So what the hell happened to Croatia during EURO 2020? And more importantly, what the hell happened to our beloved Vatreni over the past three years? And how does Marcelo Brozović’s “ice packed” wrist at training during EURO 2020 reveal the answer?
Since reaching the pinnacle of global football – playing in the World Cup Final – Croatia has become an absolute dumpster fire of results.
In the 34 matches since the World Cup, Croatia has been an average .500% team.
The Vatreni have won 14, lost 13, and drew 7; with only two standout victories for which Croatian fans can express pride: the win over a mediocre Scotland side at EURO 2020 and a Nations League victory over Spain.
During that time, the Vatreni were dealt their biggest loss in history; getting spanked 6-0 by Spain in Nations League. They also lost 4-1 to Portugal and 4-2 to France in that same competition. Not to mention an Azerbaijan draw in Euro qualifying.
So how did we fall from grace so quickly after the World Cup?
This is where Brozović helps us tell the story.
The simplest way to say it is that the players don’t respect manager Zlatko Dalić.
And the players let Dalić know they don’t respect him.
Brozović’s wrapped wrist was a direct product of his disrespect towards Dalić.
And EURO 2020 was not the first time things got heated. There is a clear pattern forming around this Croatia team over the past three years.
The drama started before the 2018 World Cup kicked off when Dalić began his tenure as Croatian manager with friction and doubt.
Dalić did not have the respect of the team from the beginning, but World Cup results quickly overshadowed what was happening internally.
While Dalić’s loss of confidence was hidden from the public, it was common knowledge to the people closest to the team and closest to the Hrvatski Nogometni Savez (HNS).
The friction has been allowed to fester for too long, and CroatianSports feels obligated to call out the pink elephant in the room.
The silence that has allowed the friction to fester is softly killing this team. That silence allows players to act with little consequence. That silence has allowed Dalić to fly under the radar for his passive approach towards his players. And most importantly, that silence gives all the faithful Croatian supporters around the world the impression that everything is okay.
Well, everything is not okay.
The first incident occurred in 2018 when the Vatreni played two pre-World Cup friendlies in the United States.
Protesting Dalić’s decision to include Brozović on the USA roster, Modrić, Mandžukić, Subašić, and Perišić all left the team after the first friendly in Miami against Peru, and didn’t travel to Dallas for the Mexico match.
They were not happy about the fact that Dalić allowed Brozović to stay on the team for the trip after breaking multiple team rules, including showing up late to a team meeting while intoxicated in Zagreb.
So they boycotted the Mexico game.
Three months later, Nikola Kalinić confronted Dalić because of his lack of playing time at the World Cup. He was immediately excused from the team. One of the only disciplinary moves that Dalić pulled off successfully.
Leading up to EURO 2020, Ante Rebić was so fed up with Dalić’s tactics that Luka Modrić had to step in as peacekeeper to convince Dalić to keep Rebić on the team.
Then Andrej Kramarić attacked Dalić in the press prior to Croatia’s EURO opener vs. England regarding his position. “Even the grandmas in the village know what my position is on the football pitch,” Kramarić told Arena Sport, as his natural position for Hoffenheim is behind the true striker.
When Brozović attended practice with a wrapped hand the day after the Czech match, rumors quickly swirled about what happened. Nobody in the Croatian media was reporting it, but everyone knew that deep frustrations were physically expressed in the locker room.
According to team delegates who witnessed it, Brozović tried to attack Dalić in the locker room and had to be held back by multiple players and staff. Brozović was frustrated that he was dropped from the Starting XI vs. Czech and went after Dalić.
Like with Rebić, many players this time sided with Brozović, leaving Dalić without the confidence of the team. This forced Modrić to take the mantle as coach/decision maker for the Scotland match.
This is why Perišić was quoted in a cryptic message the day before the Scotland game: “You will watch the new Croatia tomorrow.”
Hotel Vatreni was under new management, and Brozović was re-inserted into the Starting XI. Croatia beat Scotland 3-1 and booked their spot in the Round of 16 with Spain.
After the loss to Spain, Rebić posted, “We’ve (Croatia) been crap for 2-3 years,” which was a nod towards Dalić and his poor coaching over that span.
Things have soured so much that sources closest to the team say Modrić will not stay on for World Cup qualifiers if Dalić is still the coach. Modrić will end his Real Madrid career in May 2022 and the World Cup will kick off six months later in Qatar, so it’s not out of the question that he could still be a force for Croatia.
This last Brozović incident, where his wrist was iced up, is the third blow up in three years. It seems like friction has become an established norm under this coach. It is understood that we Croatians are passionate, but this level of competition requires professionalism. This means the coach must have the respect of his team; on and off the field. This Croatia team has too much talent and too many promising prospects to let mismanagement derail them.
The bad news is that the team is in real trouble.
The good news is that it looks like adjustments are about to be made.
Davor Šuker is expected to step down as President of the HNS on July 31st with Marijan Kustić taking the helm, Total Croatia News has reported.
The same people who knew about all of the friction are the same people who know that Dalić is also on his way out. It is common knowledge inside the HNS that Dalić has been shopping for a club team, and is expected to land somewhere sooner than later, even though he is still under contract through 2022.
