In a November 4th interview with Sportskeeda, the 31year-old Croatia striker said, “If you ask me as a fan, I’m a fan of Lionel Messi, but Brazil are going to win.“
Andrej Kramarić, did you really just say that two weeks before you’re “supposed to” strap on the boots for our beloved Vatreni at the World Cup??? You’re becoming a ‘fan boy’ and praising Messi? Why not praise Modrić, another legend you will literally be playing with later this month? You’re going on record saying another country is going to win the World Cup?! Why?!
These words coming out of Kramarić’s mouth can’t be good for upcoming locker room morale. It just can’t. These guys (the Vatreni) are going to war with the world’s best in Qatar and you think they’re going to want a teammate yapping about how good South American football is. NEWS FLASH Gospodine Kramarić: Croatia thumped Messi and Argentina 3-0 in the last World Cup and made the Final. Brazil haven’t played in a Final since 2002. Why wouldn’t you build yourself and your own team up?
It makes no sense coming from a professional of the game and veteran Bundesliga starter. It will be very interesting to see if this media faux pas will affect Zlatko Dalić’s final squad announcement for Qatar, which will be announced Wednesday, November 9th. This has 2018 Nikola Kalinić and 2021 Ante Rebić written all over it. Dalić has historically cracked a hard whip on negative players and has no patience for cancerous personalities in the locker room. He kicked Kalinić off the squad one match into the 2018 World Cup for complaining about playing time. Three summer later, after Rebić publicly ousted Dalić on social media, he has not invited Rebić back to the team since. (EURO 2020 was held the summer of 2021).
Krama can’t be happy at the moment. He hasn’t played much in the Bundesliga the past month and lost his starting role with Hoffenheim. He played a total of 200 minutes in the past calendar month, without scoring a goal. That can’t be good for confidence but it also wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Krama was left off the team; for tactical or personal reasons.
It will be interesting to see who makes the final squad for Croatia on November 9th. If Dalić does decide this is “something”, he has the prefect replacement for Kramarić. Petar Musa. Musa has been on fire the past month for Portuguese leaders, Benfica and should become a regular call-up in 2023.
Andrej Kramarić saying Brazil will win the World Cup: Something or Nothing?
Man, I had high hopes for Kramaric. I rememeber when he went bananas with Rijeka and scored like 40 goals in one season. I was hoping he’d be the goal scorer we’ve all been looking for. Not sure what is going on with him, talented player, calm cool and collected in front of goal and unfazed when kicking PKs something isnt clicking with him.
Why the hell is petkovic selected? Čolak is way better and is in form,,dalic is dumb
What a strange conclusion to jump to. Nothing in this article. Be better.
So, this means Kramaric knows he can’t deliver the goals for the team. Bad mentality. Bench him!
I can only hope Krama’s loserish comment isn’t making the rounds among our players because it’s quite demoralizing to hear something like that just before the WC. Agree with Ante Kvartuc it especially won’t go down well with Modric and Perisic as they are playing in their last WC and wanna win it.
Re Musa, I really believe he could have improved our offense at the WC. There were factors beyond Dalic’s control i.e. Musa catching Covid in June and lacking play time at Benfica, but I blame Dalic for not calling him up back in March and then losing interest in the player when he started to warm the Benfica bench. Dalic must have been so pleased with our forwards that he only submitted 34 names instead of 35. Now I’m left with the feeling we are not going to Qatar with the best possible squad.
Ok no Musa, fine. In that case, I think we need to take both our tall, classic center forwards (Budimir and Colak) to Qatar, as I doubt Budimir is in great form while Colak (despite playing in a mediocre league) is at least scoring and has got an excellent attitude. However chances are that won’t happen because Dalic would rather waste a spot on Vida.
Have to say I’m disappointed with both Kramaric and Dalic.
https://streamja.com/Q2n3R
Sosa with a lovely stoppage time game winning assist from a corner.
