The Euro 2012 draw took place on Sunday in Warsaw. Croatia was paired with Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia and Malta. Although this seems like a tricky group because Greece and Israel were the top seeds in their given Pots, Croatia could have easily been in a much bigger mess. Croatia narrowly missed being in the same group as Serbia and Slovenia which would have been a political catastrophe all on its own and also missed being paired up with Turkey, Belgium and Austria in Group A. Germany will battle out as top seed in this group while Italy has the misfortune of being paired with Serbia; probably the toughest group.
Greece is on the decline as most of their players are aging with no promise of young stars and Croatia has always had Israel’s number. Latvia becomes a tricky fourth seed and always gives their fellow group mates trouble. Greece, Israel and Latvia are very familiar with each other as they were in the same group for World Cup 2010 qualifying. All in all, it could have been better and it could have been worse. At least we can now laugh at the Italians and Serbs as they go at each other in qualifying. Who to root for?- I hate them both so my vote is for Estonia!
With 24 hours to reflect after the draw, I have come to the conclusion that this group will definitely keep Croatia sharp. There are no gimme games and after the last qualifying campaign they should now know that no team will lay down without a fight. We struggled against Belarus at home for godsakes! There’s no reason Croatia shouldn’t top the group because Greece and Israel are happy with their draw and might under-value Croatia. We’ll see in seven months.
Are you serious, Bilic's suits are supplied/tailored by HNS? I never knew; "Haute-couture by Markovic"?!? Brilliant!!!
I'd like to nominate Boris Poster of the Month; he's a solid dude.
Borise, gdje si u Austinu? Imam rodbinu u Dallasu. Ajd' ak ti se da, javi mi se: dinamozgbbb@hotmail.com
Hvala unaprijed i naravno, kao uvijek, Za Dom Spremni! =U=
@ martin smith (anonymous dickhead)
boris kuzmanovic
austin, tx
I guess posting under "Boris" is not Anonymous
re: greece
or was that ukraine that they beat to qualify for WC? i forget.
as for BiH, fuck them. no Ciro, no chance, although i think they have some talented players.
nice flag. i think paddy ashdown or carl bildt shit that flag out of their mouth while they helped set up the international protectorate that is BiH today. i think croats in herceg-bosna should make toilet paper with that stupid euro-trash BiH flag logo on it. not only would it sell in herceg-bosna, but the folks in RS would buy up shitloads too.
@ anonymus
you are obviously a yugo idiot trying to provoke angry responses. only someone ignorant of history can say that 'we are all the same'. can we infer from your comments that your blood is polluted with serbian blood? well, good for you. go post your bratstvo i jedinstvo gabage on some yugo-nostalgic soccer blog. if you had at least one testicle, you wouldn't post anonymously here. yugo-communist nostalgists are all cowards, and therefore hide behind anonymity.
re: euro draw
i think you guys are all over-stating greece's strength. euro 2004 was 6 years ago, and that was more fluke than a sign of greece emerging as a soccer power. sure, they beat russia in russia to qualify for the WC, but the only team more over-rated than greece is russia. isreal has been strong at home in recent years, but croatia was the team that ended their long home winning streak. i could see Cro drawing away at greece or isreal. but i predict all wins, and 1 or possibly (but unlikely) 2 away draws.
I would actually vote Russia as worst team in Pot A………not Croatia.
Radman
Marijan Buljat is a right back – a very attacking one who help push Hajduk forward. Not so great defensively, but very good going forward though not as good as he once was after Eduardo got to him..
Mirko Oremus is Hajduk's best option on the right wing. He hussles and plays a bit like Grago Gabric. To change his position isn't ideal. I know what you're saying about them having two many left siders and that Reja is wanting to move Tomasov across. However Reja is making do. Its not what he would do if he had a choice. Privately i'm sure he's not satisfied with the cards he's been dealt by Reja.
As for Rubil – he's a defensive midfielder. He was on the scrap heap last year and they used him as an emergency replacement for Rubil. But its not his natural position. Rubil is a useful squad player but nothing more.
Marijan not jurica Buljat has barely started a game this season. I look at the situation at Hajduk and think its serious. Not only do they have the Smoje, Pelaic, Jertec, Buljat, Vejic, Seric, Rodic's on sidelines on long term contracts. They also have people like Aracic and Kreso Ljubicic who will struggle to get in. They've got 5 strikers if Anderson signs, plus all those young kids out on loan in HNL2. To me it seems like a financial disaster waiting to happen.
