CROATIA GET TURKISH MONKEY OFF THEIR BACK, OFF TO EURO 2012!

our fuckin captain isnt even 100 posto hrvat!!!!!

DannyJ : “if he were a white croat”

There is no other kind, we ARE White.

DannyJ: “id rather we lose with croats then win with foreigners”

Absofuckinlutely! if you win with foreigners, guess what? YOU didn’t win, the foreigners did.

The result of anti-White tyranny (which started after WWII) is that there is now, officially, no group of people who are Americans and no culture to be loyal to. The words “patriotism” and “melting pot” are like oil and water.

@ ziva if cro wins euro and duda scores winning goal in finals would u not be celebrating?

So I say let the Chinese “brothers” “play” in Croatia, right anti-Whites? No offesne to the White anti-White community (traitors to their own blood, the worst kind).

If Croatia brings in a few million Chinese, that will make Croatia’s economy better, right anti-Whites?

No one openly discusses the fact that a country which says that the people have nothing to do with the country they inhabit makes all immigration laws immoral.

Not sure if the last couple guys that commented have been watching Champions League at all. If you have, it would explain to you the current condition he is in…not good. I know he’s a great goal scorer in the league, but if you’re going to ask him to play at a national level, you’ll also have to judge him on how he manages to play against harder competition. Some of you may argue that Dinamo is a lesser team, therefore he gets less chance to shine against CL caliber teams (which is partially true). Unfortunately, I can’t really give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, as he hasn’t been a creator and he hasn’t done anything to better his side. His game has been very one dimensional, he holds onto the ball far too long, and with 0 goals in qualifying Sammir hasn’t even got a sniff at goal.

The only reason to bring Sammir on is if he truly brings a different dimension / something the team hasn’t seen. I don’t believe he brings either.

if sammir is good enough to be on the national team then they should call him up! even though we made it through to the euros our team needs improvment if we want to compete and challenge for the euros and if sammir can fill some void or hole on our lineup i say let the brother play!!! he’s better than some players on the national team

do you guys think sammir being on the team for euro could happen? him being brazillian aside and despite whether you feel he should or should be on the team can he make a difference? say he was a white croat would you guys want him on the team for his skill?

@TheGoldenChild
Yes they do make it look so easy (deutschland), they are an amazing side, and a pleasure to watch. I will be hoping for a euro 08 cup final rematch between these two incredible sides, it would be one hell of a contest, and either one would be worthy of the title champions.

Any interview with Joe Sakic would be amazing! A class act all the way and a terrific hockey player! One of the best I have scene and was he ever clutch! The best player Canada had when they won the Gold Medal in 02 and was named MVP of that tournament. Deservedly so!

Joe Sakic Playoffs Records

1st place – Most overtime goals (8) 🙂
2nd place – Most goals in single season (18, in 1995–96)
7th place – Playoff points (188)
7th place – Playoff goals (84)

When is CSR going to do a story (perhaps an interview) about Joe Sakic? the first generation Croatian-Canadian hockey Hall of Famer who captained the Colorado Avalanche to two Stanley Cup titles and Cananda to the Olympic Gold.

I remember against the Minnesota Wild in a playoff game Sakic scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen: he was somewhere btwn the blue line and goal line against the right boards with a defender blocking his view of the goal – Sakic shot the puck btwn the defender’s legs and over the goalie’s right shoulder top shelf just inside the goalie’s right post; Colorado did lose that particular series in 7.

Sakic tied the all time record for playoff goals in a low-scoring/defensive-era of hockey; and they were not tack on goals, they were big/clutch goals – he won the prestigious Con Smyth trophy for this. And I believe he should have won another Con Smyth when Colorado won their second Stanley Cup.

If Lovren is fit, he will start. It’s as simple as that. Those of you that say Lovren is shit have no clue about football. Yes I agree he’s very error prone and is constantly fucking up for both club and country, but he’s what 22,23? he plays every week for a good team and has champions league experience. Not to mention he has been constantly linked with european powerhouses such as Liverpool and various Italian teams. Sure he fucks up alot but he needs time and he is the future. If he is fit he will start its as simple as that. Mark my words.

