Mateo Kovačić was voted MOTM and Joško Gvardiol scored in Manchester City’s 2-0 FA Cup semifinal win over Nottingham Forest Sunday. The victory will now see City play Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final May 17th for a shot at their only trophy of the season. Kova received a 9/10 grade from ManchesterEveningNews.co as he was “Arguably his best performance in a City shirt, finding the assist early on and running the game in midfield with barely a step out of place.” Gvardiol received a 7/10 as he “Lost a mark for nearly gifting a goal to Gibbs-White but another terrific display capped by a goal.” All in all, a great day for the Croatians at Wembley.
Marco Pašalić scored his 5th goal of the young MLS season Saturday in a 3-0 Orlando win over Atlanta. In the 2nd half, he ripped a left-footed shot from 24 yards to freeze Atlanta keeper Brad Guzan. The play goal came after suspect defense from the Atlanta side. Nonetheless, Pašalić now has 5G/2A through the first 10 games of the MLS season.
Barcelona took down Real Madrid in extra time of the Copa del Rey Final Saturday. But was in Modrić’s fault? In the 116th minute, Modrić sent what looked to be an errant pass to teammate Brahim Diaz (#21), that was intercepted by Kounde who scored the game winner. Modrić is getting slack for the pass but Diaz never came to the ball in his own defensive zone. Rule #1: Always come to the ball in football, never wait for it to come to you. Because of that, Kounde picked up the pass and fired off for a Barcelona Copa del Rey win. They may very well be in line for the European treble this season: Copa, La Liga and Champions League.
People on here (including myself) were asking about Majer, he is slowly being integrated back into the squad at Wolfsburg it seems.
Here is the article:
https://www.tribalfootball.com/article/soccer-world-championship-wolfsburg-star-majer-on-his-comeback-laliga-dreams-modric-comparisons-a8cdde14-5b3c-4e06-ac27-468f4ecc6954
On the other side of things there are reports that Real Madrid are in shambles. Modrić apparently is at odds with many of his teammates. I wonder what this means for Modrić at Real. Apparently him and Lucas Vasquez have only been extended till the end of the club world cup in July, this year.
Again that could just be a rumour tho, as the articles may not be reliable at Goal.com and Bein sports.
Nevermind it’s confirmed by Fabrizio Romano on Facebook. Looks like Modrić could be leaving Real.
Boban should be reaching out to Modrić ASAP for a possible Dinamo return
I was thinking the same. If Dinamo win the league, maybe they have a chance to get him back before he retires. However, I can’t imagine Luka would consider returning if they’re not in the Champions League
Džeko and Raketa at Hajduk, Modrić at Dinamo, Krama at Rijeka…
Gotta start working towards getting these vets back into the HNL.
Thanks @Mate1.
A good read…..great to get this update on Majer.
btw: all Croatian’s should get behind T*ttenham in their Europa semi vs. Bode today (1st leg) – if they want to see Vuskovic play for them next year – for Vuskovic to get 1st team play next year (to start w/ in the cups as e.g.) you will want Sp*rs to be playing in CL – which will demand a significantly bigger squad to manage the 2 games per week – if Sp*rs aren’t in Europe next year – the odds Vuskovic gets 1st team play go down drastically (and he might even end up on loan)
What is Tottenham? Shit!
And what is shit? Tottenham!
Thank you!
While the whole world fawns over Lamal’s goal y’day
Still haven’t seen anything from him as good as Jagusic’s 1st goal vs. Gorica
x.com/CroatiaFooty/status/1897400838982959552
Anonymous seriously gets Yamal-like vibes from Jagusic – there is clearly similarities in their style – of course Yamal being Spanish with his blonde hair gets all the plaudits – and is more “aesthetically-pleasing/smooth” in his approach (while Jagusic is more “raw”) – there are similarities Anonymous seems (objectively speaking)
Maybe the stars will align over him – if Kovacevic goes to Dinamo next year – and brings Jagusic with him – that would be a major bout of good luck Jagusic’s way – from Dinamo (and surrounded by much better players around him) he will look much better and if continues to develop/perform could end up commanding a decent transfer fee for Dinamo in 15 months to a top 5 league (skipping the interim Austria, Belgium steps)
Let’s see if the stars align in Jagusic’s way – there is still a lot that has to go right for all of it to happen – but there is a path there
you ain’t lyin
From Maminjo and Bartolec1912 mouth to Bog’s ears
@TheCroatianLad
Marco Pašalić:
“MLS isn’t the peak of my expectations. I want to return to Europe and take more big steps in my career. I want to build a great career.” [SN]
Davor – sure Marco went from 250k to 1m – but if Marco was all about the money – he could have moved to Saudi over the summer but he said no (I’m sure the Saudi’s would have paid him much more than 1m…)
#EveryWingerWillEventuallyMatter
In other words…
Marco Pašalić think the MLS sucks and is already eyeballing a future move out of that crappy league.
Kovacic has been playing very well…..links to two articles that might be of interest:
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/mateo-kovacic-man-city-fa-cup-b2740641.html
https://amp.sportsmole.co.uk/football/man-city/fa-cup/news/why-extraordinary-kovacic-has-been-a-massive-part-of-man-citys-recent-success_571479.html
Thanks for sharing those articles. We have been difficult on Kovačić over the years, but he will be key for Croatia moving forward I think.
Thought not mentioned above in the weekend round up, Josip Sutalo played very well this week for Ajax against Sparta (1-1).
I watched Sutalo struggling last year in the Eredivisie. This week he was in very solid form, played a bit like how Kova played against Forest……. Sutalo really in command on the field in this game against Sparta. Crisp and accurate passes, etc…no flaws.
