Another tournament, and yet another medal given to a Croatian football side for being just short of the best.
“I love it, and I’m proud, and it’s an amazing achievement, but I want to win something already. I’m so tired of celebrating second or third place over and over again” – a good friend’s (and die-hard Vatreni supporter) response to a photo of the parade that Hajduk’s U19 squad received in the streets of Split, arriving home with UEFA Youth League silver medals around their neck. Undoubtedly, there’s a lot of pride in beating Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, and AC Milan on the path towards the final. The juniors fought hard, put Hajduk in the spotlight of world football, and foreshadowed a promising future of Croatian football for many years to come.
But it’s the same ol’ story again, and again, and again.
Ask most Croatian football fanatics about the best night of their lives, and I’m sure you’ll hear “2018 vs. England” quite a few times. Everyone also remembers the joy of beating Germany 3-0 in 1998, Russia in penalties in 2018, and even Brazil a few months ago. Did those victories create incredible memories and unite Croatians around the globe? Yes, they most certainly did. But what do we have to show for it? A couple of medals and a lifetime of wondering, “what if?”. What if the referees hadn’t called a penalty on Perišić vs. France in 2018? What if Thuram hadn’t scored a brace against us in 1998, the only two goals of his international career? What if Livaković didn’t draw a foul inside the box against Argentina in 2022, would our momentum have brought us a leading goal?
It just bites me that Croatian fans have never had the chance to experience the pure joy of winning gold on the international stage. With the number of chances we’ve made for ourselves, one would think we’d have at least one trophy to dust in the cabinet. Three semifinals at 3/6 World Cups that we’ve played in, failing to capitalize on chances we’ve produced in the Euros, and hardly any success from our domestic teams in Europe. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and recall some other iconic moments in recent Croatian football history.
- Mislav Oršić’s magnificent hat-trick vs. Tottenham in the UEFA Europa League to complete the comeback down 2-0.
- Ten straight years of a Croatian winning the Champions League.
- Luka Modrić’s 2018 Balon d’ Or, the first player to break the Ronaldo-Messi streak.
- Hajduk U19s reach UEFA Youth Champions League final.
- Croatia makes the UEFA Nations League semifinal of 2023.
All these fantastic accomplishments, but what do we really own to show for it? It’s hard to feel true peace in mind knowing you were almost the best. This reoccurring theme that once represented pride and surprise is now becoming an impatient waiting game and more let-downs after let-downs. We aren’t an underdog footballing nation anymore. With our current talent and what’s projected to come, we are on the cusp of being considered a powerhouse nation amongst the world ranks. Players such as Joško Gvardiol, Luka Vušković, Martin Baturina, Luka Sučić, and Dion Drena-Beljo might produce the best generation Croatian football has ever witnessed. The tools are, and have been, right in front of us, but why can’t we win? Are we playing way above expectations, or are we really this good?
A step in the right direction would be capturing the 2023 Nations League trophy – allowing Luka to pass the torch with a trophy in hand. This will make other squads fear us, and ensure that we’re the team that no one wants to face in qualifiers or have in their tournament groups.
Winning a World Cup or Euro is extremely difficult. But with the chances we’re creating, we need to quit settling for second-place parades and start winning. It’s time we start having bragging rights and a trophy to support this fan base’s incredibly passionate trash talk and opinions. We’ve had fun making memories on the journey. Now, can we please win something?
Nothing but credit to them for their unbelievable tournament, but Hajduk U19’s disappointing defeat in the final is just another example of classic Croatian football – close, but not quite.
Modrić will be back fresh and ready.
Madrid rehab center is legend.
As per “close but no cigar.”
Our time will come.
But I’d rather be relevant like us the past 5 years as opposed to Greece one off in 2004, playing shit football.
UNL would be a big step for us.
The talent pool is getting deeper and deeper.
Modrić longevity has bridged the War gap for us. Now we have kids growing up in Germany choosing HNS.
Need attackers to compliment our now solidity throughout the 2/3 of the pitch.
Strikers and wingers need to be developed.
https://theathletic.com/4463444/2023/04/28/luka-modric-real-madrid-injury/?amp=1
Please just be ready for the Dutch in nations league semis
He will be back for first leg with man city!
