It was a tenacious week for the CroatianSports.com team as the website was hacked – most likely by Russians. As you may have noticed – the site became inoperable – not letting you fine folks leave comments, compare notes and most importantly banter with each other.
But do not worry – just as Ivan Rakitić faced the Russians with ice in his veins – we defeated the hackers in the last possible play with the only chance we had. I personally thank all of you for the kind messages asking ‘what was going on with the website’ and that you would be back and better than ever once the site returned. A super special thanks goes out to the one and only Matt Lebo – running point on this operation – like he was Luka Modrić at the World Cup putting up a Ballon d’Or performance.
Hey, when you’re a World Cup Finalist, people are going to come at you.
With that said, CroatianSports.com will be moving to a brand new interface and brand new website design in the upcoming months. Just as CroatianSoccerReport became CroatianSports.com in 2011, we will now be moving to CroatianSports.com 3.0.
I want to take this time to ask our loyalist of followers: what is most important to you when it comes to CroatianSports.com?
One thing I would like to add for the future is Facebook comments, meaning you would have to be logged into Facebook to comment on the website.
That would clean up the junk comments we always have to battle with here from a certain Balkan contingent.
@Lika Joey
Lol, that Croatian soldier got flushed in the “world’s biggest toilet.”
Afganistan is the world’s biggest toilet.
I couldn’t agree more get out of Afghanistan
I don’t want our boys dieing for anything except Croatia
Islam is Croatia’s enemy.
What about that Croatian soldier that died defending Croatia in Afghanistan.
Get the fuck out of Afghanistan you white Croatian losers.
Nice to see all the worthless Black
American celebrities coming to Croatia.
They should go to Baltimore and make
A difference in their community. Get out
Of Hrvatska you shits.
@ Maminjo
That was a classy assist to Rakitic that made an even better scoring opportunity.
He physically can do it.
Lampard could bang in goals from all over the pitch.
Kovacic can learn to be intentional in the final third.
Actually scored but someone was offsides for us recently?
Sometimes you need tbt coach to unleash the beast.
Bob Mckillop from Davidson used to force Stephen Curry to shoot in college, the rest is history.
Kante injury helps Kovačić start the season in the first 11.
Once again I pray he takes the Bull by the horns.
Wow, i commented here like 3 days ago and my comments are still not up lol.
This reminds me why i stopped posting on the site, sigh, speaking about comments…
There is a Chelsea Fan club
In Croatia on FB.
Pride of London you Paki cunts!
Kovačić doesn’t know how to shoot.
He “passes” it into the net.
He screwed up badly in the Nigeria game too, when he came on instead of Kalinić (who was faking a back injury) and received a cross right in front of goal and botched it.
He also kind of overpassed it to Rakitić for the third Argentina goal. Could’ve just put it in the net.
Seems to be allergic to scoring.
Remember way back when Kovacic scored a few beauties for Milan…it’s in there
Which shoot out did he not score for us? I’m pretty sure 90% of us figured it wasn’t going in
When your more confident in vida then Kovacic putting one in in a pk…
https://chelseafc.app.link/9rhnsbLEFY
Kovačić will learn how to score from lampard.
He had some nice goals for Inter.
If he adds a few goals for Croatia and Chelsea then it is on!
@Lika
Yea, I know. He has the talent, he’s just way too passive to push forward. I’m beginning to think he might actually just be a very lazy player.
But I do like how the English fans and media keep bringing up his goalless streak. I hope he keeps getting shamed and made fun of (even though scoring isn’t everything). It will pressure him to play more aggressively and try and score. Hopefully Lampard blasts him every time he passes it off to a winger and floats back (and doesn’t run forward).
He should be embarrassed that U21 players have been more impactful for us than he ever has. Brekalo is already way more impactful, and Vlasic will be the moment he gets more gametime.
I wouldn’t put too much stock into a preparation game
Maminjo, Kovacic is already a veteran at his age. Mateo went to Milan at 17. I pray he develops into something!
Griezmann is a diver and a big time pussy!
