Nothing to worry about here. Croatia will be completely fine heading into World Cup qualifiers. We lost to a better French side in Paris via shoot out. We had zero business in that match playing a “soft bunker” with zero shots on goal. At this point in time, Croatia is not a top-4 European side. Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and England are all better because they have something we don’t: SPEED. We will be fine. Here are my main positives from this week:
-held a mighty French attack to one open-field goal in 210 minutes
-Livaković looked like a world class keeper
-Perišić can still ball
-Croatia receives easier World Cup qualifying group with the loss
I wonder if Alphonso Davies tearing his ACL will mean more time for stanisic. I know they play opposite sides
If he’s versatile like Mazraoui then maybe but Alphonso being injured isn’t guaranteed more minutes for Stanisic.
U17 Croatia 1 v Italy 2
We needed a draw to win the group and qualify for the EURO, to be held in Estonia this June. Unfortunately, Italy scored in 90 the minute to win it.
We started well and were better in the first 10 minutes and had a goal chalked off for offside. Italy then took control and deservedly took the lead on cusp of half time with a well-placed header from a free kick.
Second half playing with a strong wind behind us we started attacking and in the 64 minute Benkotic from Dinamo volleyed superbly from the edge of the box to score. In the 70th minute we really should have scored, but the Italian goalkeeper made a superb save and that miss proved costly in the end.
Some good players in this team and as a consolation as one of the four best runners up we have qualified for the U17 WC to be held in Chile in November.
Correction the U17 WC will be held in Qatar. Last time we made the U17 WC was in 2015 in Chile.
Thanks for these updates MART!
So our teams’ world tour of conceding 90th minute goals continues.. great
Also funny someone(s) mentioning France 16 corners to Croatia’s 0. Did France actually have one that threatened? Trying to remember. If roles were reversed here it’d be “16 corners and not one chance our corners suck” etc. etc. Rinse/repeat.
We didn’t even have a shot on goal bud. Plus we had a total of 5 shots which is next to nothing.
Granted their corners didn’t provide a goal but there were some close calls from those corners. Did you watch the match?
No “bud” I didn’t watch. Just guessing. Geezus.
Our shots on goal has nothing to do with someone saying the 16-0 corner advantage, which is the reference.
I only ask because the game I watched was atrocious. We barely made it out of our own half the entire game. Sure we had some possession but that possession was mostly back passing, if we made it into France’s half, which wasn’t often. Plus, they held us in our half and we lost possession, I don’t even know how many times I lost count at a certain point. Croatia looked like two different teams in both games.
I honestly think it was because the players were tired even in the first half. Midway substitutions were definitely needed.
We stunk Sunday, yes. But my solitary point was there is so much bitching on here about how much our corner kicks suck, but that is a fact for the majority teams in the world.
If Kramaric scores that PK …. who knows. Coming back from 2-0 versus 3-0 is a big deal.
But yes, down 1-0 in the second half I would have made “wholesale” substitutions (as they say) and put on fresh legs to run at them like “kokoš bez glava.”
France also looked like two different teams versus that first half in Split. It’s sports, happens. I’m not shocked by how much we got outplayed Sunday.
Geez, you have a smart ass remark to everyone here. Are you like this in real life? It’s annoying AF.
Your response to our corner kicks suck is “well, everyone’s corner kicks sucks.” Douche bag, we’re not concerned with the corner kicks of any other team. Just because their corner kicks suck doesn’t mean ours have to.
And before you reply or ask, yes I have a hard on for you and your smug responses on this site. STFU and stop acting like a mister-know-it-all pička.
Moderators!!!!
Do your jobs!
We have a live one here! I don’t feel safe!!!
Lol. Maminjo chimes in!
“Douche bag.”
“STFU.”
Class!
You forgot AF. Glad I got your attention. Now do better in how you respond to people on here. Can you do that for your Croatian brothers? Prick.
Now “prick” …. name-calling legend of the playground is our Metak.
Keeping alert and concentration on defending 16 corners is admirable
Just look at the corner Donna / Italy let in vs. Germany bc they switched off and were b*tching at each other instead of paying attention
Mbappe did try a quick corner – but Modric snuffed it out – and after that Modric made sure everyone was paying attention at all times and prepared
x.com/siriomerenda/status/1903916878508032353
6 pts for montenegro and czech alrdy…croatia got to beat faroes and gilt as well. They have no time to rest or to play friendlies as they are two matches behind.
Faroes are showing that they are no easy beats, Czechia scored in the 85 minute to win 2 – 1at home and Montenegro scored literally with the last kick in the 96th minute to win 1 – 0 also at home.
Playing away to Faroes won’t be easy either on their artificial turf.
This is good news.
I don’t want us to barely qualify with a collection of home wins and away draws (that Dalic will sell to the media as victories).
I want Montenegro and Czech to challenge us and I want us to WIN in Podgorica and Prague.
I can’t handle another Scotland showing.
Oh the irony
Pulisic – a winger – is being forced into #10 role by Poch, lol
***.reddit.com/r/ussoccer/comments/1jiedrn/christian_pulisic_post_match_interview/
While
Dalic – forcing all our CAM/#10s – onto the wing
We can talk about this player – that player would help us – but Pulisic is exactly the player we could use on the wing – just imagine if we had him at WC 2022 / Euro 2024 / WC 2026 ?
And instead of being Captain America and being forced into Captain/leadership role for USA which clear as day he doesn’t really want to do and is uniquely unsuited for and now being forced into a central #10 role by Poch which he is also unsuited for (funny they sh*t the bed vs. Panama and Canada in Nations League in front of an empty Sofi Stadium) he could have had a great career for Croatia just playing ball, no limelight on him and letting Modric and others be the leaders
Really such a pity he made the wrong choice USA over Croatia (wrong for him and for us)
btw: Crnac’s Norwich team-mate Josh Sargant played 68′ min vs. Panama…
U17 Euro qualifier Croatia v Italy was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch and will be now played on Wednesday at 12:00 Cro time.
Only the winner of the group goes to the EURO. Good news is that both teams have six points, and both have qualified for the World Cup to the held in Qatar later this year.
LIVE coverage on Maxsport 1.
Our U19 lost to Luxembourg 2 – 1 and came last in the group. Not many good players in this bunch ? at least on the showing in these 3 matches, including Durdov who was poor in the matches that he played. Some folks on here were calling for him to be called up for the seniors …Lol…, the guy cannot even excel at the U19 level.
U21 in Doxa won 3 – 1 against Thailand. We went down 1 – 0 in first half from a penalty spot. Olic started the match with second 11, however in the second half he brought on some of our better players like Vuskovic, Soticek, Zvonarek and Vrbanic and we won easily.
From what I have seen in the 3 friendly matches in Doxa, we have a good squad of players and should do well in our qualifying providing that Olic does not staff up due to his lack of coaching experience.
Thanks MART, glad to hear that about our U21s. Their qualifying group looks quite tough to me with Ukraine, Turkey and Hungary— seems like a group with lots of uncertainty where we and those 3 teams will take points off one another throughout the course of qualifying.
