It wasn’t pretty my any means, but at the end of the day, the Vatreni are going through to the World Cup quarterfinals.
After conceding a goal to Denmark inside the first minute of play, Croatia rebounded quickly with an equalizer three minutes later through Super Mario Mandžukić. And that would be it for goals for the rest of the match.
Luka Modrić and company looked the better side in the first half against the Danes but completely flipped the script after halftime. They looked like a shell of themselves in the second half; not checking in for the ball, playing without pace and running low on energy.
But Croatia finally got the break they were looking for in the 115th minute when Modrić put a beautiful through-ball to Ante Rebić, who beat goalie Kasper Schmeichel to have an open look on goal. But Mathias Joergensen would take down Rebić in what should have been an automatic red card (a yellow was given) to give Modrić a shot from the spot to put Croatia into the World Cup quarterfinals.
Modrić’s shot would be denied by Schmeichel, the game would go into penalties and Subašić would block three of Denmark’s penalty shots to send Croatia through!
Croatia-Denmark Match Highlights
Although it was an absolute nail biter and you probably lost 10 years of your life watching the Croatia/Denmark penalty-fest, there’s some huge positives we can take away from this match.
1. Croatia’s invincible run is over. Although that sounds contradictory, it’s not. After a near perfect group stage, Croatia were brought back down to Earth by Denmark. It exposed some vulnerabilities that Croatia have, namely dictating tempo late in the game. You’re not going to win every game 3-0. Some matches you have to claw and scratch your way to victory and that’s what happened Sunday night. You’re allowed one bad game at the World Cup; and hopefully this was Croatia’s.
2. The PK monkey is finally off Croatian backs! After the Luka Modrić penalty miss in extra time, you knew exactly what every Croatian on the planet was thinking: Turkey 2008 all over again. The Danes were emotionally fired up after the penalty block and have one of the best keepers on the planet, Kasper Schmeichel, going into the penalty shootout. Danijel Subašić denied the Danes on three kicks to get Croatia through and that will only bolster his confidence going into the quarters versus Russia.
3. Croatia didn’t pick up one yellow card in the match against Denmark. That means the entire squad will be available Saturday vs. Russia. After the emotional rollercoaster players (and fans alike) went through vs. Denmark, they should be fired up and ready to go against the hosts in Sochi.
Obviously there were many negatives as well- why is Pivarić taking penalties?!..but we can save that for another day.
Спасибо за хорошую игру, завтра прилечу к Вам, будем болеть за Вашу команду!
Dalic is a better coach that we have so far.
He has a character like Blazevic and could be better if He quickly to change a fatigued player with a fresh one
1) He got lucky because Strinic wisely decided to retreat!
He doesn’t have a clue but still better than the previous coach about utilizing our subs players. But still, He doesn’t have a gut to change a flop star player
2) look at Perisic still inside the pitch and brought out Brozovic instead !~ Perisic has an ability in defense but not in offense ~ that’s why Denmark went out in attack because we had no intense in the offense once some player like Mandzukic and Strinic became worn out + Perisic wasted our opportunity with his shoot and sloppy pass. .
Guys we’re in the quarters not the finals. One game at a time.
@idemo
We split their defence in half and Rebić broke for a one on one with minutes left in the game.
Unfortunately, Rebić didn’t poke it in and Modrić missed the PK, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we broke that stubborn defence.
We just stopped a potential Greece 2004 run from happening again with Denmark being the new Greece.
Football fans around the world owe us for this.
I know I’m getting way ahead of myself but I’d want France in the final. Redemption is long overdue.
Brazil beat Mexico 2-0 it’s going to be a tough match for us if Brazil and Croatia go to the final. I really want us to lift that trophy at least once in our lifetime. This is our time pray and hope !!!!
how did we solve their puzzle………… the game went to a coin flip
Don’t like seeing Perisic come off either. He seems to be one of our fittest players too. He’s scored some clutch goals late in games. Spain ’16, Iceland ’18, hit the post against Portugal in the 116th too.
Mixed G, I agree with your assessment. Strinic does know how to assist though — I have seen him do it in the Serie A. Vrsajko should be doing better. He pushed Fran out of the starting 11 at Athletico.