A new beginning will allow everyone to hit the reset button and for leadership to develop better interpersonal relationships.
Management must work to recreate the same energy the Vatreni showed during the 2018 World Cup, despite existing friction, because Croatian talent with the right leadership CAN bring the team back to a World Cup Final.
Croatian football is special. On two separate occasions, the Vatreni took the world by storm with their Cinderella story: 1998 and 2018. A Croatian has lifted the Champions League trophy in nine straight seasons. Croatia now has a Ballon d’Or winner in Luka Modrić.
There should be zero doubt in Croatian supporters’ minds that if players, coaches, and upper management can all just get along, Croatian football can make deep runs at tournaments every other summer instead of every 20 years.
Croatian football has transcended sport on more than one occasion and Croatians supporters around the world deserve the new HNS cabinet to be better than the previous one in creating a new, positive culture.
Achieving the status of playing in the World Cup Final has redefined all expectations around Croatian football. We now know what is possible, and Croatians will always have the highest of expectations moving forward.
The bare minimum expectation is that the individuals at every level of the HNS, from players to administrators, can conduct themselves with the highest level of professionalism, that we can beat anyone at any time, and that this generation can empower the next, and lead by example.
Because if a new culture cannot be established, we will squander some of the world’s best footballing talent. And that would be an absolute shame.
Great site you guys have here. I cam across this article today, June 14, 2022
Safe to say – much of what was said would happen, did not go that way. (Dalic leaving, etc.) Am I wrong?
Foreign coach is they way to go. Somebody who is neutral, established and won’t be easily swayed by any internal forces.
I’m bias because he’s a legend at the club I support, but we should of scooped up Kek when we had the chance. Great tactician, knows our brand of football given he coached in the HNL for a long time, speaks the language but is not emotionally tied to all the politics and bullshit within the savez. I think he’s gearing up Slovenia for another WC run and seeing if they can keep close to us and Russia, don’t see him leaving his post.
I think the closest thing to him is Rozman, former Rijeka HC, now at Maribor. Not as good as Kek, but he’s a disciple of Kek, is young (38) and could grow a little bit into our NT coach role – but very much qualified for the role. Could see him leaving Maribor for our job immediately. Would put him just outside of the main candidates (Bjelica, Biscan, whoever else is out their domesticaly) and one of the best foreigners in the mix for us, assuming Dalic isn’t around by Qatar.
I thought the elephant in the room was going to be that you have nationalists and partizani in your team that can’t seem to unite in their diversity.
You gotta find a coach that can unite multicultural players in their diversity. I suggest you look to a child of the diaspora, someone raised in a multicultural country, what about Tony Popovic?
How about Gregg Popovich or Bill Belichick? more qualified than Dalic
I really don’t get it, people think ante would make this up and post something on his website that would potentially piss off his best possible contacts in to the HNS?
The people the believe he would are the real conspiracy theorists!
You don’t think all these world class vatreni players, that come from world class organizations all over Europe cringe when hires like ante cacic, zlatko dalic, Niko kovac and so on …are named head coach? You don’t think a bunch of Croatians who think if themselves as world class soccer players don’t lose their mind when they are surrounded by incompetence ( corruption they can deal with ) …
Honestly I’d imagine there is way more drama than we know about!
For all the shit that happens in croatia corruption favoritism we should be happy since 1994 to now where we are could it have been some better results yes no doubt.
For wc 2022 Dalic needs to change things up and play players in their positions. I onow budimir isnt suker or mandzo but should have played at euros. Pasalic Vlasic Brekalo all should have played aswell. Krama never a starter for me and rebic odjebi debilu. Looking foward to seeing what happens in qualifying if we suck or top group. Gotta play hungary players and start putting youngsters not because the media force them or the godfather from hercegovina.
Goalkeepers i dont think.livakovic as safe number imo i like him but hes not safe for me Grbic Kotarski Nevistic Ivusic Pandur
Obrana Bradaric Need to forgive sosa just like we forgave 2006 srna balaban olic for going to cajke club. Uremovic Pongracic Matej Mitrovic Katic Lovren Vida Sutalo Gvardiol Erlic Jedvaj Benkovic is still forgotten and young Peric so just need to have Friendly’s and try out. RB Vrsaljko Juranovic Sutalo can play that as well.
Mid Modric Kovacic Brozovic Pasalic Vlasic Moro Ivanusec Majer Rog(before injury played well for vatreni).
ATT. Perisic Orsic Brekalo Pjaca(not giving up on him steta for his injury) Kramaric(needs to get head out of ass 30years old) Budimir Petkovic(hes a big questionmark to me) Biuk new talent. Rebic to me slways forgive but he is not 100 percent in his head. Spikic Musa Vizinger Try steal Raguz and hajduk have ljubicic.
