If Croatia’s mission for Bulgaria was to show up, do the bare minimum and squeak out a 1-0 win, they absolutely succeeded Friday night.
In one of the most disappointing games to date, there was more action off the field than on when Croatia took on Bulgaria in Sophia in Euro 2016 qualifying. The usual stars were out on the pitch, including Mario Mandžukić, Luka Modrić and Ivan Rakitić, who all underperformed on the night. And we’re not even talking the usual “no pace, no heart, no urgency” from Croatia is this match.
It didn’t even look like they wanted to be there. Rakitić was non-existent, Modrić had no pace in the middle of the field and Pranjić looked lost at times. Manager Niko Kovač has to be scrutinized for his tactics this match. Ivica Olić should not be starting orplaying full matches at his current age. He should be utilized in the last 20 minutes of a match to be able to run around like a mad man. With Bulgaria down 1-0 and pressing late, Kovač used his FIRT sub of the match in the 80th minute, bringing in Kovačić for Rakitić. Kovač chose not to use his other two available subs with fresh Bulgarian legs in the match.
And although the stat sheet will say Croatia had three shots on goal, there was not one legitimate attempt on frame other than Bulgaria’s own goal in the 36th minute by Nikolay Bodurov. It was a pathetic display that should have Vatreni fans worried. All that talent with no speed or chemistry.
The game will be remembered for its 5-minute stoppage in play in the first half due to fan activity. It was reported that Bulgarian supporters threw flares at the Croatian fans during the match, shouting “Yugoslavia! Yugoslavia!” at them. Riot police came in to neutralize the situation while Croatian players came over to negotiate a peace treaty. The game was nearly cancelled due to the fan outbreak.
@JP,
I agree. However, we need these young kids to play together now, not a few games before the tournament.
We are far superior to the competition in this group(minus Italy).
Im just disappointed with where the national team is heading. Slowly but surely its turning into Dinamo.
@Denis
Couldn’t agree with you more, as you know I’ve been calling for Srna to leave/be replaced for at least 5 years… but since these are friendlies as you say, guys like Srna, Olic, etc are still good enough compared to the competition. I doubt (or hope at least) that by the time the tournament rolls around in 19 months or so, they won’t be as important/prominent.
@JP,
Italy is doing the same thing Spain is doing with Casillas. Sometimes its difficult to remove a legend. However, Buffon looks like he can still hang. Keepers can go til they are 40.
Pirlo is like beckham. Dude can win a game for you with one kick.
Chelini is a rock and still under 30.
Now lets look at Croatia:
1) Darijo Srna (32) dude is done. He wanted to retire but the HNS begged him to stay.
2) Danijel Pranjić (32) at best a bench gig. 34 year old, short leftback at Euro? good luck with that.
3) Ivica Olić (35), it didnt work at the world cup. 90 minutes for a 35 year old?
If this was World Cup qualifying, I would agree with your strategy of
“get the wins/points in the bank early… then make changes later when the picture is more defined and qual is all but assured.”
Besides Italy, these are all friendly matches for Croatia. Yes, Azerbajan and some of these smaller countries will give it their all against Croatia, but our B team should beat anyone of those sides.
Since the tournament is so watered down, qualification is all but guaranteed. There are no groups of death. Any team that misses out deserves to miss out.
@Denis… I think Italy is keeping the veterans around for the same reason Kovac is… get the wins/points in the bank early… then make changes later when the picture is more defined and qual is all but assured. This is only smart on the part of both managers. Not sure why most of you are giving Kovac so much grief. Chill.
@Croatia v Antwerp
“Serbia’s gotta tough road ahead and might not qualify. Next they play Albania in the “Battle of the Balkans” on October 14th. If you thought the war was over, guess again, because when these two sides meet on the pitch–it will be anything but peace.”
Love it!
think about this…..we are about to win our first three games and get nine points……..and the vibe around them is so negative……thanks to Puppet Suker and Mamic.
@JP,
I wrote:
“Italy is doing it right. Play their youngsters along with veterans and use these qualifiers for experience.”
Yes, they have Bufon, Pirlo and Chelini as the veteran leadership. I dont know why they continue to play Bufon. Pirlo is way past his prime too. Chelini is their rock.
The rest of the starters are all around 23 years old.
30-year-old Aquilani comes off the bench.
Pellè needs to get some time. He might be a late bloomer. 29 years old.
@ Poglavnik
Armenia are no strangers to being oppressed historically. But today, they gave Serbia, the perennial “Bully on the Block” a nice punch in the nose. Making the Serbs drop valuable points.
Serbia’s gotta tough road ahead and might not qualify. Next they play Albania in the “Battle of the Balkans” on October 14th. If you thought the war was over, guess again, because when these two sides meet on the pitch–it will be anything but peace.
How fucking dumb are you assholes? There is no way Croatia would fly across the Atlantic twice just a few days before facing Italy.
Jesus.
@ Denis, I love ya, you know that, but I’m not sure that Pirlo, Chiellini, and Buffon are exactly youngsters 🙂
Simunic will be available on the 6th of september for the finland match he will be over 37 and half years young by then
or that…….I say it is a combo of both.
They didn’t support Simunic because the lot of them are cowards and unpatriotic. They use the national team as a vehicle for personal gain. It’s not, nor was it ever about pragmatism in facing liberal elites and Yugoslavs.
They don’t give a fuck. And that’s why they suck.
Puppet Suker bringing the team to Vukovar is nothing but a photo opp. Puppet Suker trying to improve his “Q” rating, nothing else. Shame on them for doing so.
All I am saying is that there are a number of guys who don’t care one way or the other when it comes to za dom….spremni who are on the repka….. They think Simunic took away from what should have been a team celebration. I have no issue with saying za dom…spremni, you have no issue saying za dom…spremni, and I think most people have no issue with za dom…spremni, but we all do know that it is a source on contention for some (the liberal elite and apologetic yugophobes). and brings media attention when it comes up in a public forum. So, by bringing that phrase up, it creates a story and that is what Simunic did. He did something to bring attention to himself instead of enjoying a team celebration. There is a reason nobody had Simunic’s back. These guys all work outside of Cro, so it would have been simple to offer public support, but none came.
I’ve always been a team guy when it comes to sport. Suspension Joey took away from the team.
you*
And if any of you are following the activities of the HNS, they were in Vukovar today. Paying tribute to the heroes and the heroic city.
One wonders why Suker didn’t bring Severina along?
Ziva,
You’ve mentioned quite a few times how Simunic’s ZDS display “did not sit well” with other members of the team.
In your estimation, how many Yugoslavs are on the Croatian national team?
We can take this further, and talk about the ethnic make-up of the players. Let’s stick to the current team.
We know that Srna’s father was a Bosnian muslim. There were rumors that his mother is Serbian. I discounted it.
Subasic is a Serb – that we know.
There were rumors Luka Modric’s mother is Serbian. I’ve discounted that as well, being that the Serbs -overall- have a penchant to declare any successful Croat a Serb. And it’s the Serbian national pastime to traditionally lie and sow discord.
Who else on the team is of mixed descent?
As far as the HNS leadership goes, they’re obviously in Yugoslav lock-step with the regime in Zagreb. They are continually distancing themselves from anything even remotely related to ustastvo & NDH. But is there a larger issue other than trying to cool the negative publicity?
Um, I think Karadzic is a troll……and trolls suck.
HA!
Fuckin Serbs..
Where are all the pro-Jugo’s that were claiming Serbia’s got a great team and how they’d definitely qualify?
Karadzic you mutt, where are you?
Some of you on here have that “win is all that matters mentality.”
For me, that is short term happiness. Everything in life is long term. Short term happiness will catch up with you in the long run.
Bulgaria is ranked 46th in the world. Last month, they were ranked 72. El Salvador is ranked 72 in the world today. A win against El Salvador in San Salvador is nothing to be proud of.
I would rather take a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria. We dominated, scored early, hit 2 posts, and Bulgaria scored an own goal.
