Dinamo Zagreb lost a tough one in Austria Wednesday night as a draw would have been considered a huge moral (and table) boost. Red Bull Salzburg had more chances on goal but it was a 2nd half penalty that would separate the sides as Dinamo currently sit last place in a tight Champions League group.
Next Tuesday’s matchup in Zagreb between the two sides should be treated as an “all or nothing” game from Dinamo. If Dinamo fails to escape with all three points, a spot in the Europa League playoffs – let alone a chance to compete in the Champions League Round of 16 – would look extremely unlikely. The Croatian champions have lots of talent in their squad, but it’s up to Čačić to use it properly. Martin Baturina should be a lock in the starting XI as he brings much more to the table than Luka Ivanušec. Kevin Theophile-Catherine should also never see the field in European competition.
On the bright side for Croatian football, Luka Sučić looked incredibly calm on the ball and was Salzburg’s main spark of attack during the match. At times, he tried to do a little bit too much going forward, but he was a threat most of the time the ball was on his foot. He recorded a 7.4 SofaScore rating, creating the most chances in the match (3). Not bad from the 20 year-old!
I’m with you Maminjo. I think Belgium is now overrated, they are past their prime, while our older payers are still at the same level as before. Canada does not concern me either. I do have some reservations about Morocco though, Hakim Ziyech seems to be back in the fold now with the new coach. Plus I would bet there would be a lot of “home support” for them (Moroccans making the flight over, as well as local Qataris cheering for another Muslim nation).
Regardless, I still like our chances to win the group actually (btw, as a side note, what might that mean? If Serbia finishes second to Brazil in their group, we would be lined up to play Serbia in a possible quarterfinal match.)
I’m in agreement with what you write, but are we much better off?
I’m fearful that Modric will not have the stamina to handle tournament play. He got burned out after these two games against Denmark and Austria. Unfortunately, I think this will limit our ability to make it deep into the tournament.
This is quite a big concern for me too… the stamina/fitness of Modric, as well as Perisic.
Yea but Modric is heavily used by Real Madrid at the same time as he’s performing in Nations League.
The World Cup happens on its own, and they get a few weeks off before for World Cup prep.
I think he’ll be fine.
You’re right about Morocco.
They’re the biggest wildcard for me out of this group.
I don’t think they’re better than Senegal or Nigeria (in terms of who the best African team is) but it’s all very close and they’re in the same ballpark.
But I don’t think they’ll be blown out by either us or Belgium. It may end up the same way as their last outing at the World Cup, where they gave both Portugal and Spain a hard time.
I am glad they don’t have Vaha as their coach though.
He would have given them the inside track against us, that would have benefited Belgium.
They do get Ziyech back, but much like Canada having Davies and David…one or two players is not enough.
But unlike Canada, Morocco has some decent players in all positions of the field. If you can get Ziyech to be that catalyst as CAM to create for everyone, they could be decent.
I don’t watch Morocco games, so I’m unsure if that’s what they’re doing.
But I did check out the highlights and match report of Canada’s recent games and I noticed that Canada has been trying to do this with Alphonso Davies in their last few games…with him in some sort of CAM role instead of being on the wing.
I think Canada’s coach may be aware that (even though Canada has wingers and a very good striker) it means nothing when you have a garbage central midfield, defenders, and goalkeeper.
age is a concern yes. But this built in “time off” for these minor knocks
for Modric and Broz comes at a perfect time.
If we get really lucky, our 3rd game against Belgium won’t mean much. We should then rest ALL our top players (unlike 2018, when Modric still logged in heavy mins in a meaningless game vs Iceland).
Morocco concerns me not only because of better talent around the field, but specifically bc they have a top-notch striker. That can make all the difference.
In the end we should progress, I think we win the group. But crazier things have happened. In 4/5 prior tourney’s, the defending champion did not even make it out of the group the next WC (Germany 2018. Spain 2014, Italy 2010. France 2002). So weird stuff happens all the time
@Maminjo @chicro1
Great comments :thumbsup:
An interesting perspective that we are playing the Top Team of Europe, Africa and North America. Confident our Team will get out of the Group. Who are our possible opponents in the next round?
