In the game of life, when you’re winning – even if you do make mistakes along the way – you simply brush those mistakes aside and keep on marching towards your ultimate goal; whatever it may be. But if you lose, you hold onto that mistake and mull over ‘what could have been’ in your time of defeat.
Sometimes things go your way in life. Sometimes, they don’t.
In 2008, Croatia conceded a 122nd minute equalizer to Turkey in the quarterfinals of EURO and eventually lost in penalty kicks.
10 years later – with England up 1-0 in the semifinals of the World Cup – Harry Kane could have dashed all hopes of Croatia reaching the Final with his point-blank shot on the Croatian net in the 30th minute. The Vatreni showed they could come back from a one-goal deficit the entire tournament, but two?
I was recently watching a World Cup documentary from the perspective of an English fan. And let me tell you, they really though ‘it was coming home’. Trippier scored a wonderful free kick inside five minutes to give the Three Lions an early lead but never got close to scoring again after Harry Kane’s lack of finishing in the first half.
Croatians don’t talk about this moment enough. We remember Perišić tying the game up in the second half and Mandžukić scoring the winner in extra time, but if Kane puts this ball high and inside the left post (like he should have), could Croatia have come back from a 2-goal deficit with 60 minutes remaining?
We will never know and it’s a mute point for Croatians, but it was this miss that changed the entire look of the semifinal. At first glimpse, it looked as if Kane hit the ball square off the post, but it was Subašić who got a piece of the ball first.
This save changed everything. And maybe if the ball hits the back of the net Croatia is playing for another 3rd place medal. But it didn’t. It went our way in that moment. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t recognize it as a World Cup changing moment for our beloved Vatreni during a dream summer we will never forget.
yes Paradzik was sold out.
@Maminjo how about that Jap in the 2014 WC match? The guy who had to resign after what he did to us.
@Maminjo
I don’t consider die hard HDZ supporters as Croats.
Tudjman was behind the assassination of Ante Paradzik, Croats killing Croats is a big no no for me.
#FuckHDZ
@Maminjo
I think the ref was doing his job. No way in the hell was FIFA was going to allow Croatia to hold up the World Cup trophy.
With all the numerous fines that Croatia received because of the fans, playing games in empty stadiums, no way was FIFA going to let that happen. Especially with what the fans did in EURO 2016.
And I truly believe the players knew that they weren’t going to be allowed to win no matter how well they played against France.
But I’m still so proud and lucky to be able to have seen our boys in a WORLD CUP FINAL!!!!!!!!
I think the Argentine ref was more weak and incompetent, than he was malicious.
He simply looks like a buffoon out there with his tailored sleeves and greasy slicked combover. He tries too hard. Seems a bit of a goofy douchebag. A lot of South American refs get criticized for wanting attention, and have taken over games themselves (instead of letting it go with the flow).
I remember in France ’98 there was a (Colombian?) ref that dominated a game with his constant calls and handed out like three red cards and was heavily criticized for this, and there were articles talking about the differences in ‘referee culture’ between South America and the rest of the World.
This ref had an obvious bias where the favorites get the benefit of the doubt, and the underdog has to ‘earn’ their chances. Lots of refs do this.
His weird hesitation when calling the penalty, and taking forever to decide with VAR, but seemingly not wanting to decide… made me think that the dude is just incompetent or weak.
His constant stopping of play was his South American ‘look at me, I will decide’ referee style trying to take full control of the game and dictate it himself. This hurt us much more than the penalty did.
The ref screwed us in the final simple as that. He is an Argentine and we humiliated Argentina with 3-0 victory so it was his way to screw us back.
I Fucken hate England, but I can’t fucken stand too look at the filthy french from that mother fucker platini tooThuram, that loss hurt like hell!!
=U=
Za Dom I Ljubo Milos
It’s frightening how white Croats dismiss all the horrible things that are happening to white Croats.
3,069
It’s frightening how blacks dismiss all the horrible things that are happening to black people.
Corny dude as an executive .. but Šuker as a finisher is the best I have ever seen.
