The future of the Croatian defense is here, ladies and gentlemen. And another piece of the puzzle will be unveiled this Friday in World Cup qualifying.
21 year-old right-back, Josip Stanišić, is expected to make his Croatian debut on Friday as the Vatreni take on Cyprus at 2:45PM (ET) in World Cup qualifying, Croatia Week reports via Zlatko Dalić press conference. Stanišić has been playing regular ball for reigning German champions, Bayern Munich, this season and has done a fine job in his seven appearances; for a 21 year-old. Stanišić could play a vital part in the Croatian defense during the next decade alongside, Joško Gvardiol, Duje Ćaleta-Car, and Borna Sosa; to name a few familiar faces.
Stanišić was born in Munich, Germany to Croatian parents from Slavonski Brod, the home of Mario Mandžukić. Stanišić has already been capped by the German U19 side twice but recently vowed to play for Croatia moving forward. When he steps onto the field in Cyprus on Friday in a Croatian jersey, that promise will be cashed in. That means Germany has lost two defending prospects to Croatia in the past six months. Ouch.
Look for the young right-back to be active up the flank against a sub-par Cypriot side.
Zlatko Dalić also stated the Joško Gvardiol will start at center-back for the Cyprus match, which shifts him a bit from his usual position at left-back. This season at RB Leipzig, the German side has been implementing a flat-three across the back and Gvardiol has done well at left-back (when healthy), even supplying an assist in victory this past weekend. We can only assume that DCC and Sosa will get the nod as well with Lovren and Juranović not with the team and Domagoj Vida returning from injury. This is the perfect match for new introductions, even though Gvardiol has already been capped by Croatia five times; just at LB.
The Vatreni are tied on points with Russia and are expecting two wins this week from two matches with Cyprus (away) and versus Slovakia in Osijek. Russia should drop points as they play Slovakia and Slovenia this week. Croatia barely skimmed by Cyprus 1-0 back in March through a 40′ Mario Pašalić goal.
What do you guys make of this article…
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/10/6/the-situation-is-dangerous
Couldn’t care less…those jackoffs and that commie bitch president can build up the military all they want. We beat them with half the man power during the 90s. This is why the Ustasa existed for situations like this. They’re just doing this for scare tactics and intimidation. They are only getting attention because of the Kosovo border dispute and quite frankly are weak for that because Kosovo has really no sense of military. They reach out to China and North Korea which is cowardly. They won’t act and will face consequences if they did.
There is no appetite for war in the region, despite what the media says.
Plus, now that Croatia actually has an army, there is no way Serbia would start anything with them.
They may be posturing for some sort of Kosovo or Crna Gora stuff, but it’s hard to see them pull off anything close to what Russia pulled in Crimea, so the Russia comparisons in the article are baseless.
Serbia is definitely not Russia, and Crimea only had a 15% Ukrainian population when they took it over.
Russia themselves would have a harder time taking over any of these small Balkan states than they did with Crimea (let alone Serbia trying to do it).
@Maminjo
“Plus, now that Croatia actually has an army, there is no way Serbia would start anything with them.”
Croatia are EU/NATO members, and Serbia isn’t, yet, that’s why Serbia can’t start anything with Croatia. When your communist government remove the stumblingblocks on Serbia’s road to membership, then things may get very interesting, because I don’t think anyone knows what happens if one member state attacks another? I can’t see the Croats ever leaving their EU safe space knowing the Serbs may be lying in wait, so the cetniks/Serbs have to become members with the help of your communist government
Look at this anti EU activity below,
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/575729-probe-into-migrant-pushbacks-in-greece-and-croatia-ordered-by-the-eu
Lol! Why are you muppets in the EU if you don’t want to accept the migrants? Believe me guys, you can’t use the EU/Nato to protect you from Serbia but not do what’s expected of you where the migrants are concerned (the EU/Nato will not accept the role of useful idiots like the Croats did in the homeland war), it seems like some Croats are acting independently and thinking differently than their sychophant government and EU masters.
Serbia gonna Serbia
Logically if both Vida and Lovren are hurt/out of form we should see Gvardiol and DCC. Need to have someone with a little bit of veteran presence. I like Pongracic but playing all 4 with a combined 10 national team caps would be a gamble.