The Euro qualifying is not how it was in the past. Now, everyone qualifies. Third place will face a playoff against Iceland or Albania.
World Cup qualifying is different, you slip up once or twice, you dont qualify. Wins become more important.
Italy is doing it right. Play their youngsters along with veterans and use these qualifiers for experience.
.
All of us would like to see the repka in the US. But, it also comes down to cost analysis. Does the savez want to come here and take a financial loss (or low payday) or are they only looking at maximize $$$$ on friendlies.
There would be a decent showing of Cro fans, but not a sell out of a stadium. Not even close.
Is someone really stupid enough to think over 1,000 hrvati would come from each community throughout N. America. That is laughable. Put in a central location and you would get about few hundred (maybe) from the communities outside the selected town.
Now, if they go to Australia as the rumors suggest, that is another story. Now, the australian hrvati are my type of diapsora hrvati. They are able to speak the language much better than the american diaspora hrvati.
I agree with Ziva Istina on his last comment.
I would however like to see Croatia in the states. However, I’m not sure about the $$$$ part of it.
The dressing room has been a mess for some time now…..Go back to when they qualified against Iceland and Suspension Joey did his selfish act. That did not sit well with some on the team and you saw that with the lack of support Suspension Joey received from his teammates.
OH shit, Armenia just scored on Serbia.
With Jelavic’s abrupt departure….the cracks are starting to show again…..
Something tells me there is more to this story than Jelavic being upset about not being subbed in. Who know’s what’s going on in that dressing room?
Winning cures all, but there is still some discomfort in the Cro locker room. I can tell you that it did not sit well with some guys how Kum Kovac micromanaged the team at the WC and then on the way out he told players what they could or could not say to the media.
@Marko……no, I just know the diaspora hrvati better than you do. No way they would sell out a game in mid-week in the US. I think the US game yesterday had more to do with Donovan’s testimonial more than anything else. The reason the game will be played in Europe is for the US-based players in Europe. Plus, Suker and the savez told the US they didn’t want to play in the US at that time of year. So, it pleased both sides. Face it, Cro in the US is not a big draw and never will be Puppet Suker wants to maximize $$$$$ when it comes to friendlies and there is not much money to be made in the US. Cro makes more money playing this game in a half empty stadium in England than they would in the US because of TV rights.
To answer your question about Suspension Joey……5 more games.
10 years ago this is how the Darijo we know played against Bulgaria…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMHEzuPONQ8
@Marko
Due to his age probably limited play if that but would be nice to have one game from him in Zagreb before he retires from national duty. ..(however saying that he has been more productive compared to some on the back four.)
i thought he had 5 games remaining. Not sure though.
Its funny imagine in 2014 if a starting 11 that if some things ddnt go down the wrong way this past months lets look
Pletikosa Srna Simunic Corluka Pranjic Modric Rakitic Olic Kranjcar Perisic Mandzukic or in 2014 wouod Croatia fans rather have Subasic Jedvaj/Vrslajko Corluka Lovren Strinic-Modric Rakitic Perisic Kramaric Rebic Mandzukic.
who cares how jelavic felt, he is a junior
shit happens and you deal with it, this is how he dealt with it by leaving, no loss for the team
Kovac did the correct thing
How many more games does Simunic need to serve? Do you guys think he’ll return to the fold?
I think because he hasn’t retired, Kovac has given him assurance that he will be called up.
Jelavic was pissed because he was asked to warm up early during the game….schindendeld, Kovacic and kramaric were also told to warm up. Later, when there was 10 minutes left he subbed in Kovacic who had already cooled down…anybody that understands the game understands you don’t let a player cool down and put him in…..but he did. Jelavic felt as if he was treated like a junior, being asked to warm up early and then not get on the field…I do understand his logic.
I ike a team mixed with youth and experience. For all your info Rebic was man of match yesterday and british media were shocked that a small corrupt counrty have talent like that and nk is a neznalica why play Rebic when you have olic lol. This is not 2004 its 2014 there is actually talent to work with sadly Kovqc is an asshole odjebi nazad u austriju.
@mama So playing at a neutral ground at craven cottage is better? Very few Croatians, and neutrals everywhere.
It would be a home game for the US in NY, so why would it be crazy to have more US than Croatians? hahahahah. You’ll see more Croatians in NY, than in London.
Jelavic leaving does not show problem within the team. It shows problem only with Jelavic. He doesn’t want to on the bench, that is his problem. Call it ego.
Unfortunately, I agree with ziva on this one. Let’s of US fans and a handful of hrvati.
Disappointing on the part of jelavic. Even if he thought something was not right, it shows an extremely selfish attitude to walk out like that’s. Especially considering kovac actually still plays him since he took over including even the world cup opener! Good riddance. I won’t be cheering for him to do well at club
@Ziva
Hahaha you don’t think US vs Croatia at Red Bull Arena (25k)wouldn’t pack itself? hahahhahaha you’re an idiot.
US vs Ecuador drew 36k fans in East Hartford!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHL_5kSdGnI This is Red Bulls vs New England Revolution… and you think people won’t come watch the repka live, some for the first time. You’re being an asshole just to be one ziva, never change lol.
Nikica Jelavic announced he will no longer play for the national team!
@Marko……makes no sense to play it in the US. Game is not attractive enough to get a big crowd. Hrvati wont show up for a mid-week game and not enough ticket/purchasing power. Makes sense to have it in Europe with the number of US-based players in Europe.
I don’t care either way for Jelavic. I never thought he was a big game player for the repka. The bench was his role.
But, this shows there is some trouble within the team, because players usually depart when the results are not good. He left after we got 6 points in 2 games.
Just goes back to the Kum Kovac – Mamic partnership.
Also, think about this……..Jelavic’s uncle could be walking around ZG mad……never get a hercegovac in ZG mad, especially a mobster like him.
And whoever wrote the post mocking ZG fans for not showing when the repka plays, why are you mocking them????? They should be applauded for saying no to Mamic and company.
On a positive note, our boys did press well yesterday.
They held position well also.
However, the same problem of creating scoring chances in the final third remains. Playing Rakitic behing Mandzo did not help much either.
3 points is good in a tough environnment like that. Good for Kovac and the team. Amazing how some of these other teams have lost points to weaker teams. Spain and Portugal come to mind.
We’re playing the US on Nov 12 in London. Too bad they didn’t arrange it in thhe states.
Yeah right play the game at poljud, wait you have drainage issues so the game won’t be played. Yeah that won’t embarrass us. lol
come on, everyone on this site has been saying for such a long time that Jelavic should not be part of this team, now you all can be happy instead crying for him to be part of the team
Anybody know where the match against Bulgaria will be played when they come to play against us? After the beef between the fans in the stands yesterday i hope its not Maksimir. Bulgarian ultras will humiliate us there and make us look like we are scared since nobody in Zagreb goes to the games anymore. Fingers crossed its played on Poljud. They defiantly wont embarrass us there….
Maybe they’re still pissed that we beat them 3 times in the middle ages, so then they had to settle for shitty serbia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian–Bulgarian_wars
This is how clear it is that Kovac doesn’t know what he’s doing. He sent Jelavic to warm up with 15 minutes left than told him 5 minutes later to sit down.
Kovac has no plan and no direction.
I fear this situation will get worse and more players will continue to leave. It’s becoming a volcanic eruption.
Jelavic retires from repka.
What is going on with Rebic?
Is he still suffering from that problem with his foot?
i wonder how soon Mamic tells Kum Kovac to call up Duje Cop…..
i am hoping Jelavic speaks with the media. you know how the hercegovci get when they meltdown.
wasnt ur last post hoorah we won ziva ?
yeah i knew nepoznat – i twas about to annoy u ! heeh
but as i said it doesnt matter, looks good famframe is r ohigh tho
i told you guys there are issues within this team and Kum Kovac. Jelavic basically confirmed that this morning.
I wonder if Kum Kovac should be worried knowing Jelavic’s uncle. this just gets better.