What happened to Jagusic ?
He played in the first two games
But didn’t start and wasn’t even on the bench
Did he steal Kranjcar’s donuts at breakfast or something ???
Defensively I think we are Ok and have a fairly young defence ,and players like Luka Vuskovic also developing nicely.
Many people on here are asking for him to be called up for the seniors, however we need to be realistic and say that he is not ready yet. For those of us that watch our U21 regularly, he is good but even at the U21 level he makes mistakes with his positioning and lacks speed.
When judging players ability, you need to watch the full match i.e. 90 minutes and not just the highlights on YouTube. If we qualify for the WC, I would take Vuskovic for the experience but at the moment he is way down the pecking order for one of the CB positions.
At the moment we have 6 players that play as CB’s or can play in that position and they are: Sutalo, DCC, Pongracic, Erlic, Gvardiol and Stanisic.
Yes I also feel that defensively we are OK. Happy with Sutalo’s performance in these two tough games vs France and just hope he’ll keep progressing at club level.
As long as 2 out of the trio of DCC, Pong and Erlic plays for their club regularly next season, our defense should be all right in next year’s WC assuming we qualify.
As for GKs, we just have to hope Livakovic doesn’t get injured. Kotarski and Ivusic seem fine to me as backups although I do wonder if Pandur deserves a look.
Mart, I recognize your expertise on this board but I’ll take the risk and quibble a bit with you….fully admitting I am out of my league….
I would go much further than the defence is “ok.”
(I am not sure about this “rebuilding” theme of some of the other posters either.)
But let’s start with defence.
I think you can make the argument the defence is set up superbly for the next 2-3 World Cups, perhaps up there with any defence in the world.
If you are starting across the back Stani-Sutalo-Vuskovic-Gvardiol it is stellar. Superb.
Vuskovic has had a very good year, he has progressed well. Unlike other youngsters who had disappointing years (Vidovic, Zvonarek, Simic, etc) Vuskovic has taken big steps forward this year. He is on track, the train is on track.
Stanisic was fantastic for Leverkusen last year and he has just come off this very bad injury only weeks ago. Bayern fans who watched him closely last year were crying they had loaned the guy to Leverkusen. He
can be an absolute rock at right back. He is just rounding into form and look how good he was.
Sutalo was a question mark heading into this year, because of his very poor season last year at Ajax. It looked like he was a guy whose career was going backward, the fans there in Amsterdam were dumping all over him. Well they have changed their tune. And big time. One of the positives coming out of this NL, as Mainjo has said, is that Sutalo looks like he’s really turned the corner….i say he looks like he is going to become that world-class defender some thought he might be. He will be in Champions League next year for Ajax, and the Premier League will be calling after that. As for Gvardiol, there is nothing that needs to be said about Gvardiol on the far left. World class. Period. The question becomes: can Vuskovic be the player in the 2026 World Cup that Gvardiol was in the 2022 WC? I believe he can. Not saying he will, I’m just saying the big picture tells us he can. Yes, he will be a year younger than Gvardiol was in 2022. But you can also make the argument Vuskovic is a generational talent. I am going to say he can be Gvardiol 2.0 and give us what Gvardiol gave us in 2022. These four guys together will be dynamite.
In any event, that is a great — not good, GREAT — defensive core for 2026, certainly for 2030, and possibly even 2034. And as Maminjo and others have said, there are other players coming whose names we don’t even know yet. The core is great.
As for back ups, JJ, Pong, and DCC are all capable, top five league players.
Goalie.
There were questions about goaltending heading into 2022. I read those question and concerns here. That is answered. We have a guy who is ready for WC 2026. I take the comments of the astute observers on this site who see things I don’t see, that is that Livakovic has to work on his distribution of the ball. Fair enough. Is that something he can work at? Hopefully. But in any event, we are very solid in net. I don’t see it as a question mark for 2026. No question mark in net.
The midfield will not be as great as it once was, but it might be very, very good in 2026. Veterans Modric, Kovacic and Majer (that injury this year, no one has mentioned it, but it was devastating because Majer looked absolutely superb to start the Bundesliga season) with Sucic, Sucic and Baturina….if Dalic can use those three veterans and the young guys in good combination, the midfield will be up for any battle. Not the best in the world as it arguably was for a while, but very, very good. Just like the Sutalo answers we got, we have got a Peter Sucic answer…coming off that injury, and probably not 100 percent in form yet, he still made some great runs against France, covered a lot of ground, and gained some needed experience at this level… and he will only get better. As for Luka Sucic, there is some question if Real Sociedad can even hang onto him, the Premier League is already knocking at the door. I hope he stays with Real Sociedad, he is developing well there…. I think he and Peter will be excellent, and they will be ready for 2026, not to carry the full load, but to share it with our veterans. Baturina occasionally seems to lack some intensity, and playing on a team with Modric will pay dividends and show him who and what he needs to be. The value of Modric in this way is an intangible, you cannot put a price on the quality he has, and how it will rub off on the youngsters. Modric can’t play two full games in a row. Probably one full game is asking a lot, but in the right role, with the right amount of playing time, he will contribute at a high level for us in 2026.
So…….I agree with Ante, no panic, we don’t need a rebuild in goal, at defence, or in the midfield, you have a very natural evolution taking place in the midfield that is well in hand. We should like what we see.
Okay, here is where you have a problem: on the attack.
And it looks like it is a serious problem whereby we are going to need someone to surprise, someone to come up big, particularly wingers. Mart if you, Maminjo and the others can answer that question, if Dalic can solve that problem, we are competitive against any team on any given day, and we can go deep in 2026 WC.
But that is the problem. It has been the problem and it will continue to be…. The ONE thing we lacked against France was a forward with pace who could kill them on the counterattack. That would have changed the whole dynamic. It was clear that as good as he has been this year in the Belgium league, Ivanovic just did not have the speed or strength on that night. I agree it is just one night, but it appeared he might not be the answer just yet….can he become the answer? Can Matanovic, Beljo, Musa or the others become the answer? Who will it be? I understand Musa has good speed. I see the comments on Pasalic, I am not convinced that anyone can walk out of the MLS and step in and play at a World Cup level.
Brekalo? I just don’t see it though his name was mentioned. Brekalo is not going to move the needle…
Perisic and Budimir and possibly Krama can contribute, but they can’t carry the whole load on a team that wants to go deep in the 2026 WC. That is the reality.
I will agree basically with Ante’s post game comment in this way: no panic, that game against France lacked one fast, dangerous counterattacking forward.
Dalic has delivered at a high level. While every coach has a best before date, he is just fine for one more World Cup and he has earned it. I don’t think there needs to be any coaching controversy between here and WC 2026.
Lastly, I was proud of our team. I love following this team, and let’s face it we all do and that is why we are here. It is tough, there are so many great teams from these countries, some that are 20 times larger than us, we can’t shit all over our team like some do. (Not you Mart, we learn a lot from your posts, I am talking about some other comments from others where they get way, way too down on our players). Respect. If you want to draw the boxing analogy, we are pound-for-pound THE best footballing country in the world 1998-2005. We punch so far above our weight it is stunning. The Paris metropolitan area alone has about 12-14 million people….think about it. Do the math. Bog i Hrvati.🇭🇷
So we need to solve the forward line, find an answer, and we are fine….Just sayin….