A lot of NT’s out there (Italy being one) are in the practice of calling an abnormally high number of players to the NT over the course of years and basically seeing what works and what doesn’t. With all that talent that we have, why not do that when it comes to qualifiers vs. minnows or Nations League? Lets give guys like Majer, Biuk, Sosa, Orsic, Ivusic, Sutalo, Uremovic and others 75 minutes in a low pressure qualifier or Nations League game. Give them a chance or two, if they stink it up, try others, keep the door open. Eventually we are going to land on guys that have a place in the squad and figure out others who don’t belong. You do that over the course of 2 years and you have a good lay of the land.
If Dalic (or whoever is coaching) put out a statement saying fuck Nations League, I’m just going to experiment and if we lose all our games, I’m ok with that. But if we put out the same bullshit squads we’ve been seeing the past 2 years and THEN we still lose, that’s a complete waste of time.
Different story if we play a game like the one in September where a fair amount is on the line, yes, lets play our best squad.
In other sports news, arguably our best basketball prospect Roko Prkacin withdrew his name from this year’s NBA draft.
Good move as he is only 18 and this year’s draft is quite deep. Next year if he progresses we’ll he’ll be a higher pick in my opinion.
Good move by him.
Tough to say.
If he fell to the second round, he wouldn’t have been locked into a restricted contract that first round picks are automatically set to.
He would be able to play in Europe, and negotiate whatever deal he wants with his team. First rounders have a set salary and are only guaranteed two years, plus another two years (at a bargain amount).
First rounders have to wait three years playing overseas for that ‘locked in’ restricted contract to clear.
For example, Dario Šarić was drafted 12th overall, which locked him into a 1.5 million dollar, four year contract. He stayed in Europe for two years (making way more money than that) but decided to go to the NBA after two years. This cost him a lot of money, because had he waited another year, his locked-in salary would clear and he would have been able to get probably something like $4 million per season (of guaranteed money) instead of a 2+1+1 year non guaranteed contract at a quarter of the money. Philly management and fans loved him for this… But none of that mattered when they traded him off (to career-killing Minnesota) anyway.
Also, getting drafted high in the second round would probably mean you get drafted by a weak team. May result in more playing time than being drafted by a playoff team in the first round.
It’s such a crapshoot and difficult to predict what option is the best.
But I don’t think him waiting a year would have made a difference.
https://sempreinter.com/2021/07/20/inter-could-let-ivan-perisic-leave-this-summer-on-a-free-transfer-to-lower-wage-bill-italian-media-report/
This dude is still a stud.
Two footed game changer.
I’m reading a lot of complaints on here about the article being hearsay. I remember reading an article on Sportske Novosti right before or after our loss to Spain that talked about many in the media hearing whispers through those connected to the team or through players agents complaining about the toxic environment surrounding the team and the issue with the coach, but they chose not to publish it at that point. I think most of what Ante has written will probably be substantiated at some point soon and maybe this can be the catalyst to start other media outlets to publish what they know.
And I applaud Ante for writing it. Most everyone here knows that there should be a change and if this sparks something it will probably be for the betterment of the team. It takes courage to be the first one to do it as it’s probably a risk that it may reduce his access for interviews down the road.
I think Ante put a lot of the pieces together, that many of us knew about or heard about, into a coherent story. We all knew of the behind the scenes issues during the Euro. All our media outlets reported on it, to one extent or another.
Ante might be completely right. Maybe he has some facts wrong. But kudos to him for getting this conversation going and maybe putting it out there to a bigger audience (outside of us goons on this site). Obviously something doesn’t smell right behind the scenes and that should come to light eventually. We put a lot of pressure on our repka and while some are ok with making it to a major tournament or making it to R16, many of us (me included along with others on the site and around the world) know we are capable of more.
Armada, well put. I’m just putting the pieces together. For those of you thinking I would put my reputation on the line for a bullshit conspiracy post…really???? Big eyeroll to all of you. When have I ever posted bullshit news for clicks?
I simply want to start conversation around things that most people don’t know are public.
Vuk. You get it. I’ve been sitting on this stuff for a long time. Funny how anytime anyone speaks against Croatia or the Croatian national team, they are labeled a Yugo immediately by some. You should see the FB comments. Too funny. I’m reporting what I’ve heard from multiple guys from the top. I want to push Croatian football forward as much as I can. Simple as that. These are our kids. And when your kids don’t behave, a good parent is not going to let there kids continue to misbehave.
We will find out this week what Croatian media does with this. If this sparks national debate, I’m all for it.
We’re turning into or even worse then the cetniks with all this inter related squabbles in the squad. Like the Serbs, lots of talent and not living up to expectations I see in the next few years. I pray I am wrong.
Serbs have lots of talent?
LOL, no they don’t. They’re a fringe qualifying team. They are ranked appropriately.
Come on man, I hate Serbs as much as the next guy on this site but they have talent. No where near ours, but they have above average talent and looking at their squad, they should qualify for almost every euro or WC. They do seem to always have coaching or mentality issues though, but I don’t care enough to look into it.
Agreed. Hate to say it, but they have better than ‘above average’ talent. To quote the famous Ziva Istina though, when you open the dictionary and look up ‘Balkan mental midget syndrome’ you see a picture of Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije. Plenty of talent, but mentally could never put it together. When you look at their roster and the clubs where there players play at, kind of unbelieveable that they don’t do dick on the international stage.
