Andrej Kramarić bagged the game’s lone goal in the 82nd minute after receiving a Modrić pass on the left flank and cutting in to beat the Saudi keeper with a low shot inside the post. It was enough for the win an an extremely boring game that to be more of a training exercise than a real football match. If you didn’t watch this one, you didn’t miss much.
The Vatreni scored two more times in the match but both goals were called off due to offside — by the slimmest of margins. Saudi Arabia should have easily scored a goal or two in this match but their lack of a top striker showed. They did rattle Livaković’s post on one occasion. At the end of the day, it was a hot (90-degrees) friendly one week before the World Cup kicks off for Croatia on November 23rd. There were no injuries, which is most important, but you could clearly see the boys were only playing at 30%.
Next stop: the World Cup opener versus Morocco next Wednesday!
1st Half: Man, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Croatia play a more boring half. They did not have one solid chance on goal and made the Saudis look like Spain with ball possession. It was clear this was a pre-World Cup friendly as our guys looked to be playing at 30% and making sure they didn’t get hurt. Saudi Arabia had 7 corner kicks compared to Croatia’s zero. I’m confident Petković and Sučić did not touch the ball once. That’s a pretty good indication how the first 45 minutes went. If you didn’t watch, you missed absolutely nothing!
Marcelo Brozović will likely start against Saudi Arabia, given that he has seen limited time on the field following his recent injury. As a key player to the squad, Dalić will look to have him in top shape going into the Morocco matchup. Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić will likely come off the bench and see only about 30 minutes of game time to preserve their legs. It will be interesting to see how many players Dalić uses during the match.
Match Prediction: 3-0 Croatia. The Vatreni will come away with an easy win, after Saudi Arabia poses no threat in the offensive third. The Croatian midfield will dominate the matchup.
Hrvatska can only go so far with the lack of quality strikers on the squad. Livakovic is also sub par and will limit the teams progress not to mention the inexperienced defenders playing in their first World Cup . We may get out of the group stage but then it’s over. Don’t be surprised if either Canada and or Morocco both advance. Canada has a couple of injuries to Davies and the midfielder playing for Porto. If they are both out Canada will not advance.
I see Portugal in Marocco
Scipios divisiveness and anger toward other Croats is suspicious especially in this World Cup time when we should all be coming together. Almost makes me feel a Serbian troll has entered the board to divide us if i didn’t think that stereotyping serbians as anti Croat was so 30 years ago
Dude, you are absolutely clueless.
🇭🇷🇭🇷🇭🇷
💪💪💪
Bog i Hrvati
Morocco vs Georgia stream if anybody is interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_jbYi8T_Nk
everyone is acting so giddy!
it’s so stupid …
wait until Dalic dropped Lovren
on the field…
Hey:
Do you folks remember this article. I guess this is a good lesson in life.
Ne Odustaje! Vjeruje!
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1477841-real-madrid-transfer-news-luka-modrics-departure-is-best-for-all-involved
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icz7IBQj3to
Canada just beat Japan 2-1. We cannot underestimate them regardless of perceived weakness.
its a friendly.
@ scipio
It’s true Ive made a lot of tremendous calls on this site and often contradictory to what a lot of people here have said. And for it, I’ve taken heat. It’s ok I can bear the kriz
I was positive on croatia into the last world cup although skeptical on mandzukic.
I was one of the few that stood by Luka all along even in the dark times, the losing times, the mamic trial times.. saying this is a guy of good character, a domoljub, and a leader After croatia came in second, the rest of you also realized it
Into the Kvartut boycott of the final 2018 world cup qualifying game against ukraine, I held strong against that idea.
I told people marko pee-ass-a would never be the same player and people hated me for it.
I predicted a drop off in nations league post world cup. accurate.
I was one of the first to notice, this livakovic guy looks kind of timid. glad to see the rest caught on after several set piece goals
i could go on on and on and on but i’ll stop
In terms of this world cup, Ive been very clear. Making a firm prediction is silly. Croatia has a quality team with a punchers chance to make things interesting and a decent shot of making the knock out. The team also has holes and is in a tough group.