I can only imagine the response if we lost, be grateful we got the three points. The job is to qualify who cares what it looks like.
Good luck for Croatia! Bulgaria has more chances.
Well at least we are not making stuff up on the website.
All of a sudden, “Olic header wins it for Croatia against Bulgaria”
http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/croatia/euro-2016/half-time-report/half-time-report-olic-puts-croatia-ahead_181727.html
.
Ante(ZsD) i can see where you are going with this and may i suggest you send in young Ziva to TCB, just make sure his guy in the savez does a good job planting the gun, we dont want little Ziva coming out of that toilet with just his dick in his hands 😛
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBuEOLN4L0
They didnt want me to say this,but I am on a way higher salary package than you.
see, aren’t you guys glad that me and the guys who run the website came to an agreement to extend our working relationship on this site.
we missed this earlier in the week……Doper Cilic ost in the first round of a Masters series event.
Still on a US Open hangover? I say so. So, I give him the benefit of the doubt.
@Peter North-Zivas has had a word to his “Savez Guy”after your suggestion that he could maybe “Bump off”the likes of Suker and Mamic.He has agreed and it will be done.He is going to whack them with his toilet brush,swing his mop at them,wrap them in toillet paper and finish them off by squirting them with Toilet Duck under the rim cleaner.
Thank goodness for Zivas inside guy!
sometimes it is ore than talent.
Egos, leadership, clicks….are all elements that can make or break a team.
Things are troubling right now, but let’s compare it to other European’s top teams. Spain is in a transitional stage, Italy struggled to beat Azerbaijan at home. Portugal, Greece, Bosnia all lost in their first qualifying games. Switzerland have been struggling to put away chances after outplaying England and Slovenia.
I’m not going to overreact unless Azerbaijan gives them trouble on Monday or Italy wins 2-0 or 3-1. It wasn’t pretty today and tactics were absolute garbage. Maybe I’m too optimistic, but this team has far too much talent to continue to underperform.
Forever wear your hater goggles, ziva. Does it makes you feel like a big shot? hahaha.
@dannyj…….no need for them to get Ebola. I would just give them one of STD Corluka’s girls. An hour with one of these girls who would give them all sorts of diseases that could knock them out for a long, long time.
No chance I wil change. Being the ombudsmen and being objective and without the homer glasses is something to strive for.
if suker and mamic were the first cros to get ebola no one here would cry… ok bad joke
Hahaha never change ziva, never change.
so realistically we can more then likely expect to limp into euro and either A get hot or B get our asses handed to us
shame… are we just hyping this team or are they really capable of doing great things?
are we really just a good coach/system away from becoming a contendor?
Today’s win against Bulgaria gave Kovac just enough plaster to patch up the cracks…..
But one day they’ll be an earthquake, and when that day of reckoning comes, the fault lines will be too big too cover up….
remove friendlies from your equation. How man against legit competition not named Cameroon
The last time Pranjic played good was at Euro 2008 and that was 6 years ago.
@Ziva
Ivan Perisic 4 goals in his last 6 games. Thats who.
@JSZ…..correct. You either drop Srna completely or he stays on as captain. Dropping a captain but keeping him on the squad is a recipe for trouble.
I wonder what type of fine/punishment the savez will get as a result of our idiot fans.
Watching this team is like watching my jizz dry up on a chicks face after I decorate her.
I might have to turn to watching MLS if this doesn’t get better.
I am sick of seeing Suker’s dumb face on TV.
Get Brozovic off the field, there are better options riding the pine. For the love of The Hedgehog, I’d even go as low as saying I’d rather have Kranjcar return to the NT and start, yuck.
We are all sick of Pranjic, so enough said on that one.
Someone above mentioned they were hoping Lovren came back for the Italy game, why? He’ll just get skinned like he does on a weekly basis in the Prem. I’d rather have Scifo in there. Don’t know why he was not in the original selection list.
Can someone eliminate Mamic and Suker in one fell swoop? Ziva, with all your “insiders” over there, get on the horn and get someone to whack both of them Goodfellas style.
@JSŽ I’d rather have Jedvaj/Vrsaljko…Darijo you’ve been awesome, but its time to hang up the boots.
duhhh
we have players on the wing who can score????? Like who. They sure havent been scoring for the repka.
Srna is the Captain there is no bench for a captain he either plays in 11 or retires no bench duhhh
^^^^Please Ziva,you are the last person who should be bringing up selective memory. You are the” Selective Memory Manipulating Maestro” 😉
IMO Our Best Midfield.
Weak Opponent that will bunker: Play vs Azerbajan (sp?)
-Perisic-Kramaric-Halilovic-
——–Modric-Rakitic———
(Gives us 3 attackers with Perisic, Kramaric, and Mandzukic. Halilovic would help cutting in, and breaking the bunker. Rakitic, and Modric can ping nice triangles with Halilovic and feed the 3 forwards.)
Even opponent or, Better(Tough games):
-Rebic-Rakitic-Perisic-
—-Modric-Brozovic—-
(We have more ‘fighters’ in this team. People who will run and create counter attacking opportunities. We have fast players on the wing who can score, and help defend. Brozovic with his 3 lungs will help cover the other teams’ talented midfielders, and Modric and Raketa will do their thing.)
As of now, Mandzukic is a lock up top.
vs Azerbajin
———–Mandzukic————-
-Perisic–Kramaric–Halilovic-
——–Modric-Rakitic———–
-Strinic–Šifo-Corluka–Srna-
————-Subasic————–
Brozovic, Olic, Pranjic, Vida OUT
Kramaric, Halilovic, Strinic, Šifo IN
you can big in the backline, but that doesn’t mean anything. Shit, Lovren has the look of an athlete defender, but he has been smoked a number of times this year in the EPL and CL play.
You guys were all saying we would dominate in the air against Mexico because of the superios height advantage. And, for those of you who have selective memory….Mexico scored some goals on crosses/set pieces. You know, the area where you guys thought our height advantage would come through. Set pieces and crosses today are more about accurate passes and timely runs than height.
@Marko
Yup. That back four is good.
And if Lovren starts shitting the bed, then you can sub in Schifo. If Strinic struggles, then you can throw in Vrsaljko. Jedvaj can also play CB, so you can put in Vrsaljko at RB too.
Fact is, we should only really be playing Lovren, Corluka, Schifo, Jedvaj, Strinic, and Vrsaljko.
We can still call up Srna, but we need to start phasing him out…and Vida should be a last resort. Pranjic shouldn’t even be a defender.
Our Strongest Defense:
-Strinic–Lovren-Corluka–Jedvaj-
—————Subasic——————
And its really big.
6’1 – 6’2 – 6’4 – 6’2
———-6’3———-
Plus having Perisic, and Mandzukic our team would be huge.
Slabo its just that these coaches all run their mouths and talk and talk. Anyway if olic was gonna play the entire game why didnt NK give Kovacic and Halilovic to gracan so they beat england tuesday i dont get NK he is no better than Stimac and Živa you are right Kumovi if you have Kumovi San giorno by your side your safe in cro.
Gadi mi se vise its a shame i use to get pumped for games this sucks life goes on. But its just the same film over and over over same igra and stuff. All this mafija needs to odjebati and let our football grow shit man. If a player is 15 and is better than a 30 year old vet he should play but manaders and mafija odjebite i have nothing against a lineup that looks like this Subasic Vrsaljko Corluka Lovren Strinic Modric Rakitic Kramaric Perisic Rebic/Halilovic Mandzukic Jelavic Perica Livaja(neka je bolestan uglavu ali ima muda.) Maybe trh Kukoc at Lb he looks like he is bolestan uglavu ali neka i know i am ranting but the fact that if we had a sposoban coach this mix of youth and vets can work olic pranjic srna bok adio.
Kum Kovac only needs to please one man. Mamic, and nobody else.
Imagine if you guys were able to get a job only because of who you were kumovi with. Not bad if you can get it.
Your right dude Kovac fixed the problems lol
How many shot on goal did we have today?