If you told me we would win 3-0 in Turkey I would have thought you were crazy but if you thought we would have opened up in Zagreb when having a 3-0 lead I would have just thought you are an idiot, Why? So we can lose? Bilic got it right and played it out perfect. How Turkey played against us is how we usually play…a lot of possession but in there own half and creating nothing serious throughout the two legs. You win without playing pretty and I can tell you we made more chances with 30% possession than we created win any game we had 70% possession! Its not how much you have the ball but its what you do when you have it and we are not Spain to be able to play that way and create chances, You have to be really naive to think that…I am glad Bilic showed that tactics to win the game and secure our lead rather than trying to satisfy some fans who will criticize him regardless.

The only criticism I do have is I wish to see line ups like this in friendlies so when we aer down to our 2nd team players that we are not sure what to expect because some really showed a lot of positives like shildenfield and Dujmovic and even Vida.

Its simple for those who think Modric isn’t effective as he can be he is taking the marking of 2 men at all times which like most see gives freedom to either wing. Raktic or Srna who both played well in both legs. Modric will always be effective but the thing he does is makes more space for everyone else! It comes down to the fact that Modric only needs a split second to change a game one silky pass and he did put in a few and he did create chances for everyone to create.

I will give Mandzukic credit and Dujmovic credit as well but the back 4 deserve the most because that back 4 has not looked that solid under that much pressure in a long time and sorry Lovren I cant put you back into that line after performance we saw vs Turkey we looked solid and hardly a bad foot was put in.

Allen, please finally admit to me that Olic isn’t as bad as you say! Please! Because garbage goals or not that is the exact thing we need sometimes and when was the last time we saw ourselves score a goal that was not a 20 yard screamer? Its been a while huh?

Perisic looks like a really good guy every game he came on. Speeds the game up and posses the technical skills as well. Pranjic? Really impressive considering he has not played much and once again shows he is one of our best players and always a threat from LB. Defense may not be his strength but he has what Strnic does not and that is a constant threat going forward!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ponos-Zagreba-Grada/114286782018182

JM mentioned in his post on eduardo becoming a midfielder… would or could this move actually make good soccer sense?? im simply curious, again soccer i don’t understand fully with all the tactics but I appreciate the input.

@Petar Radman

I have to lump Iniesta in with Pedro and Villa, he gets third place in the medal category though. I am going to apologize ahead of time but he is right there with them in my books. Xavi is not as bad as the other three. What a player!!!!! Xavi and Iniesta are accustomed to being hacked alot, there is no question. Teams have no other way to slow them down so there is an abundance of hacking and fowls against them.

The Nigel De Jong kick to the chest is a one hundred per cent straight red card by any referee other than Howard Webb. I remember watching the game and I could not believe he did not give Nigel a red card for that! What a horrible referee!

Eduardo was targated for being a diver by the British media and it was unwarranted. For the reasons you stated. This was just before the England Croatia game in 2009 and John Terry was all over Eduardo in the media at that time. He was saying something along the lines that the English players don’t dive and we never have and blah blah blah. In that England Croatia game there was a missed penalty kick call against Eduardo when Glen Johnson literally tackles him in the box. I believe the reason the ref let it go was because of the media hype portraying Eduardo as a diver. Ask Steven Gerrard if the English dive and check out the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I&feature=player_embedded

I just watched the red card incident against Mario and that was really bad. I apologize if I was harsh on Dario, I really like the guy as a player. I just wish the antics would stop. Hard to teach a dog new tricks I guess. 🙂

@ Mihovil – I agree with everything you have said. However, I believe that the rampant diving within the Spanish National team may be traced to the usual suspects (Pedro and Villa). My brother always claims that Iniesta and Xavi are divers and this really irritates me. I believe we may all agree that the Barcelona team as well as the Spanish National Team are targeted with some pretty disgusting tactics. I believe that Iniesta and Xavi have become so accustomed to being hacked to death by their opponents that they almost feel the hit a split second before it arrives. lets face it, they are not exactly built like Greek Gods or Spartans. Nigel De Jong and his kick to the chest are just one example of what comes their way. If you look at Eduardo as another example, after his horrific leg break, he was then targeted as being a diver. I defended him to plenty, claiming that if you suffer through something that horrific, you will go to ground earlier, rather than suffer the full force of impact from in that case, the Celtic goalkeeper rushing in at his legs.