The bigger issue is Livakovic. It was so nice to see Ivusic play well…shame he’s injured. Grbic seems to be playing well and starting…he should get the nod but sadly we will see more of the deer in headlights between the posts.
Yea, normally I would prefer that each of these young defenders were brought in one at a time and integrated into the lineup earlier.
But since Dalic took his time with some of them, we have to play them all at once with zero chemistry together (and in a couple of important qualifiers).
But they should be fine. They are all a lot better than Lovren and Vida this season, so there shouldn’t be too many issues.
I agree that we need to bring in Luka Sucic now and integrate him, along with any of these other youngsters that are looking good.
Would be stupid if we waited the whole year to simply give the guy a few minutes. He’s probably our biggest prospect next to Gvardiol (who is already a starter for us now).
Considering our issues at striker, if Roko Simic is not fool’s gold and actually finishes the year with this good of a goal scoring rate, I would watch him like a hawk at Red Bull Salzburg next season and cap him right away if he continues to score there too (and give him minutes off the bench to slowly integrate him).
Could be a Euro2024 player for us.
this group is so terrible – we should be able to play U18 and destroy all these teams- it’s embarrassing that we’re talking Cyprus and soccer in the same sentence.
Looks like we have quite a few injuries that includes Ivusic. Then Orsic and Budimir. Praying Liva plays decent
And you guys got me excited about pongarcic
I guess that mono really kicked his ass for a bit
Bring in the new back line
What will make me sick if we get these kids going qualify for world and then Dalić brings his old boys back in
If Lovren and Vida do not start in these two qualifying games… AND
If the results in these two game are positive… AND
If Zenit’s coach continues to not play Lovren a single minute…. AND
If Gvardiol, Pongracic and Stanisic continue to play at club level…
THEN…maybe (just maaybe) we may see a potential end to the Lovren/Vida partnership for the final qualifying games
(no promises)
It will be hard to justify bringing back Lovren and Vida if they continue to warm the bench at their mediocre clubs, and we’ve been playing the younger CBs (who literally play on World Class club teams).
That’s a whole shit load of variables, but currently everything is pointing in that direction. Hopefully it plays out.
someone needs to slide tackle Lovren and Vida at practice…keep them out!
Didn’t you say that Lovren was the “best defender in the world” ?
Maminjo, you know I’ve never said that so I don’t get why you’d ask?
Lovren was solid at the World Cup and I’m not like you…I don’t jump up and down and flap my arms and legs when I don’t see a need to. Lovren was not bad at the Euros and you have a tendency to totally exaggerate thigs if you dislike someone while on the other hand, you won’t EVER admit you’re wrong….and you have been wrong about a few topics…ie…Vlasic and Petkovic. Both good players but neither even close to being stars. Vlasic has the most potential between the two and he’s VERY up and down…except for the fact that he isn’t up and playing well for us consistently. No need to discuss Petkovic, every coach he’s had can see he has major limitations that you refuse to see.
….for the record, I like Vlasic and Petkovic but I’m not blind…I see their limitations and can admit them.
It was a joke. Lovren himself made that comment as being the best defender in the world.
P.S. Lovren sucks 😉
nemoj me jebat u zdrav mozak!!
🙂
For sure there will be needing some time to mesh all these youngsters
But since when we were This excited for our back situation??
Midfield always
And I think it’s easy to say we are decent in midfield now but there aren’t many teams right now where kova, broz or luka still aren’t starting on
My theory, stanisic being as potentially versatile as he is and from Slavonski Brod. Is mandzu 2.0 on defence;)
I agree bring on sucic, kid is ready to be implemented. He has that little extra most Croat kids don’t show at 18.
Budimir still hurt? I really hoped he was given an opportunity
I’m super bummed bout ivusic being injured
@Slavonac very good points. I agree that Ivanusec should be granted an opportunity at that RW spot. It’s the perfect test for a young player coming though the ranks – important game vs. weak opponents. Time for him to show us his worth
The future is now guys! I’m excited to see Sosa Gvardiol and Stanisic in the back together. That’s three young defenders performing in the Bundesliga, and Bayern and Leipzig are some of the best teams in the world right now. I still wish we would convert to a 5ATB at some point, but I guess we should wait for DCC to be fit to see how it truly goes.