Nothing really changes here- HNS will pick some unprepared chump- our issue in 30 years is that our players have had a taste of world class coaching with their club teams and then they come back to apple pickers like Dalic- time to step up and get a real coach from who cares where- just someone who knows strategy- we can’t have Vatreni players and Vatreni coaches- the coaching part is control and right decision making under pressure- no news here- just rinse and repeat.
It’s always bad timing with our coaching hires though.
What coach can you get during the tail end of a qualifying campaign?
If we lose points to Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia in these next three critical games (and the HNS decides to fire Dalić) who can we possibly hire?
We need to conduct a proper hiring process at the right time.
Dalić should have stepped down at the end of the Euros, and the HNS should have spent the summer interviewing with hopeful candidates (not after all these candidates have already signed new agreements with other clubs).
September is gonna be very interesting.
I agree with the corruption,it’s enough to make one stop watching the “beautiful game”entirely.
It’s like walking into a strip joint and seeing your niece on stage…gut wrenching and heart breaking all in one!
For some reason (probably because it generates the most money worldwide) FIFA is the most powerful and corrupt sports organization of all time. Quick example..the Qatar hosting the World Cup (pay off) bid along with fifa looking the other way as they built the stadiums etc. (people forced to work as slaves under horrible work and living conditions where people are dying everyday doing construction?? Wtf? As you are all aware there are numerous other examples of fifa corruption since it’s creation and for some reason it’s accepted? Point is the scumbags who run FIFA are COMPLETLEY corrupt and the people behind the scenes of a lot of club and country fifa teams Operations/ organizations/ sponsors/ tournaments etc are corrupted including CROATIA. That’s one of the reasons you see a lot of weird and unexplainable “management” problems/decisions. FIFA AND all included cover up everything like it’s a full time job. If you ask me the corruption and situations are probably worse than you could imagine. Whether you believe Ante’s
“Scoop” or not it doesn’t really matter the specifics. The bottom line is something is wrong within our system and probably if looked into much worse. I hope that despite these obvious distractions we can get a respectable coach who can handle the job and put together a competitive team for the World Cup and let the chips land as they may. Other then that fixing the problem is a lot deeper than just replacing the coach but Hopefully with a real coach the team can at least reach there potential despite the problems behind the scenes and play well. Good luck!
What a load of bullshit and innuendo. No one bit of credible evidence!
So there wasn’t a meeting with Dalic where Modric among others agreed to leave Rebic off the team for the time being?
Kramaric and Vlasic don’t get along either because Kramaric believes he should be playing instead of Vlasic and that Vlasic should play wing. Rebic is angry at Kramaric also because all Rebic can play is wing, and Krama with his lack of versatility needs Petkovic or Budimir starting for him to thrive, and Rebic knows Perisic is a starter, so Krama wants Rebic riding the pine.
There is some players in this team that just can’t coexist on any level with players that get in their way, it has to be their way or revolution.
So you mean to tell me, that the big Croatian media outlets that have reporters spending every waking minute following the repka, decided this was all a non-story. Other than these so called “delegates”, who are the sources of such allegations? Name them! It’s obvious that Dalic has lost a grip on this team, just like every other manager has previously. I’m not saying that any of this stuff didn’t happen, but somethings don’t add up, like Modric taking over coaching decisions for Scotland. But what about Spain? Was it Modric that decided let’s sit back and soak up nonstop Spanish pressure for 80 minutes? Or did Dalic get promoted for that game? I think it is time for a change and Dalic has done his job up till now, but this sounds more like a gossip column and a desperate attempt at getting the ball rolling on eliminating him, although this probably won’t reach those in charge of making that decision. We’ve gone through 2 nations league tournaments, an entire qualifying cycle, and Euro Cup, but now this starts to leak out? I like this site. Just hope this article doesn’t cost you guys good interviews like Joe Simunic, or any press opportunities from the HNS going forward.
Like I said, everyone close to the team knows this is going on, but no one wants to talk about it. No media outlet in Croatia “wants to be first”. But if we don’t talk about the elephant in the room, all this will continue for years and years to come.
Imagine if the Croatian national team had the infrastructure of Austria’s federation or Switzerland’s. With our talent we would be making the quarters and semis of many more tournaments. Instead, it’s egos vs. egos vs. egos in Croatian football politics. Wasn’t the 2018 run fun for all of you? I had the absolute time of my life. Don’t you want more of that?
You guys should know me well enough by now. I’m not going to put my reputation on the line after a decade of running this site for a cheap article.
If you guys think the HNS is pure and organized, you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m sharing all this with you because I care about moving Croatian football forward. If you think tactics and players are all we have to figure out, you are incredibly mistaken.
Ante, I’m not so sure I agree with this comment here:
“Imagine if the Croatian national team had the infrastructure of Austria’s federation or Switzerland’s. With our talent we would be making the quarters and semis of many more tournaments. Instead, it’s egos vs. egos vs. egos in Croatian football politics.”
when you say “infrastructure” are you referring to the system of delegates, directors and coaching staff?