With regards to Dario Srna, I do agree, he is a terrible diver and the childish antics were there for YEARS. I hate that any of our players dive. Mandzukic is awful in this regard as well. I do not know if you recall the red card he received last year playing for Wolfsburg, try looking it up on Youtube. The player steps a few feet away from Mario, he proceeds to drop to ground as if the player stamped on him. he dives as if he was hit by train.

I loved watching Euro 2002, The Irish played with tons of heart, great running. They would berate all the divers who fell before them. it was classic.

PS I love my Wife

@ Petar Radman

Excellent article Petar!

If there is a negative against the Spanish it is their diving tactics. This is a problem with the sport in general, but they take it to another level. The Spanish league is notorious for the over acting and flailing. I need to give a shout out to the Italians in this regard as well.

The shout outs keep coming as to Dario Srna’s performance yesterday and it was just shameful. He should not be our captain. I know this will get a rise out of everyone but that is not the way a captain should act. He should lead by example and that is not a good message to be sending out. Who the armband should go to I am not exactly sure but definitely not to Dario.

It is not like this is a first time performance and his antics are getting more and more dramatic by the game. The refs are on to him as well and the calls in his favor are slowly slowly being weeded out. Mind you he did get a few favorable calls in the first leg against the Turks but he looked very shameful yesterday.

The guy is a very good player and needs to be in the lineup. Please take the armband away.

@Petar. Nicely put together!

I really shouldn’t have to get into fundamental football tactics 101 with anyone on a soccer site. This should be understood if you have been watching soccer.

Spain passes primarily in their own end or just bellow the half because they are afforded NO SPACE. You think it is tough playing Estonia or Georgia with 11 behind the ball, try playing Italy, Germany or Holland with 11 behind the ball. That is the greatest clue into how dangerous and how well respected the Spanish National team is. The constant passes back to the goalie? Yeah, trying the stretch the defense out and get a few guys to run above the half way line! Do some of you people watch soccer for the sake of watching it? or do you actually try to analyze the tactics? Watch any interview with Mourinho when he is not being a jackass and is actually talking tactics. The movement the Spanish employ that flows left to right and vice versa is simply trying to catch one defender that is strayed a yard or two off his line. Mourniho use to tie a length of rope around his defenders and midfielders. The length between the players was a constant through the back 4 and the midfield 4. as the play flowed from left to right, then back right to left they had to maintain that distance between one another. Well organized teams like Holland, Germany and Italy have perfected this discipline, that is why they do not leak goals like 99.9 percent of the other National sides.

So I ask you once more, you believe it is tough playing Georgia or Estonia? Play Holland, Germany and Italy when they have no desire to even try and play against you. See how attractive the Football is then. Instead of blaming Spain, blame the other National sides for playing anti football and resorting to brutish thuggery (Holland WC 2010, De Jong, I am looking at you, same with Van Bommel) to disrupt the play.

You will be seeing tons of Spain in the highlights for the years to come. Their game should be the training manual for all youth teams.

Its easy to watch German or Dutch football. They have their highs and mid highs, hardly any lows. Teams respect them, but will still play against them and give them time and space because they can be beaten.

I am still picking Germany to win it this year. Winning 3 tournaments in a row is to much to ask of anyone. Mario Gotze people, he will have his coming out party this summer. Anyone who watches the Bundesliga knows what I am talking about. Marco Reus and Andre Shurrle will impress as well.

