In one week’s time, we will all know if Croatia will be headed to Russia or not.
The Vatreni will take on Greece in a two-legged home-and-away playoff which begins with a 2:45PM (ET) kickoff this Thursday from Maksimir in Zagreb and the away leg on Sunday in Greece.
But who should start for Croatia?
Goalie Danijel Subašić was taken off for Monaco at halftime this weekend; but only as a precaution. His slight right thigh knock will not see him lose time and he will be between the pipes against Greece.
Only Domagoj Vida is a lock on the Croatian backline. And even with Dejan Lovren and Šime Vrsaljko both not playing regularly at club level for the past three weeks, look for them to get the start. Veteran Ivan Strinić has been solid for Sampdoria in Serie A and could possibly play left back for Croatia for the first time in over two years.
In midfield, captain Luka Modrić is automatic next to Ivan Perišić and Ivan Rakitić. But will Milan Badelj join them as a holding midfielder and does Croatia require a holding midfielder at all?
As for the strikers, it’s safe to say that manager Zlatko Dalić will play Mario Mandžukić and Andrej Kramarić up top with Nikola Kalinić and Ante Rebić ready to come off the bench.
Who would you substitute into the Starting XI for Croatia vs. Greece this Thursday?
But you didn’t write lol. Idiot
By the way dummy…..lol means laugh out loud!!! Wow! No comment.
Wow even Ivan is still living his 3rd place finish from 98!!! Wow. You guys really need to win something one day! Too bad the Euro 2016 should have been yours but….we’ll, that’s Croatia for you. Croatians think they are better than they really are!!! GO GREECE!!!!!!!!!!
Lolo? What the fuck is lolo? Croatiantrolls.com keeps loling along as usual i guess
Hey iggy, the truth hurts eh!!???? Bobby V, wow 1998!!!!! That’s all you have….REALLY!! That’s 19 years ago!!!! Lolololololo. Can’t wait to hear all the excuses on the 12th when Greece stuns the Hrvats. The look on modric’s face will probably be the same as when a Croatian is done doing a Kolo!!!!!! Better yet when Turkey stunned them in the Euro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Something along the lines of how we lined up in 98. We have the talent there’s just no direction.
If our Managers had any actual coaching skill (besides Bilic) and creativity we’d play
………..Kalinić……..Mandžukić……….
…………………Perišić…………………….
..Rebić…Modrić..Rakitić…Kramarić..
……….Vida….Mitrović…Jedvaj……….
——————Subašić——————
We will win
Croatianperson85- i also found it amusing. how dumb do u have to be to not realize “Iceland fan” is Truth.
Football fan from Iceland – you make good points but something tells me your name is actually Truth.
Yeah okay okay, time to fuck off now Mr Iceland
“this should be easy anyway”.
I did say you guys are trying to get by on talent alone, which is the reason you would feel it should be easy. You have way more talent than us, but we topped the group, you have to accept that something is wrong with your guys.
When we beat you guys to top the group Iceland was saying “that’s why we play the games,” nothing gets given to you.
You might feel you should beat us but at the same time we don’t fear the Croatian team and expected to get something from the two games and we did, 1 win each, I would have taken that if offered at the start of the campaign, I do not think you guys would have. We beat Turkey twice that was awesome as well!
Did Spain think “this should be easy anyway” when you beat them, you were missing some players in that one?
Players playing in big clubs is also a problem Germany, Italy, Spain, France etc. all have, are they scared of getting injured when representing their nations?
You know your team better than me I’m just giving my opinion, anyway I hope you guys make it.
“You guys say yourselves that you only had it because you came out of a war”
I don’t think anyone said that. I said we (until recent years) had exactly what you have now, but it was magnified even more back then due to the war/battle for existence.
Many would argue, that one of the MANY reasons for the current lack of appearant effort/spirit is partially attributable to many more players playing at big time clubs. True or not, guys are often accused (Rakitić in particular) of not giving it 100% for the national team. The claim is that certain guys don’t want to risk their big payday at places like Barca by potentially injuring themselves playing in national team friendlies and qualifier games that they think, “this should be easy anyway”.