In circumstances like that you have to asset strip and Hajduk are refusing to take the highest bid they get for Ibricic. its same with Osijek. No point in Vukoja bad mouthing Hrncevic and Todorevic just cos they are picking which club they want to go to. He should have sold Vida and then he wouldn't have the wolves at his door.
@ Denis – You forgot to mention Gai Assulin for Israel. He is currently in the Barca academy and is seen as the next to make it into the senior squad.
I am still optimistic and expect the 10 wins. There isn't one striker I fear in this group.
@Ziva istina
"Greece must be celebrating because they got a very favorable draw. Since they made the WC, most will view them as the favorite in the group. "
I dont think that Greece is jumping for joy after this draw. They will face Israel and Latvia who know them well from WC2010 Qualifying and will be looking for revenge. Croatia is the worst seed on paper, however, no one would count us out, especially after missing the world cup.
@Michael,
This group is similar to our last one. Greece = Ukraine, Latvia = Belarus, Kazakstan = Georgia, Malta = Andorra.
The only difference is Israel for England.
hmmm…
@Petar
A little optimistic, eh? Games in Athens and Tel Aviv wont be easy. There is no excuse for us not to top the group.
Israel have a great keeper in Dudu Aouate, doing wonders at Mallorca, Ben Sahar is only 20, and Yossi Benayoun will be still in his prime playing well for Liverpool. The only good thing about playing Israel is that they dont have an answer if any of the top 3 go down.
@Super Maajka
"i wanted bilic sacked he better have been studying his tactics because if we dont qualify out of here he will be most hated man in the world…..up there with milosevic"
A little harsh, no? Milosevic? What were you saying after Bilic beat Germany, England twice, and advanced to quarters of Euro? Now "up there with Milosevic?'
I'm not on the Bilic bandwaggon, wanted him sacked as well. However, who to replace him? We dont have a replacement.
@anonymous
"Hopefully we finish second in the group and get Serbia or Slovenia in playoff."
How did you come up with this bright idea? Didnt you see our poll that just closed? Serbia was voted the most difficult in pot 2.
Luckily, the chances of this happening are slim, since 1) Serbia and Slovenia both cant make the playoffs. 2) Top 2nd place team qualifies directly 3) Croatia will win the group 🙂
@dinamofan
"Considering our defence at moment we really needed a group like this. I think guys we have back there can do longer cope with the big teams, but sides like this are just right for them."
great observation. I agree 100%. 5 teams, and not one striker I fear.
@JP
Group C is the group of death. 3 world cup teams and a decent N Ireland. Also, Estonia is known to get a draw here and there at the A. Le Coq Arena.
@Ante BBB
Ante Kvartuc deserves credit for the polls. The guy is a flippin genius.
@ciganski bosanac
Could be worse for Bosna. A little luck and they top the group. France isnt what they used to be in '98.
Okay I pose a question not regarding our NT.
Is it just me………….or do I seriously live in a back-asswards city? It seems like nearly everyone at my work is saying how strong Crna Gora are going to be. They just happened to be Italian……..
Back to our NT
http://www.nogometni-magazin.com/newspro/coranto/viewnews.cgi?id=EkyVyFyVuycpgVrkuM&tmpl=coranto_euro2012
I do agree with you that there comes a time when a player cant make those adjustments. I still think that some guys can make changes if its on their natural wing. Srna was able to do it, hopefully this kid can. I am not saying that he should be a RB the rest of his life. Try him there, we know he can send in a very nice cross, it would definitely add a new element to the play of Hajduk and the National team if we can have our Left and Right backs send in some lethal crosses.
I also agree with you about the state of affairs of youth development world wide. The quality of footballers has dropped dramatically. There is so much money involved now, the game is over managed, players are coddled far to much, they play too many games at a young age when they should spend more time practicing. My Father has a nice collection of older games on tape, I continued that, have every World Cup game as well as Euro game since 96 in my collection. Sometimes I will just toss on a game at random as I am multitasking. To see the skill of, in my opinion the last great generation, the Suker, Boban, Bergkamp, Overmars, Voeller, Matthaus, DeBoer and Laudrup brothers, Zidane, Figo was just shocking. The quality of the average modern footballers is definitely down.
I was reading an interview with Jurgen Klingsman a few years ago. He said that his team that won the World Cup and the Euros would practice for 2 hrs. Once practice was over, they stayed and practiced for another hour or more. These guys today should be practicing more. Instead, they hop in their 250k sports cars and go bang their mistresses. What a life.