@Mihovil
Thanks.

@Ziva
Thank you aswell. I value your input too.

@Shinobi……I am not directing anything at you…..don’t know who it was, but I only made a statement about wikipedia.

There is no chance the savez will allow the national team to go to Australia anytime soon. Usually, the best bet for those type of trips is if we get eliminated from qualifying and then we have dates available to travel. If we would have gone out to Turkey, then there is a chance Cro could have gone in late May/early June and play a friendly in Australia. No chance now.

On November 23 the HNS will be meeting in Brussels Belgium with the Associated teams/members of Group A to discuss and arrange the scheduling for the World Cup 2014 qualifying.

@AllenOutraged

Allen, why is Ivica the hardest working man in America? 🙂

If you don’t mind me asking of course.

i would’ve liked to go out witha win, but i’m still overall extremely pleased of jsut qualifying. i think jos may have a point that maybe its not the worst thing in the world for us to go out with a tie to keep our teams heads on the ground. If we had won, the mentaility might’ve gone back to being overly confident and not goingin there with the killer mentality. overall, i thought the team played well. We created chances. And most importantly held the lead. Some individual thoughts
Simunic and Schindenfeld: Once again, they played great positioning and did a solid job. I also worry against a team with pace. And wonder if the time between now and Euro 2012 is the time to begin rotating in the new guys
Vida: I think a future nt starter.Between now and Euro 2012, I think it worthwhile to looking working him in as a permanent starting fixture.
Pranjic: Still a little worriesome on D, but he’s a playmaker. Definitely still a worthy threat running down the wings
Srna: I continue liking him more at midfield to give us some pace running down the wings on counters and crossing
Perisic: The guy shows why he scored so many goals last year (even if it was in a crappy league). He was able to create out there in limited time and possibly had the best chance if his shot didn’t hit off a defenders back. Seems like an important part of the nt’s future.
Olic and Mandzukic: Neither are overly graceful with the ball or creators for themselves, but they add needed pace and really work tirelessly.Even Mandzukic. Despite all his attitude and tattooes, the guy hounds the other team and often hustles all the way back to our end on defense. It looked good here, I’m not positive how the long term outlook of playing two very similar players are up front, especially if we change formations.
Eduardo: A possible midfielder? hmmmm
Pletikosa: Played solid. Saved us with that save as game could’ve been much more nerve racking. Croatia finally does not have a 100% opponents shots taken to goal ratio. Still the goalie for the foreseeable future.

To those questioning Spain………Go back to the WC and Euros and watch again what Holland and Germany did when they played Spain. Both teams went away from their normal style of play and bunkered down against Spain. Speain played their normal game or at least tried to. Germany shit their pants and gave Spain way too much respect.

Spain may not win next year’s Euros, but for the past 4 years they have been best without a doubt.

I don’t know what is with some of you and claiming they play slow or not direct……I really have to question your wisdom about soccer. If you prefer direct play them I would suggest you watch the Scotish league or go watch videos of EPL matches from the late 80s and early 90s.

As for Cro playing in Australia…….first, if you rely on wikipedia for your info, then good luck to you in the future. Second, the national team is not going to Australia in December for one simple reason. There is no opening in the FIFA calendar for games. Yes, the bundesliga teams will be on winter break, but none of our players from England will be on break.

Now, you may get the U-21 team, (I have not heard about it), which would be nothing but HNL players. So, go get excited about that.

pot 3, here we come. at least portugal has joined us in pot 3 so we don’t have to worry about being grouped with them (because they do not deserve to be in pot 4!).

hopefully we get hooked up with a host country (like we did with austria in 08) from pot 1. however, even if we don’t, bring on some strong teams. those teams from pot 2 would all be great games. our draw could hook us up with a very difficult group (ex: spain, germany and denmark) or a relatively winnable group (ex: poland/ukraine, russia, ireland/czech/france). i hope the draw is kind to us. either way, i think we will be playing in some great, competitive games.

bring on the draw!!

p.s. spain is the best team, no debate. since when are we slogging the world and european champions???
the germans may be more “entertaining” (think back to that 4-1 hammering of england from wc 2010) but spain are the best and technically sound. i hope we avoid them in the draw!