To borrow a line from that great sage DannyJ: “tell me I’m wrong”…
Bravo post, I’ll be re-reading your post as I have to go now. Lol@ your last line, Dannyj has indeed left us with many memorable quips.
You are wrong.. Uruguay is the king of fighting above their weight . They are surrounded by big guns just like we are. So they’ve managed better. Their veterans are overturned much quicker
What have they accomplished at World Cup of late?
Nah.
Uruguay are good, but they’re wildly inconsistent and they’ve achieved almost nothing at the World Cup.
Yes, yes, they won it twice (when it was an invitational mini-tournament) but you cannot compare that to any World Cup wins after 1970.
For the most part, they get bounced in the first round or outright miss the World Cup.
They were very good in 2010 and 2018…but they were mediocre in every other World Cup in the past 50 years.
Croatia, on the other hand, have pretty much medaled in HALF of their World Cups.
Copa America results for Uruguay are better…but South America doesn’t have the depth of Europe (in terms of team quality).
It’s largely just Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay in the top-3 for the All time list… which is good…but again, almost all of their tournament wins came before 1970.
Not to undermine their Copa achievements…but Croatia probably win this thing several times as well (if they were allowed to participate in it 50 times).
A Tin U great post.
Yes, I agree with you that as far as our defence and midfield is concerned we should be set for the next ten years or so.
Our forward line is a big problem, we have many promising young players, but they are all slow to develop for whatever reasons, but mainly because they do not play regularly for their respective clubs.
I like Matanovic and feel sorry for him that he is essentially stuck on the bench at Eintracht. He in the future, I feel can be our target men upfront and can replace Budimir and Petkovic.
I was never a big fan of Musa and he never impressed me watching him play for our U21’s. Dalic has given him some limited opportunities to play, but he has not taken them. In those matches what I observed is that the guy just did not fit in with the rest of the team, he was mostly ignored, and the other players would not pass the ball to him.
I just think that the other players don’t like him for some reason?
Beljo playing in Austria has done well this season and although not express fast has a nose for goals and I rate him higher than Musa. Roko Simic unfortunately has disappeared of the radar, and we can just hope that he can resurrect his career?
Looking to the future, for your typical no. 9 it has to be Matanovic or Beljo.
Ivanovic had a tough debut playing alone up front against those giants in the French defence, but I thought that he did OK and I see him as a potential replacement for Kramaric playing just behind your No. 9.
On the wings we need to look for players with some pace and from what I have seen Soticek is the quickest. He has played really well in the 3 friendlies in Doxa, but needs to gain a regular starting spot at Basel and then move on to a stronger league.
Stojkovic who is having a great season for Dinamo needs to come under consideration as does Crnac at Norwich. Marco Pasalic for me was a bit disappointing and underperformed at Rijeka however he is playing well in MLS and should be considered for a spot on the right wing.
It is going to be up to Dalic to make the call of course, but he should include one or two of these forwards in the squad for the June WC qualifiers. First match is away to Gibraltar so a good opportunity to try one or two of them upfront.
Have no idea why Dalic when announcing the 23 men squads only selects 4 forwards on the list and 8 or 9 defenders and midfielders each. This I would change and call up 6 forwards and reduce the number of defenders and midfielders on the list. By doing this it would open up spots for some young forwards to gain some experience and playing time.
A Tin, I get your point. The issue is that Dalic waits far too long to transition youth in to the regular line up. The vets shouldn’t be playing as much as they do. So when you say we have talent coming through, we already do they need to be playing on the team. This become difficult with a seniority rules mentality.
This is what is holding us back. In the first match that was fine but not both. If he continues this way we will not have a favourable result, and all that will be said is “well maybe next time, we have talent coming through”. This given that we may be sitting on generational talent like Vuskovic and possibly others already. It’s part of Dalic’s job to catch this and adapt.
Good post.
I think it’s important to note, that you don’t need to have STAR level players at every position.
Teams like England, Spain and Germany did very well in past tournaments with less than stellar targetmen (many of whom were already washed in their careers) simply because they performed their roles quite well.
As an example, Marco Pasalic, to me, was never a big talent…but he provides width, speed, crosses…takes defenders on, and is always a threat from long range. We needed that at the Euros, but we chose not to play him.
For the next World Cup and Euros…
I think our goalkeeping, backline and central midfield are perfectly fine (when it comes to star level talent). It’s just the time management of our veteran players (which has been a big struggle for Dalic) and it won’t be corrected until Dalic is essentially gone.
In terms of talent, our wingers/forwards are the problem, as we are playing pretty much anyone with “seniority” in these winger roles (Krama, Perisic, Mario, Vlasic), or using the position to play young talented central midfield players (Luka Sucic, Baturina, Majer) who Dalic wants to work into the starting eleven but is too afraid to bench Modric or any of the other vets.
We do have some good talent here…but it’s largely unproven (Soticek, Stojkovic, Matanovic, etc.). However, we do have a lot of solid “role player” options in these positions (Budimir, Pjaca, Marco P, etc.) who could give us that size, speed, attacking width…We just haven’t been giving much of an opportunity to these players at all.
Vuskovic encroached on the Thailand penalty today (but 2 full steps – not even close) – if the penalty didn’t go in they would have been given a retake
In the first game on the first goal he stopped dead in his tracks (for some strange reason) in no-mans land in his box not defending anyone (he had looked over his shoulder before so he knew the one opponent was being covered and there was no-one else behind him) instead of tracking the winger to the by-line and cutting off the cross in front of by sliding in
Both can be fixed – but he needs time to be in these situations (and make mistakes) – so they can show him the tape after the game, he can take it on board, and improve from the experience – better now that in pre-season and Tottenham which will be ruthless
But yeah it’s definetely silly to think he should have been thrown in to face Muani, Mbappe and Dembele front 3 for his first cap (or Mbappe, Olise and Barcola, Doue, etc)
Having said that, I think he should be capped vs. Gibraltar – so he can report into Tottenham pre-season already with that experience (to give him that cred to put him in the best possible position there)
On the 6 CBs – Erlic as e.g. isn’t even playing – not sure why Dalic is limiting to these – there is Medic in Bundesliga (let’s see how he gets on rest of season – not helping his uncle Dario Simic is making statements in the press (that way Dalic definitely won’t call/play him – although he was standby last year), Sevelj at Dundee United (currently 5th place, but 3 points out of 3rd which would get them Europa next year) and some others
On keepers – there is Ivor Pandur with Hull City (playing against PL level opponents at the top of the league) – he should be in the fold / under-consideration – no clue how a Cyprus (especially) and Greek keepers are lock-ins every time now
But first things first – HNS / Dalic should PERMANENTLY DELETE AND THROW IN THE GARBAGE the ridiculous standby-list (it’s the equivalent of giving a participation trophy) – if your good enough – you get called up – if your not good enough – you don’t get called – if anything you might be hurting people on the standby list as they become complacent thinking they “are almost there” in the senior team – no other team in the world publishes one – no clue why genius came up with it – but delete immediately
That’s my thought process Anonymous, is that youth players like Vuskovic get capped in the easier games like Gibraltar and Faroe Islands. It makes sense to give them some experience he is gonna have to transition at some point. Gvardiol started at what age I think 18 or 19 on the senior squad.