The modern game is hampered by overly defensive tactics. Older managers managed to win, modern managers manage not to lose.
Petar…..it was said tounge in cheek.
good point about Holland and total football. Maybe its too late once a kid gets to the senior side of a club, but the development of players around the world is something that makes me shake my head. We dont see players any more you can play multiple positions. Even at the youth level where they should be developing, coaches are so stringent with their development of players.
@ Ziva Istina – While I agree with you that what "anonymous" said was utter nonsense. I still don't see why you would wish execution or torture on anyone? Isn't that one reason why many Croatians despise the Serbs? for the countless atrocities that they committed?
I simply don't see the logic in modeling yourself after your enemy. To commit the same acts as them simply means you become them, you become everything you hate. The Serbian Army/Government became quite proficient at killing and torturing those that didn't agree with them either.
The kid is obviously grossly misinformed or simply trying to goad you. Why fall into his trap?
I am leaving it at that. I am focusing on Football now.
Tko to laze, ubio ga caca, da su srbi i Hrvati braca
@ DinamoFan – You cannot have it both ways. To claim that Buljat helped guide them to second and Rubil has them sitting in 7th is laughable and totally over simplifying everything. Rubil has 14 appearances this season, Buljat has 8. Rubil was just as much a part of the team that finished second as anyone was. Also, being in 7th has allot more to do with the fact that they cannot generate a goal, not leaking goals. You could also look at the fact that their is no stability in management, coaching, no overall game plan when it comes to transfer dealings of the past few years. The club has been a mess for so long. I do agree with you that the players have every right to stand their ground and earn the money that has been promised to them in their contract. The players shouldn't be punished for the stupid decisions made by Hajduk management of the past. I still dont see much of a connection from Buljat being ostracized from the club and Oremus going to RB. Of course the players and manager would stick up for him, he would help them win, plus, you have to be united team. The change from RM to RB is something that has been long talked about, it just so happens to coincide with these players being swept out. I dont see much of a conspiracy theory there. I never thought Badelj would be a defensive Mid, apparently Bilic and Jurcevic see him there. God knows how many times these kids will be tried at other postions, look at Tomecak, he has even played striker.
As far as Svasgusa goes, why blame him? He has a job to do. He was given the mandate to slim payroll, someone above him gave him those orders, he is just trying to make all his bosses happy or he loses his job. We all have someone we report to.
Tomasov was a left winger when he arrived. He has looked MUCH better on the right. That leaves the left open to Ticinovic, Sharbini. Both can fit in the 3-4-3 that they seem to always play under Reja. While I do love Oremus on the right wing, I see no problem with trying the kid out on RB. plenty of players change positions. This is something Bilic as well as Jurcevic thought Hajduk should have done months ago. Ibricic played RB for Bosnia in the second leg against Portugal. Why cant Oremus make that transition? We know he has a motor on him, he would look great storming up and down that flank if he can adjust to the defensive responsibilities. Srna looks pretty good at RB and RM. if you look at the concept of total football employed by the Dutch Generations of the 70 and 80s, players were schooled in a wide variety of tactical positions.
Now Reja is apparently on the verge of joining Lazio. I was just warming up to him. If he goes I hope they bring in Vulic. he was the coach I wanted in the first place. He is also someone that was always willing to voice publicly the back room shenanigans that have plagued the club over the many years.
Tko to laze, ubio ga caca, da su srbi i Hrvati braca
As time passes, we see more of these jugonostalgicari i srbokomunjare popping up.
Hell ja! No snakes in Croatia please. That anonymous guy must be a "happy yugoslav".
Guy is walking in the forest and sees a wounded snake. Snake asks the guy for help and the guy first says no because he knows the snake will bite him. Snake promises not to bite him. Guy decides to help the snake and the snake winds up biting the guy. The guy asks the snake why did you bite me. Snake says you knew what I was before you picked me up. Snake is a typical serb.
Ziva istina took the words right out of my mouth – execution or caning, same thing…sto daleko, to bolje.
Execution or caning….all the same to me.
The further removed from serbs and serbia, they better we are. History says so.
Yes lets "execute" him how civil.
a couple of issues….
whoever posted the following…"Anonymous said…
Za Hrvatsku! I gotta say I am routing for Serbia in group c. The past is the past and there is rarely a 100% croat or 100% serb. Most croats have some serb in them and vise versa. we're all the same.
this person needs to be executed in public. A hrvat you are not. You must be from Chicago or one of the other cities here in N. America where the serbs and hrvati act like they are brothers.
other topics….
not sure who brought up Rukavina's name, but I have no confidence in him. The kid has no skill, only speed. I never thought much of him at Hajduk and am still amazed the greeks paid for him. Kalinic is ten times the player of Rukavina.
good comments about Bilic's suits, but put the blame on the savez. they supply the suits.
