Croatia v Sweden Match Highlights
Post-game discussion following Croatia 3-1 loss to Sweden
(choppy for first 40 seconds)
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@Mihovil
Vrsaljko is a versatile player, able to play the left/right back positions quite well. As you mentioned before teams like Wales (Bale) on the wing should be opposed by Corluka (arguable our best defender at the moment). Have Corluka and Vrsaljko alternate wings accordingly to each opposition.
With the two friendlies left, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try this tactic out.
“The secret ingredient/s to having the three amigos work is pace”
Two fast wingers would stretch an opposing teams defense, Srna can hustle on the right wing. Though what about experimenting with Olic on the left wing in a friendly could pose a big threat that would widen things out for Modric to do his work as he does for Tottenham.
“I would much rather test out other options for now that is for sure.”
X2
@ Ziiva Istina …..
Beskraja Hvala za ruka!
Name me the communities in North America where people don’t go nuts when patriotic songs are played. I can only think of one. And it’s not San Jose, LA/Pedro, Cleveland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New York, Cleveland or Toronto. I’ve never been to Vancouver but im sure they go insane.
LOL…….if by good hrvati you mean hanging with mujos and serbs and not being able to speak the language or the community not having any “dom” of their own, then yeah they are good hrvati. I’ve been to Chi many, many times and I walk away vey unimpressed compared to other croatian communities.
@SloCro……Kovacic is potential at this point. We’ll have a good idea if he is the real deal over the next 18 months. I was speaking with a youth team assistant coach for one of the national teams and he mentioned the best thing for Kovacic at this point is to get out of Dinamo. He claims the current situation with the club, Mamic and fans creates an unprofessional environment with the club and the kids needs to be at a place where can get away from ZAgreb and just play. I would still call him up to the repka or another kid under 20. I have no issues with the 23rd spot on the roster going to some young kid. As has been the case with other kids who were declared to be the next big thing in croatian soccer but never did anything, I do think Kovacic can play. I remember a few years ago everyone was high on Delac as the future of the GK spot, but after watching him during practice sessions with Inter a few years back I came shaking my head. That has proven to be true so far.
simunic suck and fuck…. what the hell of Bilic
@pointdexter, where are you from? Ive been to Chicago and the Hrvat in Chicago are good true Hrvati. The people that call other croats yugovici are the true jugoslavs. Dont try and paint others as yugoslavs and you as some big Croat! During the yugo days I bet you had no idea what Croatia was. You propably thought you were from yugo. You piece of shit, you probably have a full blown up picture of your boy friend tito that you wack off too in your room
@ziva
I only called them political songs because mr.Ante B called them that. I just feel that its the bands & the wedding couples choice if they want to play patriotic songs at their wedding, not ante b’s choice.
Personally i love those songs, i was brought up with those songs. But i can understand why some wouldnt want to play them at a wedding. Dont go calling me yugo without even met me, you dont know who i am flake.
@ante b
Same goes for you pindick, dont judge me without having met me.
And for your information i dont associate with any serbs. I did have a couple serbian friends in the past, but not anymore. I dont see how that makes me any less hrvat?
@ Ante B – HGent and Ziva…I have no idea what the hell you guys are talking about when you say political songs…none of the songs we listen to are political…they are the songs we grew up with…they may exude Croatian Patrionisn but they aren’t political at all! I’m confused? its part of our culture…of our identity and always will be…they aren’t offensive to anyone and I think every single Croatian on the planet thinks the same…can someone explain this to me?
Doduše;…. neznam koliko, tako, to se lako.
Really Off topic – from the Peanut Gallery:
What is the deal with Mateo Kovačić? I see quite a few videos on you tube videos on this gentlemen. Where is he in terms of development. Is he 100% “potential” at this point? Is he the nextg big thing, but not old enough for the Euro Cup. Anyone?
Napredovanje Hvala
SF Expatriate; SP Pirate Uvijek,
.
@Wallace,
You’re like a broken record. We went over this already at least a dozen times before. I deleted a couple of “replies” to your comments that we’ve already asked not to post. I don’t see the point. Hopefully, that made your day.
We let the comments under the “sammir” article slide because it was somewhat related to the article.
@Lebo,
“If Rakitic can’t play with Modric in the midfield who do you have as starting mid? I guess Niko is going to have to be in there, but you said he would be good off the bench.”
I never said Rakitic cant play with Modric. I just feel that the combination of Raki-Krunchi-Luka doesn’t work.
Rakitic has been awesome for the repka. In my opinion, the only player that played well for Croatia against Sweden. Ivan also played well against Turkey. However, Rakitic gives up a little on defense. Kranjcar couldnt mark a retired Davor Suker. Modric gives up on defense as well. This was a guge reason why Sweden went through our midfield with such ease, making our defense look like swiss cheese.
Starters for Ireland:
Pleti; Carli, [Simunic, Lovren, Schifo(pick two, flip a coin, depending on form)], Pranjic; Dujmo, Srna, Modric, Rakitic; [Olic, Mandzo, Eduardo, Kalinic, Jelavic(whoever is in form. Sadly, I rate them all the same. I dont like Mandzo and Olic up top. Similar players.
Starters for Italy/Spain: One striker… add Vida/Vuki as DM with Dujmo.. start Kranjcar over Rakitic if Raki struggles.
I dont think Vida is ready yet. Also, Vida and Simunic will be playing against HNL opposition the rest of the year.
I like Kranjcar, first off the bench in the 60th minute. Give him 30 minutes to come up with a wundergol against tired legs.
Trust me, they are around. And many of them are in high positions within croatian communities. It’s a real shame.
@Ziva
Can’t wait for a transparent list of UDBA agents is available through the web. These mother***** need to be ousted. Wonder how many of these scumbags are still around our communities throughout the diaspora.
H…Gent……hey man, sometimes the truth really hurts. And to follow up on Ante B’s comments….they are not political songs to some us, they are patriotic songs. But, I guess being a jugo makes you think they are political because that is the same exact line – THE SAME EXACTLINE – that was forced on hrvati in the diapsora in the 70s and 80s by the jugo-loving, self-hating hrvati. “political songs”. For some of us, songs like “evo zore, evo dane” are not political, they are patriotic. But, being a jugo, I can see why you think the way you do.
this is a way off topic for this board, but it needs to be said……It’s no shock that the largest concentration of croatian UDBAD agents was in Chicago. Plenty of hrvati in that city walking around today pretending they are some big hrvat, while in the late 70 and 80s they were working for the UDBAD. They made a nice penny spying on fellow hrvati.
H gent,
You are so cool being Croatian and using words like ain’t, fool, etc.
Signed,
PEopLe wHo WRitE lIKE thIs
Also, why would a wedding not play political songs? Are you Croatian? We’re you not raised in a Cro community? I see hints of jugo… How many Bosnian and serb friends do you have?
@Ziva
Shut the fuck up about chi-town you dont know shit about the hrvati here. Dont make assumptions of something you know nothing about.
Turbo serbo, Couldnt point out croatia on a map?
Go fuck yourself flake.
@Ante B
Ive heard this story from you before, no need to repeat it.
Why would the band want to play political songs at a wedding anyway.
Broken glassess everywhere? Get the fuck outta here fool.
You talk a big game, but you aint shit.
CHI-TOWN=PROUD HRVATI
Dont get it twisted, you little bitches.
@Black Zodiac………..”insider” interviews wont be coming from me. It’s no secret that at times I flaunt that I know some people within the savez, Hajduk and I know a few players on the repka….However,. I’m not going to be doing any “investigative journalism” because of it. The guys who run this website know what I have said over the years; much of it shown after time or in hindsight to be correct.
Nonetheless, I love soccer and I love commenting on it, especially the behind-the-scenes aspect of it within the croatian game.
With such claims, why don’t you provide CSR with some “insider” interviews.
To your Ibrahimovic comment earlier, he and his father went to Bosnia, both mistreated & Bosnia wanted him on their B team in belief he was not good enough.
@ Ante
“You’ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.” – Lester Bangs
@Josip B:
Thanks for the link. Here is another one about Hungary that sadly also reflects on HNL activity.
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/world/story/hungarian-director-commits-suicide-match-fixing-reac-030212
Suck for Simunic . You must be gone , .
there is way a croatian is not very impresive defender.
soo slow and weaknesses … junkie in the Back Post,.
@ CroatHrvat,
You’re trying to roast me in a Schifo v Lovren debate when Lovren is out of form??
Question for you fine sir: Should Lovren remain injured all the way up to May 15th, would you still want him in Croatia’s starting XI for Euro?
I appreciate my partner in crime standing up for me in this debate, but when CroatHrvat wants Vuki to start…well, that speaks volumes.
I’m no pundit. I’m no super soccer analyst. I’m just one of the boys. And I love this stuff so much that I wanted to create a website so we can all have conversations like this.
No one said I was qualified for this job…I just do it. I may be the Alexi Lalas of the Croatian sports world, but even this Lalas knows not to start Vukojevic in his XI.
I appreciate the ‘journalistic skills’ remark. Didn’t know I even possessed those.
@ vlad
Nice one.
As I said previously the defense can be debated all day long.
I have no issues with starting Corluka @ RB. It is the “best” position for him on the field. My point to my earlier discussion was more so to test out the players we have prior to Euro 2012 for experimentation purposes. I really don’t want to be watching the start of the Estonia game in May with the same starting lineup as the Sweden/Turkey games. Change it up and let’s see what happens in order to get a better sense of what we can do going forward. You agree with me on that as well.
Mihovil’s v1.01 Lineup for Estonia – (slight mod from earlier & using the BlackZodiac lineup flowchart aesthetic)
GK: Pleti
RB: Srna/Vrsaljko
RCB: Vida/Simunic
LCB: Lovren
LB: Corluka/Pranjic
CDM: Modric
RM: Perisic
LM: Iličević
CAM: Kranjcar
RS: Eduardo
LS: Olic
Go after these guys from the opening whistle and pump in some goals.
I do not think the LB side should suffer as a result though. Personally if it was up to me I would use Corluka as a utily LB/RB. He is good at both positions. I stated earlier that Vida should not be playing RB at all. He did a great job against the Turks and I really like him as a player but I would not play him there unless we really really have to. BlackZodiac mentioned testing out Vrsaljko @ the RB position against Estonia. That is fine with me. To be honest, if they want to call up Robert Jarni to play LB against Estonia that would be fine with me as well.
🙂
As I stated earlier in regards to the three amigos, if they are used properly and depending on who we play they can play @ the same time on the field and co-exist. Against “quality” teams I would try very hard to avoid this. However, what we should be asking ourselves is can the three amigos co-exist in a protypical 4-4-2 formation? The lack of pace makes it vary hard to open up space for Luka. The secret ingredient/s to having the three amigos work is pace, not using a 4-4-2 formation, and our opposition, and last but certainly not least we need an abundance of rakia. I would much rather test out other options for now that is for sure.
I have no issues with your lineup for the most part. I hope that Iličević will be available to us come Euro 2012 as he is hurt more than healthy as a player.
I just hope we have a healthy lineup come Euro 2012!
@ BlackZodiac
“I agree with Corluka on the same side as Bale, under rated defender.”
Agreed.
I thought I’d throw in another post related to our ongoing discussions related to the HNL.
This is a great article from a couple years ago by Jonathan Wilson (author of several well known soccer books), about the HNL and economic disparity of European soccer.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jonathan_wilson/07/14/dinamo.zagreb/index.html
pranjic can be used for either left mid or back
kranjcar can be inserted for rakitic
A simple 4-4-2 that we will never see
pleti
corluka,lovren,vida,strinic
srna, modric, rakitic, perisic
eduardo olic
@ Denis thanks for the remarks just stating what i see!
@Mihovil i agree with a lot of what your saying to a point, for one when it comes to our defense i think corluka is our best right back, i understand we dont have a proper left back but when you play vida right back and corluka left back it makes both sides weaker! just stick corluka in his proper position, at least you have one strong side instead of two weak sides you know at the end of the day one side will always have to be a little weaker its jsut due to the fact we dont have a proper left back i still like pranjic their at least he gives you an offensive threat plus for me strinic or pranjic makes no diffrence between the two when it comes to their defensive duties both are weak!
As for the niko modric and kranjcar comment, i disagree i dont think they can play together, the mid just gets to congested esp when niko plays left mid, he tends to drop in the middle too much which is making it easy to defend as you have four players within three meters of eachother, i dont like rakitic on the left either that position needs to be a width player like srna on the right! i would go with this line up
pleti
corluka lovern simunic pranjic
Rakitic
srna Modric Illicevic
Perisic
Mandzo
To me simunic, lovern, schiffo no difference i just went with lovern and simunic. I also think rakitic can play that position if hes discipline dont have to be a gutosso to be in that position, i think perisic in a in and out striker would get him more involved offensively plus he can score more goals with his shots out of nothing more than any of our strikers, mandzo gives you that work ethic striker and big body srna and illicevic on the flanks making runs and modric stringing the passes, but every game should be different their should be no set standard i agree with that mihovil.
