England
Luka Modrić and Vedran Ćorluka helped Tottenham secure a 2-0 win over West Ham United at Upton Park Monday night in yet another London derby. Ćorluka continued his usual stonewall defense as he played a bit more physical on the night. He was beat on a play early in the 2nd half in which he fouled a Hammers player just inches outside of the box. The scoreboard says it was a good foul.
As for Luka, he’s definitely getting more comfortable; you can tell. In the 2′, Luka had an absolute gorgeous chance at goal from 16 yards out but kicked it right at the West Ham goalkeeper. From what I’ve seen, all of his shots from inside the box have skipped across the grass. He needs to learn to let ’em fly and rip the ball at will. As you see in the video, he played well.
As for Eduardo. Soon. Very soon. Until we see Wenger put him on the substitution list for a game (because I doubt he would start him) everything is speculation and rumor. My guess is first week of January. No better way for Dudu to start the new year than get back on the pitch.
Niko Kranjčar played the full 90 for Pompey in a 1-1 draw against West Brom. Be on the lookout, Niko hasn’t scored a goal in a while and he’s due.
Germany
The perpetual scoring attack of Ivica Olić and Mladen Petrić was once again in motion this week for Hamburg. On Thursday, the Croatian duo scored a goal each in a UEFA cup group match against Slavia Prague. Olić put one through in the 30th minute while Petrić netted a penalty in the last seconds of the game as the Slavia goaltender left the field after receiving a red card.
Later in the week, Hamburg took on FC Cologne in BundesLiga action. Petrić scored 2 more beautiful goals as Hamburg went on to win 2-1. These guys are absolutely on fire right now, not only scoring but complementing each other well on most of each other’s chances.
The most concrete rumor floating around right now is that Olić will go to Bayern Munich during the winter transfer window. It’s a good possibility as Bayern will be losing Podoloski and will need another strong striker to play along Italian, Luca Toni.
Ivan Rakitić and Robert Kovač had the week off respectively and Šimunić did in fact receive yet another yellow in Hertha’s 1-0 loss to Schalke.
France
‘Killer’ is finally on the board! The Nantes striker put 2 in the back of the net Saturday night in a 2-1 win over French champions and current table leaders, Lyon. Klasnić scored an Olić-like rebound goal for his first before guessing the right way on a late minute penalty kick. Boy, did he look nervous before he took it though. Hopefully he can remain consistent for the rest of the season.
Netherlands
The big Croatian news revolving around Holland is that Pranjić might go to Ajax during the winter transfer window. They are the current leaders in the Danijel Pranjić sweepstakes right now but it is still too early to confirm anything as many clubs are still eyeing the Croatian.
Greece
Ante Rukavina scored the game-winning goal for Panathinaikos in the 83rd minute as they beat Xanthi Skoda 2-1. This is a good sign for Rukavina as he was subbed in at the 60 minute mark. It was a beautiful run that he made but boy was that ball close to hitting the post on its way in. Mario Galinović recorded the win as he played the entire game.
Spain
There’s a Croatian striker in La Liga that we never talk about because he’s never been capped by the national side, and his name is Mate Bilič. He’s 28 years old and the only experience he has on the international level is playing 8 games for Croatia’s U-21 team in 2000-2001 where he scored 4 goals. He currently plays for Sporting Gijon, who have just recently been promoted this season, where he is scoring goals left and right.
Bilić has scored 7 goals in the first 14 games of the season and is currently in the company of Lionel Messi, Kun Aguero, David Villa and Samuel Eto’o for La Liga goals this season. Just keep an eye out for him.
Mate scores (4′) the first goal in the video in a 5-2 loss to Atletico Madrid this past Saturday.
~Ante Kvartuč, reporting from his house in San Pedro
i know this sounds silly, but i don’t really regard Olic as a striker. i’m happy to see Olic in every Croatia squad for what he does without scoring. He’s just one of those players who doesn’t play as a in the box striker but can be very creative. Petric is the guy am hoping will deputise till Eduardo comes back. We dropped Petric against Ukraine and i think he deserves his place back on current form and fitness.