Mario Gavranovic is a forward in the mould of Klasnic. See my link and the video should give insight into him.
http://hrvsoccer.blogspot.com/2010/02/februarys-one-to-watch.html
Radman, how can you say there is any forefought into Oremus going to right back. This is a guy who has done well at right wing and tackles like a right winger. Marijan Buljat helped guide Hajduk to second. Goran Rubil has them in mid table so kinda says a little about Rubil's abilities as a right back. Also you must have read numerous times members of Hajduk's squad calling for Buljat to be reinstated. Reja also wants him reinstated. This is all amusing as Hajduk didn't sell one of those 'rebels' in the winter and i hope they all stick to the guns and run down their contracts. I actually think they possibly sign Anderson on 200k a year so Ahmad could join Pelaic, Smoje, Vejic, Seric, Jertec, Buljat and Rodic on the scrap heap. Whatever Svasgusa is trying i hope it don't work..
You could go the Joachim Low route and always wear the same white Gucci shirt and black Gucci pants. I still prefer the old school coaches like Blazevic and Lippi sitting on the bench and chain smoking the entire match. How times have changed
At least Bilic doesn't traipse around in a tracksuit..lol.
bosna is in deep doodoo =(
@ JP – Well said!! Whenever my Father and I watch the National team, he always turns to me and asks when Bilic will get a new suit. He has the two, the light Grey one and a dark Navy one. God forbid his dry cleaner messes one up.
lastly, I dislike comparisons like this guy is the new Messi, or the new Suker. Bilic was a FOOL for ever saying Kalinic would be the new Suker. While I have always liked Kalinic, have both his Hajduk jerseys. He will never be anything like Suker. Davor was a well rounded striker. We should consider ourselves damn lucky if we can produce another Boksic, let alone a new Suker.
@ Alex – We really cant look at the youngsters and predict what they will be yet. For example, Oremus has been moved to RB now from RW. This is a move that Bilic predicted months ago, Reja has finally seen it as well and is trying him down there. He claims that his energy and work rate compare equally to Srna at that age. While Dinamofan believes its because of Buljat not playing, that is not true at all. Rubil has been deployed at RB all season. He would be taking over for Rubil with Tomasov then shifting over from the LW to RW in the trident. LW is to packed with Ibricic, Ticinovic and Sharbini all waiting for starts there.
Look at Perisic, he started as an attacking midfielder, now he is deployed high in a 4-3-3. It looks like he is being transformed to a striker.
Milan Badelj, while offensive, many including Bilic, Jurcevic claim that he will ultimately be a holding midfielder. He played a holding role with Jajalo in the Under 21 game against Slovakia. Also featured there for Dinamo 2 friendlies ago.
Domagoj Vida started at CDM, now he is a CB and also features at RB on some occasions.
Mate Jajalo played RW for Slaven Belupo. He has featured at CDM, RW and LF (in a 4-3-3) for Sienna.
I still have faith in Rukavina. He does need to stay healthy and start proving something though. You have young players like Mandzukic, Kalinic, Kramaric and 16 year old Marko Livaja who gives me something to hope for. Olic and Eduardo still have plenty of time as well. Olic can give us 2-3 more years. Eduardo, while not playing well at Arsenal, I hardly ever find fault with him in the National Team shirt. If only he were fast.
With regards to defense. Lovren looks like a prospect. Vida gives me great hope, someone I have defended on countless occasions. Tomislav Ivic claims the young defender Hajduk brought in, Jonjic has all the abilities to be the new Stimac. Then you have guys like Maloca, Brabaric, Tomecak, Jozinovic, Strinic. Who knows what they can do, but its nice that we seem to have some prospects coming through. Allot will become clearer once we see what this Under 21 side can do. I have been following this crop for quite some time. Them, as well as our Under 17 and 19s seem to be progressing quite well.
Im sure HNS will be on him like "ants on candy" if he's any good. Problem is we've got too many young attacking midfielders(which is what he is, I understand) and not enough defenders, natural right-sided midfielders and an aging generation of strikers. Modric, Kranjcar, Rakitic, Perisic, Badelj are all AM's; Klasnic, Olic, Budan, and even Petric and Bilic are good for one last campaign. At least in defense Lovren is coming up- who are the future strikers? Jelavic? Rukavina? Mandzukic? Even Kalinic, who looks better recently, is hardly a Klasnic, much less a Suker (like he's touted to be). I just hope there won't be a time in the future where we say to ourselves "I wish we had Olic here"
Not bad at all, could have been so much worse. I could see 2 draws against Greece but our squad will change a significant bit before qualifying starts, hopefully for the better.
