CROATIA-UKRAINE POSTGAME WRAP-UP

June 6, 2009 By Ante Kvartuč 35 Comments

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be your own critic. Croatia unlucky or what?

RE; ivan

'i don't think his minds in the right place'

i doubt anyone can disagree with this as the amount of clubs he has been linked with is so many thats its impossible not to be unsettled. Even as a fan its disturbing to hear all these rumours. We'd rather have a coach that is just focused and not having to put up with these constant questions. there is so many great jobs bilic has rejected that its hard not to be disorrientated about whether it was the right thing to do – will the job come up for him again. If Bilic goes i think all fans will say good luck to him. I don't think he's a great coach. I think he's good at motivating people and getting players to play for him and fans on his side. But he's not the best tactically. I think we prob can find a better coach even at this late stage. Basically we need a coach that is going to tighten up our team and get it scoring again. Even our goals really were quite lucky against Ukraine. We attack quite often in hope and its often got to be perfect football. Need to find a plan B sometimes. Even Spain are a pretty side, but when it doesn't work they'll just put crosses in to Torres to muscle people about in the box. We don't seem to be able to do that at moment which is making us one dimensional. I think Mandza has this element to his game, but Petric, Olic, Eduardo, Klasnic and Kalinic are all lightweight or not strong enough. If Mandza can keep it up we don't need Mate Bilic – but we need one physical forward amongst the 5 besides Eduardo who is also quite agressive.
Re Juric being soar. i dont see what he's got to be so smug about. Unless he gives a performance soon he'll be the next Filip Tapalovic – the player that appears and disappears from side in matter of games. 34 is not a good age to be struggling when your trying to make your mark. If Jajalo does something in Italy next season Juric could find himself out in the cold.

well according to vecernji bilic has confronted markovic to release him from his duties as coach. i dont think his mind's in the right place, hes thinking of taking over a club, so we need a coach who will be focused.

ps. sky sports was linking bilic to portsmouth today

Do I detect a hint of bitterness from Juric?

Anyone care to provide a translation?

ZBOGOM REPREZENTACIJI Ivan Jurić svjestan je da kockasti dres vjerojatno više neće nositi
Jurić: Ako me Nane i igrači ne žele, onda je kraj

Autor: Igor Flak

Objavljeno: 08. 06. 2009. | 16:10
Foto: Anto Magzan
Foto: Anto Magzan
“Ne znam što je Biliću bilo da me pozove, objektivno nisam neki igrač.” “Hrvatska je reprezentacija dobra, ali nije jaka, nije top.” “Ne možemo se usporediti sa Španjolcima, Nijemcima, Englezima.” I onda šlag na kraju – “Niko Kovač je limitiran poput mene, no ipak je napravio veliku karijeru.”

Govorio sam istinu
To su najjače izjave iz intervjua hrvatskog nogometnog reprezentativca Ivana Jurića koji je objavljen na dan utakmice uzmeđu Hrvatske i Ukrajine. Taj je intervju, nakon što smo odigrali 2:2, podigao priličnu prašinu.

Reagirao je kapetan Robert Kovač koji je usput želio zaštititi brata izjavivši da nikada nije igrao s nogometašem koji je uoči tako važne utakmice govorio o svojim suigračima, reprezentaciji.

Ivan Jurić nije se kajao:

– Zašto bih se kajao?! Pa iznio sam svoje viđenje, govorio sam ono što mislim, osjećam i, što je najvažnije, bio sam realan. Govorio sam istinu.

Ali, istina boli, a Robert Kovač reagirao je.

– Ima pravo na to. Samo ga ne razumijem jer nikoga nisam uvrijedio, ništa nikome nisam osobno rekao. Žao mi je što mi to nije u lice rekao.

Zar doista mislite da ne znate zbog čega vas je Bilić pozvao?

– Rekao sam da mi je to čudno u ovim godinama. Recite vi meni je li vas iznenadio taj Slavenov potez.

Je!

– Eto, vidite – rekao je Jurić.

Jurić je govorio ono što misli, osjeća.

– Uvijek sam bio takav, realan, pošten prema poslu, kolegama s kojima igram. Vidite, meni je u Rovinju bilo sjajno, svi su iznimno korektni, izbornik je sjajan. Ali to ne znači da ću reći da je Niko Kovač klasa Stevena Gerrarda.