I don’t like watching U21 games to assess players.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but it tends to give you a false sense of how good they are.
I’ve seen so many stars in our U21s (Vlasic, Brekalo, Sosa) turn out to be nothing special, yet a lot of our top players were pretty much bums at the U21 level, ha ha.
I have a feeling that Vuskovic would be one of those guys who perform better for our senior squad than at U21.
I mean, he’s already performing better for Westerlo (a top team in Belgium, where he plays against fully developed men) than he does against frail teenagers on the Croatia junior teams.
I see him as already a better option than any one of Erlic, Duje, etc. simply based on the fact he plays, starts and “stars” on his club team (while they are not).
Also the 2nd Egypt goal
Vuskovic should have passed it back to player in the RB position (who could than pass/fire it down the wing) – or if he wanted to be risky dink it over the opponent in front of him to his teammate – the wrong pass was back to the other CB (I guess) – who than passed it to the keeper
It was the wrong pass – but something that can be cleaned up
Btw this new Dinamo U21in 4th tier next year (or whatever it is)
Is a terrible idea to develop our youth
Instead of playing Noa Mikic as RB for Dinamo or loan him out to another 1st division team
Now he might end up playing in 4th tier because Dinamo has to fill up a team to play down there
Don’t understand the logic why they started this but it’s a terrible idea
Our youth struggle to get transfers to proper league (unless they play for Dinamo and Dinamo is in CL) to begin with this is just going to make it far worse
There was a good article in SN on this today (since Paris SN content has been very good / spot on)
But I think this Dinamo junior team can be promoted as high as 2nd division, no?
There is running and there’s this
Most running in one game Croatia NT:
1) Petar Sucic 21 y.o. 17.943 km vs. France 2025
2) Brozovic 30 y.o. 16.7 km vs. Japan 2022
3) Brozovic 25 y.o. 16.3 km vs. Russia 2018
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1904524725281259828
@Anonymous
Oh wow, has he got extra lungs or what? At this point I’m already thinking Petar Sucic is pretty damn important for our midfield… we really have to hope he succeeds at Inter quickly.
And what you said (below) with regard to Ivanovic, I’m hoping for the same as well:
“hopefully Dalic threw him in on purpose as he thinks his psyche will take away the experience and realize how much more he has to work to get to level to compete vs. France NT”
Lots of posting about calling up youth
But not sure it’s based in reality based on what youth we actually have to step up
Take Ivanovic – which btw none of us should criticize him at all (you should be ashamed of yourselves !) as Modric, Olic, Srna and most others had a run of friendly games before ever being thrown into competitive matches, never mind thrown in against France
He’s the best in-form youth offensive player we have – right ? – yet wasn’t able to impose himself at all during the 60 minutes he had across two games
Why ?
Take-away is there is a massive step-up between dominating in the Belgium league to playing vs. France NT (hopefully Dalic threw him in on purpose as he thinks his psyche will take away the experience and realize how much more he has to work to get to level to compete vs. France NT)
btw: the same applies to Vuskovic’s goals in Belgium/U21 – it’s great he’s been able to score so much – but it is a massive step up to the PL (he won’t be afforded the same space and opposition will be very physical w/ him in the box)
So if Ivanovic wasn’t able to impose himself – what makes you think Soticek (not a regular start for Basel – has 800 min this year) would be able to ? Because he scored/played well in a couple of U21s games ? Look at the clubs our U21s play – Petar Sucic will be an Inter this summer (great – TBD if he can become a regular) – but the rest of them ? Crnac is at Norwich (good). Vidovic is sitting on Bayern’s bench – the rest are in Belgium, Austria, HNL, Spain 2nd tier, Russia
France brought on two 19 y.o. in Paris – Desire Doue who PSG paid 50m for and Zaire-Emery who’s been in PSG first team since he was 15
Now compare/contrast the clubs our U21s are playing for to England U21 and France U21 as e.g.
England U21
Ethan Nwaneri 18 y.o. 28 appearances for Arsenal this year
Archie Gray 19 y.o. 38 appearances for Tottenham this year
Jobe Bellingham 19 y.o. Sunderland player – will be sold to PL/Bundesliga for 20+ this summer
Rico Lewis 20 y.o. 37 appearances for Man City this year
Harvey Elliott 21 y.o. 131 appearances for Liverpool last 4 years (21 in 2024/2025)
Adam Wharton 21 y.o. Man City want to buy him as Rodri replacement (already capped for England NT)
Giraud-Hutchinson 21 y.o. 28 appearances for Ipswich Town this year
Liam Delap 22 y.o. Ipswich – Liverpool plan to offer 60+m for him this summer
Jarrad Branthwaite 22 y.o. Everton regular CB – will be sold for 60+m this summer
etc etc etc
France U21
Ekitike Frankfurt (ahead of Matanovic at Frankfurt but only France U21, Matanovic was viewed as saving grace for Croatia senior NT)
Cherki Lyon
Odobert Tottenham
Tel Tottenham/Bayern
Matsima Ausberg
Lukeba RB Leipzig
Millot Stuttgart
Agoume Seville
etc etc etc
Any/all of the players above on England U21 or France U21 would be good enough to be called up today to Croatia NT (but England and France NT are so stacked – these players can’t even get called up – they are stuck in U21) – the difference in our upcoming youth vs. there’s is night/day
Mikey Moore (who has 850 min for Tottenham this year vs. Soticek’s 800 min at Basel) can’t even get in England U21 – he has to go play with England U19, lol
Sure, when you play the young guns these mistakes will creep in but that is why continue to play them so they gain experience. Matanović did an exceptional job with his positioning in the start of the tournament. In a year or two I think he will pan out and should get the call up, it’s just that he has to find the right club.
The problem is that Dalic will not have a choice in a year but to call youth. When you look at the gap we have had up front for years (striker/winger) what other option does he have??
So yeah, you can go on bad mouthing the youth but that doesn’t really make sense in the end.
These are all good points. There was a time when I think it was England commentators would say not a single player from Croatia would start for them. They were not far from the truth at that time . Then we got a generation of players who could have played on most teams in the world: Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic, Perisic, Kovacic. Who is left with that moniker? Gvardiol and Kovacic? There will be difficult times ahead and I guess no one is a rush to face them.
First order of business to Dalic for the qualifiers. Dalic should call up both Luka Vusković and Marin Ljubičić, along with either Musa or Matanović. Give these young guns a chance to play at least in the easier games.
We have to see how they are doing. Or even in any friendlies that come up between now and then. We have try them out some day
On top of that we need to find another winger to be alongside Perišić. Personally I still think that should be Oršić or Brekalo one of the two or both.