Hazard and Jović especially haven’t done anything for Real Madrid so far. I think Jovic hyperextended his knee or something vs Athletico. The defending was garbage from Real Madrid, I mean how good really are guys like Ramos, Nacho, Varane, etc. if they’re letting in 7 goals to a no-Griezmann Athletico team.
Palaversa plays all 90 minutes in Oostende’s first league game vs. Anderlecht. They won 2-1.
Zizou is overrated.
So does Kovačić break out this season under Lampard?
There is a lot of talk about his goalless streak. Hopefully it pressures him to push into the opponent’s third more aggressively.
I’m tired of the typical excuse of “he does more important things than score”. No he doesn’t. Now, run your ass up the field.
Atletico Madrid 7 Real Madrid 3 strange. Real Madrid was conceding 3 or 4 goals last season. Modric was at fault for one of the goals. Few Serbs for Atletico Madrid.
Rog got sold to Cagliari so we can only hope that means he will play a key role especially since they sold Barella.
Rog Coric and Balic are still trying to find their feet
If one of them really works out it would still be a success for us however if I had to choose between the three it would be rog for me only because he actually got playing time on the field when in italy
Is it time for perisic and brozovic to leave inter
I feel brozovic is burning himself out there it would be cool to see him play further up the field
He’s got the potential I keep of thinking about his brace against norway
Perisic seems like he’s petering our to me I hope not for our sakes but it seems like this generation is done
Starting out fresh will happen especially if we don’t qualify for the euros
Nizic thats gold spoken like a true herzegovac
What’s the story with Rog Coric and Balic?
Have they been sold into the abyss of Italy and ever going to be sold off to a lower team so they can actually play?
Get a Hercegovac running things =U= and sve ce bit =U= red=U=
Leicester should never be used as an example for anything.
That was such an outlier, it was ridiculous.
The second Krama was purchased, they went on a crazy win streak. I don’t think Krama even had a chance to display a bad attitude.
…and the rest is history
@ Poglavnik
“His attitude probably sucked though..” Yep, that’s about right. The guy assumed he would waltz right into the starting 11. But boy was he in for a rude awakening…
It turns out that in the 15-16 season, Vardy was unplayable, Leicester were challenging for the title, so they were gonna stick with what was working and not give Kramaric a chance….
…Thus, Leiscester won the league that season, and Kramaric was loaned out before the season was over in the January transfer window to Hoffenhiem.
Dinamo started 8 Croats, and 4 blue chip prospects in Marin, Majer, Baturina and Moro got minutes.
This is why they are where they are.
@Razbijac
Leicester shelled out a record fee for Kramaric but didn’t give him much of an opportunity.
His attitude probably sucked though..
Halilovic on the bench today for Standard League…
Mitrovic gets his first start after comin’ back from injury for Club Bruges. While former Hajduk prospect Karlo Letica is on the bench…
@ Maminjo
Whenever I see a mega club spend anywhere from 6 million to 15 million on one of our players….I say to myself “oh dear, another bench warmer.”
But when a small club spends 6 million to 15 million on one of our players, you know the kid is gonna getta shot and they’ll even work with the kid since they invested so much money into him.
Only way our youngsters/kids play at a major club is when serious money is shelled out like 40+ million. Then fans will be like WTF??? If he doesn’t play….
Marin with the start today in Dinamo’s 3-0 win.
Facebook please! Nowhere else am I pro Facebook, but let’s pull the mask off the trolls
Yea, it’s always good to see someone pay big money for a Croat youngster regardless.
Forces them to pay them, or look stupid to the fans and ownership for burning millions on a bench player.
Šunjić has a good head on his shoulders, and is a leader. He probably would have been successful regardless.
I find it funny how the English media is now comparing him to Modric and other Croatian greats, lol. The guy is way less talented than most of the players in and around his age group…but he’s made the most of what he has due to his work ethic. A late bloomer who has national team potential for sure.
I actually think this is a good move for Šunjić!
Birmingham have payed a Club record fee for him. On top of that, they’re handing the kid $1 million euros per year.
