Norway Force 1-1 Draw at the Death

Mihovil- Its cool man. The reason I didn’t go all hardcore ripping on you back is because you are a productive poster. You aren’t a troll that posts garbage, you post things that I actually want to read.

Video should be up Saturday hopefully. I want to do a hype video for each game.

Nobody should ever rip on the Brazilian-born Hrvat.

People that still rip on Eduardo for being a Brazilian Hrvati jut goes to show how pathetic and ignorant the Croatia fan base is. Then again, nothing surprises me from some of you nut jobs these days.

@cromo…..keep at it with your conspiracy theory. Nobody is telling Bilic who to play. If they were, Sammir (Mamic’s boy) would be on the roster.

@Armada…..hey, i hope you are correct about the Brazilian-born Hrvat. I just don’t think he can play at a high level in multiple games. I hope I am wrong. But, after seeing everything from our other forwards I would start him.

Jut finihed watching Ireland game i can say it will be a bore fest Croatia v Ireland is a toss up ireland showed nothing today much like croatia v norway eduardo will be difference once more for Bilic as he will score a half chance v Ireland and i say 1-0 croatia. all the build up games for us ireland italy those 3 showed nothing Spain hould win 1 place in this group and the other 3 lets see how hings play out!!!!!

What’s with people jumping ship all ready?

There is no need to worry cause as we have seen Eduardo can still score goals quite often. Norway is not a horrible team by any means, they threw in a goal at the very last minute of the game, which we seem to let happen here and there anyway, so don’t jump ship just yet.

Olic being ruled out is not a huge dent in our striking force as our top 4 strikers are in the same area when it comes to our attack.

I would love to see a 4-1-2-1-2 formation, huge fan of it. Was thinking about it the other day:

GK: Pletikosa

RB: Corluka
RCB: Vida
LCB: Schildenfield
LB: Strinic

CDM: Modric

RM: Srna
LM: Perisic

CAM: Eduardo

RS: Mandzukic
LS: Jelavic

Overview:

Corluka – His natural position overall, & I would like to see him back on the right wing making runs up with Srna to cross these attacks in.

Modric – I personally believe Modric can be Niko Kovac’s replacement, Modric’s defense capability isn’t as good as Kovac’s. Modric can work his magic from this position as he does for Tottenham, with a quicker winger on the left it’ll open more options for him.

Modric is known for his great passes but that alone wouldn’t make him a star player he is today. He brings up the defensive line & game in the opposing teams half. When that is done there is less pressure on our defenders. If the run/counter attack were to be buffed the ball could go right back to Modric if needed. Luka could also work with long balls into the box once the wingers stretch the defensive line and likely Jelavic will get quality service. Lastly Modric isn’t a push over type player, he fits in real well in the EPL & I’m sure he can cope with the CDM position all together.

Eduardo – Eduardo in the deep midfield attacking role? Well he has played in the midfield position before, more so near the right wing. All that aside Eduardo can pass quite effectively, as we have seen the past two friendlies. Being in this position would give us a 3rd striker in the box area on our counter attacks if the opposing line is stretched like a temporary 4-3-3 & can fold back to a 4-1-2-1-2, 4-1-3-2, 4-4-2 formation quite quickly on the defense.

It is only a dream, if I were going to put money down I would bet on Bilic using a 4-4-2 formation, he is predictable but given that he is a very good coach, his stats show for it.

@Slavonac…..I do not feeling sorry when large countries get injuries. They have the ability to tap into their large immigrant populations which I think is wrong but none the less they have depth that we do not.

@Haet there are no jobs in Croatia and the state has no budget. Who will pay for these guests? BTW Israel is starting to stop its migrant problems. Croats will not take to thousands of foreigners moving in. We are to small to matter. The real concern is the mess next door called Bosnia. I think we should protect any Croats left there and micro chip all others.

@Goldenchild

Is it christmas or easter already?

And wouldn’t Srna and Pranjic provide better crosses comared to Strinic and Vida? hence a more offensive defense.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/2898/euro-2012/2012/06/04/3147891/olic-ruled-out-of-euro-2012-with-thigh-injury

i wonder which striker will be called up next if any of them eduardo, jelavic or mario is injured now…will it be klasnic? petric? vukusic? Budan?

Sky Sports just reported that Olic is ruled out of Euro due to a thigh injury and Kalinic is being called up. Anyone know anything about this?????????????

@Nepoznat……that ws 4 years ago.

Since Bilic did not call up Kalsnic on his initial list, the only logical shoice today to call up and replace Olic is Kalinic. He was not ging to call up someone who has been on vacation for almost a month.

@jm……the rankings are good. No shock that Modric is the only one on that list.

The match with Ireland scares me because the Irish have enthusiasm and chemistry going for them.
They have nothing to lose and can play with enjoyment. Croatia needs some guys to step up.
Rakitic is one that’s needs to set up.

