Written by Branko “King Bronk” Tomasović
Why does the Croatian National Soccer team always seem to underachieve at major soccer tournaments? Some casual observers may attribute it to the “mental weakness” of the team during big games, poor coaching, and at times, “bad luck.” However, when one examines this situation more closely, it becomes evident that Croatia has also been on the wrong side of many questionable calls and non-calls by the referees- which have negatively impacted their performance at these tournaments. One needs to recognize that soccer is not a high scoring game- generally, games are decided by one goal, even if one side is more dominant in play. As a result, the referees have a massive impact on a game’s outcome by the calls they make, or don’t make, during play.
It is important to note that Croatia is an outlier in international soccer in that they consistently produce high quality players who play in top flight leagues around the world, yet the country itself has a very small populationč roughly 4.5 million people. Many observers have noted that Croatia consistently punches above their weight in international soccer and is consistently ranked in the top 20 teams in FIFAćs world rankings, scoring as high as third in the world at two different occasions, in the last 20 years. As a result, Croatia is a very dangerous opponent to play against.
Additionally, it is important to know that professional soccer is also business which generates billions of dollars in revenue; the bulk of which comes from its broadcasting rights, which are largely influenced by television ratings. The more people who watch these tournaments, the more FIFA and UEFA can charge for the rights to broadcast the games and acquire lucrative sponsorships deals-the more revenue they create. As a result, UEFA and FIFA have a financial interest in having teams with large national populations and massive fan bases; in order to drive ratings and appease sponsors, advance further in tournaments than their play may warrant.
Keeping these teams in tournaments longer is done in a variety of ways. One way, as suggested by Sepp Blatter (the former disgraced President of FIFA) is to manipulate the draw, giving certain teams easier groups and an easier path to the final. Another way is to have referees manipulate the outcome of games by the calls they make, or don’t make. I do not believe that every game is fixed outright for one team to beat another although at times that does happen. I feel that games are manipulated by referees to keep games close in order to keep viewers watching while also giving the big soccer nations: Brazil, Argentina, England, France, Spain Italy and Germany, officiating favoritism to increase their odds of progression. These favored nations are typically given soft or nonexistent penalty shot fouls when they are not playing well to help them in the game while the smaller nations do not receive these calls even when they are warranted. Furthermore, favored nations do not typically get punished for aggressive fouls, while smaller nations are. This fact is not lost on players playing for the favored nations and as such can play in a manner other teams cannot giving them a unfair advantage.
Euro 2016
The Croatian 2-1 victory over Spain was a classic example of this. Croatia and Spain had both clinched knockout round births and were now battling for first place in their group. Croatia made many changes and largely fielded their B team, while Spain chose to stick with their A team in the hopes of winning the group outright. The play in the first half was fairly even, with Croatia scoring an equalizing goal late in the first half, leaving the score level 1-1. However, in the second half of play, it became apparent that Spain was beginning to tire and Croatia was having the better run of play. Croatia had a very clear penalty shot challenge which was not called, but a few minutes later Spain received an underserved penalty shot call, was which miraculously saved. The officials granted Spain a lifeline which they failed to grasp, and as a result, they lost the game. Croatia would go on to score another goal in the closing minutes of the match, winning 2-1. However, upon closer analysis, how many times is a penalty shot saved in soccer? The success rate in converting penalty kicks is roughly 80-85%, according to scientific research. As a result, Croatia beat the odds to win that game by making that penalty shot stop, which as anyone can see, does not happen very often.
Now what would have happened had Croatia been the beneficiary of a spot kick and took the lead earlier in the game? Spain would have had to change its tactics and push more players forward leaving them open to a counter attack and may have conceded another goal sooner than they did in that game. On the other hand, had Spain converted their spot kick they probably would have played a little more defensive in the closing minutes and the odds are Croatia would not have scored their winning goal. Thus, a single call by an official can have a dramatic impact on the result of a game. In this instance, Croatia beat the odds, however, when these game changing calls consistently go against you, it can dramatically decrease the odds of winning.
Pjaca Penalty Shot foul No Call
Phantom Spain Penalty
It is very evident when one watches international soccer tournaments that referees do not often make game changing calls against big soccer nations when they are playing smaller countries. This gives these countries a massive advantage with regards to the tactics that they employ. These nations can play more aggressively with the knowledge that they won’t be penalized which can neutralize superior technical play by the opposition and nullify scoring opportunities for their opposition. At times, this aggressive play can create scoring chances and goals from plays that are clearly fouls but have not been whistled. Smaller countries always face the daunting challenge of conceding questionable penalties to these bigger outfits due to this built in bias, and they also face the challenge of scoring legitimately without the help of the officials, even though penalty shot fouls take place but are ignored. It is very clear that smaller countries have to win outright against the favored nations which is difficult under these circumstances -which is why Croatia has difficulty progressing in tournaments.
World Cup 1998
Some will say, how was Croatia able to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1998? If the deck is so stacked against small nations, this accomplishment should be impossible. How was it done? If one examines the financial aspect of soccer, one will quickly realize that TV ratings are influenced by three factors: the size of the national populations of participating teams, star players, and story-lines. In 1998, Croatia was coming off a war of independence and it had a very talented team, including Davor Šuker, a superstar striker who played for the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid. Croatia’s advantage that year was that it played into the classic underdog storyline, which I believe influenced the calls by the officials in Croatia’s favor in that tournament. The questionable penalty against Romania and the debatable red card against Germany helped Croatia to progress to the semi-finals.
Romania vs. Croatia Phantom Penalty on Romania
Germany vs. Croatia Questionable Red Card on Germany
Since that memorable World Cup, Croatia has been on the wrong end of officiating calls in practically every tournament since and have thus failed to duplicate their success of 1998 despite fielding very talented teams. I feel this officiating bias against Croatia can be attributed to three factors:
1) Although having many talented players, it has lacked an MVP Ballon D’Or caliber player who is popular internationally, since Davor Šuker retired.
2) The rise of hooliganism in Croatia which generates negative storylines for the country, tournament organizers and soccer as a whole.
3) The small population of Croatia, and its limited international popularity with regards to television viewership and the danger Croatia poses in eliminating any of the favored nations due to their talented teams and its ramifications on television viewership.
Euro 2016
Let’s examine the deciding 1-0 victory by Portugal over Croatia that ended Croatia’s tournament prematurely. During this game it was evident to all that Croatia was the superior team. They had 59% ball possession during the game, they created 15 scoring opportunities to Portugal’s 3, and they were undone by a very late goal in extra time. Most observers felt Croatia was extremely unlucky not to progress further in the tournament. How then did Croatia not win the game if they were that superior to Portugal? I claim that Croatia was once again on the wrong side of extremely poor officiating which cost them this game and was the real reason of Croatia’s trend of underachievement at major tournaments.
One glaring statistic of this game, that should raise alarm bells, is the fact that Portugal fouled Croatia 28 times and incredibly, received only one yellow card. In comparison, when Germany played Italy, the Germans also had 59% possession, and the Italians fouled the Germans 13 times and received five yellow cards. Why is there such a massive discrepancy in cards shown and why is that significant? The significance is that when a player is playing on a yellow card, that player has to play cautiously and cannot play as aggressively, due to the fact that they run the risk of receiving a second yellow card and being sent off for the rest of the game. Furthermore, unpunished overly aggressive fouls can, in effect, neutralize the superior technical ability of a team. This is precisely what happened in the Portugal vs. Croatia match. The referee did not punish the more aggressive team: Portugal. In effect, this helped neutralize Croatia’s dominant midfield play. Why was Portugal given this benefit? I submit it was because they have the most recognizable player in the world playing for them: Cristiano Ronaldo. Although by all accounts, he did not play well in this game, his mere presence on the pitch skewed the officials against Croatia.