So if they’re investing this much into the kid, they’re incentivized to play and develop him. It looks to me they want to make ‘im the club’s marquee player.
This is a far different move than Rog to Napoli, or Coric to Roma. Both were sold by Dinamo for a nice sum, but these amounts were a fraction of these mega-clubs overall budget. So no real motivation to play these kids.
And on top of that, these clubs are competing for the title and there are a lotta good older players on the team, no way guys like Rog and Coric getta shot.
Sunjic’s move is different. He will get playing time there. Plus the English 2nd Div, is a good stepping stone to the Premership-(which arguably is the most competitive league in the world).
I think English 2nd Div is a hecka’lot better than the Belgium league or Austrian leagues.
And if he moved to Milan, I doubt he will play. As that club has title and Champions League ambitions, no way will they be patient and allow a youngster to play and develop. They need results now.
I find it funny no stories about the debacle of Hajduk last week falling out of Europe, on the website, typical from you guys.
Šunjić went for the money I guess.
Boban and AC Milan were interested, but he apparently is being paid 1 million Euro per season at Birmingham.
No way does a Serie A team give that out to a young player right away.
No Facebook please
Alright, just go on my reddit page reddit.com/r/SoccerCRO and message me (I’m the mod) your email then and I can share docs with you.
I’ve never used reddit before, but I can create an account.
or discord/skype.
Awesome, so I think maybe the easiest way to contact each other without posting our emails and what not would maybe be through reddit messages or just give like a backup email that you don’t care if the trolls spam it?
Yes, I would definitely be interested. A google doc is simple but it would work. It’s a good way to keep up with all of our young guys.
@Dannyj
I have a google doc with just names, teams, and date of birth, but it’s definitely possible to have a database. I sort of know how to do it on Microsoft Excel or Access as I just graduated with an Information Systems degree, but google spreadsheets work differently with different snippets of code and none of the videos I’ve watched to try to figure it out have worked. Sure, if we had multiple people working on the stats and what not it would be easy, but it’s very tedious to do for one person. I keep telling myself I’m gonna make like a long document where each player gets their own page and has a little ‘expert’ opinion on what they do well. It just seems like a bit of a daunting task. I’d be up for it if people are truly interested, maybe CroatiaU14 and even some others would be interested in helping since it’s a google doc?
I sometimes wish we had certain threads that were like sticky’s
Like youth talent and such
People like u14 keeping us informed and would be nice if we had a bit of a database
Tech guys is this a possible thing?
Ante k?
Apparently bale is off to China for three year contract
Cha Ching
Without his homey maybe luka will indeed want to leave?
More news: Mario Ćuže went to Istra on loan I think from Dinamo (he played for the U19 team in the Champions League) and scored two goals today on his debut.
Šunjić apparently requested a transfer. I agree with you guys, it’s definitely a downgrade
Whose this ivo grbic keeper from Loko?
Read his signing or close to signing for Monaco
Ya dunno bout that move
I guess he will play there and maybe the EPL will come with cash soon
Jesus they blow. Bottom of EFL. I don’t get it, you can play European football at Dinamo.
Ivan Sunjić joins Birmingham City for 3M. Good move?
Chase,
Remember, CroatianSports is open to anyone who would like to write. It’s an open forum, not a 1-man show. 🙂
Ante I know that you do mostly just reports on what’s happening with Croatian sports but why not just throw out an article on Top 10 Croatian soccer players ever or athletes in general. You know your stuff and it’d get people going in the comment sections.
BTW the new Chelsea kit is mint. Wouldn’t mind getting Kovacic
on the back jock sniffing not withstanding.
Apparently Kovacic has had a good preseason so far. Haven’t gotten to catch any games, but the Chelsea fans on twitter all of the sudden love him when last year almost all of them despised him.
@ Soul
Super Frank has said he is working on Mateo. He had a good game aganist Barca even though a friendly and he was great when Chelsea trashed those stupid Gooners. Mateo is going to step it up with Frank and he will be good. He might never be a
Barkley type but i think he will have a few go in this year.