I believe Bilic is a coach who does not select players who are out of form and Klasnic is very out of form. I’m expecting Klasnic to be dropped by the time of the next squad. Cvitanich still needs to score more as Mate Bilic and Rukavina deserve the chance a lot more than still. Who knows maybe it might force Klasnic to play harder. If we select Klasnic and Kalinic again in the next squad i think Bilic can be accused of having no imagination. I may be biased but i think Mandzukic is a more rounded player than Kalinic at this moment so i’d keep Mandzukic. Kalinic lacks Mandzukic’s physical strength and ability against stronger opponents. At present he still just seems like a young Bosko Balaban to me. We’ve got enough players like Kalinic in the squad. He doesn’t really give us anything we haven’t already got in Petric, Olic, Eduardo and what Mate Bilic couldn’t already give. Talking of other Croatian’s that play with other countries i think we made a mistake to let Emir Spahic play for Bosnia. He was great at Zagreb and been great in Russia. Considering our lack of defenders could do with him just now. I think Hjorve Cale is ready to step up to international level, but other than bringing Dario Simic back i can hardly think of any other quality Croatian defenders out there we can add to our squad. I’m really against Drpic and Vejic being in the squad.
As soon as Eduardo comes back into some form we’ll have:
Eduardo(hopefully), Olic, Petric, Rukavina, Mandzukic, Cvitanich, Klasnic as strikers.
It dosent look amazing on paper but Petric and Olic are on fire for club. Rukavina is starting to score and his team are still in the Champions League. Cvitanich is scoring a couple of goals from what I can see and he will get more game time soon. Mandzukic and Kalinic are the future of Croatian strikers and we all know what Eduardo can do if he makes a successful comeback!
Ofcourse in saying that, I understand Petric and Olic cant really convert club form to country. But considering our best striker broke his leg and Klasnic had a kidney transplant I think we’re in a much better position for strikers now than what we were at the last world cup. In 06′ we had injury prone Prso, in consistent Olic and Klasnic who couldnt translate his Bremen form to Croatia.
Add a bit of Kranjcar, Modric and Srna magic in the midfield and we’ve got a scoring team. We just need to keep suspensions and injuries to a minimum.
Yes, this controversial topic will continue probably for the rest of our lives!
Cvitanich scored twice, both off of headers today for Ajax. He will get more playing time, and most likely will be on the scoring sheet. Bilic will have lots to think about over the holidays.
I think we’re gonna have trouble keeping this topic quiet. Cvitanich is actually playing and scoring now. It’ll be interesting to see what Bilic does.
I actually agree now re: Klasnic i think he’s gone. Only two goals in that league is poor. As i say even Pokrivac has managed that with few starts. I think Klasnic knows he’s gone downhill too as he wouldn’t have joined Nantes otherwise. Not his fault, though, unfortunate i guess. Health, focus and fitness just not there with him no more. No mind Cvitanich, Bilic and Rukavina though i’d rather Srdjan Lakic was in the squad over him just now. If we don’t bring Cvitanich in the squad over Klasnic, its got to be someone else.
Joze,
Your last post was without a doubt your best yet!
Point #1
“Wearing the Croatian shirt is more than just wearing any old shirt. The amount of suffering the country has had to go through in order to even have a Croatian shirt is unbelievable.”
I can guarantee you that every member of the current Croatian team(besides Eduardo) had friends and family that suffered for a Croatia many of them live in today.
Point #2
“Simunic, Kovac and all those guys may have been born in another country but as a kid they were brought up by Croatians and they were inspired to play football because of guys like Prosinecki, Suker and Boban.Eduardo and all those guys grew up idolising and supporting Brasil and not Croatia.”
I was born and raised in California(Lakerville to be exact) However, I was raised Croatian. Growing up I watched and followed Yugoslavia world cup 1990. Once Croatia got going in Euro 96, every player on that team was out to heal some of those wounds in the hearts of every Croat around the world. Ultimately, they showed our people “ima nas malo al’ nas ima.”
I was also one of those that idolized Boban, Suker, Boksic, and Prosinecki. Yes, I can suit up for USA one day. However, the fire inside only burns for one.
Joze, feel free to use Australia as an example in your analysis anytime. Good stuff!
Vlad
“our expectationts are too high”
This is part of Croatian mentality. We look at ourselves as the best, making finishing second unacceptable.
Let’s just pretend that we squeezed by Turkey last summer and faced Germany in the semis and lost. Croatians around the world would consider this a failure. I can just here them now, “we beat Germany in the first round, how do we lose when it counts?”