I didnt see the game against Norway but I’ve read several comments from several websites…its important to note that these games, although they dont mean much have importance in some particular areas…every coach implements and trains for certain scenarios during a game…so results dont mean everything…but what does mean something is if the players actually were able to take what they learned during their training and utilize it during the game…its like going from theory to practicum! it also allows coaches and their staff to see or identify ceratin areas of the game they work on…and none of us have any idea what those things are…these days soccer is incredibly tactical…so if the focus was in a particular area…and the team achieved what they wanted in that area then great…yes…results matter but far more when the games have meaning!

for those of you who make stupid comments about Olic…i say this…you have very little understanding of his value! not only does he put pressure on defending because of his work ethic…he is normally in the right place at the right time…not every valuable player has to be skilled like iniesta or suker…olic has his worth…hence the very reason he plays and has played for some great teams! the other part that has more values is his attitude towards his teammates…he is an infectious individual whether he is playing or on the bench…people respect him and he has the attitude of “svi za jedan, jedan za sve”…anyone in team sports knows how important that is…when your down a goal with 15 minutes to play and your teammate sacrifices his body for his team…trust me…his teammates feel a burst of energy…he’s infectious and far more valuable than you give him credit for!

Sunday can’t come soon enough…I just hope I dont regret saying that…there are several Hrvati already making arrangements for this game…we’ve organized a huge TV and I know the atmosphere is gonna be electric…i just hope we can win our first game and get some confidence!

Olic’s speed will be missed for sure. He is a great option for third striker off the bench to outrun a tired defense. We will miss that advantage he brings. Sucks because who knows if he’ll get to play in another international tourney. Would have been nice to see him score on Buffon to give the papers something to talk about (10 years later….another goal!). But it won’t happen now. CS…..it’s a few days away from the tourney, first major in 4 years for Cro, you guys should be pumping out the articles to give us somewhere to go and talk since my office has no one I can talk soccer with (all hockey folk here). I know you guys reside out west so I can understand the time difference (early morning) being a factor.

No Olic? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🙁

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jun/04/euro-2012-croatia-tactical-analysis

Olic out just great. How is Lovern any miracles? I swear these guys are like china dolls. Ratkic needs to step into the Dookie and perform already.

Reports are the Olic is out. Kalinic has been called up.

UEFA has evidently singled out Srna as an individual for the referees to keep an eye on and not tolerate antics from.

49 people so far in our Euro 2012 pool. Come on, where is everyone. We had 150 in our fantasy EPL game.

https://croatiansports.com/?p=8660
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whether eduardo is in form or not, he’s the only striker we have who knows where the goal is. Jelavic has been doing it for Everton but he’s yet to show he can fit into our system and replicate that goalscoring form for us, and I blame Bilic for not giving him a proper run in the Norway game. Instead, he took him out and let the lazy Mandzukic (who has played plenty for us recently) stay in and do nothing as usual. Nice going!

Eduardo can score from headers, where we are most dangerous, and he has a natural finishing for goal. Why take the risk with 2 strikers who can’t do that? I’d personally like to see us attack Spain as well, their defense is nothing spectacular and can easily be broken especially with Modric and Srna’s creativity and delivery.If we sit back and try to defend, the one thing we are the worst at, then we’l choke and get raped. That’s what we did against Greece and we hardly had a chance on goal and still conceded 2 silly goals.

Any video from Alpine Village Saturday ?

Caught the replay. Guys, fucking relax. Kaj vam je? You can tell when our players’ heads are in it and when they’re not. Rest assured you’ll be able to tell within the first five minutes against Ireland if our boys came to play or not. When the lights come on and our backs are against the wall, we always show up. You guys are over analyzing like a bunch of fucking babe. Chillajte vec jednom. Mi Hrvati!

Prediction:

Italy-Spain 1-2

Croatia-Ireland 2-2

Italy-Croatia 2-1

Spain-Ireland 3-1

Croatia-Spain 1-1

Italy-Ireland 0-1

Spain- 7

Ireland-4

Italy-3

Croatia-2

Not bad for a 36 year old MLS player!! He and DeRosario looked good, although Jazic made a lot of runs that his fellow Canucks ignored.

@Denis:

I prefer Corluka at RB, but I know he was sparingly used as a defensive midfielder at Man City. I don’t think centerback is a good position for him.

I agree about Vida and the distractions. He probably still has Bundesliga money burning a hole in his pocket.

Petrovic was a DRIVEN PROFESSIONAL. He wanted to play to his potential and wanted to represent Croatia. Vida appears to have talent, but time will tell if he escapes Zagreb.

Croatians Around North America:

Ante Jazic had a solid 86 minutes for Canada’s unfortunate draw with the U.S.

@Horvat,

My sources tell me that Vida is not an alcoholic, but he just likes to have drinks with the boys way more than anyone else on the team.

Being from okolice Sibenik, I remember people telling me about Drazen Petrovic and his days in Sibenik. Dude would go out with the boys to celebrate the new year sipping on mineral water. Somewhere between 12:30- 1:00am, Drazen would take off, turn in, and be up in the morning for a training session.

So many distractions for Vida in Zagreb. Dude has money, friends and family calling him for drinks-parties… and did I fail to mention the little purgerice ?

Vida needs that german discipline to develop into a Niko Kovac type player.

It’s a shame if Vida has a drinking problem. I think he has potential to be a very good CB and possible DM.

Call up Vukusic

@Denis….correct on Vida. He and his boys beat up some guy at a bar/club. I think it was less than a year ago. Who knows what took place. Not really a big issue.

Someone made the comment about playing Simunic at LB…..I don’t think he can play there anymore at this stage of his career.