There were three critical moments in this game that could have possibly altered the outcome of this match in Croatia’s favor which were not whistled by the officials. In fact, they were barely covered by the broadcast, even though the fouls were extremely brutal.
The first came in the 33rd minute of the first half when Jose Fonte stomped the leg of Croatian star midfielder Ivan Rakitić. This dirty and dangerous play should result in an automatic dismissal, but was completely ignored. Not even a yellow card was given.
Stamp On Rakitić No Call
The second moment came in the 91st minute of extra time, when Renato Sanches stomped the leg of a prone Luka Modrić. Once again there was no call made. Had that call been made, it would have left Portugal a man down for the rest of extra-time. Does anyone really believe that Portugal would have won 1-0 had either of these two calls been made? Had the stamp on Rakitić been called it would have left Portugal shorthanded for approximately 60 minutes of regulation time and possibly 90 minutes if it went into extra time.
Stamp On Modric No Call
If the call was made on Sanches, it would have left Portugal a man down for approximately 30 minutes and would have, at the very least, resulted in a penalty shoot out to settle the match.
When Portugal scored their go ahead goal, Croatia regrouped and attacked the Portuguese net to equalize and in the dying minutes generated a quality chance by Marko Pjaca. He raced into the box with the ball and was shoved in the back by a Portuguese defender, knocking him off balance. He then cut the ball back towards the net and a Portuguese defender clearly handled the ball out of play for a corner kick using his hand, which should have resulted in a penalty shot. Once again, this play was ignored.
Handball by Portugal No Call
Having said that, Croatia still could have won the game and were, in some respects, unlucky not to score. But had Croatia received the correct calls on the pitch from the officials, the result, no doubt, would have been different. This is what inevitably led to Croatia’s exit. What also needs to be mentioned is that the Spanish referee,Velasco Carballo, was sent home after his poor officiating performance in that game, a trend which seems to follow Croatia at every major tournament.
World Cup 2014
Now let’s examine the previous World Cup in 2014, hosted by Brazil. Here, Croatia was grouped with the host nation Brazil along with Mexico and Cameroon. In this tournament, Brazil had spent $15 billion to host the tournament; a cost which was perceived negatively by the local population and sparked civil unrest.
In this backdrop, Croatia played Brazil in the opening game of the tournament. This turned out to be one of the most controversial games of the tournament in that Croatia scored first on an own goal by Brazil’s Marcelo. More controversy soon followed with Neymar viciously elbowing Modrić in the face and escaped what all observers felt was a red card.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T8WhdDddvs
Neymar Elbow Smash on Mordić
Brazil vs. Croatia Bad Calls Galore
Croatia conceded a very controversial penalty shot to Brazil by an obvious flop by Fred, Brazil’s striker. Croatia appeared to tie the game but mysteriously had a goal disallowed by a nonexistent foul on Cesar, Brazil’s keeper. Croatia continued to press in that game, despite these officiating shenanigans, but were ultimately punished by Brazil in a controversial manner. Brazil’s Ramirez fouled Rakitić from behind- which wasn’t whistled- that play dislodged the ball and sent Oscar away on a semi-breakaway, which he scored, handing Croatia a 3-1 loss which was not deserving. Had the penalty against Croatia not been called and their goal not disallowed, Croatia could have easily won that game-or at worst had a draw. Instead, they lost three valuable points. These lost points would prove to be costly because Croatia would lose to Mexico in a “must win” game. Had Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura not cost Croatia three points, Croatia and Mexico would have progressed to the knockout round and Brazil would have been sent home in the group stage. Instead, as a result of dubious officiating, Croatia’s tournament was cut short. Once again, referee Yuichi Nishimura was sent home after the game.
Euro 2012
In Euro 2012 Croatia was drawn into an extremely difficult group with Italy-the runner-ups of the tournament, Spain-the eventual champions, and Ireland. Croatia defeated Ireland and played Italy to a draw. A 1-1 draw against Spain would have seen Croatia eliminate Italy and a win over Spain would have eliminated the eventual champions. Once again, Croatia was on the receiving end of some dubious officiating, this time by German referee Wolfgang Stark. Croatia was denied two clear penalty shots with fouls on Mandžukić by Ramos and another foul by Busquets on Ćorluka just before Spain scored their controversial winning goal.
Judo Throw by Busquets
Croatia was subsequently punished by a handball-offside goal by Navas which sealed their fate and eliminated them from the tournament instead of sending the future champions home. Coach Slaven Bilić lamented, “I don’t want to talk about referees but I have a similar impression as against Italy,” Bilić said. “When you play world champions they do not need help from referees.” The Croatian coach was stating the obvious-that the fix was in against Croatia-as it always tends to be. Once again, referee Wolfgang Stark was sent home early for his poor performance.
Spain vs. Croatia Offside/Handball Goal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VimnEBIwNw
Handball by Iniesta
Euro 2008
In Euro 2008, Croatia largely experienced unbiased officiating, which resulted in the team reaching the quarter-finals against Turkey. They were seconds away from a semi-final birth in that tournament but for a miracle, buzzer beating, Turkish goal. The only criticism of the officials of that game is that Croatia wasn’t granted its final substitution to kill off the clock; but this is very minor compared to the calls Croatia has become accustomed to receiving. My guess why this happened, is because Croatia did not face a major football nation in the knock out round. They drew a relatively easy grouping, and surprisingly beat Germany 2-1 to top the group. In this tournament Croatia were really unlucky- in its truest sense.
World Cup 2006
World Cup 2006, Croatia was playing Australia in their group which contained Brazil and Japan. As the games played out Croatia had to beat Australia to advance to the knockout round in which they would have played Italy-the tournament winners. This was another extremely controversial game. Stjepan Tomas for some bizarre reason swatted a ball out of the air and gifted Australia a goal. Nevertheless, Croatia responded with two goals, one from Srna and another from Kovač and seemed to be on their way to the knockout round before Harry Kewell scored a clear offside goal to give Australia the draw and knock Croatia out of the tournament- in controversial manner. The officiating was so inept that Šimunić received three yellow cards before being dismissed in the resulting chaos of that offside goal. Needless to say, Graham Poll of England was dismissed from the tournament and subsequently retired.
Croatia vs. Australia -Offside Game Winning Goal
Euro 2004
Euro 2004, Croatia was in a group with England, Switzerland and France. Once more, Croatia was eliminated in controversial manner in their decisive game against France. Surprisingly, Croatia took a 2-1 lead over the then European Champions. Trezeguet would score a clear handball goal to tie the game, which ended the contest in a 2-2 draw. Had that goal been disallowed-which it should have been by all accounts, Croatia would have won the game, advanced to the next round, and France would have been the team eliminated. Croatia would have faced the eventual champions, Cinderella team Greece, in the quarterfinals. Instead of falling short in the group stage, Croatia might have reached the semi-finals of the tournament.
Croatia vs. France Handball Trezeguet Goal Stands
World Cup 2002
In World Cup 2002 Croatia was in a rebuilding phase and did reasonably well, scoring a big win over Italy, but fell short against Mexico and Ecuador. I would say Croatia received a fair shake in this tournament, but I can’t say the same for the rest of the teams, as South Korea “miraculously” made it to the semi-finals eliminating teams like Italy and Spain in controversial fashion. I guess the superpowers of soccer, Italy and Spain, were not used to this kind of treatment from the officials, which resulted in Italian coach Trapattoni’s claim that there was a conspiracy against his team.
