For their third match in the 2021-22 Europa League group stages, Dinamo Zagreb is traveling to Austria to face SK Rapid Wien on Thursday at 12:45pm ET. Dinamo, currently in second place with three points in Group H, are heavy favorites entering the matchup, as Rapid Wien sits at the bottom of the group without a point. In the unlikely scenario that West Ham loses to Genk tomorrow, a blowout victory for Dinamo could see them leapfrog West Ham to become first place in the group.
Not related to sports but important news that Croatia joined Usa visa waiver program. Finally no more visa
Brekalo with a really good game today for Torino
Scored and involved in all attacking plays
Haven’t you heard?
Brekalo and Vlašić are busts now. 😉
Vidović strikes again! He’s on fire.
We dropped to 18th in fifa rankings but not that it matters. How is Mexico ahead of Denmark? We are just above Wales, Senegal, Chile, Poland. Any who, haven’t beat a top ten team since England in 2018 semis. That says a lot.
We beat spain 2018 3 2 maksimir that the last big win vs a contender.
Of course it matters. Where we’re ranking has implications for where we are seeded come major touraments.
i.e. the higher ranked we are, the higher pot we’re placed in when it comes time for group draws. Not sure about you, but I’d rather be in a pot 1 or pot 2, avoiding some of our boogeymen (Portugal, France, etc.) in group play.
I know some NT’s in the past tried to game the system and scheduled the minimum amount of friendlies required vs. minnows (Romania circa 2015, when they were in the top 20 for a years even though they didnt do squat at a major tournament) but with Nations League now, its very hard to do…
Absolutely matters unfortunately, right now we would be in pot 3 if we qualified for the World Cup, meaning an almost certain group of death
Can’t for the life of me find the live pot standings, before the last few UEFA matchdays, can you? Felt like I saw it on Twitter somewhere… not on an actual site?
This is the best site for rankings previews. At the bottom they show the projected pots for the World Cup and at this point looking like Pot 3 even if we qualify,
http://www.football-rankings.info/2021/10/world-cup-qualification-simulations.html?m=1
That would actually be great for us!
We play much better as underdogs than favourites!
Bog i Hrvati
Looks like Vlasic is in the starting lineup for West Ham. I still believe that he has potential, and could be a success if given the opportunity.
He’ll be fine, he just hasnt had a pre-season with them. Look at Modric at Real Madrid the first season. Not saying Vlasic is Modric but a pre-season would have gone a long way.
There’s a big difference between Modric and vlasic and it has nothing to do with their preseason. Modric was always going to succeed at Madrid once given opportunity because his track record said so.
He was one of best players at euro 2008 one of the best players at euro 2012 and was one of best midfielders already in the EPL one of hardest leagues in world. Also modric was battling a coach who was stubborn and world class players at Madrid. All modric needed was opportunities not time. Vlasic on other hand has been given opportunities right away.
Vlasic has not proven much other than he’s average at best in international soccer. He’s been a bust once already in England, and he’s only proven he can score in Russia a league where slow defenders go to retire like lovern and corluka. Russia isn’t much better than HNL.
West ham over paid and for that reason also he will struggle. Fans will have little patience if he doesn’t start producing they will turn on him. There’s a reason why Milan didn’t think he was worth 35 mill and they were right. But Italy would have suited him a lot more which is to bad it didn’t work out. I don’t dislike any Croatian player but I just don’t understand the vlasic hype. Out of all young players Dalić has given him by far the longest rope. And between euro and qualifying he’s underperforming.
Yes Vlad, I agree with almost everything you’re said here. I’m not so sure Vlasic was a BUST at Everton, I think it was a bad situation for him. His team caught fire just as he arrived and the coach feared mixing things up. With that said, I am in agreement with everything else.
I read more positive things about Vlasic on this site than I do anywhere else…and I ask myself…”do these people actually watch him play or are they basing their opinions of Vlasic based on his potential”? I mean, I see comments talking about his pedigree, as if he’s a show dog or a race horse and has the pedigree of a Champion! Vlasic is AVERAGE AT BEST…nothing more…at least not for now!
I’m shocked at how quickly people here have turned on him.
The kid is a solid player who was arguably the best player in the Russian league for the past couple of years, and he’s always scoring for us in limited minutes.
He starts the season slow (because he was in a transfer dispute with CSKA all summer and misses training camp) and now he’s some complete bust of a player, haha.
I have faith in him
Maybe it was wrong move or maybe it’s just too early
Maybe by the end of the year it’s the same situation he can go back to Russia play well and still contribute to the repka
Remember srna was Ukraine for life and did just fine for us
Vlasic was poor at the Euro’s Maminjo. He’s been extremely inconsistent and he goes missing for long periods in many games. I’m not sure what you’re talking about?
Slavonac, I agree with you, he’s a streaky player. Reminds me of Rebic in that sense. When he’s on, he can really dominate his side/piece of the pitch, but then has a half game or full game where you don’t even see him.
The one thing I like about Vlasic (especially when he’s on) is he likes to run at defenses. I feel a lot of the time teams sit back and know that we’ll try to break them down with 100 passes and look for the perfect buildup to get that goal… when in reality, sometimes all you need is someone taking a defender 1v1, get past one guy, defense collapses and you have someone wide open. Doesn’t happen all the time, but we need more of that to keep defenses on their toes.