@Josip B, chill-ax bro, are we that sensitive with grammer here? And I dont have nothing against Ziva! Freedom of speech! He can say what he wants and some might agree and some might not. I just speak my mind and dont sugar coat shit. Dont care if it offends people or not!
@Mark, For your info. I did graduate the 8th grade and heck I even managed a high school diploma!!! Difference between me and you, oh sorry I mean you and I is when I was in school I was going to parties picking up chicks and enjoyed the good old days!!! I wasnt sitting at home and studying and preparing for spelling B contests.
Lovren might have some mistakes in him, but he is young and will have many years of NT play ahead of him.
Retire Joe.
Stinic/Pranic @LB
Vida & Lovren @CB
Corluka @RB
We can’t have it both ways.
We can’t complain when Serbs from Zadar,Kotar etc.. don’t identify with Croatia after living there for generations and then complain when a Serb of similar background wants to be part of Croatia.
I am not saying, that my opinions are the barometer, but I feel that if they are Catholic, grew up in Croatia and identify as Croatian then that is good enough for me.
Did you ever hear a Serb from Dalmatia tell you how big of a fan they are of Zvezda? It is enough to make you vomit.
Ziva,
I hear that about the Chicago scene. I was at a wedding there in November and I asked the band to play some ustaske pjesme and they said no because theres an “agreement” between all bands in Chicago to not play political songs to not offend people. Needless to say if it wasn’t a family members wedding there would’ve been smashed glass all over the place.
@Ziva Istina
With such claims, why don’t you provide CSR with some “insider” interviews.
To your Ibrahimovic comment earlier, he and his father went to Bosnia, both mistreated & Bosnia wanted him on their B team in belief he was not good enough.
@nije bitno
Vida in a CDM is worth giving a try, Srna in the RB position always seemed to fail.
“if i recall bilic would put mandzukic at right wing. why wouldn’t he just put a natural midfielder in?”
Trying something new, or favoritism? Your guess is as good as mine on that one.
I rest my case.
Ziva has a dick…..
Pay no attention to mark, he’s just bitter because I provide some inside content and he does not. Plus, he lives in Chicago (I think) and that is one big turbo-serbo love affair. The hrvati in that city couldn’t spot Croatia on a map.
@ Josip
I 2nd that notion! I know this is just a blog and we’re entitled to error every now and then, but it really gets under my skin when I see the obvious, e.g, you’re > your; then > than; were > we’re, etc..
I’d like to believe that all of us here have at least graduated from the eighth grade.
And Ziva’s just a dick. You’ll see.
@blackzodiac ur also prob right about srna over vida but like i said in a few posts before i would like to see vida in a friendly match at def mid just to give it a whirl.
@blackzodiac your right but if i recall bilic would put mandzukic at right wing. why wouldn’t he just put a natural midfielder in? I feel that those ten players are our best and we should utilize them. Like i said before our midfielders are better scorers than our strikers are. I feel Our strikers are really streaky players but dudu even though he hasent been the same since his injury he still has the best nose for the goal out of all of them.
Gareth Bale is one of the main threats of Wales and corluka looks good againts Barcelona it could be a good duel.
@nije bitno
We played 4-1-4-1 and it was horrible, though Eduardo wasn’t a lone striker, if played he was in the midfield along with Mandzukic (some times) with Jelavic, Kalinic up front.
If we were to play 4-5-1 Srna should be up in the RM Position, Vida in the defense position. You do point out a good point on our midfield, it is our strongest asset and it could be used much more efficiently.
I feel we should play in a 4-5-1 formation it gives one less striker but it makes up for it in the mid field and to me our mid field is the strongest part of our game and the players we have in our mid can score better than our strikers. This formation can be attacking or defensive. haha im still pulling for vida in a def mid role! you never know it may work.
plete
srna,lovren,simunic,corluka
rakitic,kranjcar,vida,modric,perisic
dudu
@Mihovil
“I would like to have Corluka playing the RB position against Wales in order to try and shut Bale down and make it harder on him. If Charlie plays LB against Wales he will be on the opposite side of field as Bale.”
Definitely read your post wrong, I agree with Corluka on the same side as Bale, under rated defender.
4-1-2-1-2 (1) Experimental Offensive
GK: Pletikosa
RB: Vrsaljko
RCB: Vida
LCB: Lovren
LB: Corluka
CDM: Modric
RM: Srna
LM: Persic
CAM: Kranjcar
RS: Eduardo
LS: Olic
4-1-2-1-2 (2) Experimental Defensive
GK: Pletikosa
RB: Vrsaljko
RCB: Vida
LCB: Lovren
LB: Corluka
CDM: Rakitic
RM: Srna
LM: Kranjcar
CAM: Modric
RS: Jelavic
LS: Mandzukic
4-4-2 Experimental Formation
GK: Pletikosa
RB: Vrsaljko
RCB: Vida
LCB: Lovren
LB: Corluka
RM: Srna
RCM: Kranjcar
LCM: Modric
LM: Rakitic
RS: Eduardo
LS: Mandzukic
@ Slavonac from Canada
Hvala!
@ BlackZodiac
“Do I want Vedran to play LB against Wales with Gareth Bale positioned on the left side of the field coming our way? Not a chance!”
“Why not?”
I would like to have Corluka playing the RB position against Wales in order to try and shut Bale down and make it harder on him. If Charlie plays LB against Wales he will be on the opposite side of field as Bale.
It seems like teams have figured out that 90% of the solution against us is to shut Modric down. He’s our one world class player. I agree with Mihovil to a large degree that “giving Luka some room to breathe… is the key of all keys”. The hard question is how to go about doing that.
The Anonymous 1:
For God’s sake man, please figure out the difference between “your” and “you’re”, especially if you’re going to go around calling other people idiots. I have no opinion one way or another on your vendetta against Ziva, I’m just being a grammar Nazi.
I think you guys are onto something with the midfield “gel”. maybe 4-4-2 doesn’t work with them. strinic should be involved. better to have good defence and backup than a midfielder sub who didn’t touch the ball.
@Mihovil
“Niko, Rakitic, and Modric can co-exist and play on the same field.”
Couldn’t agree anymore, did you see Rakitic & Corluka working on the wing together. With the slow pace Croatia played with this 4-4-2 formation (Excluding the Turkish match they were playing with pace) they held & placed the ball quite well.
“Do I want Vedran to play LB against Wales with Gareth Bale positioned on the left side of the field coming our way? Not a chance!”
Why not?
“Vida @ RB is not a good solution as he needs to be playing @ the CB position as we have better options at RB.”
X2, Vrsaljko.
“Perisic on one side and Iličević on the other side. Modric in a central role just behind the wingers and Kranjar in a central role positioned behind the strike team.”
4-1-2-1-2 formation, after all it’s what we used dominantly in the last Euro.
@KKK aka Wallace. Your one sorry chap! This is a spots site not the Jerry Springer web site!
@ Mihovil – you make some great points buddy…great post!
@slavonac……they also may be playing for the repka because it can make them more $$$$ instead of playing for the flag. Again, I have no issues with a serb playing for the repka. I don’t prefer it, but I can deal with it. I hate all things serb, so that is the reason I like to point out who is a serb.
@Mihovil……..agreed on Kresic. I think he should be brought in for a backup role. He is better than serb Subasic and ghost Kelava.
@ Denis @ Vlad
Nice article Vlad.
Niko, Rakitic, and Modric can co-exist and play on the same field. It just depends on our opposition @ the time. Against a quality side I would use other combinations rather than the said three depending of course. They are not the problem as the three players are not playing where they should be playing most of the time.
Pranjic starting is fine and I agree, however, Corluka @ LB is also fine depending once again on who we are playing against as he is the best defender we have @ the LB slot. Do I want Vedran to play LB against Wales with Gareth Bale positioned on the left side of the field coming our way? Not a chance! We shut down Bale I like our chances against Wales! Not an easy job but it can be done. Especially when he does not have the tools he does @ Tottenham to help him out. Vida @ RB is not a good solution as he needs to be playing @ the CB position as we have better options at RB. I love his fire and determination though! I really wonder if he is our future @ the CDM position? This guy is the energizer bunny personified! I realize there is more to it than that but that is a good start to the design of a CDM in my books.
Mandzo & Olic are good together but once again depending on scenarios of what we are up against. They did not get any service and that is what they need. They score goals when they have some service and they can create problems. I would go with Eduardo & Olic up front for the reasons you said or just one striker in Eduardo or Olic. Once again I need to see who is on the other side of the field.
For example:
I would probably go with Eduardo against Ireland because we “should” have the bulk of the possession. I don’t forsee a bunker type action going on but I think we should still have the greater possession and we will need to find a way through this. Against Spain it is Olic because of the counter and Ivica giving the defense fits! My point is change the lineup accordingly have some insights. Against Ireland we have a major task and that is to stop Robbie Keane. A very dangerous player. Stop him and I like our chances. Easier said than done though. Italy will be tough and Spain is another story altogether. Tough group!
Does our midfield lack pace? Yep! Bring Iličević back, he always seems to be injured but try some experimentation against Estonia rather than sticking with the same template as Turkey. The Turkey template worked for Turkey. Modify and adjust accordingly. When I say all this there is absolutely no panic at all just food for thought. We had a bad game, and for whatever reason we were off our game and it was a friendly. Sweden is a good team. However, I would still like to see some experimentation against Estonia. Some people might say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It is a friendly and we have another friendly after the Estonia game. I say why not?
Perisic on one side and Iličević on the other side. Modric in a central role just behind the wingers and Kranjar in a central role positioned behind the strike team. It allows Modric to do typically what he does in Tottenham. Mind you, without Scott Parker who is great by the way, but that is fine, and it gives Niko the ability to do what he should be doing and we are not going to get much better pace than from the wingmen we have in this formation at our disposal.
Starting 11 against Estonia on May 25th 2012 (Which will never happen by the way!)
Take a look at the link ups. Explaining this is a colossal waste of time as this formation will never happen against Estonia but it is nice to have a place to discuss and that was my thank you to the Croatiansports.com website! The defense can be debated all day long but we need to tweak either way. Lovren will start come Euros if he is healthy. There is no doubt.
Pleti
Corluka Lovren Simunic/Vida? Pranjic
Modric
Perisic/Rakitic Iličević
Kranjčar
Eduardo Olic
Against Stiffer Competition
Pleti
Srna Lovren Simunic/Vida? Corluka
Rakitic Pranjic(2 CDM’s can push forward, hold up the ball, and distribute the ball while picking up slack on either side.)
Perisc Modric Iličević/Kranjčar
Eduardo/Olic
I put Srna @ RB against stiffer competition as that is his natural playing position for a reason. He can play the mid as well but I would prefer him there against better teams. Against better teams he can be neutralized in the midfield role. Not always but more often than not. His defense is not as bad as people make it out to be. Rakitic has been playing a CDM role with Sevilla @ times and Pranjic has played the CDM role, quite sparingly mind you, with Bayern but I feel they could work together nicely. Why not try it out? Good counter possession football and picking up the slack on either side of the field in order to help out our wingers. Most importantly, giving Luka some room to breathe. That is the key of all keys! Another reason I have two CDM’s is Pranjic is small in stature and he could use the extra help as I do not see him doing this job on his own from a physical perspective.
We have some depth. Time for some experimentation but not panic. These lineups are by no means law or perfection, but we have options and I think it would be neat to experiment against Estonia and we need help in the CDM department in my opinion. Have for awhile.
Give Kresic a call and give him some minutes. Why not? Does it have to be right now? Nope, but I do not see why he is not given a shot in a friendly? (I Would love to have a goalie from Vukovar in net against the Serbs!) He would stop anything that comes his way and if you tell him to eat the ball he will do it! Ziva, I am not basing the fact of him playing goalie for us and starting against the Serbs solely because he comes from that part of the country. Just an added bonus and pointing out what is obvious. Thought I would clarify before I get shot by the Ziva Insult(gun) of Velocity & Aggression. (ZIVA)
🙂
I am a little surprised he has not been given a shot actually. He is versatile, quick with good range and better hands than Pleti. I am not saying he is a better goalie than Pleti but he has softer hands that’s for sure. Unless there is more to the story that I am aware of?
Pleti is our guy for the Euros but I am also trying to think ahead. Pleti has his brain cramps but in tournament play and when it matters the most he has been rock solid for us and saved us a few times. I realize that was then and this is now but I just hope that he will be ready. At the same time he did not make Celtic for a reason. Mind you, Forster has quite the potential.
If you want a reliable backup for the Euros, Kresic is the guy. As of right now anyway.
@ Samrin
“3) Match referee Mitja Žganec hails from Slovenia, which lies to the north of Croatia. He must be using Croatian to the Croatia players and of course English to the Sweden players.”
Which explains why is screwed us on the penalty kick.