Group F
Belgium: 2 —–> #1 Ranked European Team
Croatia: 12
Morocco: 22 ——> Won the CAF Group
Canada: 41 ——> Won the Concacaf Group
We will always be underrated- it’s just that way- most dumb soccer people especially in Canada just can’t get their head around what we all know- Croatia is a great soccer underdog- it’s always that way. We go to the final of WC and we’re still out of the conversation- that’s fine. Just go in humble and ram the crap out of Belgium/Morocco and Canada- same as 2018 –
I think all three of our opponents are ranked too high.
Belgium is not the top team in Europe. Hazard fell off and their backline is not what it was. They’re probably behind Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, and France. You could argue they’re behind a few others, but it’s too close to call.
Morroco probably isn’t better than Senegal. Probably Nigeria too. Nigeria always does well at World Cups. I’d rather avoid Nigeria whenever it comes to African teams.
Canada did well in qualifying but they don’t have the talent the US does.
Mexico also does very well at World Cups. I’d much rather have Canada over the US or Mexico.
Canada has good wing play and a good striker…but their central midfield and backline is horrible.
Tournament play is a different beast than qualifications. I think Canada will learn this the hard way.
I don’t know what the payout is, but I’d put money on us winning the group outright (assuming we’re being underrated and the payout is good).
Why does dinamo even bother with some of these run of the mill foreigners?
That foul by Mohamed or whatever his name is was a complete brain fart.
The chance of him controlling the ball and getting off a decent shot with his opposite foot was at best 9.067% according to the truths computer simulations,and I’m sure livakovic would have saved it with his face again anyhow.
It’s a pity we couldn’t play petkovic orsic and Drmic all at once I think they would cause havoc though I realize it goes against their formation,and roles.
How many goals does Colak have this season, 11 or 12 overal??
Marin Ljubicic I think is at about 8 or 9 so far this season.
Does anyone know how Musa has been doing?? I don’t have access to the Portuguese league.
He’s got 1 assist in 5 league matches. I’ve watched a few Benfica games and he gets subbed in with 15-20 mins left. He’s looked pretty decent in that time (good work rate and runs). He definitely needs to more playing time. Someone on this message board said that Benfica tends to buy all top players to weaken their rivals- whoever posted that appears to be correct 🙂
Latest FIFA rankings are out, we have overtaken USA, Mexico and Uruguay and are now 12th or 10th best ranked European country. Brazil first and Argentina third.
My heart says Hrvatska to win the World Cup but head says it’s Brazil or Argentina. Messi and Neymar are currently in great form. I think Argentina has been unbeaten for more than 3 years? As for Brazil, the only time I remember them losing in recent memory was to Argentina in the Copa America final last year. After 4 consecutive World Cups being won by a European nation, it also feels like South America is due a win.
Wonder which lucky country will receive a World Cup as Christmas gift this year… 🙂
What do you guys think?
delusional…
Dalic will blow the chance –
by putting Lovren vs Marocco
Marocco will give you a LessoN!
One player I’ve mentioned since last year is Misic…he’s surprisingly pretty damn good for someone I never followed until the end of last season. I don’t understand why he doesn’t get more attention from the media…the guy can play extremely well!
I have come across comments in the Cro media that Misic is the best replacement for Brozovic that we have. On what he has shown this year, I would have to agree with that. If he continues to play well, he might force Dalic to take him to the WC instead of Jakic.
U14, I just read your comments regarding Ivanusec and Baturina. On one hand I think you make a valid point regarding Ivanusec…he’s not as effective as we know he can be. Regarding Baturina….I’ve watched every game and he’s dipped in form. I love the kid but trust me when I tell you he’s kinda dropped in form and in some games he was trying to do too much by himself.
I hope he gets more playing time going forward but he did get a lot at the beginning of the season and he was lost the ball a lot and was trying to to do it all himself. Probably just a learning curve for the kid but I do understand why Cacic took playing time away from him.
Baturina lost the ball pretty badly, shortly after he came on.
Not sure if it’s a physical thing, but I noticed that he does tend to turn the ball over a lot.