@Flegma…..you make it seem like Bilic is at fault for the lack of goal scoring. Bilic can only use what is available to him.

@Mali Hrvat,

Mark van Bommel is 6’1″ and Nigel de Jong is 5’9″. All short comparing to the 6’4″ Corluka.

@Mihovil,

I agree with you on Owen Hargraves. Hell of a player.

I also agree with you on Vida. Dude has CDM written all over him. Some “Ziva Istina” type of people in Croatia have told me that Vida has the talent, but he also has a drinking problem. Vida already got in a little bit of trouble a few years back by being “in the wrong place at the wrong time” at a bar with friends. Also, I think that Vida isnt tested at Dinamo playing against mediocre opposition day in day out.

Vida has the potential, the only way to test this potential is with a transfer out of Dinamo.

@poglavnik,

I agree with you. I’m a big fan of Yaya Toure.

@Mihovil:

I agree about Hargreaves. Javier Zanetti is also impressive, although he is over the hill. I also agree that DeJong is a hack, but sometimes coaches want the physical presence in the midfield.

Drawing a yellow card out of those players (DeJong, etc.) isn’t always easy. The officiating is a huge variable in that strategy.

I hope you are right about Vida and the CDM position.

ya srna was terrible but still he should play rb and ilicevic rm like how ive been wanting for a while. still waiting hope ill see it happen come nxt sunday. also rakitic and modric in the middle would be great instead of dujmo

I know our Obrana is not strong why not just move joe simunic to left back since pranjic sucks and peple hate strinic i dont know why, play Vida Carli Scifo SImunic back4 have 4 cbs play the back line?

@Denis:

Good DM vary in size. Nigel DeJong,Von Bommel etc. are on the bigger side. DeJong and Von Bommel can be brutal but are terribly effective in that role.

I agree with your assessment of Vukojevic. Sometimes, his passing lets me down.

Corluka is a smart player, and his defensive positioning skills are good. Even though he is slow it takes a skilled player to take him on one on one. Marin and Ronaldo come to mind during CL play.

It not just one game it been like this for 4 years.

@Mali Hrvat,

Correct me if I am wrong, but most good defensive midfielders are short and quick. Defensive midfielders probably run the most out of any position. Mauro Silva(Brazil), Edgar Davids(Netherlands), and Didier Deschamps, Lothar Matthäus, and Dunga(Ante Kvartuc) come to mind.

Patrick Vieira is the only 6’4″ great defensive midfielder that I know. Dude was a rock for Arsenal for so many years.

We need that Gattuso, pitbull type of player as a DM and I dont see Corluka fitting that description. Vukojevic was nicknamed the Croatian pitbull, dude can run around all game like Ivica Olic, but he commits silly fouls and finds himself out of position all the time.

Corluka is great for long sprints up the flank like a galloping gazelle. However, I dont see him as a player to break up the opposition’s play and cover for the defensive wings when they go into attack.
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I agree ziva a game to forget for the fans and the players but not bilic!! It was just a friendly but bilic has to really think about srna playing in the back and take vida out for two reasons 1 vida cant be counted on and second we need more from that right side offensively, all we need from srna is his crosses and that wont be diminished if he plays back.
Also i dont think we need dujmo or vuko shit we don’t have a niko kovac replacement so dont force one just put rakitic and modric in the middle. Also eduardo must start, he has a goal every second match ratio enough said certain players play better with national teams than club. Also im not ready to give up on jelavic until i watch a game where he gets some decent service and plays shitty than fine make the change.

It’s a game to forget and move on. Our best defender and most creative player were out. We have no depth to begin with and when you factor that with the start of the actual competition being 7 days away yesterday’s game and the way we played was not a surprise.

No surprise we have issues with this backline. At times they are serviceble and at other times they panic. I can’t stress this point enough…….if we have two dinamo players starting for us, we are in trouble. Simunic (at this stage in his career) and Vida can not be counted on during the Euros. Because they play in the HNL they have not played a meaningful match in months. I just don’t see how playing zero quality matches prepares them for elite competition like the Euros.

Everything at this point now focuses on the Ireland and hopefully a win. If that happens anything is possible. Lets hope none of these three guys gets hurt: Modric, Corluka and Pletikosa. Last thing anyone wants to see is their replacements on the field.

i think eduardo should play a role in the first match…but he should not play the entire 90min…it is too risky for a injury prone player who is not match fit too..He offers something which other strikers dont…
As for the striking partner, I have no objections as to who will start….be it jelavic mandzukic olic…None of them is indipensable..

Eduardo should start

Major over reaction going on to this game. It was just a friendly, I’m sure most of the guys were half assing it,includin srna.

@AZ,
You go with players that are in form, jelavic is in great form, out top three strikers without a doubt are super mario, jelavic, and eduardo. The first two being in the best form, but eduardo is the most technically skilled and versatile striker, which in my book makes him a must start.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but this would be Eduardo’s first big tournament for the repka. I know everyone is jumping on his nuts, but he’d be a great pair with Jelavic.

I’d like to publicly apologize to Jure i Boban….

If Srna keeps playing this way, I’d rather have Vida and Illicevic handle the right than Srna anyway. He was an embarrassment.

