No surprises here.
Zlatko Dalić has named his preliminary squad for EURO 2021. It’s never really about the 26-man squad, rather the Starting XI that gets supporters going. I predict that Dinamo’s Joško Gvardiol will be capped for the first time by the Croatian senior side in June friendlies vs. Armenia and Belgium. Ivanušec could get some playing time in those matches as well.
Other than that it will be the usual suspects. But will Dalić go with Lovren/Vida in the back for the tournament or finally turn to DCC? Ante Budimir has been on absolute fire in La Liga and has had a much more complete season that Bruno Petković in the striker position. It appears Nikola Vlašić will be at 100% after a knee scare two weeks ago.
How should the Vatreni line up?
How is this Buick kid?
Haven’t watched him play, but seems to be making some noise at Hajduk.
Hopefully they don’t sell his ass for peanuts to some random Eastern European team this summer, lol.
He’s already making HNL opposition look like a complete joke. The kid Messi’s around defences like nothing. Watch some clips on YouTube, he’s wicked good.
Gotta play Budimir and Kramaric up top!!!
Both are scoring for fun in strong leagues. They are an excellent at their respective roles and will give other teams fits. Anyone who plays soccer knows, no matter how good your possession and build up is, sometimes it’s just tough to get a breakthrough that ends in a goal. Often it’s just one corner or cross met by a competent header of the ball can win the game. That’s why Budimir should play. Not only that, he holds up the ball very well and can then pass off to Krama, Perisic or Rebic.
Dalic needs to sit down with Krama and Perisic and tell them to stop acting like petulant sh**heads and work it out za dom i krv!
I think we can go deep no matter who we play.
Bring on the chops and the frogs we owe them both a beat down.
Bog i Hrvati
Having Gvardiol & Caleta-Car greatly improves our defense, I just wonder how fit and ready Vrsaljko and Bradaric will be?
Brozovic and Modric will be the same or better than 2018 but we massively lose without Rakitic. He was an awesome distributor, decent at defending and allowed Modric a lot of freedom.
I’m curious to know how the strategy will be set? will we sit back at centre or will we hold the line higher like we did in 2018?
Rebic is more effective down the left, will he and Perisic be switching back and forth?
There are a lot of question marks. The age of this team does not worry me as much as the overall character. We need some hard fighters and workers. We will need goals from several contributors and we will definitely need grit like we did in 2018…which got us through almost every game after the first round!
I think Dalic goes with our strongest lineup
Petkovic
Perisic – Vlasic – Rebic
Brozovic – Modric
Bradaric – Gvardiol – CaletaCar – Vrsaljko
Livakovic
One can dream, right? 🙂
Not a bad lineup but i think we wont have a set 11 but play based on who we play imo vs england Livakovic Barisic Lovren Vida Vrsaljko Modric Brozovic Kovacic Rebic Perisic Budimir.
Vs Czechs Livakovic Vrsaljko Lovren Caleta Car Bradaric Modric Brozovic Vlasic Rebic Perisic Petkovic.
Vs Scots same line up as england maybe kramaric gets a start insteas vlasic in the ss role
Why the love affair with Petkovic?
No Halilovic?
We are not blassed!
This Euro will be just like the 2002 World Cup for Croatia, where we lost to Mexico and Ecuador.
Old veterans past their prime and youngsters not ready.
We will be eliminated in the first round.
I have the same feeling. We are just an older version of the last team minus two key players Mandzukic and Rakatic, and despite what happened in the final, a legit keeper. Since Russia, we spoke a lot of prospects but no one has really emerged that can make a difference to the game, Krama, Rebic, Perisic, Brozovic, the names I read about in posts, were all in Russia too. I don’t think Dalic has much choice but let’s not pretend that Budimir and Pasalic are going to be game changers or that Brekalo has developed as much as we had wished.
I hope we find a way to play Kovacic. He is still young, energetic and is on a world class team. It’s his and Rebic’ generation’s time, not Vida, Lovren, Perisic, or even Modric’s, no matter how I admire his play.
Lastly, what that faaaack is Livaja doing on the standby list?!?!?
We would have been better off putting a real young up and comer like Sucic or Biuk as they could both play as an attacker.
Dude, relatively speaking, Sucic and Biuk just popped out of their mama’s picke. You can’t expect 18 year olds, that barely have junior team caps to then be thrust into a major tournament.
If all goes well with both, maybe they are part of the WC 2022 squad?
@Armada..I get your rationale but you are missing my point.
It’s to bring them along for the experience…we’ve done it in the past with up and comers. Having an expanded roster of 26 means 3 extra players and this there’s a great chance 5+players won’t get a sniff of the field. In the off chance they needed to play these kids, you should check out some clips. Both are very talented and could easily surprise.
I have to say Dalic made the right choices. Love the fact he integrated a few younger faces that will carry this team going forward. Would have loved to had Pongracic healthy and in form to take Skoric spot – he was playing really well before his mono/covid double whammy and could have made a great pairing with Duje.