“europe is becoming one.”
This is where “big fish eats little fish” plays into effect. Why not follow the example of Switzerland?
“Did anyone see the chinese guy who represented croatia this summer in the olympics.”
We call this “citizenship for gold medal trade.” Olympics and world cups have always been played without any compensation. Today, its all about $$$.
Again the question comes up “win with Croats or sign better foreigners?” Personally, there is nothing to debate. However, when a few $$ is thrown into the equation?
Ante
“Rossi was born in America but everything about him is Italian. “
Good point. Rossi sleeps in the Azzurri shirt and grew up idolizing Italian players.
Cvitanich doesn’t speak Croatian, and now he wants to wear the shirt. Unbelievable!
Ivica
good point on the Italians. However, in my book Argentina is like the only “colony” for the Italians. Look at the names on Argentina. They are practically Italian. So for them to mix and match I can let that slide.
croatiafan
England is not far from the US and Australia. Camoranesi has the choice of Argentina or Italy. In my book its like the same country.
“regardless of what most people here think we will consider him if he scores lots of goals.”
Who are you including in “we” ? The fans, the coaches, the HNS, Croatia?
I will go out right now, before Cvitanich starts “scoring goals” for Ajax and possibly wins a Croatian call up, and posibly takes Croatia to a world cup title, and say I DON’T WANT HIM. Have nothing against him, but he’s NOT Croatian. As mentioned in previous posts, he didn’t grow up idolizing former players, etc etc.
However, if he makes the squad, I don’t have a choice but to continue supporting the team.
Rukavina and Bilic deserve friendly call ups, however is far away from a regular spot on the team. With Klasnic done, they obth deserve call ups over Kalinic and Mandzukic. Recall Kalinic and Mandzukic after they get transferred out to a “respectable” league.
pintar
I’m glad you enjoyed the thread as much as I have. Also, have to give you some serious props on your analysis.
“But the fact is I enjoy international soccer so much more than club play for the very reason that you have such disparate styles and cultures clashing with one another. It is a true joy to watch a traditionally “German” team face off with a traditionally “Japanese” team, in my opinion. The more dilluted the teams on the world stage become, the more we lose that. This is not an emphasis on racial/ethnic purity as much as it is on identity.”
You’re right on point with this.
Why does everyone in Italy hate Inter Milan? Because they are the best, and wanting to beat the best?
No, Italians hate Inter, because they aren’t Italian. Besides Toldo and Materrazi its a squad of foregn all-stars. So foreign allstars won the “Italian” league. Just doesn’t make sense.
Anonymous
“Cvitanich is all about replacing a missing peice in our jigsaw. Its just one guy. As i say other teams do it. Spain Senna, England Hargreaves, Italy Camoranesi and Turkey Aurelio.”
Once again, I would rather lose every game with “All Croatians” then win one game with 10 Croats. Also, once again, my opinion.
Also, because others do it doesn’t interest me. Look at Greece in 2004. All Greek(besides German coach) worked as a team and won as a team with almost zero talent and an aging gray haired goalie 🙂 Its not all about filing in the “jigsaw puzzle.”
Cvitanich has “gone off the agenda a bit” because he hasn’t played. Now he will get a chance to play for Ajax. If he starts scoring goals, his name will come up, I promise.
Good posts everyone! Whats the next topic, lol
Re: Pintar
I agree. Its not going to happen though that the team is becoming less Croatian. We should never do that, just like Cameroonians shouldn’t select a Croatian who is doing well there. Should always give locals the chance to realise their potential. Eduardo, Cvitanich, Chago and Mitu particularly could all represent their home country if they worked hard enough. They aren’t that far away.