Euro 1996
If we look at Euro 1996, Croatia made it to the quarterfinals in dominant fashion and played against Germany. Again, Croatia was undone by questionable officiating. Croatia was controversially reduced to 10 men by a second yellow card to Štimac. This was followed up by a very controversial game winning goal by Sammer, which sent Croatia crashing out of the tournament. Even reduced to 10 men Croatia looked like the more dominant team. In the attached video, you can hear Croatian captain Zvonimir Boban lamenting about the officiating that he felt cost them the game.
Croatia vs. Germany
Conclusion
Croatia has been involved in nine major soccer tournaments in its history and I would argue they have received fair treatment in three of them: World Cup 1998, World Cup 2002 and Euro 2008. In 1998, I would posit that Croatia received more calls than it didn’t and it is no coincidence that it was also their most successful tournament. What I want to bring attention to in this analysis of Croatian soccer history is that the Croatian national soccer teams historically are very talented, and it’s a tribute to them that biased officiating tends to be the means by which they are dispatched. Croatia very rarely has trouble dealing with teams on the pitch; their problem generally is the man with the whistle. I want this to be clear to soccer fans of all stripes; that Croatia is very often on the wrong side of the fix, which has led to their “underperformance” at major tournaments. These refereeing “blunders” over the years that Croatia always seems to be victimized by is not a coincidence, but a clear illustration of the difficulties that small nations face when playing in major international tournaments against the favored aforementioned countries.
[…] Why Does Croatia Underachieve In Major Soccer Tournaments? […]
Where’s the video of Vida’s kick on Nani in the penalty area? Probably didn’t fit the narrative of “the refs are against us”. The foul on Pjaca was clear but he had to go to the ground. No referee would give that penalty specially as he didn’t even complain. The clear mistake the ref made there was the stump on Modric. That was a clear red..
Found this website interesting to read in the pre-match against us (Portugal) , but I’m really surprised by the poll numbers complaining about the ref. I guess you guys need someone to attack as it softens the blow of going out in the last 16.
Where’s the video of Vida’s kick on Nani in the penalty area? Probably didn’t fit the narrative of “the refs are against us”. The foul on Pjaca was clear but he had to go to the ground. No referee would give that penalty specially as he didn’t even complain. The clear mistake the ref made there was the stump on Modric. That was a clear red..
Found this website interesting to read in the pre-match against us (Portugal) , but I’m really surprised by the poll numbers complaining about the ref. I guess you guys need someone to attack as it softens the blow of going out in the last 16.
Agree with most of what the OP wrote, except:
1) No way has Croatia got a low viewer rating when they play major tournaments. Croatia is always among the dark horses, outsiders to win the tournament, whatever, and there’s always a lot of neutral people watching the Croatia games. I’ve spoken to innumerous persons every time there’s a championship, and Croatia always gets positive feedback from neutral fans, even from fans following big teams like Germany, Italy, Spain and so on. They always gave huge respect to how Croatia play etc…! The way Croatia plays attractive football, it will always garner more neutrals to watch, no matter what. What the heck, many neutrals follow the Croatia games because Croatia has got many profiled and well known players. So stop the bs about Croatia having low viewer ratings and thusly not “generating enough for FIFA, UEFA, whomever”…
2) Not many have commented that the tactics of our different coaches have played a significant role in the way our games progressed. Bilic celebrating the win against Turkey before the final whistle blow in euro 2008? Cacic letting a lethargic Mandzukic and Brozovic play, instead of fielding Kalinic and Pjaca? It was immediately obvious that Croatia played much more aggressively when they substituted the two retards against Portugal, but it was too late into the game – only 10 freaking minutes of regular time left. Hello?!
3) I disagree with most of what Ziva says anyways, especially about mental midgretcy. How on earth can Croatia win loads of gold, silver and bronze in so many different sports, if we suffer from a symptom such as Ziva describes? Utter BS, other factors are at play in football, and that’s tactics and yes also to a certain degree questionable calls from the referees.
@turkey your country’s name is turkey, not that is funny shit, you should focus on improving your couping skills
Ziva,
Who do you think should coach the national team?
Come on turkey. You surely have a better come back than that? I expected better from you. Not a single ‘cabbagehead’? Try again.
Ya 4 million people with 1 time champion vs handful in real nations. You’ll never win a big one though- soccer!! The only star Croatia has is the one little one beside the moon on the flag.. Or whatever that stupid moon and star is for. Looks as dumb as pranjic’s head did with that table cloth on his head…vs Portugal!! Croatia champions….please…who fuckin watches water polo…losers!! Javelin pal…keep throwing fire balls..you guys are top shelf!!!
Turkey coming on croatiansports.com asking us ‘how stupid are we?’ Hahahahahahaha
We are a nation of 4 million people that has a wimbledon champion, a French open champion, a waterpolo champion, a handball champion, a 3rd place world cup, list goes on and on….
Beautiful women…. amazing organic food… best water in europe…
You know what the funny part is… you would trade places with us in a heart beat… continue to hide behind the ‘turkey’ name.
Did you see the top right of this sites home page???? ‘What is the main reason Croatia lost to Portugal’….Wow….hilarious!!!
How stupid can people be!!! So funny.
Hey Turkey,
Your “coup” won’t work here either. Jebo te Erdogan u dupe
Was it the same tune in cabbage town when turkey beat Croatia in penalties in 08???
– ya thought so!!! I still remember all tghose cabbage tears off of your ugly square faces!!!
Hahahah the ref made Croatia lose!!! Lololo!!! I’m so happy Croatia lost just so I can read uneducated soccer fans like Croatians!!! Fess up to your loses. It’s not the ref that made you lose, it’s not impersonators that throw fireballs and fireworks on the field, it’s not Croatian haters that put swaztikas on soccer fields, ITS CROATIAN VILLAGERS who are so uneducated and stupid , that back in old country they still practice with cabbage as their soccer balls!!!
– forever Croatia are underachievers like England….I LOVE IT!! Can’t wait for qualifying for World Cup. Guarantee Croatia won’t even make the tournament!!!
@King Bronk-as an fyi, regarding commentators and to be fair…the espn commentator Alejandro Moreno called out the stamp on Rakitic. He said the defender may have fooled the ref, but not him. He basically said the guy stamped on purpose. Shitty consolation, but there are others who saw theBS.
LOL
The only thing Croatia lacks in tournament play is a neutral ref.
Otherwise, Croatia does very well on the field-just ask Turkey:)
I’m back just to say that you guys are all a bunch of idiots. Why does Croatia underachieve??? It’s because you cabbage balls build your own pedestal too high. And the only way down is reality. You guys don’t have what it takes except to make a roasted pig in the farm.
– Kibg BRONK… Is the true idiot!! His excuses for losing are so stupid. He must have been one of those kids in the playground that everyone beat the shit out of!!!
How would have that Sanches moves looked for Santos had he got the RED card that he deserved for stamping Modric?
I get Cacic isn’t a popular coach because of the precieved servitude to Mamic but like I said previously to hang this loss on the coach is really not fair.
It wasn’t just possession-Croatia had roughly 17 attempts at goal. The ball wouldn’t go in that day. The thuggery was a key part of that. Portugal had 1 shot on net. 1 yellow with 28 fouls,
2 missed stamps and a handball PK. The coach wasn’t to blame for the loss. We earned three big calls which weren’t made and that in a nut shell is why we lost.
Absolutely agree Meta b!
We will see in September what type of regime is next. The younger generation needs to be implemented properly as we all would agree. I am indifferent about our captain as most of our experienced players have shown to be great leaders. Beat The turks
@ King Bronk
Possession “dominance” is an obsolete stat these days.
Yes the Spanish ref did not take control of Portugal thuggery.
But what adjustments were made by Cacic during half time?