Ironically our starting back line for our U21 game against Spain might be better than our A team back line.
Leaving our Basic was a little surprising but given Badelj’s form it’s understandable.
Barring injuries we should be in great shape. Majority of our players are in form and I expect us to make another run.
We would need to finish 2nd in our group to avoid a tough first round playoff round vs the group of death (unless it’s Germany – I’d love that).
Either way we have to beat great teams to win and have faith we will.
Really is too bad Krama has yet to be effective in our lineup. I kind of like the idea of Rebic up front with Krama playing behind him, Perisic and Brekalo on the wings.
We need to avoid being first place in our group. If we are first we will play either Germany, Portugal or France in the R16.
If we finish 2nd, we will likely play Sweden or Poland.
Best case, we tie England, win the other 2 games and England beats us for first on goal difference
Stupid 24-team format.
If we finish first, we’ll play one of Portugal/France/Germany.
If we finish second, we’ll likely get to play one of Sweden/Poland… However, we’ll meet one of Portugal/France/Germany in the following round.
If we finish third, we likely avoid the Portugal/France/Germany trio altogether lol.
Whoever finishes third in our group, and if Sweden or Poland beat Spain to top the group, then that path for the following two rounds is the easiest I’ve ever seen haha
As good as we thought we were in 2018, this is where luck comes into play (which we had in 2018, when we had the easier side of the draw once we got to knockouts).
This summer we might luck out again and maybe can make a QF or SF. Or we could get steamrolled by a France or Portugal (again..) and be out in R16.
We didn’t luck out in 2018.
We were in the group of death.
People knocked Argentina, but they could have knocked out France in the Round of 16.
Nigeria would have made the knockout rounds if they were in any other group.
Iceland finished in the quarters of the Euros two years earlier and were better than any other last placed team.
If we didn’t top our group, we would have to cross over against France (who were well rested after they topped that joke of a group).
We “earned” any of these easier games.
This tournament is the opposite.
We should easily qualify for the knockout phase, but we will likely face a contender right away.
4-4-2:
………………………Budimir………………………….
………………………….….Kramaric…….………….
Perisic…………..……………………………….Rebic
……………..……Brozo………Modric……..….…….
………………………………………………………..
Barisic……….Caleta……Vida..….Juranovic
………………………………………………………..
……………….….…..Livakovic………..………………
Can’t have Perisic with Krama, those two just hate each other lol. Other than that nice lineup
ik…sigh, they played with each other against slovenia and it didnt look good, but then again krama was playing winger and perisic was playing striker, a tactical disaster and dalics fault. perisic is passive aggressive and stubborn. remember the arguments perisic had with klopp and icardi.
I see a lot of nogometaši in their physical prime.
Modrić is at his best and missing the CL final is a relief.
I feel we will be more physically dominant this tournament across the board. This will allow Modrić to focus on his magic then worrying about tracking back.
The depth will keep legs fresh.
Are they going with 5 subs for the Euros?
Not to mention most of our attacking players are on fire individually and winning things collectively for their clubs.
I’m actually okay with this selection.
I think I would have made the same choices. Only I would have Lovro Majer over Pasalic and Kristijan Jakic over Milan Badelj.
I’m also impressed by our U21 team. Our future looks bright.
Now lets rock.
This is pretty much a brand new team from Russia. Only 12 players returning from three years ago.
Where are our loyal boys Sosa and Kalinic. Dalic has a old mentality for the game. Either your in it for the team or your gone. Same thing with Lovren when he was left out of last Euro Squad in France. Vrsaljko should not start because of injuries and lack of minutes. Backend I would have Vida, Bradaric, Caleta-Car, Barisic. Midfield should be Modric, Badelj then have wingers as Vlasic and Rebic with Kramaric upfront. Players like Kovacic, Lovren, Perisic should not start. Why is Kalinic one of the 3 goalies? Put Grbic instead as a third string.
Livakovic
Barisic-Caleta-Car-Vida-Bradaric
Modric-Badelj
Brozovic
Vlasic-Rebic
Kramaric
No Perisic? Come on man. Also, Badelj is not playing this tourney. Broz is the best CDM in the world right now and will let Modrić do his thing in peace.
Perisic hasn’t performed well and Badelj has a better rating and started all games. Perisic isn’t the same from three years ago. Broz has proved me wrong and I’d take him over Ivan
——————-(Budimir)———————
——————–Kramaric——————–
—Perisic—–(Petkovic)——Rebic—-
—(Orsic)—-(Ivanusic)—-(Brekalo)–
–‐—————-(Pasalic)———————
‐——————–Vlasic————————
————-Brozovic–Modric————–
————(Badelj)-(Kovacic)————–
Bradaric—————————–Vrsajko
‐——————————————————
(Gvardiol)–Vida–Caleta(Uremovic)
(Barasic)(Skoric)(Lovren)(Jurano)
——————–Livakovic——————–
24 man squad
Think if Uremovic is ok Juranovic/Skoric get dropped and in terms of attacking mids Ivanusic is great but Brekalo and his counterpart Orsic I believe have had better season.. Attack is well rounded with Kramaric who has somewhat speed touch eye and can bury it…. Petkovic lacks the speed but makes up for it in other categories and Budimir is aerial attack and good eye on goal… good mix of strikers
Gvardiol would be interesting at left back or Defensive mid if we decide to use to attacking centermids
Dalić: “(Petković) has shown that he is capable of leading the line but he has to be in top form. If not, Andrej Kramaric and Ante Budimir are the alternatives.”
