Hello CroatianSports.com Nation! My name is Ante and I will be your spiritual and emotional guide during EURO 2021.
It’s been an incredibly long time since we last saw our beloved Vatreni play on the world stage – three years to be exact. And where we last left Luka Modrić and company was at the pinnacle of the game – the World Cup Final. This team is now three years older and without the striker that helped them get to the WC Final: Mario Mandžukić. But what does that mean going into EURO 2021?
Like many of you reading this right now, this Vatreni team makes me go crazy at times, makes me ponder life, but also brings me so much joy. Absolute joy!
So which emotions will it be this tournament?
It was sadness and confusion at EURO 2008. Anger during EURO 2012 and the 2014 World Cup. But absolute jubilation during the 2018 World Cup!
So here we go; and please don’t be upset at the following. This will all work in Croatia’s favor in the long run. Let me explain why.
England will have the game of their lives on Sunday against Croatia. They have to. All the pressure is on them at Wembley as English fans will pack in for the first time since COVID hit. The media is talking them up and they’re facing the same team that denied them a World Cup Final berth in Russia. I don’t know what the score will be but it doesn’t really matter. Every scenario is a win-win-win for Croatia. We’ve already discussed in the past few weeks on the site that finishing 2nd in this group is prime real estate. The would create Croatia’s easiest route the rest of the tournament. Please see Rob’s analysis here on finishing 2nd.
Do I want the Vatreni to embarrass the Three Lions in their Euro opener on home soil? Absolutely! The main reason being so I don’t have to here “It’s coming home!” for the next month. A quiet English supporter is a happy Croatian one.
Scenario #1 Beat England: Boom! Croatia is back! All those miserable friendlies and Nations League matches get wiped away. The Vatreni add another notch to their belt beating England on their home soil in a major tournament. All is good.
Scenario #2 Draw: This would be a great result for Croatia as this group will not be decided during the England match for Croatia, rather against Czech Republic and Scotland. A draw gives Croatia plenty of confidence going into the final two group matches in Glasgow.
Scenario #3 Croatia lose to England: Not the end of the world. As I said, this group will be decided in the other two matches. Consider the England game a bonus match. Modrić and company have needed a good kick in the ass since 2018. And they never received it. UEFA Nations League wasn’t going to get the job done. Neither was a qualifying loss to Slovenia on the road or lackluster friendly performances vs. Armenia and Belgium. But you know what will? A loss at EURO against rivals England in front of the whole world. A loss like that at the beginning of the tournament will only light a fire under everyone’s ass on the team- from Luka Modrić, to Zlatko Dalić, to the kit man. It will only work in Croatia’s favor in the long run.
I feel many Croatian fans out there are too tight going into this England game. Please don’t be. ALL THE PRESSURE is on the English team this Sunday in London. Do they dare get embarrassed by Croatia twice in a row? Imagine that.
The English need a win on Sunday to hold serve against the Vatreni anyways. In this 17-year dance Croatian football has had with the English, it’s their turn to come up with a result. England started this rivalry at EURO 2004 when they defeated Croatia 4-2 in the group stage. Croatia returned the favor during EURO 2008 qualifying; beating England twice to deny them entry to the tournament. They returned the favor in the next qualifying cycle by denying Croatia a berth to South Africa in 2010 – the only World Cup Croatia has missed. But then Croatia pulled the rug from under them in 2018 by denying them a WC Final berth; beating the English 2-1 in extra time of the WC semifinal.
Which other sporting nation of 4.5 million people can say that? Nobody!
Your move England.
Ante – You claim to be spiritual ? 🤣🤣🤣
Vida 2 England 1
I think a tie would be ideal. I’d like to see us dominate the game, take a 1-0 lead, then have the ref give them a super controversial late penalty that the whole world shits on.
England will beat us 2-0. I love Croatia with all my heart. But Croatian winning or loosing is not going to make me anymore or less Croatian. Football doesn’t make us or break us. It’s a game.