It’s silly to strongly predict an outcome and feel strongly. There will be a lot of luck here. Just like the WC 2018 was extremely lucky.
Regardless of outcome, Ill maintain my view that this is a good team and I won’t blame their failures on a lack of effort, heart, or patriotism for croatia like many of you wrongly will.
You’re such a clown.
“I was positive on Croatia going into last WC” like were about 99% of the rest of Croatians. LOL!
Regarding Modric, “the rest of us realized Modric was great after the 2018 WC” ? WTF you are talking about you lying rat? Aren’t you the one who called Modric “a bust” at Real Madrid? And Modric never had “dark times” on the pitch with Croatia so nobody ever criticized HIM. WTF are you talking about?
Oh, you “held strong” against boycotting Croatia in the 2018 WC. LOL! So did about 99% of the rest of Croatians.
Oh, you supposedly predicted Piaca would never be the same after a serious leg injury while calling him some stupid insulting name like you do everyone else. That’s you, you just keep chucking shit against the wall then brag when one of your pieces of shit sticks to the wall.
But forget soccer, here’s the important point about you: You’ve never told a MEANINGFUL truth in your entire life, i.e. you’ve never even attempted free speech. You’re a dishonest moral coward. Pathological liars tell the truth 90% of the time.
I said in my original reply to you that you’re a low life waiting to say “I told you so” if Croatia loses but if they win you’ll point to something you said that vaguely shows you were “positive on Croatia”.
So then you went ahead and proved me right; you replied to me by bragging about supposed predictions you made while at the same time saying “making a firm prediction is silly”. < Like I said, guys like you ALWAYS play both sides of the fence. Another example of THAT in your reply: "Croatia has a quality team with a punchers chance to make things interesting and a decent shot of making the knock out. The team also has holes and is in a tough group." <SO EITHER WAY YOU CAN'T BE WRONG RIGHT DIPSTICK? AND YOU'LL BRAG YOUR "PREDICTION" CAME TRUE, RIGHT DIPSTICK?
@scipio
Bro relax, he’s a parody account, he’s so happy ur frustrated right now
Why would I be “frustrated” when I proved he’s a bitch?
@Niko, I hope you’re not one of those people who goes ballistic when someone tells a MEANINGFUL truth but has no problem having PC bullshit constantly shoved down his throat then asks us honest loyal people “Why are YOU so angry?”…….SO HELP ME GOD!
since I speak the truth ” Dalic brings out the calamities ”
last day I told you that Lovren should have to be exposed vs KSA
to save our day –> vs Marocco .. then now we will avoid the punishment –
but don’t forget for the next game –
Dalic with his bad habit still wants to put Lovren::
somehow by chance –> Gvardiol got injured }}
Lovren even at 33 always makes mistakes and raises his arms and blames everyone but hinself dont blame dalic if he goes with rookie cbs id rather lose with sutalo making mistake or erlic then lovren honestly.
The right wing either vlasic or Majer for me not their position but i think is best we have at moment this is where players like brekalo rebic realy dropped the ball brekalo didnt look for a club to olay and rebic is a cancer he is a dumb imocan who was given a chance by dalic then spit in his face.
Im not sold on livi as keeper have a feeling if he fucks up will be droppwd. Ivusic is a better keeor and grbic is aswell imo.
But its all on Dalic to put a team out players who i think are handicap when on pitch for me are
Lovren Vida Barisic just not good enough for me v strong teams.
The only formation works for us since we dont have wings except perisic i the christmas tree formation milan played in the late 2000s
4 3 2 1 Perisic Vlasic/Majer as Ams 3 cms MKB and back line with Sosa Juranovic pushing foward
That’s the worst trait of lovren,the theatrics after a goal is scored on us.HIS arms in the air or pointing at someone else even when the goal is entirely his FAULT!
It says so much about a man’s character or lack of it in tough situations…we all work with cowards like this who never own up to their mistakes and point the finger elsewhere.
He will make a fabulous bus driver when his career is over.
@ Bartolec
Definitely brate! I’m hoping Dalic can select the right defenders and manage Lovren. This game had to show he’s a bench player. As Maminjo said Dalic does like Sutalo and Erlic along with Gvardiol.