-Pranjic left back
-Olic on the wing
– and btw Rakitic started as a deep mid and later pushed up.
Ok here are the stats. No problems right?
vs Mexico 4 shots on target
vs Cyprus 4 shots on target
vs Malta 4 shots on target
vs Bulgaria 1 shot on targe. Repeat 1 shot on target!!!!
But your right Kovac fixed the problem
Fixed?
What was the plan of attack, how many times did we get goal scoring chances, where were our chances, who created?
Selecting the starting lineup is only one part of the plan, setting the formation is another, giving the strategy is also another….tactic, formation on defence and offence….where they attack from, each player has their duties!
If you play Pranjic over Strinic, don’t you think we should see more offense? If you play Rakitic behind the forward, shouldn’t we see more creativity? How many shots on goal did we have? What happened to getting balls into Mandzukic? There were several shortcomings today!
Olic pranjic Srna hvala a bog. Time za mlade nade and modric rakitic corluka mandzukic are the vets of the team now time Modric the C. for new generation time for jedvaj vrsaljko rebic pasalic perica kramaric tomecak etc.
Also nice save by Suba could have used that in brazil haaa.
What do you mean nothing changes, rakitic was pretty much playing as a forward today while modric was playing further back. What everyone was bitching about he fixed
At the end of the day, people are going to doubt Kovac until he gets a big result. Same with everyone on this site shitting on Bilic, but what Bilic did against Spain and Italy in euros was amazing. Even though they didn’t go through, that was excellent. One header away from knocking out the champions.
After the Italy game, we will see. Italy won’t sit back, it ll be open play. After that game we ll see.
Denis I think it’s safe to say all want is an improvement. Show us that you made mistakes and your trying to fix them. I don’t think anyone here would be opposed to that.
If Kovac just showed that he’s trying to fix the problem we would be more forgiving.
Instead he forces the same shit down our throat, no change.
It doesn’t work fuck you guys I don’t care I’m still doing it.
Man that attitudes going to get him hung he’s looking more k ike a dictator.
Dalmo Ante- you’re absolutely 100% right…my bad….sorry!
@ Poglavnik Thats true, but its like wallpapering over cracks, all appears to be fine until the house falls down 😀
I don’t know what the fuck everyone is complaining about regarding Brozovic. He suits playing alongside Rakitic/Modric more so than anybody. Kovac also got Rakitic to move up more and played the most attacking of the central 3. I don’t like pranjic, but he’s our most attacking left back on the roster, we kept a clean sheet so why shit on him?
I dont agree with starting Olic though. Id rather play Halilovic and have an extra playmaker in the lineup.
Whats with Jedvaj? wasn’t on the u21 roster, or NT roster? He should be our RB RIGHT NOW.
Until Kovacic grows more, and adds to his game more while at Inter, he is only a sub to me. Maybe not in the first 11 until after Euro 2016.
Defense has been solid under Kovac. They let up 6 goals in 7 (Competitive) games. 5 clean sheets (Iceland x2, Cameroon, Malta, Bulgaria). The 3 brazil goals came primarily from the ref and Pletikosa, and the Mexico game was a 10 min collapse.
Although i would have started Strinic, and MAYBE Kramaric instead of Brozovic, Halilovic over Olic is HUGE for me. The kid needs to play, whole new dimension to the team.
I hope Halilovic gets the start over Olic, and Jedvaj gets a call up and starts (SERIOUS DOUBT).
BTW PEOPLE BEFORE THIS GAME WERE SAYING HOW BULGARIA AWAY, WILL BE THE 3RD HARDEST GAME OF THIS CYCLE…PEOPLE SAID THEYD BE FINE WITH A DRAW…WE WON, BE HAPPY, STFU.
Well if Brozovic and Perisic could hit empty nets the game finishes 3-0 (on only 2 shots).
@ Slavonac a better game plan infers he has a game plan to begin with, im yet to see evidence of that 😀
Its a cluster fuck and i dont understand what he possibly gets out of it, he sure as shit wont get a coaching gig because based on this play and what having certain players on the team will do to moral we are bound to have a couple scotland like fuck ups along the way.
@Mate Cleveland,
“Did they not control the play”
Yes, in their own half. So what?
“is did they really play that bad”
Yes, any decent european side would have took it to the bulgarians.
I would rather have a 1-0 win, where we pressed and had Bulgaria on the ropes for 90 minutes, then a 4-0 win were played 60 minutes with a man up, 2 penalties, and an own goal. Our game sucks.
“Give the guy a fucking shot to put the team together.”
I would. But he’s using the same players that failed against Mexico. Changes need to be made to “put the team together”.
@Stef,
Yes, I forgot about that header.
The game was very fragmented, especially in the second half. Little organization, they couldn’t set the tempo, many plays were without thought and support….I didn’t see them build an attack and I certainly didn’t see many chances at goal.
Last week I said Bulgaria is no cake walk but I expected a better game plan….I didn’t see that!
All I’m saying is did they really play that bad. Did they not control the play, move the ball forward, completely stop any of their attacks besides in part of the second half when kovac probably should have made some subs. I mean damn, they have to play nice, and get a result, and win by a big score line. Take it easy, it’s the beginning of qualifying. Give the guy a fucking shot to put the team together.
Denis I got the second chance. That BRUTAL header by Brozovic lol.
Nobody around him and he heads it over the net.
Sramota!
@Stef T.O.,
I agree buddy. I was telling the boys at St, Anthonys in LA today that I its mexico-croatia all over again. If Bulgaria was Mexico, we would have lost.
@Slavonac from Canada,
You are not wrong. Luckily for us, the tournament is watered down and we will qualify with ease.
.
Yea dude it was fixed. And Mamic picks kovacs line ups…all mafia
@Mate Cleveland
Croatia-Cameroon was fixed buddy.
I expected 0-0 or 1-1 actually. I didn’t want to make my prediction until I saw the lineups. Once I saw Vida, Pranjic, Olic and Brozovic starting, I expected a draw.
I expected Bulgaria to be better. They suck big time, but I will congratulate them on their heart and spirit. Bulgaria couldn’t score with their own wives.
IvicA has a good point. Italy is in cruise control and developing their youth. We are giving Olic 90 minutes. Two organizations going in opposite directions.
The score doesn’t matter to me as much as the quality of play. A decent European side would have beat us today.
Tell me this, besides that chance Perisic shanked, what other chances did we produce today? The answer is ZERO.
Any decent European side would have destroyed Bulgaria in Sofia or in Damascus.
.
Mate-Cameroon was a complete disgrace at the World Cup…Mexico embarrassed us, so did Scotland…twice. We’ve lost the ability to play tactical soccer and to regularly get results.
I love out team but sadly, I hate to say we are not playing an attractive style and we are patching holes with straw…it’s very noticeable and has become frustrating. We’re one loss to an average team away to how it was with Stimac unless something changes. I hope I’m wrong!
Reading the newspapers from back home and Kovac is saying this is the “prava Hrvatska”.
I’m officially convinced he’s mocking us. There i no way he’s this stupid. He’s doing this on purpose.
No way anyone brings Pranjic back after the WC disaster.
Olic on left wing again. Brozovic over Kovacic and Kramaric?
It was like watching the Mexico game. All possession and doing nothing with it. The idiot hasn’t fixed the biggest problem.
Getting the right guys on the field who shoot.
Yea man, you’re right, they weren’t dangerous at all.
Definitely something going on i would doubt he can be that dumb, even the Kramaric warm up and then Kovacic coming in instead has a bad odour about it (not that Kovacic didnt deserve to be put in), it begs the question of how deep is kovac in the dirt of all that surrounds the NT?
He has to decide am i a mobsters hired gun or do i want to coach my national team to its capabilities and create a good coaching career out of it. He surely must know that every match we play his image takes a bigger hit.