Full faith in our footballing talent .. AND ..
Luka Modrić looks sharp at almost 34 !!
Prosinečki was a genius and Boban was a leader.
But who was on this level for this long?
Modrić needs to be rested throughout year but come business end he will be ready.
Club and Croatia need to surround him with hard running horses.
2020 another run?
HNL is the best for ages 12-18.
18-24 is where are boys get lost.
That’s when you get the finishing school and real confidence.
U21 was a debacle.
Brekalo goes down and we have no answers?
Coric benched at Roma all year no spot is a travesty.
All the kids need to go to clubs where they will continue to place first team football as a teenager.
Too many of our boys waste years of 18-24.
I still pray for Kovačić to have a good year.
Frank Lampard can teach him to be aggressive and how to shoot and score some goals.
How can a player that fast and technical have such a weak shot?
That shit is in his head?
@Croatia U14
You can’t separate the two. Do you want us to be like the lame MLS league with their rainbow flags and lesbo WC team? We are the mighty Hrvati, no one likes us and we don’t care! ZDS!
@anon woah woah woah. I didn’t mean to come on to this site to piss anyone off or make them angry and clearly I did. So I’m sorry. And I’ll just stick to soccer from now on. My apologies
You are such a fag u14
Get a life it’s your comments about excluding people from making comment only on fb u only responding to only some commenters here on this message board
and the comment about how youngcroatians footballers can’t leave Croatia until they are 21 just shows how naive you are
How much do you really know about Croatia and Croatian mentality
Fuck all I reckon
Guys we are going to be ok
The talent has always been there
This last year just inspired the kids
U know they freaking once again know it’s possible to win this entire thing
Big thanks to Vuki and under 14
Mr black Always reporting from Belgium
Everyone who makes this site good and for running the site
We gonna keep it rocking till the next time we go on another historic run!
@vuk @vuki @medo thanks guys. Appreciate it.
@vuki Football Manager is great. I like how all our young guys can be found there. Gvardiol and Hrvoj were walls in the back in the U19 Champions League. Another really nice thing about them (kinda like Vida) is that they are very quick. And the Salzburg guy is Luka Sučić. Just signed a professional contract with the club.
Marin Jakoliš was just signed by Hajduk. He needed that, he wasn’t playing with his club in Austria. Another guy to put on the radar (just heard of him) is Noel Bilić. Just signed a PROFESSIONAL contract with Rijeka and was born in 2003. Crazy how these youngsters are getting pro contracts already.
Yeah CroatiaU14 is one of my favorite posters. He and I go back and forth with different youngsters and sometimes come up with ones that the other hasn’t heard of like the guy from Salzburg’s youth team that he keeps mentioning and I keep forgetting the name of. I added him to my list of young/not established players that I have to keep track of people.
While I’m here I’ll mention one that some may or may not have heard much about and even I really don’t know much about as I found out about him on Football Manager (yes, it’s a video game but they have some pretty good scouts). His name is Joško Gvardiol. He is a CB that can also play a bit of LB. He is part of Dinamo’s youth system and played on the UEFA Youth League team that did pretty well and lost to Chelsea in PKs. I’m also hoping a guy named Tin Hrvoj turns out to be at least a serviceable player at RB because as I think I’ve mentioned on here before, after Vrsaljko (who we really don’t know whether he will ever be fully healthy again), we don’t have many options at RB. Jedvaj is up and down and Dalic does not really believe in Bartolec in my opinion.
Hey Ante- continue your great work- I was in Croatia on vacation and I couldn’t believe how many Croatians and hyphenated Croatians referenced your site as the main source
for their Croatian fix predominantly soccer- hey Croatia is as beautiful as ever- Dubrovnik, Bol, Split, Corcula, Zagreb- the Adriatic- stunning- bloody amazing
We should all be so thankful and blessed that God choose us to be part of such an amazing culture- love your culture and teach the next generation to continue to love their Croatian roots- wish all Croatians everywhere to visit Croatia and enjoy- svaki cast
Trolls have been ruining this place for years, and nothing seems to have been done to stop it. I’ll gladly take any choice on the table than the crap that has gone on here for ages.
