APPLE PODCAST LINK
Ante, Zorić, and Pete breakdown Croatia’s 1-0 win over Armenia to punch their ticket to Euro 2024 and what changes need to be made before the tournament kicks off. Kovačić needs to be benched moving forward and we need to see more of Šimić, Pašalić, Sučić and Baturina during March friendlies.
Here’s my 2 kunas:
1) Valid points about Kovačić, but he was part of the reason we had one of the best midfields in the last two World Cups.
2) Guardiol wasn’t “poor” against Latvia.
3) It wasn’t a mistake starting Musa. It was a mistake waiting over a year to do so. I don’t think this guy follows him in Portugal. No one at the striker position gets service.
4) Marco Pašalić will be a starter at Euro 2024. Makes things happen, fast and good team chemistry as a newbie. Could be the replacement we’ve been waiting for Rakitić for 5 years.
5) Bosnia finished their group 3-7. How are they playing for the 3rd place playoff???
6) We’ve never beaten Portugal since their style of play gives us fits. Unlike England, they don’t look down on us and give it 100%.
7) The argument we play better vs better teams didn’t apply in this tournament. We got embarrassed by eventual group winner Turkiye and third place Wales last month.
Pasalic and Rakitic are not comparisons. Rakitic didn’t play wide for us. He was a number 8 and when Luka dropped down and played another 6 with Brozovic, Rakitic would play the number 10 role.
Bosna is in playoffs because of their Nations League finish. Same reason we would have made the playoffs even if we would have lost every single qualifying game. Look at Estonia and how they make playoffs
How about this for kova..
Get 100% healthy and be a great sub off the bench for Modric or whoever needs a boost in the midfield. HE DOESNT NEED TO START! Simple as that no further explanation needed.
I think talking so much about Kovacic is probably secondary, and a Straw Man fallacy argument to a certain extent. There are bigger elephants in the room I believe.
We have treated Livakovic and Gvardiol as Golden Calf gods, that can’t do anything wrong, but we need the break down in our defense to stop somehow. This first surfaced in the Argentina game. We need the solid defense to reemerge. Maybe, Gvardiol needs to become a little more defensive oriented, in tight games. It might be different if we are playing from behind and need a goal urgently. Livakovic needs to concentrate on positioning again. I am open to other ideas.
If we can get the defensive wingers Sosa and Juranovic to play a hybrid attacking role, and play to their level, like we know they can, providing deadly accurate crosses to the likes of Budimir or others, the Kovavic issue becomes a minor non-issue.
I think there is an argument though for keeping Kovavic as a starting three, in don’t fix what is not broken. Controlling midfield possession against teams that have superior offensive attackers is a great passive defense.
A Sucic switch, with potential upgraded future attacking ability vs possessional ability is worth a discussion, but the other pieces need to be fixed as well.
Maybe people have been easy on Gvardiol, but Livakovic regularly gets shit on. I know this because I’m usually leading the charge🤣
Yes, we’ve been easy on Gvardiol because he’s mostly been good, and only had a few off games. I think he needs to work on his final pass when he ventures forward. If he can get this right, then he’ll be a real threat offensively. Defensively he’s solid, but I think he got used to his Man City teammates covering his back when he gets caught forward. Maybe our defensive line weren’t drilled well in these situations, and a breakdown in communication caused all the recent sloppy mistakes?
He likes to push forward and got caught quite a few times for us in recent matches.
I assume Dalic wants him to play this way now?
He made almost no mistakes during the World Cup. I assume he’s one of those guys who gets too comfortable in these less impactful games like the qualifiers, but maybe he’s a lot more careful in tournaments against better competition.
Yes, I think Gvardiol is great, and will be greater if he remains healthy albeit:
This was “MART’s” recent Analysis post that I am reprinting, and worth pondering, from two days ago.