All I can say right now is only if Ante Rebić had a better mentality and learned better ball control he would be perfect based on his speed alone.
It’s unfortunate he shit the bed and it is costing, not just him, but the entire team at this point.
He really should have gone under Perisic’s wing and tried learning from the guy it could have done plenty to aid his career.
We really are making that kind of speed and strength on the other flank.
Lacking that kind of speed I mean**
It’s not so much having to call up new guys, as it is actually playing the young guys he has (over the old guard).
Most importantly, Dalic needs to try lineups WITHOUT Modric, Perisic and Kramaric starting.
I would absolutely love it if he called up a collection of youth to fill our needs at backup LB, RB, LW, RW, etc. I can only dream of a collection of players like Vuskovic, Stojkovic, Marco Pasalic, Crnac filling up those backup spots.
But the big task would be benching Modric, Perisic, and Kramaric (and playing these guys sparingly off the bench for a late game boost).
I’d only ever start Kovacic and Budimir (but even then, I would still run young lineups without Kovacic and still experiment with the youth strikers for about 20-30 min every game to see if anyone is able to take that next step).
Why Marin Ljubicic ?
He has 1 goal in 6 games for Union so far
Klasnic scored 49 goals in 151 games for Werder
And in 41 games for Croatia he scored 12 goals
– 7 goals friendlies (who cares)
– 1 goal Hungary WC qualifying
– 2 goals Andorra Euro/WC qualifying
– 2 goals vs. Poland and Turkey at Euro 2008
So if Klasnic who dominated in Bundesliga for many years – was never a regular/first-choice for Croatia NT (aside for when he came back after the kidney transplant and scored those heroic goals in Euro 2008) – what has Ljubicic done in 6 games for Union (he was decent/but not great at LASK – but who cares about the Austria league – the Croatia NT has NEVER called up a player who played in the Austria league EVER)
Marin has had plenty of goals in the Austrian League pall. Almost 20 goals total for LASK.
Again it’s not German Bundesliga but it’s still an accomplishment and we need strikers like we need wingers.
@Anonymous.
Is Luka Sucic a possible exception to the general rule that Croatia NT does not call up players from the Austria league?
I think we were following him here at CroatianSports when he was still with Red Bull Salzburg, and that he was called up to NT while still there. I may be wrong.
Having said that, one player who looked poised to have a good year in Austria this year was Lovro Zvonarek on loan to SK Sturm Graz from Bayern. There was a lot of talk around Zvonarek and his potential when he arrived there in Austria, with some saying Bayern was very high on him and that he was not far from making the Bayern team. I think it is fair to say he has had a disappointing year so far at Graz, in terms of his development and production and playing time. Do you or anyone else have comments about Zvonarek, whether this year has indeed been a disappointment, whether it is likely just an adjustment year, and how you project him as a NT prospect going forward.
Always was a big proponent of Kramaric taking our penalties, had a strong record of accurate height into a far corner. This cute style was not his usual approach. If he was going to do a Piro chip shot, he needed some air. Should have been 3-0 going into that game.
I fully agree, I looked at that two goal lead after the first leg and I actually was thinking we could use an extra point as a buffer.
France is just that kind of team that can punish you.
Yeah they are scary all alright. Definitely the kind of team that can punish you hard and fast. Wasn’t Anonymous saying in an earlier post (before the 2nd leg was played), that in the WC2014 qualifying playoffs, France was trailing Ukraine 2-0 after 1st leg but managed to overturn the tie by winning 3-0 in Saint-Denis.
Butterfly Effect though.
You can’t just assume that the other two goals would occur, if we scored that PK.
Maybe the game just ends up 1-0. Who knows.
Doom and gloom? Some of us on here have been asking for a change of guard since Argentina 🇦🇷 exposed us in the last World Cup.
Mind you I still found it suspicious that every team was struck with the flu except Argentina but I digress.
The Golden Generation was officially over, as mentioned many times Germany, Spain, France and so many other countries have all transitioned from their Golden Era. They all had to rebuild and now are back to being threats to win again.
Again, some us had stated that due to Dalic being the greatest Croatian coach of all time, that he should be given a chance to implement the change from veterans to youth.
Well, he has failed drastically and now his legendary status is totally tarnished. Constantly playing players out of position, terrible tactics, not giving youth a chance and loyalty to an aging squad.
It can take 4-8 years to finally achieve another rebuild, what Dalic has done will hinder this squad dramatically and even cause us to miss a major tournament.
I also blame many of these vets for not stepping down. Mandzukic and a few others did the right thing after 2018, they stepped down to allow younger guys to develop, sadly that hasn’t transpired.
Lastly, all respect to Ante and crew who work so hard on this site but I have one piece of constructive criticism.
You can never after one leg do a video while walking down the street claiming victory again 🤣
This is standard operating procedure when it comes to sports.
Never gloat before the fat lady sings or say shutout before the game is over.
Ante, please 🙏 you know very well that’s an automatic sports jinx/curse.
Besides that keep up the good 👍 work.
Look its fine that the old guard started that first match, but they really should not have started in the return leg. 3 days of rest is not enough and Dalic needs to grow a pair of balls and tell them when to stay on the bench. These seniority rules are bullshit no matter how much you have achieved for the team, sometimes you have to do the right thing and sit it out. Even Kova getting mad at being subbed us poor form, I didn’t like that. When your tired your tired too bad.
The problem is that they shouldn’t have started, or of they did, changes were needed before the second half started (just like Deschamps did). I am sure players in the French squad were not happy but it was necessary. Look at the change it did for the French team, they came out swinging after the first half. Your telling me it couldn’t have changed things, even tho you saw glimmers with youth getting closer to the French net. Come on!
Dalic should have made a bunch of changes before the match began. The problem is that he does not crucial assess his younger players, they are an after thought and that is the issue. Plan B, which really should be plan A in the return leg and moving forward for the profession of the squad and nation as a whole
Look what Modric, Perišić, and Krama have done for the team is phenomenal. But sometimes you can’t start, especially at this stage in their careers and age. It’s life.
Some crucial players with speed were not in the match. Both Sosa, and Juranovic (even though they may not be favourites to some) were not selected. Why? Gvardiol was gassing out, and Stanišić looked like he was in trouble. They are not the strongest defensively but you have to do something here, they could have helped our scoring chances.
No man, bunker down is not the way you win. Did we bunker down against the Dutch? Look how that worked out, we won considerably and they are not an easy squad.
Progression the squad and nation as a whole***
I feel sorry for Stanišić.
He was walking in that second half, but still had to go on and finish extra time…and then took a weak penalty (and it looks like he lost the game for us).
He was too exhausted to continue playing.
Exactly. I am saying Dalic had to quit but he cannot continue like this!
I am not saying Dalic had to quit I mean
Much of the high-pressure problem these days (this is not news) is that coaches fear the backlash.
One makes wild changes in the second leg after carving out a good first-leg result … well then if they shit the bed in the second leg the knives come out.
We can all thank social media/internet for that. Fewer risk-takers out there now. Armchair quarterbacks/haters gonna h8 etc. etc. Jobs get lost because of it. (I’m being mildly dramatic.)