Actually better yet
Misses first one they lose by 1
Comes back for 2nd leg and grabs it by the balls and they win
Shutting up all this comparing crap
Get better luka
Nations League obviously takes priority…but I would love to see Real knock out Man City.
Man City are the favorites for the Champions League trophy, and it would end our Croat streak.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-madrid-espreal_madrid/story/4935719/sources-modric-out-of-copa-final-doubt-for-ucl
Perisic with a fantastic game for Tottenham
If you ain’t first you’re last.
I am very satisfied and happy and thank god very day I am croatian. When our players score, the best of than, look to the heavens, andd thank god as well. The teams we lose to, have built their teams from recent immgrants without shared genes. When they score, they do a monkey fortnight dances. There is no family, just drifters. Without africa. France is nothing. Without croatia, italy, spain, Argentina, nista.
If zlatan had played for us all those years rather than Sweden, I think we would of had a couple world cups.
Without the rest of the world USA, nista.
Dinamo about to clinch another title at Poljud this weekend. Shame. Dinamo je smece!
“Dinamo je smece!”….so what’s hajduk then?
Eric
I can answer that. Hajduk is a jugo team. Tito’s team. 😂
Bet it’s some cigan from zagreb behind this comment.
Hajduk je hrvatska momcad. Dinamo je komunisticka tvorevina. uzmi to i stavi u banku.
Mučko dubre!
If the rumours are true, both New Castle and Barcelona are fighting to get Broz in their squad. Personally I think BR z would do better in Barcelona. I am not sure about the Premier League in general but I guess we will see if a transfer happens for him.
I would prefer Broz at Barca. Although, I am very impressed with the way Newcastle has been playing this season, it’s been a joy to watch them
Metak, that 2018 final was not about Soccer Gods. That final was totally bought and paid to that ref Nestor Pitana . There is no way France would lose that final as that was Fifas narrative. This last World Cup was Argentinas. 2014 World Cup opener against Brazil was another game paid to that Jap ref. Fifa is complete bullshit sadly and is probably the most corrupt league in the world. Maybe one day they will let us win one gold for constantly fucking the small nation, but I wont hold my breath. BTW, you are a Croat through and through!
More like soccer devils…
I’ve watched our 2018 World Cup run a few times and along with the bad reffing against us, Croatia was extraordinarily unlucky in the finals. The first goal France scored was off a free kick from a dive from dirty Griseman. The actual goal happened from the ball hitting off the top of Mandzukic’s head and flying into the corner of the net!! Talk about bad luck. An own goal.
Then Croatia tie it with a spectacular goal from Perisic. Just amazing. But then more extraordinary bad luck against us. Perisic gets a handball call in front of the net. Another bad call as it was inadvertent because.. get this… the French player went to head the ball off the corner and completely missed it so the ball dropped and hit Perisic’s hand!! You can’t make this shit up! The World Cup shouldn’t be decided by inadvertent infractions. Idiot ref. So two bullshit goals from France.
If you look at the third goal from France, it’s even more bad luck for Croatia. A French shot from around the 18 hits Louvren and Modric and Modric turns the wrong way to see where it went and misses it. If he had just turned the other way instead he would have seen it.
The football Gods just didn’t want us to win it that year for whatever reason. It’s tough to swallow but we need to be strong and push forward. We’re fighters through and through. So let’s fight against all these fucks. That’s who we are.
Full disclosure – my mother recently blurted out at the Thanksgiving table that her great grandfather was a Turk. After choking on my stuffing I told her that he was probably a Greek (not great either) from Constantinople and it’s only a rumour. Unfortunately my wife has been referring to me as a dirty Turk ever since. I don’t even like burek!
Don’t forget:
those delusional people
{ { {everywhere here1} } }
calling the like Perisic and Brozovic as world-class players -0i
……. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JB_oH7ne64 ………
those two players are not even close to Kevin De Bruyne
who’s being considered world-class like Suker and Boban [-0
the only world-class player we have –> Luka Modric
he is on par with Neymar, Mbappe, Ronaldo7, Lewandowski
later they will be a legend like –> Ronaldo9, Zidane, Ronaldinho
Ante
I am a shit poster
But this guy is beyond annoying
At least ziva caused shit we could actually talk about
I agree it is difficult to respond to the stupidity this guy constantly posts, he keeps changing his name consistently it.geta frustrating, if your not Croatian or a fan of Croatian soccer than don’t post on this site.