Watched the replay of that incident a few times. Unfortunately, it started again with Gvardiol pushing forward too much and leaving a gap in our defence that you could drive not 1 but 2 buses through. The same thing happened in Osijek with the Turkish goal when Gvardiol again was at fault when defending on the halfway line and leaving a huge gap in defence behind him for a through ball over the top.
This time Gvardiol unnecessarily followed an Armenian forward some 5 -10 meters into his half leaving a gap for a through ball over the top.
Sosa was also caught ball watching and out of position as was Sutalo who was also to far up the pitch to come across and intercept the pass.
The initial mistake was by Gvardiol, then Sosa and finally Sutalo.
Against better team’s mistakes like this will lead to goals as was the case against Turkey. I have posted before that when Sutalo and Erlic play as our central defenders our defence is a lot stronger and compact. We just need to remember the NL matches against France and Denmark when Gvardiol was out with injury.
However, what do we do with Gvardiol who is prone to positional mistakes?
Croatia and the Netherlands are the two teams who have been unlucky to not win a tournament so far in these past 25 years.
All other teams who won, had moments of luck and misfortune…but in the end, it panned out for them.
Croatia and the Netherlands both deserved to win one (seeing that they’ve made more runs into the finals and semis than almost any other nation).
Any other countries who were at one point contenders (like Belgium or the Czech) were never good enough for a long enough period to deserve one.
96 we got unlucky with red card in germany.
98 we got lucky with an Asanovic dive against Romania (today VAR would not approve it) and the red card Germany received. Before that red Germany outplayed us
Kovačić provides dynamic depth in the midfield.
The reality is he happens to play the exact position as the greatest #8 of all time in the form of Luka “the legend” Modrić.
It was the same issue at Real Modrić for Mateo.
We now have dynamic talent with the likes of Marco P, Sučić and Baturina.
We need their attacking threat this summer.
Kovačić is physically stronger now and can also spell Brozovic at the #6 as well.
Luka Modrić needs to be minutes managed to be available for the business end of the tournament.
Full respect for what Kovačić brings to the squad.
I pray Dalic can make this all work in a way where Mateo feels relevant. You will need his presence now and definitely when Modrić moves on (although probably can play in 2026 in a limited role).
If by dynamic depth you mean best bench warmer on the team?
I think we should consider dropping kovacic. We need more attacking threat, our 3 midfielder are too similar and kovacic to come in during the game to replace tired legs is perfect. What do you think guys?
I assume it would depend on the opponent, and who we plan to replace Kova with in the lineup.
When in form, Kovacic is great at maintaining possession and he does run a lot.
If we’re playing an elite team like Brazil or Spain and we’re trying to match or out-possess them (and pressure them whenever they gain possession) then I’m not sure if Lovro Majer is better than Kovacic in the midfield.
Since the World Cup, Kramaric has impressed me with his ability to apply defensive pressure to our opponents, so maybe he would be best in that central midfield trio instead. But we haven’t really tested this against elite teams.
Against teams where we expect to have possession and don’t need the additional central midfield support, yes, I think Majer or Krama is more useful than Kovacic due to their ability to create offensively and shoot on goal themselves (something Kovacic is allergic to).
I could see this being a useful tactic against most teams at the Euros, since we are better than most teams in the middle. At the same time, there is something to say about being consistent and keeping the same lineup game-in game-out, which is what I think Dalic believes in.
100%, I was just joining in with FADH Inc.
Keep Kova on the bench and watch the wins pile in.
….This message brought to you by Beating A Dead Horse Inc.
All good. If Dalic has any balls he’ll continue to do the same. Addition by subtraction buddy.
Finally got to listen to the podcast
Good stuff guys
I was also a bit questioning of the baturina sucic late subs which i don’t believe you guys talked about
But maybe Dalić played off the news of the Turkey/wales score
Some people blaming the ref for our loss to Germany in 1996 ? The only person to blame for that loss is Igor Stimac who needlessly fouled Jurgen Klinsmann from behind on the halfway line and deservedly got his second yellow.