Pongracic is receiving a lot of Twitter praise from Borussia Dortmund supporters, saying he’s been better than Hummels and on par with Akanji, their two starters, in the opportunities he’s had. The future looks bright for him.
Sučić is the next young player to call up. I hope to see him and Pjaca in the following round of qualifiers.
Yup, at this point why not introduce Sucic into the team?!
Several years ago, when Bilic was the coach of our National Team he brought in a few players and those guys ended up being part of the 2018 squad. Time, experience, atmosphere, chemistry….all mean a lot. Why not allow a kid like Sucic, who seems to be a special player, into the tam at his age? If he’s gonna carry the responsibility down the road…why not give him some experience now?
As far as Pjaca is concerned. I pray to God for his health, I have always felt bad for the guy getting injured. I paid close attention to his first games with Juventus and all the fans and pundits were excited for his future. He was explosive, tricky, skilled and dynamic….if he can get to 75% of what he was, I’ll take him!
If we play the next games with full concentration and not take anything for granted, I think we get the results.
We have an interesting situation at the moment. Dalic re-called Brekalo and I’m 100% certain Brekalo will want to prove that Dalic made a mistake. Apparently Gvardiol will start at centre back and hopefully alongside Caleta Car. Sosa is performing well, getting forward and providing some very good service at his club. Stanisic will hopefully not get nervous and settle in well, play solid…which is what we should expect. Kovacic will want to continue his good form and have very good performances alongside Modric…he definitely will want to prove he’s reliable and our future CM.
Our real issue might be the same we’ve had for the past couple of years….what combination of attackers do we use? Do we start Modric in behind the attack or do we give that spot to Krama or Vlasic (who doesn’t deserve it if you ask me). Do we start Brekalo on the wing or do we offer that opportunity to Ivanusec (he’s been on fire lately)?
I’m happy with the way our back line is forming…we are slowly getting to see our younger guys and they’re looking good. We have a decent or more than decent midfield…but the mystery remains up top…who do we have that can effectively score, create chances, create space, draw attention…??? They need chemistry and to work well together and no matter what combination we tend to use, it just doesn’t seem to work well!
Good analysis, but I would say our midfield is world class (not just decent)
Your point about our mystery up top is spot on. We have the talent, but can’t seem to find the chemistry in the final 3rd.
I said decent because we’ve lacked possession against some teams recently…ie Spain, England (we had more possession in 2018 vs at this past Euro’s), Czech’s at Euro’s (we barely had more possession), Portugal…
Not long ago we completely dominated almost everyone, even France at the WC finals and England in the semi’s. This might be partly because of what I’ve mentioned on several occasions. We do MUCH better when we defend high and create turnovers BUT we do not have that 1 striker that presses high and it completely changes how we play!
You’re only as strong as your weakest link.
Trying to play a possession game with Spain, while having Rebic on the field, negates a lot of the collective technical ability.
It’s the reason why Spain had the very expensive, but technically incapable Adama Traore on the bench.
But, yes, we are not playing that pressing game which caused the opposing team to make a lot of errors.
Lovren hasn’t played since August. Vida hasn’t played more than 20 minutes since then either. Caleta-Car started a game a couple of weeks ago, but he’s largely still being punished by his club and is not getting regular gametime.
This is the time for Gvardiol, Stanisic, and (hopefully) Pongracic to cement positions in our lineup.
Same goes for guys like Ivusic or Grbic, to get a chance to play over Livakovic (after Ivusic’s good showing last round).
The striker issue will always be an issue for us in these next two years…but we have some real and obvious talent in the backline that is not being used.
Gotta fix the obvious holes .
I think Gvardiol will cement his spot as a CB starter for us, with Sosa at his left side. He’s the best young defender in the Bundesliga, and it’s too hard to ignore now. Hopefully, Stanisic and Pongracic get more game time with the top German clubs they play for.
If Dalic keeps his word, Lovren and Vida won’t play so I think thats settled.
I think these next two games are must wins for us. Russia is keeping pace with us and as others have alluded to, they have a tougher set of games for these two matchdays and the hope would be we take the full 6 points and they drop some points either at home to Slovakia or away to Slovenia.