Russia does not have the “Knutson Element”. That guy made every throw in seem like a corner and contributed to the Danish pressure on us significantly.
Mixed Grill- not only did I have the same feeling, I told my wife that I guarantee they miss in both cases, and then I guaranteed Rakitic would win it. She now thinks I am psychic, but it doesn’t take a Nostradamus to know these things.
I differ on Vrsaljko, he is great on the ball. I feel very comfortable with him on the ball. Strinic and Pivaric, not at all.
@To all
No love from anyone regarding Mandzukic’s goal? Give the guy some credit. That said he, like everyone else, was gassed by 2nd half. Guy had to track back to defend their constant long throw ins, and corners.
Perisic NEEDs to start taking his time with his shots and passes. He, also needs to keep the ball at his feet longer and force defenders to take him down.
Have to watch the Rebic run again, I never once thought he hesitated too much. On that play alone:
-He made a great run
-kept possession
-dribbled the goalie
-was regaining control
-and got cynically tackled ftom behind.
-Denmark lucky ball didn’t go in the net anyway.
I’d say nothing to critique there.
Hats off to Denmark, they executed a gameplan to perfection. Exposed Strinic as a weak link.
Let’s remember, we broke this tesm’s 17 game undefeated streak. That is no joke. Sure we looked off our game in the 2nd half, but that’s what a solid team like Denmark can do to you. 17 other teams couldn’t solve their puzzle, we did.
If I have to watch Strinic indecisively moping around the sidelines on throw ins again, I might puke.
Strategy is you bring on Kovačić sooner and you do NOT take off Perišić ever.
Also, despite the missed penalty, it’s good to see Pivarić play well these past two games. If Strinić stinks it up, we can sub in Pivarić.
My thoughts:
Rebic played well and was disciplined. He goofed the goal by taking too much time but still I was impressed.
Modric played mostly below his usual level.
Rakitic same, but at least he had threatening long range shots.
Mandzukic, mostly lost, as expected when playing alone up front.
Strinic, teams love to leave him on the ball. They crowd out Modric and Rakitic knowing Strinic is offensively flat footed. He seemed to have the ball all the time.
Vida played well defensively but offensively too many long balls to no one that led to turnovers.
Vrsaljko, the same, teams will let him and Stinic have the ball all day.
Kramaric did not impress until that penalty kick.
Did you all have same reaction as I did when you saw Badelj and Pivaric coming up for penalties? And look what happened. Don’t care if they were good in practice.
Until the shootout, an unpleasant game to watch. Does resting players actually work or does it kill momentum? I think the latter.
Russia will play the same way as Denmark, we need a different strategy for sure.
@Šime
Serbs support Croatia when they talk to you face to face, but I’m sure they root against you. They can be cool at times, but they are a very bitter and petty people.
I personally root against all former Yugo countries, but not because of bitterness from the war.
I do it for bragging rights.
Croatia is the UNDISPUTED best country in football from that entire region. All the other republics combined have not qualified or won as much as we have.
I know a few Serbs and I love reminding them of that fact, especially when they give me that nauseating “imagine how good a Yugo team would be” crap, lol.
I just tell them that a Yugo team would make our bench a little deeper, but none would start…except for maybe Xherdan Shaqiri.
(then I laugh and do my Albanian Eagle hand gesture)
These games where we are the “favorite” are the worst.
In a way, I’m kind of bummed out Spain lost. I know if we play Spain, we would not ‘run out of gas’ for an entire second half like we did yesterday.
I’m glad we won this game, when everything was lining up for a disappointing loss. Good feeling. I feel like I stole a Porsche and somehow got away with it.
However, If they play the same disappointing way again in the Russia game, then we fully deserve to lose.
@canuckcro Many Serbs are actually supporting. I had a few actually congratulated me yesterday wished me and us luck. Even a few weeks ago when the Serbs had flags on their cars still they would pull up to me since i had my Cro flags on and talked and gave thumbs up i hear Djoković also routing for Croatia. Maybe things are slowly changing.
Slaven Bilic sayng we might have played like that because this newwer generation might not have the same mentality as the generation in 98
Anyone talking shit about my boy Rebic is a straight up whack whigga*. He was the player of the game. Only boy hustlin’ for over 120 minutes.
