Fair or foul? Both young guns, Luka Sučić and Luka Vušković have been left out of Croatia’s two September World Cup qualifiers.
Sučić has been suspended from the team by Dalić for attending his sister’s wedding in June rather than joining the squad for two World Cup qualifiers vs. Gibraltar and Czechia. It is being reported the both Dalić and captain Luka Modrić recommended to Sučić not to attend the wedding. Maybe a test from Dalić to see where Sučić stands with his international duty responsibilities for Croatia. I would think this is more of an ego check for the 22 year-old attacking midfielder. I’m sure he will be back on the squad in October, but for now, no Sučič.
On the defensive side, Luka Vušković being left off isn’t really a big deal at the end of the day for me. The kid is only 18. We still don’t know if Spurs are going to keep him on the squad or loan him out this year. I’m a big fan of bringing up the future to simply train and travel with the team but I think Dalić is playing “ego check” with both Sučić and Vušković with the non-call ups. Vušković got his first cap back in June and is now being left off. I think if the Vatreni can start locking up the group with two wins in September, then there will be runway to bench the vets and play the kids. Either way, I think both cases will be non-issues in November and both with be called back up with September in the rearview mirror.
Who got the bigger snub?
I love my creation soccer team they’re fabulous way to go guys congratulations proud of you
Vekić all the way! I really.hope that she takes it.
I hope that both her and Martic get through.
Doesn’t look good, Vekić is having a very difficult time against Mertens.
This is the weakest goalkeeper crew we’ve sent for any match since 2004 when we had Tomislav Butina, who was decent in the Euros.
Yes, Ivušić has declined. He gave up 2 bad goals in two different games vs Albanian side Dinamo City.
Yes also to Sučić. He asks Modrić for advice and then does his own shit anyway. Seems really a really immature person for his age.
About the keepers, I don’t think Dalić can take Ivušić over Grbić or Letica that much longer. Grbić already has 11 saves in 2 matches in the Turkish league and is leading that league in saves so far, not to mention the number of corners he’s successfully defended. I’ve been able to see a large part of both those matches because they were on Fridays, and although Grbić can be slow to come off his line, he’s been the only thing keeping his club at all competitive and made some very impressive saves against Galatasaray. He also seems very cool in the head. Letica obviously has been performing well in a decent league for more than a season now. I just don’t see Ivušić staying competitive with those two unless he really shuts things down for Hajduk this season
Luka V features in all 3 social media posts by T today 😊
Wed 3pm EDT
Kotarski vs Soticek start
Grgic star
Liva rotting on bench some more
Franjo bench 😕
😉
LEON GRGIĆ CHOOSES CROATIA 🇭🇷
HNS have secured 19-year-old Sturm Graz striker Leon Grgić for the Croatian U21 squad.
The former Austria U21 international will be available to Ivica Olić from October. [24sata]
This narrative that sister or brother wedding is more important is missing the point. I’m sure Dalic thinks that as well. However dalic is probably thinking get your shit together be accountable. Like inform your sister when planning a wedding when not to make it plan ahead avoid these situations all together. Be responsible and care so you don’t put the team in this position.
A in form Caleta- Car and Erlic will be preferred to dalic than Vuskovic. Dalic will go with the more experience for WC depends on injuries I don’t see vuskovic in WC squad.
My question about defense is whether Martin Erlić is actually in better form than Luka V at the moment. Erlić less of a special player, but he is a guaranteed starter at his new club and has already been playing competitive matches this summer. The other defenders, you can’t complain.
I wouldn’t call up Ivušić anymore with Letica and Grbić both available and seemingly in form, but he’s also only the third keeper. Gives Hajduk some current representation to appease the fans.
About the midfielders, there is just a surplus of skill. Luka Sučić will likely be back soon, but for these matches, you could put any three out there, and Croatia would likely win. What’s strange to me is that both of the wingers called up are playing on the right. Does Perišić move back over to the left for these matches? Or do we just rely on Gvardiol to dominate that left side?
Yeah but he plays in a league that is not much better than the HNL.
At that point, you may as well open up that CB spot to any of our well performing CBs in the Croatian league.
Also, Dalić is an idiot for calling players up so soon.
It’s the beginning of the season (where players are still finding their footing) and we still have about 2-3 rounds before the international break.