Croatia U14,
Sounds like you’re a young guy and not looking at the big picture.
Since the break-up of Yugoslavia, who has done better than Croatia since they became an independent nation? No one has come even close than us. You don’t think the Serbians would trade our accomplishments with theirs?
Of course we would have liked to have won a title. Ask Belgium who always has the talent but never makes the finals if they’d trade with us.
Lastly, our team was nowhere as good as the 2018 squad (fact). We were one Lukaku goal away from not advancing from the first round of the World Cup. Without Modrić, we wouldn’t have even qualified for the last one. How many times did Dalić have to sub him in a 2nd half against a peon to salvage a tie or win?
As far as the youngsters, let’s wait until they get to the Senior Team before we throw another parade. We’ve seen so many fizzle over the years.
Close thread
What a silly proposition
We are Croatians
Born to fight and live for Croatia
That’s a god given right
Wouldn’t want to be anything else
Suba- nista vise- well said my friend
Of course we want to win
We will get it one day!
Till then we can continue to play as underdogs and let us put fear into the world
For a small country who was unknown…now people see the checkers and not only are they recognized but puts some fear and smile to see it from others
And that for me is just beautiful
Malo nas je al nas ima
This isn’t complicated. If you’re not first you’re last. Especially because we are good enough to be first.
This is a hard topic to comment on, there’s a lot of different things to respond to.
Many of us were around when we didn’t have a country to cheer for, our identity as Croatians was usually mixed in with the rest of our neighbours so we had to educate people….let them know that Boksic, Suker, Boban…were all Croatians, not Yugoslavs. Our “achievements” were with them, at their clubs…Real Madrid, AC Milan, Olympique Marseille. If you look back in time and see how well we’ve done as a Nation, sure you can say “close but no cigar” but that is quite unfair considering we are up against Nations that have 10’s of millions more population + the fact that they have tons of Africans and Middle Eastern immigrants to choose from while Croatia usually has Croatians…except for the odd player here and there. It’s very hard to compete against country’s that have 10 times the population or more…then add the biased ref’s along with obvious favourtism and you end up dealing with almost impossible situations. The last time a small country won the World Cup over 70 years ago when Uruguay won it…the last time a smaller Nation won the Euro’s was in 1992 when Denmark won it.
I believe we were completely robbed because of bad reffing in the 2018 World Cup finals, we also dealt with another questionable call vs Argentina this past World Cup but there’s not much we can do about it. Its happened to us in a few major tournaments and it’ll continue.
The Youth finals was a great achievement and nobody should feel let down about being a runner up in such a prestigious tournament…those boys did extremely well and deserve praise.
With regards to our future….I have some issues with this: “Players such as Joško Gvardiol, Luka Vušković, Martin Baturina, Luka Sučić, and Dion Drena-Beljo might produce the best generation Croatian football has ever witnessed”.
As of right now, Luka Vuskovic, Baturina and Beljo have a ways to go…Baturina is the most promising of the 3 and Vuskovic shouldn’t even be in the conversation. The kid is a good prospect but he’s far from anything other than a good prospect. I’m even cautious to call Sucic our future yet…never mind Beljo or Simic…we’ve seen this song before with soo many kids like Halilovic (Croatian Messi), Ante Coric, Andrija Balic (Croatian Pirlo)…and even guys like Brekalo & Vlasic who just never look good with our National Team and I watch games and don’t rely on sofascore to tell me that Vlasic is doing well…he’s definitely nowhere near as good as he was pumped up to be.
Winning a major tournament is always going to be tough for us. We don’t bring in players from abroad (ours are usually Croatian lineage), we are a tiny country and for us to win, we have to be fantastic and have some unbiased reffing along the way!
Goran was a runner up to Sampras and Agassi but he eventually got the win. Some of our losses are due to bad ref calls honestly.
Yea, we’re such losers ha ha
there is no mentality of champion in Croatian [o)
midget mentality always be ~ in us nowadays -0
only 96 – 98’s era we had this superb mentality! 1
under the bright lights, we do have a knack for crumbling. rinse and repeat for NL?????????
I think the time will come, for me we have proven that we can play with the best.
On another topic, there are articles suggesting Livakovic could go to Man United. I know it was mentioned that a Turkish League team got him. Is this a possibility or very unlikely at this stage??