Jeste li svjesni toga da su niti počele pucati, da biste zbog toga mogli izgubiti reprezentativni dres?

– Meni je najprije velika čast, ponos igrati za svoju domovinu. I dok mogu igrati, pomoći i to bude dovoljno za izbornika, bit ću na dispoziciji. Ako izbornik tako ne misli, ako igrači tako ne žele, nema problema, hvala lijepa na svemu. Meni je ovo bilo divno iskustvo.

Daleko smo od SP-a
Velike su kritike upućene izborniku što vas je pozvao, a u subotu ste doista igrali slabo.

– Svjestan sam svoje nemoći na toj utakmici, ali znate, budimo iskreni, nisam samo ja igrao jako slabo, igralo je još sedam igrača kao i ja. I zbog toga naša igra nije funkcionirala.

Mislite li da je ovo kraj kvalifikacija za Hrvatsku?

– Ne, dok postoji teorija. Iako smo sada jako daleko.

Ivan Jurić još je dalje, i sam je svjestan da je ovo njegov kraj.

Tom in Winnipeg

News for anyones that interest. Hajduk Split completed the signing of Croatia Under 21 midfielder Kreso Ljubicic from Eintract Frankfurt and Romanian international playmaker Florin Cernat from Dinamo Kiev. Cernat spent a season on loan with Hajduk two years back.

Ukraine's goals were well rehearsed headers off set pieces. Why did Corluka let the guy on the left of the box wide open to set up the play for the first Ukraine goal? Runje had nothing to do pretty much the whole game. We had so many shots on goal. We hit the post twice. We were the better team but had bad luck. It was a tie but it felt like a loss. There were way too many turnovers on our side. Bilic made some good subs. It was my first time seeing Mandzukic playing and he had a nice give-and-go with Modric to set up the 2nd goal. He's going to go places. Ukraine was marking too closely for some of the long passes.

I Doubt Bilic is going anywhere. Looks like its all on his desk. He has to find the answer to our problem. HNS not gonna sack him and Bilic prob won't leave as their was a element of bad luck in the Ukraine game so fans may not be overly hard on him. I think he's in the chair for three more games that will decide whether we are in second or not.
Otto Baric was in this position in 2004 and found a solution i.e Prso, T Maric, Srna, Leko. I think Bilic has to find a similar plan. Its reshaping team time.
Nah cmon mate you can't say we need Kranjcar and Dudu to beat Ukraine. That just makes us look bad. Its best to say Bilic did not get the right side without them. It is actually poss to beat Ukraine with some of our squad players and people not in our team. You don't always need your stars to win these games. Bilic just didn't have the right answers.
Petric and Olic is a bit predictable. We have to play total football to get them in. Once in a while i'll just like to see us hit the byline cross a ball and someone to head it in or someone to run straight through the opposition defence. We never get that from Olic or Petric. Our goals seem to be someone trying to beat the keeper with a shot. We need variation in our finishing.
I'd love to see Galinovic, Mikulic, Lovren, Sertic, Anas Sharbini, M Bilic, Rukavina, Kalinic appearing in a friendly match some time soon. Even if we have to send them to the other side of the world. We need to test players and find solution and alternatives. We're getting too predictable – some of our players are getting old and some are playing second division football. Also regards Kranjcar – we have a solution. Pranjic on the left. Was not too hard to work out really. It sounds like he was one of the best attacking players. He's not a left back – does not like defending so personally don't care how he performs defensively. That's Bilic's fault rather than his. I agree 100% with Peter, Rakitic has done his own head in this season with wanting a move. He's upset his club and created a bad atmosphere for himself all season. The guy is 21 is it really neccessary to try and move from a decent side like Schalke that quickly. I'm not surprised he's not on top form when he's not had secure club status all season – which is partly Schalke teaching him a lesson.
Kalinic has also been spoilt. We're doing him no good by making him watch first team games. He never plays in the national team and thinks he's better than he is. Should have left him hungry in the Under 21's and got him in the squad when he was on top form. Hajduk fans should hate him as he's forcing them to sell him. Why doesn't he sign a new one year deal and let his football do the talking. His position in the squad just seems wasted at the moment as Bilic does not feel he can trust him. Anyway its not over yet.