You don’t really know just yet who will be in form by September anyway.
Yeah, I guess Coach Dalic is just sitting in his restaurant not keeping a tab on his players’ health or updates. For a coach who has taken Croatia to two semifinals in the World Cup in a row, he deserves a little more respect than just being called an idiot. Oh, I forgot he gets on this blog and listens to Maminjo’s, Crotown’s, and Anonymous’ admonitions and that is why Croatia has risen to #10 in the World rankings. Viva Zlatko!
Mister Dalic is the envy of 99% of the countries man
There is no reason to call up Luka Vuskovic. He is not playing right now. Play people who are in form and getting minutes.
Half the guys we just called up haven’t been playing (since it’s the beginning of the season).
Modrić himself has only played 25 minutes this season.
Gvardiol last played in early July.
Dalić should have waited a bit longer before confirming who to call up.
If we really suspended him for not going to his sister’s wedding, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard in a while. He didn’t go to Ultra, he went to his sister’s wedding.
We don’t know the whole story for Luka Sucic, but I don’t agree with Dalić and would have done the same and gone to my sister’s wedding lol.
We don’t know for sure how Luka Sucic tried or not to make it all work out/if he screwed up in the way he did things, but in all cases I don’t think he deserves to be shamed! A consequence like missing 2 matches is fair though
Hopefully will not be more than that
Also can someone tell me what ivica ivusic is still doing there lol
Dalić will eventually cut Ivušić, but it will be a long and slow process.
I don’t expect him to be cut before the World Cup (even if his season continues to go south). Probably after.
Is Ivusic that bad Maminjo? I haven’t been able to catch the games. A lot of people on here have been saying different things. It’s hard to get a concrete picture of the guy.
sister or brother getting married is more important than a soccer match.
100%. Don’t understand everyone getting so upset. It was two easy games, not like he missed a tournament game.
Frigan tore his acl
How often is this going to happen to our players! Insane!
Awful indeed. Only 50 lbs of pressure to the side of the knee and it rips. Very easy to get that force when you are running and foot is firm on the ground. Happened to me with Hockey.
Such a shame.
He was an interesting prospect.
He didn’t score often, but they were always bangers.
Anybody in Australia know where to watch the qualifiers now that Optus Sport is gone? I can’t find Croatia’s games on Stan Sport either
MK I don’t think anyone has them, the UEFA site has not been updated as it still shows Optus. Hopefully SBS can pick it up, they show the South America qualifiers. Anyone but DAZN!! It does not appear that Stan has picked it up, I can’t see it on their site either and was never mentioned on any of the material they sent through when Optus sold their rights.
Thanks for that, I will have to keep looking and see if any of these sites have an update. Is it possible to use a VPN to access it though another country like Croatia if they end up having it?
Shout out to the 1st Croatian playing in Margaretville Land USA for making the team. Using that was a sign you were unfit. Times they may be a changing.
Play the kids. I don’t care how old the kids are. If their good enough ,play them . I agree with Maminjo. Use the vets to fill in but we have to see what the kids have . Faroe Island /Montenegro, come on. These are third division at best. We should be able to beat these teams with a B or C team. Get the kids out there and tell them their playing for spots in the world cup. Let them run , baby.!!!
I agree with Maminjo and Crotown. This is definitely the time to use your youngsters even if just as substitutes later in the game…at the very least. They need minutes and time to prove themselves so that clubs are willing to take on these kids once they see what they have. But it’s preferable to start them I think.
If Vuskovic stays at Spurs he is going to be mostly stuck to the bench, hopefully they will loan him out to a club ASAP.
HSV and Bundesliga in my opinion is also a bad idea. Hamburg just won promotion and may struggle to stay up? Bundesliga is also a very tough comp and I’m not sure that Vuskovic is ready yet to play in it.
Had Dalic called up Vuskovic he would have been sitting on the bench. Vuskovic has not played a lot in the pre-season for Spurs, hence he is better off playing for our U21 away to Turkey. Vuskovic is 18 and is not ready yet for the seniors, currently we have 4 or 5 CB’s that are better than him. If he continues to improve his time will come in the next few years.
We have started well in the WC qualifiers and cannot afford any stuff ups and that is why we need to play our strongest team against Faroes and Crna Gora.