If Lovren plays I think Laknat is going to lose his marbles.
@ Truth
Isuse boze. You have to see some positives.
We literally have one of the (if not the) best midfield in the world. Our central defenders (if the right players are selected) are much better than anything we’ve had in years. Add in Sosa and Perisic and we have an excellent team. We’ve been in great form lately.
The first game is key. We need to start well and gain confidence.
Unfortunately for croatia it only has one player that can run at a defense and bend its shape and that’s perisic. The only two others available to croatia would’ve been brekalo and rebic who were both excluded. Orsic probably a distant second to perisic but will rarely see the field. Sosa and juranovic can do a good cross but little ability to really break a guy down to create that crossing space
Unfortunately for you, you’ve never told a MEANINGFUL truth in your entire life, i.e. you’ve never even attempted free speech. You’re a dishonest moral coward. Pathological liars tell the truth 90% of the time.
You’re a low life waiting to tell everyone “I told you so” if Croatia loses but if they win you’ll cover your tracks by pointing to something you said somewhere that contradicts “I told you so”.
Guys like you ALWAYS play both sides of the fence. I got bad news for you: Times are changing, that “safe” position is going to put in ENORMOUS danger. AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT SOCCER.
Tihan. Idiot jedan.
Ante, can you do something about the clowns spouting aggressive, threatening, neo nazi horseshit on this site? I’ve noticed you dont seem to have any trouble blocking comments from me which you don’t like so I know it can be done…
Crnkovic, you’re fine. Post away.
I will be filtering out all trash comments for the WC. I’ve been travelling for the past week so it hasn’t been a priority.
@scipio
ne seri
Are you one of those guys who admires dishonest shysters like the FELONS who gave a standing ovation to Bernie Madoff when he entered prison?
I agree with Slavonac. Kovacic isn’t an attacking mid. He does score the odd banger in the EPL but he really is best suited a more of a regista role. Distributes the ball and definitely is a great dribbler who can make some nice runs. I honestly think when Modric hangs them up he will thrive in that role for us. It does allow for Modric to play forward more which given our lack of a true finisher, helps us offensively.
I like the 4-2-3-1 with Modric playing behind the spica at this stage of his career. Our goal scoring will come from a variety of people and not just one or two players.
Our issue is that aside from Perisic, who have no one else who’s effective on the wing. We might see Perisic play the right side a bit this tourney. I was hoping that maybe someone like Sucic could surprise and carve out a winger role given our lack of depth there. Sadly he was pretty invisible today aside from the bad back pass to Lovren who of course wasn’t prepared.
I really hope Lovren gets benched. He was downright awful today.
It’s amazing to have a CB who can make a pass vs Lovren who can’t to save his life.
Erlic had a nice long ball that created a good chance…Lovren on the other hand missed Vlasic by 10 yards on one of his long balls.
“Erlic had a nice long ball that created a good chance…Lovren on the other hand missed Vlasic by 10 yards on one of his long balls.”
Yeah exactly, Mali Ante! Such a big contrast, I really hope izbornik could see that Erlic and Sutalo are both superior to Lovren right now.
I get the vibe that Dalić really likes both Erlić and Šutalo.
He always looks to play them whenever they’re available.
the point is Maminjo _o)
Lovren will play whenever they aren’t available for theirs
so who’s gonna take this –> Lovren and Vida …
Gvardiol is likely gonna be injured. {O
They won him against France 🇫🇷 at Parc des Prince
Of course he likes em 🙂
I’m not going to be too critical on our overall performance especially the first half because it was hot and we flew in 36 hours before the match. Based on what we have seen it appears that our starting 11 against Morocco will be:
Livakovic – Juranovic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Sosa – Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic – Perisic, Kramaric and Vlasic.
KO time against Morocco is 11am local time – hopefully the air con is going to be working and the stadium has a roof cover?
I love that Dalic chose to rest our young starting backline.
They’re all in their early 20s and they really need the rest, haha.