The conversation was about being unlucky and being robbed in tournaments that we could have won.
In the Euro96 match with Germany, we were definitely unlucky and you could easily say the ref favored Germany too.
Not an outright robbing like Euro2016 or WC2018, but still both unlucky and a bit of ref bias too.
Here are the key events that lead to the German win…
– Croatia dominates first half, and are regularly fouled by the Germans to keep the Croats at bay until finally Sammer gets a card
– Germany scores on their first chance of the game, a PK due to a handball off Nikola Jerkan’s hand
– Klinsmann commits a hard foul on the ankles of (Vlaovic I think?) and was lucky only to receive a yellow
– Croatia tied it up nicely, fair and square off an amazing Suker dribble
– Stimac fouls Klinsmann and received his second yellow reducing Croatia to 10 men
– Suker does a nice move in the box and gets bodychecked, and goes down (no call)
– German winger hauls down Jerkan allowing him to cross the ball clearly to Sammer for the winner
Klinsmann (in his own words) said he was VERY lucky not to get a straight red card for his tackle. Funny, because the favor was returned at WC1998.
But that Euro96 was definitely one we could have won, and Germany were very lucky to win that game. They did not have the momentum, despite the PK and the 10 men just narrowly helped them out.
“– Croatia tied it up nicely, fair and square off an amazing Suker dribble”
Let’s not forget the part that hard work Jurcevic played in that classic goal!
Maminjo, I saw your comments below in regard to the Romania match at the WC98, all I can say is that we must have been watching different matches? that was one of the worst matches at the 98 WC.
I can tell you that because for every WC and EURO since 1982 I have taken holidays so that I can watch all the matches. That match against Romania had hardly any chances at either end for the entire match. The only thing to remember from that match is the retaken penalty by Suker and the fact that the entire Romanian team came out to play as bottle blondes.
I think you need to get tested for Alzheimer’s, ha ha.
It was one of the most full-game dominant displays we’ve ever had in a tournament.
I still get nightmares of Petar Krpan subbing in and getting two point-blank shots saved by Stelea (back to back) with the announcer losing his mind over how we haven’t scored a second yet in the game. I recall the panel talking about how the game easily could have been 5-0 or 6-0 if it wasn’t for Stelea.
Stelea had at least 6 or 7 close range saves. Kept them in the game. I wish I could find a match report since I’m curious of the on target shots now.
I’m getting on a bit but thank god my memory is still good.
Find it on YouTube and have another look.
My first thought was that I agreed that Croatia didn’t play well against Romania. But I just watched the 10 minutes YouTube summary and Maminjo is right, Croatia had number of chances and Stelea made big saves. Suker could have at least had a hat trick.
Yes I had a look as well, apart from Krpan chance at the end of the match we did not have any other clear cut chances. Suker had 2 or 3 but some were offside.
It definitely was not a 5 – 0 or 6 – 0 game.
It all usually averages out
The universe rights itself
We have been screwed, been unlucky
Have had great luck at times too
As we know if we look at many championship runs we will see some elements of what anyone would call luck
With that being said. We produce above average footballers as a whole with the occasional excellent one
If they play with extreme hard work, we have a punchers chance at anyone at it would seem the first quarter of our football history when we did this and had a decent coach we have showed up
I’ll say this as a broken record and I doubt it will change soon
No one is saying oh boy I hope we draw Croatia, whether it’s from pot 1 or we are in pot 4
I think that’s one of the biggest things now. We are in the heads of others and that matters
And on the flip side, we don’t say oh we drew Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland…. And we have no chance
We say bring it on
So, my Atari system says, any day we make a tourney and can catch fire we have a darn good chance of causing some shit
If a guy like budimir or Kramarić can go all world for a month , anything can happen with the pieces we currently have
Ajmo!!!!