Again, it’s easy to claim great spirit after good results (which you’ve had the last couple years), and east to accuse the players of lacking spirit when things aren’t going ypur way.
You guys yourselves can not replicate what you did in 1998 and you have players in Barcelona, Real Madrid×2, Inter Milan×2, Juventus×2, Liverpool etc.
No one would trade your team for ours that’s for sure, but when you take in to account our population of 333,000 people, what we’ve done is amazing, you guys do not expect Iceland to ever have a generation like you guys had in 1998? You have over 4 million people we have 333,000 population, this might be as good as it gets for us and I’m proud of my team not arrogant. I’m under no illusion that we need the luck of the draw to go our way in Russia, get a favourable group and make it to quaters (unlikely but?) and maybe in 20 years time I can fondly remember our time in Russia.
“Where has you unattainable team and national spirit been all the years up until recently.”
We’ve got A.Finnbogason at Augsburg, Sigurdsson at Everton, Gudmundsson at Burnley, and some other players that you guys wouldn’t know playing in some good leagues. There used to be a time when most of our team used to play in Iceland, so we have improved in that sense and when you add in the spirit we’ve always had we can see what’s happened.
“But don’t claim we’ll NEVER have what you recently discovered, and we have somehow lost.”
You guys say yourselves that you only had it because you came out of a war, it is not an innate quality of the Croatian people it is something that came out during a war it isn’t there at all times, like in football when you represent your nation you guys do not have it. Turkey have it when they play against you guys, but not against us.
@Poglavnik
Agreed you guys need more motivation to represent your nation.
@Iggy Can i lick your wet panties
@Iceland
When it really mattered we beat u in a 2 leg playoff to get into Brazil.
We definitely need more motivation these days than your newly successful footballing nation.
Don’t kid yourself though. Nobody here would trade our team for yours.
We lost our mojo in recent years, while you discovered you have one. Fair enough. But don’t claim we’ll NEVER have what you recently discovered, and we have somehow lost.
And “Croatia will never have is Iceland’s will to work hard and our pride to represent our nation, now I’m not knocking you guys but you will never have that”.
You have to be kidding. Imagine taking your Rocky like “we are a small country that shouldn’t be here, and we bleed for our country” spirit, and then throw in fighting a recent war for not just independence, but for survival against enemies that want to eradicate you… and succeeding after dreaming of a free country for over 1,000 years. THAT is what you will never have, but it is what we had for many years.
Where has you unattainable team and national spirit been all the years up until recently?
Iceland fan, what you say may be true at the moment, but hasn’t been true all that long. Our player’s pride for playing for country and spirit was our biggest strength for many years, but has sadly been eroded by many factors in recent years.
Then again, it’s easy to claim your players play with pride and spirit when things are going well, and to blame lack of spirit when things aren’t.
@Iceland Fan – Iceland played with heart throughout the qualification while Croatia plainly did not.
However, don’t get ahead of yourself. I would be happy to draw Iceland in the knockout stages if we join you in Russia. I would also venture to guess that most top NTs would rather face Iceland than Croatia at the tournament. You made it to the dance, but don’t get too big of a head, there is still a long way to go for bragging rights.
I agree with football fan from Iceland, u speak the truth, I say that as a Croatian / Argentine
@Bobby V
I’m not questioning the quality and spirit of that 1998 team.
I am talking about this current crop of players that I watched during this qualifying. Maybe you guys need a foreign coach like that Turkey guy said?
I agree with Bobby V 100%. You are only together with your players a few times a year.
National team coaches have a finite select group to choose from.
You cannot control who was born in your country or has citizenship. There is not much room for flexibility on this front.
It is not very difficult. Hell, many of us can guess the 23 man call up and starting lineup on each occasion with a one or two player difference.