🙂
@zadom
X2
Many of you have these opinions about ustasa veliki hrvati the war and Serbia and all that good stuff
How many of you Aucutally fought in the war?
How many of your fathers fought while you were a kid?
How many of you were born during it?
If you have no idea what it talking about shut up and talk about soccer, even though 2% of you know what your talking about
By the way has anyone heard about Corluka being out for 3-4 weeks?
@Denis
If Rakitic can’t play with Modric in the midfield who do you have as starting mid? I guess Niko is going to have to be in there, but you said he would be good off the bench.
I just watched that Croatia-Sweden game downloaded from YouTube (Croatian commentary with ads before the start of the game plus during half-time and full-time). I actually don’t support either one of them and I downloaded the game simply because I haven’t yet watched it on T.V. Some trivia:
1) Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimović has Croatian roots on his mother’s side and was interviewed in English instead of Croatian after the game (I thought he uses Croatian when talking to the Croatia players; he only speaks Bosnian, which is related to Croatian).
2) Also present at the game were high jumper Blanka Vlašić and Davor Šuker, winner of the F.I.F.A. World Youth Championship (Now the F.I.F.A. U-20 World Cup) with the former Yugoslavia in 1987 and F.I.F.A. World Cup 3rd place winner with Croatia 11 years later and the tournament’s top scorer (6 goals).
3) Match referee Mitja Žganec hails from Slovenia, which lies to the north of Croatia. He must be using Croatian to the Croatia players and of course English to the Sweden players.
@Black zodiac, you can ask the moderators who always erase my comments. Everybody here knows that’s no lie, as they see my comments, then see them disappear – this has been happening constantly for the past year – it’s undeniable. I’d say about 1/2 of all the comments I’ve made on this site have been erased, but they often do stay up for a few hours at least.
@ Ziva – we need to really put this Serb thing in the proper context when we discuss…its a very sensitive topic which I feel sometimes people are far too selective when liking or disliking. Prefering, liking or disliking shouldn’t matter…what should matter is that they want to play for our grb and many of them are far better Croats than some full blooded people we have.
If only the defenders and midfielders could handle the ball like Prosinecki did there would be no issues. These guys panic too much when defended under pressure and make turnover passes all day. The Swedes double teamed alot of key players just as they were trying to make a play and there was no plan B for the player being teamed up against. No communication on the field. There were 100 people in the stands so it could not have been so loud for the guys to communicate. Corluka seems to be the only one who can actually keep the ball for more than 5 seconds without turning the possession over.
This was junior league soccer quality displayed on an international level. As for the distractions at home-do you remember the huge unbeaten streak at home? Are there more distractions now than before? I doubt it. This team can’t compete with teams with speed and any sense of tactics. Every time there’s a rout like this it comes down to both. Maybe the team should distract themselves with tactics and fitness instead.
@nije bitno
Don’t bother spoon feeding the troll.
@ Wally
“No, that’s not the point. Whites are only 8% of the world’s population”
It’s 25%…
“Notice how CSR always erase my comments ”
False claims & flame-bait.
Wallace – Like i said this is a sports portal. Question to you is are Persians white? we can debate this off the sports portal hajduk08@gmail.com i will be happy to teach you a thing or two about Croats and the history of us 😉
Playing for the NT team isn’t good enough to call yourself a Croat. Look at Mr. Prosinecki. One of Croatia’s best players from the golden generation. Where is he now? RED STAR Playing for the Cro NT doesn’t show me shit. Although a heck of a talent, Prso is in the same boat. His cousin played for the Serbs.
Re: Subasic: Being a pravoslavac is worst than being a serb. I have much more respect for a Serb who stands up for what they are (even though I might not necesarily like it)while a pravoslavac hides behind a wall claiming something they’re not. Call me a “veliki Hrvat: or whatever you want to call me, the facts are facts. I don’t know the details of Subasic’s roots, but if what Ziva is saying is true then you have to call a spade, a spade.
Back to the serb playing for hrvatksa question. I am OK with it. I don’t prefer it, but I can deal with it.
I just wanted to point out that Subasic is a serb. He comes from a long line of other great serb athletes from the Zadar area….Dado Prso, Marko Popovic
@Josip B…..everything you listed is true. Its multiple factors why people ignore the HNL.
But, in the HNL it all boils down to Dinamo and Hajduk. Currently, Dinamo dominates and Hajduk has no clue what they are doing to mount a challenge. So, there is no interest in the league with the current landscape and then you throw in allegations of fixed matches and that only makes the average person less interested.
Now, how these clubs are run is a different story. They would be a great Business 101 course on how not to operate a sports franchise. But, at the end of the day, do the people really care about teams not named Hajduk, Dinamo, Osijek and Rijeka. The rest of the teams in the HNL are either smaller clubs from smaller towns or second and third-tier citizens in cities with bigger clubs. NK Zagreb will never have the following of Dinamo just like RK Split will never have the following of Hajduk.
We live in a global world now which means there is more interest in the EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga and internet porn than the HNL. The league is doomed, well doomed in the sense that this is about as good as it will be for the immediate future.
@ Wallace, i don’t care to tell you the truth. This is a sports portal and the people that run it are my family. No need to disrespect them. If you are a Croat, chances are your not 100% white.
Wallace – Ne seri kvake! ponasas se ka cigan for a “white boy”!
^^^^^^^ That was me, not “Anonymous” ^^^^^^^^
@Denis
I was completely fair about calling out Ante, his comments were outrageous. Shindelfied is an absolute nobody, it offends me. You guys, you two in particular, always criticizing Lovren, I simply don’t understand it, Dejan is a 22 year old who has played over 50 games for a Champions League team, he is a top talent and for you to put him in the same category as Schindelfield is startling. Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer big tall solid players of the same build as Simunic and Schindelfield, I wish it could work, I wish they were both good enough. Simunic was also my hero, I really liked his outrageous behavior and his fearless attitude, but sadly he is playing in the HNL now and it’s starting to show at international level. Ideally I would love to see a Lovren – Vida partnership. I think Vida will be the heart and soul of the future of the national team, I think he is a fantastic player. Vida, Lovren, Corluka (although he is 26) and Vrsaljko at the back is something that definitely interests me in years to come.
As for Vukojevic, how can you pick a Zaragoza reserve over Vuko. Dujmovic is fighting for a place in a team that is placed 20th in the La Liga, Vukojovic is doing just fine and is a battler, put Rakitic, Modric and Kranjcar infront of him and we’re back in business. I don’t want to hear nonsense about Kranjcar, Rakitic and Modric not being compatible, absolute nonsense, and if need be, drop Rakitic. A lot of people praising Rakitic recently but all I see is a single minded kid who wants to be a hero and secure the game winner with an audacious long shot.
Josip B. is now one poster I will keep my eye on. You know your stuff. I agree. There is so much potential in the HNL if there was quality leadership, marketing and strong business plans in the front offices as well as one the field. Thoae businessmen in Croatia just don’t get it
Mali Hrvat
-“I can see why the HNL/NT games have minimal attendance from your descriptions”
Don’t get me wrong, most of our descriptions are NOT why there is minimal attendance. The big games are fantastic and truly something to experience. You can sit with the Ultras for the full experience, or you can sit in the far more mellow and safe parts of the stadium… My Mom went with us last time without problem or complaint. The more family friendly parts of the stadiums are very safe and don’t have any smells of weed wafting around.
People don’t go to the majority of the games, mostly HNL games and recently national team games at Maksimir, for a multitude of reasons. Many of those reasons have been mentioned here previously. The HNL’s lack of quality and multiple teams nobody really cares about, disgust with the corruption (though much of Croatian society is rife with corruption), being more interested in the English Premier League game on the tv than in seeing Dinamo dominate some minnow team, etc…
Sometimes I look at how Poljud is run from a business/US sports operation perspective and think, “this place could be managed so much better. A good business manager could really turn things around.”. Crack down on bootleg merchandise, start selling your own merchandise and concessions.. But, the reality is that people there (especially outside of Zagreb) just don’t have money. Disposable income is precious or non-existent. You can’t squeeze water out of a rock. Therefore, the clubs can’t produce revenue, which causes them to sell more talent, which further weakens the league, and the viscous cycle and downward spiral of the HNL continue.
To me Rakitic is the only one that showed up to play! In his post game interview he said ” bili smo malo mutavi” I agree 100%! No excuses made whether or not it was a friendly some players haven’t played in months or what not! They still didn’t show any heart at all! Win or lose all the fans want is to see them put their hearts out on the line while wearing those jerseys for 90 mins! I still would like to see Vida play defensive midfield instead of Vukojevic and Dujmovic just for one friendly game. If he has any heart heart Like the Niko Kovac did i think he would fit in great there because he definitely has the motor to be on both sides of the field and his skill is alright but the question is would he spill his guts out on the field for his country like Niko did.
@slavonac from canada,
how do we distinguish who is and who isn’t?
Unlike ziva, I take into account one thing and one thing only, blood. You got 100% serb blood your serbian, you got 100% croat blood you croatian, you 50-50 your half serb half cro, and you nationality is which one u identify urself with!
I decided
@ Ziva – so then what is it about Zadar and Serb roots plating for Hrvatska…a few years ago I heard a story about Prso singing an anti Catholic song with his Rangers teammates…did any Hrvati attempt to crucify him? I’m not sure who Subisic is because right now he’s almost irrelevant and yes, I think Pletikosa should be Hrvatska’s #1…on that note, it still bother me that people call out Croatian players as Serbs when they are playing for the repka…shouldn’t the fact that they play with us speak volumes? Sinisa Mihajlovic was half/half….but he was a piece of shit person…he disrespected his Croatian mothers root…its not congruent for us to support Drazen Petrovic, Dado Prso, Robert Prosinecki…and several others and then on the other hand call someone a Serb just because we want to…how do we distinguish who is and who isn’t?
Jarac,
Many reasons as to why but the result is the same: jebi se jebi splite dinamo sampion! Vartovske ckepi
Mali you need to go. I went to Poljud with the BBB and while it was fun, i personally had more fun the next week after when I went to Osijek the week after. My advice: Croatian cops are the worst and try not to make an introduction. Rebro at 3am is a bitch b
What’s with all this hate with Subasic? Big deal if he’s part Serb? I know we have some ustasa in training on this site that are ready to pledge allegiance to Pavelic and claim war on Serbia, but who the fuck really cares what percentage Serb he is. He claims to be a hrvat, he wants to represent the repka, what more do you want? Personally, I was never a fan of him, but the dude (along with Keleva maybe) needs to get some time in net at some point, just in the worst case scenario that Plete goes down with a injury before or during the Euro.
@Mark…….hey man, not my fault if I know some of these guys directly or indirectly. I’m just passing along info that is accurate and has been verified by other reports.
Nice line about the serbs Subasic and Kelava with my girl. But, you can be sue that if those were with any women they would be out of place and drop her.
By the way, speaking of the serb Subasic and a girl…..a few years the father of the girl that the serb Subasic was dating in Zadar basically attacked the serb Subasic and said he would kill him if he kept talking to his daughter.
FYI: For anybody who’s planning to attend Croatia’s 1st-round games in Poland, the lowest-priced ticket on some broker sites ranges from 148-677 Euros for the Italy game. The prices for the Ireland match are a little higher with the most expensive tickets being, of course, for the Spain match. Wonder what the scalpers will be charging come game time. Just to compare, recently I was in Barcelona for Copa del Rey between BCN-RM and the sellers outside the stadium were selling tix in a decent location of the stadium for as low as 50 Euros (and it was a sellout, of course, even though it was “just” CDR). Food for thought. Peace.
@Golden Child:
The US is already producing players that would be good enough to play for other countries. Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey are the obvious examples. Both, if Croatian would make our NT much stronger.
too dependent
@Golden Child:
You hit the nail on the head.
I see America turning a critical corner. Once all MLS/2nd division teams have free youth development programs starting at around age 8, more youngsters will be developed.
Honestly, the situation in Croatia is depressing. Maybe a corrupt feeder league is sufficient for Croatia to continue producing a respectable NT.
However, it seems we are far to dependent on diaspora.
I can see why the HNL/NT games have minimal attendance from your descriptions. I can’t see an average family going to a game, if that is the atmosphere. If you aren’t selling beer/merchandise inside and you are not filling the stadium, you just missed an opportunity.
Honestly, I thought they would have designated sections of seating for the ultras and the rest would be more pedestrian.
Is basketball the same way?
Like I said, it is hard to develop youth without revenue.
@Denis:
Pranjic can play Left Back too. I would prefer him there over any of our other options with Strinic being my 2nd choice.
@Vlad,
“The third goal is an example that Niko rakitic and modric cant play together in the mid. Also i think pranjic should start, i know he dosent play at all in germany i dont care again hes one of the only players with pace that can carry the ball, he never looks like he hasn’t played all year when he comes in! obviously its just a friendly but still bilic has some thinking to do, the starting line up has some tinkering from know till june the back line, im not sold on corluka playing left back and vida playing right back, also the starting striker with mandzo and olic something dosent look right their, i like both their work ethic but we need someone to hold the ball better one of them have to go for a more natural striker. also i still believe our midfield needs some pace, we by june we have no strikers going bilic should go with a five man mid!”