Croatia wins 2-0 at home then makes drastic changes and loses (say…..) 3-0 …. then the coach is a moron etc.
I would have played Ronaldo for Portugal maybe 20 minutes a game at Euro last year, but he was on full-on … and they stank.
This is absolutely true.
But at the same time, Dalic has already made his achievements with Croatia and made a good amount of money at the same time.
What would he be worried about then?
If anyone would be in a position to take on some risk, it would be him.
But the guy always just plays whatever previous lineup worked, no matter the situation.
I don’t think it makes a difference. It may be even more pressure.
Do well for a while and you are afraid to have that erased (which in manager land can happen in a heartbeat) by a big decision/change/gamble.
He’s been the manager for 8 years, and it will be 9 years when it ends next Summer.
What does he expect?
To stick with this team until he’s 70 and retire as a National Team coach like Joachim Löw?
Is Dalic some kind of unmotivated ‘uhjeb’ who just wants this one lifetime job, and is content with maintaining status quo to drag it out as long as possible?
If I were him, nearing the end of my contract, I would try and top my achievement or go down in a blaze of glory.
I think Dalic is too comfortable, and enjoys his life in Croatia (and doesn’t want to move anywhere else, even for his career).
He’s doing enough to qualify and squeeze by opponents like Poland and Scotland, secure that multiyear contract (with some fake news about competing offers from Qatar) and then goes back to his routine.
Crucial U17 match Croatia v Italy postponed due to waterlogged pitch in Lucko.
Most likely to be played on Wednesday ??
If we had lost and actually tried to score, I’d be “ok” with the result since they are obviously better than us. It’s the fact that the strategy going in would be playing “bunker ball” for 90 minutes is unrealistic, even if they were held scoreless in the first half.
Even in the darkest periods of Croatian soccer (the Ivan Klasnic era), did we ever have another game where we didn’t have a SINGLE shot on goal? My goodness!!!
Totally agree. They dominated us like we dominate San Marino. And yeah sometimes we beat San Marino 2-0 after spending the whole match trying to score. There is nothing to celebrate.
I don’t believe they are “Doom and Gloom” comments. It’s being honest on where we stand now.
We all agree we would have been noticeably better with Luka Sučić, but other than him, who are these up-and-coming young guys I keep reading about here except for Luka Vušković?
You don’t know them because they don’t get a chance to play.
Did you even know who Petar Sučić was 12 months ago?
Nobody here even knew he existed, and now he’s a starter for us and on his way to Inter Milan next season.
Stojković is another one that most people didn’t know existed 6 months ago, and now he’s looking just as good as Baturina on Dinamo (and the Tottenham rumors have already started).
There are plenty of up-and-coming guys…but we all have day jobs and aren’t being paid over a million Euro a year to scout Croatian footballing talent.
This is what guys like Corluka, Dalic and others are supposed to do. They need to figure out who our up and coming stars are, and give them a few minutes off the bench.
We already have several no-brainer players (like Vuskovic) who aren’t being given a simple callup. I can’t image how many under-the-radar types there are out there who are being missed.
You don’t know them because they don’t get a chance to play.
Did you even know who Petar Sučić was 12 months ago?
Nobody here even knew he existed, and now he’s a starter for us and on his way to Inter Milan next season.
Stojković is another one that most people didn’t know existed 6 months ago, and now he’s looking just as good as Baturina on Dinamo (and the Tottenham rumors have already started).
There are plenty of up-and-coming guys…but we all have day jobs and aren’t being paid over a million Euro a year to scout Croatian footballing talent.
This is what guys like Corluka, Dalic and others are supposed to do. They need to figure out who our up and coming stars are, and give them a few minutes off the bench.
We already have several obvious players (like Vuskovic) who aren’t being given a simple callup. I can’t image how many under-the-radar types there are out there who are being missed.
You don’t know who they are because they don’t get a chance.
Did you even know who Petar Sučić was 12 months ago?
Nobody here even knew he existed, and now he’s a starter for us.
Stojković is another one that most people didn’t know existed 6 months ago, and now he’s looking just as good as Baturina on Dinamo (and the Tottenham rumors have already started).
There are plenty of up-and-coming guys…but we all have day jobs and aren’t being paid over a million Euro a year to scout Croatian footballing talent.
This is what guys like Corluka, Dalic and others are supposed to do. They need to figure out who our up and coming stars are, and give them a few minutes off the bench.
We already have several obvious prospects (like Vuskovic) who aren’t being given a simple callup. I can only imagine how many talented players we are missing.
You didn’t know who Petar Sučić was a year ago, did you?
Now he’s an automatic starter for us (because he was given a chance due to Broz retiring).
If Broz didn’t retire, then Sučić probably wouldn’t have even been called up yet.
A newer example would be Luka Stojković.
Nobody knew who he was six months ago, and now he’s about as valuable as Baturina for Dinamo these past few months.
He absolutely deserves a callup, and probably would have been great for us against France (with his skill and pace on that right side).
But we’ll never know because he won’t get a chance until Dalic is forced to make that decision.
We have several openings (we need a backup LB, backup RB, backup striker, backup RW, and backup LW) but Dalic would rather leave those spots empty and just sub in guys like Nikola Vlasic, Mario Pasalic, and Kristijan Jakic and play several players out of position instead.
I posted the same thing four times because three were stopped due to ‘moderation’, lol.
I had no idea what I wrote that would cause it to be blocked, so I kept cutting out parts and re-submitted it.
I was wondering lol! I was starting to think your really mad about this whole topic! 😜
Pretty comical doom and gloom comments. They took a top team in the world to penalties, a team that is basically an African all star team. Four million against seventy million. Croatia has medaled in three tournaments in the last seven years, and it could have been four if they made it through Sunday. And Dalic sounds like the worst coach in the history of soccer. Relax. After the 2018 final, I decided I will look on any result as gravy because they ain’t going that far again, or won’t be allowed to. Makes watching the games less stressful. Actually watched the penalties on Sunday. Couldn’t watch the 2018 ones live.
You sound exactly like so many people after France 98.
If we had won that match on Sunday, we would be praising how well Modric is playing for his age, how Perisic recovered from his injury and how good Dalic is at coaching.
Also, if Kramaric had scored that penalty we would be defending a 3-0 lead in the second match. Livakovic could have saved two penalties, Ivanovic should have scored his (wasn’t a good penalty kick), Stanisic could have scored and kept it going.
Maybe, we could have pushed forward and attacked a little bit because defending for 90+ minutes against France with inform strikers was always a tough job to do. It was surprising how easily we were pushed off the ball from the French players. Either they took steroids before the match or our players need to start eating more cevaps and going to the gym. I wonder if we had someone bigger like Petkovic or Matanovic instead of Ivanovic that would make a difference?
As for coaching, who do we have that could replace Dalic? Tudor signed with Juve, maybe Terzic the former BVB coach? If we do hire a foreign coach, that will open the door to playing foreign players.
Our players need to find better clubs and teams that they can actually play for and not just sit on the bench for the season.
