Joško Gvardiol is back! He returned Wednesday night vs. Crystal Palace for the first time since fracturing his leg in January, playing 58 minutes and lobbing the ball into the box for a “hockey assist” on City’s second goal.
Gvardiol fractured his leg the first week of January versus Chelsea with World Cup doubts swirling. However, he defied the training process and returned much earlier than anticipated. Gvardiol will be World Cup ready which is huge news as he is arguably Croatia’s best player.
Croatia keeps finishing dead last at the Mitropa Cup
Can’t Croatia find some other players to send then these MORONS
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The jubilee fiftieth edition of the Mitropa Cup in Austria ended badly for both of our senior, but rejuvenated national teams, which took the last places in the competition with a rating against stronger opponents.
Men: 1. Italy 16, 2. France 14, 3. Switzerland 11, 4. – 5. Slovenia, Hungary 10, 6. – 8. Czech Republic, Germany, Austria 7, 9. Slovakia 6, 10. Croatia 2.
Women: 1. Ukraine 16, 2. Switzerland 14, 3. Italy 12, 4th – 6th Slovenia, Slovakia, Germany 9, 7th Czech Republic 7, 8th France 6, 9th – 10th Austria, Croatia 4.
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Olic squad for U21 friendlies
It’s nice to see 5 players from the “2nd Croatian division crap” including Bartol Kardum from Sesvete (who last played for the NT in 2023 at U18 level)
If a Sesvete player (and 4 other “2nd Croatian division crap”) is good enough for the uber-important U21 matches – then it follows that Saranic (also a Sesvete player) is also good enough/ready to be included by Dalic in the World Cup squad
P.S. don’t ask why nose picker Olic – who is assisting Dalic at the World Cup – is announcing the U21 squad before Dalic announces his squad on May 18th – obviously makes zero sense
P.P.S. Why isn’t Pavic called up for U21s already (or at least U19s) and still stuck with Croatia U17s? I thought he’s already got minutes for Bayern in the CL this year
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Toni Silić (Hajduk), Anthony Pavlešić (Rudeš), Jozo Vukman (Hrvace), Luka Savatović (Lokomotiva), Branimir Mlačić (Udinese), Dominik Prpić (Porto), Matia Barzić (Cultural Leonesa), Sven Lesjak (Varaždin), Moreno Živković (Vukovar 1991), David Vujević (Zürich), Šimun Hrgović (Hajduk), Filip Krušelj (Slaven Belupo), Domagoj Bukvić (Osijek), Noel Bodetić (Rijeka), Lovro Zvonarek (Grasshoppers), Luka Vrbančić (Osijek), Ante Kavelj (Gorica), Vito Čaić (Vukovar 1991), Adriano Jagušić (Panathinaikos), Ivan Canjuga (Varaždin), Branko Pavić (Rijeka), Filip Mažar (Slaven Belupo), Adrian Segečić (Portsmouth), Roko Brajković (Hajduk), Mirko Sušak (Lokomotiva), Marin Šotiček (Basel 1893), Antonio Ilic (Zrinjski), Stjepan Davidovic (Kielce), Duje Korač (Rudeš), Fran Topic (Dinamo), Bartol Kardum (Sesvete).
Pre-call-up : Zvonimir Katalinić (Slaven Belupo), Ivan Cvetko (Rudeš), Šimun Butić (Vukovar 1991) and Kristijan Čabrajić (Vukovar 1991)
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Great news guys
At 40 y/o Sammir is playing again – this time in 4th tier US
Just in time for Dalic to call him up
Don’t let us down Zlatko
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apotheosfc
1w
Born in Brazil. Forged in Croatia. Built for Atlanta. 🇭🇷🇧🇷
7x Croatian League champion. 2x Croatian Footballer of the Year. 2014 FIFA World Cup. Shared a pitch with Luka Modrić. Now he shares one with us.
Welcome to the family, Jorge Sammir. The journey continues at Apotheos FC.
#ApotheosFC #WelcomeSammir #USLLeagueTwo #AtlantaSoccer
Stojkovic could have scored FIVE in the cup final you nose picker morons.
First chance, just wide of post from outside the area with the goalkeeper never getting there. It looked an easy chance, which is testament to stojokovics quality. He, his teammates and me watching were surprised he didn’t score, yet it was from well outside the area and congestion in the box. So much clarity in his attacking play.
Second chance. Hits the post with trademark knuckle ball technique. Couple of outstanding elements to this strike. Firstly, the ball striking technique itself is special . Yes orsic also uses the same type of technique . But stojovic is able to generate the technique effectively from all angles of play. When he receives the ball there is not much space to move into. The defenders are close. Most players either hit it first time or accept the chance is not really there and pass it wide. Stojkovic takes a touch forward to engage the defenders, drops his shoulder to shift the angle slightly and hits it like he is sipping tea. That’s why it looks easy. It’s the subtle things he does to manoeuvre space and timing.
Third chance hits the ball surprisingly early and with great power. Ball has black magic on it, wobbles its trajectory keeper can’t quite see it. Goal
Fourth chance. Follows up beljos brilliant run and puts it away in his sleep.
Fifth chance. Similar type of chance. Touch is heavy because he is already thinking about going around the goalkeeper. Still gets it to Zajc who should score.