I think croatia need a new coach,, those lineups were insane to me,,, Srna left back so play his ass at left back,, pranjic left mid so y wouldn't u play him in tht position..Pletikosa needs to start in goal.. now it depends if we beat england or if we tie or lose then we'll have to hope their not ass's and let ukraine win or tie.. I love corluka.. i'M born less than 20 miles from his hometown.. Needs to GET his shit together.. and we do Need eduardo and kranjar back.. BOth are dominant in their positions over the rest of the squad so don't tell me we don't need them!

I find it funny that people are saying that bilic and co were to cocky, but during euro when he said we can make the finals and when we beat england it was WOW what a motivator. Whats he gonna say i think were gonna loose. I think the players are lacking some heart.

Ivica
im not comparing the national team to the real madrid and saying lets go get a bunch of new players. But at the moment the team is a bit soft, no heart look at the way corluka ran to the guy before he crossed the ball for the first goal no fight, were slow all over the park, the team needs tweaking, one or two players can make a world of a diffrence. Everyteam makes changes spain won euro do they call the same players regardless no because everygame is diffrent and times changes.The team is well read look at the way england beat us, and look at the way ukraine played last night, teams are plugging the mid on us, everytime one of our players had a ball there were three ukrainians on us, Bilic as a coach has to find out the problems and fix it. This is more than a bad funk, look at the facts, still never found a replacement for duda, his replacement for niko was juric a 35 year old, after two years he still dosent have a proper full back on the left side, robert at 35 is still starting, i know were a small country but theres players, i blame the coach, srna won of the best fullbacks in europe and hes playing out of position, pranjic probably our best left mid player and hes playing defense, dosent make sense, this is what i mean in changeing things.

Andrew i watched the game on a large screen tv in the vancouver cultural centre i know juric wasent to blame, i was just saying that before the lead up to it in the middle of the park he was doing nothing no knowing were to stand, as for the goal it was half runje and half pranjic to me my opinion, i think simunic thought runje was gonna get to it, also pranjic should of walked in front of sheva. I blame defense more than the goalie, at first you can see runje was gonna go out for it but then stayed in as the cross had more pace and it dips last seceond, it was a good cross either way never should have happend we were sleeping.

Vlad,
I agree. The fact that no petica league side wanted Kovac' services speaks volumes that he's simply not good enough to play at the top level. Again, I'll say it- their goals were the result of poor organization. The kind of problems that would have been exposed in friendlies against decent opposition. Runje is a good keeper- better than Pleti imo- but throwing on a new keeper with no preparation for the biggest match of qualification seems insane (besides, it's not like Pleti needed to be "match fit" like a outfield player). Pranjic as a LB has deeply affected our defensive organization as well. It would only make logical sense to bring on as a LB in the last 20 minutes if we were trailing and needed to go all out- but starting him at LB is asking for trouble. His positioning truly awful- how many times did he get caught out yesterday? What makes it worse is that every side we play now knows this. Again, a friendly against a quality side (sorry Moldova) would've made it obvious to all that Pranjic cannot start at LB.
Having watched Juric at Genoa, I understand why Bilic liked him- he looked to be a perfect replacement for N Kovac. So I can't fault Bilic for giving him a shot- I WILL blame him, however, if he starts him ahead of Vuko ever again (and once more, it's Bilic' fault that we discover this problem in an essential match).
On the criticisms of Bilic' subs, I'm not so harsh . Krizanac hasn't played in the last (+)month for Zenit (injury?) and Kranjcar isnt match fit- he hasn't played a match in nearly 2 months for Pompey (+ he had an operation). Besides, Bilic at least tried to rectify things at half-time which did result in a slightly better performance.

Its also not that we are missing Dudu and Kranjcar. Dudu snapped his leg so give the guy a break – wait that doesn't sound right. I mean you know we shouldn't be depending on him and allow him his rehab period. Krunchie also needs rehab period. We had enough in our squad to beat Ukraine. I don't want to hear so much we need Eduardo as your giving the impression we're a one man team. Bilic has just refused to find another replacement. He has only tried Olic, Petric and Mandza and that's it. He's not tried to see if Klasnic, Bilic, Kalinic or Ruki can replace Eduardo. As the guy before said where was the friendlies when we needed them. Friendlies are priceless at times. Got to experiment. Basically Slaven Bilic if your read this prove us that you still have the answers. You don't want to be the first coach that has not got us knocked out in qualifying fair and square. Not counting Blazevic in Euro 2000 as Suker's header crossed the line.