Throw it down big man, throw it down. Show everyone how its done. Huuuuuuuuuge huuuuuuuuuge comment of the day. Well done sir. I agree with everything, but especially the parts above.
.
@Plasaj,
“I’d start Bin Mladen Petric in net for the next friendly”
Hilarious!!!!
@Allen
“Sweden who is decent at best”
Sweden is no joke. I have them coming out of the group.
@Mark,
“Sorry guys, we’re gonna do shitty this summer.”
Depending on what your definition of “shitty” is.
I think everyone is looking at the Euro now like we were looking at Turkey before we boo bopped them in Istanbul.
Ireland is beatable but we can even get a draw and still progress iwth a win against Italy.
Italy are missing Rossi and Cassano. A little bit of luck and we go through. Then we lose in the quarters.. We might play shitty, win one game, but we made quarters. Or a little bad luck and we return to Croatia pointless or with a draw.
@Ziva Istina,
“This is why I rather see our guys play away for friendlies.”
genius.
@CroatHrvat
I think you are a little unfair about calling out Ante for wanting to start Schindelfield. I too would start Schildo over Lovren. Dejan has looked like shit for Croatia. Either way, I rank Lovren, Schildo and Simunic all about the same. So we will have to pick 2 Center backs out of those 3. For me its flip a coin. Simunic looked like has aged 5 years since the Turkey game. As of right now I have Schifo and Lovren.
“experienced veterans, Eduardo, Vukojovic, Lovren, Kranjcar.”
Lovren a veteran…hahahaha..
You want Vukojevic? Shows how much Croatian football you know.
I dont mind the rest of your squad if they are in shape, playing 90 minutes for their club teams.
You think Simunic will be ready for Italian and Spanish offense after playing a season against HNL teams?
Simunic was one of my favorites, but the guy is done. However, Schildo is not much of an upgrade but I’ll take it.
.
@Ziva, Mali hrvat, and Ante B.
unlike shitty zagreb, Hajduk doesn’t need marketing, the whole town knows where theres a game and people fill the stadium.
There is no liquor at the games, outside there is, inside there’s no alcoholic beer. Mouth starts watering when i think of the cevapi w/ ajvar or pljeskavica. Lots of singing, flares, occasion sound of a bomb, bring newspapers to cover the dirty ass seats. Cheerleaders at halftime.
@ Ante B. Best part
JEBES ZAGREB, JEBES DINAMO JEBES DINAMO…….
”Ziva talks about Subasic and Kelava like they double-teamed his girlfriend one night…Isuse!”
LOL classic Mysterion 🙂
@ Ziva
Lol on the “and this comes directly from his mom’s side of the family in Zadar – …”
What a load of shit.
@ Josip
I’ve been to Poljud before but not for a Hajduk game. I’d love to go one day. I went to Dinamo vs Salzburg RB at Maksimir a couple of summers ago with a politically connected aristocratic type rich guy and his friends that I met in Chicago many years ago…anyway, I met up with them and they were boring as fuck. The experience was not why I was looking for. It seems like the Torcida environment would be my cup of tea.
@Ziva
There were a few kids here in So Cal that had talent when I was a little kid. One went to Germany and that was the end of that, a few others got calls to the MLS (better than nothing). Anyways, the focus for most parents are to get their kids to go to school. When I was younger, I had to chance to go play club or stay in AYSO. My parents chose private school over furthering my athletic talent because it was a safer bet. When you play with shit, you turn into shit eventually. All that bottled up talent when you have will plateau if you’re not consistently challenging yourself. It’s a problem with a lot of kids over here, not just Hrvati. I think that’s one of the main reasons there isn’t any recognizable talent here.
mali HRVAT:
I’ve been to Maksimir once (Hrvatska vs Greece), and Poljud multiple times, one Vjecni Derbi (Dinamo Hajduk) and the rest UEFA/European league qualifiers.
Ante B sums the essence of things up well. There seems to be next to zero concession income being made by the clubs. Of all the times I’ve been, I remember seeing a concessioner selling ice cream in the stands only once. At Poljud, you drink as much as you can before going into the stadium. The area immediately outside has a collection of stands selling beer, cevapi, and bootleg Hajduk shirts/shawls/memorabilia. I doubt that any of this is making the club any money (based on the open selling of fake memorabilia. It’s all under the watchful eye of nearby armored up riot police with German Shepherds. You then stroll a few feet away (behind a bush is mostly optional), and take a leak (under full view of mentioned riot police) with hundreds of your closest friends. You have to take the leak because once you’re inside, it’s either impossible, very inconvenient, or you dare not miss any of the action. At the gate, they check your ticket and pat you down, yet people are always getting inside with flares and worse.
Once inside, it’s an awesome experience, sometimes more than others depending on the game. That’s usually where you have a moment to sit back and reflect on the wafting smells of weed, alcohol, cigs, sweat, burning flares, etc. You then start to wish you had another beer, or somewhere to pee. Your moment of reflection is usually quickly over as you get caught up in the cheering and singing and enjoying it. You are truly missing out if you haven’t been. No sporting event in America can compare.
All of them, even the jugozapad side of Poljud and outside too.
@Ante B:
Is that only in Zagreb, or do all venues have similar attributes?
Mali youve never been to a HNL game?!?! Do you know what piss and weed smell like with a twang of alcohol and cigs and blood? Youre missing out.
This Irish/English? GOL TV announcer should take the Brazilian/Latin dongs out of his mouth for the games he calls. The game is getting a little heated, but he somehow blames the Bosnian captain when he is hacked by Marcelo.
Bosnia faces Ireland for their next friendly, and I thought watching them would be a decent barometer for our upcoming game against Ireland. However, Bosnia is playing better than us. Dzeko is a savage animal.
@anonymous…….Actually Pletikosa played very good in the last Euros. We played Austria, germany, Poland and Turkey…..no mistakes in those games. he will be fine for the Euros. he is the least of our worries.
@mali hrvat…..the teams in the HNL do a terrible job in marketing/advertising, etc… They don’t have the workers for anything like that. Coaches and players barely get paid, they dont have the budget to hire those people plus they dont have the insight to hire those type of people. I think Ante B has mentioned Medvescak and how they market hockey in ZG. They do a great job and they work to bring tpeople to the games. But, that work ethic is missing in the front offices of HNL teams.
Bosnia took their game against Brazil seriously because that was their Euro. I think most teams when they play against Brazil get up for it. Brazil on the other hand, not so much.
re: your comment about N. American hrvati……remember, the serbs and mujos playing for Serbia and Bonsia were raised in Europe and either moved to the US late teens or moved back to Europe for training.
There is zero talent among hrvati in N. America. There is a reason hardly any have played in Europe outside of smaller teams in Cro for no money. First, you need talent. The hrvati in N. America are not talented enough.
Above comment meant for Mali Hrvat obviously.
@ Nizic,
Hahahahaha. Well played. That’s official CSR memorabilia man. It’s already on Ebay…Buy it now price at $250…but if you private message me, I’ll give it to you for 200 even.
@ mali HRVAT haha good 1
Is Krpan still of age to play lol haha -U-
@Ante K:
Is that an official match worn neck brace?
News on Corluka:
Out 3 to 4 weeks with knee injury.
Go Out Simunic . >
Go Out Simunic . >
Go away you from national tim
Bilic must be fired, before its too late ,.
Simunic must go on .
Srna , not interested for LB
where is Petric . kick Kalinic
Ziva talks about Subasic and Kelava like they double-teamed his girlfriend one night…Isuse!
Is pletiklosa the only croatian goalie who plays outside of cro? Is there no goalie in hnl that can be called up? Wasnt impressed with him last euro’s and would replace him with some stari pijani dida if I could. He just shows nothing. I think Ive seen him make 1 decent save while playing for cro. Not a fan of his capablities
Wallace please get the hell off the site. I hope you are old because if you’re young, well I feel bad for your social life. I’m sure young ladies would love to hear about your mystical tales of genocide
@ CroatHrvat and Allen,
I thought you guys caught me saying I wanted Schifo over Lovren yesterday after the game. That’s why I was confused. I won’t go back and watch the previous shows ‘to prove’ anything to guys, I trust you guys and believe you that I said it.
However, did I say it on present form or if both are completely healthy in June 2012? (back in december, january- whenever I said it)
Depending on when exactly I said it…Lovren was either injured (last game he played was Dec 21) or reckless for Lyon. Brfore that he was picking up cards left and right for aggressive challenges.
So if you asked me back in Dec/Jan who I would play based on current form…obviously the answer is Schifo. But that’s the beauty of it, form can change and Lovren will regain that spot when he returns to the Lyon sqaud.
It’s all form. Fernando Torress can be a great player, but look at his form in the past 18 months. How much time you think he’s getting for Spain this Euro?
2 Bosnian NT members from North America and 1 Serbian NT from America. North American Croats need to step up.
Simunic is very Lazy, and must Out from Skuad < >
What a contrasting game. The Bosnians actually give a shit about winning.
I am watching the Bosnia/Brazil game. What a shocker. Neymar fouled and half of the Brazil squad surrounds the referee like a swarm of little bitches.
We complain about Srna. Every player on that team acts 10 times worse than Srna.
I would have played a Hajduk/Dinamo All Star Squad. The Hajduk players could be promised a warm meal and Zagreb’s finest gemist. The Dinamo players could be sold even quicker to foreign teams to the detriment of the HNL.
The halftime show would consist of monkeys riding around on tricycles in the 16.5Meter box. Maksimir would be jammed to capacity.
On a serious note, I have never been to an HNL game in person. How do they compare to American sporting events? Are they advertised on the radio? Are there drink specials or other gimmicks such as “Foam Bat Night”.
The attendance is embarrassing.
You can’t develop youth with revenue.
@HNK:
Nice Posts
@Ziva:
I agree about Modric’s defense against the Son of Abraham. Modric mailed in his performance. He seems to do the same in Cup games against scrub teams.
I am surprised that no Germany based Croats excel in goalkeeping. That country seems to mass manufacture quality keepers.
@Ziva
Thanks for the heads up. I was going to say, “why not even make it free”, but they had that covered too. Pretty embarrassing at the lack of interest.
No shit?
@HNK…..agreed about Pletikosa and someone else should have played, but we have nobody who is even worthy of being called up. Subasic and Kelava are beyond terrible. You know how they say you can get better with experience…..not for those two clowns. They have issues with the basics. I honestly don’t know who is worse between those two.
As for my comments on Subasic…well, he is a serb….or rather the politically correct term of hrvatski pravoslavac.
@ HNK DALMATINAC CRNO I am agree Kelava and subasic need to play at least one game before the Euro, they need to get experience in this kind of games. Pletikosa might get hurt in the Second game and one of this guys would get the start against Spain it could be a Black day.
@ ZIVA how can you call subasic a serb if he plays for croatia lives in zadar and has nothing to do with serbia please no politics he born in zadar making him croatian. Just like Dado Prso Hrvatsko srce braveheart.!
NO OTHER COUNTRIES ITS CALLED EUROPEAN CHAMPIONHIPS AND IT IS MORE WATCHED AND HAS BETTER MATCHES THAN THE WORLD CUP OK IF YOU PUT UA BRAZIL ARGENTINA MEXICO THEN IT IS NO A EURO CHAMPIONSHIP MAN THERE ARE ALOT OF IDIOT HERE WHO DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT FOOTBALL THEY HOULD MAKE AN AMERICAS CAHMPIONHIP COMBINE NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA AND MAKE THEM COMPETE IN A TOURNAMENT, AUSTRALIA COMPETES IN ASIAN BECAUSE OCEANA IS A JOKE FOR THEM END OF STORY
@ tudor Pranjic was terrible what game were you watching its his fault for the 3rd goal and partically for second goal he wonders off way to much, hes a good winger but not a left back he cant defend ,Rakitic i agree good game, stipe was at fault for the penalty and the other 2 goals he could have reacted much better if he isnt in form why not start kelava yesterday Stipe will be number 1 but why not just start kelava since the russian lague hasnt begun wet dont get Bilic running out of patient with HNS garbage!
Come on Wallace, I understand your point (If all the races keep mixing up one day there will be just a race)but try to compare the mass inmigration and assimilation with a genocide make your statement looks like something that a little boy would say.
there is a big diference between what the serbs try to do in the balkans and a white girl getting married with a (Latin, Black, Arab, Asian …) Boy.
I am a Colombian man with Spanish and Italian roots and I feel very proud of my Latin and European Background, please guys don`t be so naive and think that latin america it`s just what the movies and the news show, I remember a american tourist that believe that he will find animals in the “El Dorado” (Bogota Airport) he also think that bogota was a little town in the mid of the jungle just because he watch that in Mr and Mrs Smith.
