After a busy week of senior internationals, the 2013 U-17 World Cup has gotten underway on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates. Croatia’s campaign begins Friday at 8:45 AM ET against Morocco. The youngsters have received a favorable draw, with Panama and Uzbekistan joining them to make up Group C. It is just the second appearance for Croatia in the tournament.
Croatia will have high hopes for the tournament as they have sent “wonder-kid” Alan Halilović to the tournament. In addition to Halilovic, other key players include Fran Bodić, who became Dinamo Zagreb’s youngest debutant in the spring at age 16, and goalie Marko Marić. The squad consists of 21 players: ten from Dinamo, five from Hajduk, and the other six are scattered throughout Europe.
Bosnia should have been divided between Croatia and Serbia. If Croatia hadn’t stopped the invasion of the Ottoman Empire Europe could have been over run. And the only reason muslims are in Bosnia is because of the Ottomans. Kinda funny how people forget history.
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@Ziva-You used a little “I”rather than a big “I “in the above post silly young boy( ha ha ha,just yanking your chain,that was a nice little post above about Basic and his knee injury.I hope I don’t dig up that he is related to Donovan and that’s why you spoke nicely of him) 🙂
@Jure
why would that be your fav kovac goal ???
it was just a header at the far post, no big deal, i can think of man better.. the one in euro 2004 vs england to start off the game (at the time) was far better, even tho we lost the game, at that time it was great.
Basic is the captain of this team (obviouslly not know with the injury) and considered their leader. I’ve only watched a few videos of the kid, but heard some good things about him. The injury has kept him out a while (knee, i believe).
@ Bobby V – As far as I know, Josip Basic was not with the team for this tournament. I dont know if I would call him the second best player. He is in the mix though. Ante Roguljic has been one of the under the radar stars. I cant believe he turned down Dinamo and Hajduk to play in Austria.
@ Ziva, the main reason that our Youth teams fail to deliver at big tournaments is that when we do actually qualify, Dinamo and Hajduk never allow there top players to go and represent. Which was the obvious case this past summer when they were preparing for the early qualifying matches in the Europa and Champions League.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7kfG9KAw_M
Fav kovac goal
Under 17 coach says too many little wanna be superstars and that things are bad.
Don’t know what to tell you other than you may have just made my point, Ljubuski=Hercegovina!
I know, corruption is in every country but I still think its more prevalent with different societies and less in others.
I think Bilic was a good guy, he may not have made all the right decisions, I sometimes think people start off with knowing the basics, they do well and take some different approaches and before they know it things start to fall apart and they ask themselve’s what happened? basics, its the foundation for everything good, Bilic was very disciplined at the beginning, he didnt deviate from his plan until later and based on what I see he hasnt strated back from the grass roots and built on successes…he’s tried to reinvent the wheel!
I’m thinking (hoping) Kovac’s German experience will help him be strong in several areas…starting with earning the respect of his players, demanding excellence, following a structured format and then executing. I believe he can do it regardless of the lack of coaching experience, he doesnt appear to pretend he’s a genius…he’s humble, hard work is part of his DNA and I just hope he has a plan and follows it!
@Slavonac from Canada
There are bad dudes everywhere! My parents used to push me to hang out with some Croatian guys who I knew were just bad news…..I have good friends from alot of different nacije.
Once again, nothing suprises me anymore and I have much less passion for the sport as a result.
Here’s a story for you. A couple years back a buddy of mine who is from Ljubuski told me the number one bet in that town was, wait for it…..Toronto Croatia! Why? Because the fix was in with about a half dozen players…..once you read Hill’s book you’ll understand completely….an obscure league on the world scale that is considred pro, players are all semi-pro but paid squat so it doesn’t take alot of money to fix the games, but you could bet on the games all over the internet. He was getting calls at all hours of the night from starci in Ljubuski on resultate! LOL
P.S. Hill even mentions that while investigating the African countries’ fixing of the ’04 WC he was walking along the beach in this African country and saw a tablica with Canadian Soccer League odds! Ha Ha Ha Ha
The Canadian authorities continue to bury their heads like many other countries in the world. Corruption at its finest…..