Re: Andrew
Online – your joking aren't you. with this computer if i tried to watch a game online it'll blow up in my face. I had to settle with just watching England and Kazakstan and Republic of Ireland and Bulgaria. I can feedback on those games but not sure anyone would listen. Only to say Dmitar Berbatov was terrible and i'm still look for that explanation from someone about why Igor Tomasic a total Croat can play for Bulgaria when he only spent a short time in the country.

to vlad:
The first goal was not Juric's fault but Corluka's. He just stood there and did not attempt to block the cross. Also Runje should have came out but he sucks, did you see when he started chasing the ball out of the box, what was he thinking. Also I went to a place that had the game but if not you can always watch it online, there are a number of good streams.

@ Vlad

You can't consider this a pro sports team. National teams only have a few times a year and a tournament every other summer to prove their worth. They can't make trades and sign talent. We have to make due with what we have for this tournament. Granted we are missing Niko Kranjcar and Dudu, who would obviously be a huge help.

You can't say "this team needs a change" in the middle of a WC qualifying campaign. Lets wait til October to make that decision.

I don't buy that this team "peaked" last summer. We are simply in a really bad funk, with the dangerous ingredients of cockiness and poor coaching decisions. Bilic admits he used the wrong personnel and tactics-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1191430/I-got-tactics-wrong-admits-Croatia-boss-Bilic.html

I agree with Lebo, before every game bilic or some of the players talk how we are better than the other team and how they're positive they'll win the game
( ex. Engaland game and yesterdays game) This team has been too cocky lately and it starts with bilic who has to get his act together. just shutup and let the play do the talking

I dont think we underestimated the competition, its that were not that good or at least the lineup was not that good, people look at the first half we were out numbered in the middle of the park, we had no midfield why, because kovac is old so he sits back so he dosent get burned, pranjic gives like 10 meters so he dosent get burned our back line was too deep when ukraine had the ball via first goal that play should of stopped in the middle of the park, if that juric did his job that first goal never would have happend. Ukraine didnt have chances but they made life for us very tough, we were slow passing was off, were not as good as our ranking sugests, bilic is and idiot, at this level theres no room for errors or weakness, we have too many, having on your back line a 35 year old and a player who dosent know how to play defense is two to many options for opposing teams to exploit. we need to fix things up before the two games against belerous, krizanac and srna on the back line, kovac out, dudu hopefully will be in juric out of the suad completly send him back to genoa so he can run like a chicken with its head is cut off as thats all hes good for, this team need new life new faces its reached its peak a year ago and like any pro sports team it needs change.

Good job on the website guys, keep up the good work. I think our problem with the game is like always, we underestimated the competition. We obviously have amazing talent but, the team has got some growing up to do. Hopefully they'll grow up enough to bring home the world cup next summer.

oh not the conspiracy theories. I don't buy that one – but he's one for you. England 100% want us out of the tournament as we embarrased them and then Bilic appeared on English national TV making several rather smug comments and saying how great Croatia was which really shows his complacency.
Living in England i know England fans would like to see Croatia experience what they experience to set the record straight so therefore i can guarentee they may just like to draw that game against Ukraine and take it easy and would love 100% to beat Croatia in front of their own fans at Wembley. I think that is there plan for the rest of this qualification campaign. Plus Abramovic may tell Chelsea players Terry, Lampard, Cole to take it easy against Ukraine at Sheva's request. I'd say that is a more realistic conspiracy theory. To be honest UEFA don't care that much about Ukraine – they are a eastern Europe side. UEFA couldn't care less.

Nah thats not a penalty i've seen Srna do that 100 times before. When he and Carevic were at Hajduk they had diving pinned down to an art form. One on one side the other and the other side. Its just in his nature. At least Srna doesn't take on everyone like Carevic did and then when he got in front of goal take a flying leap. I didn't see the game as i was working and the TV does not show the match over here so have been told at gunpoint not to comment on the match. How did all you lot manage to see it?? Esp the ones living in U.S. I don't get it?

