It took Kramarić just 24 minutes to score the deciding goal against Saudi Arabia in Croatia’s final preparatory match before the World Cup kicks off. He created himself a shooting lane and topped it off with a clinical finish, exactly what the world’s top strikers do regularly. But will it be regular with Kramarić in Qatar? Can he find the consistency to string together potentially 7 solid games for Croatia?
It’s no big secret that Kramarić has performed quite poorly so far this season. On top of recently losing his starting spot at Hoffenheim, Kramarić has as many big chances missed (3) as he does goals this season.
Even when in form with Hoffenheim, it hasn’t always been a guarantee that Kramarić will fire on all cylinders with the Vatreni. However, I believe in playing the hottest hand when it comes to our strikers, considering none of the four called up are clear of the rest.
If you were Dalić, do we go Krama YES or Krama NO for Croatia’s big opening match in T-minus 6 days. If not, who starts at the 9?
I’m so nervous. Have had 6 beers already; I’ll be plastered by kickoff. I predict a 2-1 victory for us
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10056069-2022-mens-world-cup-power-ranking-all-32-teams
They’re showing us respect.
Nice post. Uruguay should be ahead of Serbia FFS. They would destroy Serbia. Geez
Nice to know we are respected!
If Dalic has watched Money ball, and he uses Billy Beane style Oakland A team soccer management, he goes solely on production numbers and what the numbers tell you. Normal prototype measurements: Height, weight, political party affiliation, appearance go out the window. Based on this technique there is only one answer. Let the Vatreni “Lava” flow hot.
Unleash Livaja Petkovic up top Hnl Power!!!!
So is Rebić gonna be called up?
Ne miješajte lonac.
Nice to see, there is a contingent on this site, that are Livaja supporters after all, as we near the start of the tournament. Since losing De Silva, seems like there has been a continued dis-satisfied with our strikers. Many dismissed Mandzukic, during his reign, because he did not have proficient footwork, and Olic was described as a limited tap in expert. Marko, is not perfect, but he seems to be a true “fiery” competitor. I hope for the best. It is good that we have a few home country HNL players representing us at this 22′ WC.
Sosa and Juranovic will wreak havoc. Last post till game time.
Bog i Hrvati
Livaja is Croatia’s Lukaku and I am okay with that. He is a bull and will run much more than Petkovic. Defenses have to collapse to protect against that kind of presence. We could then move Kramaric to play right wing. I still like Majer at right-wing because he can create, even if it is not his natural position. Majer is never content to just get off any kind of cross if there are other opportunities.
I feel the same way about Livaja, he has proven with less game time than others that he can score for us on more occasions. I think he is really underestimated by the Croatian media majority and Croatians on general.
I hope he gets some decent playing time even if he does not start.
We also have to remember that he did play in La Liga a few years ago and was scoring goals there. He does have training from his time at Inter Milan, as well. He even assisted on the goal that Ivan Santini scored in one of the terrible matches following the 2018 world cup. Ultimately, it will come down to what Dalic sees in these guys working with them up close. Livaja seems to me to be the most well-rounded of the strikers we have, and the role he plays at Hajduk goes well with the repka’s scoring by committee approach. Livaja feeds the players behind him and to his sides on a lot of plays. His dribbling skills are also excellent.
The trolls are stepping it up with espn “links”
Ziva affectionately called livaja look at me livaja
I like his attitude
He has grown up some for sure
He has always had talent and he seems very passionate about playing for the repka
If anyone can catch fire and surprise the world with the Guys we have it’s him I feel
Happy to know our guys are by and large healthy, hope Livaja will resume full training soon!
@ Živa
I remember you use to love hating on Livaja and his tattoos.
But you make some good points about him.
He is not fast but has a strong frame and can maneuver in the box.
He has a go fuck your self vibe which actually works.
He will get service and he has been banging them in.
At 29 he is at his peak and that it is good thing for us.
I feel livaja has generally been written off as kind of a joke. Partially cause he plays in the hnl, partially cause of his head case mentality in his youth, and partially cause he’s 29 at this point
But i got to thinking… is he actually good?
I did a little digging. 28 goals in the hnl last year. No one has come close to that since Eduardo 15 years ago. And that is with livaja playing for perennially lackluster hajduk
Even internationally, in qualifiers and nations league , he had 3 goals and 1 assists in 250 minutes, which is a wild 1 contribution every 60 minutes
Is he actually good?