From my view, I don’t see those nations as being more successful than us and from what you’re suggesting, our system is and has been corrupt to the core.
Let’s look at this closer. We got our Independence in the early 90’s…we qualified for 5 of 6 World Cups. 3 times we didn’t get out of the group stage, 1 time we finished 3rd (1998) and 1 time we finished 2nd (2018).
there have been 7 Euro tournaments since we got our Independence, we qualified 6 times, twice we didn’t make it out of the group stage, twice we got to the “round of 16” and twice we were “quarter finalists”.
Austria has a population of 8.85 million. They’ve qualified for 1 World Cup out of the past 7 and qualified for 3 Euro’s out of the past 7….best they’ve done is round of 16.
Let’s take Netherlands and Denmark as an example. Netherlands has a population of 17.2 million, Denmark has 5.8 million and is considered one of the best country’s to live in. Both Denmark and Netherlands have whats considered a “better league” than Croatia does, we are ranked 18th in Europe, below Cyprus, Serbia, Czech Republic….
If what you’re saying above (“Imagine if the Croatian national team had the infrastructure of Austria’s federation or Switzerland’s.”) is true, should we all expect to be World Cup and Euro winners at most tournaments?
I think we falter in many areas…most of all with tunnel vision! Producing players at the club level is very important…thats a responsibility of the clubs. producing results in tournaments is the responsibility of the HNS and thats very tricky if you ask me.
My impression is that you’re blaming the HNS for something that is the responsibility of the coaching staff. With that said, we’ve been underwhelmed with sub par decision making coaches for a very long time….going back to Ciro Blazevic.
I don’t know exactly how the HNS has interfered with the performance of the teams we’ve had. When I remember back to some tournaments, we had some weaker teams, some tournaments I felt we were really grasping to fill in any amount of quality and overall yes, I think we can do better…but I don’t see our poor performance in this tournament anything to do with the head of the HNS. They hired Dalic and this entire poor performance fiasco we’ve seen over the past few years are 100% on Dalic. He’s never once been told he can or can’t use certain players….he’s made some very questionable decisions that have surprised everyone and those were his decisions alone!
Don’t care if you don’t believe me but I know someone who is has recently retired from the NT and he says this is all bullshit.
Ante if you cared so much about our NT, you wouldn’t write garbage pieces like this.
I think it’s clear that there’s frustration or tension but this article reads like a psycho conspiracy theorist. I don’t trust your source(s) for a second and I don’t even believe they’re real sources at this point.
@ Ante
I have the same question as Slavonac. Why would Modric run and jump into Dalic’s arms after the game against Scotland if they were at odds and Modric was calling the shots? I would guess it would be more of a ‘I told you so’ look instead directed at Dalic.
I completely buy into the issues bubbling underneath but Modric running the team I’m not sure that I do.
As for a Brozo, it seems he’s becoming an evil necessity. He’s been a crucial piece to our success (even though he really did have a few awful games Belgium friendly/England). Even still, I don’t think he’s a guy we can replace right now and has to play for us given our D.
As for the for the coach, I’m sure there is someone else from Livno we can find. Lol.
I don’t have an exact answer for you but look at it this way. Both weathered the storm after the Scotland win. If Croatia lost, that would have surely been the last game for both Modric and Dalic. They may not be on the same page but they’ve both been through a lot with each other and shared a great moment with each other after the victory. Nothing more, nothing less.
I only saw Dalic hug Modric and no one else. I also wasn’t in the stadium.
@Ante
Fair enough. Regardless of some of these comments I appreciate all the work you do on this site. There’s some obvious issues with this team but here’s to hoping a change will turn this around.
Hvala imenjaca!
O Booo Hooo, So what!!!! This whole article is pathetic I don’t even want to elaborate fully on these issues. So boys, you’re not children. You’re grown men, so act like it. You’re all professionals, deal with it. I am not sure why the drama? As far respect goes, it works both ways Management to players and vice versa. Those who don’t want to play, shouldn’t even be recruited no matter how good they are. Personally, I would fire you all and start over. Modric though, he can stay :D.
@The real story
That makes sense, so Brozovic was upset that he got dropped because that would have a detrimental effect on his t-shirt buisness? So it’s all about the t-shirts (I had a feeling that it was something other than football), because Dalic once kept his buddy Brozovic on the squad much to the chagrin of Modric and co.
Hopefully they’ve sorted it all out now.
I can tell you what really happened, here goes,
The little altercation that happened between Dalic and Broz had nothing to do with football, it had all to do with Dalic giving Broz a bit of shit about his epicBroz t-shirt, basically Dalic said what most normal people think about his white t-shirt that says epicBroz on it,
“who do you expect to buy this white t-shirt that says epicBroz on it, the poor little Croatian kids?” At this point Brozovic started crying but Dalic didn’t ease up on him, instead he came back with,
“you’re not Messi or Ronaldo that kids all around the world will buy your white t-shirt that says epicBroz on it, you’d probably have a hard time giving that shit away.”