I totally agree with maminjo. Luck bounces both ways so it’s a constant question of where does Croatias mean result sit and how wide is its distribution
Many people on this site see the wc medal results and believe that is Croatias mean result and should expect something like that going forward
Whereas in actually it is a result that is certainly within Croatias distribution but still closer to the tail/outliers of the distribution than the mean
I generally think Croatias level of play in most tournaments is right around making the knockout. Then from tournament to tournament sometimes luck will work against and we won’t even get out of the group or catch unlucky breaks later in the tournament or sometimes the Luck comes together to produce 98. 18 and 22.
I would still guess if we ran the past 25 years of soccer 1000 times, Croatias average result in world cups would be much worse than what we actually achieved and overall luck has worked in our favor
It must’ve killed you inside when Croatia qualified this past week, haha
Of course i was happy. Like mentioned above, qualifying is a mean result for croatia. I didn’t feel overjoyed cause it was expected. I would’ve felt very disappointed if they hadn’t cause that undoubtedly would’ve fallen short and I have plans to follow the team around in Germany next summer on the modric farewell tour
I dont think anyone here is expecting medals at every world cup, lol.. if that were the case it wouldn’t be so meaningful when it DOES happen; it’s precisely cos it’s such an effort and run and so unlikely for a tiny country that makes it so meaningful.
We had some luck those tourneys, but then u have to consider euro 2008, euro 2016, even euro 2021 with the bad luck we have had too in knockout games. Any of those could’ve seen us go semis or better also.
Pull off a greece 2024 why not win ever game play ugly but win who gives a shit how you play.
Wc 2022 was a great example we reached a semifinal with 1 shot v Brazil and fot result.
It all comes to the rezult jebes igru lets take look at some examples
Greece 2004
Spain 2010 boring play all 1 0 knockout faze
Portugal 2016
Just some examples.
We under dalic have learned to play for result
Yes, and you need a lot of luck to go with that as well.
In 2004, Greece almost finished last in their group phase.
In 2008, the two best teams (Croatia and Netherlands) had odd quarterfinals matches where they somehow lost to Turkey and Russia.
In 2016, Portugal also narrowly escaped the first round, had the referee ignore almost all 40 fouls against us, and were gifted the easiest path after that (Poland and Wales).
Honestly, we could have very easily won 2008 and 2016, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
This is why it’s foolish to dismiss our medal results (which some people on this site do).
We’ve been contenders who were unlucky in several tournaments and were robbed in some of them.
That France final in 2018, that Portugal Euro2016 match, even Euro96 against Germany. All influenced by the refs. At the same time, we were ridiculously unlucky in the Euro2008 quarters. France 98 semi could have gone either way too, same and of course Messi’s Argentina gets the 50/50 PK call in their favor in 2022.
That’s six tournaments where we were right there, and we were contenders in all of them. Lucky bounce here, a bad ref call there, etc. All it takes for you to win it all or just be eliminated.
Tako je maminjo.
Lets look at all the robberies and bad luck in 13 of our tournament
1996 ref v germany cigan
1998 Thursm 1000 caps 2 goals
2008 Kazim Kazim turkey
2012 ref robb us v spain.
2014 we were bad but the ref didnt help v brazil
2016 Poor luck get portugal and had cacic as coach.
2018 The Ref in Final was poor.
2021 Again bad luck instead of Sweden we got spain
2022 Messi had to win poor ref in semi final.
To me 2002 2006 tournaments were only ones we were not good. 2014 had good team bad coach.
you are an absolute moron!!
2018
——–
50% | the arogant Subasic
40% | robbed by the ref
10% | good team of France
2022
——–
70% | the arogant Lovren
20% | good team of Argentine
10% | robbed by the ref
I was talking about the tournament as a whole no doubt we had luck even in 1998 we had luck
Romania top that group we play them instead england
And the knockout faze went
V romania non penalty given to us
Germany worns red card up until the red card Germany were killing us ladic bailed us
3rd place game ladic mom.
We all know 2018 final suba bad ref and good france i was at the final.