His power may have been under rated as he was strong in fending off defenders.
His touch and his ability to maneuver defenders with his movement before the ball even reached his footballing feet was transcendent.
We haven’t gotten anywhere near producing a player like him either.
All due respect to Kramaric as he is a natural finisher as well, but is a small dude that is no where near the level of Šuker.
I always wanted to see Šuker and Bokšić together in ‘96 and ‘98.
With that crew and those two scoring at will.
We haven’t had that type of fire power potential since.
Rebić should transition to a full time striker.
Let him save his explosive runs for scoring opportunities.
When need that vertical threat of explosive speed keep the back line thinking.
Brekalo is ready to start on one of our wings.
Perišić starts on the other wing or just don’t bother to call him up.
Vlašić right behind Rebić.. pazi !!
@Suba
Your right
Ladic fuckd us big time.
Not being able to beat Macedonia fuckd us even worst.
Modrić was injured most of qualification for WC 2010.
I know we have younger players coming up, it’s gonna break my heart seeing Modrić and Raketa retiring from then Repka. All I wish for is they go out on a high note.
Yeah that ‘96 game vs Germany was complete bullshit!
’96 against Germany was our first time playing against 12 on the big stage.
Rebić lost the most during this pandemic pause.
He was in the best form of his life for AC Milan to start 2020.
Full respect as he as struggled for years in his young career.
To fight and claw himself to a level consistent with his talent has strengthened his mind and sources his growing confidence.
Even with all his well pointed out short comings, he has always brought us power and speed on the wings and one could argue has been the X factor in having our veteran core finally fulfill their promise in 2018.
Our world class midfield always needed some power on the wings to stretch the width and also to counter balance Perišić when and if he was in the mood.
Rebić could use some flexibility and agility training with the ball in the final third to master his close traffic control and finishing.
Now we are nitpicking, but if he could fine tune his game he could become WORLD-CLASS!
Yeah I said it and I believe Hrvati are the only footballers who actually get better from 26-30!!
Rebić bum rushes 2021 Euro and 2022 World Cup he gets to that level.
His core confidence is rising you can see it at AC Milan.
Jebi ga .. he saw Zlatan and probably said “Yo.. this dude is in beast mode at 38!!”
Croatian confidence as been a subtle and not so subtle evolution for us as a people.
That 1996 match v Germany, albeit minus my main man Bokšić, showed our inferiority complex.
That’s why 1998 was so inspired, as when we spanked them we took a psychological leap.
2018 proved that we no longer have the issue of inferiority. Now it is the collective footballing powers that still do not view us as World beaters.
We are the people’s Champ.
Now we have to go at and lift one of these major trophies.
Modrić does that?
Will need to carve his image in the Velebit planine.
I always found rebic losing possession all of the time rather the misses more frustrating
One of the reasons why we lost the final
It used to kill our momentum big time but I will leave it at that because he has so many supporters here
Pitana wanted his 5 minutes of fame
Well he fuckin got it
Nestor Pistana is the Antichrist. Crushed him on Twitter.
Here are some examples…
1:04 min mark in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS-V5h0wKr8
4:49 min mark in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odtvC4R_YUk
1:07 mark here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_2GELMwfY
These aren’t even the worst ones. So frustrating lol.
The problem with Rebic is he creates so many chances, but he’s a terrible finisher.
It sounds ridiculous, but watch every highlight reel from the World Cup.
He missed a sitter every game. I’m not exaggerating.
At the same time, he also created a ton of chances and goals.
– Nigeria he missed a wide open net, that bounced off his foot as he tried to tap in the cross. Guaranteed goal that he missed.
– Argentina, he missed several chances in the first half and was very frustrated (I thought he was going to get a red)
– Denmark, he tried to walk that injury time goal into the net
– England, he found himself in front of the net with the ball (after Perisic’s attempt that hit the post), wide open, nobody around, and he hit the ball with his shin (instead of his foot) causing it to casually float to Pickford
– France, very early in the second half, he somehow is left wide open right in front of goal, Perisic’s cross lands right at his feet (he has time to casually wind up) and actually misses the ball completely
These are just off the top of my head and these weren’t chances that he missed.