Wassup with the ref not handing a red? Obvious goal scoring opportunity and Rebic gets the double leg takedown from behind. Straight red.
Subasic was sublime in PKS but subpar when letting in a 1st minute goal.
//nk susak// You are one smart whigga* Badelj 1st and Pivaric 4th, Cmon mofo Dalic?
U iz also right bout us being gassed by 2nd half. We looked like my nigga* Ngannou after the first minute of the first round vs Stipe.
Kangols off to Denmark for executing a gameplan almost to perfection.
*I can say that cause I am half white, but because I am half black I can also say anything I damn well plz without any worries, so suck it.
The guys must feel such relief.
I know i personally feel heaps of relief! I feel like making the QFs is a good achievement so relieved in that regard.
But hey now im greedy and want to keep winning! We can do this boys! We got Russia ! 😉
I was never the biggest Subasic fan ..I always find him to be pretty shakey in net (ie the first goal) but MAN did he come through in the shootout! He really stepped up and this tournament is proving to be a true team effort.
I really think we can get past Russia. This game was the one that all the players and Dalic really wanted to win. The boys can almost go into the Russia game with the mentality of whatever happens happens.
And I even think if Russia loses they would be content knowing that they had a good run in the tournament when nobody gave them a chance …and then lost to a strong opponent like Croatia.
Let’s do this! U BOJ!
Whatever happened…happened. WE’RE IN THE QUARTER FINALS
hate to be a Serb now ..jealous fuck killers..thank God I’m croatian till time or other entity place me in the ground.I will never forget our vatreni today..i love al my brothers and croatian sisters!!!
Maminjo, yep, i think this is a HUGE Monkey off of our back, to finally win one of these nervy close games. And i kinda feel like – okay now we’re in the QFs, this is prolly a good tourney even if we lose so let’s play freely and express our talent as we did in the group. I certainly am hoping to see a more positive and capable display from us.
Then again, Russia gonna bunker and make it hard so might not be tonnes of goals (tho i hope we get a few)
Im personally disappointed Lovren didnt take a PK lol
Yeah i think Rakitic and Kramaric are our best penalty takers. If we get more hopefully one of them can do the job.
Agree slavonac
Wasn’t the prettiest but job is done
If we would have squeaked out a win against Portugal 2 years ago that was probably even an uglier showing
We got some luck but that’s how it goes
We live to fight another day
U think Portugal fans care about their garbage wins last euro?
They would swap right this second with us
Be happy
Russia won’t be easy but we have very legit shot of going all the way
One day at a time
Hopefully this game humbled the boys
Don’t forget Denmark were unbeaten in 18 games or something
Pretty incredible
This game took a couple years off my life, but I’m glad we won like this.
The team looked pumped after this victory… Like we exorcized some demons.
I would be surprised if we come out flat against Russia. Very happy to see Kovačić slowly breaking out. Our future depends on him.
@maminjo
100% correct.
Everyone can say stop being negative but that’s the truth. Also, the way Kramarić took his pen made every other one look like amateurs.
@The Truth
Actually I thought Pivaric hit his penalty extremely well considering his limitations, it was a great save by Schmeichel.
Guys, chill!
Pivaric was an excellent sub today and taking a penalty isn’t that easy…we won and let’s move on!
Both of Modrić’s penalties were horrible.
The first one he took he kicked it into Schmeichel’s stomach. The one he took during the PK shootout grazed Schmeichel’s heels as it barely went in.
Perišić should have been out there for those PKs.
Thank God for Subašić and Kramarić (our only player who knows how to take PKs)
Couldn’t believe pivaric lined up to take that kick..i thought we’d see subasic kick one before him
No proof but the Russians are doping
We need to be at our creative best against Russia. The ref will be against us again that day.
Susak, I read that Dalic had them shoot penalties at the end of one practice…Badelj and Pivaric nailed them.
But what do u want him to do? If Badelj is smashing them all cleanly at practise, is he meant to divine that due to pressure the guy is going to miss?
Like i said, you can’t replicate the situation of a PK shootout and the tension so i dont know what else he can do but hope the technical ability is enough and the guys dont go to pieces
@Lika
I understand Badelj might have some technical skill, but of the 11 to choose from, I can guarantee you he’s not number one on any list but that of Dalic. I’ve been a strong supporter of Dalic’s every move since he came on, but I’m sorry, he’s wrong on that one.