Santos throws in 18 year old Sanchez and Portugal came alive.
The game was screaming for explosive play in the attacking third.
Perišić was effective but needed more.
Kovačić up the field could of been an option. Take off Badelj and slide Rakitic back.
Pjaca for Brozovic was an obvious sub.
Vrsaljko for a tiring Strinic very simple.
Rakitic off at the end was retarded.
Halilovic … Oh was not taken. Maybe could of played Perisic up too and halilovic on wing opposite Pjaca.
Loren … Could not have pulled him aside and bring him into the fold. Probably could have scored a screamer from distance or a header off a set piece.
What is your SOLUTION to Croatian Persecution Complex?
I say we rally from within (ZDS) and become world beaters!
@BZ
I totally agree with you.
What blows my mind about those two stamps is how they weren’t even covered in the actual broadcast of the game and the media after the fact ignored it.
The commentator was actually blaming Rakitic for the stamp.
Unil I showed a few ppl the stamp on Modric- no one even knew that it happened. I thought the Croatian players did a poor job not swarming the ref after those two stamps demanding a red card be shown. They need to take w page out of Barca and surround the ref and demand a card.
Good job guys. I’ve also been sending Holiga some hate mail regularly. Can’t stand that loser.
Let’s say Badelj stomped Nani, and Strinic stomped Ronaldo,- Does any one honestly think a red wouldn’t have been given? No.
Raise awareness and write uefa, tweet, blog, facebook post…so Uefa knows we are watching this BS. I already posted after Turkey, Czech, and Portugal games. Uefa thinks we are all flame throwing retards that blame everything on Mamic and Mental Midgetcy. We are too small a country not to be on the same page.
The solution is very simple-raise awareness about these officiating shenanigans. Instant replay is also a positive step forward-although that can have its limitations too.
We as a country need to get hooliganism under control because its killing our national team and turning the refs against us. They need to leave the national team alone and if they want to protest Mamić they can go to his house, his office and the Dinamo stadium but national team games need to be off limits.
For F sakes Ziva – I have asked you a million times and so have other people on this site and you have yet to answer. Which other Croatian coaches were available other than Cacic?
By the way for everyone – check the records, and coaching experience of Cacic, Kovac, Stimac, Bilic on Wikipedia.
Ziva I will give you credit when it is due because as often as you may seem cynical to some on this website you do make very valid points, usually negative but sometimes I feel we get ahead of ourselves and a relief check is necessary.
This druga liga Cacic thing you keep going on about doesn’t have much logic to it. He probably is a Mamic guy to a degree and yes he is not a big name coach but our past 3 coaches were former players with next to NO experience. I could be wrong but we didn’t have many other options regarding Croatian coaches and I personally don’t know how a foreign coach would do with this team.
Either way, it’s one thing to disagree with something and then provide a solution. You have knocked Cacic for your reasons and that’s fine because I agree with some of them but you have yet to offer a solution for an alternate coach/option and that my friend makes you a natural born complainer.
It’s that mentally that is the epitome of a lazy Croatian person who is never satisfied with anything but offers no solution on how to make things better.
Ti I tvoj ziva istina su oba dva za kurac! Mogu I ja tako.
You remind me of one those Croatian dads at their kids games who complains, the games are too late, the jerseys are too big, the coach doesn’t know what he’s doing, this kid sucks etc
You are terrific at pointing out the flaws in everything and you need people like that who keep it real, I agree 100 % but shit you rarely offer a solution to problems in the last while that you have been posting. Anyone can do it. At least live up to your screen name.
@Ziva- You can have your high priced coach. I’ll take a coach that had us aying the best siccer of the tournament until the dunces, with similar mindsets as yourself, tried to sabotage the team.
We dominated across the board…It wasn’t only posession, even a casual soccer fan knows that number of crosses, shots, corners, and scoring chances are indicative of dominance. Our players had literally one bad (well documented) sequence in the game, and you jump all over our players and Coach like they suck.
99% of the time, that king of dominance would be enough to win, UNLESS the refs fuck you over all game long.
Druga Liga never should have been hired as the coach. But, hey if you guys like coaches with the highlight of their career being second division success, well more power to you.
All the possession in the world means nothing when you don’t have legit scoring opps.
@king bronk- Right on. That has been my stance since we lost the Portugal game. Nobody dominated Euro Champion Portugal as much as we did.
-We pretty much all agree Cacic was bad at subs.
-some of us wanted 4-4-2…but even though he didn’t give me exactly what I wanted, I won’t throw him under the bus.
Pretty tough to win despite biased Refs, regardless of how superior we are physically & mentally.
Pointing out Ziva’s contradiction’s is like saying the atomic mass of Hydrogen is ~1. Common knowledge.
@ Meta Body
I know Čačić isn’t the most popular coach among Croatians due to his perceived servitude to Mamić. However, to say he picked the wrong lineup against Portugal is laughable.
The team had 60% of the ball the entire match. Portugal was limited to 1 scoring chance in 120 mins of play.
Croatia created roughly 15-17 attempts on goal.
The finishing wasn’t the best-I will agree with you there but to claim the coach did a sub par job is a joke.
Had the ref done his job everyone hear would be hailing Čačić as a genius. If we are going to be honest here, Croatia played very well under him.
@ King Bronk
You layout some valid points … BUT …
We CANNOT CONTROL REFEREE !
We CAN CONTROL tactical subs, picking the best squad and starting the best players to attack certain teams in clear cut ways.
WE failed in all three against Portugal!
I feel that our coach minus any disrespectful commentary was simply sub par.
And yes Ziva makes a real point about having a global superstar in the sport.
Dražen Petrović came to the NBA at a time when European players were considered inferior and the refs would not give them any calls and actually would assign ticky ack fouls to them on a regular basis.
Hand checking on Dražen was merciless.
He needed to over weight train to fight through the physicality to the detriment of his quickness.
He dropped 40 on Cleveland with a bad knee months before his untimely death. He was named all Nba third team (3rd best shooting guard in the league in the Jordan era!). He was heading into global stardom.
He paved the way for Nowitski to become a franchise player and lead his team to a championship.
When CSR started only Srna was competing in CL with Shaktar and despite some success it will only be a club from Ukraine.
Modrić is respected by soccer community but lacks the charismatic presence to be a galactico.
Rakitić … Not quite.
Maybe Perišić has a shot ?
Next step for Croatia is to have a Boban type stud take the world by storm and captian us to glory.
@ Ziva Istina
You are contradicting your self all over the place here.
You said:
There is no fix. In all sports, the big names get the calls. Watch the NBA, the NFL…they all get calls. Watch boring baseball and a stud pitcher against an average pitcher. The stud pitcher gets the borderline ball/strike calls.
Getting calls you shouldn’t be getting or not getting calls you should be is called bias and favoratism. Refs are suppose to be neutral-and apply the same standard across the board eaqually and fairly. What you suggest is happening is what is called a fix. I am glad that you have finally accepted th Ziva Istina that the fix is in against Croatia.
Often times “the fix” is more subtle, and not so much a “conspiracy theory” but rather common sense.
Refs often make calls in favor of the team which gets more media attention.Why? If he makes a bad call against the big market team, the ref’s name will be plastered all over the media. This hurts his reputation and standing with uefa/fifa. Job protection techniques, such as this, are pretty common in all walks of life.
@BZ
you are wrong, Ziva has no wife,
remember this is the guy with no wife, kids and failed business goings in croatia, tells you a lot about him, feel sorry for him
Do you really believe a defender went after Da Silva as revenge for Cro knocking England out?