Hey Wallace, this is a sports, and more specifically a football, site…quit the political and anti-white shit!! It’s embarassing reading it mate!
Yesterday’s game wasn’t that bad – it’s a friendly, get over it! Take as a means of seeing who can play in different positions. Pranjic and Raki were fantastic and Pranjic should be rusty from lack of game time (just imagine how he’d be playing weekly!). Anyway, Pleti was no at fault for all three goals, very slow centre backs were to blame mainly. Let’s get all these errors out of our system before June rolls around.
One more comment to make on the game……The first goal for Sweden I blame Modric for two reasons.
He gave away the ball on a bad pass around midfiled that led to Sweden’s possession. They proiceeded to knock the ball around with a number of passes. Ibrahimovic got the ball at midfield and there was no pressue applied and Modric was in front of him. He gave him about 5-7 yards of open space and Ibrahimovic played the ball that led to the PK.
That started everything. On one hand I don’t blame Modric for not going 100% last night because he has a huge game this weekend. But, at apply some token pressure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Wz2wP2Kz4&feature=related if anyone want to watch again
@Ziva, the WC would be left as is, and the tourny in the Summer btwn the Euro & WC would only involve 8 countries with a max of 5 games played by two teams.
@wallace http://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=ca&tab=wi&q=lol%20meme%20face&sa=N&biw=320&bih=416#i=0
I’m fine the way it is. Leave the WC as it is. If Copa America wants to exapnd or combine with the CONCACAF Gold Cup, then that is OK with me. But, I don’t want another tournament. These guys would get burned out quicker. With a Euro and WC staggered every two years and top qulaity play every year in the Champs League, there is no need to do anything else.
@Ziva, come on man, pay attention, forget the Confederations Cup. I mean make a combo South + North American tourny just like the Euros every four years – played the same Summer; then have a Euro vs. America tourny the next Summer. This would mean 3 great tournies (including the WC) 3 out of every 4 years.
Horrible game for Croatia and noticed a lot of long balls played from our side, reminded me of the 5-1 loss to England.
Pletikosa is no star goalkeeper and all three were not exactly his fault (other then the first goal which should have been a red card for the Swede anyway), second goal wasn’t an easy shot to save after that right place at the right time style rebound and the defense should have been a little more spread instead of having 5 players marking one attacker & for the third our defense didn’t apply much pressure to Ibrahimovic and he placed a good ball to his teammate close in.
Lets see how the other two friendlies go about, Bilic needs to try bringing in a few youngsters into the squad to see how they match up, Vrsaljko, Kovacic, Badelj give them a shot.
Keep Corluka at the LB position for the next two friendlies and see how he does, if not put him back in the RB Position, Vida beside, Vrsaljko on the left and LCB Simunic.
Eduardo needs to be starting up front period, possibly suited up with Mandzukic.
Rakitic did quite well on the defense should experiment with him in the defensive midfield role.
Modric, bring him forward like we did in the Euros, attacking midfield role.
@Wallace….well they do have the Confederations Cup.
@TheGoldenChild…….tickets were cheap for the game, as low as 30 kuna and people were let in free after halftime. The fans lack interest in games like this.
@Ziva, combining So Amer & No Amer in a tourny is a no brainer: a tourny w/ Argentina, Brazil, Uraguay, etc, w/ Mexico and the U.S. would draw a lot more interest world wide than the seperate tournies do (sorry, I don’t know the name of the So Amer & No Amer tournies) – you could play this tourny during the same time the Euros are played: Eastern standard time you could watch the Euro games in the afternoon and the American games at night; of course I wouldn’t run the tournies exactly parallel to each other – I’d stagger the starting dates of each tourny.
Then the final 4 of both tournies meet the next year in an 8 team tourny: two groups of 4, a semi, and a final.
And I’d still include Australia in Europe.
“The Anonymous 1”? I like it! Now at least you’re differentiated from every other plain anonymous. 😉
I wish the HNS was smart enough to offer dirt cheap tickets to games like this. I don’t know how concessions work there, but wouldn’t it be a smart move to offer CHEAP tickets to these “nothing” games? I know the weather is terrible, and the people are mad at the managing body, but I’d think they’d be smart enough to pull something like this to bring in people, somewhat better their reputation, and make some money. Management for teams in just about every major sport in the US have done this, and it’s paid off for the most part.
@Tony…..let me offer a reply to some of your comments. Regarding attendance at maksimir……I applaud the fans for not coming out. The public in Croatia thinks this is an average team, but they will always support the repka. The problem the fans have is with the savez and the leadership of Markovic. They wont support the national side as much because they are sick oh him and his people within the savez. I agree and I wouldn’t show up either last night. I rather watch the game in comfort instead of a dump like Maksimir.
I agree that ireland is the key game. We beat them and the door is open. If somehow we lose to Ireland, we are done.
@mate…..Rapiac is probably drinking and smoking as we speak.
I mentioned kalinic and Vukojevic not because I think they are great players – they are not – but, because they are important for Bilic. I am no fan of Kalinic, but he did produce in the qualifiers. So, Bilic will reply on him and has relied on him in the last 18 months. I look at the players Bilic has played in the last 18 months and I assume those willbe the same players he will reply on for the Euros. Well, half of those players are not in form because they are still on winter break or just came back and starting playing match after their winter break. I would expect more from them in April and May than what we saw yesterday.
Where is Milan rapaic when u need him?
back @Ziva……..” It was a cold night, meaningless game and quite frankly watching the repka on a Feb. night is not at all enticing. If I was in ZG, I would have preferred to watch it at home on HD.”
Man most every other int’l “friendly” going on last night were played to packed stadiums. No excuse for the lack of attendance. People in Zagreb have HD TV’s? For a shrinking economy with slim prospects people watch better quality TV then myself here in Canada!
“My attitude would remain the same if we won 4-0 or loss 4-0.” I get what your saying about being indifferent to the result but honestly its the wrong attitude. I want to see Croatia win whenever and wherever they play.
“Remember, Srna, Pletikosa, Vukojevic, Kalinic all play in Ukr or Russia and have been part of the top 18 players for a while now. All these guys played and will play significant minutes at the Euros.”
I don’t agree with your assessment of Kalinic and Vukojevic. kalinic is a pretty average forward and Vukojevic is limited in ability. Those are definitely two guys that Ireland, Italy, and Spain will feel no threat from. Our fortunes at the Euros lie with Jelavic finding a scoring rythm with Everton and bringing it to Euro 2012, same goes for Olic. The midfield has to play more fluid; Srna, Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, Dujmovic, Kranjcar, have to show more come the friendlies against Estonia and Norway.
Yes Cro has plenty of flaws (goalkeeping, defense) but I think that the potential for improvement is there. We do have excellent forwards and an excellent midfield. These two components can make up for an average goalie or defense.
There is plenty of time for Bilic to look at the team and make changes. He definitely has to bring in new tactics and figure out how to make his current roster gel. I think we can and should progress from our group. A win against Ireland will be the catalyst for progression. Looking at the Czech draw with Ireland can anyone out there really say that Croatia is unable to beat Ireland? Of course we can. At Euro 2008 Cro took it game by game and ended up 3-0. We have to do the same this summer. Win against Ireland and your in the right mindset for Italy and not thinking about Spain.
@pointdexter…..LOL LOL LOL LOL !
@the anonymous 1… you are very entertaining, but also make very valid points
@dennis & ante you guys should get this anonymous character and give him his own blog or something
@ Anna & Pintar! For now I will be known as “The Anonymous 1” maybe “Ziva’s Kryptonite”? na Im stickin with “The Anonymous 1”
@Josip B,
France should play in the Africa Cup instead.
“Australia being an “Asian” team is weird, they sure don’t look Asian”
I can’t remember when France looked “French”/European anymore either.
@Wallace……….that is always the big issue for the USA….not enough meaningful games for them until WC qualifying begins and 80% of the teams they play in CONCACAF don’t preapre them for WC opposition. It may get better moving forward, there is talk of Copa America expanding to 16 teams for the next one that would include Mexico and the USA. That would help.
As for Australia….they wanted to go into the Asain zone because playing in the Ocieana region did not prepare them for WCs.
I don’t want to see the USA or Aus in the Euros for one simple reason, those countries are not in UEFA or in Europe.
1) Someone mentioned how the U.S. doesn’t play another meaningful game until 2014; it’s down right brutal to be on a 4 year revolver, as the CONCACAF tourny is an ugly unwanted step child to Euro.
2) Australia being an “Asian” team is weird, they sure don’t look Asian. Nobody says this, but the truth is they’re infinitely more European in every way but geography.
3) The Euro is going to 24 teams, why not let the U.S. and Australia into the Euro? The U.S. can still play Mexico in some mini-tourny – call it the Carling Cup of international soccer.
Ibrahimovic grew up alternating between junior clubs Malmo BI and FBK Balkan.
FBK Balkan to this day STILL has a Yugoslav flag (with red star) on it’s crest, and wears the same uniform that was a copy of the Yugo national team.
His roots were shaped by people that still hold onto the Yugoslav dream. He’s not lying when he says he was always going to play for Sweden, and no other option (that was still available at the time anyway) was even considered.
@Bobby V………..regarding Ibrahimovic. He was never going to play for Croatia. The savez never reached out to him because they never heard of him until it was too late. Even if they reached out, he would have said no. I think he made his debut for Sweden when he was still with Malmo and just before he went to Ajax.
From what I have heard – and this comes directly from his mom’s side of the family in Zadar – at the time he played his first game for Sweden (erasing any chance of playing for Cro or BiH) in 2001, he had no interest playing for Cro or BiH. The war was still fresh, only 6 years removed, and because he was from a mixed marriage he never felt croatian or bosnian, but he felt swedish. According to the family member he did not want pcik one side over the other and it was never a tough decision for him.
Now, 10 years later Markovic and Srebric can say all they want. But, the fact remains that Ibrahimovic was never an option for Croatia.
Totally correct on all counts; he read it aloud but I know he didn’t mean it. And you are absolutely right.
Ante B – yeah I saw that…I heard him say it in the interview and mentioned (“I think Denis was just repeating what someone else says”) so I apologize if it appears I’m accusing him…from his personality and writeups he seems like a good guy. My point still stands strong though…and if this site is to promote the Uniting Of Croatians??? shit like that pisses me
Slavonac,
It wasn’t Denis. He might be a Hajduk guy but he has told me repeatedly he loves Zagreb in person and I believe him. Procitaj ponovo pa bus videl. Honest mistake.
I kad umrem pjevat ce Slavonija
did I actually hear Denis Svircic say – jebes Zagreb jebes Maksimir? I don’t get this divided bullshit from some of you on here….so you’re not Croatian…your a Dalmatinac? wtf? I can’t stand those kind of stupid comments…I think Denis was just repeating what someone else says but some people here pretend to be a Hrvat and talk ignorant and stupid shit about other people’s cities and regions…if you ask me people like that are the kind that think only theirs is the best…and divide Croatians everywhere…i love the diversity of Croatia…my Slavonija…but I also appreciate all the other regions and cities because of the diversity….jebes zagreb jebes maksimir…ma ti odjebi…bezobraznik!
Who in the Croatian Soccer Federation dropped the ball in trying to contact Zlatan to play for our National team? He might have said no (there is a quote in Index.hr today that says he would have said yes), but, to not even try is inexcusable. His mother is Croatian.
Sigh.
To the guys who put together this site, day in and day out, I’m sorry that you have to deal with some of these ludicrous comments. We should all be thankful that such a website even exists.
This was a friendly, with a sizable portion of the team still on winter break. Let’s just hope that no one gets hurt (please, God, let Vedran be ok) over the next 100 days and that Pranjic gets a bit of a run at Bayern because we need his speed and energy.
Robert.
Bring in kresic as backup…How about Tomic or galinovic?
Runje is still clubless…
We have so many young potential gk. But they did not develop as expected..Players like delac, antolovic. It is a waste. They could better than keleva and subasic
@ CroatHrvat
We should have tried harder to get the second win against the Turks in Zagreb. It was not too much to ask.
@ Ante
Nice article. I am still in a good place after the Turkey playoff round so I will cut our boys some slack. We will be ready come Euros baring injuries!
“The own goal today was hilarious as Olic tracked that thing down at full speed. I hope all of you got a chuckle from it.”
The own goal was scored due to Olic. He was bearing down on defender Jonas Olsson while the ball was still in the air and it caused Olsson to panic and make a blunder. If he does not attack the defender in that manner than Olsson does not make that mistake. Period.
@ IvicA
“LOL @ Ivica Olic desperately running after that own goal to try and tap it in and get credit for it”
If you watch the replay you will see that Ivica pulls up and he glides in from just outside the crease of the goal box line. His initial burst towards the ball was to make sure the ball was going where it was supposed to go. Once he recognizes the fact the ball is going in the net he pulls up. Notice, when Ivica runs full tilt his arms are in the running motion. From just outside the goal box line crease his hands go down to his sides, he pulls up and glides with his momentum going forward. Thus negating the theory that he is trying desperately to get a tap in goal as he is no longer in full stride.