Sude Mi – I could believe there is mafia activity in Russia and Ukraine, Italy as well…I also know Hrvatska is filled with corruption all over the place BUT I was somehow naive that it would show up in our soccer system! Particularly because a) we were suppressed for so many years and b) the majority of Croatians (in my opinion) hate corruption/lies/deceit! If my father was is any way an indication of a typical Croatian man he was very very correct, wouldnt take a dime if he didnt earn it legally and with dignity and that was the way his friends and family were as well! Is it possible that corruption is more prevalent in certain regions? my best friend is from Zadar, I spent 6 weeks there several years back and noticed the standards of the younger guys was less than where I’m from, sorry dude but true. they wouldnt bat an eye at taking something that wasnt rightfully theirs, it was justifiable to them…I think some places in hercegovina are similair!
here’s a lil vid of our new coach for anyone interested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtW404BT7mw
what’s interesting i noticed while watching this was, i didnt realise how many current players he played with – so many !
@slavonac from Canada
There are many, many, many more federations that are as corrupt or more than HNS. Read Declan Hill’s “The Fix” and it will make your head spin how truly corrupt international football is on ALL levels….after reading that book, I now question every game as apotentially having been fixed.
If fixers can fix WC games (evidence that 2004 USA WC games were fixed) then everything and anything is possible.
Not apologizing for the state of the HNS, but it is not unique to Croatia, more the norm actually than the exception. Many clubs in Russia and Ukraine and the Savez are also infested by local mafia….
how mentally fragile do you guys think our players are?
When things are going good they perform great but when things are tough, not so much.
I know someone will chime in with the obvious comment, oh Niko Kovac was a warrior and will fix that.. yeah, he was but he was diaspora too..
Lovren is such a typical case, i think. Can play so good in England but if u bother him emotionally (mentally i mean) at NT level he starts to make mistakes..
maybe that’s just a feature of how we are, i dunno ?
I know i am that way too, and i can think in my life of heaps of examples where i’m the same
Do Hrvati need things to go their way to succeed ?
not solved, still in court. i think in the appeal process.
got it…like I said i dont really get into or have all the time to read as much as i’d like.
had Dudu’s case with mamic been resolved? I think I read something recently that mentions Dudu going back to Dinamo?
i almost feel like chucking a zelg atm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbiTjOMGvPA
@Slavonac……I think you are referring to Dino Pokrovac. He was killed with a mafia style execution. He was Kranjcar’s agent and tied with Davor Suker. Murderer(s) have never been caught. Stimac was at hajduk when worked with Pokrovac and Kranjcar to get them to hajduk.
You don’t have Tourette’s by any chance do you?
Sorry, this was the vid I meant to post
http://youtu.be/MNm0XV0U1FQ
yeah, I read Croatian but only frequent a few sites, not so much for politics and moreso for sport and current events…basically bs news on artists, daily headlines and so on.
I guess money can buy you anything in Croatia. I’ll read more about the topic.
I have another off topic question, last one for today. I remember a few years back a guy was murdered and if I’m not mistaken, he was an agent…was he somehow affiliated with Stimac? was that a scandal…bad debt…mafia?
wooooow…thanks majstore and Ziva. hard to believe we are as corrupt as countries like Venezuela, Israel and Mexico. I’m shocked that this person hasn’t yet been executed, I’m not suggesting it happens but people like him often end up as part of somebody’s cement foundation (buried). for as many mamic’s there are out there I think there are just as many people that want to get rid of him, how has this insane reject survived this long and still have the power he does?
@slavonac……also, if you are fluent in Cro. Go back and google articles from a few years back when Stimac was challenging Markovic for the savez president. Stimac had more votes going into the election. I think the vote was schedules to take place at the Inter-Continental Hotel in ZG. The way the savez works is that each zupanija (county) in Cro has a certain number of delegates. Those delagates have to be elected at the zupanija level with the soccer clubs in the zupanija voting…..anyway, long story short…..Stimac got his guy to win the vote in Dubrovnik and serve as one of the reps from Dubrovnik, menaing he would have the needed votes to unseat Markovic. Instead, Mamic lead a campaign declaring the election results from the Dubrovnik zupanija invalid. So, he got his guy to represent Dubrovnik and won Markovic’s re-election by either a vote or two. Stimac was robbed. Now, I won’t get into what Stimac did or promised to get some of his votes, but by the savez’s legal charter, Stimac should have won. So, that is one example of how Mamic stays in power. To get his votes, Mamic would buy a player from Osijek (lets say someone for $300,000) and have him transfer to Dinamo and then loan him out to Lokomotiva or some other club. The kid never has a chance to play for Dinamo, but is purchased so money cna be funneled. The people who run NK Osijek (or any other club) got their money and would vote for whatever Mamic wanted……again, more to this, but another example of how he controls things in cro soccer.
Also, surprised this hasn’t been posted yet.
http://youtu.be/LQ6Ywff0viA
Between this and Ciro going off on tv (both in Cro and Narnia), it’s been a good week for funny video clips.