On the club level, you can fill your needs from players all over the World and are with them most of the year. Much more work and time involved in obtaining and actual coaching players in a system.
@ Football fan from Iceland –
Did you watch any of the 1998 World Cup? Catch any of the Croatian pride you say we don’t have?
4-3-1-2
Vrsaljko, Mitrovic, Vida, Strinic; Modric, Rog, Perisic; Rakitic; Kramaric, Rebic
@Turkey
We beat you guys twice, what is the population of Turkey?
Are you guys saying that Hallgrimsson motivated Iceland better than Cacic did Croatia?
You know Ronaldo at the Fifa awards said talent without hard work is nothing.
Croatia has more talent than Iceland for sure, but what Croatia will never have is Iceland’s will to work hard and our pride to represent our nation, now I’m not knocking you guys but you will never have that, you guys are trying to get by on talent alone.
That’s an indictment on the Croatian footballers to say they need to be motivated more to play for Croatia, that is a big problem if that’s the case.
At the Euros (where we made the quaters), there seemed to be a great atmosphere surrounding your team. Against Portugal you were physically weak in that game as well. It does look like your players don’t really care to fight hard enough when they put on the red & white diamonds.
We have a population of 333,000 (your population is over 4,000,000) people and we made the quaters at the last Euros, and topped our world cup qualifying group!
My question to you guys, and I know most of you are fan boys, is what do you see as your main problem for your failure to top our qualifying group?
@brkic
You’re right. Strinic did play Euro 2016. He didn’t play against Spain though.
So nearly 2 years…
@Brkic – Yes, at club level, you are correct. A good soccer mind does matter.
National team level? Where you come together four times a year? (March, June, September, October)
That’s when you need more of a motivational speaker combined with someone who can control an atmosphere.
…and then you go on with your argument mentioning exactly what I talked about – state of mind, psyche, confidence.
My point is that national teams do waste their money – foolishly – with national team coaches.
Why does everyone confuse club level success with being able to coach a national team. There is nothing similiar between the two.
At club level, you are being paid. If you do not perform, you do not play and you jeopardize your future contracts.
No motivation needed.
@Ante – didn’t Strinic play LB at Euro 2016? I don’t think that was 2 years ago…
You guys that keep saying the manager doesn’t matter are out of your minds. I guess every team just wastes money by paying managers when they could just get anyone to do the job. And don’t downplay having the right state of mind. Any athletes out there know how important mindset is for optimal performance. No one has more impact on confidence/psyche of the team.
ROLF that Ante Kvartuch post made me actually laugh out loud hahaha
Dont worry boys i got this #MakeCroatiaGreatAgain #MCGA
You forgot your middle name there Ante. Holiga.
WE SHOULD WALK OFF THE FIELD! PROTEST MAMIC !
Relax people, Croatia will get through…..but they choke on their povitica not getting out of their group.
Now if an Italian coaches them, rather than these Croatians who think they know what they are doing, maybe just maybe Croatia will go to at least the semis.
Game on Thursday will air on ESPN3 (WatchESPN) and ESPN Deportes.
Game on Sunday will air on the same channels with the addition of being on ESPNews.
All this talk about who should coach Croatia makes no sense. National team coaches are the most overrated and needlessly talked about positions in all of sports.
How much time do they actually have with the players? You can’t have them learn and practice anything tactically for a few days before a match.
The biggest need is for someone who knows how to motivate them.
A foreign coach would be at a distinct disadvantage for that.
Greece will have the best striker (Mitroglou) on the pitch. If they learned from what Finland did against us, they won’t bunker and he will then become a threat.
….and with Croatia being a country smaller than the size of West Virginia, it is really comical the way we have divided up against each other.
We can only hope that Mandzukic is not playing, fingers crossed.