Well it was all too good to be true that everyone would be healthy. Modric with a high ankle sprain in training, out 4-6 weeks
https://www.espn.com/worldcup/croatian-maestro-modric-to-miss-last-world-cup
Every time lol
Are you serious?
I’m getting a 2002 World Cup feeling about this one
Don’t let it be true
No
The link is gone.
What fake news.
Thanks Marko
Fake forsure ???
Hope soo
I think if Kova and our backs can play with more of that edge we will go far. I hope this alpa mentality rubs off on him. Frustrating thing with Kova is that he has all the tools to be a great player. He’s lacked a bit of that aggression that I believe would elevate his game.
Having watched a majority of the Canada qualifiers, I can say that they have a lot of these players.
Their lack of quality high end talent is made up for by this attitude instilled by their coach. Herdman is a hell of a coach. He finds a way to motivate his players who will go through a wall for him and each other. We had that in our 2018 run…beautiful to see that true team environment.
Scipio…ko te jebe. This is a sports site…post your political thoughts elsewhere. No one cares.
Unfortunately, ………..Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda
1990: Robert Prosinečki
1994: Marc Overmars
1998: Michael Owen
2002: Landon Donovan
2006: Lukas Podolski
2010: Thomas Müller
2014: Paul Pogba
2018: Kylian Mbappé
2022: Petar Musa
Infantino’s “counter” to leftists crying about Qatar not being a multicultural immoral cesspool was to say something that not only the left doesn’t disapprove of, but he said something to the left’s utter shocked satisfaction, something so blatantly anti whte even they themselves wouldn’t say it publicly. Infantino said: “Europe(white people) should be apologising for the next 3,000 years for past mistakes.”
This is “white guilt” on steroids. White self hatred is SICK. Is anyone in the “free press”, one of these “important people” going to ask the heretical question of: ‘What sin exactly has the white man committed that every other race hasn’t also committed??’
Love that the media are picking us to flame out in the group stage.
They are not seeing our recent UNL form.
We have an underrated mix of core veterans and young studs.
I actually see Dalic has a plus this time around. He has grown as a manager and is ready to utilize our squad depth. I feel the 5 sub rule favors us in our group.
I also feel the group will be a challenge for Belgium as well. Minus KDB, the rest of the squad is not quite in top form.
T – minus 4 days !!
Depends on which media outlet you’re following.
I’m seeing a lot putting us above Belgium, due to Belgium’s reliance in their aging backline and the reduced form of key players like Lukaku, Hazard and even Courtois.
We’ll see if Belgians are as passionate for their homeland as Croats are (to increase their level of play for their country over the way they play for their clubs) but something tells me that Belgians aren’t that kind of people.
Maybe they consider the UNL to be meaningless at all times and not only meaninful when a certain team does well, like you fickle fans here.
Watching a bit of the replay of the WC semi with England.
So many of our players had that alpha dog mentality. Even Rakitic transformed and had a little dust up with fist full of England jersey.
This is what we need to progress. That belief, confidence and intensity that grows is so key in these tourneys.
I’m hoping we have enough of those players this WC. We have a lot of timid types in the lineup…
Livakovic, Juranovic, Pasalic, Krama, Kova, Sosa.
Modric, Perisic, Brozo have it. Gvardiol, Livaja and even Vlasic have this mentality.
I really believe we have the team to do this…the first game will be so important for us.
So true-
Love the post- pukni ga
Perisic, Brozovic, Modric, Gvardiol and Vlasic are likely starters who would make up the majority of those on the field. They’re all alphas who would go at their opponents without fear of who their opponents are.
It rubs off on others and (like you said) even beta-Rakitic got into it in the last World Cup against Argentina and England. I expect beta-Kovacic to be influence the same way. I never forgave beta-Rakitic for purposely sending a soft header toward Casillas in our Euro2012 game against Spain due to his subordinate mentality, but he make up for it at WC2018. Kovacic is a risk for this as well, but I’m guessing he’ll play less hesitant when surrounded by hounds like Perisic/Modric/Broz barking at him all game.
I don’t think Sosa and Jura are timid. They would probably get into it against the opposition. I’d probably say that Livakovic, Kovacic and Krama are the softies…but there are alphas like Majer and Livaja on the bench ready to replace them if they choose to be invisible.
https://youtu.be/8udHwbVir-k
Highly impressed .. the knowledge these foreigners know about CRO 👏🏻
To be honest as a fan of his I hope that he does and that he changes his playing habits from the past because he has the potential to be a great player and forward but I think he needs to follow the direction of Mandzukic. Mandzo was someone who was not afraid to play defensively when necessary and when the game was going terrible, and not in his favour, he Mandzo would play defensive and had a great work rate for a forward. This was something I recall about him from 2018.