I strongly believe whenever the discussion of adding a Eduardo or Cvitanich to the team it is because they as individuals add something to the team. I believe Bilic/ Markovic only consider it in exceptional circumstances. Cvitanich is under consideration cos in the Euro we was stopped from achieving our true potential due to a merciless tackle on our main striker. We are talking about individuals who can help us reach our potential. Its a pure footballing decision. Cvitanich is all about replacing a missing peice in our jigsaw. Its just one guy. As i say other teams do it. Spain Senna, England Hargreaves, Italy Camoranesi and Turkey Aurelio. They are all in the same boat as Cvitanich. Also how Belgian is Branko Strupar and how Bulgarian is Igor Tommasic. Croatia has talent there is no question about that. It doesn’t and never will load its team full of players who have a croatian grandparent or just have croatian citizenship. Croatia is a country where some people can’t even accept that Cameroonians playing in their club side yet no mind to think of a national side full of non croatians. Its a non arguement. We’re just talking about a guy who we are wondering if he’s worthwhile selecting. At present on footballing terms alone Cvitanich is long way down the pecking order. If the guy scores goals then maybe its an issue, but at present 1 Eirdivise goal is not good enough. He’s had similar playing time to Sulijmani and the latter has done more with it. If anyone is worried at the end of the day how many of these Mitu’s, Chago’s, Sammir’s have we called up anyway. Its just Eduardo at the moment. If he wasn’t playing for Croatia he’d only play for Brazil anyway so its hardly sloppy seconds in his case. Lets talk about something else now. I think frankly Croatia seems more interested by the form of Rukavina and Bilic than Cvitanich. He’s gone of the agenda a bit
This is the most interesting thread I’ve seen here in some time. Well done, everyone.
Anyway, identity is a tricky business, as evidenced in this discussion. It seems that most everyone is willing to accept Eduardo on the national team for (in my opinion) very valid reasons. However, does his talent (which before the injury, was obviously immense) factor into anyone’s decision? Is it an easier line to draw if we’re talking about a marginal starter for the squad? Perhaps this is one distinction being made between Eduardo and Cvitanich, though there are many (more important) others. What is interesting is that it was stated that Cvitanich is 25% Croatian, whereas Eduardo has no Croatian blood that I know of. So blood is not the determining factor in this argument. Rightly so, Eduardo’s longevity in the country and his devotion to it (marriage, adopting the language, etc.) makes him an adopted son. But is there a limit to this kind of acceptance? What if we had half a dozen players available of Eduardo’s caliber, all with similar situations? Would it be as easy to accept them, or is the fact that we have a single player with 0 Croatian blood the only reason we can have this discussion? At what point does the scale tip enough to make our national team “not Croatian enough” to really represent us?
It seems, from our general acceptance of Eduardo (this seems like something close to consensus) that blood is not as important as other factors. I am just wondering what, if any, limits there are to that philosophy. I myself struggle with the concept of identity all the time, being an American mutt. My paternal line and name is Croatian, so I identify most with it, but if it comes down to percentages of genetic makeup, I would fall short of many others.
Lastly, I agree that the Croatian team has done remarkably well historically, and we are in no position to even consider bringing in players of questionable national allegiance (i.e. Regis a few cups back for the US . . . what a joke) just in an attempt to qualify. Why? The team is incredible already when compared to the rest of the world.
And lest anyone misconstrue some of my statements for fervent Croatian nationalism (I am totally in favor of avoiding the ethnocentric slant that croatiafan has noted), I am a fan of any and every national team having valid representatives, to every extent possible. For reasons stated throughout, this is more and more difficult. But the fact is I enjoy international soccer so much more than club play for the very reason that you have such disparate styles and cultures clashing with one another. It is a true joy to watch a traditionally “German” team face off with a traditionally “Japanese” team, in my opinion. The more dilluted the teams on the world stage become, the more we lose that. This is not an emphasis on racial/ethnic purity as much as it is on identity. I’d hate to see the Croatian national team become any “less Croatian” as time goes on.
also whoever keeps saying black what sort of identity is that. does anyone know of a country called black. Try changing it to African or the African country or West Indian country they come from. Saying Black just comes across as xenophobic 🙂
I think this is rubbish. Italy is not pure Italian at all. Camoranesi? (discuss) — also aren’t they thinking of calling up a Brazilian who plays for Juve. As for England – Owen Hargreaves is more Canadian and German than English. They were also considering calling up Carlo Cuducini and Aoran Hunt???
Spain are loaded with examples – not just Marco Senna, but also players in the past like Catanha.
Everyone does it not just us. Its normal.
As for Australia, every single player in that team is a immigrant. That country has no identity. Its just a British colony that still salutes the British Queen. They are far from pure Australian.