2022 Argentina were better we played bad but if not for that crap penalty who knows. We had alot of luck 2022 from Lukaku to playing a japan team that was not that great. Brazil team was arrogant and all the boys played well
That was Romania’s golden generation. They were strong quarterfinalists in the previous World Cup and Euros. They deservedly topped their difficult group, and we completely dominated them. That was our most dominant performance against a team in any tournament and Bogdan Stelea was saving absolutely everything. We even had to take our PK twice, because the first attempt was cancelled by the ref. There was no luck for us there.
Same goes for Japan. Japan actually has good players yet are always underrated. They topped their group with Germany and Spain. They are a team who regularly makes the knockout rounds at the World Cup. They did this last World Cup where they almost knocked out Belgium in the R16 at WC2018 and they almost did the same to us in WC2022.
We were lucky only in that both Modric and Kovacic were having a bad game (at the same time), yet we went through thanks to our subs taking care of business.
We were good against both Belgium and Argentina in 2022, but a lot of our problems were self inflicted.
Lovren was more at fault for Lukaku’s misses, than Lukaku himself. The poor guy didn’t expect Lovren to outright miss all those simple clearances (that any other CB would easily clear).
We were good in the first half against Argentina, but after the ref (obviously) was going to give Messi his required PK (as they did in every game for him) then we tried to equalize too quickly before the half with that stupid short corner. We were dominant in the first half, but we just put Argentina in the driver’s seat after that PK and short corner gaffe.
We think alike agree and most if not all what you say sometimes i dont reply beacuse you take the words out my mouth zivija mi
I just picture you speechless, without words, staring at the screen at my genius
Now getthafukkoff my site you damn fraawg!!!!
Zivjela Hrvatskaaaaa!
🙂
Maminjo, in regards to the Romania match we must have been watching different matches? that was one of the worst matches at the 98 WC. I can tell you that because I pretty much saw all the matches. There were hardly any chances at either end for the entire match. The only thing to remember from that match is the retaken penalty by Suker and the fact that the entire Romanian team came out to play as bottle blondes.
No luck for Bosna having drawn Ukraine in NL path B. The winner of this match will host the winner of Israel v Iceland.
My prediction: Ukraine
NL Path A – Wales had a lucky draw facing first Finland at home and if they win they will also host Poland at home providing they can get past Estonia.
My prediction: Wales
Path C – Georgia v Luxembourg and Greece v Kazakhstan with the winners of the first match to host the final.
My prediction: Toughest to call but with home advantage I’m predicting Georgia over Greece.
Bosna has honestly been horrible this qualifying campaign.
I was surprised to find out they were Nations League Group Winners. Not sure what happened between that tournament and these qualifiers, but yes, Ukraine is definitely the favorite.
I guess this means that Ukraine plays Israel for the group B playoff spot.
Winner gets all the US war funding.
LOL, It would be amazing though if Bosna, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia go through.
Yes, it would be wonderful.
Just throw in Albania too and a few guns and it’ll be a fun tournament.
Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not, but I prefer when only Croatia makes it from the “regija”. I don’t mind the Slovenci, but I’m OK with everyone else watching from the sidelines.
So do I. Great for bragging rights, but I think at this point we’re so far ahead that even the most biased Serb will admit they suck when they compare their soccer to ours.
It was nice seeing Badelj recognized before the match.
And it was beyond great seeing Budimir the hero of the game as he also was against Brazil in the WC for opening the space to allow Petkovic to take the shot.
Again with this nonsense about Budimir being a hero for the Brazil goal. He ran towards the net like a forward is supposed to do on a counter attack. Four other Croatian guys were involved in the play. And it was a fortunate deflection.
I am happy for him for the big goal on Tuesday. Watched his interview after the game and was even happier then, seems like a soft spoken, nice guy. But to call him a hero for the Brazil goal would be like calling Moneypenny the hero in James Bond movies.