On another day he could have had FIVE goals. From central midfield. Think about that for a minute. Some will say it’s only Rijeka he is playing against. Ok, so how many goals did Bakrar, beljo, vidovic, hoxha, zajc get?
Couple of points re what’s been said here so far.
The group/path: Belgium = England
Morocco much better than Ghana, Canada better than Panama. Our group is easier than last time not harder. However all that is on paper, nobody knows how things pan out in real time.
Best defense lineup. It’s hard to say. The most talented back four is stanisic, sutalo, vuskovic, gvardiol. But balance and experience are as important as talent so we will have to just hope Dalic gets it right. Overall the level of the squad is much higher .
Petar sucic IS the real deal. First season in the big league for huge team. He is a massive part of the inter team. They have lots of good midfielders but he has played big minutes and I’ve never seen him have a bad game ever. Every match he has played for the national team he has been excellent. AND, he is a responsible selfless player who always puts the team before his own highlights real. Effectively the Petar sucic we have seen is a Petar sucic playing in 3rd gear only, to make sure he doesn’t run the lights. When he is given the full green light he will explode into one of the top 5 midfielders in the world. He is definitely the real deal
Stojko 😜
Musa scored again but it was just a PK, zero chance of goalie to save. League leading 11 goals in 12 games.
Be interesting how many strikers make the final cut: Matanovic, Budimir, Musa , and Beljo all have their arguments.
Haven’t actually seen Jakic updates
How’s he been the last couple of months?
I feel he will be solid for us this summer
Nobody would have predicted to see Gvardiol STARTING a premiership match in only four months after that injury.
We would have all been happy if an out-of-form version could make it to the actual World Cup.
Massive boost to our World Cup chances.
Our team is better than our 2022 team… but it all comes down to the little things. You need some luck on your side and we have a much tougher group this time (and knockout round path).
So long as Dalić doesn’t just default to the vets (come hell or high water) like he did at Euro2024, then we should be fine for at least an R16 date with Spain (unless we surprise England in the first game, which is also possible).
agree that out team looks better now than in 2022. Alot will depend on whether P Sucic is the real deal or not, and some timely scoring
Don’t agree that the knockout round path is harder now though.
The “path” in 2022 out of 2nd place should have been Germany or Spain, then Brazil, then Argentina. We got a little lucky that on the final day that some weird stuff happened in Japan’s group and we got them instead of GER/ESP. Still had to deal w Brazil and Arg after that.
Chico,
We have to play Colombia first, just to get to the R16.
We didn’t have to do that last time. That won’t be easy.
Yes, we were “supposed to” play one of Germany or Spain in the R16 last time…and now we have to do it again.
But Spain this time is a heavy heavy tournament favourite.
Japan pulled the surprise on them last tournament (when Spain weren’t as good), but there will be no surprising Spain this year (unless you believe Austria can pull off the upset).
I think that Dalic is predictable and he will stick with the experienced vets for the first match v England unless there are injuries.
That is why I do not think that Vuskovic will be in the starting 11 against England in a 4 – 2 – 3 -1 formation. We are much stronger defensively when playing 4 at the back.
The first match against England will be tough, being played in hot and humid conditions but we can beat them. It will be crucial not to concede early and to keep ball possession and having them run around. We have the players to do it but as you said you also need a bit of luck.
Marco Pasalic is back today too – pretty good day for the vatreni
Poor Pašalić will be getting some competition for that RW spot.
Since he played in the Colombia/Brazil friendlies, we’ve had Stojković and Šegečić go on a tear.
All three of them are real spark plugs of energy. It would be nice to bring all three. Stojkovic shot off the post today, reminded me of Orsic.
I think there is an argument that Pasalic has home field advantage. If Stojkovic and Segecic get selected, Pasalic might be cut. Does not seem right. Rather go with two goalies. If you do have that bad of luck that you need a third goalie, things are probably not going well anyway.
Stojokovic could easily had a hat trick today. I agree, need to consider bringing Stojakovic and Segecic to the friendlies. I guess it might be too much to consider at this late date. If this is Dalic last rodeo, hope he decides to take some chances right up to the last minute, albeit time is running out to judge the latest options.
Most likely this time next year, Kramaric, Modric, and Perisic will all be retired so it is inevitable.
They are both in great form and can both play RW.
Dalić would be a complete nimrod if he didn’t call them both up and continue to call up more unnecessary CBs or central midfielders.
Back line seems pretty clear to me:
Jakic-Vuskovic-Gvardiol-Stanisic
Looks pretty damn good. Who knows what will happen though, we’ll see.
I 2nd that notion. That may be our dual-purpose offensive line as well. Really insane reality. Vida who?
Back line seems pretty clear to me:
Jakic-Vuskovic-Gvardiol-Stanisic
But who knows. The above is pretty damn good though. We’ll see.
Great news. This team seems to be evolving into a better version of the 2022 NT. Croatia will be missing Lovren and Brozovic, but we already lost Mario, and Ivan the cycle before. The other older stars are still with us, just in the twilight of their careers, at reduced speeds.
The friendly schedule is 4 quality matches great preparation. We should be ready with everyone peaking, plus some potential surprise call ups.
France, Portugal are locked and loaded