Regards Cvitanich we should consider him I think and i think regardless of what most people here think we will consider him if he scores lots of goals. As i say we have the power in our hands to drop the guy as he’s handed his international future to us. As for joining the EU it doesn’t matter really as Croatia won’t have influence one way or the other. Economically its a tiny tiny country. Can’t talk about Croatia politically on the same level as its sport as its politics are miles behind. I take everyones point that the Croatian team should not be loaded with Cvitanich’s and Etto’s. I also agree that at present Bilic and Rukavina deserve a call before Cvitanich. Dutch league is poor and Cvitanich has to score lots more to even get a look. I think Rukavina who is a attacking midfielder not same as Cvitanich and Mate Bilic are more stronger cases for call ups at this moment in time.
funny how you say that about Italians being the only real “pure” team. i was just reading in a book called “The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer” and it said all the Italian teams of 60-70 years ago were composed of players of Italian ancestry but were born and raised primarily in Argentina.
Spain also has that black guy (dont know his name) and Daniel Guiiza who is turkish (he scored against russia in Euro08)
The only real pure team i would say are the italians, one of spains best players in the euro’s was a born and raised brazilian in marco senna. Though even italy might be cappping soon a african turned italian.
I do agree i dont think croatia should enter the EU. Where too small of a country to keep our identity
Vlad,
I was strictly talking about the national teams being pure bread. Those teams which I have listed are all pure Italian or pure Spanish. Rossi was born in America but everything about him is Italian. That count. Same like Simunic and the Kovac’s for us. I don’t think there’s one nation in the world today that is at least 90% of its own people.
Vlad,
I’m not a proud Australian…I’m a proud Croatian. Its just that Australia is easy to use as an example because I live here.
And I agree about the EU. The day Croatia joins is the day Croatia is over. Those Pakistanis and Chinese in England can go to Croatia and stay there as long as they want and no one can ask questions because they have a European passport.
Why do we need a united Europe???
Croatia only just becomes independant and now we’re trying to enter the European Union to lose what everyone fought so hard for!
The thing i dont get is, were ranked in the top ten in the world we qualify for every tournament we dont have a crisis. Were a country of 4.5 million people, we do to good if you ask me, our expectationts are too high. The point im trying to get too is, why are we even takling about cvitanich, we have croatian players who are born and raised in croatia, who can play and are starting to score goals, like bilic in spain and rukavina whos starting to show signs of his worth in greece. WE dont need to be talking about a guy who hasent even proved his worth. were not malta, we have da silva, petric, olic, klasnic, bilic, rukavina, i honestly cant say that cvitanich is better than any of those guys, just cause he has scored a few goals in argentina.
Joze: i know that youre a proud australian, but you cant compare australia to croatia, croatia’s history and culture goes back hundred’s of years compared to australia. When i think of new zealand and australia its kinda like canada and america, just that there more british.
The truth is times are changeing, europe is becoming one. What western countries have kept their true colors. Ante, you say england, there are so many blacks thats not true english, they also have many muslims and east indians. Argentina alot of italians croatians and etc, italy have more and more blacks and muslims, last summer in italy thats all i saw. That is what europe has become with the eu, and when croatia enters one day it will too which is sad. Did anyone see the chinese guy who represented croatia this summer in the olympics.
Well said Joze. Those guys all grew up idolizing croatian players and lived in another part of the world to have a better life, but always with Croatia and the Croatian identity in their heart and flowing through their veins.
I agree with Denis 100%. I’d rather lose with pure Croatians than nationalized any day. As for laughing stock of Europe.
France: check!
Portugal: Deco is Brazilian.
Germany: Podolski, Trochowski Klose are all Polish and not to mention they also have a great player, named Mario Gomez, on the team.
The only pure all natural “top” clubs in the world are Brazil,Argentina, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and England. Anyone I’m leaving out?
I live here in Australia. When my parents first immigrated here, Australia was racist. People would call European immigrants names, start fights with them and even riots would start sometimes.
Over the last 50 years things have changed. I go outside and instead of seeing some Aussies, a few Croats and some Italians…. I see Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Lebanese, Turkish, Korean and pretty much every other nationality on this earth.
Instead of calling these people by racist names and instead of starting fights with them…the Aussies just say “we’re all Australian”.
I hate what Australia has become and I hope Croatia never ends up like it.
In saying that…I understand letting a few Brazilians have Croatian nationality isnt going to turn Croatia into Australia…but I have a point: I dont want to turn on the television to watch Croatia in the world cup and see all these foreign names up on the team sheet and have to try and explain to everyone that “their Croatian” when really deep down inside I know their not.