My favorite conspiracy theory is that England lost points delibrately to Ukraine so we wouldn’t advance in 2010 WC qualifying. Nevermind that England was playing a meaningless game and they already clinched top spot.
Lastly you can all tell the HAMMER and the rest of TROLL Nation I’m back with a vengeance.
Oh and one more thing. We all remember the English FA assassin who went out of his way to break Eduardo’s leg in EPL prior to are qualifying campaign which amazingly had England in are group.
England was still stewing over the fact that we knocked them out of the previous tournament and that we beat them in Zagreb and London. They knew that Eduardo was are biggest scoring threat and that he and Modric were two magicians in the same show. Thus the hit was made. We ended up missing the tournament by 1 point behind Ukraine and sadly Eduardo never recovered his amazing form prior.
Branko WOW
If I saw you in person I would kiss you lol. This piece on Croatia’s international history was a total masterpiece. I was so angry since the loss to Portugal and then watching them win this tournament by defending defending defending made me sick behind belief but now this has calmed the storm of emotions that have raged inside me and I can die in peace. HA HA Joke.
I had forgotten most of these bad calls due to time but by reading this article it had sparked my memory. That being said I would like to add that you missed one piece of evidence which I believe you would find quite interesting.
The 2008 game against Turkey was another example of being a victim of bad officiating. I remember that game as if it was yesterday. I had the game recorded on my PVR and was able to do the slow replay to prove we got screwed. If you remember the game tying goal by Turkey it was the outcome of Rakitic making a long ball through pass which was called offside at the halfway line. Their goalie then kicked the ball into are box end of story.
What everyone failed to see was that Ivan’s pass wasn’t offside. That day I must had replayed the offside call 20 times. Klasnic timed his run masterfully and was in line with the last defender prior to long ball pass. that call was incorrect and would have given us a possible break away thus causing a 2-0 outcome or the win. Once again we got screwed.
I hope this helped with more evidence regarding the fix.
GOD BLESS
European U-19 Championships are going on right now.
We played the Dutch 2 days ago and lost 3-1. Brekalo with the goal and we were up a man from the 54′ minute. Next game against France tomorrow.
England are also in our 4 team group.
@Ziva- Don’t let go buddy! Your mental midget platform will get you far in life, especially in Serbia. Regarding your moronic analogy above, at least we would not throw our wive’s under the bus, like you.
Some of you guys would be making excuses if your significant other (or insignificant) got hit by a bus walking in the middle of the road with a sign that said “hit me”.
Enough with the excuses.
Once our boys gain mental strength, then watch out. Right now, we are frontrunners. When we win the opening game in the tourney, we do fine. Once we lose points or get to the knockout stage when the pressure gets bigger…..we fold
@kingbronk-Fun article.
The fact is: After going down with about four minutes left to play, our team showed amazing mental strength, and almost tied the game (several times).
In those last 4 minutes, had we been a big market team, the refs would have given us a PK. Why? Consider Pjaca’s great run toward the goal:
1) If we were a big market team Pjaca would have let himself fall to the ground when he was blatantly pushed from behind by the helpless portugal defender. Pjaca knew he would not get the call (precedent set when he was fouled twice vs Spain in the box on a single run, and still didn’t get the call.) I commend Pjaca for his incredible strength and balance to continue the run, but let’s face it, Ronaldo would have dove in the same situation and received the PK.
2) After Pjaca regains balance, he still gets off a solid pass, which a different defender handles. No PK.
Mind you, the whole game was a refereeing shit show in Portugal’s favor. Hard to overcome, no matter how superior you are physically and mentally.
That is not true. Not all of the refs were sent home early.
In some cases they were but not for the reason you are saying……they were “sent” home because the number of teams left in the tourney were reduced. Refs were going to be sent home.
Maybe if we weren’t mental midgets we would rise about everything and get a result when we come into a win or go home game.
I can argue that Australia game the refs were helping us. Simunic was carded twice times and remained in the game. If it was the opposite some of you guys would have gone nuts and claimed the fix was in.
There is no fix. In all sports, the big names get the calls. Watch the NBA, the NFL…they all get calls. Watch boring baseball and a stud pitcher against an average pitcher. The stud pitcher gets the borderline ball/strike calls.
Our problem is that we are a small nation and don’t have a global superstar playing for us. It sucks, but officials, just like jock sniffing fans and fan boys, are attracted to the superstar athletes and big teams.
@Lovro the refs aren’t responsible for every loss but they are responsible for a number of critical games over the years.
Croatia vs Portugal 2016
Croatia vs Brazil 2014
Croatia vs Spain 2012
Croatia vs Australia 2006
Croatia vs France 2004
Croatia vs Germany 1996
These six games in particular are the ones that I am talking about. The refs who officiated those games were all sent home early. Bad officiating caused the losses and put Croatia out of those tournaments early.
@Bobby V Portugal has the most recognizable athlete in world according to social media stats in Cristiano Ronaldo. The whole world held its breath when he hurt his knee and had to be subbed off. That buys a lot of calls. Albania did get one win but they have no recognizable stars and don’t play attractive soccer. Most games Bobby are manipulated subtly to favour the bigger teams. These teams normally will take advantage of this. An out and out fix also happens like the Brazil Croatia game where it was very obvious that no matter what Croatia did that day they weren’t going to win. Match manipulation is normally very subtle, ignoring calls in the case of Croatia vs Portugal to give the other team a greater chance to compete or making a pivotal call like a PK in the case of Germany vs France. Remember even though the German player did put a hand to the ball- the ref still has to call it which many times they don’t.
Has Croatia ever lost in a fairly refer match- sure it has.
Last WC the match against Mexico was fair- same with the famous loss to Turkey. However, Croatia has been on the wrong end of many calls in most tournaments which has cut their stay short.
Read my article and watch the videos. The evidence is undeniable.
Bobby V you obviously aren’t reading any of my previous links because if you did you would have read up on Calciopoli- the match fixing scandal that rocked Siri A-at the time the best soccer league in the world. The whole league was being set up for years.
Read up on Declan Hill and his book “The Fix”
Take a look at what brought down FIFA President Sepp Blatter
& UEFA President M Platini along with the entire top brass of international soccer.
Bribery, Draws being fixed, Tournaments being awarded corruptly, and yes match fixing as well.
You like most sports fans think that sports is clean and no corruption exists-however we all know that’s simply not true.
Your team better be on the right side of the fix because if the fix is in you ain’t gonna win.
The people that buy into the conspiracy theory AND continue to watch I wonder the most with. If you truly believe “the man” is holding the team back then why do you continue to torment yourself and keep investing so much time and energy into following?
Every time Croatia loses it’s because soccer is fixed, like the WWE. Guess we should stop watching.
when u least expect it….
Croatia’s day will come….
because God is watching….
Agreed. You can only have so many Cinderella teams. Iceland, Wales and Portugal but then again, the change in teams format and the different brackets were also responsible for that. Regardless of refs, fan behaviour, mental etc, If a Perisic header doesn’t hit the post against Portugal and instead goes in then I think the narrative on this website and maybe even with Croatian fans in general would be different.
…one last question and then I will move on- In your opinion, has Croatia ever lost a match that you have watched that was fairly officiated?
@ King Brock,
You are being wildly inconsistent. Why didn’t UEFA then set it up for Albania to win Euro2016? Would have been a better Cinderella story instead of boring Portugal, who won only 1 game in 90 minutes, right?
So now your saying that these Cinderellas are set up too?
When they win, it is set up. When the big clubs win, it is set up.
Wow.
I thought your whole argument was that nothing favors small teams and countries because of marketing money.
How many fans of Chelsea tuned their club out before the Christmas break? With their massive following, didn’t that lose someone money?