CROATIA OFFICIALLY IN POT 3

goal.com/en/news/2898/euro-2012/2011/11/16/2759456/the-16-seeds-for-euro-2012-spain-in-pot-1-germany-in-pot-2

Yeah, Im not blind to what they’ve achieved.
I just don’t care for the way they’ve done it.
I watch classic WC footage all the time, but i honestly would be surprised if I ever watch any footage of their team in 20 years from now…

Spanish soccer yawn, 2nd best, yada yada.
– They’re the best in the world at this moment according to a nice piece of hardware they have. Germany has an amazing team, and they are definitely contenders for that #1 spot at the moment. They’re still going to be #2 though until they beat Spain and get some trophies.

@Wallace

I’m not sure if that 7 best wins was directed toward me, in regards to having to play a powerhouse. The recent wins against England were amazing, but we still had a different back 4 and a much younger more talented offense. Yes, we’ve had success in the past, but it would be a bit of stretch to measure what we had then to what we have now.

I want to believe we can play with the big boys, but recent results against England contradict that. Aside from England, the Czechs, French, and Greeks are the only other truly legit teams that we’ve gone up against. Blew out the Czechs(friendly I believe), tied the French(friendly), and lost to Greece (when it mattered). Sorry for being a bit skeptical, but I’m just going off what I have in front of me.

spain is the best team in the world at the moment theres no debate about that! But i do perfer to watch germany play more than spain, there style of soccer is more entertaining and has more of a zip to it! I think germany will be the next euro champions but who knows and who cares if croatia can win a few games thats good enough for me!

@Ziva @Petar Radman

Spain is unreal. Without question the best national team. Well, for my money.

My only problem with Spain is the diving. It is out of control. I understand it is a problem in all of football and I understand that. However that is my only knock against them.

Watching that midfield do their thing is a work of art and magic.

@Petar Radman

“You also bring up the World Cup Final without mentioning that the Dutch were an utter disgrace! I grew up idolizing the Dutch, that was not Dutch Football. They were butchers.”

Agreed. That was horrible. I really like the Dutch as well and that was a disgrace. Howard Webb’s officiating was garbage for the final match as well.

@ Poglavnik – They play for a single goal? What game are you watching? They are afforded NO SPACE! Every opponent tries to kick and push Xavi and Iniesta anytime they get anywhere near the ball. The way Spain plays is the most beautiful football in the world. How many passes do they complete per match? I should really call them Barcelona, to be honest. This may be the most dominant National Team ever!

@Ziva istina
Really? then why the hell did they post it on wikipedia?
Damn! i thought they finally were coming here. Ziva do you know if they are they going to have a friendly against australia?

wow…….some people on here get more insane by the way. Now, we have people critical of Spain’s style. Yeah, they’ve only been the most dominant national team in the last 30 years, even more so than what France did in 98 and 2000.

The way Spain plays should be recorded and given to every 10 year old and told to watch and play that way.

@Shinobi

“@anonymous
Spain are the best in the world at the moment. Until someone takes that title from them, they will remain so.”

Exactly. Spain beat Germany in the final of Euro 2008 and the semi final of WC 2010 in doing so winning both tournaments. How is Germany better? Germany has a terrific team there is no doubt. They are not better than Spain though.

@anonymous
Spain are the best in the world at the moment. Until someone takes that title from them, they will remain so.

@ Josko balaban

Where have reports/confirmation on Croatia playing Australia in Melbourne come from.

Croatia are playing Australia next month in Melbourne. I’ll most likely make the trip from Sydney to watch it. Pumpedddd

@Wallace
Good call on Germany being the best team. I hate giving Spain credit. They’re style bores the hell out of me… 10 passes back before they make 1 going forward. They’re players are “Downey” soft too! Germans, Dutch, Hrvati, English, all play much more like men than those damn Spaniards.