At that point Brozovic tried to punch Dalic in the face but Dalic was to elusive for him and Broz punched the wall, players stepped in to deescalate the situation, in which they succeeded, but only after they all pledged to buy an epicBroz t-shirt for their kids and wives. At that point Broz was so happy that everyone thought his t-shirt was great and that Dalic, in Broz’s opinion, didn’t know shit about the t-shirt buisness.
And that’s exactly what happened
No, you have misunderstood me. I created a surreal masterpiece on the football pitch, but instead of melting clocks, I melted Croatian hopes.
What’s going on with scumbag suker?
Is he off to bigger and better pursuits?
What ever happened to his agent being murdered…did they catch the hit man ?
Davor’s true character was revealed when someone left behind 30 grand in antique coins on a plane sitting next to him,and he had a buddy try and get them appraised.Arsenal fined him pretty hefty for it you would expect that from a Romanian not a hrvat making millions.
The further he goes from the HNS the better the piece of filth!!
This article quotes its own tweet of a comment from Perisic..
No it doesn’t. We are not CroatianNews.
Makes a lot of sense actually, when you look back at things. I never would have guessed it during the WC, but now things just kind of fit this narrative.
My god talk about a gossip story. Other than a few quotes this entire article is just made up stories and guesses as to what happened in our locker room. Did not realize this had become a tabloid. Dalic was never a great tactical manager and our team has to begin a new rebuilding cycle with or without him. But to pretend that the entire team just hates him, or that Luka took the helm against Scotland is just shocking. Although with guesswork like this I can definitely say it reads like The Sun.
Well written article. Thank you for shedding light to the situation happening behind the scenes, which is usually not disclosed to the general public and we are usually left in the dark.
This is not shedding the light lol this is just someone making up guesses as to what really happened
This is just all bullshit speculation
Was Filip Ozobić a loss to the future national team , never heard is name before?
He’s a 30 year old CM/AM that’s been playing in Azeri League the past 5 years. And is worth 880k on Transfermarkt. What do you think?
Thanks Armada. Razumio. Unfortunately, 875,000 more that I would fetch .
Well, yeah, im sure this is a common sentiment but thanks to Dalic for the dream run in 2018 but def seems time for a change now. TBH it seems like we need a new manager every few years even when they are decent for some reason, the team just needs that “reset” button pushed as abovementioned. In any case, let’s get someone else in and try get some more out of forward players, please.
eh, youre reaching.
When does the next League of Nations start?
Not till after World Cup?
I sure wish we had another round of them with a new coach to really roll out some youth
Like let’s not wait till an opening match between us and England again to throw 19 year olds in there
I personally would love to see some of these kids
Yes they aren’t all great but sounds like there are 3-4 of these kids that could have an impact
Not even including Sosa
i really wish the future holds better management and overall less ego from players. respect runs both ways and you’re right, the supporters deserve better than whats been happening. politics runs so high in football i can only hope things will get better!
I personally think Modric in the future for management would be excellent.
Maybe. But let him gather 10+ years of managerial experience elsewhere first.
We largely failed when it came to hiring former players who haven’t had much coaching experience. Only Bilic (early on) had success…but the latter half was questionable, and Stimac and Kovac were complete failures.
Also, I’m tired of seeing all these Croatian footballing stars turn into such parasites after they retire from the game (by trying to use their National Team status to try and put themselves in a position to coach our National Team)….which they would use to kick start their coaching careers like Kovac did.
Olic, Srna, and Vukojevic were all assistants with our National Team (despite having zero coaching experience)…all probably trying to hang around to see if they could get the opportunity to become head coach one day.
I’d tell all former players to go fuck off and coach at HNL club level (and to ply their trade elsewhere in other leagues) before even thinking of coaching the National Team.
Prosinecki, Olic and Tudor were considered good coaching prospect on our National Team’s doorstep at one point in time, but now we see after a few years of coaching other teams, that they might not be such great options. Tudor can’t hold a gig for more than a year, and Prosinecki has mixed results.
Olic got tossed from CSKA pretty quickly too after having a terrible season in his first post-Croatia gig.
It probably would have been a disaster if we continued our tradition of just giving one of them their ‘first shot’ in coaching with our National Team.
We have a lot of coaches now (something we haven’t had in the past) with some interesting coaching prospects (Ivan Juric, Nenad Bjelica, Igor Biscan) and veteran ones (Vlad Petkovic).
Hoping we either break the bank and go with a veteran experienced foreign coach, or manage to get one of our own experienced coaches.
No more of these former player turned coaches with less than a decade of success.
Ivan Leko as well
True. He did well in Belgium for Brugges and Antwerp.
Too bad he went for the money and took off to coach in China.
I don’t recognize any successes in China or the Middle East for any of our coaches there.
He’s gotta get back into Europe and continue to gain more experience after his good start.
1000% agreed. Let’s build a pipeline for these former players that want to coach. Start them in the 2. HNL or a lower table 1. HNL team. Let them get there feet wet, actually learn their trade with little pressure and then move into a better spot.
I mean, I have always liked Carli as a player and person (and he has brains and married a Istrjanka…) but what in the world is he learning behind Dalic at this point? All the wrong ways to manage team chemistry? How to tactically gaffe an entire major tournament?