Dalic said after the game, they practised penalties a couple of days ago and the guys who were awesome, took the kicks tonight. He said they scored great penalties in training but missed tonight, presumably he was talking about Badelj / Pivaric.
Can’t replicate the tension of that situation, needless to say.
Susak, Badelj is very technical…people don’t seem to give him enough credit. Penalties are emotional and nerve racking… Modric missed.
Ah thanks for that info Bobby V !
I actually came on here just to ask who he had on his shirt, i figured it was someone who had died, good on him for that gesture.
Today’s game was in the same stadium in which we beat Argentina.
and for the life of me, why is Badelj and Pivaric taking pk’s so early? You need to put your best players to shoot early on. theres a good chance you dont even get to take your 4th and 5th penalties. Happened to Portugal a few years back where Ronaldo was designated 5th and they were eliminated on heir 4th shot.
We looked completely worn out in the 2nd half. Did resting most of our starters the Iceland game have anything to do with this? We seemed ok in the 1st half , so hard to say. Dalic has a huge week ahead of him. The next game is in Sochi, where the average temps have been above 90F. From what I heard, the team is going directly to Sochi after the game, which gives us 6 days to acclimate. Up until now, we’ve been training in the woods of St Petersburg where the temps in summer reach low 70’s at its highest and our games have been in rather low temp cities. Our guys looked gassed today. Teams have complained, including Ronaldo who is a fitness freak, about the humidity and weather in Sochi. I understand that both teams have to play in the same weather, just hope our guys have more in the tank. Games like today, have been known to springboard teams to great things. Lets keep our fingers crossed.
Hezonja to knicks
Well probably Croatia would repeat their history in 98’s semifinal but with a little determination like subs bravely Perisic and the worned players (usually Strinic and Mandzukic) we are gonna reach final. Remember Blazevic had no guts to sub off Boban/!
Subasic was truly the hero. Has anyone seen some of the social media shit that being discussed about us. That we were lucky and won by the skin of our teeth. Bullshit Subasic saved just as many as the Denmark goalie. I know his name just to won’t spell it out. Every penalties shoot out is luck. It a crap shoot. This was legitimate victory. We controlled possession and granted we did not play well in the 2 half and. Slow down but this was not luck. Had Denmark won you would say it was luck and not skill. It pisses me of. Call spade a spade.
We seemed to stop pressing in the second half. In the first we played like we did against Argentina – pressing the keeper and defenders so they had to clear with the long ball, then we regained possession. Maybe Dalic saw we were wearing ourselves out with the press, not sure, but seemed like a tactical change. Could have also a strategy to try and draw them out of their bunker a bit.
Great analysis if you haven’t seen it already…
https://mobile.twitter.com/MaxBergmnn/status/1010163840489795585/video/1
Big time PK shoot out win!!
This is how Italy have won 4 world cups.
You learn to keep going through adversity.
Ref swallowed his whistle and this favored Denmark.
Kovačić has to start against Russia.
We simply need his speed.
Is Pivaric better than Strinic?
He looks more lively going forward and solid on D.
Strinic looks he has aged in dog years?
Dalić has to make adjustments.
Russia did the job against Spain and are more than capable to do against us.
Rebić is a revelation as a striker.
@ Iggy
You ste100% right the worm has turned finally.
Wow Subasic was amazing during penalty shootout. I think he tied a record for most saves in WC PK shootouts. After the Mandzukic goal I thought we were playing our game and in controll.. But I don’t understand what happened and we lost control of the midfield letting the DaneS establish their game.
Ya Idemo. You correct.
Nuff respect to Subasic. He won it for us.
“We should “
We should have easily beat Denmark and u see what happen
Only positive out of the game other than winning was that no cards were given
Subasic also dedicated his three saves in the penalty shootout to his good friend Hrvoje Custic who tragically passed away whilst playing 10 years ago, looking up into the sky after each save. Custic died after hitting his head on railing whilst playing with Subasic at NK Zadar. The Croatian keeper always plays in a t-shirt with Custic’s image on it under his goalkeeping jersey.
Gruelling match, we should beat Russia.
Russia will also be tough because they also have a great in form Goalkeeper.