What we have been missing, from those players upfront, with exception of Perisic is a person who plays defensive when needed, and offensive when needed, or who passed the ball when needed. I question Kramaric resolve here and ability to do this. But time will tell and I hope he proves me wrong.
To be honest I think it will have be a mixture of the three between Krama, Livaja, and Petko instead of a heavy reliance on one person. Play the the three of them and change as necessary.
And by change I mean deciding at 50 what change to make up front and not at the 75th minute when it’s too late.
I was just going through my old youtube vids cos im a n00b like that
anyway, it turns out in 2009 i had this car :
https://ibb.co/PzPjWKD
in one of my vids, i was going for a blue checkers hrvatska thing
looks like i predicted the jersey in 2009 boys!
nice lol
That video probably had 1 million views
Look there’s no need to be nasty, it did have 1000 or so which i know is nothing, im just saying it happened okay. Dont be a nikola kalinic dude.
It was a joke
Tsn for those croatian Canadian fans has the semi-final on now. It’s still tied 1-1 but it will still make me happy soon.
I give all the credit to Ante for running the Kramaric story prior to World Cup selection. Similar to getting Cacic fired, I believe the doubt and pressure put on Kramaric for his comments regarding the outcome of the WC will turn him into a goal scoring machine.
The good ol’ Rijeka Days, when you lead the HNL soccer league, is all that us simple humble people ask Andrej, if you are reading this. Hvala. We know you have it in you! One last push.
If it is a push, should we not favor HNS member players, rather dispora types, prancing around the world trying to become billionaires, talking about the dark days of croatia, from their Villa in Monaco. Let the one’s who remain in the motherland represent the motherland. It’s bazaar that Puliscic, 100% croatian blood plays for USA, but Borna Sosa, plays for Hrvatska. I say play Livaja if we can.
ne seri.
Puliscic
🤣🤣🤣😢
Have u heard of Joe Simunic, you idiot?
Most of the diaspora are the most patriotic of all.
Belgium loses 2-1 to mighty egypt
its a friendly
Oh i thought it was a world cup game
At times sarcasm has its place..this was one of them 🤣
Lol as long as you knew it was a friendly and didnt mean anything then I am satisfied! LOL
haha yes, didn’t mean anything by it except that it probably doesnt warrant a freak out.
Did Egypt have the world’s best player that The Guardian only talks about?
Kramaric can score goals but he’s never been the type of player I’d rely on if I were coach. He’s always been selfish, he has held on to the ball and then put his teammates in low percentage chances once he finally releases the ball, I’m still shocked he’d mention Brazil as his favourite to win…he would have been better off to say nothing. I just feel like he’s always been about himself although I do know he has the ability to score.
If we are going to need ball possession and maintain control on the game then I say we use someone like Petkovic who can hold up the ball and distribute it well but if we are going to play in-swingers from the wings and need someone to attack the ball then in my opinion, Marko Livaja is our best option. After watching Livaja for the past few seasons I have to say I’m confused at why he was a walking suitcase, he has tons of tools, very very talented, extremely strong, he can settle the ball and make a good attempt on goal even when the service is extremely hard to control. Livaja releases the ball quickly when needed and he can take on defenders, I just don’t see how he’s playing in the HNL and someone like Budimir is in Spain…Livaja is light-years better than Budimir!
With that said, on his good day, Petkovic is also a beast thats very hard to manage as a defender. Petkovic makes everyone around him a better player while Kramaric does the opposite. If Petkovic and Livaja can share the responsibility up front…and both do well, we will be ok.
I agree about Livaja. Livaja is an excellent player. Kramarić and Livaja are both world class dribblers, but Livaja is better in the air and in a physical match. He also has better passing vision. As far as finishing is concerned, they are probably equal. Kramarić is a bit quicker. Budimir isn’t a well-rounded player, but he is very strong and very good in the air. Petković is Petković. I wasn’t impressed by his performance against Saudi Arabia. He’s very skilled, but maybe that tricky style won’t cut it in the world cup.