@Wallace
Nice list of greatest HNS games!
Let me add a few…
HRV vs ENG (2-0): Euro ’08 qualifier in Zagreb (the back pass!)
HRV vs BEL (1-0): ’02 WC qualifier (Boksic scores late to send us to Japan/Korea).
HRV vs FRA (2-2): Euro ’04 (2 questionable goals from France, and a late miss by Ivica Mornar that would’ve given us the 3 points.
HRV vs ROM (1-0): ’98 WC (Maybe our best desplay of attacking play at France ’98)
HRV vs JPN (1-0): ’98 WC (Just cuz I was there!)

Military channel @ 10PM eastern standard time, a 1 hour program about Croatian “Nazi Collaborators” – watch the anti-White propaganda; I’m sure they’re going to justify WWII – the great brothers war. Notice how they NEVER have programs about the “Commie Collaborators” – despite the fact that the Soviets and Zionists killed 60 Million White Christians and Mao killed an even greater # of Chinks. How people can read ‘1984’ and still not see thru the bullshit is beyond my comprehension.

I’ve honestly been thinking since several months ago that Germany is the best team in the world.

I tend to agree with Mishko regarding Simunic, dude has always been solid for the NT.

Congrats to the boys on qualification!

And likewise congrats to Coach Bilic for pulling it all together and making it happen. I’ve been your biggest critic, but you made it happen so svaka cast.

For the most part I think that we can relax and go out and have a “loose” tournament without much pressure, which could make us a dangerous team. I agree, I hope that we’re in the group of death too.

@Wallace,

I have a strange feeling that Simunic is manning up and taking control of the defense. I don’t care what anyone says, he’s an excellent defender and doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Just less then a week ago, our defense sucked and we had no depth; now we can’t find spots for Pranjic, Kranjcar, Perisic, Eduardo, Klasnic, Illicevic.

How about ranking Croatia’s top 7 victories in order? taking everything into account: importance, memorable/famous, quality of play. Here’s my top seven:

1) Croatia 3, Germany 0, 1998 WC.
2) Croatia 1, Italy 0, ’96 Euro qualifying @ Italy
3) Croatia 2, Holland 1, 1998 WC.
4) Croatia 3, Turkey 0, ’12 Euro qualifying @ Turkey
5) Croatia 3, England 2, ’08 Euro qualifying @ England
6) Croatia 2, Germany 1, ’10 Euro.
7) Croatia 2, Italy 1, ’02 WC.

Some impressive scalps, no?

honorable mention: Croatia 4, Israel 3, ’08 Euro qualifying @ Israel.

Poland, Russia, Ireland for me, thanks.

The guys played how they needed to today, and there is really nothing to bitch about.

Negatives:
Lots of bad passes, Srna’s flopping rivaled altintop’s in game 1, and we’re lucky they didn’t score in the first 5 minutes, and our midfield has still not figured out how to play Jelavic even though, for me, he’s one of the easiest to put the ball to.(over the defense, and let him fucking run PLEASE)

Positives:
Pletikosa, Schildenfeld, Vida, Simunic, Pranjic
Our back four, aside from a few slip ups, showed that they could still hang. Joe played angles very well today.
Olic:
I don’t care how shitty he may be to some of you, the guy reminds me of the roadrunner from the cartoons. Defense never knows what the fuck he’s doing, and Mandzukic is able to feed off this.

Modric:
Yah, he’s good.

Perisic:
Comes in and shows that he’s always going to be a threat. A little more time understanding the rest of his team, and our left side is going to be stupid good.

Eduardo in the mid:
The guy opened up play like a boss. The announcers were just laughing at how many things he was doing right.

Only thing I’m afraid of is drawing a team with pace. Our defense plays angles and positions well, but against a more talented team who has some wheels things aren’t going to be as happy. Obviously, our tactics will change with the different teams we play, but I’m very interested to see how we would go up against a powerhouse.

