Tournament ‘dark horses’, Croatia, proved today that the two wins over England were in fact not a fluke; that last match versus a lackluster Austria team did not show our true form and that our latest string of friendlies,well, were just friendlies. Don’t get me wrong, we still have room to improve and many games left. I’m just happy the real Croatian team showed up today. I won’t start the ‘Croatia’s the best team in the world’ campaign just yet like we did for England. We beat a great German team today and still have work to do against Poland should they win today.
Croatia beat Euro 2008 favorites, Germany, 2-1 in Klagenfurt,Austria to take the Group B lead all by themselves. I will get into game analysis a bit later today but just wanted to share the current scenario with my readers. If Poland fails to get the full 3 points in their game against Austria, Croatia automatically win group B and would then play the victor of the Turkey/Czech Republic game in the quarterfinals.
Croatia played extremely well and were very aggressive against the Germans. They definitely dominated the chances and only took their foot off the pedal in the last 20 minutes with a 2-goal lead. This is where the gameplan went wrong as they just sat back and waited for the Germans to score, which happened on a beautiful 79′ strike by Lukas Podoloski when Croatia was unable to clear the area.
What are your thoughts on the game?
we deserved to win that game…i know thats not what soccer(football) is graded on but thats what the germans get when bilic wants to play a 9 man defense with 20 minutes left….
Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Great performance! However, one lucky last second goal by the Germans and we finish tied and second in our group, even though we dominated most of the match.
Our midfield is world class. If Petric gets his act together, Croatia will be unstoppable.
this is our card situation: robert kovac, simunic, srna, modric, and leko all have yellow cards…one more thing to add as ive done some research…i will also put this in my next blog…uefa has changed the yellow card rule this year for the first time….all yellow cards from the group stage are wiped away after the quarterfinal game…so if any of these players get a card versus poland or in the quarterfinal game…they would sit the next game should we progress….this was done so that no player can miss the final….unless they get a red of course…
Resting Simunic probably wouldnt be a bad idea. I guarantee he will get a card if he plays Poland.And Kovac should probably have a rest because we need Kovac and Simunic in the quater final as they are playing well together.
Srna and Modric should play. The Polish defence is absolutely horrible! Austria should have put atleast 3 or 4 goals on them but Boruc made a couple of good saves.
like i said before…bilic might just go for the full 9 points and not mess around with anything…might just baby the players with card problems right now…
i don’t agree that resting half the team would be the best thing. Injury concerns(Srna may have a corked thigh after that collision),of course! Players who are prone to cards(Joe Simunic & Robert Kovac) and of course our maestro Luka. If we make massive chnges we risk losing team harmony(for lack of a better word)
Anyways, i’m just stoked we won!!!
Idemo do Kraja!!!!
hey jp, i really enjoy your insight on the game…i agree with all u have to say except for the predictions….i now have us against the czech and then a rematch with the germans for a shot at the title….vs. the dutch…they looked very strong…hopefully they didnt peak alredy…
just saw this… chat live with modric on friday http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/newsid=715180.html#chat+live+with+croatias+luka+modric
Germany lacks concentration.
Hello Gents,
Now that’s a little bit of progress! One step along the trail to a peak performance.
The Germans were baffled and had no answers for the Croatian talent.
Rakitic made a big difference, Pranjic played very-well. If they can teach Kranjcar to shoot for the corners, it would have been ugly.
Austria winning was huge too, now all the guys sitting on cards get to sit on the sidelines for next game, in preparation for Turkey in the quarterfinals.
Plus the whole second team can play to get valuable experience, and to get Klasnic and Budan sharp as attacking options.
Croatia is in an ideal spot right now, as long as they work hard, and don’t let it get to their heads, they should see a beat-up Portugal (after beating the Germans) in the semi-finals. Turkey or the Czechs shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Croatia has much reason for optimism as no team in the tourney other than the Dutch, and the Portuguese can match their midfield play. They are rock-solid in the back too, with much offensive play coming from the fullbacks. As you see the Germans were befuddled by the play up the wings.
The Poland one will be a great game to watch, I predict.