Isuse.
What a horrible start to the week for Croatian football.
180 minutes. 0 goals.
The Mladi Vatreni hung with Portugal as long as they could but at 36% ball possession and only four shots on goal, it wasn’t going to get the job done today. It was clean sheet or bust. Croatia is playing without three key players – Gvardiol, Sosa, Sučić – who would have easily made a huge difference agains the Portuguese. Next game: Sunday vs. Switzerland.
HRVATSKA: Šemper – Šverko, Erlić, Vušković, Bradarić – Bistrović, Moro, Franjić – Majer, Ivanušec, Kulenović
The Croatia U21 Mladi Vatreni kick off their Euro 2021 campaign tonight against a very good Portugal side. Joško Gvardiol, Borna Sosa, and Luka Sučić were omitted due to injury, however, the squad is still strong with Bradarić, Moro, Majer, and Ivanušec along for the ride.
England was stunned earlier int he day with a 1-0 defeat to the Swiss. This is considered the ‘Group of Death’ at this year’s Euro U21 tournament.
I only watched the 1st half, and Cro played well defensively, but they did not commit anyone moving forward. Whenever Majer, or any forward had the ball for the counter attack, there was absolutely no support. They only sent one or two guys forward, while it seemed like the rest of the team was told to sit back. Portugal was allowed to move freely from their end, with no forward press by Cro. On the other hand, the porkchops put up a high press, and caused all kinds of problems for our defenders trying to play out from the back. Tactically, I didn’t really like this “bunker like” strategy.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/igor-matanovic/profil/spieler/605268
^ Chelsea is also boring as fuck. No thanks.
Gambler’s dream, every game goes under now.
Croatia reminds me of Lampards Chelsea this year.
Directionless. Then they got a German coach
and are unbeaten in how many matches now?
@Soul Champ
Last time I saw Boksic he was part of the coaching team, and isn’t Suker president of the HNS? I don’t know where Igor Cvitanovic is.
^^^^
I too WANT to know where the explosive forwards are that strike fear in the opposition?
Didn’t this Portugal generation win the some u17 and u19 tournaments?
Say what you want.
I have seen ONE Ante Rebić in 20 years and that has made the difference.
Explosive forward that is physically dominant.
I too know where is the next Dražen Petrović and Alen Bokšić?
Dudes that strike fear in the opposition.
How about Robert Jarni and his explosive speed and pinpoint crosses from the left flank.
I actually like Ante Budimir as he lays the wood.
Not sure what you mean anon, we still have an immense amount of talent between the ages of 16 and 23… a 1-0 loss to a strong Portuguese team with 4 of our best players injured isn’t anything to worry about
It’s many of the same people. Overreaction each direction goes with every win or loss
It wasn’t that long ago when people were raving
About the upcoming talent and how deep we would be.
Wonder what they are thinking now?
Was Bradaric bad?
.
I guess it’s Sosa or bust for our senior squad (at these Euros hopefully).
Well, that’s 180 minutes of soccer and not even close to seeing a Croatian goal.
I’d call up Suker, Boksic, Vlaovic at this point -and you can’t technically say it would be worse.
Too bad they were all in the same generation.
Let’s just claim Covid and opt out of the Euros.
Fuck Spain’s clingy little friend!
Kulenovic was the only one who sucked today lol
We didn’t deserve that loss though, it was a good game. We played so well defensively, just call up the entire u21 defence haha. Portugal was really strong and we faught back very well… if we play like this against Switzerland and England we can win those games.
Vuskovic, Semper, Majer are my MOTM’s with honourable mention to Ivanusec
Maybe the girls team will one day
But they are bad to
jebem ti mater, CAN ONE OF OUR TEAMS BEAT PORTUGAL????? I’d be happy if our U-10’s can beat them. SOMEONE.
Why takeoff Majer, Moro, and Kulenovic? They were the only ones creating anything dangerous up until than. The decisions the past 2 days have been horrible.
We losing again? Not a striker in site
Ivanusec is by far the most dangerous payer, and Bradaric is God awful.
Can we please put this nightmare week behind us
Hopefully these guys play well, not because I give a crap about an U21 tournament…but to give Dalic something to think about for the Euros and future WC qualfying games.
Its on uefa.tv for free
@ Armada,
.
ESPN is a steal. I get all Serie A, Bundesliga, Internationals, and now U21 for $5/month. Steal! After all, I am trying to run a reputable website here 😉
Game is on Watch ESPN/ESPN 3.
.
For those in the states, it’s $5/month to get access to alll the games on Watch ESPN and ESPN Insider content. Definitely worth it in my book.
Semper getting tested eariy. Some nice saves.
Why can’t we produce a world class striker? Seems all we have is midfielders and defenders coming up.