@ Vlad – Agree with you completely! Bilic was made to look good by the early success of the entire team. He often gets the tactics wrong, as far as I am concerned anyways. I wont harp on the refs today to much, true, I do believe Srna should have got a call, BUT, Simunic could have been called for a pull down in the box in the first half. Niko Kovac confirmed that as well at Half. Vukojevic HAS TO START!!!!! The guy is a freaking Bull, he will run himself into the ground for the team and country, why cant Bilic see that? I think the only change that had to be made at half was Juric/Vukojevic. Leko did add the extra bit of steel in the middle, but, he offers very little going forward. You would have been better getting Pokrivac in the game ahead of Leko, at least Pokrivac can shoot and pass. Rakitic will find that he will be his own worst enemy. All the hype that surrounded himself has went to his head I fear, far to often when he needs to pass, he shoots, thinks he can do it all on his own. Bring in Vukojevic and Krizanac into the starting lineup. Lets all pray to God that the Kazaks can grind out a tie.

Srna man of the match? Hmmmm, no! The game was dominated on the left flank, all game. Bilic is an over rated coach, The same thing that brought him success, throwing the young guys into the team when he was first anounced as coach, is the very thing he refuses to do now. He chooses to stick it out with veteran players because he is afraid of failure. Just look at what the intorduction of Vukojevic did at half. Juris COMPLETELY LOST THE PLOT in the first half. The Ukrainians were dominating the centre of the park, the very place where Juric should have been flexing some muscle. Madzukic looked very lively when he came on, I will give him alot of credit, and, Pranjic looked very good storming down the flank. jerko Leko for Rakitic was a joke, although, Modric looked right at hime, and, even better on the left then he does in the middle. I have said it in the past, I was ridiculed for it, THERE ARE FAR TO MANY PLAYERS THAT HAVE BECOME COMPLACENT. Guys like Kovac, Petric, klasnic just doddle around, care free passes, not desire in their play. Give the same chance to the young kids like you did to Rakitic, Modric, Corluka and Eduardo. Those young guys want it more, they have far more to prove. AGAIN, I am only advocating it for certain players, not just any young guy to come through the system. I am curious is Subasic would have started had he not got hurt, also, does he finally realize that Vukojevic is the best defensive midfielder that we have. Madzukic earned alot of respect with me after this game, he looked very good when hes not the man, like at Dinamo, and is surrounded by more talented players. It looked like he really fed off their skills. I am just praying that the Kazaks can pull out a tie against Ukraine, because this doesnt look good for us. The way that Ukraine played today, pretty much without Sheva and Voronin, they could tie England in Kiev.

Modric Magician???!??
Petric did his thing!?
did you even watch the game?
Modric sucked until he got that little spark and luck
and Petric pulled an Olic

BOTTOM LINE….do the math i think cro n ukraine r gona end up with 20 points and its gona be goal diff…we need to kick some fuking serious ass!! get this clown juric off the line up,get eduardo fit…get pletikosa into another league..n srna stopppppp falling,i love u bro…but be a man and take charge…modric the magician..petric did his thing im proud..simunic no one id rather have in defence then u big guy,u had a bad night its ok ur still the man…olic lets go for next game…..U GUYS GOTTA STOP GIVING UP AND BEING HAPPY WITH A 1-0 LEAD ALL THE TIME..KEEP FUKING GOING…GIVE GOALS…its like every game u look to give a goal then fuking relax…these small teams r getting better n better as the years go on and its harder and harder, so lets go croatia , buy the skin of our nuts we can make it into world cup

i got news people the whole team SUX,im a full blooded Hrvat & i agmit it,i was disgusted with the performance,say good bye to the world cup,BOSNA & SERBIA Will qualify mark my words..

It is pretty obvious our defense prevented us from winning, whether it be the lack of effort to defend the cross or Runje just being a joke out there. I noticed that on most set pieces Pletikosa had players cover the posts, which is where the 2nd goal was.

Offensively we were alright but could have been better but that is expected since we haven't played together for a while. I agree that the subs were stupid, but I agree also agree with taking Juric out because honestly he shouldn't be playing. He was Bilic's teammate, and that says how old he is and to start playing him in the NT now is foolish on Bilic's part because we should be looking to get our younger players more experience. Overall, not a bad result, as we were unlucky on the two posts and also without Kranjcar and Dudu. Hitting the post seems to occur much to often to Croatian players.