I have a been a fan of the Croatian National Squad since 1996 (I‘m 100% French no links to Croatia at all), so glad I found a site in English that talks about it!
Well let me be the first to welcome you and tell you to getthafukkoff our site you damn fraawg!!!!
Zivjela Hrvatskaaaaa!
Just to point out, it’s taken me some time to realize this. Maminjo has a lot of sarcasm, so take a lot of the comments he gives with a grain of salt 🙂
Welcome aboard!
I read somewhere that Rokas Pukstas was blocked from playing with US National Squad, it stayed that he was essential and a starter so they couldn’t release him from Hajduk…plus now he is signed an extension till 2027… I also heard that the previous Hajduk coach tried to convince him to stay and play for Croatia…
It would be interesting if it ended up that way.
I also find the kovacic hate humorous. Once back in form, kovacic should absolutely be back in the midfield triangle with modric and brozovic.
this is the trio that has suffocated games now for almost 5 years and produced a world cup silver, world cup bronze, and nations league silver. It’s also the combo that had croatia cruising in qualifying until kovacic got hurt and fell out of form
At the end of the day though, given the success with this combo and how indispensable ball domination and suffocating the game is to croatia because of their lack of talent in the final third, you ride this combo until the wheels have clearly fallen off
don’t get cute.
Agree with your comments about Kovacic, once fit and in form he is a must starter in our midfield.
I love Kovacic but I am not big on a brozo, Modric, kova trident this summer. In 2018 it was rakitic, brozo and Modric. Rakitic had the ability to shoot the ball. Kovacic doesn’t. We had a hard time scoring in big games in 2022 minus scoring at ease vs Canada. We need a true attacking mid in front of our two holding mids. It’s logical Modric starts with kova or brozo next to him. But I firmly believe we need a shooting attacking center mid in front of them like a majer. Majer gets another half season with Niko Kovac before the World Cup. This will do him wonders. For me we either start brozo or kova. But not both. Keeping the ball for endless periods of time worked in the last World Cup but it didn’t lead to goals. Euro in many ways is harder than a World Cup and bench depth with a brozo or a kova isn’t a bad thing. And or Modric will need a break as well.
Personally I would start Broz I think he is stronger defensively alongside Modric. Then you can definitely have one of these younger mids in the trident. Kova to me should be utilized as a substitute he has never been as consistent as the other two.
Don’t get me wrong he has had good games like against Canada or Turkey. However, he does shit the bed often and the constant back passing makes it difficult for many to see what he offers.
But as mentioned form continues to be an issue for him I think. Not that I am saying he doesn’t deserve a call up or minutes I just don’t think he is a starter.
It also doesn’t help his case that his season at Man City so far has not been good but that could change for him and he certainly seems to have the ability it is just a matter of making it happen for him I think.
Could Sucic be our attacking mid? He seems ready to go now, and his time has come. Additionally, if we have him doing all the corner kicks rather than Modric, we might be better off. We might start scoring regularly on set pieces, like in the Moroccan final.
A functioning Juranovic, Sosa, and Sucic, would change our fortunes as well Orsic or Perisic can ever recover.
This tournament next summer should be primarily focused on building up on the confidence of the youth. The only player on that pitch over 35 will be Modric. I don’t want to see Vida, Barisic, Brozovic for one minute. Dalic needs to prioritize the players that are excelling in top leagues and give them an introduction to top level. Šutalo, Sučić, Beljo, Musa, etc. I’m just worried we have no offence or striker to rely on without Perisic being fully recovered. He’ll have a few months to prepare. Early May is when he’s supposed to return. It’s either Kramaric and Budimir for our two strikers. I believe the most difficult group will be France, Hungary, and Italy. Easiest group would be Germany, Romania, and any playoff team. We’ll get either Serbia or Italy without a doubt. I’d personally would like to be play France, Turkey, and Serbia.