Praying 🙏 that Kramaric woke up from his nightmare where he was supposed to score goals but just couldn’t? Maybe he realized He’s wearing #9 And That’s supposed to mean something!! Have
Dalic show 🇭🇷”Croatia: Defining a Nation” to the team so they can get pumped up and play with some warrior mindset energy. If Kramaric can go on a run and get inspired by “Suker Goal” we can go deep in this WC!!!!
Means nothing.
Germany beat mighty Oman a whopping 1-0 with a goal in the 80th minute.
Doubt they are panicking on Germansports.com
Perfect Result. A slow acclimation to the elements with no injuries.
This game means nothing even half assing it we won if this was tournament game the attitude would be different we won and played bad imagine we here nabrijani easy 3 0.
Got one week to get ready and focused rested and what happens happens
I’d have a lot of fun with this formation
perisic
Majer sucic
Kovacic brozovic modric
Sosa gvardiol Sutalo Juranovic
livakovic
Perisic is also my first choice for a striker.
How about if Dalic, threw caution into the wind, had just cleaned house, similar to our defensive line and went with this year’s prime vintages, with one aged classic: Perisic, Musa/(Simic?), Sucic. I sure there would be a reason to wine, regarding not enough aging in the barrel.
I have a funny feeling the Saudis will pull off a draw and screw up that group with Poland, Argentina and Mexico.
Nah.
This was probably peak Saudi Arabia. Like every World Cup, they won’t do anything once other teams come out and play seriously.
Good display of skill / talent by Kramarić today.
Back in January many on this site were hard on him and I was one of the people defending him. However, I have gotten over him given that lately he has not been very good for his club team either.
It would be a nice surprise if he goes on a hot steak now, but I am not expecting it.
He’s always been scoring for us. It’s just that people are hoping we’d put someone up top, who would be a better compliment to our creative midfield.
Krama plays a bit deep (like a midfielder) and isn’t that spica type striker that would do well with us.
He’s nonetheless, an elite technical talent, and isn’t out of place when we’re trying to dominate possession.
99% of Kramaric goals are vs. 3rd / 4th tier teams.
Only a handful have come against top sides (that aren’t penalties).
That’s the issue w/ him – he doesn’t score vs. top sides
He was celebrating today like he scored against Brazil, lol
https://hns-cff.hr/players/14791/andrej-kramaric/utakmice/
Goals vs. Malta (2), Azerbaijan (2), Gibraltar, Moldova, Northern Ireland, etc, lololol
Well we’re not relying entirely on him.
If he can score a goal or two (like he did in Russia in 2018) then great, but we’re a team that’s going to rely on multiple scorers like Modrić, Perišić, Broz, etc.
I mean yes and no. He has nations league goals against Spain when we won, England when we lost and Sweden win, Russia 2018, Greece/Ukraine qualifiers who I understand are not big teams but they were important games. Also France in Poljud this year.
During the 2018 world cup I think we had the most amount of different goalscorers. That are we were second for that stat. Everyone was chipping in.
His best position as most people here have mentioned is the half striker where he can get the ball in between the middle and later third with a striker running in front of him so defenders are backing up wondering if he will pass or shoot and that’s when he does his usual cut in and out and then shoot or pass.
Looking at Kramarić’s stats:
For Croatia (including today), he has 20 goals in 74 appearances -1 goal for every 3.7.
His best in the Bundesliga was in 2020-21 for 20 goals in 28 games- 1 goal for every 1.4 matches played ( he also had 5 assists that season).
If Kramarić could up his production rate for us this World Cup to 1 goal every 2 games, that for me would be a big contribution.
To be fair, he’s had a lot of games for us where he came on as a sub (or a late sub)
Franjo:
Would it make sense, to do the assessment by minutes played rather than appearances. Maybe it might not be that different. He has slowed down in all leagues it seems.
Can you compare Livaja’s rate with his national team rate as well. If Livaja, can keep his rate up as with current Hajduk, Croatia is going to win the whole tournament, with Perisc and Borna serving some fat ones for the banging.
He scored a big one against Russia in 2018- so he has potential but no a Krama fan
Wow, and we thought we were the only country without a striker 🙂
It’s the same story…without both Perišić and Modrić, we are a 70th ranked country. No one is good enough to step up when they’re out.