Srna;s antics were a disgrace today, the captain of the NT should not be diving and moaning at the referee all game

todays game has just put me in a sad state. i was disappointed with the play all day long, especially cause i couldn’t notice jelavic or perisic were on the field (who i had high hopes for) , but i could’ve walked away feeling decently good with a 1-0 victory thinking you don’t always play well, we didn’t have two of our better players, we were away, and the players were probably playing with some restraint. but to have the game won and give that last minute goal leaves such a bad taste even if its just a friendly. it worries me that the mental focus that is going to need to be there to compensate for our weak back line, just isn’t there. hope i’m wrong

Vida will do well….stop all the hate!

this is so seriously when midfilder get stuck for their performance. obviously deffense so hard to do to keep their line. and like Simunic pranjic pletikosa. . so suck with their anticipate. get true for starting line up especially in midfilder.

With the Olympics coming up, Croatia can sure use Srna on the diving team.

Seriously though, I’m worried if he keeps it up he will be booked for simulation in the tourney.

GO KINGS GO!!

Corluka will be our most important player this June!
He’s the only quality we have on the back line, and he seems to be a real leader lately.
The last two games hes scored in (Turkey@Istanbul, Estonia@Pula) were easily our best games in the last 8-10 months.
He went out early in that Sweden game recently and they totally dominated us too.
Fuck I never thought I’d miss Lovren so much.
And I don’t even like Lovren!
He totally needs to develope that potential already!

I hope Jelavic isnt just another good club player..who doe’s nothing for the national team!

@ Siroki: You are so right! What the hell the Kranjcar just doing there standing through out the play. He didn’t cover the back post. He didn’t pick up Elyounossi, the scorer. Niko was responsible for that goal.

Wasn’t impressed with Simunic’s attempted back pass which led to a series of corners resulting in a goal.

@Toronto Croatia
I feel that jelavic has done very well but ive never seen a performance hes put on in a Croatian jersey? what do u think?

Stipe Pletikosa: Vrlo siguran u prvom poluvremenu. U 33. minuti odličnom reakcijom spasio vrata kada je Norveška izigrala hrvatsku obranu. Jedan od boljih pojedinaca u prvih 45 minuta, a u nastavku nije imao većih problema. Kod pogotka Norveške bio nemoćan.

Ivan Strinić (do 46. minute): Bez konkretnog učinka na poziciji lijevog beka. Premalo se priključivao napadima hrvatske reprezentacije, a u nekoliko je navrata Norveška zaprijetila prolazima po njegovoj strani.

Gordon Schildenfeld: U paru sa Šimunićem nije bio uvjerljiv kao neprobojan stup obrane. Imao je nekoliko dobrih reakcija kada je zaustavljao protivničke napade, ali pokazao i određenu dozu nesigurnosti.

Josip Šimunić: U rijetkim prilikama norveške reprezentacije nije se nalazio na pravom mjestu. Nedostajalo je čvrstine i odlučnosti, u drugom poluvremenu izazvao neugodnu situaciju kojom su domaćini mogli doći do pogotka.

Domagoj Vida: Nije se u potpunosti prilagodio poziciji desnog beka. Imao premalo prodora po svojoj strani, a u fazi obrane napravio nekoliko grešaka. U 20. minuti ostavio samog Braatena, no uspio blokirati njegov udarac, a pri izjednačujućem golu “asistirao” Elyounoussiju.

Ivan Perišić (do 63. minute): U prvom dijelu utakmice u nekoliko navrata prošao po lijevoj strani terena i ubacio upotrebljive lopte u kazneni prostor. Osim toga nije se posebno istaknuo.

Ivan Rakitić: Nije bio kreativan u fazi napada, sredina terena za koju je bio zadužen nije bila “prohodna”. U par navrata lijepo proigrao suigrače, ali premalo za ukupan pozitivan dojam.

Tomislav Dujmović (do 46. minute): Sredina terena bila je vrlo gusta i teško se prolazilo. U defenzivnom dijelu igre bio solidan, prema naprijed previše rezerviran.

Darijo Srna: U prvih 45 minuta bez konkretnog učinka, protivnički igrači bili dosta grubi prema njemu i nije bio probojan. U nastavku ipak popravio igru, a velike zasluge pogotka pripadaju njemu zbog prolaska po desnoj strani i preciznog ubačaja.

Nikica Jelavić (do 46. minute): Nije to bio Jelavić kakvog znaju navijači Evertona. Domaća obrana ga je dobro čuvala, a u dvije izglednije situacije dosta je loše pucao. Odsječen u napadačkoj liniji, nekoliko puta nespretno reagirao.

Mario Mandžukić (do 63. minute): Zajedno s Jelavićem u napadu bio odsječen od vezne linije, premalo se otvarao i nije bio čvrst u duelima. Početkom drugog poluvremena napravio dobar potez lijepim primanjem lopte i oštrim udarcem.

Danijel Pranjić (od 46. minute): Nije Biliću uspio dokazati da bi trebao njega koristiti umjesto Strinića na mjestu lijevog beka. Nespretnim dodavanjem uzrokovao jednu opasniju situaciju za Norvežane.

Ivica Olić (od 46. do 71. minute): Nije se mogao istaknuti u kratkom vremenu, izašao zbog osjeta bolova u mišiću.