We had a bad day @ the office and our defense needs addressing. That being said, Sweden has a very good team and they play a very physical game and we are notoriously not a good team when we play against physical opponents. Defense will be our main concern come Euro 2012 baring injuries of course.
The penalty shot should not have stood as it was a deliberate hand ball by Elm.
Well, until Pletikosa makes a mistake like Serb Subasic or ghost Kelava in a game that matters, I will stick with him.
The serb stinks and Kelava….well, we saw enough of his mistakes in the Champions League.
I’m all for another GK, if there was one.
And big league and CL matches do mean more than friendlies. I don’t know what that is so hard to understand. Yes, the players for every country use the same line that its an honor to play for your country every time. That is true, but it doesn’t mean that they take every game seriouslly as you think they should. What Modric does this weekend against Man U means more to him than what he did in a random friendly.
I don’t think Ante is clueless but Ante clearly said that. If the videos weren’t 52 minutes long, i’d look it up but Ante did say that. You were so down on Lovern that you would stick with the same Turkey lineup. Well Croatia did and look what happened. I know a few players haven’t played and could be out of form but let’s not confuse Sweden with a world class team. They have a few players that I had no idea about. Hopefully Croatian players have a great weekend and show some energy considering they showed little to nothing.
All of you people who think league games mean more than international friendlies are idiots who cater to the propoganda from the greedy and bloated clubs. Shame on you all.
@ Pointdexter
Pletikosa suck, Kelava sucks, you suck…whatever!
Im just sick of seeing Pletikosa suck…id much rather see someone new suck….who knows….someone new might even make a save….unlike Pleti
Double D’s out!
@Anonymous needs to get a name if he/she wants to be taken more seriously. This has been stated again and again on this site.
Ante, you are many things, but a liar I thought you weren’t. You DEFINITELY said on one of the Sunday night live shows, when Denis asked you who would you start for the Euros, you said you would start the EXACT same team that beat Turkey 3-0 and you even named them CLEARLY stating Schindelfield would start.
I’m having difficulty taking you seriously now if you are going to lie, this is very unbecoming of you. You may fool others with your journalistic eloquence but you will never fool me sunshine. Your a terrible soccer pundit, but what you lack in understanding of the beautiful game you make up for in journalism skills so I guess you do bring something to the table.
The weather wasn’t even that bad, people are not going because of the HNS, its simple. Even if a stronger team came it wouldn’t be sold out. Croatia will also hopefully fall out of the top 10 after this, with that HNS loses any credibility because thats all they hang their hat on
@Anonymous……ok, genious, who is better than Pletikosa in goal. I’d take Pletikoa in a coma over any other GK we have.
I don’t think Pletikosa is anything special – never has been – but nobody in Cro is better.
His backups are a serb in second division of France and the human ghost in Kelava. We saw what he did, better yet what he didn’t do, in the Champions League.
You may not like me and think my opinions are too strong, but I ask you what I have said that is wrong?
@Poglavnik…..good point. another reason why the low turnout for the game in ZG is because the public is disgusted with the savez. What better way to show your disgust by not going to the game.
Simunic has been garabge forever. A slow defender that grabs and fouls that can’t cover my baka.
Their play & urgency matched as bad & ugly those jerseys looked.
Why do they insist on wearing the blue away for home games? even when they dont have to. The blue jersey has become our home jersey. Thats a fact.
But im with pointdexter (ziva) on this one, it was a meaningless game, and should be viewed as such. That doesnt mean it wasnt hard to watch. A little more effort would have been nice.
Pointdexter lol. isnt that one of the characters from revenge of the nerds? funny stuff! anonymous.
Rakitic & pranjic best performers on a all round weak showing.
Pletikosa=brutal performance.
To all requesting additional information on Frane’s Soccer Shop:
Send me an email in the next 48 hours at Ante@CroatianSports.com
I will sit down with him this weekend and see what makes sense since we don’t have an actual shop in place, yet. I’d like to keep this as organized as possible.
For those of you that have a Facebook, perfect! For those of you that don’t, I suggest making one.
He already has tons of pictures from his collection on there, it only makes sense to meet him halfway.
bahahaha i like this anonymous kid for tearing ziva a new one, get a name anonymous! i might need to start calling ziva pointdexter now lmfao made my day not gonna lie
@ Poglavnik,
That theory doesn’t work with England, Germany and Italy as over 90% of those national teams are composed of players that play within that country. They never leave. Hence, they are always ‘home’.
For Frane from the video:
Do you have any Dinamo shirts/jerseys? Especially old ones from back in jugo…I’d frame one. Newer ones would be cool too. Do you have a site?
Gentlemen, how can I contact him?
@pointdexter “aka ZIVA”thinks he knows it all , you say that pletikosa is our best goalie? that comment alone shows you have no clue! jebemti sunce pick any goalie Any goalie than him and automatically you have improved your goalie status. And you cant hit a nerve with me because u dont know jack! Jesi pravi bedak. You should get a life and not focus 110% of your life writting stupid ass comments! Dragi moj sta ti nemas pojma! ali tebi se nemore dokazat, so I guess we will all be reading your retard comments…….
Hey guys,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Love the website, I check it out everyday…
As for the game today…I was watching with my dad and we both noticed how Croatia was not playing like a team at all. countless passes were intercepted, no communication, stupid mistakes….While the Swedes were very organized and disciplined.
For me, Pranjic and Rakitic were the better players today, Srna was off today, Modric had nothing but then again had no support, Olic and Mandzu couldn’t keep the ball, Eduardo was decent, Vida was plain horrible, Kranjcar would have done better if He had started. Perisic touched the ball once I think…Corluka was good until he got hurt…,
We have world class players, but they don’t seem to play well together….or they only play good when the pressure is on.
do you guys think that it’s because of the coaching staff? Or we just don’t have players that are consistent?
I’m still not worried tho, I remember right before Euro 08, we had a friendly against a cheap team and we only tied them…everyone was worried that we would suck at the Euro. But Euro 08 was the last time I was REALLY impressed by Croatia.
If we blame the players playing in russia and ukraine for the poor performance, then why ukraine and russia still won ?…especially russia who beat denmark away 2-0
The atmosphere, or lack of, still really boggles my mind. What the f**k else are people in Zagreb doing on a Wednesday night?! And when I hear that tickets were going for as cheap as 4 Euros in the cheap seats there really should be no excuse for such a bad turn out. Id rather see us in a tiny, but full, div. 2 stadium than a 2/3 empty Maksimir!
I think Ziva had a good point about home friendlies being distractions, particularly at this point in the season. A lot of road teams won today.
God, I can’t believe I’m about to do this but here I go anyways:
@ CroatHrvat,
Was that directed towards me? If it was, that British weather might be clouding your judgement (see what I did there?)
Please tell me when I said Schifo should start in front of Lovren. You understand that Lovren is injured right now, right? Obviously he would be in my starting XI but i would rather have Schildenfeld in there than play with 10 men…we have little options in the back.
Regarding the game as a whole….this is what I wrote two days ago for that match:
“Croatia open up their 2012 campaign Wednesday night in Zagreb against Sweden in a friendly. It will be the first of three friendlies for the Vatreni as they prepare for Euro 2012 in June, where they will meet Ireland, Italy and Spain in group play. However, don’t expect much from this match.
With most players in the final run of their club seasons and rain expected in the forecast, the match should be more of a walk-through than anything else. Temperatures should be in the mid-40′s (F) with only 10-15 thousand fans expected in attendance for the 8:30PM (local) kickoff.
Even in damp conditions, the show must go on. Who would you like to see in Croatia’s starting XI? Obviously, guaranteed starters Luka Modrić, Vedran Ćorluka, captain Darijo Srna and goalie Stipe Pletikosa are locks, but how much time will coach Slaven Bilić give them and what new experimentation would you like to see?”
I’m against Bilic starting Modric, Corluka, Kranjcar, Rakitic and Jelavic in these types of games. And by these types I mean a friendly match set in the black hole of the international season. It’s gets all these guys that are in the ‘meat and potatoes’ of their club season to fly out, play a quick scrimmage, only to fly back and have a league game that weekend. Modric and Kranjcar play Manchester United this weekend.
Corluka and Bayer Leverkusen host Bayern Munich this weekend and then play Barcelona four days later. Now look what happened today…Corluka got injured. Why?
I’m cynical and will call today’s 90 minutes from Croatia only a 60% effort. Why? Lots of starters out there that should be focusing on league instead of country. However, they have to at least play a half, otherwise they are labeled as non-team players that only care for themselves and their club career. Fan quotes such as “how dare he not give 100% while wearing the checkers.”
So they go out there…because they have to, but half-ass it because why would they give 100% in a friendly game three months away from another Croatia match. I like the August/Sept/Oct friendlies because those are only 2-3 weeks away from a real qualifier…and the may friendlies are obviously right in front of major tourney’s…
If I was Bilic I would have tested the kids in this match and told Modric and the big boys to stay home, get some rest and we’ll attack this more heavily with a stone plan in May.
Pletikosa, Srna, Vida, Simunic, Vukojevic, Eduardo should start because it’s a good little warm-up as they come out of winter break. Play Olic, Perisic, Pranjic, Vrsaljko because they don’t play for their club’s (not more than 30 minutes a week, sorry I should have put Vrsaljko above, wrong slot). These guys have things to prove…both at club and country.
However, when they have stuff to prove but are receiving passes from players that are there just to be there and #1 priority is NOT to get hurt…that lack of energy trickles down.
It’s a bad situation these February friendlies are. What would most of you guys said if we won 4-0 today? That Croatia will be a powerhouse going into Euro. Italy lost today. England lost today. Germany lost today. Should we count them out this year?
The issue I have here is that we’re all part of one of the most un-zen cultures in the world. We live the highest highs as Croatians and the lowest lows. (BK) That part of Croatian might not change for decades. However, most of us on this website live in USA, Canada, Australia and were not brought up (completely) with that philosophy, because we all know it’s a part of us.
We’re talking about a friendly match, not a qualifier, not a tournament game, a friendly! (Allen Iverson) THREE months before another meaningful game. Easy guys. We put way too much goddamn pressure on these guys to perform well…and now we’re criticizing their every move in a friendly. Sit back, grab a beer and enjoy the game. The own goal today was hilarious as Olic tracked that thing down at full speed. I hope all of you got a chuckle from it.
Why aren’t we talking positives here? Rakitic looked great and had his rocket foot on today and more importantly Pranjic doesn’t want anyone to forget about him…great pace down the flank.
—–
Off topic, ESPN Sportcenter just did a FIVE minute piece on the U.S. defeating Italy today. They haven’t done that much U.S soccer ever. Once again, riding a high. But guess what….they don’t have a meaningful game until the summer of 2014 in Brazil.
Croatia just defeated Turkey in a fantastic display to get that monkey off their back and qualify for Euro. Now this negativity from a friendly will add another monkey going into May scrimmages. Imagine if we lost to Estonia and Norway how the press would blow it up and demand Bilic’s head on a platter before Euro starts…
I say go for it. Other teams will play us down and think we aren’t prepared. We all know Croatia plays best as underdog…
Let’s hope Carli can play this weekend.
I’m out.
I’m more concerned with the play than the result, probably 2-3 shots on target and once again a slow build up allowing the Swedes ample time to get back and get in position
This performance won’t beat Ireland yet alone Italy, won’t even mention Spain
Only benefit I will give Bilic and the players is that these February fixtures are always tough because you only have 1-2 days to prepare. Next time they meet in May they will have 2-3 weeks to prepare and I expect better against Estonia and Norway to set up the tournament
But no matter what happens, Bilic needs to go after the tournament, the guy simply doesn’t learn from his mistakes. I personally don’t think Croatia is a top 10 team, but they can play better than this, I know it. We must be the only team in the world to regularly play 4-5 guys out of position each match
@vlad…..good points. I am the one leading the charge on meaningless games. By that I mean the result is meaningless. I am more worried over the style of play than the score. A 5-man midfield is an option for Spain. Not sure if it will be one of Bilic’s options, but it should be considered.
@Ustas…..ajme meni…..ako stvarno mislis da je Kelava golman za repka, onda boze pomozi. je jesam gledao kako Kelava brani….jese ti?????? dobro je branio u LP, jeli????? Ja mislim da je primio jos jedan gol.
@anonymous….sine, did i touch a nerve with you? Again, let me know what I wrote that was wrong or incorrect.