I would say that more fans around the World would tune in to watch a Manchester United – Arsenal, last match, winner take all then a Leicester City – Sunderland match to see if they win the title, no?
If that is the system you think is set up, then why is any scandal ever exposed? I thought you said that the fix is in and everyone is in on it.
Off the top of my head, I remember Vida lashing out and kicking Nani in the side of his body inside the penalty area preventing him from reaching a cross – obvious penalty.
I’m not naïve to think that everything is clean, but, to point things out, that happen not to go your way in each match that your team loses is a bit ridiculous.
Here is an interesting article on this topic by Declan Hill-author of The Fix.
http://declanhill.com/fix-european-championship/
Fantasic work KING BRONK!!!!
As for Leicester City and Greece-why did they win?
Every now and then you get the Cinderella storyline that wins the whole thing. Look how you watched the EPL this year with LC win. Will they do the unimaginable and win the league-tune into the next match. It obvious drew a big audience around the world. Its the same storyline Croatia rode that in 98.
@ Bobby V
One word for you- Calciopoli
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Italian_football_scandal
This is evidence that this stuff goes on.
Just look at the corruption that brought down Blatter the president of FIFA and Platini the president of UEFA
This stuff does go on.
Which massive call did Croatia get in this tournament that helped them? Answer zero.
Big calls are part of the game. A guy gets a red card is a game changing moment-2 were missed.
A PK is a game changing moment-clear handball not called.
Look how it changed the game France vs Germany
Same foul happened-why didn’t Croatia get the same call? The ref didn’t miss it- In the video you see he’s looking right at it.
Way too much crying going on here.
Some of the things we run into are bullshit, and some of it is us not pulling through.
The excuses are getting tiresome.
We’re not the only ones that have to persevere.
I don’t know about your parents but mine wouldn’t put up with all the excuses and neither do I.
Totally agree with Bobby V, look at the talent on the 98 wc team, thats why they almost won it all, we will almost always have a shot to win any tournament, but we probably won’t until we have a stud striker, a couple stud defenders, and an above average coach, quit the crying, thats reality!
and don’t forget problem #3……Mental Midget disease on the biggest stage when everything is at stake.
Croatia’s two problems are :1) finding a way to beat teams that bunker and 2) finding a natural goal scorer.
Anybody mention that a team that came from what was called the easier side of the bracket won the tournament?
Thanks for spending your time on research and writing Bronk, but, I’ll bet you can go through each game mentioned and find bad calls or non-calls that Croatia benefited from as well.
“Fix is in” mentality is way overhyped. If that were the case, examples such as Greece winning the Euros and Leicester City winning the Premier League would never occur.
Bottom Line? – yes there are individuals who see the money part of more popular teams and players advancing and winning leagues and tournaments,
…. but, come on, there are way too many factors involved and massive amount of people needed to play along to make it happen.
@Jm It’s ridiculous that 28 fouls including 2 stamps only earned Portugal 1 yellow card. In comparison Italy fouled Germany 13-14 times and had 5 yellow cards. The Italian fouls were no where near the viscousness of the Portuguese. Had one of those stamps been called Portugal would more than likely not been able to withstand the Croatian challenges. As you can see in my videos and picture analysis -you can clearly see that the ref was looking directly at these fouls but chose to ignore them. The fix was in against us once again.
@Razbijać
That is precisely what the winning formula is-it’s like you read my mind.
If those things are in place you can have anyone as coach of Croatia and the whistle will stop blowing against us-we would progress and win.
In my mind we had that player but we failed to nail him down when he was young in Zlatan Ibrahimovic-Instead Sweden enjoyed our success.
I am hopeful one of these young guns can become the next great.
great article king bronk!
i found myself all to eager to nod in agreement through the whole thing!
i agree croatia has been disproportately affected by poor calls. unbelievable to watch that corluka judo throw down against spain again
then again, we probably do have some selective memory. against mexico in wc 2014, srna pretty much caught a shot with 2 hands but was not given a penalty. but overall, agreed, much bias against us!
as i mentioned previous, this euro 2016 saw 15% of fouls being given cards. against portugal with 28 fouls, it should’ve drawn 4-5 cards vs the 1 that was given….terrible reffing if you ask me
Like a sage on Mount Olympus, everything that King Bong has revealed is true….But it now begs the Million Kuna question….
Where do we go from here?
Three things need to happen for the footballing gods to start making more calls in our favor…
1) Croatia takes it’s qualifying group by storm! Winning the group and playing attractive football to boot–capturing the hearts and minds of the neutral and casual fan alike.
2) Our fans must not do anything foolish, and play by UEFA house rules.
3) A Balon D’Or calibre player must emerge (ok, it’s a bit of a stretch). With this calibre type player, more viewers will tune in to Croatia just to watch this footballer, generating ratings for UEFA.
As a result, refs will protect this player by calling fouls. Because they don’t want to see this player hurt and out of a tourney. Furthermore this player will get the 50/50 calls (penalties etc), because they want the player to look good.
Or maybe unlike when England plays Croatia couldn’t buy a call from the refs.
After the loss to Portugal, ESPN analyst on the soccer program said that Croatia reminded him of England, “When they are expected to win they do not perform to their abilities”. Maybe the players were hesitant because they had the easier bracket and they could not handle the pressure of being a favorite of going to the final.
True that.
I’m not saying UEFA wanted Portugal to win the final but they wanted them in the final because of Ronaldo’s international popularity over say Wales or Poland. Lets face it people want to see CR7 play. The final game was officiated pretty fairly.
Tell you the truth I believe Ronaldo had at least 2 no-calls that had me questioning the refs but as soon as he went off I had no problems with the reffing.
Maybe they thought they wouldn’t have to influence the game with Ronaldo off and France could just win it on their own.
Either way I definitely DON’T believe UEFA wanted a Portugal win.
Actually I was screaming at my tv when Payet kicked Ronaldo.
Looked like a terrible foul to me and a call he didn’t get. At that point I thought the fix might be in for France.
Your accusations do have a lot of merit.
“Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.”
Great quote by Poe!
Let me see match fixing scandals Italy & Germany to name a few-WC and Euro cup draw scandal according to Blatter. FIFA executive bribe scandals that brought down the President of UEFA and FIFA. Now you want me to believe that there isn’t Refereeing bias that’s going on in these games? Come on.
The final was officiated fairly-no argument from me. How Portugal got there is another matter entirely. My point is Cristiano Ronaldo is the most recognized athlete in the world according to social media stats. Portugal received a lot of calls as a result of having Ronaldo on their team that they probably wouldn’t have if he wasn’t on their roster. Having a superstar that transcends the sport gets your team calls as I wrote in my article.
“conspiratory”
You can find a consipatory angle in just about anything if you really want to.
Not buying the Ronaldo/Messi thing. That’s an argument that’s never going away much like Pele/Maradona.
If France had finish (Griezmann header, Gignac inside of the post) they’re champs.
Not surprised at all at Messi being vilified either.
Most of what you’re saying I do agree with though..
Thanks King Bronk…
always enjoyed reading your conspiracy posts over the years… and you make great points… i would share it with my non croat friends but they will just say im a cry baby
about the video replay… its more then about time… fucking every sport has video replay now for years… so much of the crap calls got out of hockey cause of it.
ya you can argue it may slow the game down but fuck it would clean things up… another thing i think they need to add is have a proper time keeper keeping track of injury time… you always see the shady amount of time put up when a big boy needs a goal
you know they will never add it or it will take some completely ridiculous thing to cause it. too much money in corruption… end of conversation. this will never change
i can’t wait for qualifying… i think the boys are deflated but i just have a feeling they will come out hungry
lets see some of that young blood… ready to feast. i just hope more and more of our boys continue to grow and impress in europe… training, teaching is all great but at the end of the day you can’t beat genetics when put in the right place!!