Slavonac,
FWIW
http://www.index.hr/mobile/clanak.aspx?category=sport&id=706467
too long to explain. this is one of those stories that needs to be explained/discussed over drinks…..but, he got his nose into Dinamo through Ciro. Ciro and him somehow became friends in the mid-80s and Ciro is his kum. Anyway, Mamic rose to power once Tudjman’s boy Canjuga was gone from Dinamo. Once he got power at Dinamo, it was easy sailing to get inside the savez. Don’t forget, his sons runs an agency and has represented plenty of dinamo players over the years signing them to contracts where mamic’s agancy is entitled to a certain percentage of transfer fees. So, for a lot of those transfers (Eduardo, Corluka, Modric), not all of the money ended up at Dinamo. Because, legally the contract stated that the agency was due a certain percentage.
Anyway, this may explain some. It’s a Guardian article from 2007…….http://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/oct/03/europeanfootball.sport
There is more to it, but I way too long to explain.
Ziva – I’ll admit I’m ignorant when it comes to the politics of Croatian soccer, the HNS, Mamic and how things work. How did Mamic get so powerful? How does he control the Savez? I thought the Savez is bigger than him but from how I read your comments, he controls them. It appears as if everything leads back to this man…can you answer this?
@majstore…..I still think the majority of the muslims in BiH don’t give a shit about being muslim. But, there are millions and millions of Saudi dollars being invested in the country through mosques and their affiliated school and the vocal minority have become more visible.
Stanic makes some good points. I think some of us have said the same thing. As for the fans boycotting. They feel it is no longer their team. When the likes of Mamic and Suker get control, personal interests take over. That is the only reason players like Halilovic, Sammir and Radosevic were called up. Stimac was successful in rasing Radosevic’s profile and helping jadan i mali hajduk sell him for some needed cash. It didn’t work with Sammir. But, the fans shouldn’t be criticized for no-showing against Belgium. A person (Strucnjak Stimac) who was not qulaified to lead the team was installed by a person (Puppet Suker) not qualified to serve as savez president, with the strings all controlled by a crook (Mamic). So, if the average person in Cro thinks: “nije ovo moja reprezentacija” or “nije ovo vise nasa reprezentacija”, I have no problem with that line of thinking. The people are free to decide who and why they wish to spend their money. If personal interests are going to take over the repka, then they better get results, because without the results there is no chance the public will support this sranje.
I hope and want Niko Kovac to succeed. He is a diaspora hrvat. He is one of us. But, if we do fail to make the World Cup, part of me will be satisfied because that means Puppet Suker and Mamic failed. It’s tough to see those two clowns and those around them celebrate or take credit for anything, and you know they will if we are able to make it through the playoff round and to the World Cup.
Stanic, giving it to the trio hahaha
“Imao sam i ja jedan prijedlog, ali čisto sumnjam da bi prošao. Ja bih stavio Štimca na Mamićevo mjesto, Mamića na Štimčevo, a Šukera za pomoćnika pa da vidimo… Oni su ionako bili glavni protagonisti onog cirkusa na izborima. Nek malo zamjene uloge i onda raspodjele odgovornost…”
ALSO FOR ALL THE “FANS THAT BOYCOTT THE REPKA
“elim reći kako reprezentacija nije Igor Štimac, nije niti Zdravko Mamic a nije niti Davor Šuker. Nije bila niti Ćiro Blažević ni Slaven Bilic, nije bila nikad njihova i neće ni biti. Nemojte miješati kruške i jabuke. Reprezentacija je iznad svih osoba i događaja. Ako netko ima pravo na vlasnički list, onda su to samo navijači. Za repku se navija i kad dobiva i kad gubi.”
“A vi, dragi čitatelji i navijači, dobro razmislite zašto ste ostali doma, koji je zapravo pravi razlog što više ne idete na stadion. To vas jedino molim. Vi koji idete razmislite: da li idete navijati za reprezentaciju ili bojkotirati savez? Što god odlučite, imate donekle pravo, ja vas samo molim da dobro razmislite!”
http://www.igraliste.hr/kolumne/mario-stanic-operacija-brazil/d484/
Brilliant remarks:
http://www.igraliste.hr/kolumne/mario-stanic-operacija-brazil/d484/
Man, tough loss for the U17s. Maybe we should have Kovač coach all of our teams.
All this, and Kovač will still make less than Štimac did. From $250K with Štimac to $160K with Kovač. Everything Niko is saying and doing right now is golden… From his comments in the media, to his very humble salary.
I really hope things work out for him, and he takes this team to the World Cup.