Should of went to an up and coming Druga HNL side like Opatija (down the road from where Franka is from in Rabac), get some time in, get them to the Prva HNL maybe and then set your sights on a job with the repka.
Being an assistant coach for the Croatian National Team is higher prestige than being the head coach of a 2.HNL club.
It’s also a very low risk, high reward move.
He won’t get blame for any failures under Dalic, but he may be considered as a caretaker replacement if Dalic is suddenly fired and no other notable coaches are willing to end their current commitments to come and take over (like the last couple of times we did this).
Going to coach some team in 2.HNL takes you off the radar since most people don’t follow those teams, and it take a REALLY good manager to succeed with less talent.
Corluka would have to work hard and be a very talented manager to get notice.
There are actually a lot of former players doing this, but we don’t hear about them because they didn’t succeed in doing anything notable.
This is what Biscan did and he got noticed.
He took over NK Rudeš and actually won them promotion into the first league for the first time in their history. That got the attention of Olimpija Ljubljana, and he signed there, won the league and cup with them…and it got him enough attention to be considered a future coaching prospect for us.
I agree, its a tougher road, but the better one ultimately over time. I mean, take Corluka and Biscan. Who do you think will still be doing this 5-10 years from now? My money would be on Biscan.
I think this is a top down culture change from the HNS (maybe Kustic could implement?) We have a terrific pipeline it seems for players, why not build something out for coaches. Cut out the approach of just handing the assistant ‘keys’ to the most recently retired NT player. Setup a system so we can truly weed out the good coaching prospects from the not so good, give them low pressure scenarios to grow and have truly qualified people at the top for senior repka.
I know this is probably a pipedream in a place like Croatia but this is how we could avoid hiring TV repairmen, former NT players that aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed or journeymen coaches that don’t have the jaje to lead a top 20 NT.
Yea, I don’t know who is in charge of hiring assistant coaches for the National Team.
There is probably no money in the position, and the HNS just looks for volunteers, and lets Dalic know that ‘X’ player is interested in becoming an assistant.
Other coaches (like Kovac) brought their own guys.
It should be up to the coach, and maybe give them a budget to hire some support staff.
But I think the HNS needs to be more vocal to these parasites that they are no longer interested in hiring coaches without several years of head coaching experience.
I think a lot of these guys like Olic, Corluka, etc would leave after that lol (instead of hanging around and hoping for a big break).
Dalić has been playing it too safe. With reactions like Brozović’s when he was dropped, I understand why Dalić is reluctant to switch starters like Rebić.
He needs to toughen up or gtfo. I’m looking forward to seeing what changes Kustić makes.
The bigger news is that Hajduk signed Filip Krovinovic and now have their most talented team in over a decade.
I would have preferred they didn’t sign him if it means that Stipe Biuk goes to the bench.
Krovinovic is good, but not a future National Team caliber player like what Biuk will be.
Krovinovic will definitely help their campaign this year, but I hope I don’t see us strictly rolling out Livaja, Krovinovic and Slovenia’s Mlakar up top…but then leave a lot of our youngsters like Biuk and Dolcek on the bench.
We need Hajduk to develop Biuk for us. He’s as big of a talent for us as guys like Gvardiol and Sucic.
Bro? Biuk is left wing and Krovinovic is a central midfielder lol. Not the same position. Filip will prob take Cuic’s position. Biuk is locked starter.
Agree completely Lovro. Hopefully Hajduk will keep their young talent for another couple of years before selling and permit the team to become stronger. I am a Dinamo fan, but a stronger and more relevant Hajduk is better for all of Croatian football. Would be fantastic for the league and national team if Hajduk, Dinamo, Osijek, and maybe another team can battle consistently for Champs League playoff berth. Young players could realize their dreams of earning a bigger wage in other leagues without going to Dinamo as an intermediate step.
Meh. Not much there.
If Brozovic is showing up pickled and players are against him why is everyone all smiles in that picture where he’s doing his stupid little pose? Why would anyone support that idiot for flipping out on the coach after being dropped. Guess what Broz, you played like dung against England. You ain’t above the team buddy. Take a seat!
We need to blow some shit up.
Who’s our next captain?
Please don’t say Kovacic. We need a captain with some real balls.
https://sempremilan.com/journalist-playmaker-is-trying-to-force-milan-move-has-made-his-intentions-to-leave-clear
Talent > Dalic
Nice guy .. parlay this into a decent club spot where you can grow as a coach.
We need to have a legit coach to match the their level of player we have in our talent pool.
Modrić and Perišić have one last run in them. Let’s make it count.
I have some questions Ante:
1) Is this why Mandzukic left? Did he see Dalic wasn’t cut out for this position and saw all the bullshit from the 2019 World Cup …so he decided to leave?
2) After the game vs Scotland, I saw Modric purposely going to Dalic and congratulating him…hugging him and spending a few moments with him. Is the the behavior of a player that’s disgusted with his coach?
***3) You mentioned this:
“When Brozović attended practice with a wrapped hand the day after the Czech match, rumors quickly swirled about what happened. Nobody in the Croatian media was reporting it, but everyone knew that deep frustrations were physically expressed in the locker room.”