Thats why you bring on Alen Halilovic on in the last 20 minutes oh yeah thats right we didnt pick him in the squad he adds pace skill and can take the game on. Our players looked out of it.
this game had me emotionally fucked up!
just glad we got the W and look forward to Russia.
I think Russia is weaker than Denmark but with this game we must take away from fact all teams now are game.
It reminded me of the France – Denmark game last week. It looked like they agreed to a tie. No effort, no contact, no injuries, no cards???
Sweden,..Switzerland…Denmark…Russia all super organized and hard to break down.
All teams have bad games. However, most of our guys looks so apathetic the second half, it looked like the game was fixed. No effort whatsoever, except from Rebic and maybe Kovacic. Subasisc was a beast! Was it just my and my families perception? Were out key players told not to win? Or was it just a really bad day???
Iggy, I knew this was coming…all these clowns lifting the cup already. Russia will be a tough match they defend well and will bunker also…we need to score early…todays game will boost our team.
Yeah i was definitely thinking of Turkey ’08 and also Portugal ’16.
FOR ONCE in our bloody lives we got some luck LOL.. normally these always go the other way but we actually got out of it for a change
Who would have thought Subasic would make any saves after the first minute goal not me.
In the end, it was one man from Zadar who bailed the other one who could have ended it out. I was wondering if Dalic was thinking about using his fourth sub to bring in Lovre Kalinic for the penalties, but, thank God he didn’t.
Denmark was young/strong/defensive and knocked us off the ball consistently. but lacked quality up front.
We passed two tests that we have not in a while (beat a team that mostly bunkers) and won a game on penalties (actually first time)
It is now set up for us perfectly to reach the finals. Russia is weak and the other 4 possible matchups do not bunker. I’m guessing it will be Sweden.
Rebić drives me insane. He is Ivica Olić 2.0.
Guy makes things happen, but does bone head things.
He should have poked that into the net right after he rounded Schmeichel… But decided to run it in instead?!
He had at least two steps where he could have chosen to tap it in, and he even probably could have attempted to knock it in as he went down.
Seemed like he’d rather have a penalty call instead of a goal, wtf?!
Brutal game, but you need luck in these tournaments.. and we finally had some (not counting that Modrić miss of course)
Not sure about the rest of you but memories of 2008 came flooding back. Hvala Bogu!!
Now that I’m able to breathe again it was a hard fought game. We definitely played very cautious in the second half which was concerning. Hats off to Luka for coming back and not succumbing mentally on his Pk miss. The ref let them
play today but we did what we needed to do to get the W. Rebic is a beast. Suba was man of the match saving those PKs. Strinic played poorly and having Pivaric come in for him was a good change by Dalic. He really has a feel for the game.
I can’t belie we avoided losing any of our players for the next game with cards!
This is our time. Svaka vam cast momci!!!
The Danes were bombarding us with their “throw-ins”, which are like corners or free kicks the entire second half. It was like they had 20 corners… my god, we were on the ropes, but thankfully we recovered.
Extremely hard fought game today! Denmark slowed the play down to an almost gruelling dead play and they wouldn’t engage in open play.
We had to be cautious and play their game or we risked being counter attacked.
The Danes were big, strong and hard fighters . Full credit to them for their tactics and hard work!
Das mo stretan Danas – sad pijem vino
Spain got robbed should have been penatly in ET Var corrupt.Spain also went out in World Cup 2002 to South Korea who reached the Semi Final. It will be hard for us to defeat Russia at home with the refs on their side. Modric for Golden Ball.
that was a nervy tight game for sure; im hopeful now that the monkey is kinda off our back we can express our ability better in the coming game(s)
LAknat best of relief ever!
Most nervousness but team due to finally win in this style.
Rakitic to be #1 PK man from now to future.
Modric I love but step aside in spot kick.
If Denmark had won, that foul by Jorgensen would have been on par with the Suarez intentional hand ball a few cups back for the smartest ever foul. I was yelling at my TV when Rebic took too long to shoot after going around Schmeichel.
I don’t know how how Jorgensen avoided a red card, but it wouldn’t even have mattered at that stage of the game. Glad the ref kept the cards in his pocket because we have so many playing on the edge of suspension.