Sosa is just too smooth
Back to him vs krama
Sosa was what like 22 when he was gonna make the switch
Obviously he wanted to play for cro, and you get a hot chick like Germany hitting on you at that age, when your gf won’t make you dinner or sex you will be looking
Krama is talking shit as a proven vet at most likely his last World Cup even possibly euro
But forget it now
We know he will be there and he can deliver if on his game
Unfortunately he isn’t
Sosa is probably most inform guy on the team right now We can argue we need his service more then we need krama to score. When he is not showing Better form then any of our current strikers… that’s fact
Just realized that if they win tonight, Osasuna will go into the world cup in 3rd place in La Liga behind Barça and Real Madrid. That means Budimir is not just a sub on a La Liga team, he’s one of three proper strikers on the 3rd place team.
It seems like we need his scrappiness and pressing but at what cost?
Can he deliver if he gets some nice Sosa services.
Cause they will certainly be there
Perisic and Sosa on that wing is pure havoc for almost any team
He put the pressure on Barça in the 10 minutes or so he played last night. He made an immediate impact, and I thought he probably should have been put in earlier. He could be a good impact player off the bench for Dalić. I would still start Livaja, Petković, or Čolak, though. I’m a fan of Kramarić, but the other four strikers are in better form.
He is making a comment like that most likely because he knows he isn’t on the roster!
Good point
The guy simply hasn’t stepped since mandzukic retiring
It’s more than his comments that bother me
He hasn’t developed chemistry with teammates in particular with perisic
And I’m still reeling from that point blank miss he did at the euros
Lacks that killer instinct
Whilst dalic is slow with blooding up and coming players however he is quite good at cutting out players with bad attitudes and who are underperforming
I suspect that is why Brekalo hasn’t been playing much either
Don’t care! Pasalic is always jolly on the spot. He will bring us home
Hes a bum and only bums say things like that…whats gonna happen if we play argentina is he gonna watch messi or bury him like luka did..i say he sucks cut him.
I think this is being misinterpreted. He said that he was speaking as a fan. The Kramarić who actually plays gives his best effort on the field, whether we are always happy with that or not. I’m sure you could ask any other average players the same question and get a similar answer from most. It’s a hypothetical, and it doesn’t really matter. If the guy actually plays, he will play to win.
You dont know shit he is a lazy underachieving bum who is in terrible form and is benched on his domestic team…all bad…he lacks the true spirit of the team. Mandzukic could still probably show him how to score and play like an animal.
Ante all you do is write shit. You don’t even know what question was asked towards Kramaric
I don’t have to know what question was asked. This quote is now public property after he told Sportskeeda, an Indian media outlet. It’s so public that 24sata, Gol, and Index ran the same story back home.
I didn’t interview the guy. Don’t point fingers at me. Krama made the quote public. Why? I don’t know. Doesn’t seem like a professional move 2 weeks before the WC kicks off.
And now that this quote is public, we are now able to discuss and dissect it. To the majority, this line from Krama is bothersome. Many others do not care.
But at the end of the day, this website is for guys like you to discuss what’s going on in Croatian sports. And this is what’s going on this week.
I would imagine for guys like Modric and Perisic, who will be playing in their last WC, teammates saying this kind of stuff doesn’t play well. Are we making more of it than it is? I don’t know. But he said it.
Ante there is nothing to be defensive about
I know. I just like to sharpen my knife on the boards once in awhile. Not on here enough. But I will be this month. 🙂
All Good Ante, keep up the good work in creating lively conversation.
@Dinko
In Australia they ask all the AFL captains before the season for their tip for the premiership with the understanding you can’t pick your own team. So you’re 100% correct, if you don’t know the question that was asked you don’t go with an article like this.
“However, any potential replacement has to come from a nation’s initial release list of players which FIFA recently increased from 35 to 55.”
If we did drop Kramaric, I’m not sure if bringing up Musa would be possible.
Croatia only shared a 35 person list, so there might be an extra 20 guys on the list that is no publicly available. We’ll just have to wait until the 14th to see what happens.
https://www.croatiaweek.com/video-tyson-fury-calls-in-croatian-boxer-to-his-camp/?fbclid=IwAR0pXNC208qKxdQyty28mv1fYBuxIBRI4kWyjaFOBC7CvHZ2gTRuJ1A37f4
We need some of his attitude in the repka
Guy is entertaining no Doubt
Watch Musa score a hat-trick in next week’s Benfica match
Then he accepts a callup to BiH through his Hercegovac parents, ha ha
This site would crash
I freaking hope not
Dalic will take the hercegovac route With him then..