Not to impressed with the game! disagree with some of the suggestions stating theses games mean nothing, i understand they are not giving it their 100% but still they must be something to take out of these friendlies! remember these friendlies are for preparation not the summer friendlies in July! To say some players are still not in form who play in Germany an elsewhere that’s rubbish. One thing, i dont care we lost just that we created nothing today with a lot of possession as in most games friendly or competitive which is our weakness we had no killer punch! The third goal is an example that Niko rakitic and modric cant play together in the mid. Also i think pranjic should start, i know he dosent play at all in germany i dont care again hes one of the only players with pace that can carry the ball, he never looks like he hasn’t played all year when he comes in! obviously its just a friendly but still bilic has some thinking to do, the starting line up has some tinkering from know till june the back line, im not sold on corluka playing left back and vida playing right back, also the starting striker with mandzo and olic something dosent look right their, i like both their work ethic but we need someone to hold the ball better one of them have to go for a more natural striker. also i still believe our midfield needs some pace, we by june we have no strikers going bilic should go with a five man mid!
Ziva istina promijeni ime na kriva istina, neznas nista o nogometu. Mandzukic je bio najbolji igrac a kelava je najbolji golman u Hrvatskoj. ja se pitam jesi li ti ikad pogledao kelavu kako brani? ili mandzukica kako igra u njemackoj? ili ti samo dodes tu srat beveze.. Vi amerikanci neznate govno o nogometu pa dodete tu srat, kao da znate nesto.
Croatia is not that good and that’s all there really is to say… Truth hurts
Croat Hrvat with a sweet post right there. While Ante is my boy (and my biggest enemy because he’s so not funny), he does botch sometimes on his soccer knowledge. I’m happy I’m not the only one that remembers Ante saying Schildenfield should start. He was brutal today especially on the 3rd goal where he showed no effort or movement to make any attempt to stop it. Then he looked shaky when the attack would come.
Like they were saying on the video, people were saying Croatia was into the game but WHY was Sweden so into it? Why was Sweden playing like a team that had it all on the line. It just made no sense how poor Croatia was. I’m aware that some players were on a long lay off but wouldn’t they be motivated. Oh well hopefully the players score some goals and have some big performances this weekend.
@ziva always finding excuses for the boys when they just flat out sucked today! I dont buy that bullshit “this game meant nothing” every game always means something in some fashion. As for me disliking you? Never said that! Just your comments sometimes.. and i mean sometimes not all the time is over the top! You try and portray yourself like you are Mr fucking know it all, hate to brake it to you but your not!! Having said that nisam ja tvoj sin broj jedan i ja ne serem! I think we all know who the seronja is? i to ti je ziva istina!
@anonymus……..sine moj, nemoj srat. Everything that took place today was easily explained to you by myself over the last two days. Now, you may not like me and what I post on this site (fair enough), but you can’t say I don’t know what I am talking about. As for the nickname, i might just use it….Gosp. Know-It-All.
But, I see some of the others on this site are saying the same thing as I did…….unlike the cro media now and tomorrow morning, there is no need to go into panic mode over this.
I’m not saying we will get out of the group phase in June, but today’s performance has no impact on what will take place in June.
Srna, Pletikosa, Vukojevic, Strinic, the Brazilian-bron hrvat, and the bundesliga players have either played a few games or no games at all over the last 3 months……we are talking about 7 and more guys who are in the 18-man rotation. If we are playing like this in May then we should be worried. Right not this was nothing more than out-of-form and disinterested players playing match in a dead environment.
Okay I’ve had enough, I’ve sat back and witnessed a load of rubbish in here for a few weeks and enough is enough.
First of all, does Ante know anything about soccer? At all? This guy watched us beat Turkey 3-0 and immediately said that if he had to pick a team for the Euros he would have Schindelfield starting and would keep the exact same formation and starting XI. Unbelievable. Naivety at its finest, very frustrating to hear. Schinedelfield is a NOBODY in top flight football, he is a Bundesliga division 2 player with less than 10 international caps. EVERYONE sang about how beautiful the Turkey 3-0 victory was but NOBODY raised an eyebrow at the 0-0 draw in the return leg, the match that had we won would’ve seen us in the 2nd seed pot and taking Russias place in Group A. For Ante to come on here after the game and say “Croatia just didn’t look like they put it any effort”, let me tell you something, they gave it 100%, they tried their hardest to win and they ended up losing 3-1 to Sweeden, drawing 0-0 to a weak Turkey squad, losing 2-0 to Greece, losing 1-0 to Georgia, losing at half time to Israel, scraping a 2-1 late win against Georgia. I’ve reached my limit with this generation of players, they are simply not good enough, they leak goals and when I watch them I have NO IDEA where the next goal will come from.
When was the last time anyone remembers a Croatian striker being through on goal one on one from a defence splitting pass (aside from Eduardo goal v Israel)? I’m just fed up with these donkeys, even the 3 against Turkey, one direct header from a free kick, one cut back as a result from a free kick that caught Turkey sleeping, and a goal from nowhere where Srna looped the ball into the box which Mandzu scored, may as well have been two free kicks and a corner, no quality. I used to be content with just “winning” regardless of how the goals go in, but not anymore, there is no long term consistency I can see for the repka.
Forget this nonsense about Schindelfield, Dujmovic, Mandzukic, Perisic etc. Give me back my experienced veterans, Eduardo, Vukojovic, Lovren, Kranjcar.
Give me my:
Pletikosa
Srna
Corluka
Simunic
Lovren
Vukojovic
Kranjcar
Modric
Rakitic
Eduardo
Olic
Nothing more, nothing less.
Ziva trying to defend himself for not being an idiot makes him look like even a bigger IDIOT. Mr fuckin know it all? Just SHUT THE HELL UP
My disclaimer is that I was unable to watch this match.
However . . . some people need to relax. It’s a friendly, the first “tune up”, still months from the Euros. A win, or even a convincing loss, would’ve been preferred. But let’s keep it in perspective. A few months back they trounce Turkey and everyone’s riding high. This is how these things work, at least that’s my perception given my many years of watching these events. No team on Earth plays at peak all the time. And while I don’t think the FIFA rankings are a perfect science, being ranked 9th doesn’t mean you will always beat the 18th-ranked team. They are hypothetical rankings for god’s sake, not mathematical truisms.
Will the team do well in the Euro’s? I’m not sure yet, but I can tell you I won’t be basing that opinion on today’s match months from now, that’s for sure.
@MB13
You are correct. Sweden ran at our lazy asses and chased down every ball.
I always thought we play like shit in Maksimir. Looks like everyone played at 75%.
No matter how meaningless and far out Euros are, it always painful to see performances like today’s.
Agree that this friendly does not mean much….I like Bobby V’s idea. Lots of these guys have been on winter breaks so they are far from game shape. Throw in the fact that it’s so far from the tourney and you got a recipe for a stinker! If this was a May friendly, a month from the tourney, I might care more.
That being said……our defence looks like crap. I don’t need this friendly to remind me of that. Maybe Bilic will play 6 at the back, 3 in the middle and just have Olic stir it up as the lone striker…haha
Useless to have internationals at this point of the season. I would rather have them play 3/4 games in two weeks in May and give up this date.. With a 23 man roster, it would be easily possible and make more sense.
HELLO FROM UTAH! 🙂
My $0.02.
Croatia’s build-up is too slow.
Sweden won because they ran at us and put us on our heals.
Croatia would wait until Sweden got their defense set and proceed to make 10 passes between defenders before promptly returning the ball the Sweden the second they tried to advance up the park. That is fine – what was frustrating was them not adjusting tactics during the match. It’s great to talk about a way through Sweden in pre-game and tactical meetings – but if it ain’t working after 60 minutes, you might want to change lanes.
It will come out the same time as a Colin O’Haravić jersey.
When will the Allen Kurac jersey come out?
Corluka or Rakitic jersey will be purchased depending on how bad Corluka is hurt.
We shouldn’t get too worried. The people who are shouting now that our players are worthless are the same ones who will say that, if we beat Ireland at Euro 2012, we can become European champion. Football will always be a funny game. Losing doesn’t mean you can win the next games. Perhaps this defeat is even for the best, we’ve learned what won’t work.
june is long ways away. I’m not worried.
@Toni……..why the lack of fans in ZG? It was a cold night, meaningless game and quite frankly watching the repka on a Feb. night is not at all enticing. If I was in ZG, I would have preferred to watch it at home on HD.
Eventually the state of the domestic game is bound to catch up with the national team. Has it caught up? Not yet, but its getting there.
I take nothing negative and nothing positive away from this game. My attitude would remain the same if we won 4-0 or loss 4-0. We are still 3 months away from the Euros and and some of our kep players will be in form by then. Remember, Srna, Pletikosa, Vukojevic, Kalinic all play in Ukr or Russia and have been part of the top 18 players for a while now. All these guys played and will play significant minutes at the Euros. I expected them to play below average today for the simple fact they have not played a meaningful game since December.
Add in the German-based players who just came back a few weeks ago and you have the recipe for sloppy play. This is no surprise – or at the very least should not have been a surprise.
That all being said…..this team still has plenty of flaws. We quailifed for Euros which is pretty much the peak for this team. Anything beyond the group phase should be celebrated.
the only positive is Italy and Ireland didn’t like the world on fire in their matches. Apparently the Czechs were comfortable in possession against Ireland but conceded a very late goal and Italy lost to the US. Of course Spain cruised to a 5:0 victory
Croatia will need to wake up though, that was a pathetic performance even if it was only a friendly with two days to prepare
BILIC-Čestitam Šveđanima na dobroj igri i pobjedi. Ibrahimović je bio fenomenalan. U prvom dijelu smo bili ok. Imali smo proboje po boku, bili smo opasni u prekidima…, rekao je Slaven Bilić nakon utakmice
U tom prvom dijelu praktički nismo ni stvorili šansu, a izjednačili smo zahvaljujući nespretnosti Olssona koji je zabio autogol. – U drugom dijelu smo pali. Jednostavno nismo bili dobri. No to su igrači kojima vjerujemo. Na njih računamo kao na ozbiljne kandidate za Euro u Ukrajini i Poljskoj. Htjeli smo biti čvrsti u sredini i preko bokova ući u šanse za gol – nastavio je Bilić.
– Najlakše je reći da nismo bili raspoloženi. Istina, okupljanje je bilo tek dva dana prije utakmice, no to nije alibi. Tražili smo pozitivan pritisak, ali nismo uspjeli. Bili smo sporiji od Šveđana i morat ćemo podići tjelesnu spremu – dodaje izbornik.
Bilic keeps saying this team has quality. Where is it? What does he see that the rest of the world does not?
Prazne maksimirske zidine i 1:3 od Švedske konačni su dokaz da je nogomet u Hrvatskoj mrtav!
For a match that was nationally televised on TSN 2 here in Canada, the national team could have played better. Bit of an embarassing match. Why was the stadium damn near empty? If Croatia played in Canada we could easily fill 30,000 seats, Zagreb looked like it had less than 5,000. Economy that bad down there or do Croats not give a shit?
A lot of you guys posting out there are shitting on the defense but I think if you look at the goals objectively you can clearly see that the midfield was at fault for the second and third Swedish goals. No one tracked back and covered the Swedish midfielder. Larson’s first had him open and unmarked facing an empty net, not to mention that Ibra was able to easily run in and make his pass into the 18. The third goal happened again because no one from the midfield tracked back and took on Ibra until he was well forward and able to make an easy pass. Srna came too late on at least one of those goals.
Some thoughts on player performances:
I thought Joe and Gordon had decent games, they made some key interventions preventing an even bigger embarassment and Schildenfeld got a goal!
Stipe was OK but I blame his tentativeness and sloppy play on lack of recent club play.
Olic and Mario hustled but did not get any great service from Srna and Modric amd therefore were not involved in any clear chances.
Srna was very disappointing, running around like a chicken bez glava and wasting passes and free kicks in equal measure. Modric was also disappointing in the 45 minutes he played as he had a few passes uncharacteristically picked off.
Rakitic was a stud, having the best opportunities to score and generally looking smooth and composed on the ball.
Jelavic likes to crash and bang out there and I think that will help against the Irish come June if he gets the start. Eduardo got a goal miles offside though, lol.
Overall yes a poor performance from Croatia but I wouldn’t say that Croatia will have an awful Euro based on this result. Check out Cro’s friendly results before the last Euros courtesy of FIFA.com:
06/02/2008 Split Croatia 0:3 (0:2) Netherlands
26/03/2008 Glasgow Scotland 1:1 (1:1) Croatia
24/05/2008 Rijeka Croatia 1:0 (1:0) Moldova
31/05/2008 Budapest Hungary 1:1 (1:1) Croatia
Based on these stellar results it wouldn’t begrudge you to think that Cro would finish 3rd or dead last in their group.
P.S.
Italy lost 1-0 at home to the U.S today. First win all time against Italy for the Americanos.
Weird how they didn’t choose Cyprus, Lithuania or Luxemburg for this friendly, so they can keep the ever so important FIFA ranking intact.
Sweden (team #18) looked like a team of space aliens against us (team #9).
Does somebody still believe the FIFA rankings are anything but a heap of utter bull?
I shudder at the thought what this repka will do at the EURO… Maybe it was better if we stayed at home.