Ognjen Vukojević (od 46. minute): Solidno odradio drugih 45 minuta utakmice, ali ništa više od toga.

Niko Kranjčar (od 63. minute): Očekivalo se da će igra Hrvatske živnuti njegovim ulaskom, no bio je premalo u kontaktu s loptom.

Eduardo Da Silva (od 63. minute): Odlično iskoristio minutažu koju mu je pružio izbornik. Kao i u Puli prije tjedan dana, bio razigran i željan lopte, a sjajnim potezom glavom donio pogodak kojim je popravljen dojam u inače slaboj predstavi Hrvatske.

Ivo Iličević (od 71. minute): Bez nekog zapaženog poteza, uklopio se u bezidejnost ostalih reprezentativaca.

He is one of our best strikers…..that is true, that’s also like saying the 250 lbs chick is good looking compared to standing next to three chicks who are over 325 lbs.

The Brazilian-bron Hrvat is more skillful than the other forwards, so I would be in favor of him getting PT.

some good news…. or bad news if you are not an Olic fan…

“Obavit ćemo sve dodatne kontrole, ali prema sadašnjim saznanjima, Olić bi trebao biti spreman za Irsku. Vidjet ćemo sutra nakon detaljnjih pretraga”

“We’ll do all the extra analysis, but at present, Olic should be ready for Ireland. We’ll see tomorrow after a detailed analysis(of the injury).”

~Croatian team doctor, Jurica Rakic

I still stand by what I said about the Brazilian-born Hrvat. He is not the same player anymore. I don’t think anyone will dispute that.

However, I will also go by what I constantly preach……I can only judge players based on what I see from them. If we are to base the starters just on these two friendlies, then the Brazilian-born Hrvat should get the starting nod up front with Jelavic (assuming he is the other starter).

Lovren being out is going to be the biggest handicap for us because either Vida or Simunic will get minutes. Neither deserve to start.

@Mickey……..do yourself a favor and never pay attention to what coaches or players have to say in press conferences before and after games. 90% of the time what is said is politically correct nonsense. What would you want Bilic to say??? We are here to play a match, screw around, hopefully not get hurt and hope that Corluka doesn’t pick up a STD with one of his female conquests from the night before??

This team is what it is……..good enough to qualify for a major tournament and with a few breaks maybe make a decent run. We are also prone to going three and out. We had two dinamo players in today’s starting line up…..I’m not ripping Dinamo, I’m ripping the league. We saw what they did against Europe’s elite this year, what makes you think players like Vida or Simunic are ready to play at the Euro Cup stage.

Its only a friendly so lets not get to panicked, with the magician in our offense will open up, i would say start jelavic and brazillian born hrvat, mandzukic seems like he has a tough time with ball and can’t play outside the box, eduardo is a finisher and creator, I think we gotta start him. Anyone else see jelavic completely miss that ball in front of goal?

Dujmovic and Vukojevic do not and have never played defensive midfield in a proper way. Leave them both out. Go with the most technical team you have. This should be our starting lineup, without doubt.

Pletikosa,- Srna, Pranjic, Corluka, Schindenfeld, – Perisic, Rakitic, Modric, Kranjcar, – Jelavic, Eduardo.

We cannot bunker anyway – this lineup makes you go for it.

The defense looked panicked at times; they lack that stability of years past. Plus we gave up a stupid goal in injury time – – we make mental mistakes. I still think that goal Turkey scored in the 119th minute at Euro 2008 was due to mental lapses, rather than any Turkish resilience. Poor time management, poor marking.

Any word on Olic?

@Ante B….i would join them.

Vida is not ready for prime time. We have two HNL players in our backline. That just speaks volumes how bad our D is. Having Corluka back there helps and having Modric in the middle opens up the wings. Corluka should take the spot of Simunic or Vida. Pick you poison which HNL all-star you want in there.

Not an encouraging game, but we have seen this before by many other teams. Half-assing it in the friendlies and then waking up and showing up when it matters. Only question is if our team can do that. We get to find out in 8 days.

Bilic said the result was inc inconsequential compared to the plan on how we were going to play this game which was supposed to have been aggressive, bold and fast………none of which we showed today which alarms me. Yes…missing our best player makes a big difference but if that is what our hopes are riding on, we are going to be sorely disappointed once again. I saw noone else step up aside from Pletikosa and Eduardo when he came on. I try to be optimistic but the proof is in the pudding. Aside from the 1st Turkey game, how many times can anyone say we played like a team capable of being a top 5 team?

Perisic adds some pace, Rakitic has done very little for us over the years. As much as Kranjcar gets slagged on by most, he has still been more productive for the National team than Rakitic has.

Let’s hope this was all about a light run around, as opposed to going 100%. Regardless, the running, passing and general play was crap. It improved a bit with the addition of Dudu and Niko. Where was Modric? Rumor has it he was meeting with his manager/potential suitors………….which if true, is BS. I expect more against Ireland.

BTW, there is no way Kelava our Suba can play ahead of Stipe, at least we know that.

I’m not going to be a jackass and be happy about Olic’s injury. I may not like him very much as player, but I want him to make the tournament at least. This is his last tournament ever probably and it would have been cool for him to see experience. Hopefully its nothing major because he could play a role in the Euros for Croatia even though Eduardo-Jelavic should really be the starters even though knowing Billc it will be Manzo.