It’s not that Dalic has not achieved, he has but he has hard time making the difficult decisions that are necessary when it’s needed most.
Deschamps made 5 changes in the second game, and at the very least Dalic could have done something similar before the start of the second half of that match he must have seen that it was not working the ways it was.
If reliance to this is, that he could not make changes then problem is his team selection process because based on all the articles out there, the results of players out there, I cannot believe that we do not have the talent out there.
Dalic’s contract expired in 15 months from now.
The “Croatian” options out there could be any one of Tudor, Petkovic, Terzic, Juric, Kovac. Discount options include Bjelica, Bilic, Kek.
Most of these guys are unemployed but have some notable experience.
The ones who are employed could easily find themselves unemployed and available to us (as 15 months is a long time in coaching years).
Anything can happen, and with a 1.6 million Euro salary (that we would probably bump up to 2 million), we could probably even get a good foreigner (if we want to go that route).
Who knows, maybe Fabio Cannavaro wins the HNL and makes a deep run with Dinamo next season into the Champions League (and proves himself to be a legit coach) and we make him an offer.
Maybe Edin Terzic gets bored sitting on the sidelines and irrationally lets his patriotic diaspora mentality take over, and throws his career away to coach Croatia to a World Cup final.
Anything can happen.
Some LIVE matches coming up today on Maxsport 1 & 2.
U17 Croatia v Italy at 15:30 Cro time on Maxsport 1
We need a draw to qualify for the EURO and the U17 World Cup.
If we lose to Italy we will miss out on the EURO however coming second with 6 points might be enough to make the WC, it will depend on results in other 7 groups. 7 Group winners, and 4 best runners up, go to the WC.
The WC will have 48 teams.
U19 Croatia v Luxembourg at 17:00 Cro time on Maxsport 2
Having suffered two loses already we cannot qualify for the EURO.
U21 in Doxa: Croatia v Thailand at 18:30 Cro time on Maxsport 1
I’ve waited to see what the general census was on Hrvastska before chiming in.
I’m absolutely shocked at the majority of amateur pundits looking at this as a positive and then insulting those who vehemently disagree.
I really question the majority’s understanding of basic tactics and football in general.
Going into the 2nd leg with a 2-0 lead and bunkering from the start of the whistle is and always will be a disastrous strategy.
How many here were disgusted with 8 mins of extra time added in the Euros and how we couldn’t defend, yet thought 90mins of extra time bunkering was good strategy?
Incredibly mind boggling that the majority does not see this as terrible coaching and how Dalic time is up.
We literally played a flawless game in Split. A great mix of tactics and attack.
We didn’t start a defensive formation until later in the 2nd half, hence the same strategy should have been applied.
The first half we should have made a game of it, attack, control the game. As some others stated, keep Luka on the bench until the 2nd half the same way Ancelotti would use him for Real.
I’ve never seen us on goal kicks, just kick it up field for a 50/50 ball just to give it back to France.
When we passed the ball we were actually a threat for two mins but Dalic had ordered them to just defend.
Anytime you allow a team to have false confidence and momentum, it will always result in failure. Even the best teams in the world don’t bunker until the latter stages.
A coaching change and the youth movement going forward must be our top concern or this team will just further regress.
Lastly, I’m shocked not one person has mentioned Mbappe.
Kicking Livo and then man handling him was a red card all day. Then later having the balls to roll on the ground claiming he was struck in the face was classless.
Mind you we deserved to lose no matter what. I was so disgusted with our tactical choices, I didn’t want us to win via red card or penalties.
I’m a proud Croat, we go down fighting like we did in WC 2018 not this pathetic display. A total disgrace and if anyone disagrees you can turn in your man card and date trannys like Mbappe.
I was actually surprised that we managed to successfully bunker for as long as we did lol.
But yes, I think we have to look at the larger sample size of the past Euro and this current Nations League, and decide if this is how we want to roll into the next World Cup.
We played two good games in the entire year (the home win over Poland and the home win over France).
Every other game has been a complete mess.
The silver lining is that I think the fans and media are not satisfied with this showing and are no longer buying what Dalić is selling (that somehow this was a success).
He wasn’t offered an extension, meaning he will finally have to change things up (or we move on).
I honestly thought that France was gonna score 4 goals on us the way things were going. Livakovic did amazing to make the saves he did.
I’m not overly disappointed by the loss to France on penalties. Prior to the matches I was hoping for two draws and then a loss on penalties to France.
Instead, we had a win and a loss. WC is more important and with this loss we do have an easier WC qualifying group on paper at least.
The match against France showed again that we lack speed all over the field and do not have the depth to adequately replace our veterans who cannot play 2 high standard matches in 3 days against strong opposition. I cannot EVER remember us conceding 16 corners to 0 and not having a shot on target in our history.
First WC qualifying match is away to Gibraltar on 6 June, three days later we face Czechia in Osijek. Not sure if Osijek is the right choice for this match against your main rival in the group? My preference would have been Split or Zagreb.
I would not start any of our veterans in the match against Gibraltar and would rest them all for the crunch match against Czechia, match that we must win if we want to win the group.
Prior to facing us Czechia play Montenegro at home which will be a tougher match than us facing Gibraltar? so that in itself is an advantage? Also, with Prosinecki coaching Montenegro maybe he can do us a favor and take some points off Czechia ?
We do have depth, we just didn’t call them up.
Pjaca, Marco, Vušković, Stojković are all better than the subs who played.
Pjaca isn’t some world beater, but would have been useful on the wing on the counter. None of the French guys would push him around.
Marco would provide speed and width.
Vušković is better than Duje or Pongračić.
If we were going to bunker, then we probably shouldn’t have played all our vets. We should have spread them out a bit. Surprised to not see Vlašić out there since he has the muscle.
Would’ve been amazing to sub in Modrić in the second half.
Anyway, We need to begin doing things like this during WC qualifying.
(sitting out vets and use them as jokers off the bench)
Lots of comments on here about us bunkering down, I don’t think that those were our tactics? Dalic said so much in the post-match interview. It is just that the French forced us to play like that and did not allow us any space or time on the ball and we had no energy or capacity to change that.
We do not have the depth when we come up against top notch teams like France, Spain, England etc. especially when we have to play these teams with a 3-day turnaround.
Vuskovic is 18 and the kid is not ready for the first team. I doubt that he will be ready for the WC in 2026? that is if we qualify? Will see what happens next season with Spurs? they will most likely farm him out to another club in lower divisions. I watch all our U21 matches and yes he is good but still makes heaps of mistakes at the U21 level and needs to improve on speed and positioning.
Vlasic is too slow and despite him playing well of late for Torino we are just wasting our time on him in my opinion.
Marco Pasalic did not do as much at Rijeka as was expected and I know this because I’m one of few on here that watches and follows HNL closely. I agree Dalic has called him up before but has not given him a chance to show what he can do. He is playing well in MLS and should be called up.
I have watched Stojkovic play for our U17, U19, U21 and now Dinamo.
He has always stood out as one of our better players in those age groups and is now playing well and is one of the key players for Dinamo despite suffering a serious knee injury. He is left footed, fast and scores goals and he should be called up to the first team ASAP.