I’m not into the FB comments either, I think it will detract from the conversation more than add to it. I just scroll past the trolls. Also hats off to commenters like Cro 14 as the potential of the youth is one of the things I look forward to most about reading on this website. From a weekly status update on Cro players, I’m more excited in how they are performing because it’s interesting to track their progress and to see who will replace the steady starters.
Cro 14 is one of the best contributor’s to the site…he keeps us informed of the youth,and their progress and keeps it classy.
Not sure where the hate for him comes from.
@anon ur a cry baby
how is u14 a cry baby
Ante ignore the sensitive ones who cant handle a bit of criticism or if we differ on things
Ok we get the odd gedo but we are all united in telling them to fuck off
We are Croats don’t exclude people no matter what
That what’s makes us better than say for other nationalities out there
Keep the comments board free for all
That what Croatia had been struggling for years freedom of speech
Don’t listen to cry babies like Croatia u14 who can’t handle a contrary view
U will just end up with immature like mind people using this site
It’s a cracker of a site don’t change brate
Great feedback guys. Thank you.
No FB.
Ante, to answer your question, the most important thing is being able to get into deep conversation about Croatian Soccer. It’s hard to do that in real life living in America.
@vuki I agree about how some people in the comments ruin it all.
I mean, I’m okay with having to make a Facebook account in order to talk about Croatian Soccer.
@TheGoldenChild
Yeah, obviously I’m not expecting to grow right away, if at all, but I’d just like to have a place where everyone can put out their different Croatian soccer content. If it’s just me and my friends, so be it. There just doesn’t seem to be a place where there easily accessible content on specific Croatian soccer content such as transfer rumors, updates on younger players, etc. Sure we can post comments on here, but they do seem to get lost in the shuffle on the more popular posts.
That is one thing I think this site has really lacked since I really started to become a more frequent poster. I know Ante works hard to keep this site going, but it’s just him (or so it seems). I think it would be cool to take on some more people to post different content. I know Ante tries to bring different things to the table, but in all honesty, the majority of the time I find the more interesting posts to read and discuss in the comments. No shade intended at all, I just think some of the posts could evolve to create more discussion instead of someone bringing up a different point in the comments and then the rest of the comments running with it.
Facebook is for Cigans.
Yay! Stop the trolls! Get rid of truth troll and the others!
Fuck Facebook.
Never have never will join that garbage
I refuse to join FB so I hope you guys keep this site going without my esteemed intellect and knowledge!
It is a tricky one Fb would clean some stuff up but I have to admit trolls keep it exciting from time to time
Is there another way of controlling some of the posts techie guys?
No Facebook. The best part of this website besides the soccer news is the ambiguity behind the people who post comments and the names. It would completely change the culture that has been built on this page over the years.
Don’t worry Vuki. I’ve already tried to start up a Cro reddit community 3 different times in the past 5 years. We’re not worried about you trying to take the traffic =)
Also, I just created a new subreddit specifically for Croatian soccer its r/SoccerCRO. Obviously since it has just been created, there are no followers yet, but I figured I’d let people know in case they are interested. I do need some mods too for when I’m not able to be on it for some time.
Disclaimer: I posted about this on the other thread. I’m not trying to take people away from this site, I still enjoy reading this website (except for the trolls and the political nonsense). I’m just trying to give a place where people can post their own content as well, not just comments.
I have a fake facebook for that exact reason that I created as a kid to join a community for a computer game I used to play. I still use it for things that I don’t want to use my actual facebook for. However, I don’t particularly like the idea of using facebook log ins either. It seems way to personal for a site like this.
utilizing facebook log ins for comment would kill the website. I have too large a personal profile to be able to freely spread truth in the manner I usually bestow upon the site, if people were to know my true identity.
Bravo Patrik!
https://www.croatiaweek.com/8-year-old-patrik-from-croatia-becomes-world-mental-arithmetic-champion/
What if you don’t use Facebooks?