I didn’t really catch the friendly only glimpses and pieces. Other than Olic, nobody got injured so that’s a plus. The main thing was to get out healthy at least. That being said, do you guys think Srna is the worst Croatian captain ever? Absolute joke at captain, its amazing how things changed. I thought he was the perfect guy in 2008 to take Kovac’s spot but boy did that end fast.

@ivica

perisic didn’t show anything today, so why exactly MUST he start? ill take rakitic over him and make him come off the bench.

okay it wasn’t just the back four. when will people realize we don’t have anyone better to put back there. with lovren out and corluka not playing today that is the best we got. going forward we were shit too.

our defense looks bad no matter who plays i know its a friendly but i dunno doesn’t look good!! eduardo nice goal ,nice cross by srna, still would like to have seen srna play at least a bit at right back, vida looked a little suspect but at the same time no one played well!!

kranjcar needs to start, form or no form he needs to start. eduardo is a definite starter, perisic needs to come in off the bench, vida is embarrassing, mandzukic is a joke,

a sign of a good team is when they pull out wins even with a poor showing…….that’s why this upsets me.

Vida is an inexperienced player, to put it kindly. Thank god this was a friendly and thank god for Eduardo. Norway was the better team today, without a doubt…

very frustrating

that was retarded

If we insist on 4-4-2 (which I’m sure Bilic will), just go with the following and be done with it:

Jelavic
Eduardo

Perisic Dujmovic Modric Srna (or Ilicevic)

Strinic Schildenfeld Corluka Vida (or Srna)

Pletikosa

Out of our current options, this is the best that we can field at the moment, IMHO.

x3, start Eduardo, fuck Mandzukic.

He has the technique, class and nose for goal…JUST PLAY HIM, fitness be damned!

Too bad we didn’t give Eduardo and Jelavic a trot out together.

God forbid Croatia attempts to drive down the wings or win a 50/50 ball

haha and he’s only been on for a few min…and hasnt touched the ball…

Finaly!

Dudu in Mandzo out

Kranjcar in Perisic out

whats with all the long inaccurate passes

Oh Pranjic….

holly crap here comes the hustle from the hrvati

Srna’s dives make me want to puke!

Vuko in Dumoj out

Pranjic in strinic out

Gotta take Manzo out and some others…take your pick who…throw in Kranjcar, ilicevic eduardo…mabye even badelj later on

Dosent matter that it’s just a friendly that was bad really bad!!
Theres zero play down the right side no one on one play with srna, the defense looks terrible, i know its just a friendly but that was really bad! pletikosa is playing well!! corluka and modric is missed. all our play is on the left side i would put illecivic in second half eduardo and corluka.

Also…is Rakitic playing in the middle in place of Modric?

Why didn’t Bilic just go with Kranjcar instead? Kranjcar’s a better fit there and we could see how “out of form” he is.

I hate to say it, but I was hoping Mandzo was injured (not a serious one) so we can see if Eduardo is good enough up there with Jelavic.

Also…who the hell is playing RB? I know it’s supposed to be Vida, but it looks like the guy is playing further up than Srna. Srna’s barely making any runs, and I don’t tell me it’s due to that so-called great defense being played by that ginger Norwiegan.

@ Ivica

I agree…we need corluka in there….and Mandzu makes me sick!

@Dinamo Dennis

Ugh. Norway almost scored. How does Simunic allow a pass like that get made?

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Simunic and Schildo better not start together as our CB pairing.

Corluka is heavily missed.

Not sure why my prior post was blocked. Here’s the link for HRT2:

sportlemon.tv/v-4/0/144/v-414477.html

atdhenet.tv espn3 or espn deportes

Starting lineup:
Pletikosa Vida Schildenfeld Strinic Corluka Rakitic Dujmovic Perisic Srna Jelavic Mandzukic

the only decent link for HRV vs NOR, croatian broadcast

Ziva, it didn’t even constitute a full handful. I was under the assumption that once we started singing, the others would join…….wrong assumption. And if they did, I couldn’t hear it over our own voice.

Lemme axe ya diss personally Ziva…if you were to walk onto the stands before the game (they were the metal bleacher kind) where there were Croatian flags and obviously Croatian supporters, would you as a Croatia fan walk towards them and see if you could join them or walk the other way?

espn3.com will have the best feed if you are in the US

NO Mandzo in the line up period! Just my 2 cents

Where can I watch the game online or even on tv if I can find somebody with cable?

Links people, links

Modric not playing not a good sign. would like to see him play at least 45 mins before a tournament.

DOES ANYONE HAVE AN INTERNET SITE WHERE I COULD WATCH THE CROATIA VS NORWAY GAME?????

@Poglavnik…..as is usually the case……often-imitated but rarely replicated.

Post stuff from the waterpolo game

disagree Vida is a great young player he should def play.

@Mihovil and Mali – De nada. Figured it’s gotta be better than huddling over a laptop screen watching a choppy feed on the internet in Norwegian.

podemos fingir que somos mexicanos y ver el futbol en espanol!

@Colin:

Thanks for the heads up about ESPN.