As it stands we have guys running around who will be retired by 2016 as IvicA said and in the mean time we arent actively grooming replacements so that the change is seamless, instead we have a coach who makes one change at the 80 minute mark. There are players taking to the field who dont deserve their place on the roster namely vida and pranjic and throw srna onto that list, then we have players who under perform, it shouldnt matter what their name is or which club they belong to, if they dont bring it for Hrvatska they can ride the pine and someone else can get a go, there shouldnt be a lock on any postion, ali jebi ga Pranja has a lock on LB, sto drugo da kazem?
I think people were expecting more than one shot on net, lol
@Ziva
You would be exempt from jock-sniffing should you choose to wear your Landy-Cakes jersey tonight… 😉
Sorry, didn’t post my name, Mate cleveland
@slavonac
Look man as much as I don’t want to spend all night going back and forth, I’ll say this. Are they playing at their top level, definitely not, are they the sum of their parts, not yet. The operative word here is yet. Kovac wants Croatia to play like Dortmund, atletico madrid, etc. teams that work hard and produce. The game against Cameron stands out in my mind as a game where they played well and I’m sure there are other games where they played well, maybe their first game against Belgium in qualifiers. I don’t want to go through the brain damage of looking back at prior results.
@denis
Take it easy man. Was it really that bad. What result were you expecting a 4-0 blowout in a really tough environment. Relax, the process is just starting. And to everyone, kovac isn’t going to play with a DM and quite frankly using those will slowly die. DM like xabi alonso is the way of the future. Look at Real Madrid, bayern. Destroyers aren’t modern football.
btw I DLed the KickAss.to torrent and it’s russian not french
Check out the video of our fans. Even the fans were sick of the bullshit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn0oqwEg9AE
@Dalmo,
You make a good point. Something doesn’t make sense though. Zero subs until the 80th minute? Niko Kovac doesn’t seem that dumb. Something is going on behind the scenes.
We’re guaranteed a top two spot. Bulgarian and Norwegian soccer gas fallen hard.
Italy is smart. They’re aware that they’re in a joke of a qualifying group and they are already preparing for Euro 2016.
Here we are, playing 40 year olds, 90 minutes a game. Players who will be on the last legs of their careers in two years time, and we’ll have to field a whole new lineup who have never played together to start the tournament.
@ Denis i get the whole playing his part to jump to somewhere better, but surely it would be in his own interests to use the arsenal at his disposal to the best of its ability and come out shining? Then again given his lack of smarts as a coach he could just be a dumbass and not realise that no one will hire a hack coach. He has to ask himself will mamic and the other mobsters continue to fund him when no team will go near him? Granted the overall figures of w/l/d dont augur overly badly for him, but any club that does its due diligence wouldnt hire him. Of course he may be sitting pretty financially and wont give a shit, but a man vain about his image might want to come out still being a hero and not a zero with a nose job 😀
Basic fact is bilic in his first two years did really well and his star was rising, in hindsight he probably wishes he had taken the offers back in 08, if niko has legitimate coaching aspirations and isnt just mamic’s pawn he would do well to start taking it seriously, Croatias success would be his too.
waste a golden generation !!
with the stupid manager !!
you can’t play the best when you are out of position.
someone please to slap Ko Fuck !!
You guys do realize 0 fuckn 0 shots on goal, right?
They scored on their own net lol.
This is a disaster.
Just when you think this moran Kovac should fix the problems from the WC he continues.
When I saw Pranjic on my screen I almost broke my television.
“Zadovoljan sam našom predstavom danas, dečki su se borili. Uzeli smo tri boda na gostovanju u Bugarskoj i to je najvažnije. Na dobrom smo putu da se kvalificiramo na Euro”, rekao je Šuker
That sums it up right there.
Players:
1) We still lack a DM.
2) Call it lack of heart, disinterest, or playing not to get injured: One of these is on most of our players mind.
3) The Bulgarians clearly outplayed us in the second half, they just don’t have the talent to come away with three three points.
4) “Dificult atmosphere” that is bullshit.
5) The national team is not priority #1 for most of our players. They don’t have that die on the field attitude.
example: Rakitic fights, claws, sprints his way to the ball for Barcelona. For Croatia, he kicks the ball around hoping not to get hurt.
5) Nothing will change unless the mafia steps aside. Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
We have the talent to qualify for this watered down tournament by finishing in the top two. With a little bad luck, we qualify through the playoffs.
.
fuckn sweet torrent man, downloading at full speed,
surprised that many seeds that quick for such a lacklustre game but not complaining : )
I haven’t been this disappointed in our national team in a long time.
Manager: I really don’t know what is going on in his mind.
1) Pranjic, dude struggled at the world cup and was lousy at best against a below average European side.
2) Took him 80 minutes to make the first sub. Croatia was on the ropes from the 55th – 80th minute of play.
3) Brozovic – Clearly a money move. In a sense, I can’t really blame Kovac for this because maybe it was “start Brozovic or it is your job”.
4) Kovac is just playing his part and hoping to land a bigger and better position in the future.
Bobby V says:
Bulgarian fans started with the flares – chanting “Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia”
is that true ??? what a bunch of complete cunting cunts
@Nepoznat
Cheers !! Downloading now.. the language isnt too important cos there’ll be music anyways so doesnt matter if it’s in french : )
link to download the game (in French) in 720p:
http://kickass.to/euro-2016-qr-group-h-bulgaria-vs-croatia-10-10-2014-720p-popeye-t9690687.html
Result is great and that is all that matters.
But, the style and product in nowhere near to the sum of the parts.
Everybody is aware Srna wanted to leave already, and Kovac told him to come back. Look, whether it’s Kovac asking him to stay or Mamic grooming someone to fill the position..who knows. What we learned today, is what we’ve known for the past 2 years:
Our team is being run by crooks that care more about getting a big paycheck and less about winning a title.
Srna has been shit. His crosses have been shit, he is so predictable and can’t beat players anymore. Time for Jedvaj and Vrsaljko to battle for that starting spot.
Olic on the wing again is making me crazy, it is better to put Kovacic there than on the bench
Coach Kovac is now 7-1-2
not bad…
Bulgarian fans started with the flares – chanting “Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia”
With Olic and Pranjic playing on the left side, I just came to the scary realization that are left-side, combined, is nearly 70 years old.
Well, so much for going with youth. I’m curious to see how this Odd Couple performs against Azebijian.
Naprid !!
I don’t know what to think. We didn’t play great at all but we got the three points in Bulgaria. Lets wait if Italy and Norway win in Bulgaria too. If we beat those Azerbaijan dudes, we can start to talk about a great start.
@ante legendo
Tko je puko?
@mate
people on here are clowns and like to be upset, a bunch wish croatia would of lost so they can blame the coach, savez etc,
best to ignore them and enjoy this win
Cleveland- can you recall the last time Croatia looked good…solid, play as if they had a system that worked?
in the world cup we never looked good…we did ok against Brazil and had some bad luck from a shit ref…but what game can you recall in the last two years where we’ve done well….2012 Euro’s?
Puko si
I hope they dock us points and do whatever they want. Call me croatia hater and what not but I’m tired of this hooligan bullshit. Something needs to be done to send a message. We deserve it kad smo stoka.
Olic isn’t a winger, definitely not a ring winger. When you play pranjic you can’t play Olic on the left where I think he is better than on the right. But you can’t play Olic on the left because he is a defensive liability and so is pranjic. So we play perisic on the left whereas he prefers the right. So technically we play 2 players out of position so we can play a shitty pranjic.
I do like brozovic but I don’t think he’s better than kovacic and kramaric. I wonder how much mamic had to do with that selection today considering he still plays for dinamo. Something to think about.
Halilovic played solid the last few games for us yet he was sat down for Olic who we play as a winger eventhough he scores goals as a forward? He is getting older so keep him on the bench as a sub for mandza since you know he’ll work his ass off.
But then again it’s easy to be smart when you’re not calling the shots.