It’s a shame that a player as great as Kramarić doesn’t fit into our system; he’s far and away the best player of the three forwards.
We should have spent the Nations League games trying Krama with Petkovic, or experiment with other formations that could have been more beneficial to the players we had.
We probably could have tried a 3-5-2 since we finally have some decent CBs coming up (in Gvardi and Duje), and we probably could have tried Sosa and Vrsaljko on the wingback roles (before Sosa botched things). Possibly could have tried both Krama and Petkovic to see how they gel. Not saying this would work, but we have no idea right now (so it’s all a moot point now).
We instead opted to just give random players ‘game time’ to see what they could do, but not with any of our regular starters and (many times) out of position. It was hard to evaluate the team at UNL, and Dalic chose not to try any lineups or formations that we would realistically use in a tournament.
Now we’re at the tournament and we’re pretty much just going to copy & paste our 2018 World Cup formation and starting eleven (minus Rakitic, Mandzo and Strinic) and hope that it works.
It might, but it’s also a very predictable move…and it would have been nice to know if we could mix things up with tactical changes and if we truly are maxing out on the talent we have on the bench.
This is the best we have imo. Good selection by Dalic so far 2018 and now good izbor by Dalic.
Imo prvih 11 Livakovic Vrsaljko Lovren Vida Barisic Brozovic Modric Vlasic Rebic Perisic Petkovic. 4 3 3 but who knows good bench imo too ajmoooo idemooooo
You want to see Lovren and Vida ahead of DCC?
Im basing the 11 i put on what i see dalic doing because he feels tjat he owes the vets for getting the silver so he will go with this lineup. Me if i were coach go with
Beacuse of the u21 tournament our liga nacije and early qualyfying rounds of 2022 Dalic didnt call some players after this euro i can see most of the under 21 team on A team.
If i were the izbornik my 11 would always look different it depends on who we play vs england my 11 would be
Livakovic Vrsaljko Caleta Car Lovren Gvardiol Modric Kovacic Brozovic Rebic Budimir Perisic this is good defensive counter attacking team imo
Vs the czech and scotland my team would be
Livakovic Vrsaljko ČC Lovren Bradaric Modric Brozovic Kramaric Rebic Perisic Brekalo. 4 2 4 attacking football
So…after all this, Dario Melnjak doesn’t even get a standby callup?
The guys plays 8 games for us (most of them in Nations League) and it amounts to nothing?
So, is it pretty safe to assume that Dalic was just trying to give him some exposure as a favor to him?
(and never honestly considered him for something as serious as the Euros)
I’m pretty sure Dalic took him because the options he had at the time were very limited…not playing much, injured…poor form…
Dalic is a bit of a pushover. In the Nations League, he probably gave Melnjak field time for exposure. Afterwards, he caved into the U21s demands and with Sosa, Bradaric, Gvardiol at the U21 tourney, who else do you call up? Leovac? Pivaric? Strinic? LOL. God knows whats going on with Strinic these days XD
I think Strinic is still in the ICU. Pivaric is back playing in the Croatian league. Why not call up Pongračić? Melnjak is garbage and no clue why Dalic gave him minutes. Too bad Katic is out. I worry about Lovren and Vida starting in the opener. They make too many errors in the 18 yard box and cough up the ball. Vrsaljko is a bandaid. Our backend is trash. Only guys I have confidence in is Barisic, Bradaric and Caleta-Car. Our backend has changed so much since last WC. Corluka, Pivaric, Strinic, and Jedvaj are all gone.
I can understand not calling Pongracic, he’s been out basically all year
100 percent… not sure it’s Dalic himself(HOPE NOT) or pressured by someone in HNS.. SOSA should have been our boy in that position not MELNJAK… boggles my mind that we have had a great left back that’s 24 years old in great form this year and last half and we couldn’t fit him in anywhere in the A team… lots of money flowing in someone’s pocket at the expense of what could BE BETTER for our A TEAM
Livaja still in the mix?
LOL. Yea, Livaja’s addition is easily the biggest surprise.
I assume he only called up Livaja to appease the Hajduk crowd…but why not Mijo Caktas?
Caktas is twice the player that Livaja could ever be.
Agreed. I like Mijo more than Livaja but when’s the last time Mijo played a competitive match for Hajduk? No chance he gets a call for this summer. If he would of, THAT would of been the biggest surprise for me.
No Sosa?!!
We’re fucked!