Ante, I’m curious about this comment. Index hr and guys like Holiga LOVE controversy and anything to do with stirring shit…anything to cause trouble with Suker and Mamic’s era! Why would the media stay silent? This would be the most opportune moment for them to take down the team, the HNS and sell their media clicks!
***2018 WC
Because Ante is full of shit
I don’t know about Mandzo but I’ve heard that Dalic didn’t have a starting XI plan for Rakitic after the WC and that’s why he left. He wasn’t going to ride the bench after what he’s done for this team. That wasn’t from a reliable source.
I answer the other 2 questions above.
hmmm…thats interesting…Rakitic is still good but maybe its ok he left…we should all hope Kovacic does well and takes over!
Nothing we didn’t already know. Dalic has to go!!! If Sosa says 50 Hail Mary’s and 25 ZDS’s he’s in.
Get Luka Sucic and Stipe Biuk in there too.
Get some high talent youth coming off the bench (and cap Sucic asap).
Still keep those high end veterans like Perisic and Modric…but move away from any of the 30+ crowd that isn’t a worldbeater (Lovren, Vida, Barisic, etc).
Best comment here 🤣
So… If Modrić became the “coach” for the Scotland game, does this mean that he was the coach for the Spain game too?
Who’s decision was it to keep Rebić in that Spain game for 70 minutes when it obviously was not working?
If it was Modrić, then I say we fire his ass too lol.
Haha imagine believing this guy has “inside info”.
This is hilarious.
Ante clearly loves to create fake gossip.
Good insider info ANTE!!!!!!
So Dalic is a huge scam!!! Even before WC FINAL?? Which means even though we got robbed and still almost won the WC FINAL we didn’t even have a regular coach. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!
If you ask me this is the best case scenario. Get rid of this toxic cancer and let the team flourish as it should and at least you know you put out your best quality product and you can stand behind it. Like I said before on Dalic.. the sooner the better. And you know what considering the situation give the SOSA kid another chance. If he’s good enough to be on the team let him be sorry for his mistake and he’s got DALIC as an excuse so give him another chance to prove himself worthy of wearing the checkers by playing well. Best way to be forgiven? Make an impact on the team and everyone will forget about what happened! Hopefully Dalic is gone before the next WC QUALIFIER game and that will give the team a positive boost and regained strength. The players need to be united with clear heads, not unnecessary problems. It’s disappointing knowing that a Euro tournament was wasted under this mismanaged nonsense.
So are Rebic-Kramaric-Petkovic redeemable??????? I hope so!!! They are certainly going to have to prove it……
Good luck for the next WC…..
The big question for me is why was it covered it up for so long??????
I traveled far to go to the match vs Mexico in Dallas. When news broke that modric and some others wouldn’t be there, I was pissed off. I called miro markovic, head of security at the time and met the team at the hotel Adolphus. It was awesome, but thinking back now dalic wasn’t with the boys at all. Suker and Olic were.
Wish I could of met luka or mandzo.
If that is the case this shit needs to be sorted out ASAP
Don’t we have qualifiers coming up
So it sounds like rebic and krama deliberately tanked
Don’t say that’s true
On the other hand We can’t have players who have zero respect for the coach contract or now until 2022
I would resign as coach out of sheer embarrassment
https://www.total-croatia-news.com/sport/54329-2021-hns-elections
Interesting on the pletikosa thing as well
So if dalic goes, does this mean Sosa is going to get another chance?
He’s a dumb kid, doing dumb stuff. I still can’t blame him, playing well and Germany calls. Hard to say no
Maybe the way he did it needed tact but if broz can show up drunk then why not?
I guess a new coach could mean rebic sticking around?
If the Croatian public actually find out it’s dalic or luka, pretty well dalic gonna need his rosary cause he gonna get beat down somewhere
Well written
Thank you for that
I think everyone pretty well knew this at least at euro
But ya hopefully this can explain some of the trash for the past three years
Remember friends, Italy didn’t qualify for World Cup and has pretty well won every game or close to it with Mancini
I still say you can’t tell me we play Italy 10 times we can’t take Half
Even at our worst we almost went on a run
Maybe mandzo and rakitic would have stayed? Not saying that would have the best but makes you wonder
So, who will coach us
Bjelica ftw IMO but didn’t someone say he and the mamic boys don’t get along
Who’s this Kustić guy?
Hey hey it’s krustic, the clown;)
No idea, Anyone know if he is the real deal or a puppet for someone else?
He’s a HDZ politician.
He played a bit of football in the HNL second and third league for a bit, and won the 2.HNL title with Novalja as their sports director.
Not sure if he is actually gonna “shake up” anything.
He’s the president of the Lika-Senj County Football Association which means he has been working with guys like Suker and Miskovic to date.
I don’t think him moving into HNS presidency is some sort of hostile takeover, where he’s just gonna clean house.
I think he’s also pretty good with Dalic, which worries me.
Suker sets a pretty low bar, but my worry with Kustic are things just remaining status quo.
Amazing article Ante. New leadership is needed. Our incoming talent deserves it