The reason I say this is because I cannot see us scoring, unless its a stunner from one of our midfielders. I love Perišić. But if I was England, I would be just scared of Perišić then they are if Modrić.
Yes…love for Hrvatska is first, win or lose.
I think we will score vs England because their defense and goaltending has been so-so lately. On the other hand, we will also concede, since our D has been even worse.
My prediction is the Kova gets subed out in the 60th minute. He will lead the team is pass backs.
Jose Mourinho pumping Kovacic and the Croatian midfield:
https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/11/jose-mourinho-very-upset-with-chelsea-star-mateo-kovacic-14754474/
I’m probably one of the few guys that love Mourinho and I believe he could help Kova be a better player in the final 3rd of the field.
My opinion: If we lose, its because we didn’t get our shit together. I honestly think we are good enough even if we haven’t solved some of our problems and as a team, we aren’t in our top form.
There’s an part of a man’s brain that tells him he must raise to the occasion in some particular situations. We usually raise up a notch when we play teams like Germany and Italy. Most of the time, we are not as good a team as they are but our mentality tells us this is a “do or die” situation. I fully understand that we currently are not firing on all cylinders…but this is England we are facing and it goes beyond the sport….I do believe we can win and I’m really tired of listening and reading about how good a team they are. Games are played on the field!
Games are played on the field, you’re right. But the body of work, post WC has been ugly. That doesn’t equate to us sucking this Euro, we are a ‘big game’ team. I just hope after a year and change of lackluster results, we ‘turn it on’ when the lights are the brightest….!
Great analysis Ante. I’m always excited and nervous as hell before a big match…I think its in our genes. You are right about the pressure being on England. Win, lose, or draw, I hope that our boys will put on a good show. I want to see our guys finally start playing well together, and then we can build on that momentum in the following games. Whoever doesn’t give 100% effort can ride the pine for the rest of the tournament (I’m looking at you Bruno). I believe/hope that Kovacic will prove the CroatianSports.com pundits wrong.
This CroatianSports.com pundit happened to predict Kova has his best performance in checkers during the Euros in my predictions….let’s hope it comes true!
Sorry Rob…I meant to say “most of the croatiansports pundits”. I agree with your prediction, and hope it comes true.
Well if he botches it, then I hope he never starts for us again.
This is the final straw.
If he can’t rise to the occasion and play well for us against his English teammates, on the big stage, with all the pressure on them… Then he just doesn’t have it.
He’s just a privileged family-man athlete who is not hungry for anything in sport now that he has his money.
I wouldn’t go to that extreme, but if Dalic has him starting 2-3 of the group stage games – I agree this is more or less his last big chance to prove this can be his midfield.
He debuted with us almost a decade ago, he learned next to one of the best (Luka), he’s played at the biggest clubs, won a bunch of silverware, you have sharp guys like Jozak saying this is the time he comes into his own and Luka is on the way out probably when it comes to NT service – so the middle of the park on the NT is his for taking.
If he ends up having 2-3 snoozers of a game and we crash out in the groups or get hammered in R16, I think we have a big enough body of evidence where we can look at others to take the reigns from Luka.
It seems like a lifetime ago, but adje Mateo… give me a slalom run like you did vs. Iceland in 2013. We need that type of play these coming weeks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1YGSCPy4hs&t=265s
Considering how many games he’s played for us, he is easily the least impactful midfielder we’ve ever had.
3 good games in 70 caps. Completely unacceptable.
It’s soccer so you can’t look to far from the officiating to figure out a winner- I see a few phantom challenges getting us in trouble. you can’t control a fix but i see England at home, they need to sell jerseys and losing to Croatia again would be catastrophic- so look for Perisic handball call – maybe more than one to put us away- i just got a bad feeling about “mystery” calls- sorry for the fix theory but we unfortunately get this thing more than most countries. IE – World Cup final
Yea, in games like this, they will always give the favorite a major call advantage.