@ King Bronk
Well written. I’ve always felt that UEFA/FIFA have an agenda and whether it’s through a combination of having refs finding a way to try to change the outcome of a game with attempting to fix draws. It’s always about money. Large soccer federations with large fan bases/star players always seem to find a ‘way’ to win. The Portugal game made me sick. The reffing was atrocious…but then again our play wasn’t great either (trying to keep it real).
Having played for years, I completely agree that without some yellows given out, it gave the Portugal free reign to chop down our players and kill and flow to the game. 28 fouls and 1 card…No one can ever rationalize that.
We were clearly a better team with better talent…lack of calls killed us in that game.
The narrative is Cristiano Ronaldo won a title with his country while Messi hasn’t. Who is better Messi or Ronaldo debate has been reignited. It’s amazing how the press has turned on Messi after his tax evasion conviction.
The HNS needs to come up with massive amounts of FIFA bribe money. Until that happens every referee will be the 12th man for the opposing team.
i completely agree that UEFA and FIFA have their own narratives in these tourney’s that they’d prefer to see played out. I was pulling for Portugal in the finals but I told myself the only way they have a shot is if the ref’s call it fairly, and lo and behold they actually did. And against the host nation no less!
Don’t know what narrative Portugal beating UEFArance supports though..
Bravo Bronkowski , great article. One thing that any Croat whether diaspora home grown or spiritual can agree on is we always field a soccer team that can play. That’s why all this boycott nonsense makes me sick. Corruption exists and it pretty much always will. There is corruption at the place you work, where you go to school, maybe even where you go to church. Changes in Croatian politics won’t be addressed through soccer I can guarantee you that. The national team looks good now, Pjaca looks like a potential stud, the team will win their qualifying group and will do damage in Russia. Now go out there and make some babies.
I agree it changed the game and there were missed calls in the game but that wasn’t one of them.
Mixed Grill’s got it right, replays!!
@Poglavnik
Let’s say for argument sake you are right and it was a great call by the ref. Would you agree that the game was altered by that call? If you agree that it was altered in France’s favor -which everyone agrees that it did. Would it then be fair to say that had the ref “missed” that call that it could have potentially altered the result against France?
Is this not precisely what happened to Croatia against Portugal?
@Mixed grill
Instant replay is a possible solution to this problem. However, if you watch sports that have instant replay-they still get critical call wrong under the guise that it has to be “conclusive.” I will agree it’s a move in the right direction.
I like how this article completely debunks the stupid mental midget theory, and everyone agrees to it.
I especially like how Živa is working his ass off to try and ignore the article entirely, and continue to push the mental midgetry angle, lol. Just give it up.
Again, none of you call for replays. Why? Do you buy the lame excuse, probably emanating from corrupt officials, that it is not in the tradition of the game? Then you are sheep, enjoying – or lamenting in defeat, the sport of sheep. The top officials all get arrested but still not one calls for replays to either correct or expose referee bias. Sad and pathetic, as pathetic as Ronaldo masturbating to a photo of himself, as a bunch of mo-hawked, tattooed fans, chanting their jingles in unison, take selfies of the event.
Ball to hand IS a penalty.
If your body is in an unnatural position (arms flailing away from your body) and the ball strikes your hand, it is a penalty.
Evra’s header would have been on target had Schweiny’s hand not gotten in the way.
A great call.
As far as the non calls that’s a different story.
Evra heads the ball into his hand. One could argue it was ball to hand which wouldn’t make it a penalty . However I also saw a clear handball by Evra against Iceland- no call. The Icelandic coach was so outraged at the no call that he pretended to play basketball on the sidelines.
If you watch the video in this article on the Pjaca play or view the picture on Croatia Sports FB you will see a clear handball there too. Why wasn’t there a call? Perhaps Refs favoured the host nation France in this game.
Nothing questionable about that German penalty.
Schweiny’s the mentally challenged one for diving in with his hand out like that.
Fun read and good write up though.
King Bronk – I do agree partially. We are a small nation and produce a lot and we have been unlucky. We also don’t help ourselves as much as we should/could.
I just don’t think it’s as black and white as people make it out to be.
@canadadarko Rijeka is redoing the scenic Kantrida with estimated completion date (2018)
Maksimir and Poljud are horribly outdated. There was talk of a new Maksimir but like all development discussions in Croatia it might take a decade or two before they ever do anything.
Correction-Was Germany mentally weak against France or did a questionable penalty change that game. They have one of the top managers in international soccer-it didn’t seem to help them when the whistle turned against them.
Let’s face facts here-you need calls to get through.
That is what everyone says is “luck.”
As you see it’s not luck.
People are complaining that our players are mentally weak but honestly for a team that has practically every call go against it they are a very resilient bunch. So I don’t buy this mental midget stuff. Was Germany mentally weak against Italy or did a questionable penalty change the game? No one will ever accuse Germany of being mentally weak. Yet every tournament especially in the group stage we always have at least one game thats officiated questionably. It’s easy to be “mentally strong” when the refs protect you. Soccer games are decided by razor thin margins as you all saw with Portugals win. As a result when there’s an officiating bias against you it is very difficult to overcome. Even the world champions couldn’t do it.
Ziva I do agree somewhat. Even most diaspora Croats I know do not perform anything well if there is change, spontaneity, too much pressure/anxiety. My cousins in Cro are the same way.
I feel like an actual war and fighting are the only scenarios where we perform well under extreme pressure!
We hate ANY sort of deviation from our way of doing things. We lose mental focus very easily. The “theory” by all these old guys/fathers friends who will tell you they read politics, history etc is that we haven’t been independent for a long time and are conditioned to have someone making decisions for us and giving us orders. No one likes to hear that but sometimes I feel it’s true.
In 1998 we had many leaders and came out of a war. A guy kicked a cop! The sentiment was different. Now we have PlayStation, sleeve tattoos, selfies and perfect eyebrows. Shit has changed
Fack Ziva, I am not saying that ZDS is wrong because the chant is fine BUT our Savez, politicians dropped the ball with not speaking up earlier.
FIFA/UEFA don’t care about the nuances they only go by what the country gives them and our Jugo gov has led the world to believe that anything Croatian and patriotic is bad.
Now it seems like we get punished for being Croatian and proud. All these chants etc are blown out of proportion.
I am going to try my best to not get into politics etc because this is a Cro sports site BUT people in Cro care about who will give them the most pay and that’s who they vote for.
If people believe that the SDP/Commie/Jugo party is the lesser of 2 evils or will help the average Croat make more money than that’s where their votes will go and this inner struggle in Croatia and Croatian soccer will never end.
HOWEVER had the country not pissed people off via corruption and (insert anything deceitful here) there would never have been an opportunity for SDP commie Jugo party to gain more influence with angry mob. The same way some people can’t figure out how Trump has voters. If the US wasn’t selling out their own people there would not be an angry voter looking for alternative options or anything that isn’t the status quo.
Thanks @Rafael. Are there plans to build a new stadium or to redo some of the existing ones?
We don’t have adequate stadiums in Cro to host a Euro game. Maybe a re-done Kantrida but still too small.
Quite frankly we haven’t under achieved. This Euro was the 1st time we had TRUE depth since 98 even without Lovren.
Cacic didn’t use our depth properly. Without a doubt refs haven’t helped us but UEFA will never feel sorry for us based on our own internal “fan” retardation.
Russia 2018 is a huge tourney for us.
El Cholo-Simeone will turn Vrsaljko into a warrior. Pjaca will become a demon on the wing in the Serie A. Hopefully Coric develops and Brekalo will be another stud ready to make an impression in 2 years. Add that to an already experienced Perisic, Modric and friends.