These were SURE FIRE goals.
If you can find extended highlights, you gotta look for these. It’s crazy how close he was to popping a goal in every game.
He’s an awesome player who creates a ton of chances, but it’s so frustrating knowing that he can easily put away a goal per game if he could finish up close.
Stipe
We lost because Ladic screwed up against mihailovics set pieces and the need to win
Average keeper he was
It was the rump of Yugoslavia meaning they had monteningrin players which made them a good team
It was a shame because it was that generations last chance to win something but I doubt they would have won euro 2000
The bigger shame is us not playing USA 94 we would have won that one or been in the place of Bulgaria or Romania or Sweden in that Competition
Maybe a quarter final appearance at euro 2000 I don’t know much like for South Africa who knows
That is why it’s important to qualify in the first place
U gotta be in to win it
There’s nothing wrong with being black or from somewhere else originally.
What’s wrong is this very odd assumption that these immigrants are automatically offended when you want to display the pride of your nation (which is not true).
On the contrary, when they see this pride, they will actually want to be a part of it (and not really care so much about their parent’s culture from a country that they’ve never visited).
We’ve all seen videos of African Croats speaking fluent Croatian and wearing Croatia jerseys. These guys love it….and why wouldn’t they?
Croatia has an awesome sports culture, tons of tradition, events where they party, drink and wave a fucking flag as much as possible. Who wouldn’t want that as part of their life?
If we went all ‘sterile’ and tried hard to smother our culture in a poor attempt to accommodate any newcomers…they would probably opt to hold onto their parent’s culture rather than immerse themselves into the culture of the new country they live in.
I know a guy from Mali, who lives in Zagreb. Dude is married there with kids. He’s the dude that put out that video of himself watching the Croatia/Nigeria match, and asks the question to the camera “well, who did you think I was cheering for?”. Dude is die-hard HDZ and loves living there, lol. Got married and could probably give a rats ass about Mali.
Do you think he would care for Croatia if it was your typical sterile Western nation trying to be ‘multi-cultural’?
He would just look to create some sort of Malian/African community in Zagreb and just segregate himself from the rest of Croatia (like we all do here and in places like France).
There are actually quite a few expats out in Zagreb, and people from different backgrounds that live there.
I’m actually surprised at the different restaurants in Zagreb on Tkalciceva Ulica where you can get African, Thai, Japanese, etc..and these places are actually run by people from there.
Zagreb still has their awesome ‘Advent in Zagreb’ that spans six weeks, with tons of Roman Catholic imagery and art throughout the city.
Other cities in the west try to wash the ‘Jesus’ out of Christmas, and it’s so painfully lame and obvious. New York is decent, but everyone else in North American is so sad.
You ever see the Santa Claus parade here? LOL. Give me a fucking break. Pathetic.
Watch Split and Dubrovnik light up their entire city during Christmas. Puts every single North American city to shame, with a fraction of the budget. Embarassing.
Hajduk’s 100th birthday? Sure, no problem. Look outside and see thousands of flares raining from the skies.
Over here? What do we do when a sports team has a major milestone? Watch a lame-ass tribute video, then watch some oldass white dude (you don’t recognize) give a speech, then applaud when the ‘Applause’ sign is prompting you to give applause. LOL. Awful.
Every county, city and village in Croatia has its own traditions, events, cuisine and identity. It’s insane.
Hvar just had their ‘Za križen’ event. You knew that COVID wasn’t going to stop that. They even did it during WW2 despite the Nazis ordering them to not do it.
You think people in a Western Country would stick to a tradition like this? Not a chance. Would fold like a chair.
This is the reason why I don’t think Croatia will ever be washed away.
It’s too contagious.