Igor Tudor is the new manager of Juventus.
He’s a great coach.
Wears his emotions on his sleeve and can’t handle the political side of things (which results in him always getting fired within a year).
But his aggressive style of play is attractive football.
He’ll do well with Juventus, then quit or get fired by season’s end.
I’d love to have him as National team coach (as an interim replacement, right before the World Cup).
We’d go on a deep run, scoring goals, then Tudor would get into a fight with someone and quit abruptly during the tournament.
if he were not such a head case he be a good coach for us
Soticek has looked really good for the under 21 and has true pace.Marco Pasalic should be with the team but Dalic I believe ignores MLS
Šotiček had a really good season in the HNL the year before he left.
He was statistically better than Marco Pašalić, and Šotiček was only like 19 years old last season.
Too bad his dad is an idiot and went for the money. They should have gone to Dinamo instead of Basel… but he’s still a big winger prospect for us with great speed and size.
Šotiček had a really good season in the HNL the year before he left.
He was statistically better than Marco Pašalić, and Šotiček was only like 19 years old last season.
Too bad his dad got greedy and went for the money. They should have gone to Dinamo instead of Basel… but he’s still a big winger prospect for us with great speed and size.
Your repeating yourself again!! Lol 😜
Did Ante ever mention how and why comments get moderated?
I am just curious.
Apparently, I am not allowed to call Šotiček’s father an idiot…so I had to change the insult.
Apparently, I am not allowed to call Šotiček’s father an “i|)i0t”…so I had to change the insult.
I also had to post this message twice, because my first one said the word “i|)i0t”.
Modric was completely gassed and Kovacic looked pretty tired as well. I agree with you though if this was the World Cup though those guys aren’t coming out.
Ante, have lots of respect for you and what you have done with the site but respectfully disagree. Follow the evidence, team can’t move forward in big moments. We have tied or lost so many games 80 minutes or later. It’s not about age of players or other reasons, we have outgrown a manager who was lucky with right players that managed to work around his misguided strategies. Can’t manage young players and even worse can’t trust them to play. We’ll have a very disappointing and underperforming WC 2026 and it should surprise no one
Wake up you want the gold not a fing bronze in World Cup or other competifions! Grow some balls and go for the ceiling ,not this coach who will never get anything but as runners up Croatia needs an actual coaching shake up ,this coach Dalic willcling to the money and ego ,he will have to be fired.He wont fall on his sword.
We were lucky to have such a misguided coach who gave us famous victories in the WC against England & Brazil. Great memories. These tournaments & games between the WCs are now under the microscope. Coach Dalic deserves the chance for 2026 in spite of what all the experts say out there. Think about this: he held France with the 2 best strikers in the world right now to 0 goals for 3 halves. Lucky? Say what you want but it happened. Viva Zlatko!
It’s easy to criticise in hindsight. But dalic should have changed the line up on Paris.
We should have played a back 5 with juranovic at left back.
Also budimir should not have started. He is a good forward but can’t hold the ball to allow us to get out. Ivanovic should have started to run and run.
Also one of kovacic and modric should have started on the bench.
It was obvious France would go all out from the start. There are two ways to defend that. The first way is to keep ball. Without broz to help in midfield it was not possible. So then it’s defend the first half.
So put jakic, sucic, baturina in midfield with kovacic. 541. Enough energy to cover the width of the pitch and double up against France speed on the wings. Kovacic, sucic and baturina break by dribbling with ivanovic threatening the through ball behind is enough to force France back. Maybe you don’t score but it helps defend.
Later on in second half, when France begin to slow down a little, you introduce Luka and budimir and Kramaric and try to create some control and possession. No point in having Kramaric on the pitch first half. He is a slow running goal scorer. What good is he defending 90 minutes?
So I agree that Dalic is not a good tactician. No ideas, no flexibility. He is important for other reasons. His faith and human leadership.
In any case. We need, like many have said, to give younger players a chance. I bet pjaca could have done a decent job supporting his full back in defense and threatening on the counter.
Many smaller nations play guys who are not stars, but can do a specific tactical job to help the team. With us reputation and loyalty are too important. We are the worlds best Pub team.
It’s frustrating at times. But at least we are unique
He’s a Copy & Paste coach.
He tries a lineup. If we do well with it, then he copies and pastes that same lineup and formation into the next game (regardless of who the opponent is).
Result is certainly fine, no shame in penalty shootout loss or 2-0 away to France. Disappointed we didnt offer ANYTHING offensively whatsoever though. Can’t really remember a game where we were strangled so much (the 2013 away game to Serbia does come to mind tho, but there we still attacked sometimes). This game it was just a hang on for dear life viewing experience.
Iggy, we’re not fine. Look that tournament meant nothing. Nations league is BS tournament and none of the players wanna be there. Regarding the Euro and the World Cup we will qualify, and then crash and burn embarrassing ourselves . We are always regressing . we finished third in the World Cup. We came to the euros, and we crashed and we burned. We had wingers trying to be strikers. we were disorganized we couldn’t score. We have a lot of issue’s these issues are not changing. We have a leadership that’s corrupt. We have a leadership that has no idea what it’s doing. We need to integrate youth and say goodbye to the veterans. We need to have a system that can develop and mold talent. We will always be a qualifying team. We will always be a team that competes and we’ll steal some victories here and there, but we don’t have the luck the skill or the talent to give the the knockout shot. came close but we failed. Looking back at our history, we should’ve won in 2008 we should’ve qualified in 2010 . We could have made a run in 2012 2014. You look back at those tournaments we crashed and we burned. Why ? the wrong players playing and the wrong coach. It’s getting old. This is the same old story And it never changes.
Most coaches wear out their welcome. Even very good ones.
Deschamps, Martinez, Santos, Mancini, etc… all did well and were eventually fired (or will be fired in Deschamps’ case).
Almost no coach stays on for 10+ years, and Dalić is 8 years in.
It’s time to start shopping around and keep our options open.
If only we had deep pockets a coach like Guardiola, Mourinho, or Ancelotti would be a good choice.
But those are just dreams really.
Bielsa would be perfect but I he’s taken and a wonderful choice by the nation who hired their second ever foreign coach behind passarella.
Uruguay is clicking now
Uruguay is like us. Small nation , but good footballers
Coach Dalic held on to go to PKs to a team with the 2 best strikers in the world right now- no goals in 3 halves! We were 1 penalty kick from winning. Call it what you want, but with Coach Dalic we have been a team to be well respected. He deserves the 2026 World Cup cycle and then he will ride off into the sunset. Viva Zlatko!
your correct. We could of canned him after euros. But they would have to pay him out and it cost to much money . Igor would be a good coach for us. he is not popular in the organization and is known for being a head case. for those reasons I don’t think he would ever be given a shot . They would never go with a foreigner.
2010 I don’t think anyone wanted to go to South Africa and I don’t blame them.
yeah cannot blame anyone for that
Spain was good at the last Euro, Germany started well. Going by memory, no one else? England made it to the finals with smoke and mirrors.