I never felt good about Modric scoring from the spot. So glad he did during the shoot out. Otherwise, he would have been the heavily blamed.
Every team faces adversity, hopefully that was our moment and we can get back to playing our best. The second half reminded me of everything that was so infuriating about this team over the last few years.
We will be more grounded for Russia.
this whole game was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, that awful feeling when the danes scored within a minute, followed by enthusiasm when we got one back two minutes later, then the further excitement of rebic drawing a penalty, then misery when modric missed, then subasic blocking the first penalty, then badelj missing his, lol, it just kept going back and forth. dalic was right, it was a 50-50 match.
And Rakitic the Barcelona man wins it for us.
Scheimcel was player of the match on FIFA official Moric should have hit the first penalty straight. Russia will get all favouritism from the refs unless we score some goals. Spin should have had penalty in 115 minute was even reviewed almost like that Steelers Seahawks Superbowl.
My god what a dramatic game, my hands are STILL shaking from that
im not sure i can take the nerves lmao.. i really thought we were done when modric missed the penalty, everything was going wrong and i thought we’re fucked but Subasic is the man of the match hey, he’s the hero of the day
Hvala dragom bogu!!
What a mental boost for Subasic/ he out duelled the top goalie and did it for us- any hockey Croatians can tell you- a goalie brings you titles- we did it – next the MAFIA BOWL- meetings started 5 minutes ago to start working the refs- Croatia vs. Russia- this is too good
Sometimes you need a grind like this to learn from. Be glad we came away victorious. Plan now for Russia
I didn’t see anything about PK
I saw Modric miss a penalty and that’s it,
look away from my tv and come here for a good news,
so how was it?
Subasic, Croatian Hero. With a normal goalkeeper, all 5 Danish penalties would have gone in. They weren’t bad taken, they were brilliantly stopped!
Don’t like how we played but so glad with a victory
Croatia lost.
Totaly idiot by Dalic
who hasn’t got a clue to sub out some flop player
like -> Perisic
got saved by Strinic who wisely retreat from the pitch
or He will become a scapegoat again1
remember Modric can’t even take a penalty properly!
Subasic is the Real Deal!
No one can stop Croatia
I meant why pivaric? Any way that was gut wrenching.Bravo subasic and rakitic
Russia can’t stop us. Noone can.
Schmeichel never heard of Suker? Now tell your son about Rakitic.
Why piratical????
I don’t think so ..
Croatia can’t handle the pressure 1
We will win!
Was that not a red card?
Mamic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
I read this week we have not worked on penalties.
Kramaric should have taken penalty
Just gets better and better doesn’t it. I think it’s pretty much guaranteed Denmark wins in penalties now.
So much time wasted by Danish throw ins. Cowardly tactics.
Pivaric for Strinic
Kovacic for Brozovic
Kramaric for Perisic
Badelj for Mandzukic
I am surprised by the amount of long balls tried to begin with and surprised by how failed it was as a strategy.
Horvat, me too. Tournament is over for me when Croatia lose. Brazil has this tournament in the bag anyway.
Mixed grill yes
I don’t know if I will ever follow soccer after today!
Lika Joey you mean too late?
Our team is out of gas.
THE FIX IS IN!!!
So obvious! They were told at half time Denmark is winning!
@Lika Joey – In what sense ?
Dalic, is like Cacic with the Kramaric substitution.
Lika Joey I hope you’re right.
The Argentine referee, of all referees, decided to wear the same colors as the team.
We will win! But i told you guys we still haven’t had that one grind out game.
It looks like our players are waiting around to see what happens, instead of making something happen.
It is their style, we let it happen so now we play their way. Not good. And boring as hell.
For F’s sake guys.
Way too much talking of us winning the cup
Yeah i have the same feeling about the3 portugal game
i think for sure we’re gonna lose
i can’t see us winning
we’re gonna lose another grindy, slow, pedestrian match in the knockout after looking great in the group
I’m shitting in my pants what the fuck !!!!!
I am at Smithfield hall much come down
Denmark #5 throws medicine balls in his spare time.
Croatia looks tired
This has Portugal written all over it!!!
Like watching a friendly.
we need to make some subs quick
Disgraceful right now, unfucking real
They’re playing like garbage.
Man thisis a real 50-50.. what a grind
Tough game so far.