I think its no secret that we like possession and do the long, methodical build up to get a goal. That’s fine but we need to mix it up i.e. run at defenders sometimes, get more efficient off set pieces, etc.
“When he’s on, he can really dominate his side/piece of the pitch” – I agree…”when he’s on”…but how often is that?
In comparison to Rebic, Ante is a very different type of player and he’s usually “effective” because he keeps a high tempo to his game and is always trying to threaten. That landed him at Milan and he’s been relatively good since he arrived.
Vlasic, on the other hand, walked through the Russian league and has only showed us “glimpses” of his quality. I can appreciate all types of players and I do know there are many ways to skin a cat….Vlasic’s qualities are far different from Rebic’s but I find myself looking for Vlasic to produce a good performance and I barely ever see it!
The question I ask is…”when is Vlasic on”?
Ya…Livakovic is not great, but Dinamo’s defense is just terrible.
Reading bbb and dinamo fan comments they have had enough of petkovic and livakovic. They are not same players as in 2019
The way these Austrians dive at the slightest touch….sramota. Are there Serie A scouts in the stands??? Dinamo is losing to the 8th place team in the Austrian league and that’s embarrasing too but at least we play like men not picke.
These yellow kits for Europski Dinamo are awful.
It’s a tribute to their HAŠK roots 😉
I *almost* forgot… Dinamo was founded in 1911. Not 1945…
embarrassing, livakovic just got exposed again. unfortunate he just made a great save a few minutes earlier too
I dont like nit picking every single thing but you are right. And Throphile taking goal kicks for him.
People and back in up all they want he needs to leave dinamo and refresh hard reset i dont trust him v russia even v malta at this point.
Orsic is such a good finisher
I guess he will just stay in Zagreb pretty well going forward?
Does make another good save tho
Sloppy on the defensive end for Dinamo
Not livakovic fault
But I swear he always just looks at balls going in
Even if there isn’t much a chance try anyways
Correct me if I’m wrong
Dannyj,
Livakovic is a decent or good shot stopper and its never been suggested he’s not. the issue with him is not making saves, its his poor positioning and lack of challenging on crosses…and…playing the ball with his feet.
its ridiculous to keep complaining about the guys saves or non saves for every single shot on goal. He’s generally a decent goalie.
This group gets in a player they hate for any reason. you need to start watching the games for yourself, see how the game is played and make your comments based on that!
I’m watching it
It was placed well I get that but he doesn’t even make a move on it
Vladimir Petkovic is off to a pretty lousy start with Bordeaux (only 1 win in their first ten games of the season).
He’s on a three year contract, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if they were relegated.
He would definitely be a Dalic replacement target if he was without a club.
He wouldn’t want to deal with all the HNS shennanigans… I think him never coaching in the Balkans is by design, no? He doesn’t want to deal with all this nonsense.
Unless we:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlOPyshRauI
which I doubt the HNS would.
How do Dinamo fans feel about Leovac starting at LB? He got torched during that last Rijeka/Dinamo derbi. Part of the reason Rijeka went up 3-0 I feel (he got a 5.8 via SofaScore and was subbed out shortly after HT). Is Štefulj just not in the plans for DZG at the moment? Who else can play LB on the squad?
It would be best if Dinamo got rid of Leovac, Theophile-Catherine and Livakovic in the summer.
I think Bartol Franjic plays LB as well.
They have Ademi who can play in the midfield, and then throw Franjic in the back four.
I thought so. Many moons ago, Leovac was a decent LB. Need to just move Franjic into that slot.
Dinamo need to move on from Livakovic and recall Nevistic and see what they have with him and get as many Euros as possible off the Livakovic sale.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/foxesofleicester.com/2021/10/06/leicester-city-refuse-filip-benkovic/amp/
Dude needs to play
I thought he was loaned out again
Very confusing situation.
He’s had injuries, but I don’t understand what the issue is with him being loaned out and not playing.
Maybe it’s an attitude thing with him, or it could be something else.
The coach keeps saying positive things about him, but will never play him.
Maybe he’s a bust, but taking up a spot on the bench and using him for nothing seems pointless.
Mental midgetry?
It’s unfortunate
He is a big dude
Hopefully he is one of those late mature Croats
Not sure.
Hard to say if it is a mental thing, when you don’t see him play and the coach speaks positively of him.
The loan spells were with stupid teams, and he wasn’t even starting there either. Very strange.
I liked what I saw when he was loaned to Celtic and Bristol, so I’m not sure what the problem is. I assumed it was injuries, but I guess it’s something else.
Bring benkovic back or something
Where is he rotting?
Was hoping for him to make it
Are there not any young quality CBs that Dinamo can’t use and groom up?
Maro Katinić, he’s amazing. Just 17 years old and killing it with Dinamo II. Expect him to get a chance at a starting spot next season.
He’s kind of like a right-footed Gvardiol and can play CB + RB. Amazing talent, probably better than Gvardiol was at his age. Dude leaps like a fucking kangaroo as well, he won something crazy like 95% of his aerial duels with the U19s.
I’m sure your “fucking kangaroos!”comparison has iggy on the edge of his seat Markus 🤗
We could definitely use more kangaroos in our defence ala big Joe Simunic 😉