This game has the exact same feel as our opener against Brazil in 2014.
Same as the Wembley game in 2007 where England was gifted a weak penalty, and lost 3-2 anyway.
These are high pressure games for the home team that they are supposed to win…so it influences the referee.
That Japanese ref in Brazil had the whistle resting in his mouth whenever Brazil entered our zone, and it lay swinging around his neck whenever we entered theirs. He was trigger-happy for calls in favor of Brazil. We experienced this same thing with France in the Final (which led to an overly eager call given for the Griezmann dive, saving them early). Also in the Spain group-deciding match in Euro2016 with that obvious attempt to end the game to favor Spain near the end of the second half (which backfired with a penalty save and we still won the game anyway).
Just watch when they put it to their mouths. Why suddenly rest it in your mouth before anything is going to happen? It’s the biggest tell.
I fully expect an England penalty, which is why I am glad Lovren isn’t playing. I think Vida and Duje are less “handsy” when they defend, so it won’t give the ref an excuse to blow the whistle.
Ref will still try his hardest, but we’ll see what happens.
England has a strong squad for an “England” squad.
They are fast and fierce AND very predictable through the middle.
We happen to be formidable through the middle and will be able to dictate play.
Dare I say Kovačić man of the match?!
He knows all this players as teammates and club rivals.
That Belgium friendly was a stroke of genius. Playing a powerhouse at their place got our boys focused for Sunday.
The English crowd will get us going in a good way.
England can be pressed and any build up play can be thwarted.
I pray we start out strong and aggressive up top. I am going with our Splićani trident of Perišić – Rebić – Vlašić.
They all are powerful, fast and dynamic and can all bang in a goal.
Let Rebić run and press his legs off for 60 minutes.
Then sub in accordingly.
5 subs ?
All will need to bring fresh legs and ideas.
T – minus 2 days.
Croatia needs to get an ass beating
as a wake-up call for Dalic+
our problem lays in this stupid manager!
if its the same ole’ crap we’ve been seeing, I honestly hope we get hammered vs. England. Hopefully it will be the final wakeup call we need and it forces Dalic’s hand in terms of making more switches to the lineup.
Regardless though, whether we crash out early or make a deep run, Dalic is going to leave the NT.. He has a silver medal from 2018, he’s gave a lot but with the old guard just about gone and a new generation coming in post Euro, he’ll move aside for someone else…
Not to beat a dead horse…
But you have to think that there is a negative psychological element to “taking a knee” while the Croats stand proudly, and your own fans booing you for it.
Could be a bit demoralizing and (as Wilfried Zaha put it) demeaning.
Not sure if your team can be all hyped to play after that experience. Might take the intensity down a notch or two.
England even has more pressure on them even more from the last tournament. Thats all built up from delusional fans and media. Put it this way, England fans are exactly like Toronto Maple Leaf fans.
Both haven’t won fuck all since the 1960s
They both say every year it will come home
Generations of good players go to waste
Fans are delusional and expect way too much
Whatever happens, happens. We know England will come out with a bang and seek revenge. Just keep your expectations low because that way you won’t be broken. England is a favourite to win it all and of course we aren’t. My expectations are lower than they were back in Russia. A loss won’t be the end but it won’t come as unexpected. Hopefully the Scotland v Czech match ends in a draw. My prediction is 3-1 for England with Croatia scoring first. I’ll be satisfied with a draw and a win will open up the group. Put it this way, all the pressure is on England. At home at Wembley, rematch from semi final, only England fans in the stadium and it’s the opener. Henderson, Maquire, Alexander-Trent, and Saka are out which is good but still doesn’t give us a win. I’m extremely pumped but worried to see the form we are in. I just wanna see some new faces and pride on the field. ZA DOM SPREMNI! Let’s get the W! HRVATSKA!!!