The Australian team consists of names like Viduka, Culina, Aloisi, Schwarzer and there are several players who were born overseas waiting for a call up. Although I’m not an Australian supporter…I’ve seen how Australia has lost its identity.
Wearing the Croatian shirt is more than just wearing any old shirt. The amount of suffering the country has had to go through in order to even have a Croatian shirt is unbelievable.
My point is that unlike Australia, not everyone should have the right to wear the national colours. The pride some of those players must feel when they put on the Croatian shirt and step out and sing the national anthem must be unbelievable. Simunic, Kovac and all those guys may have been born in another country but as a kid they were brought up by Croatians and they were inspired to play football because of guys like Prosinecki, Suker and Boban.Eduardo and all those guys grew up idolising and supporting Brasil and not Croatia.
I hope that made sense lol and sorry to keep using Australia as an example.
croatiafan:)
Bottom line, Croatia is for sale!
Croatia will be in the EURO– (soon, eventually)
Every player in the HNL is for sale for a reasonable offer.
However, for some reason, the national team is not for sale, yet. Now the question is, do we eventually allow some of those “non-Croats” on Dinamo, some Croatian citizens to represent Croatia one day?
Do we give Cvitanich a chance to represent Croatia after being turned down by Argentina, born and raised in Argentina, and ultimately
“After much consideration he eventually pledged to play for the Croatia national team, stating that “such an opportunity only comes once and you must take it.”
~Cvitanich
Dario this isn’t a club team you are trying out for. This isn’t business, yet. Cvitanich would “resolve a particular crisis which Croatia has and keeps us on course for what we aim for.” What are we aiming for?
I would rather lose with a 100% Croatian team, than win with Bilos, Cvitanich, and the few Dinamo players looking for a call.
Eduardo is an exception. Not because “Eduardo is a credit to the national team and plays with maximum effort and conducts himself brilliantly.” Eduardo is like an adopted son. He migrated to this country at a young age, put in work, and developed a love for the country. (also, Croatian wife and kid)
From what I’ve seen, Dario has enormous potential, still young at 24, however, he’d not Croatian enough in my opinion. Dario has “Croatian heritage.” So you would start someone with “Croatian heritage” over someone who was born and raised in Croatia and most likely had parents, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and friends that put their lives on the line and in some cases lost lives for Croatia.
Ultimately, this is not an issue of race. We have to ask ourselves, who deserves the right to represent Croatia? Dario Cvitanich? I think not.
I’ll just state though, i think what Vlad and you are saying is with regards like Carlos, Etto, Chago, Sammir becoming croatian internationals one day just because they have croatian citizenship. I don’t think that will happen. I think Eduardo and Cvitanich are just being looked at because they are outstanding and a standard above the others in our squad and resolve a particular crisis which Croatia has and keeps us on course for what we aim for. Lets face it as well Eduardo is a credit to the national team and plays with maximum effort and conducts himself brilliantly. He’s really a role model that Croatia could do with a guy like that. Although Suker, Boksic, Vlaovic, Boban, Prosinecki, Bilic, Stimac, Asanovic, Jarni, Rapaic were great players, they were prone to falling out with coaches, diving, getting sent off, pursuing money etc. I think Eduardo is a shining example in comparison. I don’t think Croatia should ever block a talented player breaking into the national side by packing it with a Sammir etc, however if its about selecting a Cvitanich over a Balaban or Kalinic, i’d say Cvitanich. I’d also say regards Eduardo that he could have played for Brazil and maybe he made a sacrifice in playing for us. Do we really that Dudu would never played for Brazil? I probably disagree with that. If Baptista, Vagner Love, Alves can why not Eduardo. I think we are lucky to have him.
I take your point about Cvitanich being more Argentine than Croatian. As for Bilos he was terrible by the way and flopped at St Ettienne. He’s not even better than Bosko Balaban.
Personally speaking i’d recruit Cvitanich eventually if i was Bilic. I don’t think we have much that is better than him in the fringes of the squad. I think Olic and Petric do not play in the box. The reason is that they come deep to collect the ball and like to run at players rather than behind defenders. Neither of them have any physical presence either and are no good in the air which is quite bad when we have players who can cross like Kranjcar, Rakitic and especially Dario Srna. This would actually be a criticism, but actually Olic and Petric have a decent cross on them as well, so all we can say is they aren’t killer goalscorers. Both of them hopefully will be rotated as support striker to Eduardo soon.