Croatia actually IS multicultural in the sense that a large chunk of Croatia is of Italian, Hungarian, Germanic, Wallachian descent…but you’d never guess, because we were all so receptive to the Croat way and adopted it quickly.
a) I still don’t understand how anyone thinks Rebic, could have done anything more. I’ve watched it a million times to try to understand what you guys are talking about
-He made blowing past Schmuckel look easy as heck. Nobody else would have done that, maybe Perisic. Even our belovedBoksic would have tried a 50/50 chip
-He gets blindsided just as he is about to get to the ball.
-Nobody else fast enough to get past Schmuckel and still be in front of the defender
b)That should have been a straight red.
-if you are 1 on 1 with a goalie, and get tackling like that= Straight Red
-If you are 1 on 1 with the net, it should have been an easier call. I call it #CroatianPrivilege Because we are blessed with superior DNA, we have a bigger burden of proof to get Refs to give us a decent call.
Rebic is a different animal! He’s less mentally strong but physically he’s a total beast.
I’ve watched every game since the Christmas break for Milan and all I can say is “confidence” is his friend and a lack of focus is his enemy! He is so dangerous when he is on, it’s scary. We can’t compare him to anyone I’ve ever seen because the guy isn’t a typical talent. Technically he’s better than Olić was but mentally he’s a wild card at times. AC Milan were climbing back up the table because of him and the goals he’s created and scored. You can pay 10’s of millions for better talent and if Rebic is feeling good, he’ll out-play most of them. The challenge I see with him is his state of mind. I hope he can learn to control his emotions cause he can be as lethal as Perišić one day!
I love Ante Rebić. He single handling crushed Bayern Munich in that championship game in 2018.
But he also makes me nervous.
For the Repka, he makes dumb mistakes.
Going one on one in Round of 16 WC extra time game. He shoulda scored against Denmark. But he wasn’t expect the ball.
Modric’s pass to Rebić was BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT. What more shoulda Luka have done????
If that was Mandzukic or Perišić, even Krama, they woulda scored. I think Rebić was looking for a penalty shot.
The pass Luka made for Rebić
Hey guys, it’s been a while (at least a week) since I’ve contributed even a comment to the site. I do really want to write another article though. Problem is I have some ideas but I’m not sure whether they are worth posting. I don’t want to post anything that I wouldn’t want to read myself. I want to post things that help spark interesting discussions. Is there anything specific that anyone would like me to write about? I’m open to just about any topics that have to do with soccer or even some basketball. Basketball was my favorite sport until around high school, which was when I really got into soccer, so I do have a decent bit of knowledge in that department too.
BZ, your post about starting a new site and making me head of youth development gave me a chuckle.
This thread was actually a great read. I really enjoy when people are able to connect the article to something different and then branch off into side discussions. Keeps the conversation going.
Maminjo, I just got that Kovacic card on FIFA Ultimate Team, haha. On a side note, if anyone here plays FIFA and wants to get smacked, just let me know. I’ve been playing with CroatiaU14 every so often.
Slavonac, I wholeheartedly agree with your last couple of posts. The Dinamo vs. Hajduk rivalry is a little ridiculous at times. People shouldn’t judge players based on what club they were developed at. They should just judge them based on their ability. I personally don’t have a favorite team in Croatia so I am not biased to any of the teams. My father’s side is from the Zagreb/Karlovac area and some of Slovenia, my mother’s side is from Osijek, and my uncle’s family is from the Split area and has tried to brainwash me into supporting Hajduk. So I have a few teams to choose from. But I’ve always told people my favorite soccer team in Croatia. I like to support the US, but it just doesn’t feel the same watching them. I just don’t understand why we have to judge people based on what part of Croatia they are from. That’s almost like disliking a basketball player because they are from New York. I know it’s different, but it’s still strange to me.
@ANYBODY PLEASE
Why didn’t Croatia not qualify for EURO 2000?
I understand that there is a “World Cup” hangover. The accomplishment of WC 1998, debuting as new country, that team put us on the map on world soccer.
I understand Croatia was target for other teams. But Croatia should of made it out that group.
What screwed us the most was not beating Makedonija. That fucked us big time.
All we needed to do was not lose or tie Cetnici in Zagreb.
Boksic goal was beautiful. Suker passed a beautiful thru ball, Boksic had it all the way.