I didn’t see anything really that bad in the game. They controlled the majority of the game, besides maybe twenty minutes there in the second half. They were compact, created some decent chances and probably could have scored more. It was nice to see why Kovac likes Brozovic so much with how much he does run and at the same time creates. Maybe he doesn’t have the quality to be good against top national teams like Italy, but we’ll have to wait and see for that. It’s kind of obvious too that Perisic may still be a little outside of form considering the fact he came back from two months out just a few weeks ago and played something like three games in 10 days.
I don’t know why everyone is so negative, it’s a mind set we need to shake out of especially as the next generation. Yea, sure, we didn’t blow them out, but Italy just barely got the win, Spain lost, and a handful of other top teams just barely shook out results this round and the last. We’re finally starting to see what Kovac is talking about with a more work focused team, like a dortmund. He played modric as more of a pirlo position and let rakitic go forward. If anything, he probably should have used more substitutions and more often, but all in all what is there to complain about. Was anything that bad, besides Pranjic being a little weak on the left and not subbing out one or a few of the forwards.
Iggy,
From what I’ve seen, it were mostly Croatian fans.
Boring – very boring. Doesn’t feel like we won, didn’t get excited once about anything.
Enjoyed the U21 game much more. We just gave an inferior team (England) too much respect.. Hoping for a win on Tuesday.
Would like to see Muric and Jedvaj on this team.
I thought Croatia a couple of decent chances. Perisic nearly scored on about three occasions. Manzo and Srna both found him on multiple occasions. Brozovic should have done much better with the open header. They created chances, just not enough possession that you’d like to see from them against a mediocre opponent.
I understand the hatred for Pranjic, but he wasn’t all that bad. Vida was clearly the weak link today. Lovren has to be back for the Italy game, otherwise it could get ugly.
the reason i ask about the stoppage is this:
which fans because were they croat fans and can we expect to be docked points etc??? Im assuming since no one mentioned it they werent our fans ??
Great 3 points. ALL things CONSIDERED.
Iggy,
They had to play 3 extra minutes in the first half because of some fans who threw flares on the field.
About the game:
Three points. That’s great. But we have to say that Bulgaria is an absolute shitteam. With our performance today, we wouldn’t have beat the Italians, that’s for sure.
Pranjic did okay today, but i really do think we should replace Olic by Halilovic and Brozovic by Kovacic.
To be honest , I think we didn’t create anything today. There was the goal, a stupid owngoal by the Bulgarians and there was the missed opportunity by Perisic. On the other side, Bulgaria didn’t creaty anything.
One thing I didn’t understand, why did Kovac take out Rakitic after 75 minutes?
Croat- life would be a whole lot easier if I had a broom and mop!
@ Ernest its not about winning 3-0 its about how we play, its about the players on the field, the decisions or lack there of made by the coach and if anyone comes out of this match thinking we are on the right track they have no clue. Rakitic, Modric, Mandzukic and Perisic on the team sheet, i sure as hell dont expect budalaov to score the goal. Take the points and move on, but it will be more of the same.
Niko is talking about turning to youth and has Olic, Srna and Pranjic running around for 90 minutes, the last of which shouldnt even be in the squad because he is a total fuck up.
Do you work for the NSA Slavonac? you must be pretty impressive to have a computer and a desk at work….all I get is a broom and mop….
Win or lose, our NT games were fun to watch. I used to look forward to the games. Seems like they have been boring as shit the past several years. Case in point – today’s game.
Heard some people (mainly Denis) say that Corluka was done following the loss to Brazil. Lost count on how many headers he won today. Still plays a vital role in the defense. Just hope he doesn’t have to defend against Immobile one on one on a counter or fast break.
Croatia still have no style. But they sure love to pass the ball backwards.
Win is nice but this game does nothing for the future.
Pranjic playing makes no sense.
Brozovic showed a little bit today not much.
Shoud of made an extra two subs one for olic his old and tired.
perfect, they won, three points,
Done and dusted! I’ll take it.
as I had mentioned earlier. I watched this from the computer at my work desk and can say, from this point of view…this was scary, uninventive, lack of tactic, looked like there was no strategy…very unlike someone that comes with a plan…there was no plan in this game, it was disorganized and a pitiful display!
I think that Brozovic had a good game.
He passed well, was stable in midfield and kept on breaking down there attacking play. And he started pushing forward towards the end. well done Broza.
oh yeah, if anyone becomes aware in the following days of a torrent of the game (preferably high def) post a linky somewhere cos im trying to collect the games for a youtube vid at the end of campaign again.. already got the malta one
Well…a win is a win but that wasn’t impressive. Kovac needs to figure something out.
Srna and Olic were pretty terrible today. Can’t wait for the new guard to come in. I know Srna is starting by default, but let Kramaric or Halilovic start against Azerbaijan please.
Three points is three points I guess. Pretty disappointing 2nd half.
You guys see Rakitic and Modric on the team sheet and think we can win every game 3-0? Imagine if you saw a team sheet with Silva, Costa, Fabregas, Koke, Iniesta etc. what would you think then? and they lost
we can hold possession but we need creativity. Disappointing display.
This is a great 3 points on the road. Im not a Kovac guy but you guys need to chill out. If you think its easy to get 3 points on the road in qulifying then youre insane. Ask Spain how that went against an average side yesterday.
Hat Trick for Chiellini! and I can say that I’ve scored more than one goal so I should be helpful I hope…..
Kovac is a terrible coach based on his decisions today. Absolutely awful.
got the 3 full points, qualifying is off to a great start now on to Azerbaijan in Osijek!
phew.. yard hakka to watch that but i spose at least we won which is good away from home
that was underwhelming to say the least
Nice 3 points.
Now it’s keep away time.
Rakitic heads the ball far better than Brozovic.
lol chiellini scored 2 goals and an own goal in that italy game.. lmao
Bulgaria look exhausted and Brazovic fucked that one up royally.
.
Regardless of the outcome, 3 points is all that matters.
Perisic just wiffed on a ball that would of made it 2-0
that wont be going on Perisic’s highlight reel 😀
Perisic still looking rusty sadly. He should have put that away.
shit italy are winning 2-1 again sorry.. dayum
@Croat, but do you score more goals? cos so far we havent in this match 😛
And is serbasic really of subian decent
it sounds like a war zone in the stands…. surely UEFA fines these cigani
The only reason why brozovic was offside was because of Srnas slow motion reflexes
Since we all “love” ziva’s names of players…I have a new one for him…”slow motion Srna” …the only srna that Dario represents these days is the one I shoot every November during hunting season
This game is like my sex life disappointing
this has been unimpressive…I’m losing hope!
in good news azerbaijian just eequalised against italy
They’re throwing balls onto the pitch now during our attack. God Damn POS CIGANI.
offside Brozovic
i guess mamic said no to Kramaric coming on
Worst coaching I have ever seen…first substitute at the 80 minute mark…horrible team play, horrible defending. … win or no win garbage game
FUCKING BULLSHIT AGAIN
make that Kovacic instead of Kramaric
This is game is kinda looking like Bulgaria paid the ref second half the way the decisions are going but other than that if we play like we’re playing now against Italy R.I.P win
Kovacic now
nice save from Subam the bugari just seem to want it more at this juncture
Fucking Olic trying to be fancy now. AGAIN, WC bullshit.
Finally Kramaric coming on
need to make some of our subs just to slow down the game a bit
fuck it kovac doesnt utilise Modric to his best abilities, he can just stick him at left back and we will be fine, did a spanish ref just call brozovic a diver? Kramaric coming in
Let them play advantage. My god these refs…
although I’m watching from my desk I surely don’t see much creativity in the 2nd half…I don’t like what I see.
retardation in its purest form, defending a one goal lead that we got from an own goal
Please bring a sub on already Kovac.
I think this ref is drunk too.
Is the cameraman drunk?
yeah i didnt see the first half at all but i hope it was a better performance than the second cos we aint looking at all good now
We dont need srna out we just have to stop bunkering
Holy shit that was close. We need Srna out.
All the space in the world and Srna manages to cross it over everyone. This guy….