The thing is b4 the war most of them didn’t give a shit about being “Muslim”. It’s mostly BS and a manufactured thing created post war.
as I read these comments I’m trying to remember exactly what Ante B said a couple of weeks back, we were talking about Mostar and he said he visited there…his surprise was once he went from the Croatian side over to Muslim touristy side (I think just after the stari most) and he said he felt as is he were going from a western city to Turkey….hahaha…and thats really the truth to all this! as a kid I really never knew too much about it but once I was living in Mostar I felt as if I walked through a time warp everytime I crossed that bridge. not because it was old but mostly because I never before saw mosques, towers, Turkish styled coffee pots and several other items that were completely foreign to me.
I think Muslims identify themselve’s similairly to Jews…they dont care about being Bosanci as much as they care about being Muslims!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBaBAkUER7c&safe=active
Bosnia should have been divided between Croatia and Serbia. If Croatia hadn’t stopped the invasion of the Ottoman Empire Europe could have been over run. And the only reason muslims are in Bosnia is because of the Ottomans. Kinda funny how people forget history.
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@Heraclius……..nothing new with that article. We all know BiH is split along ethnic lines and the majority of serbs and hrvati wont/dont support the BiH national team. I think Dodik had one of the most memorable lines when he was asked if he chears for BiH, he said……Only when they play Turkey.
Good article about the BiH team that tells the truth, their soccer team represents nobody except muslims and sarajevo. They should properly be called the national team of Sarajevo actually. It’s quite pathetic that some bosnian muslims people think a soccer team makes a functioning and real people or country. I’ve come across bosnian sites talking about history where they have that serb disease of making up history, the most useless and bizarre piece of land with a name on it in maps and made up 20th century people if there ever was.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/131016/bosnias-world-cup-qualification-highlights-ethnic-split
man, this scoreline in the U17 game could be a lot worse. Morocco missing some easy chances.
@ ziva. you be right. for once you are bringing the positive spin!
I wouldn’t call it a bad week. We got rid of Stimac as coach. That right there is a good week. Now, if we could only find a way to get rid of Puppet Suker and Mamic.
wow. bad week for croatian soccer! u17 s hadn’t lost a game yet i thought. bad result so far
We just needed to concede 3 times before we could actually play well…
Goal Muric 1 – 3
That is why I keep telling you not to believe any hype from the media……. Come on, think about. When have any of our youth teams done much in international competition.
By the way, after that half…..the BiH savez has said they don’t want Halilovic.
Piss, we are getting shit pumped.
And I thought these guys had a chance. The media really hyped them up.
3 Goals Morocco
Have they shot at the Moroccan goal at all?
The boys are getting beat on the right side defense.
2 Goals Morocco
ugh. fuck my fat tits full of cum..
UGH,.. i cant look anymore
this is terrible
oh, okay i got the link.. just turned it on..
it says we’re losing 1-0
what is this.. some kind of error?
fuck fuck
Wow that was one annoying celebration! I sometimes forget I’m watching U17
Goal Morocco.
Halilovic hits the post!
Shit Halilovic off the post very close
Halilovic is captain and the muzzies where making noise during our anthem.
myp2p.eu working good
It’s on ESPN 3 for people that have it.
Okay..
Sorry, other than being abused for not taking my meds, can anyone tell me please when/how to watch?
Thanks a lot armada for your contributing comment there, but, you know, anything more useful, maybe ??
Iggy, take your meds and stfu.
Thanks.
Iggy,
It is at 17:00 ZG time..
Chances of FrontRow hosting ??
sigh, i hope so ! Otherwise u know im gonna whinge.. sigh
Thank you Mishko, appreciate that, cheers’
@ Iggy in about 50 minutes from now.
can someone not be a YANK WANKER and tell us what time in GMT this is, or any time the global world uses?
I’m sick of hearing about cunt east time or cunt west time..
use a global standard you self-centred american cuntbitches.
Fuck my fat tits full of piss.. GIVE US A BREAK ..
WHEN IS THE GAME
ZAGREB time will do, i know that very well… ANYTHING will do other than CST/EST/ZST/WST whatever shit u cunts from some shit country talk about ??????? |
The game is on EuroSport 2 here in the UK
Yes, Basic (the captain of the team) is injured and will not participate.
As for Halilovic starting? Does the grb have checkers?!!
Is Josip Basic (2nd best player on this team in my opinion) out with an injury for this tournament?
Do you think Halilovic will start? 🙂
Enjoy watching this World Cup, because there is a chance that they won’t be in next year’s event.
Monday’s game will be on TV in the USA