Kvartuc, at first when I saw this piece you wrote I kinda dismissed it thinking it was more about “gossip” than anything else. I then started thinking about it and then while reading your comments, I have to admit I think you make valid points:
you said…”You’re becoming a ‘fan boy’ and praising Messi?”
“You’re going on record saying another country is going to win the World Cup?!”
“It makes no sense coming from a professional of the game and veteran Bundesliga starter.”
Guys, imagine yourself and your local team entering a tournament. I’m not sure what type of mentality you have but let me tell you that I hated losing in a scrimmage during practice, never mind losing in a game. Most guys I’ve played soccer with have always believed “we can win” any game…even in the Vancouver Croatian 7 a side tournaments we played at our picnic grounds on Sundays during the summer…I never accepted any other team could beat our team no matter the circumstances so this comment Krama made is baffling!
If someone were to ask me “hey, Slavonac from Canada, what do you think Krama meant by that comment”? I’d say this…Krama has already mentally signalled that he’s not in form and not the “key” striker we all want him to be. If he’s not the “leader” in attack, he doesn’t give as much of a shit as if he was firing on all cylinders. No competitive person ever believe’s some other team is better than theirs…you always have this thought in your mind that you’ll find a way to win and our very own ball hog Krama is doing what he usually does…if its not about him then its not important enough.
Krama is a very talented and skilled player BUT he’s always come across as “he’s bigger than the team” even if he’s never been one of our best players. I despise guys like that and I’ve played with a few that really should have had their own ball while the rest of the team plays with another. There’s nothing worse than playing in a tight game, working your ass off and finally getting a clear chance to score…but the guy that has the ball, coming in from an impossible angle just has to make the simple pass and we score…except he goes for his own glory and decides to try for the impossible and hits the side of the net. That description is Andrej Kramaric, 100%! He’ll do it every time and each time he’ll pretend he didn’t see you!
I miss guys like Olic, Mandzukic, Mladen Petric, Prso…when I see players like Krama. The sooner he leaves our team the happier I’ll be!
One last thing!
…when Nikola Kalinic was twice asked to sub in during the 2018 World Cup and he refused, I’ll say this. I did not appreciate him selfishly thinking of himself in front of the team, you can’t do that at an amateur level and this is a TEAM sport playing in the biggest tournament in the world, no matter how much you think your coach is wrong you can’t allow yourself to put yourself first…if thats the case then go play tennis or darts.
The ONLY thing that I think I can see differently between Krama and Kalinic is that Kalinic probably felt he was going to make a difference for Croatia and that he was better than Mandzukic (whether any of this is true or not I kinda understand him for feeling overwhelmingly upset about not starting) so in his mind, he couldn’t control his emotions. On the other hand Krama is saying “I’m here for a good time, I’m probably not going to make a BIG impact but I’ll enjoy watching the games and maybe I’ll get a signed t-shirt from Neymar”!!!
Kalinic was delusional BUT hopeful, Krama has given up and there as a tourist!
Look at the forwards list on the 34 man roster. Other than Perisic, everyone has had mostly minimal impact on the NT, playing only a few sporadic minutes here and there (I’m assuming Brekalo gets cut).
I don’t see any way Dalic cuts our 2nd most seasoned veteran forward entirely off the roster.
Also, I have read a few comments here and there from other foreign players heavily beefing up other teams too “I think Argentina is the favorite”. “France has the edge with all their talent”, etc etc.
Though I agree Kramaric using more definitive terms saying “Brazil will win” is a little different, and not what you want your players saying before the tourney.
As someone mentioned below, if Dalic saw fit to accept Sosa on to the team (rightly, in my opinion), he’s not going to drop Kramaric for this transgression. Even if he’s decided to start others in the forward spots, Krama could be useful, if nowhere else, as a last-minute sub in knock-out games before PKs. Although I still think Dalic will start him (at least for the first game — and then adjust thereafter, as necessary).
Again, this Sosa argument is not the one to have.
Sosa is a young kid with a bad camp that tried to force the HNS into signing him, and made him look like an idiot doing it. This should have never happened, as we needed the space filled, but who knows what politics went into delaying that decision.