Srna really needs to hang up the boots
@poglavnik
You make a good point but they are both attacking mids…neither should play and a true defensive mid should be there to free up Rakitic and Modric. Kovac continues to not play with a defensive mid even though he played that position…ironic to say the least!!
Spanish ref can really piss off right now with these calls.
Yea they were waiting for you to wake up but you kept sleeping so they carried on with the game
the commentator said something about a 3 minute pause in the first half can someone tell me what happened?
sup ya bunch of kinky fuckers !
awake and watching now.. sweetabix we’re winning 🙂
I don’t know why some of you guys dislike Bulgaria so much, if we let them have their way a thousand years and let them destroy the serbs instead of kralj Tomislav saving them, we wouldnt be having all these problems today
Poglavnik
They are basically the same players. Brozovic is essentially an attacking midfielder. Not sure if their any difference between them.
Is it wrong to hope for Vida to get another yellow against Azerbiajan, so he can’t play against Italy?
Hoping Kovacic or Halilovic comes on in about 15 minutes to spark some life and test those tired backs on Bulgaria.
i can’t watch more going to work… keep the updates coming guys
remember we are the real fans not bandwagon jumpers
Pranjic looking to become amish? 😀 nice pass to no one over the line
@Mali Ante & Allen
Wouldn’t you say that Kovacic over Brozovic leaves us more exposed? You can only have so many playmakers on the field at once. Kovacic should get some 2nd half minutes.
Bulgaria making 2 changes to begin the 2nd half, a Forward and an Attacking MF
The HRT2 commentator needs to do something about the mole below her knee. Damn distracting.
It’s nice to see Perisic back and continuing his good form…as for Pranjic, it’s a matter of time before he costs us. How anyone could continue to use him at left back is beyond me. …I loved Kovac as a player but his continued stubbornness in not utilizing our best players in their true position is mind blowing. Brozovic hasn’t been too bad but playing him ahead of kovacic is crazy. We desperately need a DM and to try vrsaljko at LB again, although Strinic has been ok there.
ajmo momci!!!!
this is personal to the Bulgarians…all they want is for us to fail, they dont care if they do well…just as Serbs, our failure would be their success. I want another goal and then we send a few of their players to the injury list!
@Slovanac from Canada-
Couldn’t of said it better myself-
Hoping we get one more early in the 2nd and catch them pressing late for a 3-0 win.
That would be solid-
Wow Holland losing to mighty Kazakhstan at halftime.
Worse guy on the pitch so far is Vida, best is Perisic and Pranjic isn’t bad. The problem I think is that he’s been told to move all the way up the left when he can so he needs to have the other guys cover for him.
I hope we don’t bunker in the second half, we fucking suck at it.
We have to keep pushing for goals.
for a guy who spends more time in attack pranjic is yet to net himself an NT goal, its just a matter of time before those cigani get a good run down that flank, he is MIA far too often
Pranjic hasn’t looked that bad, but this is Bulgaria so he shouldn’t be a liability. Still think Brozovic has no business starting over someone like Kovacic, but oh well.
Modric has really looked good bossing the midfield at times. Pretty good first half minus Vida’s two failed clearances. Hoping for one more at least to seal the three points and get out of this dump.
ya we looked like we are on all the loose balls… are quality, their crappyness, who knows…
1-0 HRVATSKA at Half Time
this team is a bunch of hacks… huge divide between us and the Bugari in terms of quality, we should easily put 2 more in and let those cigani in the stands burn the stadium down….
I hate these Orthodox cocksuckers…fuck them all!!!
@Allen I was just going to say that.
maybe we can try pranjic in goal??
yes the dead balls… i just hope srna will relinquish it… rakitic should have been taking more at the world cup we all know that… we can’t be having things like kovac getting experience and guys with too much pride not knowing when to back up ruin tournaments
The Perisic goal that became a Bulgarian OG is tentatively Ivica Olic’s 20th goal subject to further review
I have to say I do love the water polo hats.
Vida is looking super shaky. Please get well soon Lovren.
this game is worse than it was in Beograd…fucking intense!
mamic says 2 feet lower and im gettin paid
re: dead ball opportunities
Srna’s days as the #1 taker are long done
not a bad attempt by brozovic, mamic just got firm 😛
if pranjic plays well today is he basically assured a starting spot at euro? jeez
Ajmooooooo!!!We needed that….seriously though…Pranjic is playing?? Unreal
Damn almost a second
Perisic on a nice, precise ball by Rakitic
just turned it on… we’ll take it, but one can clearly see rakitic should be taking our set pieces at this point
Rakitic contributing to the national team finally with a great free kick. We can breathe easy…for now.
call it an OG?
No idea who scored, but GOALLLLLLLL
GOAL!!!!
GOLLLLL
GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL
i think our LB is forgetting the position he plays……. again
Corluka commanding the back pretty well today. Hustling and winning headers at will.
these fans are fucking cigani!
Pranjic looks pretty decent so far.
That was close.
Is it that bad in the stands? I can’t watch at work
the stoppage in play benefits the Bulgarians
Way too passive by Rakitic there. Can this guy please take charge for once on the NT…
@Armada, fuck those gypsies.
seems like we really get along well the with Bulgarians…
This looks worse than Croatia-Greece from 2011 when the game was stopped for ten minutes.
Shit show going on in the stands. Fucking idiots.
Oh shit, we’re fighting with the Bulgarians already. It looks like they’re throwing fireworks at our side.
Jesus the ultras are going bananas in the stands.
Raketa has been getting forward a bunch though, sometimes up top with Mandzukic
Man Srna really has no left foot. No idea what was his deal with that back pass.
Rakitic taking free kicks now. Not a bad delivery on the first one either. Good stuff.
best stream I’ve found (but it’s English not HRT feed): http://firstrowca.eu/watch/288891/1/watch-bulgaria-vs-croatia.html
Thank you!
4-1-4-1
Subasic
Srna – Corluka – Vida – Pranjic
Rakitic
Olic – Modric – Brozovic – Perisic
Mandzukic
What is the line up in todays game?
Damn these Bulgarian fans are rowdy. You can hear them over the commentators.
here JimmyCro: http://www.rojadirecta.me/goto/rivosportt.info/ch7.html
HRT had it as 4-1-4-1 with Raketa as the DM
Anyone have a link for the HRV/Bulgaria game?
I had issues with the other stream, I am using this one:
http://www.rojadirecta.me/goto/rivosportt.info/ch7.html
Fox Sports Plus has Perisic playing left back. Jesus these jokers…
just boring.. i want to start looking for fresh man on th squad, but then Ko Fuck mess them !!
better to go sleep @@
Fox soccer plus is actually showing the game. Now I get to watch some true Americans butcher all the Croatian last names and call the game.
Ajmo Bugari if bulgarija win drinks on me jebaćki se živj ajmo Hns pederi
@IvicA I just assume Raketa will be at the back of MF
Ante Rebic did great. I watched the game on an English channel. The commentators called Rebic the best man on the pitch and couldn’t believe that he’s playing for a second league team.
I liked Livakovic, Datkovic, Mitrovic, Pavicic, Coric and even Livaja too. I expected more from Pjaca but he had to play against Luke Shaw.
The English commentators said that Croatia had a very good side and that they have a lot of future?
I mean behind Mandzo
On a positive note, Rakitic is playing brewing Mandzo.
U21 was exciting to watch though. If only look at me Livaja ran more and the backs made more of an impact.
Time for the real cardiac Croatians though. Pranjic at left back “sigh”.
Is Rakitić actually going to be pushed forward?
Assuming Brozović us starting as our DM, and Modrić playing in his Modrić role… Could it be true?!
Not even Stimac made horrible decisions like this.
Not even close!
This is sad for people who love our national team.
One guy like Kovac ruins it all.
Let’s be real here.
We all knew there was going to be a penalty in this game for England. Let’s not be naive. We had to score a cushion goal, and we didn’t.
Pranjic is playing LB.
What a joke!
Kovac has no clue!