@Tom

1st half Italy actually looked dangerous. 2nd half was a different story because their subs were in.
Those last two goals were gifts by a second string keeper and a guy not starting on D.
I wouldn’t say they got steamrolled, but there is definitely a number of things Bilic can take from this game.

@Andrej
Game might not mean anything in terms of standings, but it was Italy’s only warm up before Euros.
You should be taking a lot away from the first half, beacuse they had a majority of their
starters playing.

@Poglavnik

Great question. Not too sure yet. I don’t know how the Italians woud react if they won against
Spain. Overjoyed that they beat them, which may lead to a little overcockiness or they could
steamroll us after knowing they’ve just beaten one of the best.

@Siroki

Another great point. Last time a betting scandal hit the Italians in the media, they went on to
make the finals I believe.
Also if Russia actually had their scoring shoes on, this game would have been ugly for Italy.

I don’t care how good Spains 2nd team is or if they are better than us because I still would rather play their 2nd team. The problem is if Italy ties or wins(always possible!) than it really makes all 3 games for us crucial! Ireland basically would be a must win for us. This group is so difficult that we basically are in a must win in the first 2 games and a bare minimum of 4 points before we play Spain.

With the competition in the group there will be yellow cards and we will be missing players by the end of the group if we go into stages. Its just a matter of how we are able to cope with it if the case arises.

Worst case scenario is if we lose vs Ireland and Italy beat Spain! It will be almost impossible for me to see us going through but never say never.

http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/ocajna-generalka-azzura-uoci-eura–rusija-u-zurichu-deklasirala-talijane/1031990/
You guys know spain second team i better than our first spains econd team would have qualifyed for euro without problem.

@ Ziva id take the Hrvatski Zet any day over anyone else regarless.
Also Give Russia credit they play some modern Football Dick Advocaat has done a great job with them wing play counter in 10 second italy countered and missed Russia come down the pitch and score, italy have 2 african american on their team wow.

Spain win…leaves Italy looking for a win against us regardless of what our result is! That way Spain then goes out and can potentially beat Ireland as well leaving them resting vs us and giving there 2nd team a run out in our 3rd game.

for Italy I want lose lose lose

Italy game just finished: Russia just whooped on Italy 3-0… Italy has now lost it’s last 3 matches (all friendlies) and had 1 friendly cancelled earlier this week due to the earthquake

@Mate yes Balo is the key. We need to rattle him. Did he not get a yellow today for a stupid foul?

@Maki

Balotelli is such a thug ugly loser.

Italy look awful but thats because russia are playing well?

Guys Italy looks awful. They had some nice plays today but never connected. Spain will eat them alive and Croatia needs to take it to them for the win. We can do it!!!!!

“Murder”? over name calling and banans??? LOL! yeah okay, and he thinks he’s got a right to live in a White country and chase White women?

Yes Russia Scores!!!!!!

@HAET he said something like he would murder someone if they threw bananas at him or said racist things and that he would walk straight off the pitch immediately

Why would throwing bananas at Balotelli be “raaaciss”? Can someone please explain that to me?

hey Tom,
i’m more worried that our fans will start throwing bananas at Balotelli lol

Guys this is off topic but is anyone worried by far right violence against Croats over there. I don’t think Poland would be an issue but I am not Sure about the UKR.

if I was in the stands I would throw bananas at Balotelli to try and set him off (I am not racist at all, just trying to get him to red card himself lol)… and I would be throwing money at Bonucci and Buffon and whomever else comes out next in the betting/fixing scandal!

Hope everyone has been brushing up on their espanol. The match against Norway tomorrow will be on ESPNDeportes live and in HD!

Roman Shirokov with the post shot.

If you guys care to check out the competition, Italy is playing Russia.

http://atdhenet.tv/

Favorite part of that NY times article

“When you are born, the first thing your father gives you is a football,” Corluka said. “It’s in our blood.

Not this media outlet…

You know why? Because it’s not news. They’ll give Modric an IV drip, clean up his system and he’ll be fine by Tuesday.

He does not need to play against Norway. Let’s not panic now boys and girls. He had a loooooooooooooooong season in north London.

If he does play the firendly no more than 20 minutes please.

Why call it a 4132 when its a 442…haha

Luka isn’t hurt he just has a virus…

WTF Luka is hurt?

@Mihovil that sucks about Luka… Fucking Loserham Cold Spurs! Let’s hope it really isn’t serious

As for your second link, here is the original article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/sports/soccer/croatias-main-weapons-are-spirit-and-strikers.html?ref=croatia

Jarac,

I called the director yesterday and she said its sold out. I would think there might be some standing room tickets but I’m not sure. If I was you, I’d go just to try. The only thing that sucks is that the traffic might be bad depending where you live. I’ll be flying in at 4 and heading straight to the game to set up. Even if it’s only for me.

@Bosanci

Who cares about Bosna, this is Cro sports.

@Ante B.,
U think people will be selling tickets at the gates?

Would be funny if Italy pulled out. I guess UEFA could replace them with Estonia who finished 2nd in Italy’s EURO Qualifying group ahead of the Serbs! Would never happen but would be funny.

Piss, just play attacking versus Spain, don’t sit back. This squad would never be able to absorb all their pressure anyhow. No one would expect a result against the mighty Spainards so just go out and play.

