Thank you to the great Maminjo for bringing this to the site’s attention. Croatia has never lost the second match of any tournament they have played in…ever.
Denmark (EURO 1996) Won 3-0
Japan (World Cup 1998) Won 1-0
Italy (World Cup 2002) Won 2-1
France (EURO 2004) Drew 2-2
Japan (World Cup 2006) Drew 0-0
Germany (EURO 2008) Won 2-1
Italy (EURO 2012) Drew 1-1
Cameroon (World Cup 2014) Won 4-0
Czech Republic (EURO 2016) Drew 2-2
Argentina (World Cup 2018) Won 3-0
That has to be promising going into Friday’s match against the Czech Republic. The only time Croatia has faced the Czech Republic in a real match (qualifier or tournament) was at EURO 2016. That was the “Croatia Flare Game” where the Vatreni were up 2-0 and in full control, but a few dozen bad apples in the Croatian section stopped the game by throwing flares and explosives onto the pitch. Croatian players came over to plead with the fans who were causing the carnage. They were visibly upset and it showed on the pitch as Croatia conceded twice in the final 15 minutes of the match for the 2-2 draw. The equalizer came in the form of an 89′ penalty for Czech to tie the game. That was exactly five years ago.
There had to be something said for having a 6-0-4 record in “second matches of the tournament.” I predict Croatia will be 7-0-4 after Friday.
I am sure it’s been said before and it’s not apples to apples but bases do on available players the changes from World Cup should be;
Goalie-obvious
Mandzo-Budimir
Rakitic-Kova
Strinic—Gvard
Lovren-DCC
Again won’t be the same but will get the job done Tuesday.
Pet lo=Tree stump
Lovren versus Car. There you go
Lovren Free kick. Dalic has lost it.
Brozovic and Caleta-car out
Lovren and Brekalo in
Let’s go and get this win and make our run.
Vatreni +120 to this day!!!
I’d start Vlasic and Brekalo
2-0 CRO
if Dalic smart enough ->
………………. Budimir ………… Kramaric ………………..
Perisic…………………N Vlasic…………………..Vrsaljko
………………..Kovacic…………..L Modric…………………
………………D Car…….Lovren…….D Vida………………..
…………………………. Livakovic ……………………………..
notes:
– D Car ready to cover for
– N Vlasic out | Pasalic in
– Vrsaljko out | Brekalo in (if we want to break the tie / down)
Budimir / Kramaric out | Brekalo in (if we are leading by 2 goals)
– Perisic out (must) | Orsic in
notes:
– D Car ready to cover for <- (left flank) and help Perisic if he is late |l on defense
– Vrsaljko position is not farther than Perisic | because Vlasic will be on the right
so he just needs to help him | and will always not be so late to go on defense
– Modric and Vlasic could just switch for their position because Vlasic will tend to be on the right side!
the best lineup u posted. u could even have brozo play where modric is and modric play where vlasic is. but brekalo and orsic would not play wingback if they were subbed in, it would be bradaric and juranovic. i could see all of our midfielders and attackers playing well with a formation like this. but, rebic instead of budimir uptop might work better alongside kramaric with this formation.
out of all those games we’ve played the past 3 years, only god knows why dalic has never tried 3 in the back.
Ante, in you next interview, you should ask Jozak about the psychology of playing in a full stadium of opposing fans, after playing about a year in empty stadiums. I know these guys are all professionals, but these circumstances are unusual. I would think the home fans are giving all the home teams even more advantage that before.
This is a must win . Bottom Line our boys must show up and win. I think it possible for us to win but I see us getting knocked out. I don’t feel our squad is in form nor do we have the same desire and drive to win as we did in Russia. I hope for the best and it will be a tall task to advance .
Only Dalic knows the lineup (maybe🤣). There’s definitely some gamesmanship here. He’s already complained that there’s no privacy in Rovinj and that others are watching them. I’m sick and tired of seemingly always trying to start a lineup that “works” best against an opponent. I wish we’d just go out and play our game to the best of our abilities and stop worrying so much about them. Let them worry about us.
We will be fine.
We lost 1-0 to a strong English side, in their backyard, in front of mostly their fans. If we can’t beat the Czechs in a must-win match, then we don’t deserve to advance. We always come up big in big matches. We will prevail, and we will get stronger, and more confident with each game. I predict a close win tomorrow, and then we will blowout the Scotts!
I think speculation about lineups is pointless here. Dalić is trying to maintain an element of secrecy and surprise, so who really knows if these rumors means anything?
In any case, rationale for playing Lovren and Vida would be their skill in handling divided balls and vast experience playing against rough opponents, regardless of technical ability. There will be a lot of divided balls put forth by the Czechs, and they will play rough.
Rationale for playing Kovačić would be that we need his speed going forward (like he showed against England) more than we need Brozović’s ball recovery skills because the Czechs will be throwing the ball away half the time anyway.
I would expect some kind of surprise tomorrow, though. Dalić himself has called this a must-win game and promised to gear the team toward scoring.
We never lost a euro opener either o wait first time for everthing hahah. Just kidding failure is no option so our great sn states that kova gvardiol kramaric are out vlasic brekalo in and rebic kokos bez glave the cf and vida lovren cb parrneew
Pardon not gvariol i meant Čc
I’m reading it will be Lovren-Vida in the back. Not a fan of this because even if we win tomorrow it will cause Dalic to stick with this which would cost us down the road.
It looks like Gvardiol will be back at LB which I do like.