Not the worst result in the world, but obviously playing for a 0-0 draw is much easier than having to score one and not concede. Still got faith but they need to be more aggressive on Tuesday. Can’t allow England to have that much possession.
U-21’s sat back and tried to leave England 1-0 – bad mistake.
Croatia is technically better than England – looked good on the counter-attack, but, should have pressed forward more – not sit back.
Announcers praising Rebic all game. Datkovic playing excellent.
if the goalie didn’t touch the kid the ball would have easily just gone out of bounds!
FUCKING BULLSHIT.
shit penalty wtf did I miss
What a soft penalty. I guess right call, but just lazy all around. Damn shame.
new stream: http://www.stadium-live.biz/Channel5.html
we were just robbed on a counter and should’ve had a very dangerous free kick maybe 24 yards out and near the center of the pitch… and Pasalic then received a yellow for calling the ref out about it
Only a matter of time before Spanish referee to make a horrendous call. How was that not a free kick!?!?
@nepoznat Thanks.. dalmatinac@pinnaclesoftware.ca will work.
looks like our fans are scrapping with the Bulgarian cigani!
@BostonCro well they have held their defensive shape and positioning pretty well, and been pretty threatening on their counters especially with Rebic, so if Hajduk allowed them to play this sort of game they would hold their own
For a player who looks to be in decent shape, Livaja sure doesn’t run a whole lot.
Damn Rebic is going on some great runs. Too bad his last shot ended up in row Z.
Livaja out for Bagaric in 70′
Would the U21s crush Hajduk in a match between the two teams?
sure man get me your email and I’ll send you an invite I have 1 more remaining (can get another one next week, and the week after that, etc)
nepoznat Would I be able to get access to the torrent to get a copy of the game after too?
Cro’s first sub is Pasalic on for Coric in 63′, shortly after England’s 1-1 tying goal
Pranjic and Brozovic both starting? Did NK Kovac not learn anything in Brasil. Brozo is not yet ready for prime time. He literally shit his pants against Brasil. And no need to discuss Pranjic as that has been discussed ad nausem already.
Eventually allowing too much possession in the final third will cost you. Can’t say I’m surprised. Croatia has to pick it up a notch, despite playing well on the counter attack.
ah jebi ga
@Danny yes I would say so, and quite a few of our boys have shown some class. England is looking to make their 2nd sub already to try and get back into it. Look out for England’s #3 (I think), their LB Shaw he has looked the most dangerous
thanks nepoznat…I guess the info is true…damn!
just started watching… are we outplaying them?
@Vatrena born and raised in Zadar and has been in their youth teams but moved up to their A team from u19 when he was 17ish
@Slavonac looks like Index was right this time as I see Pranjic on the list from HNS
here is the true lineup Slavonac, got this from HNS twitter:
http://instagram.com/p/t-xgR4qN1X/
@nepoznat
Thanks buddy! He’s looking good. Do you know if he’s on loan from somewhere?
am I seeing this right….Index is again reporting Pranjic at left back!!!
Kovac has mental midget issues if this is true!
Livakovic plays for NK Zadar
http://www.transfermarkt.com/dominik-livakovic/profil/spieler/205927
Where does our goalie play club?
Love me some Livaja
Haven’t seen much of Pjaca on the ball sadly. Still pretty good first half performance. Mitriovic has been commanding the back line. Hoping maybe he gets a call up in the upcoming spring if he keeps it up rather than waste it on someone like Suspension Joey.
OOOO!
Ooooh Coric. So close to making it two. Rebic once again making an excellent pass.
Forgot to thank you Nepoznat. Really enjoyable game so far.
Look-at-me Livaja. headcase man, headcase.
nista brate
Nepoznat is Da Man for providing the links!
England LB Shaw just had an on goal attempt at an angle that you thought for sure go in but Livakovic got just enough on it to guide it into the back post and it bounced out and was cleared
Croatia has to tighten up on Shaw. How they’re allowing so much space for one of the few stars is mind-boggling.
Jedvaj not even on the bench?
Is he injured? Or was he called to the senior side?
Look-At-Me Livaja scores!!! The punk did something right–finally. He had me worried there for a second. Come to think of it, he still has me worried. Anyway, he provided a vital goal.
Rebic has looked impressive so far. Great touch and going at defenders. Can’t wait to see him back on the senior squad.
nice Livaja header for 0-1 lead for HRVATSKA
Rebic just earned a corner and he almost punched it in
Livaja finishing it like Manzo. Great start for the under-21 squad, even though they haven’t had much possession.
Nice Goal.
4 Hajduci
5 Dinamovoci
1 Rijecin (?)
someone failed someone right there…
That last stream is solid.
Don’t accidentally click the ad at work though. NSFW
Thanks I will register this weekend. U the man
English stream for U21s: http://soccertoall.net/index.php?channel=3
invite & instructions sent Adame… enjoy
Nepoznat
aelbaya21@gmail.com
Hvala puno
No Jedvaj in the U21 starting lineup?
Marko,
hajdukovci, dinamovci and rijecani.
Where is Tin Jedvaj????
Marko is saying that Pranjic and Olic are on the bench.
———–Mandzukic———–
-Perisic-Kramaric-Halilovic-
——–Modric-Rakitic———
-Strinic-Vida-Charlie-Srna–
————Subasic————-
Strong Bench with Kovacic/Brozovic. I’d also expect us to give another cap to Olic (Road to 100 caps before retirement, he’s at 97). Other than those 3, i do really want anybody else coming off the bench… maybe Jelavic.
4 Hajduci
5 Dinamovoci
1 Rijecin (?)
And then their is future captain Rakitic, who played with Basel.
Expanding on the u21 playoff, if they make it to Euro Championship in 2015 and finish in top 4 (out of 8) then they move on to 2016 Olympics!
And for Olympics would be u21 players + you can bring 3 senior players
so it could be a squad including
Kovacic
Rebic
Halilovic
Jedvaj
Vrsaljko
Brozovic
Perica
Coric
Pjaca
Datkovic
etc
PLUS 3 of Mandzukic, Modric, Rakitic, Perisic… or a better Goalie like Kalinic and/or defender like Lovren since there is a lot of fire power in U21s already
one major issue with this is a bunch of them would have just played in Euro 2016 earlier in the summer, plus club commitments, etc
If they’re both starting, then that means Pranjić is at LB again, as Olić will be played on the wing.
If this is true, I think Kovač took the criticism too personally and is out to prove that playing Pranjić at LB was never the issue at the World Cup. If Pranjić plays one good game there, this will all be put to rest and Kovač can move on from this, lol.
Večernji List is saying that Pranjić and Olić are on the bench.
Jutarnji and Index are saying that they’re both starting.
TThis is going to be interesting.
Adame I can invite you to TorrentHR if you give me your email (or send it to Svircic and he’ll get it to me) and you can download the game (and any past game (not all qualifiers/friendlies but a ton of then and ALL tourney games))
or if you remind me tomorrow/Sunday I will look for a public download/replay spot for you
Any links where I can replay the game after
I’m saying 1-1 draw.
That’s just a weak backline…. Bulgaria will get an early one and I’m sure we’ll wait until the 60-80 minute mark to tie.
WTF…did I read this correctly…Pranjic is starting?
http://ifirstrowus.eu
I always watch games on here. Close some pop ups but they have everything usually
definite u21 stream:
http://sportska-tv.in/flash/11.html
enjoy
alternate site that may have links to U21 streams:
http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=284308&part=sports
possible site with U21 stream:
http://www.livefootballol.com/streaming/uefa-u21-championship/10-10-2014-england-u21-croatia-u21.html
U boj… u boj… za narod svoj!!!
AJMO DECKI
Viewers in USA/SAD you can watch the A team on Fox Soccer Plus channel or through their paid streaming service.
For everyone else don’t forget I recommend this HRT2 feed (awaiting confirmation about the U21 match, if they aren’t airing it I will do my best to find a link for that game):
http://sportska-tv.in/hrt2.html