Revenge is sweet, bravo on qualification, don’t know how much of a revenge it will be if were in and out tho, we did get some retribution on the other hand, 0-0 is what you’d expect after the 0-3 drubbing, it’s a shame we can’t draw greece, all we can hope for now is that the greeks end up with a more difficult group then ours..

Although somehow the greeks have luck with draws as of recent times, hopefully this time they get the so called group of death to put them through their paces, fingers crossed, shame Bosnia got thrashed, but then again its always a bonus qualifieing as the only former jugoslav republic.. Sending Regards to Slovenia

Hi guys I am a first time poster long time follower. Firstly I would like to say well done on the website great work.
After following the national team for some time and watching the team at its highs and lows, I would definitely say that the Croatian team tends to excel when playing quality opponents. Over the years playing such teams as Germany, Italy, Netherlands have never seemed to be an issue, our underdog status is defiantly something that finds a high level of confidence which brings along a style of football, which can beat anyone in the world. I recall the last time we received a visit from England to the Maksimir for world cup qualifiers, Croatia went into that match as favourites and all this nonsense spoken in the media of how good we are based on previous results, that night England left Zagreb leaving a complementary spanking. I feel that going through the additional qualifiers of playing Turkey was not such a bad thing as it brings everyone down to earth.
So I say it wouldn’t be a bad thing being drawn against the likes of Spain, Germany and Portugal, as our underdog status is reinstated and along comes a very attractive brand of football, history shows this.
In regards to Bilic and the squad well “we are at the Euros aren’t we” There is enough quality in that squad to beat anyone in the world. Hopefully come Euros we have a fully fit squad and the right preparation and we will be right.

great day! agree with ziva’s comments above. we did all we had to do considering we came in protecting a 3 goal lead. and still we had a good number of chances to score. however, no need to push up in great numbers. we are in and that’s most important.

@ivan. that list of co-efficients is out of date. it was done after the september games. check this link out:

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/General/01/69/56/52/1695652_DOWNLOAD.pdf

these are from after the october matches where our loss to greece dropped us behind russia. not sure if a win and draw against turkey can bring us back ahead of russia but if you believe wikipedia, it didn’t. we will be in pot 3. let’s wait for the morning and see.

even if we are in pot 3, all is not lost. let’s wait to see confirmation of what pot we’re in….then we can spend a couple of weeks making our scenarios for groupings!!

According to this we will be in pot 2 not 3…

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/General/01/64/07/71/1640771_DOWNLOAD.pdf

Pot 1: Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands
Pot 2: Germany, England, Italy, Croatia
Pot 3: Russia, Portugal, Greece, Sweden
Pot 4: France, Denmark, Czechs, Ireland

…..

the croatian mentality is interesting. we “should” win, we “shouldn’t” be in pot 3 etc. a month ago all hopes of euro 2012 were out the window and just qualifying would’ve been a dream come true. now that we are there, everyone becomes cynical. personally, being in pot 3 means that we will inevtiably have a difficult group; therefore, we will play better. i look forward to 3 tough games and then the knockout stage.

interesting that goal.com rated vukojevic as “man of the match”. i thought he was weak in the first half and much better in the second, but not motm.

The team generally brings their game up to a higher level against good opponents. Tough group? Bring it on.

Call me crazy, but if these are the final seedings, I want:

Ukraine, England, and France

I want to continue this revenge tour with the confidence high and the curse lifted (it’s just a shame we cannot draw Greece). The last thing I want to see is Cro draw some mediocre group and play down to the level of their opponent and miss out (like they did in WC2006).

First of all, good on the boys for qualifying! I told Denis before this started, no matter what happens next summer, it’s worth it to qualify so long as we got some revenge and closure on the Turks.