If Srna played the ball instead of imitating Didier Drogba, we might of gotten a goal- I love Srna, but he dives way too much for my liking…
More importantly, the majority of the problems today could have been (at least possibly) avoided with more practice- ie, friendlies…. Why Bilic thought it uneccessary is beyond me- going by how sloppy and disorganized the side looked from front to back, that looks a huge, huge mistake( Juric, in particular, needed the time to gel) This is the first time in years that I felt slightly disgusted watching the NT. Say what you want about the substitutions but it wasn't until the last quarter of the match that their defense was even tested with something approaching regularity. We all know we're missing Dudu, but the loss of Niko Kovac and his leadership/organization seems just as huge…

@ Vlad,

You have a good point and I should have chose my words better. I was so pre-occupied with actually getting a good take for the video.

I meant to say that Croatia dominated chnces throughout the game. I think everybody would agree with that.

And we all know mafia is present throughout Europe. The penalty in Ukraine v. Belarus was BS and we're going to have to play light out the rest of qualifying and hope that Eduardo can come back at 100%.

it was a pk he hit is knee when i looked at it in slo mo

Ante i agree with alot of what you had to say but i think you were a little kind in saying that we dominated the game, i thought we played aweful, the first half was terrible, we couldnt string two passes together, as for bilic, what a joke, ive been saying for a long time this guy is no good and he proves it again, juric was terrible, i told you dennis that hell suck in the national team, vuko should have started from the get go, runje was a fault for the first goal, seceond he had no chance. Maybe im a little hard but we haved no chemistry today, srna cant play in the mid anymore hes a fullback, and it shows, he losses that ability every year it seems a little to play mid which is normal, kovac super slow, pranjic once again good forward terrible defensivly, alot of long balls again towards him, wtf was up with leko for rakitic, i dunno that made no sense to me, i dont think rakitic was playing great but def better than leko, for me yes there were two posts but the game was lost in the midfield, as i thouhg our mid was awful and i put the loss on bilic i thouhgt the lineup was wrong and the subs were no better, cant wait till he goes to madrid or chealsea, also i think ukraine goes through, its done deal trust me fifa and uefa their all tied toghter and there gonna want ukraine to be there before they host next euro, that penalty in ukraine against belerous shouldnt have been the reffing today was a little against us every foul went their way, so i think along the rest of the qualyfiers thell get some breaks

Actually, now looking back on the play several times, I would say that Srna gave up on the play and knew that with any light touch of contact that his entire body would topple to the ground. It looks as if he steeped on the foot of the Ukrainian defender more than anything. I can't make a 100% conclusion.

But the ref had to give a yellow card one way or another, since no PK was given, the unlucky Croats get the wrong side of the coin flip once again.

Srna man of the match WITHOUT question.

I only saw it in real time Ante, so I'll trust your opinion re: the penalty non-call.

Just want to add a couple more things.

Srna definitely flopped in the box. I definitely thought it was a penalty at first glance but after looking at it in slow motion; there was no contact worth a penalty.

On the topic of Srna, he was definitely 'Man of the Match' in my opinion. He hustled every play and put many solid crosses to fellow Croatians. You can tell he wanted to win this one as Ukraine is half made up of Shakhtar players.

Agreed, there does seem to be a bit of a team-wide malaise after the Turkey game….just not the same bite and conviction that there was.

We seemed to reach our peak after the win against England in Wembley, sustained it in the Euros, and its all gone to hell since the Turkey game.

The reffing was dubious today, for sure. I'm still a little stunned at the ref not calling the obvious penalty against Srna (in my opinion)….to cap things off, Darijo even got carded.

Insane.

Simunic played like an idiot today. Bilic has not been the same since the Turkey game. What does he see in Juric? and then those subs at halftime were pathetic. it also didnt help that the ref called a foul everytime a ukrainian fell. nothings going our way

I agree 100%!
RUNJE SUCKS!
Pletikosa #1 campaign!
Starting NOW!

Runje SUCKS!!! WE WANT PLETIKOSA! Who is this Runje character? He's garbage! On both of those headers… he was a soft/passive little B****! Pletikosa is aggressive there and punches the ball away and makes sure no one even touches that ball. That guy made me sick today! Had to vent…

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