@ Slavonac ja sam samo tako reka ovo nije ljepa nasa ovo su falsni sminkeri koji samo novinari i mamic pravu igraci od nji! ocito je da svedjani imaju bolju momcad. nasi se igraci slepaju na neke davne utakmice i formu koju vise odavno nemaju – sad su to uglavnom igraci koji vise cak ni ne sjede na klupama u svojim klubovima, nego su na tribinama – ipak me cudi tolka nezainteresiranost i indolencija u igri, trebali bi grist, ali se radije setaju i valjda u sebi prozivljavaju staru slavu….modric? inace sam o njemu imal stvarno dobro misljenje bas zbog karaktera, ali on vec dugo ne igra za repku nego samo statira i cuva noge…da je sad sastavit repku od igraca splita, osijeka, cibalije, istre itd, bez ijednog igraca dinama ili hajduka ili ovih “stranaca” koji stvarno nisu zasluzili dres, nebi ta repka postigla nista losiji rezultat, ali bi bar poginuli na terenu za taj dres….al dobro, sad bar znamo da nemamo sta ocekivat od ove momcadi…
Does this prove that “match fit” doesn’t matter? Klasnic and Kalinic could have done better than these strikers. Those guys have heart.
@ HNK DALMATINAC CRNO – pa why you living in the past? bit ce bolje pa ces onda bit prvi koji ce pjevat za nasu reprezentaciju….relax…the world isn’t over…Italy lost to USA today…should they cut their rists?
Remember, Ziva is no idiot……Ziva told you a few days ago to not expect much from this game. I guess Ziva was right…..again. The reason I say these games are meaningless is because that is what a few of the players tell me or those who are close to them.
As for Pletikosa…..he will be fine come Euros, rather he will be what we are used to. This was his first game in about 3 months because of the winter break. I would have started the serb, Subasic, in goal or even Kelava. We have nobody else at GK. Nobody. Plus, it doesn’t help that the first goal was Corluka’s fault. His man beat him.
This is why I rather see our guys play away for friendlies. When they come to Cro for a friendly most of these guys are worried about non-soccer items because they are back home. When you are on the road there are less distractions. Call it lack of professionalism, being typical croatia or anything else, but its the truth. They worry more what to do after game and making sure they can catch up with their disease-infested jersey chasers in ZG. You know the crowd (just ask Corluka).
lol… **put
Wow… I need to read before I post stuff. *Please out me in. I’m waiting for my call from Bilic.
Di su oni dani kad je igrala obrana Simic -Tudor -R.Kovac-Simunic that was a great defense and N.Kovac infront of them!
Damn. I need to be keeper. Please out me in. I said this months ago. I’m still waiting for that my from Bilic.
http://www.hrsport.net/vijesti/435507/nogomet-reprezentacija/igra-u-skladu-s-ambijentom this is alink from sports sit their ratings
Rakitic and Pranjic best players on the field for Croatia (not saying much). Corluka didnt look comfortable on the left (een though he played limited minutes) Krnajcar had more fouls than touches in the 2nd half (back with a vengeance, yawn) Our forwards barely touched the ball. THE WORST PLAYER ON THE FIELD BY FAR WAS SRNA. All of his crosses were below average. Not one quality free kick (he took about 5 of them), the entire backline looked out of shape. Ajme meni, buducnost ne izgleda dobro. It is a meaningless friendly, but dammit have some pride when you put on the shirt. NO ENERGY NO EFFORT whatsoever
Brutal performance, whats up with Pleti? Seems as Modric isnt the same for us as he is for Tottenham as well
I’ll get in on that too, just because…
Ziva, you’re an idiot.
Meanwhile, meaningless game or not, the fact is Pletoksa and our defense suck. It doesn’t help that Čorluka pulled a hammy either. Lovren can stay injured too for all I care. Šimunić and Gordon back there is funny.
Sorry guys, we’re gonna do shitty this summer.
NAPAD I CANNOT BLAME NO ONE GAME THEM DESECENT BALLS AND THE OLIC MANDZUKIC NAPAD BIG NOOO. EDUARDO NEEDS TO START MY OPINION I FORGOT SCIFO IN THE OBRANA NEEDS TO DO BETTER
THE MIDFIELD REKLA MOJA BABA NI UKUSA NI MIRISA
MODRIC SAVING HIS LEGS FOR HARRY
DUJMOVIC WON BALLS AND AGGRESSIVE
SRNA NOT THAT GREAT FOR A KAPETAN
RAKITIC WAS OK GOOD SHOWING
PERISIC DIDNT SEE BALL AT ALL
KRANJCAR NO COMMENT
THEN PEOPLE TELL ME WHO CARES ABOUT THE HNL WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK PLAYERS ARE GETTING PRODUCED FROM IF A PLAYER ISNT BROUGHT UP THE RIGHT WAY NO NATIONAL TEAM SO THOE GUYS WHO ONLY LIKE THE NATIONAL TEAM AND NOT HNL DONT UNDRTAND THE SYSTEM, AND ALSO THIS GAME PROVED EVERYTHING THIS IS THE TRUE CROATIA NO TACTICS NO HEART
MY RATINGS IF ANYONE CARES
PLETIKOSA- TERRIBLE GAME AND NEEDS TO DO BETTER MAKE OME SAY MAN
PRANJIC- HAS NO BUSINESS BEING ON THE NATIONAL TEAM
VIDA- IS NOT A BEK
CARLI-GOT HEART BUT IS NOT A LEFT BEK
JOE- PLAYS FOR DINAMO THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY
@ Slavonac from Canada
Bingo!
🙂
Frane, thank you very much for showing us some of your collection! Love that stuff !
All 4 goals scored by Swedes. This team should consider themselves lucky to even qualify for tournaments and how they’re even in the top 10 ranking is a mystery. They just chased the Swedes around like fools the whole game and the passes were intercepted half of the time. Does anybody know how to take the ball up with speed? Just a bunch of passing around that got nowhere. Crosses into the box were shut down by simply double-teaming the wingers. This team simply makes too many mistakes to compete with the big dogs. I predict a Dinamo Zagreb champions league style of an exit for this team. It’s best to forget this team and cheer for Germany instead.
“Ziva your an idiot”
wow. The irony.
I didn’t see the game todaybut from what I have read and what I already know I think we will get better from this loss. It appears as Sweden came to play and we didn’t…that happens a lot in sport. Bilic will figure this out and I hope everyone here will realize there is no need to panic!
More embarssement dont worry we will beat the mighty estonia and draw against a descent norway then the fun begins irska italija and the icing on the cake spain!
It was a bad game, but Sweden were by no means “dominant” as the announcer said. Ibrahimovic however looked like a Monster on the pitch. Don’t panic, Pletikosa won’t play like the tin-man by the time June rolls around. I just hope Modric doesn’t get burned out before Summer, as he looked real sluggish today.
You guys are good!
I would boo them…actually I already booed them with ass clowns like Schildenfield wearing the proud checkers or proud whatever you want to call that jersey.
Typical excuses…thing was Golden Child was that it was dominant Holland side not a team like Sweden who is decent at best.
fuck maksimir fuck zagreb! who boos their own national team? atmosphere was shit. i wouldnt feel like playing on that shit stadium either. on top of that torcidasi werent let in the stadium. fuck HNS mafia piece of shit. uvik sam viran! bit cemo prvaci ali nadam se da ce markovic dobiti srcani udar.
all around very bad performance! friendly or not. defence very shaky, goalie just plan sucks and I always thought that of pletikosa. they better get their ass’s in gear or it will be a very short summer for the national team!!
Wouldn’t worry about this game too much. Last time we had one of these before Euros we got blasted 3-0. Nobody gave a shit today.
I just want Ante to appear so I can bash him for having faith in Schildenshit.
Brutal game and major questions heading into the summer. Schildenfield is a jokester that has no business starting. Simunic needs to retire after Euro 2012. Rakitic was the only guy I’d say that really stood out as someone that looked lively. Jelavic had some decent moments so that’s positive. Other than that, it’s going to be a quick summer if Croatia continues this with that fragile defense. Srna still doesn’t know how to cross a ball at a consistent rate like a team should. I could go on and on, but I won’t cause it’s a “friendly”.
Ziva your an idiot
This game was an educational experience. It shows which players are in synch and what they need to improve. No biggie.
that was poo
@Ziva
Lol. Great point. What a shit day.
Also, USA is somehow beating the Italians.
BEZ VEZEEE -U-
this is a perfect plan by Bilic……play bad and have nobody believe in us getting out of the group phase. Brilliant strategy to lower expectations.
mandza and jelavic, terrible, needs the olic dudu combination to get anything creative going, modric rakitic and kranjcar. no ones wastes more balls than srna. the back line is just a joke. corluka is the only good defender we have. pletihair is having a bad game
Bravo Jelavic, nice shot!
Nvm, too late for Luka.
We look terrible. Modric needs to grow a pair and try to make something with his dribbling rather than just passing with all the space around him. Seems to be working well for Ibra. At this rate, I predict Bilic to be bald by the end of the Italy game at Euro 2012.
Disgusting..
Pletikosa sucks. I know we’re in trouble whenever I see Simunic with the ball and passing it to the midfielders.
PLETI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!
How good a game is Rakitic having? Seems from the updates that he’s fairly involved and making some things happen.
Anonymous: “His mother is Croatian. He’s a bastard who should play for the turks.”
Haha, I hope you’re not the same guy who calls me a “race-ist” for being against inter-racial marriage.
Ziva: “The result means nothing here”
Tell us something we don’t know. What about the quality level of play? These games are played for a reason.
His mother is Croatian. He’s a bastard who should play for the turks.
Seems like Ibrahimovic doesnt like us that much lol
sweden 3- croatia 0
I love pletikosa
But Allen doesn’t believe in luck.
jelavic does not deserve the 9 smh
its what olic does he puts defenders under pressure and if you don’t know that then you really don’t know anything. yes it was luck just like every og, but that pressure doesn’t get put on that own goal doesn’t happen
I don’t see anyone here “praising Olic”.
We’re praising the own goal.
I got the sense people were joking about the Olic thing.
Anyway, I can’t watch the match but am watching updates. How bad is Carli’s injury?!?
I’d start Bin Mladen Petric in net for the next friendly
Ziva’s goalie rankings are awesome. I’d put 5. Ante Kvartuc personally. I hear he’s a gem that needs to be unleashed.
bilic should sub a pylon for pletikosa
Are we seriously praising Olic in that own goal? That goal was luck hands down. Yes Olic ran after the defender congrats so does most strikers. The defender made a mistake that you’ll likely never see again. Don’t give me that Olic great job crap.
Anyway shaky game to say the least. I think Corluka isn’t hurt badly, thankfully this game is happening now not in May then i be concerned. Despite his Rasheed Wallace like reaction, Manzo has looked solid for the most part. He put some nice touches on the ball and is very active plus had a nice cross to start the game. Rakitic looks dangerous while Srna is still on his seven falls a game pace. Schildenfield looks shaky so congrats Ante that’s your guy. People think Lovern is shaky, wow look at Schildenfield. Strange game but that’s always the case with Croatia. Dujmovic has been terrible as well, he’s been struggling to control a simple pass. I miss 2008.
@ Ziva
Stupid….ugly…whatever…
Pranjic looks good.
Shut up ziva.
Lets hope the 2nd half will be better.
Sooner this game ends, the better. Have to make sure no long-term injuries from this one.
yes, the ghost of Alen Bokšić
LOL @ Ivica Olic desperately running after that own goal to try and tap it in and get credit for it
classic olic
BRAVO AUTO-GOAL!!!
WHAT A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alen Bokšić where are you???
Pranjic looks explosive though. That’s good.
gotta get modric more involved
worthless, meaningless….all the same.
The result means nothing here.
@ Ziva
i wouldnt call it worthless….
Can we at least try some new moves out there. Of all the people to score it had to be the Swedish Mustafa.
we look like a bag of shit today…
I know but can we at least attack with some flair for once.
@ian…..worthless game. don’t worry.
but I am sure some will find a way to blame Bilic, modric or olic for it.
I miss Igor Stimac…
fuck thats just what we needed
Croatia looks awful.
as bad as Pletikosa is, he is till way above anything else we have. Plus, he gets a mulligan for today. He has not played a meaningful match in 3 months because of the winter break in Russia.
I would never play someone in a friendly if their season has not resumed. That is why today’s result means zero.
The national team GK pecking oder should be:
1. Pletikosa
2. Vladimir Beara
3. Ladic
4. Any warm body
145. Delac
206. Subasic
207. Kelava
@Anonymous…starting line up is not fantastic…cant be with madzu and olic starting
HAHAAH! Pletikosa! Is this guy normal ?!?!
Fantastic starting line up.
Pletikosa Corluka,Simunic,Schildenfeld,Vida,Dujmovic,Rakitic,Modric,Srna,Mandzukic,Olic.
myp2p.bz
Try Atdhenet.tv
Any link please?