This game is too all over the place
They need to slow this game down, play to our strengths
Mandzukic, when it matters most!
bad keepign susasic
onya mandzu tho
phew 1-1
Oh shit!
What the fuck is this shit should’ve started Kalinic
what a terrible start.. i have a bad feeling about this
Guys have i mentioned im SCARED?
What an opportunity, with Spain losing.. man i hope they dont feel extra pressure now
I stopped watching after Spain scored. After waiting 90 minutes I saw that the score was tied and stopped again. Later someone spoiled the final score and I’m excited that we won’t be playing a cheating team like Spain in the quarter.
Are we already getting trolled by Serbs?
Nervous but this is our chance
Dalic is our joker
We needed him at euro
ZDS!
I agree if we could somehow win World Cup
We troll the world with a ZDS chant and they won’t be able to kill the live feed lol!
@Алексей Оленев
Спасибо брат
I like Subasic, but in the Iceland game Lovre looked better.
Хорватия мы сегодня болеем за Вас! Вперед Хорватия!
Vrsaljko**
Let’s prove again today that we a elite team
Line up-
Subasic
Lovren
Vida
varsaljko
Strinic
Brozovic
Rakitic
Modric
Rebic
Perisic
Mandzukic
We got this boys! We just need to score first.
Unreal. Spain goes down and our road is paved…
This is the time to seize our moment!!
Ajmoooooo Momci!!!
Bjezite ljudi bjezite iz grada….
I would absolutely love a Cro vs England revenge match
This is nuts we gotta win today and beat Russia ne t week and we guarantee ourselves a medal game ;))
We have only easy teams left to finals.
We have a serious chance to go on a “Portugal 2016” run
Bye bye spanjols
Spain v Russia going to OT
http://Www.prerolledcones.ca
Anyone have a mind altering substance? Need badly!
Yaaaaaawn… Wonder if there’s anything good on the telly today?..
Omg I’m hyper ventilating. T minus 3 hours. Oh boy.
Poglavnik.. you’re smoking too much filter … 4-1 for the good guys
Maminjo, great post!
hrv 3 den 1
we will play very well
Today is the day the players should walk off the field in protest.
Also, re: playing better as the ‘underdogs’…
It’s true, we do play better when the other team tries to take possession and attack, but that’s because we have a lot of players who can disrupt that (Mandzo, Rebic) and dangerous counter guys (like Perisic) who thrive in that atmosphere.
The Danes won’t attack and I guess everyone is afraid that we’ll play our same old inefficient possession game as we used to do.
But this is also Dalic’s first game where the other team isn’t going to attack…so we can’t assume we’ll play that same boring horizontal passing game we used to (where guys like Modric and Rakitic would literally NEVER shoot).
That’s changed in this World Cup with Modric scoring twice (also hitting the post) and Rakitic scoring once (and also hitting the woodwork on another chance). Even Badelj (who is allergic to shooting) is getting in on the action and has a goal (and also cracked the woodwork with a shot too).
Our game in the past was inefficient cuz we were constantly passing sideways, looking for the perfect pass into the box. We never shot the ball. Now we are.
I expect guys like Modric/Rakitic/Brozovic to launch bombs onto goal the second they get a chance. Mandzo can clean up the rebound/mess in front.
Fuk it. I’ll write a short form of what I wrote again.
Dalic is a super prepared dude.
He has a Scottish guy spy on all opposing teams at their training grounds, and this same guy watches the game live too and feeds all the formation changes on the field and feeds the details to Drazen Ladic (who is mic’ed up and that’s why he wears that headset).
If there are any opposing players wandering too far off their formation, he lets Dalic know and they exploit it.
I’m soooooo nervous need this win!!!
Damn man. I put in two sexy posts and neither showed up.
I posted Dalić’s secret and some other comment to ease tensions about our possession game.
Don’t feel like writing it again.
I like it when we are the underdog as well… Well, moreso that things open up for us when the other team attacks.
This is the first real game under Dalić where the opposing team will be probably sit back…so we are (incorrectly) assuming that we will play the same old inefficient possession game that we used to.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see guys like Modrić and Rakitić taking a lot of long range bombs toward goal
(something our central midfield were allergic to doing in years past, but are doing it often). Even Badelj is getting in on the action.
i cant see denmark scoring, if they do, definitely not more than one. on the other hand, croatia will score, maybe even two.