He’s very young and has a smallish 5’8″ frame (can’t be more than 140 lbs). He is also very technically skilled, and when he dances around the opposing players, he kind of sidesteps some of these players to avoid bumping into them (but then turns the ball over in the process).
When he lost that ball this game, he didn’t seem aggressive enough in trying to get it back. He kind of shadowed the player by running alongside him, but not really doing anything to get it back or prevent the opposing player from going where he wanted to.
He’s very young (still only 19) and learning, so I hope this is largely due to him giving up like 50 lbs to maneuver around heavier, taller, 30 year old men.
Maminjo, the typical player we develop is always extremely lean and light. They’re also very flexible and work on flexibility more than you could even imagine. Baturina isn’t small, he’s just trying to make low percentage dribbles or passes and then looks lackadaisical getting the ball back! In the beginning of the season he was much more active and his one in one dribbles and passes were working out for him. By the 4th game, he started losing possession more often and then he was trying to do even more by himself and that just won’t work.
In his position I think he has a really good build so being taller or heavier isn’t the issue although he will gain weight as he continues to get a little older!
In my opinion, Baturina is the definition of advance the play forward type of player and I really like it a lot. He will learn to make better choices.
Yeah, I probably should’ve said he needs to get “stronger”.
Modrić and Brozović have shorter, lean frames but they’re both tough and strong.
They won’t let you take the ball off them, and will fight you to get it back.
Busts like Halilović and Ćorić were technically gifted but never had that toughness or strength.
I don’t want Baturina to end up like another one of those busts.
Let’s hope he stays positive and keeps working hard. This kid is really good but as we’ve all seen before, things can go bad very fast!
Not only were Dinamo unlucky but this was one of those games where the ref always seemed to call everything against us. Playing Salzburg in their stadium and losing 1-0 when this game probably should have been a tie…I just hope we get the win at home!
I wasn’t really impressed with today’s strategy and I felt the game changed with the subs…I like Spikic and Drmic is a real poacher, the guy can score!
Let’s see what happens next week!
Kovacic also had a very shitty game today, I don’t know if maybe he was tired but he didn’t seem to play very well against AC Milan.
Hopefully he turns things around or gets the rest he needs cannot afford to have him off his game before the World Cup.
Is Kovačić that impactful for us?
Is a bad game from him really something we cannot afford to have?
I’m hoping for a good tournament from him, but I was really hoping to see more from him at this point in his career than just being our fifth or sixth best player.
Just shut up will ya
Relative? Or agent?
Who me?? Oh wait I just spoke again? :)… Z must be a Rebic fan lol.
Kovacic’s value is transitioning the ball from defense to attack. I’m not sure we will ever see him be that guy who can make a huge difference in the final 3rd of the field on a regular basis. He’s far better at getting the ball past the first line of the offensive attackers and midfield.
That’s true Slavonac, and he did show that somewhat against Austria but his consistency is more of an issue for me, atleast from what I have seen.
I haven’t watched a lot of Kovacic this season but I did the last few and I liked what I saw. As spectators/fans, we need to ask ourselves “whats this guys role and what are his strengths”? On this site we spend too much time discussing what Kovacic “doesn’t” do well…ie…attacking in the last 3rd of the field, poor quality shot, scoring. On the other hand, we don’t compliment him for transitioning the ball forward and he does that extremely well! Kovacic is always offering his tammates passing lanes and he’s super quick, able to run into empty spaces and beat players one v one. He’s not Luka Modric, he’s not Luka Sucic…he plays deeper into his own end.
***…but I did the last few years
Maybe, I’ll have watch a bit more with him and see. I just didn’t see too much of that working out well for him in the Nations League it seemed like it was either Brozovic or Modric picking up the slack. But maybe I didn’t pay close attention.
He does do well with Chelsea but it seems like those games with Croatia he kinda falls short, maybe the exception was his game against Austria and paired a bit with second game against Denmark. But again he didn’t seem to strong in either of those two matches, especially against Denmark. Even as a central pivot, which seems to be his role mainly if I am correct.
