our people are respected . Nor do we get the respect we deserves. Maybe I am wrong . Its because of this opinion is why I believe Luka would not get the respect and recognition he deserves or be remembered with respect
Modric is probably the one person on Croatia side where it does not matter as much if we win the world cup or not (in terms of legacy)
Of course, if he would have won he may go down as best ever midfielder…and now he is just one of the best ever…has nothing to do with being Croatian though – it’s just that he didn’t win the cup.
Can’t take that Ballond’or away either
I stopped reading after “Luka will never be remembered” . What an idiotic thing to say.
What’s the ideal lineup for 2024 and 2026?
So many mainstream sport casters are calling it a clear penalty. How can that be. Why is it so clear to them. Scary why that seems to be a 50/50 call.
Hi Kromiza, strange that sports casters call it a clear penalty but seasoned retired soccer veterans say it was not . Now if that happened to us would we say it was a penalty ? only difference is we don’t get that call . Lets be clear our guys played great but we did not have the quality to win the game . We could not convert . We lost the game . The minute that Ref was prepared to give to go out guys a red card you know where the game was going. We had some bad breaks in this game. But just like Russia we France did not win the game we lost the game . Same applies here . We lost the game .
Yes, agreed we loss. They were the better team, but should there not be consensus moving forward. Alexi Lalas is a seasoned veteran and an announcer, and he thought it was a clear penalty. If it happened to us, meaning our man ran into their goalie, I would guess we would get a penalty for running into the goalie most likely. That was the turning point in the game. Yes agreed again, we loss, they were the better team, we just controlled the ball 75% of the time. Japan won many times controlling the ball 25% of the time. I realize that.
Another shit penalty call yes however let’s take some responsibility for the loss. We took 4 strikers in the hope that just one would step up and make the position his own, none did. If it was just through lack of talent ok but I believe outside of Budimir the others have talent but put in lazy performances. Crossing, corners and shooting from distance were truly awful throughout the tournament. Perisic strung together the worst 6 x matches he has in a long time. Sosa whilst sound defensively offered little in attack. Livakovic, Lovren, Gvardiol and Kovacic had huge tournaments the others not so much. We had plenty of luck, would have been amazing to win it but unlike 2018 we were not worthy of it. Let’s be positive about the future, it is bright and look forward to seeing the next generation in action!
That was not a penalty; the guy got his shot away before crashing into Livakovic.
We have had no luck with the referees and VAR in 2018 and 2022. You just have to wonder if its deliberate?
Of course it is.
I agree we got hosed. It doesn’t feel as bad as 2018 as we didn’t score in this game. If you want to be world champions, you have to score. For the France game, I still view the score as Croatia: 2 France: 2 Referee: 2.
Very disheartening when you know FIFA do not want you to win a competition
The cards are stacked against you
We have had three consecutive BS penalties called against us since 2014.
2014: Fred flopped – penalty
2018: Ball ricocheted into Perisic’s hand – penalty
2022: Very arguable penalty called against Livakovic.
All three of these decisions screwed us over.
We will continue to fight, and one day we will be able to overcome these blatantly biased referees. We didn’t make it to two semis and one final for nothing.
These “bad luck” calls go way further back than 2014.
Read my old article tracing back the history of this phenomenon.
https://croatiansports.com/croatia-underachieve-major-soccer-tournaments/