I don’t get it. DCC is exactly what we need vs. a team like the Czechs, that have taller attacking players. Duje is good in the air, takes no prisoners and is confident on the ball. Not the paciest guy, but he owns his ground.
Yea, and he’s confident with the ball at his feet.
I expect us to dominate possession, and this helps out guys like Modric, Kovacic and Brozovic by having Caleta-Car make a decent pass from time to time.
Lovren and Vida require the services of our central midfielders too often.
Denmark is the Portugal of 2016 – lookout if they sneak in – played really well against Belgium
I think Denmark is better than Russia, and will need to beat them by a better scoreline than 1-0 to go through.
They will also need Belgium to beat Finland for them (which should happen).
Denmark would squeeze into 2nd place with three points, leaving both Finland and Russia likely eliminated due to having a negative goal differential with their three point totals.
I know some have advocated for us to finish 3rd and get into the KO round that way. I think that is wayyyyyy to risky. That group of best 3rd place finishers is going to come down to goal difference, cards, etc. That would be a huge kick to the dick if we were to lose out on KO’s due to too many yellows.
Bottom line is we need to find ourselves and start playing our brand of nogomet. If we’re still dragging our asses through the groups, chances are that won’t bode well for our chances in the KO’s, no matter who we face.
We need to start building momentum now in the groups so by KO’s we are firing on all cylinders. I think we win convincingly tomorrow and find that spark, 3-1. We beat Scotland in a tough game where they just play for pride (I think England will throttle them), 3-2.
Then in the KO’s… who knows?
I say England win 3-0
Never mind the history and these stats. We should be more concerned about that 2nd or third place. Denmark, Russia, Belgium and Finland are at a four way tie for 3 points. Then three teams have 3 points in group E. Then Wales has four. It’s a win or were done. Even a draw won’t be enough to progress. Remember, only four teams make it for next third place. It goes by points, goal difference, goals scored, wins, and then yellow cards. Get the six points or for sure a win against Czech. Anything less they should go home pack the bags and forget the Scotland game.
Just said the same thing. I hope the guys treat tomorrow as a must win. I think from an attacking POV we need to go all-in. Not to the point of leaving our D looking like swiss cheese, but we need goals and we need a win, end of story. If we end on a 1-1 tie, like you said, might as well back our bags and play our B squad vs. Scotland.
I agree with you. We just don’t need a win but need to score a couple goals. If it’s anything but a win, it will be disheartening to see Modric retire from the national team on a bad note. Give all the youngsters a chance against Scotland if we can’t beat the Czech. See what they can prove heading into the World Cup qualifiers back in the fall.
Agreed. Yeah, on the goal piece, we need 2+ goals. I’ll take a 1-0 win, but if we somehow finish 3rd, 3-4 goals total from the groups won’t cut the mustard if we only have 4 points say.
Well, at Euro 2016, all that was needed was 3 points.
Finland will lose to Belgium and end with 3 points (with a negative goal differential). Swiss might not beat Turkey, which would leave both teams eliminated. Spain are angry and will make no mistakes to top their group, and Sweden (despite drawing them) will likely also lose points to Slovakia & Poland. I see that group as having the most draws, which hurts the third placed team.
4 out of the 6 teams that finish third will qualify.
4 points “should” be enough to go through. I would be surprised if more points and goals were needed.
agree. I think 4 points as 3rd place really should be safe, regardless of GD.
I bet 3 points will be the cutoff, where some teams get in on tiebreakers, and others don’t. We’ll see.
Arent Denmark on 0 and Belgium on 6?
Good day everyone- any word on starters? speaking to family in Croatia – word is Lovren is playing – he’s pissed that alot of guys wrote crap about him and he wants to show he’s still got it
Word in the konoba is that Vida is out and Lovren is in. Kramaric will be the first sub off of the bench. Rebic out for Brekalo. Krama out for Vlasic. Gvardiol retains the left back position. Rumour is Brozovic is pissed at Dalic for being left out of the lineup and may refuse to come on as a sub.
There is no reason for Dalic to replace Vida with Lovren.
Lovren hasn’t really proven to be better than Vida over the past few years, and making a change for the sake of making a change is risky.
Vida is more laid back than Lovren, so this is likely a case of Dalic giving in to the kid who screams the loudest.
I think Kovacic playing a good first game, and Brozovic playing a bad one could be a big issue for us.
Now Dalic has rationale to start Kovacic over Brozovic…but Brozovic is much better than Kovacic and he allows us to play our 4-2-3-1 lineup if we want to revert to that. Kovacic can’t.
Kovacic still can’t create chances for us, nor is he good for counterattacking football (something we will rely on if we get into the knockout phase).
I dunno. The Vida/Lovren thing is a wash and won’t be a major impact.
The switching between Broz and Kovacic is much more impactful, especially if Brozovic bounces back.
Vida just straight up better than Lovren lol. Kova should start, he proved himself. Can’t risk Brozo playing like that again. If Marcelo refuses to come on as a sub that just shows us he’s not a team player and isn’t in it for Hrvatska. Hope we’re wrong about that
I personally didn’t thick Broz had as bad of game as everyone is claiming. The problem was having Broz, Kova and Modric in the game at the same time. You can’t have all 3 on the field at the same time. Broz was basically asked to play as the 5th defender….that’s not his game. He is a creative central midfielder who has a great engine.
You ever notice how women are all into Astrology,or numerology,or the ouiji board.
Is this any different??
Silence!
Throw some salt and maslinovo ulje over your Right shoulder to reverse the jinx!