70th ranked country? Cmon man
sandwiched right between Cabo Verde and the UAE 😉
How many goals do we score when they are both out in the past?
Zero
Well, it’s hard to gauge that because both Modric and Perisic are ironmen who play in all of our games.
But we scored quite a bit with at least one of them out.
Perisic missed the 5-3 Euro game against Spain.
He also didn’t play in our 1-0 win in France and our 1-0 win in Denmark.
Those were all away goals, score against top teams. All without Perisic.
Yes, Modric played those games, but he plays in almost every game.
I think the last time we played without Modric was that random Switzerland friendly a couple of years ago (that we won 2-1).
We also played without him when we lost to France 4-2 in Nations League (but hey, that’s still two goals scored in Paris with a makeshift team we put together there).
So, I’m not really buying your “we can’t score without them” argument.
from what i’ve seen so far out of majer, is it seems like he’s a situational player. I think he’s a guy that thrives when a lot of the formation is ideally suited to him. Take him a bit out of his ideal spots like right wing, and I feel his effectiveness drops a lot
Of course, He’s a midfielder that’s not that fast… winger is maybe his worst possible position
Saudi Arabia looked good, even taking into consideration that it was just a friendly. There is little margin for error in these games to come and it is good to be confident but not overly so. Majer is so smooth that I hope Dalic can find a spot for him even if it’s out of place on the right wing. On the other hand if our midfielders will need rest-and they will- Majer should get significant minutes where he seems to be most comfortable. If Majer is not at right wing I prefer Orsic over Vlasic. We should find a spot for our most talented players.
So sosa, sutalo, gvardiol and juranovic didn’t play? Is it possible that is the Morocco back line?
we need to stay grounded and understand that we are a good team but we have work to do. far too often people write down a list of names stating who they see as “the next” star or “this guy is ready”.
CroU14 said: “1st Half: Man, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Croatia play a more boring half. They did not have one solid chance on goal and made the Saudis look like Spain with ball possession. It was clear this was a pre-World Cup friendly as our guys looked to be playing at 30% and making sure they didn’t get hurt. Saudi Arabia had 7 corner kicks compared to Croatia’s zero. I’m confident Petković and Sučić did not touch the ball once. That’s a pretty good indication how the first 45 minutes went. If you didn’t watch, you missed absolutely nothing!”
well, I love Sucic but did he make a difference? Barisic is a plumber if you ask me and for all of you that shit all over Kovacic, he gets hammered unfairly far too often. Kovacic isn’t a final 3rd player and yet, every time his name is mentioned by some people, they keep pretending he’s gonna somehow change his style of play….beating a dead horse. The guy transitions the ball from defence to attack…we need someone to do that! Vlasic and Pasalic got a chance to create and make a difference today…did they?
we are lucky to have Perisic, Modric, Kovacic and now Gvardiol, Sutalo, Erlic…lets just hope Sucic can become a dominant midfield player that can distribute and score, we need Majer to keep progressing and keep bringing in new kids but also not make soo many dramatic statements insinuating that Simic, Colak, Musa, Vlasic, Brekalo…are all ready and the answer to our problems. They get the chance (except Musa) and then flop and we end up scratching our head!
its a friendly. I recommend you look how we played in our friendlies before the 2018 world cup. I know to non-football folks its hard to comprehend that these games mean nothing but please try to understand they mean absolutely nothing…
Livakovic – still shaky on high balls
Barisic – unbelievably terrible
Erlic – good
Lovren – unsettling
Stanisic – poor, not a RB, crossed the offensive half twice the entire game
Brozovic – meh
Sucic – still a baby
Majer – good
Vlasic – hustles but not a winger
Pasalic – not a winger
Petkovic – good hold up play but nothing else
Orsic – good outlet out wide but terrible end product
Vida – hopefully that is the last time we ever see him play
Perisic – still has good speed, scored an offside goal on the counter
Modric – good
kovacic – getting better
Kramaric – fake, cut in, fake, cut in shot near post, but nothing else
An out of form Kramaric is hands down better than Petkovic.
We need musa to play like mandzukic..he has high work rate and is physically presence. It is a waste he is not called up
He is literally retired….and sitting on the bench as a coach? lol
The best takeaway from this match is that it seems Brozovic is fully fit.