Having said that, these are the pots as of now (though it seems likely that Portugal and Denmark will switch places, as POR was only a couple of points behind them before their emphatic win over BiH):

A) POL, UKR, SPAIN, DUTCH
B) ITA, ENG, GER, RUS
C) CRO, SWE, DEN, GRE
D) POR, FRA, IRE, CZECH

Personally, I am hoping for Poland or Ukraine, Italy or Russia and Ireland or Czechs. Our group could potentially be Spain, Germany and Portugal…scary thought.

The draw will let us know if Croatia has any kind of chance to cause a bit of a surprise next summer.

Here’s hoping for the best!

Bravo Croatia! Revenge is sweet…

I wish Bosnia had won as well 🙁

Poor Bosna is getting manhandled. 6-2 in the 87th. Should be 9-2. That red card sealed their fate.

Happy just to qualify after the mess we put ourselves through. Shame we are in Pot 3, as long as we avoid the big names in Pot 1 (Spain, Netherlands) then I’d give us a chance. But if we get both Spain/Netherlands & say Germany in the group then its goodnight

This is the problem with the NT – they always take the easy route.Instead of trying to win at home they settle for a draw. They used the same tactics in athens. They only give 100% when they have to, otherwise its the usual half arsed attempt. Other teams know this which is why they get caught out. Nothing has changed. This is bilic’s legacy.

look like 3 pot for croatia thats what happens when you play 0-0 at home whatever we will see dec 2. Congrats to our team coaches and next summer will be fun but we will not be a dark hore like 2008 but we have an OK team.

Portugal 2 – Bosnia 0

I caught the game at the 62″ mark, didn’t see the first have and the start of the second half but Eduardo in Vukos spot, he made some good openings that lead to a few runs. Would be nice to see him getting 30″ of play instead of 7-8″

Portugal 1 and Bosnia 0

would’ve liked a win. seemed like we created a decent amount of opportunities, but jsut converted convert. i’ll take a tie and worry about the seeding later though!

HOOOORRRAAAAHHH!!!!

Oh yeah baby.

Dudu on for Vuko

Mandzukic out, Jelavic in

Man we’re so damn close to scoring a few goals.

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This is a very card-happy (Portuguese) ref.

Although Mandzo has been playing ok, I wouldn’t mind subbing him out for Jelavic (on account that Mandzo already has that yellow card). Low risk move to ensure that we get no reds or suspension for the first game of the Euro2012.

That same filthy Turk that punched Olic last game is starting crap with Mandzukic. The turks look like they’re getting frustrated.

http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/92079/4/watch-croatia-vs-turkey.html

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Any link please?

i don’t think even bilic can fuck this up

our starting 11:

1 S. Pletikosa
19 N. Kranjcar
13 G. Schildenfeld
3 J. Simunic
6 D. Pranjic
11 D. Srna
8 O. Vukojevic
10 L. Modric
7 I. Rakitic
18 I. Olic
17 M. Mandzukic

I see a blow out

Everyone has 2-1 Croatia… same here..

Ziva Istina already reported that the HNS returned almost all of the 1000 tickets reserved for Turkey after the 3-0 defeat. I doubt anyone will make the trip. Maybe 100 Turks at the max.

2-1 Croatia. No stupid cards. (Rooney)

Anyone got a weather report? Watching US/Slovenia now and it’s so foggy you can’t see the field.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
Klingons have a way with words.
Hopefully it comes to fruition.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/news/newsid=1715933.html

good olic article. funny line about how his kids have been playing against turkey on playstation for the past 3 years and can finally stop

3-1
Modric, Dudu, Rakitic
and some stupid cards for both squads in the last 10-15 minutes.

I really want to avoid Germany this tournament. We really should focus on winning this game to be placed in pot 2 with Germany, England, and Italy. Pot 3 is not a pot I want to be in (with Greece, Sweden, and Denmark). It’s actually easier than pot 4 (which will likely have both France and Portugal). Besides, finishing in pot 3 will go against my prediction that we’ll get a revenge draw of Greece in our Euro group. 🙂

don’t care, all I want is a win!……… although would love to rub salt in the wound