Mandzu won’t be the striker of choice in 2 years. If Kramaric lights up Hoffenheim this season like he did at the end of last season he will be back at a big club in the next 2 years.
I look forward to us slamming Iceland and Turkey in qualification.
The Tourney got reduced from 16 to 8 teams, and refs get sent home…but in the last coupla tourneys the Refs officiating the Croatia games never seem to make the cut do they? COINCIDENCE?? I think not!
Either way, 50/50 calls are going against us like a tidal wave in a storm!
These are UEFA sanctioned events, so it’s UEFA’s house, like it our not, our fans gotta play by house rules.
Yep, our players seriously need Tony Robbins to come in and do a private seminar with Repka. That’ll get ’em fired up and into peak performance “State.”
Do you think the referee errors in a way lead to the mental midgetcy exhibited by our players over the years. As soon as a ref makes a mistake our goys deep down know its not their day and they are already defeated. Or as soon as something goes wrong, mentally they are gone.
I wonder if the savez has ever considered bringing in sports phycologists to help with the mental midget issues.
It worked for my neighbor by going to a phycologist. He couldn’t get it up for his wife, but had no issues getting it up for his mistresses. He went to the phycologists and he is no able to bang his wife without having second thoughts to guilt in his mind for cheating on her. Maybe that is what our boys need; something to get the loser mentality out.
I just heard that Euro 2020 will be hosted by 13 countries, unfortunately Croatia is NOT one of those countries.
Is it because we don’t have a good stadium, or is Euro just trying to avoid any controversy?
The ref got sent home in part because the tourney was reduced from 16 teams to 8 teams. Less matches to ref, so naturally some refs did get sent home. No sense in keeping more refereeing crews than games remaining.
We’ve brought this up before……..don’t be surprised when ref calls go against us because of the actions of our fans over the years. In UEFA’s eyes, ZDS chants are wrong, flares are wrong, pitch invasions are wrong, destructing the pitch is wrong, fan violence is wrong and a player leading a looked-down upon chant is wrong…..all of these things have taken place in the last 24 months. So, lets not act surprised when we don’t get favorable calls, 50/50 calls go against us, or calls get overlooked. We are invited to UEFA’s house, so you have to play by their rules – as fucked up as they are.
Croatian Footballers Matter!!!
You know what if the officating is so bad I would walk off the field at some point. Fuck them you need publicity to get the attention.
This is another great article, just like Allen’s from yesterday. Pleasure reading the work on this website.
Despite all of the adversity, I have faith this team. Hopefully we have a good showing at the WC.
King Bonk,
This is a well researched and informative piece. Excellant analysis and I agree with everything you said.
Bigger, more successful footballing nations are being favored over us due to their larger viewership population. Also the behavior of a group of hooligans in recent times doesn’t help, as it bring negative attention to Croatia and the sport.
I almost got a sense with the phantom penalty for Spain and the non-calls in the Portugal game, Uefa wanted us out of the tourney–for fear a group of fans would do something terrible in the knockout round. Could you imagine flairs and firecrackers being thrown in the Final???
It’s no coincidence that after poorly officiating a Croatia match, the Ref gets sent home! It’s almost as if they pick a poor ref, instruct him to favor the opposition, knowing full well he’ll be the fall guy to send home after the match.
Say what you will but I love articles like this one. The content is great and it was actually written by someone who took the time to. Great job Bronk
As I have said before…………..you can’t complain about the refs at EUROs and WCs when you ignore the refs and corruption within the Croatian league.
If you are happy with the likes of Mamic doing their thing in Cro, then you have to remain happy with the status quo at EUROS and WCs.
Its east to sweep Croatia under the carpet. Imagine this stuff happened to Germany & Spain.
2016: The Portugal game was a key example: Ref allowed the Portuguese to chop us down with no consequences. 1st yellow around the 80′ mark, 28 fouls against. Sanches got away with murder, not even a yellow and Modric still gave gin his jersey. What a joke.
2014: Neymar elbow on Modric: You can’t red card the star player for the host nation is the classic saying. A red card foul is no different for anybody. Just call it properly.
All the other listed have merit as well. How you miss this stuff is nuts. Don’t forget Balotelli flopping in 2012, which resulted in Pirlo free kick goal.
rant over
A few calls from the referees would help more than a new coach.
@ Denis
I am in Zadar right now staying in the village with my family.
I am also hit by the sheep motif.
Actually today my kids were feeding the sheep on our family land.
Fascinating to see how sheep move In herd formation without internal leadership.
I am also saddened by the work schedule of summer staff.
This leaves them in jaded state all summer with maybe a few months of money to last them throughout the year.
@ Branko
I love our players and feel we have more talent depth than ever.
I am with Boban.
We will make a run in Russia.
We just need half a coach.
Uvijek vjerni.
Well, what about advocating for television replays, which every other sport uses? (at least for major tournaments?) Why no mention of that? Are fans such lame stool pigeons that they just complain about unfair officiating but don’t press for a solution? That is a loser’s mentality, which is typical of the working class mentality of football: the whole system is against us, lets whine on and off the pitch, chant idiotic jingles, then run around with our shirts off crying like Sicilian grandmothers when things occasionally go our way. Jesus.. Bring in replays, bring in technology for off-sides. All of this can be done and has to come to the sport.
Branko, thanks for a well written and informative piece. I read everything word for word and I agree with your opinion.
UEFA expects record €830 million profit from Euro 2016…..
Money rules the world my friend.
What I found interesting is that the ref and UEFA pushed spain but they failed to catch Subasic off his line on the penalty kick. Its pretty rare for a penalty kick to be called back because of the keepers positioning.
In the end, everyone is in on the fix. The players gave 100% and I thank them for that. They dont want to team up against Mamic/Suker because:
1) they are payed well at other clubs because of Mamic.
2) Why bite the hand that feeds you?
3) Its easy to play the ” I play for hrvatska not mamic” card.
Messi and a few other Argentine players stepped up and put an end to their Argentine career. Their federation might be in a bigger mess than the HNS. At the same time, Messi has been charged with tax fraud. Who is right?
In the end, we(croatians) are all sheep. We follow the $$$$$ no matter the path.
Shit, last night I was at some tourist resort bar with a cousin and a couple friends. The three of us ordered drinks while a friend that came on a bike ordered a glass of water. The waitress grabbed our drinks and left my friend without a water. My friend asked “a moje, sta cu ja ode dihridirat?” She replied, ” a imam ja puno goste ode, a donit cu ti”… She never returned.
My buddy said thats how our people are. A couple tourists come by and they kiss their ass. Locals come by and they dont even do their job. Then my buddy said “and she thinks she’s underpaid.”
I put partial blame on the referees, but in the end, we are not leaders. Foreigners are buying and building all the hotels, grocery stores, car washes, etc etc. The people on top(Mamic, Suker, restaurant owner that has 4 waiters on his staff that havent been payed in 3 months, etc etc) run the country. The problem is that even if you remove these people, a new one comes in and it turns into a rinse and repeat situation.
Ok, enough blabbing from me. Well done Branko!
The team has had some tough draws in the last two Euros, & I think they’ve performed fairly well in both circumstances.
Euro 2016: eliminated by eventual European champion.
Euro 2012: in actual “group of death” with eventual winners (Spain) & runners up (Italy)
I don’t buy all this self pity about bad officials. Perhaps they should have scored on one of the 15 chances created against Portugal.
Everyone experiences bad calls from time to time. There is no bias against Croatia. Our team consistently punches above their weight. We should be proud of their accomplishments.