Again I am not expecting tons of goals from the guy I don’t think he is suited to that end, nor is he particularly strong like Brozo in defence. He kinda falls somewhere in the middle for me, but again I don’t know where he particularly fits either than just to support the two midfielders mentioned above.
To have any chance of finishing third in the group Dinamo must win next week against Salzburg in Zagreb. Cacic played for a draw today and did not work out.
He will need to select a more attacking line up and take more risks from the start of the game.
It wasn’t a bad strategy.
Dinamo played well. It’s not like they parked the bus.
Dinamo didn’t deserve to lose that game.
Moharrami made a weak grab, and the Austrian player was more than happy to go down in the box. He wasn’t going to score on that half-chance, so Moharrami gave him a bailout.
Bringing on Drmić was the right move and he should have scored twice. Somehow the first was saved, and the second was offside.
Terribly unlucky day.
Oršić looked invisible today. Salzburg had like five guys on him.
Dinamo needs to take advantage of this.
Dinamo’s win over Chelsea was no fluke.
They’ve now played well in all three games, and were unlucky with penalties in two of them (along with a called back goal).
I think they’ll play well in Zagreb. A win makes things very interesting.
Strategies are judged by the end product and Dinamo lost. The player interviews after the game on HRT 2 say it all. Comments like ”we should have been more courage’s ” we should have been more offensive “.
The two teams are evenly matched? Salzburg perhaps slightly stronger as a whole when it comes to running capacity and speed. In Zagreb, Cacic needs to roll the dice and employ more attacking tactics like he did in the last 15 minutes of the match.
Better performers for Dinamo I thought were: Ljubicic, Ivanusec, Misic and Peric. Subs that came on also performed well. Livakovic to be fair also had a good match although he had no idea about the header from Sesko that hit him in the face.
Just a question to the Rebic supporters, how well did he do when he subbed on against Chelsea?? From what I could see there were barely any shots for AC Milan in general. So I wonder if he really made a difference here in a game which is one of the most challenging for AC Milan in Champions League.
So measuring Rebic against quality opponents is the task here.
So for those who watched how well did he do when he subbed on?? Keep in mind here if the answer is garbage, then maybe it’s time we drop the Rebic conversation altogether and people stop mentioning him as an option for Croatia.
The reviews don’t say much positive a 5.5 rating isn’t high. But I wonder??
Milan was down 3-0 when Rebic came in…what would you have liked to see?
A goal…some contribution for those who speak so highly of him saying he should be called up.
I didn’t see the game, I was on a plane but I’ll tell you that any player needs service and good passes to create chances. Without seeing the game I can’t comment.
Sucic will be like Kranjcar. Overrated at such a young age. I’m worried
I don’t think so, he will be way better than Krancjar. In fact, he already is. Krancjar is one of the shittiest players we had, in my view I never liked him.
He only got on the team because of his Dad or Uncle whoever it was.
Sucic is still young, it’s perfectly fine if he has an off year.
Kranjčar was awesome…but he didn’t care that much about football.
I’m more worried about Sučić becoming like Kovačić (talented, but not an impact player).
Both born in Austria too. Maybe the country is too civilized, softening these Croats up too much. 😉
With the country’s capital known for its classical music legacy, I think few countries can get more civilized than Austria hehehe.
Kranjcar had one of the most powerful and accurate long distance drives that we’ve been lacking over the past 10 years. Jerko Leko used to have nice bombs also.
They deserved a better result, bad luck for Drmic. So close twice.
what i saw from sucic today
-10 mins in sucic tried dribbling past 2 dinamo players but took an awful touch that pingponged back to him luckily, ran in the box and tried crossing it in.
-around the 50th minute he got nutmegged by ljubicic
-85th min he made a nice run into the box but ultimately lost possession.
-90th min passed to sesko in the box that could have been an assist.
not sure why he should warrant a callup for qatar. he has a nice touch and could be an above average player in the future, but atm he is physically weak. CAM is our deepest position and majer is miles better than him rn. calling up a utility player like jakic is a smarter choice.
The Sucic callup would simply be a ‘young player’ callup if we have an available spot.