The "coastal group"
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/news/newsid=1446149.html#bilic+happy+with
@Alex
If it is Mario Gavranović you speak of, I for one don't know a lot about him. He was born in Switzerland, anethnic Croat with roots in Bosna (very similar to Ivan Rakitic). He has been playing for the Swiss youth teams his entire career. Not too sure if the HNS has approached him yet.
This is a good group- there is little excuse to not take first position. I agree with Ziva that were likely to draw against Greece as there sure to put 10 men behind the ball as they have always done( and done well). Those will be two of the most boring matches of the campaign.
The players will be playing extra hard this campaign after the disaster so Im confident we'll go through.
Btw, anyone know about this new kid who just signed for Schalke?
Now if he can only get some new tactics…
good to see Bilic finally got a new suit :)!
http://www.jutarnji.hr/bilic–za-prvo-mjesto-borit-cemo-se-s-grcima/542938/
Serbia and Slovenia both can suck my fat purger balls. That being said, I thought the poll question was genius.
Serbia has the group of death. Tough break, but if they make it out they'll be a dark horse in the Euro Tournament,
The security for the trip to Georgia will be a worry. Apparently Uefa had promised that in the event that any former soviet republics are drawn in the same group, they would then be separated. Hiddink was the first to speak out against that Policy today.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=738021&sec=europe&cc=5901
I still expect 10 wins.
Great group for us! We just need to stay "above the fray" as I predict there will be a "muddled middle" with some surprise results between Greece, Latvia, Israel etc.
Ouch Group A is the group of Death!
Its an okay group, but it could have been easier. I have no problem with Greece, but could have been azerbaijan or someone rather than georgia or latvia. I do not consider greece to be much of a side. Israel is a awkward match and i'm not greatly enamoured by Latvia and Georgia being in our group. Georgia are a team who must have some serious team politics issues as they've always had some decent players. That's the worst pot 5 team we could have picked really. Latvia is beatable, but again they have their moments. Even Malta have there moments. At least we know we got to be on it every single match. If we are then i can see us going through as leaders. I don't see a side in this group who are better than us. We should be beating Greece. That is the sort of side i'd expect any of our 10 striking options to be scoring against. Considering our defence at moment we really needed a group like this. I think guys we have back there can do longer cope with the big teams, but sides like this are just right for them.
Hopefully we finish second in the group and get Serbia or Slovenia in playoff.
@ anonymous:
Yeah right, and Marshall Tito is still president…
im satisfied with this draw and it could have been alot worse im not saying this is easy in anyway greece are going to be tough isreal is no pushover and rest should be wins…
all im saying is i wanted bilic sacked he better have been studying his tactics because if we dont qualify out of here he will be most hated man in the world…..up there with milosevic
10 wins and nothing less.
Za Hrvatsku! I gotta say I am routing for Serbia in group c. The past is the past and there is rarely a 100% croat or 100% serb. Most croats have some serb in them and vise versa. we're all the same.
I'm fine with this group………..Greece will play a similar style to Ukraine. Try to grind out a 0-0 draw.
Can't rule out Israel though. They are going to be tough to play away.
Easy group….
Greece must be celebrating because they got a very favorable draw. Since they made the WC, most will view them as the favorite in the group.
I think we are fine. There is no England in this group or anyone close to them. Greece and Ukraine are the same, so we will probably draw both those games and win the rest.
On paper, Croatia was drawn with the top teams from pots 2 and 3. However, I would rather be in this group then A, B, C, or D… So out of 9 groups, we are right in the middle at 5.
Also, we get a pass on former Yugo countries and a trip to Malta, this should be interesting.
no trips to beograd, sarajevo and/or ljubljana. tear.
We got a nice group, I gotta say. Not as nice as Spain's or England's, but hell besides Greece and maybe Israel we got a really nice draw.
CROATIA
GREECE
ISRAEL
LATVIA
GEORGIA
MALTA
please not group d please not group d
uefa.com
live on saan.tv….
watching it right now…
atdhe.net/
has 4 different feeds…
I like the Croatian version the best… 🙂
Like Egypt passed us in the world rankings
any streams??