The reason we are looking at Cvitanich is as we have a problem with having no striker in our squad who will stay in the box and who will finish. I believe Cvitanich scored last match and is now playing first 11, however until he scores 8, 9, 10 for the season i don’t think we should consider him. Bilic, Olic, Petric, Mandzukic deserve to be ahead of him at present. Kalinic however should go back to the under 21’s to continue developing. Yes ideally we should have a Croatian Croatia, but if that means team being rubbish then we may as well not even bother watching them. Although i think to a certain extent with the racism of SOME croatia fans maybe we need to be more multi-ethnic as we are otherwise we will start to symbollise them. I like us as we are and i wouldn’t mind Cvitanich. I think calling Cvitanich really would be about solving a striking problem we have at present. Its just the way he plays and how he is built which is why we consider him.
One thing i will say is that Mladen Petric has definitely improved in terms of fitness and performance since Euro 2008. We might as well forget asking Olic to play differently as its not going to happen, but if Petric played right at the top then i think maybe we should give that another try. I think Petric and Kranjcar played too much football before Euro 2008. They barely missed a league match whereas all the others got some form of injury rest. Petric is definitely looking a different player now so maybe we should try him out again. As for Cvitanich i have to say i personally would select him eventually, but for now he can sit and wait.
croatiafan:)
Great name! Ok, we have you in the books now. As far as Cvitanich is concerned, I hope he never gets a start for Croatia. The last hing we need is a striking force of Eduardo(brazil) and Cvitanich(Argentina). We would be the laughing stock of Europe.
As great of a player Zinedine Zidane is, the French(I’m talking true French, not the Thurams of the world) still feel like France isn’t French anymore, and don’t have love for Zidane.
I want a Croatian Croatia. I’m tired of players that can’t make the “big” teams and later player for the Croatia’s, japan’s, Poland’s, Portugal’s etc etc…
Remember Bilos? He was waiting for an Argentina call up, and Croatia was on his nuts. Look at where he is now. Just like Luis Figo said, “anyone can learn a national anthem.”
Yes, we stole Simunic, Rakitic, Klasnic, Kovac brothers, etc etc,. However, they were all born to Croatian parents and raised Croatian. They all spoke Croatian. ultimately, they bleed Croatian.
i would like to say..that my dad stanko is a great striker!! goooooo cozaaaaaaaaaaaa familiaaa
i luv u dolores!!
Re: Vlad
I agree, definitely that we should only call Cvitanich once he starts scoring. Not just one or two, but an absolute hatful. then we should call him. I have seen Ajax strikers and i think Sulijmani, Huntelaar and Suarez are all better than Cvitanich and he deserves to ride the pine as you put it. But there must be some goals in that guy in that league you would have thought and he must be better than calling up Bosko Balaban.
Regards Bilic though i’ve always liked him as a player, but we never called him up. He scored 18 in a previous season for Sporting Gijon and that wasn’t enough to get looked at. I mean when did a Croatian player last score 18 league goals abroad. I think Bilic has something, but if all we are going to do is let him sit on the bench, who knows maybe its best to offer a olive branch to Bosnia and say yeah he can play for them. I really have no problem with that.
I know Eduardo is our only number 9, but that injury was serious to say the least. Basically what i’m saying is Petric and Olic does not work, we need to find something else. Whether its Bilic, Cvitanich or a fit and healthy Eduardo. If we play Petric and Olic i fear we will lose more points.
Cvitanich has no place in the croatian team, Croatiafan you talk about 9’s and 10’s, cvitanich has rode the pine all season long, if he starts scoring then maybe you take a look, and see what he has to offer. Just bc he had a desent carrer in argentina dosent meen he’s a number 9. There are only a few real 9 in the world and the only one we have is da silva. Like you said we have klasnic, petric and olic, we have enough support strikers. I would rather see bilic get called to the national team to test him out you never know, if you can score in spain on a shitty team you can score.