He’s a future prospect that (I assume) Dalic has in the plans for the next cycle, so bringing him to the tournament to experience it and get accommodated with the veterans would be the goal (and not actually play him other than to give him some injury time minutes).
If we were serious about actually trying to integrate him for the tournament, he would have been given spot minutes throughout qualifying to see how well he did.
I wouldn’t want Dalic to “Gvardiol” him and put him in a situation that’s over his head.
Re: Jakic…
To me, Jakic isn’t worth the callup.
Jakic is a good role player for a club team. But he’s not skilled enough to be National Team caliber.
Yes, he’s a CDM but even if Broz got injured or suspended, I’d rather make due with a combo that included three of Modric, Kovacic, Majer, Vlasic…or give Raketa a last-minute callup than to ever play Jakic in a game that actually mattered.
I don’t care if he is a defensive midfielder by trade…the talent dropoff is too much when compare to the many other options we have.
He’s also not some super young, high end talent, that we’d bring him so that he could learn and benefit the National Team in the future.
He’s bubble player, who’s probably not even going to be in the bubble much longer as we’re always getting new youngsters taking that next step.
i never said i want jakic to be a replacement for brozo. Rather for juranovic if need be. i watched jakic in the beginning of the season and his defensive positioning was bad. last night he greatly improved and was solid. he had perisic in check all game. hes playing champions league football and he has good fitness. still not sold on stanisic being backup rb.
Does Jakić regularly play RB for Eintracht?
Yes. This season, he has been a right back or right wingback.
To weigh in, I would call up Čolak before Sučić because the team doesn’t need 5 CAM.
The team doesn’t need 7 CBs but it’s gonna happen 🙂
Again Sucic is young and properly has nerves going on, so it’s perfectly natural to make mistakes we have to see in a couple of years. Cannot go off of one game, and yes I get that his season has been a rough start, but we have to see towards the end of the season how the kid does.
Overall, I agree with Maminjo’s point. He is a future prospect, and taking him off the team would be very bad I think for his confidence. He had an incredible season last season. So I would keep him on personally.
We are only a couple.monyha into the season so the kid could turn this around. He just needs a spark.
It doesn’t have to be an either-or situation.
We really don’t need so many CBs and if Jakić has been performing well at RB in Frankfurt, then that’s worth a callup (especially since Stanišić can double as a CB).
We really don’t need any of our old guard in the backline. Lovren, Vida and Barišić can all be cut, since many of our newer gen defenders are dynamic and can play multiple backline positions.
I absolutely agree with this. Dalic is being irrational here…
I second this point from Maminjo. I have been saying that especially those two defenders need to be cut, but Barisic really didn’t do well either.
Re Barisic, in fact I think Stanisic is the better choice as the back-up LB. If I’m not wrong, he’s played that position twice for Bayern this season so far (and one time last season). If situation ever calls for it, Gvardiol and Juranovic can also play LB. This renders Barisic a bit redundant…
big save by Livakovic to keep it close. Unlucky offsides to nullify goal…better luck next time for Dinamo
Such a shame.
Drmic gets saved when on a breakaway, then redeems himself with an injury time goal…only for it to be ruled offside.
Unfortunately, this was a bad loss and will probably end Dinamo’s chances of progression unless they can win in Zagreb (and hope they do better than Salzburg does in the last two games against Milan and Chelsea).
Stupid penalty.
Ruining a good game by Dinamo.
Livaković with the face save hahaha.
Šeško heads the ball off a nice cross, right into Liva’s face.
Hopefully this teaches Livaković a lesson and that he needs to always stay glued to his line and never challenge anything. 😉
Livakovic is looking weak yet again when it comes to challenging for the ball.
Off and on again I just hope Livakovic shows up in Qatar ready to play. I really don’t think we have anyone else.
The game is streaming free on the Vix app (in Spanish)
Hvala!!! 👍🇭🇷
Can anyone provide a link to this game?
I say Sucic plays a great game- and says , “look at me , boys”!!!!!
Pinnacle.com:
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Red Bull Salzburg -138
Draw +299
Dinamo Zagreb +393