The Ajax fans seemed frustrated with the team as a whole, that they could not put Sparta away and take a big step to locking up a first place finish in the league. But the team is on track compared to last year’s disaster.
I will tip my hat to Maminjo. He said last year that the problem was an Ajax problem, not a Sutalo problem, and that Sutalo would soon be one of the best defenders in the Eredivisie. That has turned out to be true.
Right now Sutalo is a totally different player than he was last year, poised, confident, a real force on the Ajax defence.
So…..What would be the best thing for Sutalo’s ongoing development? He has really stepped it up. If Ajax wins the league (and they are in a good position to do that) it would be a great result for him, and they will certainly get into Champions League next year. Should he stay at Ajax next season? What do we think?
The Eredivisie, if I have it right, is now the seventh best European League. Should he move to a top five league? Or as Ajax will be in Champions league next year, is that going to give him all the competition he needs to continue to improve his form and develop next season?
I lean toward thinking that the stability of a third year at Ajax would be best……but some big name teams might come calling…..thoughts?
Similar to Ivanovic
Saint-Guilloise currently 1st in table which would qualify them for CL next year (vs them being in Europa this year like Satulo)
Nothing wrong with him staying another year.
Would be cool to throw him into the fire in England.
He seems like he has the skillset they would like in the EPL.
I am curious to see how well Vušković does over at Tottenham first, before we send any more defenders there.
Although it would be cool to have three EPL defenders as a part of our Croatia backline.
Livakovic was benched (again) for Fener’s last game on Saturday and given that Mourinho doesn’t appreciate him, chances are Livakovic will remain on the bench from now until the end of the season.
So looking ahead, we might have a bit of a GK issue for our WC qualifiers in June, especially the crucial game vs Czechia on June 9. Do we still go with Livakovic? His last game for Fener was on April 20 before the “special one” decided to drop him. Just something to ponder about I guess…
@Bartolec1919
I will jump in on this issue…
I don’t think this has been the season he wanted at Fener….it is not ending up that way.
Some guys have had solid progress this year (eg Ivanovic, Vuskovic, both Sucic cousins, Sutalo) while others have not had seasons we had hoped for (eg Vidovic, Zvonarek, Erlic, Sosa…)
I would put Livakovic in the latter group.
But I think we have to go with Livakovic. He has been there before, he is proven, he has veteran experience at that level.
By no means a perfect situation for him right now, but tough to go with an alternative for WC qualifiers…best we stick with the keeper who got us third in 2022…
Marco Pašalić takes unlikely path to Orlando City: “I believe”
http://mlssoccer.com/news/marco-pasalic-takes-unlikely-path-to-orlando-city-i-believe
Good read. Hope he keeps on shining for Orlando.
Beautiful
“It feels like pure love” [re Croatia] happy 🥲
#EveryWingerMatters
Jeez
Really didn’t think it could get worse than Vidovic selfie with Stanisic in the bath
Was wrong
Jakic rolled up today with dreads 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ – I thought he did crosswords/puzzles to keep himself busy but clearly that isn’t enough
x.com/FCA_World/status/1915103377513398405
There is a better pic of it in his IG stories today
No way Dalic calls up Jakic with dreads for June – imagine getting yourself kicked off the Croatian National Team bc of dreads – unreal
Sorry, obviously it’s not dreads – it’s braids (even worse)
Maybe he’s telegraphing to Vidovic that he’s game and wants to be his team-mate ?
Anonymous sees no other explanation
x.com/FCA_World/status/1916112613592764851
Anonymous always front of line to rah rah Marco (#EveryWingerMatters 😢)
But
#99 Slisz was trying to head the ball away from net but rather deflected it perfectly towards the corner (that’s partly why geriatric Guzan was frozen) – you can see the reverse angles here that shows it
***.youtube.com/watch?v=y9lQjdValIE
Nevertheless
Marco 5+2 > Petar Musa 3+3
MLS leaders has 7 goals (Hugo Cuypers – fizzled after Belgium U19 and Tai Baribo – called for Israel 11 times w/ 3 goals)
Also, re: Barca vs. Modric – why didn’t anyone mentioned Yamal’s new blonde hair a la Nejmar unveiled y’day ?
***.tiktok.com/@bcx00112/video/7497714570098707734
Lastly, how many games Rudiger getting for throwing the ice cub at the ref ?
x.com/elpasabolas/status/1916272895304548392
Pašalić really should have jumped onto a Bundesliga or Serie A club.
Would have been better for his career and for the National Team.
Oh well.
Indeed…
Next best scenario is Marco has a very good season with Orlando and (if he receives a suitable offer) comes back to Europe in Jan 2026.
For our June fixtures, I expect him to at least be on pretpozivi…
He had no offers from those leagues that came close to what he is making in MLS. He has never made any money in his career. Going to MLS was his fist chance at good money. MLS is better than HNL
MLS is not better than HNL.
It’s unwatchable and players in that league are not being scouted by the Inter Milans and Arsenals of the World.
Marco Pasalic had a below par season at HNL this year, and is now scoring like a striker in the MLS (already surpassing his goal tally at Rijeka). The league is a joke for him.
The top scorers in the MLS are not even callups for their own National Teams.
MLS is only better in terms of salary.
Agreed. If you say MLS is better than HNL you have limited football/soccer knowledge and understanding. MLS is about as close to an amateur league as you can get in a “professional” league. TFC is a prime example. My club Sibenik would beat them. Watch there most recent match at home against NYFC (1-0 loss)and tell me those are pros. Give me a break.