Kramaric on the other hand is a seasoned veteran. He should know the song and dance, as he’s been part of the show for awhile.
I agree with you regarding Sosa. I was always in support of him getting a place on the national team (particularly after his apology). But no matter what the backstory was regarding Sosa’s flirtations with the German national team, the fact that he tried to join the German team is, in my eyes, worse than Kramaric’s tone-deaf comments about Brazil. I don’t like Krama making these comments, particularly so close to the start of the tournament. But I don’t think it’s a “fireable” offense, so to speak, unless there is more to the story than we know (e.g., if other players on the national team hate him — and this is the straw that broke the camel’s back).
I disagree about all the other players, aside from Perisic, having minimal impact on the forward line. Petkovic has had a few international goals and Livaja has had like 4 goals in 6 games or so, Orsic also a goal or two all three of these players playing less time than Perisic. Don’t get me wrong Perisic is easily our second most important player and has had an important impact but I wouldn’t discount all the other players on the list.
The only ones I already mentioned before this article that were a problem for me were Brekalo, Budimir, and Krama was a big question mark for me as he has had next to little impact based on the time he has played.
I would have chosen Colak, Ljubicic, and Musa as alternative and taken risks here where Dalic hasn’t. Mainly as we don’t have a traditional #9 on the team.
For all the Hajduk fans, our youth team has just drawn Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Youth CL round of 16. One match to be played in Split, February 2023.
Good draw, we missed out on clubs like Inter, Ajax, Juventus and Porto.
Correction, it is a play – off with the winners to go to round of 16.
Luka Modric—3: One of Luka’s worst performances in a very long time, far too many misplaced passes.
Everyone is entitled to a bag game here and there, Modric won’t have too many of those.
It’s highly unlikely that Dalic drops Krama. I’d be shocked to be honest. But this BS about Messi and Brazil shows how this guy is wired. He’s an a head case.
He was such a ball hog years back, selfish and arrogant. Not a bad thing for a striker at times but he was that way all the time.
I will say he’s actually been better the last number of years of looking to make the pass. It’s probably been all those times Perisic gave it to him for not passing.
All that being said I don’t think he’s vital to our success. He’d be nice to have if we went to PKs but aside from that, he’s been mediocre at best.
There’s lots of talk about Colak. He had a run with us after he was scoring a lot for Malmo but didn’t show much when he played got his chance.
We are going to have to score by committee. There’s no Lewandowski on our bench. I think the matchup will dictate the striker we use. I think the best option we have that are on the current roster is Livaja. Petkovic is just too slow but he’s effective when we need someone more skilled and he can hold up the ball and distribute.
We are going to have to wait until the next cycle to see Musa.
You gotta pay the Dalic tax.
You won’t see Musa for a few months INTO the next cycle.
Gotta wait until Budimir officially retires in order to pave the way. 😉
Yeah, it is not great agreed, but it is a rather hyperbolic stance, on a very slow news day, and does not warrant in article. Kramaric still wants Croatia to win. Dalic leaving Kalinic and Rebic off the team seemed to be an appropriate decision in the past though.
Let’s be truthful, Dalic has already made the biggest loyalty compromise with Borna Sosa, who clearly without a doubt, would rather be playing for the better”winning” side from his perspective. Actions sometimes speak louder than words. No one seems to care, because Borna is good. Borna should go, before Kramaric if there is a loyalty litmus test. We bite our tongue over Borna, and swallow our pride.
This is not a great transgression. He is one of our best penalty kickers, and we need him. This would destroy us from assembling the best team if that is the goal. Leaving Kramaric off over this issue would be a grave mistake.
Borna just wanted to play international football, the HNS didn’t want him(which was absurd) there’s a difference!
Kromiza- good point- Sosa and now this. How is one OK and the other one not OK. Their both not OK and if Croatia wants to show what the country was built on -both should have been gone. Anyone who saw 1998 Croatia and the passion Croatia showed would definitely be worried about this garbage- very disappointing . I never liked Kramaric and now i like him even less
Why stop there?
Why not cut Modric from the team for perjury?
Why not cut Lovren for his good relationship with Mamic?
Why not cut Caleta-Car for trying to take that game off?