My early Euro 2024 predictions
Germany: Crash out of the group stage
France: Semi Finals or Final
Portugal: QFs
England: Semis
Belgium: RD16
Hungary: Semis
Turkey: Group stage
Romania: Group Stage
Denmark: Group stage
Austria: RD16
Albania: Group stage
Netherlands: QFs
Scotland: RD16
Croatia: RD16/QF (Miracle to get to QF)
Slovenia: RD16
Italy: QFs
Serbia: RD16
Czech Republic: RD16
Slovakia: Group Stage
Switzerland: RD16
Then three playoff teams: Poland, Bosnia and Greece will make it.
I am all for giving players like Sucic, Marco Pasalic, and the youth playing time. So I can agree with you on that.
But I am not sure what your issue with Brozovic is, or anyone else’s issue with him for that matter. He continues to be essential for our backline, and if you take him out of the picture I am still not sure how you would l replace him and with whom.
Broz offers a lot next to someone like Modric because he is the only true defensive midfielder we have. Everyone else is simply isn’t. Modric can do the same in many ways, but putting someone younger next him and not Broz…I just don’t see that working. Maybe as a substitution but not otherwise.
So if what you mean to say is someone like him can be substituted off once in a while, when he gasses out, then I am for it. But as it stands I do not see who would replace him.
If Dalic keeps playing Modric and Broz as a midfield duo (with 3 infront plus 1 forward striker) then this can open up opportunities for those younger players. It is once he puts Kovacic in the picture ( or in the mix) that I think we have a bigger problem because Kovacic is not consistent enough to be a starter whereas Broz very much is.
But as for now I don’t really see who would be a suitable replacement for Broz quite frankly.
Now, maybe if in two years in the Saudi League if Broz’s from drops then what your saying is more feasible and he may need to call it quits, or drop in pecking order.
It will be hard for Bosnia to qualify, on current form they are the worst team in NL B play offs. They will need luck in tonight’s play off draw.
Best chance would be Iceland at home followed by home fixture against Finland or Israel. Ukraine is far too strong for them.
In his latest interview Dalic is hinting that he may depart after the EURO.
I personally think that this may not be a bad idea, perhaps time has come for a new coach with a fresh approach after Modric, Perisic and possibly Kramaric retire.
We should definitely consider changing our formation to 3 -5 -2. We have the players to do it especially at the back with Gvardiol, Sutalo and Erlic. This would allow players like Sosa and Juranovic to concentrate more on attack. At the moment we are struggling up front often playing with one forward who more often than not is isolated on his own against 4 – 5 defenders. We need more players in the box and having two upfront would help.
https://www.index.hr/amp/sport/clanak/dalic-sigurno-cu-voditi-hrvatsku-na-euru-a-onda-je-mozda-vrijeme-za-nekog-mladjeg/2514851.aspx?index_ref=read_more_amp
Some interesting and candid words from Dalic here. Sounds like he’s ready to leave the NT after the Euro’s.
Look at it from Dalić’s perspective. If we have a successful tournament, he can retire as a natioal hero. If we don’t do well, then he’ll step down honorably, knowing that he will get sacked anyways.
He probably knows that Modrić is planning on retiring, so that’s his cue to exit as well.
Great that qualified…and we just bled into some key moments as well Baturina, Sucic and Pasalic….
Perisic will be back and we know how important he is….
Our D is solid…we have a strong 3 CBs so in the event of injury/cards are okay….
Livakovic though scares me….if he isn’t glued to his line…comes a mile out into no mans land like vs Wales and Turkey and its goals….he needs to just calm down…and like Luka told him in “Captains” on netflix (wortha watch if you havent’ seen it yet), be confident….
Luka is still Luka…sublime. I as a Madridista am enjoying every moment for us (Croatia) and us (Real Madrid)….still has a few years left in the tank at this high level…
Budimir is the best of our strikers….and God Bless him, he works his a.ss off…but we have no one else…Petkovic is okay vs minnows but is kind of lazy and always hurt….