Hope im wrong but i like when Croatia plays the underdog more then the slight favorite.
DU HR, relax bro….we got this!
2-1 Denmark we are going to lose i know it.
I got 2-0 Good Guys!
Just woke up for some weird reason. It’s 1:15am here in LA. Not a chance I go back to sleep before Spain game.
#goodjobante
Prediction: 7 – 1 my team.
HOLD ME!! IM SCARED!!
Time to continue to show the world we are a legit elite team
Croatia 2-0
I left young lika Joey. To Canada with my parents. I’m Croatian through and through. I’m not Spanish albeit I speak a little bit. Go hrv!
Dalić has some random Brit on payroll watching the opponents’ training sessions prior to the game and analyzing the opponents’ formations during the match.
Dražen Ladić is mic’d up for these games and this dude feeds the info to Ladić, who passes it on to Ladić. You can see Ladić with a mic and earphone chatting away on the bench.
Dalić started doing this immediately from the Ukraine game. Probably the reason why we looked mediocre in the friendlies because we weren’t doing this in those games.
Dalić does his homework. He’s a hard worker.
If Denmark plans on bunkering down, he’ll be the first to know.
Tnx lika Joey. I’m Croatian man. I just born. There. Go hrv. I don’t give a crap on Uruguay. U boj!
Zee, congrats on Uruguay getting the job done today bro!
Poglavnik, hopefully Dalic is the real deal and he can keep Strinic and company focused and ready.
I feel some of us don’t learn….first fucking match in the round of 16 and idiots are lifting the cup. We need to focus and continue to play well. Pracice penalties etc.
Tonmorow is our last game of the WC. We are all too high and I feel a crash coming.
We ok we going to make it.
^ ^
Dont forget “Group Stage All Star” Strinic.
2016 he was a group stage star too. Wasn’t til the ko rounds when his coughed up cost us.
Maminjo, an early goal from them would be a nightmare…they would park the bus for sure.
In 1998 Denmark was crap in the group stage…they beat a strong Nigerian side 4:1 in the round of 16. We need to be focused and serious tomorrow. We got this boys!!
Now that we are in the knockout round, I hope our three mental midgets that still have the Balkan syndrome in their systems, Mandzukic, Lovren and Rebic have received extra counseling, because the only way we lose if one of them has a flare up and leaves us short handed or hands Denmark a penalty.
I agree maminjo!
I’d be surprised if we lost.
We’ve been very disciplined and consistent, and we pretty much have the Danes best at every position except maybe goalkeeper.
I honestly think the Danes will try to bunker down all game, hope Schmeichel Jr bails them out on some chances, and go for the penalty shootout.
I’m gonna say 2-0 Croatia though.
Play smart and aggressive- I say we score on steals very similar to the Perisic goal against Iceland- we get those takeaways- it’s the key to the match
Croatia 2 – Danes- small sandwiches that taste like cardboard
I have a Danish brother in law-
Man their food is god awful Samo za pas haha
If Denmark beat Croatia, then would be the appropriate time for the use of Chris Berman’s line of “that’s why they play the game.”
And if we do win the whole thing I hope every player and fan join in on a Za Dom Spremni chant.
Legija!
Hope we wear our Crna Ligija shirts.
@Maminjo
How do you feel about tomorrow?
Oh yea I keep forgetting.
The card that Brozo got was awarded to Ćorluka instead. So, Brozović still has a yellow.
If Denmark beat Croatia, then would be the appropriate time to use Chris Berman’s line of, “that’s why they play the game!”
@Maminjo
“Brozović wisely cleared his cards already and was suspended for the Iceland game.”
Every game sheet I can find for the Croatia/Argentina game does not have Brozović picking up a card.
Rebić, Manđžukić, Vrsaljko, and Ćorluka picked up yellow cards in that game, not Brozović.
Rakitić, Rebić, Manđžukić, Vrsaljko, Pjaca, Jedvaj, and Ćorluka are on yellows.
Brozović wisely cleared his cards already and was suspended for the Iceland game.
Pretty much everyone except Modrić, Perišić and Brozović I think
whos on yellows right now