Qatar announced no beer at the tournament except for Croatians who can drink anything they want- officials said “Croatians can do anything they want just try and stop them- AJMO- let’s show the fire
did they really say no beer? love how that’s gonna work out
They sure did- and I am pretty sure Heineken is a sponsor- shake hands with them and count your fingers
All-time cult hero
Ivica Olic. “What does a defender do when he sees Ivica Olic doing stepovers?” the joke went at the height of the forward’s career. “He politely waits until Olic finishes, then takes the ball.” Maybe Olice would have struggled to go past a piece of garden furniture with his dribbling skills but he could outrun anyone – or at least he would try to, over and over again. Fans loved him for it, because he was genuinely old school and a true fighter. Since 2017, when he made an almost instant transition after his playing career came to an end, Olic has been the assistant manager on Dalic’s staff – interrupted only by a brief stint as CSKA Moscow head coach last year.
https://canpl.ca/article/world-cup-2022-croatia-team-guide
Sorry, but reading anything by Aleks is a complete waste of time.
Last World Cup he picked Germany to win it all, and for Croatia to finish behind Nigeria and Iceland.
Regardless.. That was funny about Ivica.. I remember his step overs at WC2014
@ U Licki Becar
Valid points. Erlic and Sutalo were excellent together against the French and Danes. I still think Erlic is a safer play. Nations League are glorified friendlies. There’s a lot less pressure on them playing in those games vs playing on the big stage in the WC where experience is needed.
I’ve always thought Perisic would be great up top, but to take out our best winger and one of our key players out of his preferred position isn’t a great idea. Apparently he didn’t play all that well as a second striker in that last Tottenham game.
Sadly, to get a pressing style of play like the last World Cup, we need both wingers to play that way (which we don’t have).I wish Rebic wasn’t such a headcase, we could use his style of play in certain games.
Petkovic and Orsic play well together but I don’t think either should be starters. Petkovic has been better as of late and hence the call up. Orsic has had some monster games in Champions League but hasn’t been that effective for us when I’ve watched him play. I like his style of play and actually think he is our second best winger right now…out of the 2 we have 😀
Sosa could easily operate as a LW and has for club but moving Perisic off the LW is a mistake.
You have to judge Nations League games on a case by case basis.
For example, the 1-1 France draw in Split you can write off as on par with being a friendly. That draw was nothing impressive based on the squad lineups and how intense each team was playing.
But the 1-0 win in Paris was an intense match with both teams playing key players and they were trying to win it.
The 1-0 Denmark away win was even more impressive, because Dalic handicapped us in the first half by playing a bench team (allowing Denmark to dominate possession), then deciding to add three starters in second half when he saw an opportunity to win and took things more seriously.
Erlic played the full 90 in all three of those games, but it was the latter two gamees where he was under pressure from two top-10 teams who were trying hard to win the game.
World Cup games are a different beast, but winning in a sold out 80,000 capacity Stade de France in Paris is the closest thing to it.
to avoid punishment from Marocco ->
1) not playing Lovren (keep him shut up)
2) not wearing LGBT armband
Old clip.. I know it’s U17 but with there dribbling and speed we need to be on par then we can shine otherwise we could be in for rude awakening with the Morrokinho’s
https://youtu.be/6j_g5DvjEgk
Old clip.. I know it’s U17 but with there dribbling and speed we need to be on par then we can shine otherwise we could be in for rude awakening with the Morrokinho’s
@mali Ante
I see ur point with the back line experience but you can’t say they were not solid(SUTALO&ERLIC) during nations league beating out France and Denmark away…. Funny thing is that this was the first time they played together as well lol.. and they played like they know each other for years.. combine that with Gvardiol on the left who has a EUROS(water bottle magic experience) and you got a solid back line.. so might it be a fluke they played that well together? Maybe but I THINK NOT! Sutalo would have played with Erlic again but I believe both were coming off light injury and Dalić resorted to Lovren Gvardiol for that reason if my memory serves correct.. Orsic and Petko do combine well I do agree but if you want that press speed and finishing Perisic and Orsic combo I believe would be dynamite.. sub Petko for Perisic in the 70 minute or so if he’s gassed and Orsic for Livaja… keep KRAMARIC AND BUDIMIR for 4-5-1
Call me crazy but I’d bet the house that the ‘City of Idiot” has a Lovren poster above his bed or I could be wrong and it’s on his ceiling.
Petkovic could effective if Orsic is playing with him at the same time. They do link up well together.
Livakovic is actually a good shot stopper. His lack of being able to take control of the penalty area is a huge problem though.
@Maminjo
We are on the same page. I’ve watched Erlic and he can pass the ball well. Made a great pass to spring Perisic (I think) last game
that created an instant scoring opportunity.
That back line is too young and inexperienced with both Gvardiol and Sutalo although in a few years they’ll be a force at the back.