If we build some momentum here and take potentially 9 points from our next three games (which won’t be easy) that should put us in the drivers seat come last matchday in Split when we meet Russia. We typically don’t make it easy for ourselves, but my nerves would really appreciate a final matchday of a qualifying cycle where its a must win in order for us to qualify directly lol. Especially this year given that the playoff format is way more complicated and tougher than in years past due to UNL teams also being in the mix.
Lets take care of business, book our tickets to Qatar over these next 4 games and then start to figure out what our XI will look like come the summer.
where it’s not* a must win
obvious back four would be sosa, gvardiol, DCC, stanisic. also playing pasalic CAM would be smart. even though most likely dalic will crowd the mid with modric, broz, and kova. then have attacking three of; livaja uptop and on the wings perisic and krama. Sure, kova, broz, and modric all “deserve” to start, but as coach dalic needs to make the though decision to play only 2 of those 3 at the same time. feelings will be hurt, but its best for the team overall. absolutely no need to have 3 CMs against cyprus.
Lets talk about vlasic and kramaric. is dalic aware that our best CAMs are playing much worse without a target man?? vlasic scores against wales, slovakia twice, and france, all while petkovic is uptop. what about kramarics best game which was against ukraine where he scored twice, mandzukic was playing striker. game after that against greece krama scores again with kalinic playing striker. goal against russia, mandzukic was striker. etc. is it just a coincidence that they’re playing “bad” now, or basic common sense soccer tactics that when a striker is present it creates more space for the CAM. cmon dalic don’t be a fucking idiot.
side note: anyone else notice that our stikers play best when they actually have competent wingers along side them; remember how once we finally both had perisic and rebic on the wings mandzukic would start scoring more often. And petkovics best game for us when he scored twice against hungry we both had rebic and perisic on the wings.
too many times we find ourselves with only one winger on the field, or two CAM playing at the same time, or too many CMs, or no striker, etc. just play ppl based on their position and everything will start to fall in place and run smoothly!
It is a must win, and I’m confidant that we will beat Cyprus away. We must play a high tempo game and hit them on the flanks. If we can deliver some quality crosses into the box we should win. Left hand side is OK with Sosa/Barisic and Perisic having the ability to provide quality crosses, however with Juranovic out it is to be seen if Stanisic can do the same from the right hand side ? There is also talk that Brekalo may play on the right hand side ?
I hope that the two stoppers are Gvardiol and Pongarcic. For the match against Slovakia you need more experience at the back and I would consider using Caleta – Car as one of the two stoppers.
We also have some key players on one yellow card ( Perisic, Kovacic, Barisic, Vlasic and Brozovic) so they need to be carefull otherwise they could miss the match against Slovakia. I was impressed with our discipline in September, when goalkeeper Ivusic was the only player to receive a yellow card in the dying minutes against Slovakia for time wasting.
Stanisic is versatile, but he’s not a wingback type who can send in crosses like Juranovic or a healthy Vrsaljko could.
Brekalo makes sense if they plan to play him strictly at RW, with Stanisic providing cover at RB behind him.
We are well beyond the whole “Brekalo at RB” experiment. It didn’t need to rear its head in the Euros, but it did…and it cost us. We don’t need to see it here again.
I like having Gvardiol and Pongracic as our two CBs. Pongracic doesn’t start for Dortmund yet, so this might cost him a chance to play for us. However, Lovren, Vida and Caleta-Car don’t play AT ALL for their clubs right now…so we’ll see what happens. There’s only so much their “seniority” can buy them with the NT.
I think for 2022 we need health and allitle balls by Dalic i think we 3 good keepers and the D i dont think vid lovren should be the partnership id like to see pongracic cc gvardiol uremovic fight for cb spots thanks to vida lovren but gotta build a cb partnership for future right back stanisic jutanovic and i vrsaljko takes football seroius again he can still be useful. Midfield got the 3 luka broz kova add pasalic vlasic moro jakic majer ivanusec and sucic who i think will go to wc 2022. The wings perisic brekalo pjaca(im not giving up on him he should be given look again if healthy and in form). Orsic and Maybe rebic comes back but thats up to him and dalic workout.
Upfront i only see budimir krama livaja petkovic and maybe some youth petar musa simic ljubicic
Cyprus at home wont be easy.