Petric and Olic will still do what they do which is guarentee 12-15 league goals a season, we know that already so they can stay in the squad but lets face it they are number 10’s not number 9’s. They like to play off a main striker. If we pare them again i think it won’t work. That’s why we still need to keep looking at Bilic, Klasnic, Eduardo with his only recently healed leg and Cvitanich.
I know in the Balkan’s passions run high about identity, but lets face it who wants to watch naff players in his place. My personal opinion is that i’d rather take Cvitanich who has proven himself in Argentina than a HNL1 striker. Cvitanich is vaguely Croatian, lets face it we’ve got a lot of those. It stops rubbish players like Drpic becoming Croatian internationals. If Cvitanich plays his heart out for us then i’m sure Croatia fans will take to him. He seems a passionate agressive player. If it doesn’t work we can just kick him out. Simple as that. However if it does work then we don’t have to put up with anymore of Petric and Olic doing work outside the box and lots of crosses going in and nobody scoring. Things are uncertain with Eduardo. Apparently he broke some part of his ankle or foot as well in that challenge not just his leg. Sokota broke his foot and ankle and was never the same player again. I think its yet to be seen if Dudu will be what we are used to seeing from him. That’s why Cvitanich has to be looked at. I know many will say we’re not having second best, but if not then we’ve got to play Kalinic or Mandzukic who aren’t ready. After that we’re talking Bosko Balaban and i’d rather not go there. Rukavina is also another number 10 just like Olic and Petric.
I also know Cvitanich has had a slow start, but he has barely played so far in Holland. I know Croatia fans won’t like this either but i think Huntelaar, Sulijmani and that guy Suarez are better than him which doesn’t mean he is rubbish either, but gonna have to wait his turn behind those guys. Fortunately Huntelaar has gone now so we’ll see how good Cvitanich is as he’ll play.
I know Ajax is also not much of a upgrade for Pranjic, but at least he’ll play Champions League and stay playing first team football and be amongst friends. Maybe a bigger club would be better, but Pranjic always has the problem of being mistaken for a left back. At least in Holland they know where he plays.
Anonymous
You need a name buddy, any name will do, even something vulgar or politically incorrect.
Mate Bilic has expressed huge interest in representing Croatia. Throw him in a few friendlies to at least give Petric and Olic a little scare. We all know that Croatia doesn’t have anyone outside of Hamburg that can start up top for Croatia.
Klasnic scored twice last weekend. His first was a tap into an open goal, his second was a PK. I could score both of those blindfolded. In my opinion, we should move forward not backwards. Going with Klasnic is going backwards.
Cvitanich should get a shot with Ajax, however, he’s not Croatian. Just because Argentina denies him, doesn’t mean we have to settle for “sloppy seconds.”
Hopefully, Pranjic will return to his old self. Also, I don’t support Pranjic to Ajax, not much of an upgrade.
Rukavina played champions league today. And guess what, his team made the sweet 16. However, still has lots to prove.
Cvitanich is Argentinian. He cant speak one word of Croatian, he’s never been there before, he’s only 1/4 Croatian and I dont even think his Dida was born there.
go cvitanich!!! i heard hes from my islands in dalmacija!!! everyone says hes from argentina but hes really from my place!!! also..i play the hormonika!!
We may as well let Mate Bilic play for Bosnia. They can make more use of him in tandum with players like Misimovic, Dzeko, Ibricic and Muslimovic. I think we probably owe them a player or two having selected players they could have selected and then lost interest in them. I have liked Bilic’s play for a long time as he scored lots of goals, runs at players, is quick and good in the air, but never got looked at as he was playing in second division for far too long when he didn’t need to. was obviously the sun in spain. I think he would have scored goals in other first division leagues too, but he hang around in Spain too long. We took so long to think about him that letting him play for Bosnia would be more constructive to him having a decent international career.
We should probably stick with Klasnic. Its clear he was on easy street for far too long at Nantes and deserved to be dropped. Coincidence he scores having been criticised. Its obvious he could give more than he was giving. Maybe he needed his family with him. As for Rukavina a few more goals for him and we’ve got a decision to make over our squad strikers. As for Petric and Olic i’m impressed. Petric looks the player he was last season. i’m not sure he can last the whole season in form, but when he’s hot he’s hot so he’s gotta stay in croatia’s squad. Yay Cvitanich is back and Huntelaars left so he will play more. Great news. If Pranjic goes to Ajax that’ll be great too.