Can’t wait for euros….we’ll practically be at home….our fans will be there en masse cheering us on…..lets go!
Perisic will not play. At 35 and his estimated return will be May. It’s time to find someone else. He’s done his part for numerous years.
He’s supposed to be back as soon as early March.
But you also have to factor in getting to full fitness and whether the injury has ruined his ability to play.
It will be interesting to see if Dalic will try and push Kovacic back into the starting eleven for the tournament.
Krama behind the striker may work better.
This is how I see us in Germany:
Ivanusec Budimir Kramaric
Majer
Brozo Modric
Perisic Sutalo gvardiol JJ
Livakovic
Subs- Marco Pasalic, Mario Pasalic, Sucic, Baturina, Kovacic, Petko, Sosa, Erlic and a couple more.
Looks like a deeper squad.
And….Perhaps Beljo or Simic instead of Petko.
Quick observations
1) finally everyone has come to my side on Kramaric. I had long supported him as everyone wanted to get rid of him, which I thought never made sense. Even if you watched the games where he blew some opportunities, at least he was there to be threatening.
2) Overreactions to be made by the crowd:
a) Budimir must be our striker from now on
b) Dalic should start marco pasalic
3) Young guys: I love how Dalic decides the time to integrate the youth movement is with 10 minutes to go in the final game of qualifying where if Croatia gives up a goal, they are forced to go to playoff (turkey tieing ended up reducing pressure post subs). Reminds me of deciding gvardiols first action should be in the euro championship
4) I’ve long said Croatia does not bend defenses, which attributes to their paltry goal rate. It’s largely driven by no attacking players who can do take ons.. Previously it was only Perisic. And there was hope brekalo, pjaca, and halilovic would be similar. 0-3.
Pasalic has looked dangerous doing it.. But my bigger question is, why does it seem like the young guns are much more aggressive at the takeons and then as they grow older can’t do it anymore? Is it that their peak athleticism has waned or has coaching cemented into their head a more conservative approach?
I think it’s down to talent. When you play in top level leagues, if you aren’t a top skilled dribbler, you become more focused on keeping the ball to help the team. Then you lose that instinct. If Marco p goes to a top team we may see him do the same, unless he is the real deal
Hopefully this episode will have people using a pronunciation guide with names. Also, maybe people will know countries in Europe. I do not say this to be negative, but when can not pronounce the names of people or know countries in Europe then you lose any faith in what I am listening to
lol your negativity is comical. this isn’t the wall street journal. it is casual fans creating a space for other fans to get together and have some light hearted discussions about croatian football. dont take everything so seriously.
Don’t worry. He’s just upset that Croatia qualified. 😉
It’s funny to mock another person’s pronunciation in an internet comment while you made several grammatical errors in the span of three sentences. Talk about losing credibility.
https://www.index.hr/amp/sport/clanak/srbin-koji-brani-za-armeniju-nemam-rijeci-za-modrica/2514544.aspx
Respectful comments by Armenian keeper, Ognjen Čančarević. Definitely had one hell of a game yesterday.
Surely this is so Hajduk can secure a higher transfer fee when they sell him (that’s what they get out of it)
But was does Pukštas get out of it, if his plan is to move to a better European league in short order ?
But let’s keep it quiet – no need to let Romano know he’ll qualify for to play for Croatia in < 2 yrs
@FabrizioRomano
⭐️🇺🇸 Excl: talented midfielder Rokas Pukštas (2004) has agreed to sign new long term deal at Hajduk Split.
Agreement reached until June 2027, it will be signed and sealed soon.
Many European clubs are monitoring Pukštas who’s one to watch for USMNT future 2026 squad.
You must not follow soccer closely. He gets a better deal by making more $ now. The length of the deal doesn’t really matter as he will be sold by the time the contract ends. He was approaching the last year of his current contract and once you get into the last 6 months of a contract then player can then leave for no transfer fee once that deal is done.