IVAN PERIŠIĆ(4) DOUBLES THE FUN VS. SERBIA
The Croatian U-21 squad ended their Euro 2011 qualification campaign on Saturday with a 2-2 draw in Serbia. After going down early in the game, Club Brugge midfielder Ivan Perišić scored two goals (12′, 31′) to put Croatia on their way into the final playoff round. However, Serbia scored with 10 minutes left to force a 2-2 draw. Croatia U-21’s have now won the group and will be one of the 14 teams to qualify for the Playoff round. Although Slovakia are only 3 points behind Croatia, they cannot catch the Vatreni due to head-to-head record.
GROUP 7 STANDINGS
IVAN PERIŠIĆ: THE FUTURE OF CROATIAN SOCCER?
CROATIA-SERBIA U-21 HIGHLIGHTS
Croatia hung with a tough Serb team all the way to the final second in the FIBA World Championships in Turkey, losing 73-72. Croatia, who don’t have one NBA player, showed heart on Saturday as they stood toe-to-toe with the Group B winner. Although we didn’t win, it should give the players a great morale boost knowing they can compete if they want to.
Croatia had too many missed foul shots and mental blunders down the final stretch of the game. They showed their international inexperience in this match against Serbia where they could have pulled out an underdog victory.
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And honestly, if he can do a good job defending, I could care less whether he scores tons of goals from corners. It's great if he can but secondary to his number one purpose.
JP
We need some experience in the side. Besides, Actually Joe has been largely excellent over the years. The problems have been the whole defensive unit- Joe, Krizanac and Runje were just atrocious together. I want to see Joe with Pletikosa in goal sans Krizanac before I draw hard conclusions.
Let's not forget that Joe was voted best defender in the Bundesliga while putting in subpar performances for the NT(last campaign). So, I don't believe that he just can't hack it anymore. it's a question of who he plays with.
@Alex
Actually, I love Joe, but he's gotta go for the betterment of the team overall. He'll be great off of the bench, or in the case that we want to play "bunker" some time, as a starter.
Otherwise though, he is completely devoid of offensive skill, and thus constrains what our team is capable of, and also what is possible for the team.
You really have a thing against Joe, JP. It can't be healthy…
Thanks for the highlights decki. I didn't realize that both of Perisic's goals were header's off of corner's.
That's really awesome to see, as we hardly ever score that way. The last one's that I remember is Niko Kovac in some friendly's before Euro 08.
We need that element with the NT, just like the long-range shooting element that Srna provides from FB. I've often wondered why we never score goals these ways, and the only thing I can come up with is a "D" that is incompetent offensively, a'la Joe.
Anyway, if we want to be the best in the world we need goals from these sources, just like the other top teams.
Now all we need is goalkeepers, and we can challenge for the WC title. Lets send our young keeper's to Germany for training! That first goal was completely his fault, he made an opportunity for Serbia where otherwise there was none. Just straight-up poor decision-making, nothing to do with talent. He didn't do himself any favours on the 2nd one either. Considering Ladic is a former goalie. Sram!
@ Ivica
Birth of his kid/nephew/niece etc.
That's my guess
what was Perisic trying to show on his shingard?
does it have replays?
balkansport.info has the best streams by FAR imo
Espn3 is showing the Greece game on Tuesday so I'm planning on catching it there on replay since I'll be @ work.
justin.tv/nocnamora got taken down.
Does anyone know where to watch replays of Croatia games?
Croatia played good today vs Serbia at the FIBA. Like the post said, a few too many blunders, including towards the end.
Serbia went to throw it in after Croatia sunk 2 free throws. They wound up stealing the ball, but got fouled. Popovic made 1/2 free throws, and that extra point would've at least tied it. The last foul of the game, saw a Croatian player (forget the name) nearly fall down into a Serbian player and that was a foul. With 1 second left, Serbia take a 1 point lead and that was it.
As for our U-21's, some of our regulars were missing, due to Ladic giving them time off due to a fair bit of matches played considering European/Domestic player.
Either way, a bittersweet day.
Thanks Rob,
Didn't know what the scenarios were. Thanks for confirming. I just updated the post.
The 2-2 draw was actually exactly what we need – the tiebreaker is head to head rather than goal difference. So we've actually already qualified!
Who do Slovakia play?