A back line of those two with Sosa and Stanisic will be our strength after years of being our weakness.
Sutalo is still more skilled, but Erlic is probably our least error-prone CB.
I can’t recall the guy making a mistake, and he’s played against some good teams for us.
One option if our attackers can’t produce it’s worth a shot… take a page outta tottenhams book and play Perisic as a striker.. put Orsic on LW..
If by chance Brozovic ain’t to par another option is perhaps play Orsic together with Perisic in a 4-4-2 have Sosa play LM and Gvardiol LB.. let Modric and Kovacic play CM.. Majer RM …Juranovic RB and Sutalo and Erlic as CBs this would give us a solid D and some ball movement through the middle with these defensive backs who can offer a lot going forward
the real problem (issues) that I want to point out:
1)| Room Cancer -> seniority :: Lovren disease ::
2)| problematic goal scorers: Petkovic is not worth a call
3)| Goal Keeper -> Livakovic is below average
Sort of. I like the guy but sometimes he loses mental focus and forgetting the task at hand.
When he knows the task at hand, he can be a vicious asset.
He can be really effective when his mind is into it.
Kramaric can finish when he doesn’t have to run all game to do it.
He can start for a half or be a super sub.
I don’t like him starting as he does not stress the defense with his weak and slow presence up top.
Budimir at least will give you a poor man’s Mandžukić performance.
I actually like Lovro Majer on the RW. He so smooth in the final third.
Vlašić will bring his dynamic running but can be hot and cold in front of goal.
Perišić can play striker if you want Orsic at LW.
Actually Perišić can play anywhere on the pitch.
Dudes are going to have to step up as a unified force if we are going to make a run.
We are not a dominant side but have a depth of quality that maybe can prevail over the course of the match and tournament.
Still in awe that 37 year old Luka Modrić is this relevant as our main reference point.
Young players have to be inspired by his example.
T – 5 days ..
I want Kramaric to play well but I can just see it not happening and he partially isn’t at fault for it.
The bigger picture is that Dalic yet again didn’t solve the striking issue when we’ve had solutions for the whole year (first half of the year: Musa, second half of the year: Colak). Look, I understand Musa got sick and there isn’t much that anyone can do about that but the problem with that is that he should have been called to the previous NT break.This time, he didn’t call up Colak who has almost 5x the amount of goals kramaric has scored and 14x the amount of goals Budimir has scored and we as fans and the players have got to put up with the fact that we can’t score as much as we potentially can because their is no striker because the coach didn’t prepare for the tournament.
Quite sad when we are are comparing striker options between Kramaric, Budamir & Livaja compared to the other top countries. The fact that we have such an inexperienced back line is also troublesome. Dalic took way too long to integrate the youth into the lineup and Lovren & Vida are passed their prime. Sosa, Gardiol, Sutalo & Erlic have a combined 20 Caps. This will be a re-building world cup.
Kramaric looks to be well, he also scored an offside goal during them time he was on the pitch
But, we still won’t get a lot of use out of sosa and perisics crossing from a guy like that. Hence I’d rather livaja cause he’s a bit better for that
by the time -> Erlic and Gvardiol will have an injury problem
then here we come Lovren and Vida 🙁 there is no other choice
the worst pickup ever
and regrets from Dalic)|
anyway room cancer spread up
it’s called Lovren disease ——–
The worst pickup ever shitty idiot was the night your Tata busted the move on your mom thus creating ….
@ truth
Scipio is the same troll aka Turkey etc. It’s easy to tell given way the budala posts. Dude must have a sad life to spend his time trolling.
Canada and Morocco both had solid wins. I don’t think either will be a walk in the park for us but I’m confident if we play like we can then we win these games.
If we don’t play like we are capable of playing, then this could easily be a muddled group with teams taking points off each other.
Looking to me like Krama starts upfront. RW is tricky…thought it would be Vlasic but from what I’ve read it could be Pasalic which hasn’t worked this far. Love him off the bench as a super sub if we need a goal.
Back line should be Gvardiol and Sutalo/Erlic…I’d prefer Erlic as he’s a bit more experienced.
Lovren hopefully knows his role as a sub and doesn’t cause any issues.
Erlić is the safer pick with lots of Serie A experience
My favorites are Kramaric1st half; if he does not produce, Livaja 2nd half. I muse over the idea of Musa, but he came on to the scene so recently, he did not have the runway to impress and make the team unfortunately albeit, USA team went young, rolled the dice, and Pulisic @ 24 is considered an old ancient man.