Second best takeaway is, no injuries
Third best takeaway is that Lovren played like shit.
Didn’t get a chance to watch. Was it clear that Lovren sucked to the point that Dalic would of noticed?
Dunno. But Lovren starting the game with a bunch of backups is probably a good sign (meaning that this was probably our reserve backline)
Well you said it @CroatiaU14, Kramaric has scored the match winner and maybe silenced his critics like mentioned in the last article lmao
I don’t think he silenced anyone
Kramaric has yet to prove he can do this for us in a competitive match, he has struggled to do so in the past few tournaments for us. Not to mention his club season this season has been terrible. The key here is consistency, not just scoring once, but for Krama getting a few goals in for the tourney.
If this was against Morocco, or Canada than I would be singing a different tune, and taking my words back. We have yet to see how he does because I think Dalic will probably play the guy more than likely since Dalic is a creature of habit.
I personally would like to see Livaja have some more time at it. As it stands, and based on goals in the past couple of seasons he is our strongest player up front out of the players picked next to Perisic. Personally, Perisic needs to be on the wing. The problem is that Livaja had a muscle injury from the last game so I think Dalic sat him out, and I am hoping he gets a chance to start or atleast sub for a decent amount of time.
Just glad that’s over. Some iffy tackles by the Saudi’s had me worried. Happy everyone is injury free.
Maminjo, no way Krama was going to pass. It was a goalscorer’s goal.
Although I was waiting for Perisic to yell at him if he missed….
Krama will start up too for us…..and I’m sure it will be Vlasic on RW.
Majer is an excellent midfield option off the bench and gives us some great depth.
Pasalic is much better off the bench as a super sub when we need a goal.
For sure.
A guy like Kovacic would have tried to make a pass in that crowd, and it was the right thing to do (to look for the shot).
Krama found the spot and took it. No chance he wasn’t going to take it (even if there was an open man in a better position, ha ha).
I just hope Majer isn’t caught for putting glue on his football boots
Saudi Arabia thought this was their first world cup game or something? I was holding my breath that they don’t injure anyone…
Lucky to win, however a win is a win. Once Modric, Perisic and Kramaric came on things changed. Hopefully no one got injured ?
Perišić in a bad mood.
I assume he didn’t get his afternoon Dalma-nap.
Thank fuck it’s nearly over hahaha
Our guys are playing with some fire here.
Good to see, even though its meaningless and they should focus on NOT getting injured.
I only tuned in 15 minutes ago and Erlić going down gave me a heart attack.
He copied Gvardiol’s beard and haircut, sovI thought it was Gvardiol for a moment, until they zoomed in on his face.
Majer flopping also scared me.
I just want this game to end. Lol
Good goal by Kramaric. KSA definately not treating this like a friendly with some rough tackles going in, hopefully no one gets injured. Not impressed by the ref from Jordan.
2 important things to be learned from this game:
– Kramarić has to start
– Stanišić, Barišić and Lovren not good enough for any quality minutes
Agree, although Stanisic was OK in the second half.
Bro scores one goal and Kramaric needs to start, absolutely baffling mate.
I’ll agree on Barisic and Lovren, they have to stay glued to the bench the whole tournament.
Say what you want about Kramaric, but he seems to be the only striker who can score for the NT on occasion.
Who would you start? Petkovic and Budimir do jack shit and it looks like Livaja is injured.
Went on twitter today and it looks like Livaja is resuming training with the team, and that is my ideal player for the position
We don’t really have much to choose from up top…shouldn’t really baffle you.
Kramaric doing what orsic couldn’t
That’s the difference in class
Krama Goal!
I knew he wouldn’t pass haha
everyone knew… 😉
We could lose 6-0 and it LITERALLY means NOTHING. Saudis had this game marked on their calendar. You know what’s a win? NO INJURIES.
Boli me kurac za “friendlies”
Majer was slide tackled from behind. Its strange that every time the other team tackles one of our players, they just laugh
Orsic has a terrible first touch and there’s no chemistry in the final third
I know it’s a friendly but there’s not much time left to the World Cup begins
Don’t tell me Erlic is going off injured…
Modric and Perisic coming on in the 65 minute. Brozovic I thought had good 64 minutes. Perisic playing on the right wing.