Remember what the Swiss did to Spain in their opening group game of South Africa WC 2010. Anything can happen

I was reading some of the Italian websites this morning and to me it Prandelli said that out of frustration. I doubt Italy would pull out unless the italian federation is aware of some news that is really damaging.

Remember the last time they had this around them, Italy went on to win the World Cup. So, anything can ahppen once the get on the field.

Heck, what is even worse, within the croatian federation we still have individuals involved who have been involved in fixed matches in Croatia. Croatia is a small fish in the international soccer community, so nobody cares.

Does anyone have any info on what the hell is going on with the italian camp, all the info coming out has been cryptic at best, and now theres reports of prandelli saying italy could pull out of the euros for “the good of the game”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-01/italy-could-skip-euro-2012-due-to-probe-coach-tells-rai-sport

as well as buffon being implicated in a betting scandal???

had a crazy dream yesterday, it was 2-0 for the bad guys, i couldn’t make it out who we were playing, just before i awoke it was ireland, fuck me i hope im wrong…

Modric will go to the L.A. Galaxy

we will crush spain and kick them out of the tournament

My fat ass will be at the game. Anybody else from this site? Tickets are sold out.

@dukic it’s a friendly we should save him for the real thing. Smotan

I know its a friendly but I think its huge that our team puts up a shutout against Norway just to boost our confidence a bit. For f-sake we couldnt keep a clean sheet against the Estonians on our own turf. Was it just me or did Estonia look dangerous and have some really good looks in and around our box. Any team in the tournament would bury 1 or 2 of those chances and we need to really tighten things up in the last 30 yards on our end. Seems like teams are having way too much time to dictate what they wanna do. I’ll say it again, Niko Kovac, why cant you be 10 years younger?

Any bosanci i hercegovci going to the mexico game v BIH in Chicago

@Ziva,

I was thinking were lucky to get about 10 people, but 50, man u set the standard high, haha. And I’m not being sarcastic.

@ Ziva i agree about eduardo but he did get them to 2008 o he deserves to be on bench the the staring 11 is Russian Pletikosa Vida Scifo Carli Strnic “Uzeir” Srna Dujmovic Lukica Modric Perisic Mandzukic Jelavic, subs Eduardo Kranjcar Rakitic Ilicevic

@Jarac……it would be an accomplishment if you guys can get more than 50 hrvati in the stands for that game.

@HAET………I am beginning to wonder if you can read croatian. Srna and Modric did not dress for the Estonia game. Don’t know what you read to make you think that they even played. Hopefully there is a croatian language school near you.

Too much focus on the Spain game right now by some of you. Long time before that game is played, plus the first two results and yellow cards will have a large role in determining what we do for that game.

Plus, the Spainards have their own issues. They play Italy in game 1 and Spain has not beaten Italy in an official tournamant game in over 50 years. They beat them in PKs in 08. I personally don’t think that has any role, but I know some of you believe in that since you have used the same line on Italy (Italy has never beaten us in an official match). So, we’ll see what happens.

Quarterfinals
Russia-Germany
Poland-Holland
Spain-England
Croatia-France

once agian Bilic said thi 10000 times in every newpaper the back 4 are vida carli joe/scifo strinic

Guys M’Vila is down for Fance today and Lampard is hurt. Should we rest Luka againist Norway?

somebody said vukojevic should start…. boze sacuvaj.

@ ante

Typical Dinaric Mountain people attitude.

Please sign this petition. It is very important!
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-croatian-six
Hvala

Why are we talking about the Spain match? That’s the last thing we need to think about.

We need a W vs Ireland and at least a draw vs. Italy. Spain should become a friendly match at that point; whether we’re already in the quarterfinal or Spain already has 6 points.

I’m liking how everything is lining up for Croatia and they are my unbiased dark horses for this tournament. It’s all about flying under the radar. Italy is in shambles right now and Balotelli has even said that he will walk off the pitch if any racist comments are directed towards him. So he’s on edge before the tourney even begins.

I have Germany winning it all but I think we can make some noise. We beat Ireland and Italy and the Spain match is a scrimmage.

You heard it here first!

I would like to see that line-up as well. Just two possible tweaks:

1. Pranjic vs Strinic at LB? Strinic better defensively, but not as good offensively. Maybe play Pranjic against Ireland, but Strinic against Italy and Spain. I would worry that Pranjic would get schooled against Italy and Spain.

2. Eduardo vs Olic. I’d rather see a Jelavic-Olic partnership, with Eduardo subbing in for Jelavic (if he is underperforming) and Mandzo subbing in for Olic. In no way would I want to see Jelavic/Mandzo starting.

I would take a risk with Iličević over Rakitic, but not just based on the Estonia performance. When healthy, Iličević has played very well (although in spurts), whereas Rakitic has not had a good season. He also seems hungrier than most other guys, which is what we need in this tournament. This was evident against the Estonia game. The first half remined me of Croatia during the Euro 2008 qualifying — hungary, quick and great to watch. Second half seemed like more of the WC 2010/Euro 2012 qualifiers — slow, boring, lacking energy and creativity.

Spain would eat up that formation!!

I like your lineup… He’ll I like most lineups without shithead in them… Aka unsuper Mario