Faroes narrowly lost away matches to Chechia (2 – 1) and Crna Gora (1 – 0) conceding late goals. They also play their home matches on artificial turf which is often a big handicap for the visiting teams not used to playing on plastic fields.
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
– Veseli nas što ćemo ponovno imati na raspolaganju Luku Vuškovića, koji je stožerni igrač ove reprezentacije. U ovom trenutku za njega je najvažnije da ima značajnu minutažu, kao što je istaknuo i izbornik Zlatko Dalić, a istovremeno postoji mogućnost da ga se po potrebi ponovno priključi A reprezentaciji. Mlačić i Čović će nam se priključiti nakon što 3. rujna odigraju utakmicu za U19 reprezentaciju protiv Italije. Cilj nam je otvoriti kvalifikacije na pravi način i pokazati da možemo konkurirati za plasman na Europsko prvenstvo – zaključio je izbornik mlade reprezentacije.
Shhhhhhhh
Stimac do god’s work – we need him ready for the World Cup
***.transfermarkt.us/ivan-sucic/profil/spieler/1385334
Bradaric with a lovely play/goal for Verona yesterday
Anyone follow him last couple of years? Maybe he improved his defending?
x.com/AncLillois/status/1957517034549571951
“The kid is only 18. We still don’t know if Sp*rs are going to keep him on the squad or loan him out this year.”
This is the exact reason why Dalic should have called up Vuskovic
To Dalic’s credit he called him up and played him in June (thank goodness otherwise Sp*rs wouldn’t have looked at Luka as closely)
All of Sp*rs players that were due to go on loan have already been sent on loan – Luka is the only one still with the 1st team – Sp*rs are considering signing another experienced CB – but if that doesn’t happen Luka might stick around – it’s probably 50/50 right now (although Luka didn’t feature vs. PSG nor Burnley)
If Dalic called him to senior NT – this would, again, give Sp*rs another reference point how highly Croatia rate Vuskovic (similar to what Spain did with Dean Huijsen before Real Madrid bought him) – it’s a game, and Dalic primitively, isn’t smart enough to play it this time around
The funny thing is Dalic said the decision was so Vuskovic could maximize playing time – well the U21s only play one game vs. Turkey – so to maximize minutes Luka should be given 90 minutes for Faroe and then join U21s for Turkey
180 minutes > 90 minutes
There are many precedents of this happening (switching from Senior NT and U21s during same window) as e.g. Kovacic in October 2013 – he played Belgium (Senior NT) and Scotland (U21s) in same window
***.transfermarkt.us/mateo-kovacic/nationalmannschaft/spieler/51471
But let’s think positive – there is still many games to go between now and the September qualifiers – as e.g. Erlic’s team plays 4 times – so maybe one of the called-up CBs get injured and forces Dalic to call Vuskovic
We finished with our worst ever result in a tournament in these past Euros (mind you, in a tournament many thought we could potentially win).
We have an opportunity now to rebuild with our youth players… with the added benefit of many of our older veterans (Modrić, Krama, Perišić) sticking around to presumably help in this transition.
If the plan is to continue to go all-in with our veterans (to give them yet another last hurrah) instead of integrating players like Vušković, Sučić, Baturina… then we’re setting ourselves up for another disappointment.
Thank God Brozo forced Dalić’s hand to start Petar Sučić (and now we have a young phenom starting for Inter Milan). Hopefully our youngsters get several starts in these qualifiers.
I think what Sucic did was silly and I agree with Dalic in dropping him. Sucic would have known his sister’s wedding date well in advance and should have known that it was going to clash with the WC qualifiers. He should have asked her to move the wedding date and pay for the wedding, if necessary, he has enough money.
This isn’t the first time Dalic has taken a hard line. In June 2022, Duje Caleta-Car left camp to attend his own wedding in Dubrovnik. Dalic subsequently benched him for the three matches during that international break and excluded him from the national team for two years, meaning Caleta-Car missed both the World Cup in Qatar and European Championship in Germany.
Duje Ćaleta-Car also refused to play in the U21 EURO finals tournament in 2019, citing exhaustion, but the real reason was a vacation with a teammate.
DCC did a lot worse (on two separate occasions) than Sucic so one can only hope that the suspension for Sucic won’t be as harsh.