We probably should have kicked Raketa off the team at some point too (since he always seemed flakey about National Team callups)?
I’m sure there were multiple reasons to kick Mandzo off the team too.
If we keep kicking off every flawed player, then we wouldn’t be able to field a team of eleven.
Look, I’m not pleased with what Sosa did, but Sosa is still just a stupid kid in his early 20s who is surrounded by a lot of bad people (including his cigan agent who is supposed to be looking out for him).
Dalic is a retard and very slow with calling up new players, and it can be very frustrating too (Sosa was visibly bitter and frustrated when giving interviews about it). Sosa did the unthinkable, but can be forgiven for it.
Everyone is flawed and you can find a dozen reasons to cut a player if you look for it.
I don’t think Krama’s comments are as bad as they sound.
Him and Modric are probably close buddies and I doubt Modric takes this as some sort of insult. Kramaric is just a bit of a beta male fan I guess. No different than Krunoslav Jurcic smothering Jose Mourinho. It’s weird to see, but it happens.
A weakness of Kramaric is that he’s not an ambitious guy (proven by the fact that he remained at Hoffenheim for his entire career despite bigger teams being interested in him).
He could have gone to Milan or a bunch of other clubs, but he’s fine coasting.
I wouldn’t invest everything into him, nor give him a guaranteed starting spot…but he’s still a net positive to have on the team, and it’s not like he’s purposely going to not try and win games when he’s out there.
He actually has been scoring and creating chances during qualifications. He’s got his weaknesses too, but we have other strikers that we can use if that becomes a problem.
He’ll be especially useful for games that go into PKs during the knockout phase (at least as a late sub).
Kromiza, I haven’t at all bit my tongue when it comes to the Borna Sosa conversation as I don’t blame Borna at all or hold him accountable for his decision at all, not even a little bit. It is my stance and will continue to be my stance despite the counter argument made.
I do believe that this was both Dalic and the HNS who were at fault or to blame for not calling the guy up sooner. Once again in any other industry a person does not get crucified for making a decision and move on their career, so I don’t see why that should happen here either.
We need to do a better job of scouting and including our younger talent. The problem we now have with the striker position is no different than we problem we had with defence. We included youth and great change happened, there will hiccups, but a great change happened.
The same should be done for the striker position. In this I do blame Dalic’s, stubborn borderline stupid, Unionized/seniority based approach to the bench. Borna should not be blamed for this.
You can’t compare Sosa vs Krama.
One is a young kid who wanted to play for the NT, but had people in his camp go about it the wrong way
The other is a veteran of the team about to go into Modrics last World Cup.
Completely agree Golden child guy, age is also a difference here , but depsite age I think it’s more the scouting and the coach.
At their face, the comments definitely sound stupid. However, I’ll reserve judgement until I see the entire interview with accompanied context.
Not 100% sure, but I think the 35 man roster (34 for us, now that Kalinic got hurt) is binding.
Anyone that makes the final 26 has to come off of the existing 34. So Musa has no way of being on the plane. Maybe I’m wrong though.
Yes, you are correct, Musa is not on the 35 man (34 for us) and therefore he cannot be on the final 26. Eight players have to be omitted from the list containing the 34 names.
We have been writing about this for days, yet some people on this site still think that he can.
Dalic needs to decide between Jakic and Misic, Vida if injured and DCC and finally Budimir or Colak. All this talk about Kramaric missing out is nonsense, he will be on the final list.
Well, personally this would give me reason to choose Colak, someone who has a positive perspective and could influence the team for the better. Just a thought, Kramaric has not been doing well for us either way.
right, see my comment above
Well I wish Musa could still be called but I would agree, I think the list is binding.
The two goals krama got against Ukraine were legendary
Without them dalic is coaching nk babas selo
On that alone he will bring him
Let musa run like a young stallion
Kid will go straight adrenaline the whole tourney
In this moment Musa is needed more than Kramaric.
You have to compensate for Kramaric and accommodate his weak ass on the pitch.
Musa is a presence up top and brings a physicality that adds and compliments the players behind him.
I would still take Kramaric if you need a goal or need a squad player, his finishing ability is an asset.
Funny how it seems the media are all picking Croatia to not get out of the group and not get passed the second round.