Poor performance could be a couple of goals down at HT. Not unexpected in hot conditions having arrived 36 hours ago. Lovren a couple of mistakes that could have led to goals. The only players that are standing out are Vlasic, Brozovic and Livakovic. Three of them will start against Morocco the rest will be on the bench.
On first half performance I cannot see how Lovren will be in the starting 11against Morocco.
Kovacic and Orsic have come on at half time, hopefully they can bring some energy to our play.
Also, it is 88 degrees ferenheit where they are playing right now. About 31 Celsius. Huge adjustment from playing in the cold in Europe.
This is a friendly not a competitive match. You cannot go by this game because noone wants to get injured. In all honesty, why would you give your best effort in this match which means nothing only to get injured before the first big game against Morocco? Modric, Kovacic, Gvardiol, Sosa, Livaja, Orsic,Perisic all benched. This should tell you something, Dalic’s main concern is injury here. Win or lose doesn’t really matter, although a win with minimal effort is preferable.
Half time result as expected. Croatia struggling to adjust to the climate and jet lag you can see it in their faces. Would have been nice if Croatia could have gotten to qatar 2 or 3 weeks earlier so they could adjust a bit better. Saudi Arabia definitely looks more comfortable and at home.
Brozovic has not played much since the injury so he’s just trying to get back in shape and in rythem, likewise with lovren and a few other players. 2nd half should be much better from croatia.
Wow that was brutal. Saudi looks way better than our back ups, or at least most cohesive and able to string together passes. They had the most dangerous attacks. And two of our best attacked got called back for offsides which were not even close to offsides
Brozović to me looks pretty on point for just coming back from injury
I’m guessing it’s
GVARDIOL Sutalo vs Morocco 🇲🇦 since Lovren is getting minutaža
Agree with you.
Yeah, we don’t look great. Not too big of a deal, but hopefully this game gives Dalić a better understanding of some of the players he’s unsure of
The only players playing noticeably well against this Saudi team are Stanisić, Majer, and Brozović. Barisić and Petković have simply not been very distinguished. Pasalić and Sučić have been losing the ball too much, and Vlasić and the central defenders have just not looked very good.
https://youtu.be/hicfD9FQ5oA here is that Borjan link. He says it around the 3:14 mark. 4-0 Cro over Canada!
The difference between Lovrens anticipation and Erlic / Sutalo’s anticipation is such a big difference…
Lovren just completely left his man for a free header ..
Pray 🙏 that Dalic has him glued to the bench for the tournament
NO Lovren
He is garbage 🗑
I know this is a friendly but we look awful. Lovren has been absolute garbage. A couple of really bad passes that he just cannot make. A long ball to Vlasic that missed by 10 yards.
A team that presses us with Lovren at the back won’t be pretty.
https://youtu.be/EjEt_siQBiM
Game at 7AM EST – on now
hvala although what crap did I just watch?!?
Anyone got a legitimate live stream for this game?
https://youtu.be/EjEt_siQBiM
http://www.hesgoal.com/news/Croatia%20vs%20Saudi%20Arabia.html
https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/635832
You can change your name but not the shame in your game LA Knat ..lovren is an idiot …NOW dalicit
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/9771586/josip-juranovic-celtic-contract-talks-stall-january-bids-transfer/
JJ is a self made nogometaš.
His heart is a difference maker.
I hope he plays well in Qatar. His speed and industry has always been there for us. Him and and Stanisic are fire and ice for us at RB.
I am happy many of our boys will be up for big paydays!!
Any links for todays 7 am match vs KSA?
Is this game being broadcast on DAZN?
Isn’t it at 7 AM EST?
KO is 13:00 hours Croatian time.
3 – 0 win? I’m not sure about that. We only flew in 36 hours ago, from Europe where temperatures are mid teen to a hot climate and the match being played in the middle of the day on KSA home turf. Also, KSA have been in camp for the last six weeks or so and have played 4 or 5 friendlies during that time.
My prediction a low scoring draw.
Did it change times again?