I went to Iceland in the spring with my girlfriend. I surprised her saying that we were going somewhere for the weekend, she thought we were going to brighton, managed to get us on the plane without her seeing the tickets or the flight.it’s such an incredible place, so beautiful, stunning. loved it. much respect is due for Iceland’s democracy and independence too. and yes the football team plays with real spirit and togetherness. Croatia could certainly learn something there. Hoping the true Croatian spirit comes out with this challenge against the Greeks. We all know it’s there. U Boj
I am from Iceland and am very proud of my team for our fighting spirit, we may not be the most talented side but we have the best spirit of any team that was in our group and we were the toughest team. I think Croatia is physically not a very strong side and seems spiritless in my opinion, for this reason I will pick Greece to make the world cup, but I hope I’m wrong.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/222985/article/ekathimerini/sports/after-manolas-ban-skibbe-sweats-over-sokratis-ahead-of-zagreb
Papastathaopolous from Dortmund and Manolas from Roma are not playing vs us.
Badelj out for certain. Mandzo (at the moment) will be on a special training program, and will be a game time decision.
Yeh Crnkovic i just pray too now, i dont worry about formations or who’s playing or coach anymore, i just pray for whoever represents us that they perform since i can’t change the other stuff
is mandzo really out? and is that actually a loss? i guess we would be playing 2 strikers so it kinda is a loss in this instance but i think krama is more likely to score these days
Mandzukic out
Rog for Badelj ; Mitrovic instead of Lovren.
we can do this. and more. come on
fine margins between all the options, very difficult job to pick the best lineup. All the options are good, non of the options stand out and say “you have to pick me I WILL deliver”. sleepless nights for Dalic
…Ok my last piece of advice for Dalic if someone here has his ear. Pick the most reliable, experienced line up possible BUT put ONE player in there to shake things up. nothing too radical, but start Rog in midfield, or Rebic in place of perisic, or Kramaric up top. just something to give a feeling of unknown possibilities. It will make the players focus. sometimes you can feel that you know your self too well and get stuck in a rut. putting another guy in there, makes our own players say “OK lets see what happens here” also make sthe likes of modric take even more responsibility to give a platform to the new guy to play. so….
Subasic, Vrsaljko, Mitrovic, Vida, Strinic; Modric, Rog; Brozovic, Rakitic, Kramaric; Mandzukic
that’s it. bench perisic, let him get his shit together
DannyJ, man I don’t know. didn’t see rakitic play against Seville. glad he played well but wow, him and some of the others just haven’t performed at all for the NT. like LAknat said in his beautiful written prose, perisic may be hot for club but has flopped since the EUROS for us. So at the end of the day I’m going to stop here with the speculation and advice and tactical possibilities and just start praying. It’s in the hands of Dalic and the boys now. U Boj!!!
…………..Kramaric……Mandz…………….
..Perisic….Modric…..Rakitic…….Rebic..
..Strinic…….Vida…..Lovren….Vrsaljko…
………………………Suba…………………….
Maybe it’s optimism but I think the Boys gonna come to play
Look how rakitic played against Seville
Obviously playing against former team provided inspiration let’s hope he can be a difference maker.
Eceryon needs to step up but now with badelj gone sho plays his role. Do u out modric further back?
Maybe perisic rebic on wings mandzukic up front with kramaric behind him and rakitic behind that
I don’t know formations enough but that should be enough firepower to crack the bus even with modric not as offensive involved
What say you soul champ slavonac crnkovic idemo maminjo… heck even truth
Mandzukic is key- Love to know our winning percentage when he gets a goal but I’m sure it’s very high- if he can play for his country consistently like he plays for his club- we’ll see a goal or 2 and then Russia will be an automatic- we’ll go the way that the big man goes. I hope he ‘s ready to play hard.
Bilic sacked? On to lead the USMNT to victory, eh?
As for choosing my poison … whiskey. Going to need lots of beer and whiskey for this one.
Super Slaven sacked
Oh really? That sucks !
Some bad news: Milan Badelj will most probably miss both games against Greece due an injury.
Iggy you Yugo cunt.
Modric as goalie, Lovren and Subasic as the 2 strikers and we’re ready to rock and roll
😉