I love it.
Our young boys are being under estimated.
We are peaking at the right moment and our team spirit is unparalleled.
Dalic has to play all the young legs to support our veteran core.
Defense has to limit the need of the golman to be a world beater.
I feel our depth will be our secret weapon.
5 subs will favor the talented squads. We finally have the depth to go hard for 90+ minutes.
Dalic has gotten better and better in subbing earlier and earlier to shift things up.
Saudi Arabia in a week.
Call up and start Musa as a wild card!!
I like how the author finishes the article with “Croatia looks to ruffle a few feathers.” Of course, after Kramaric set the bar so low. How could he possibly write that Croatia hopes to go a step further this time…. after Kramaric’s commentary. I also think such a pessimistic attitude will affect his play, since he’s given up before even leaving for the tournament.
Agreed. It is exactly like the conversation between Luka Modric and Livakovic in Captains the series on Fifa, a negative attitude or lack of belief will spread to the rest of the squad. Kramaric is not considering that in these statements if they are especially geared towards the World Cup.
I would take this post down as it does not help the continued unity that we need as a Team and Croatian People going into Qatar. The world will be watching more so as a World Cup Finalist. ” Za Dom Spremeni” is partially about a common togetherness and unity.
Christmas guy, this is not about the post so much as about the comment made by Krama. It’s a question of whether Krama deserves a spot after this. It is in no way different than Rebic’s comments if what was said above is true.
Dumbest comment in this thread
Nothing Dumb about conveying the importance of Positivity Mr. TheGoldenChild as per Dalic ( see below to assist you).
Cannot stress that enough as it is a key component of Success in every aspect of life.
“We have young players on the bench who are potent and in whom I believe. But it won’t work without the elderly – said Dalić and sent a message to the media to spread positivity.”
Pročitajte više na: https://www.vecernji.hr/sport/dalic-objasnio-popis-i-zasto-nije-vodio-misica-uvijek-ce-biti-nesretnih-ali-nije-bilo-dilema-1632132 – http://www.vecernji.hr
Key word “as a fan”, he’s still safe under Dalic cos he just loves him too much he can never drop him.
total nothing statement.
Stop stirring the pot with such nonsense. like your “inside sources” saying Brozovic was a running a coup against Dalic mid EURO and he was guaranteed to be leaving after the tourney. Nonsense, nonsense and more nonsense. sometimes you need to realize this trash to post doesn’t help anyone.
you are wasting time on an article posted by no name Vishal Subramamian in a no one website. nonenseeeee
Real drops An egg. Modric played poor.
Thinking most of these guys are taking it easy for Qatar
That game was hard to watch. The pitch was like 10 meters smaller than regulation, and it was soaked…players were loosing there footing all over.
The home team played intense, and really scrappy. I was so scared that Luka would get hurt, and I prayed that he would get subbed off before something terrible happened. He did score the first goal (penalty), but this was the worst game I can remember Luka ever playing. I think his focus is already on the WC, and he wasn’t there mentally. Hopefully he gets “rested” for Real’s final match on Thursday.
You say something like the legend Messi is and how good and dangerous these other guys are but we have one of the best players to ever touch a ball still on the top of his game and while we have to respect them they have to be careful of what we can do
Cause all of it is true
It goes back to our old convo
Would you rather win with outsiders like France or lose with respect if needed with our own??
Krama has said stuff before and while it’s not nuff to leave him off the squad
I don’t want him to fan boy Messi or a Ronaldo If we played them
A guy like colak while maybe not a beast he knows how sacred it is to where the checkers… hopefully musa is the same. But musa seems like he has a bit of screw you attitude.
And given the chance now he is showing what he can do
Krama while yes playing in a stronger league has gone missing for a long while now
Watching the 98 Guys. They wanted to show what little Croatia can do but also I’m sure they had this screw you attitude We need this
Someone smack krama If we do take him
Perisic please
My guess? He heard rumors he wasn’t going before this statement and will use it as a bit of a cover to soften the blow on his ego and reputation.
I don’t know, I’m just trying to think of any explanation for why he would say this.
There is no explanation for this stupidity
The comments are bordering on being considered to be seditious behaviour
My god what his teammates must be thinking