Ladic should’ve save those two goals from set pieces. Two goals in a quick period of time. They were down to ten men.
No Boban. But i still don’t understand why we didn’t qualify. I’m
Still pissed about that tournament.
Sorry if I offended you. I’m not anti Hajduk but I have learned here in this site that regions tend to matter when I feel they shouldn’t. Being a fan of any club shouldn’t blind is to reality and I includes myself when I say this.
Dalmatinci were always my favourite people. I seem to get along with them the best and most of my closest friends are from Zadar, Split and Korcula! We’ve never argued Hajduk players or Dinamo players should play or shouldn’t. We always discussed players by their quality and what they bring to the team.
I am sorry slovanac keep us hajdukovi honest
Keep up the good commentary well done
Haha…
You still haven’t apologized for calling me two faced Suba!
Slavonac you are only permitted three massive monologues a day
Yes Maminjo, that’s why no matter
What Goes on in the world we need
To always guard Croatia. Always!
Sucks when u write a brilliant rant, then it doesn’t go thru, then you say f it, not writing that again.
…Kvartuc, can you please release my comment?
Maminjo, you should be a writer. You’re very good at explaining things and making very clear points.
I agree with what you said, in particular with the passion I do see with Albanians and Armenians, along with us!
I never thought about how colonizing a group of people can have an effect but you make total sense. I also agree with how you view the French society today and how culturally, they are or already have lost much of their identity.
I think Italians are moving towards the French model. I can see it in their politics…slowly they are becoming a very mixed culture and “Stefano or Giovanni” are no longer names that belong to a white Italian male…you can now expect a Moroccan, African, Korean, Chinese and more and more Muslims from all over. Italians have been racist in the past but they are becoming more accepting that they are a multicultural country now. It no longer just pizza and pasta…its Korean BBQ, Kebabs or African goat dishes they serve in many Italian cities nowadays!
I don’t ever feel embarassed to be Nationalistic, I honestly can’y understand how thats supposed to be perceived as a dirty word. I’m even more less embarassed by the Ustasa so-called insults or attacks. In many ways, I honestly feel Croats had very little options and if you have to chose between Ustasa/Freedom or Yugoslavia/Communism, its an easy choice for soo many people at that time and in those circumstances. I’m no historian but I remember hearing my dad tell me how hard life was for them losing their mill (mlin) to the government and going from having a good life to losing that privilege completely.
https://twitter.com/chelseafc/status/1256291980029702145?s=21
Mateo in his prime and fulfilling that potential we saw and Inter.
He has been shooting more this season as well.
Frank Lampard can teach him how to score.
Kovačić is the bridge to the younger generation.
Brozovic and Rebić are right there with him. You could also throw in Barišić and Petković.
We need as many mid 20’s players as possible to keep us at our elite level.
Vlašić and Brekalo lead the young 20’s crew.
God bless Croatia
@Slavonac
Yea, it’s a joke how many viewed the French as the World’s team, simply because they had a lot of black players on the squad.
There were two VERY offensive articles published by French newspapers that were actually pumping up France as an international and progressive team (the way every team should be) and Croatia represents the wrongful past with its ‘homogeneous’ faces.
I couldn’t believe they focused on their skin color and their faces. It’s sad that things like this can be written, especially about a hardworking team that was considered the underdog and was the fan-favorite going into that Final.
The irony about this all is that the article is a comple falsehood.
The only thing the French team’s “appearance” reflects is France’s slavery and colonialist past.
It was not a progressive country back then, and it’s barely one now. They continue to import migrants from poorer countries…not because they are a good and noble country, but because they want to pay low wages (with no benefits or vacation pay) for those who clean their toilets and drive their taxis.
And despite all this, most of these players are not even considered true Frenchmen by a sizeable chunk of France’s population.
France is not a united country. Some parts are very segregated, it has a high amount of internal incidents related tied to ethnicity/religion/status, and they live in a society that equates patriotism as some kind of dirty cousin of facism (which inhibits any sense of national pride that anyone from France can ever feel).
Facts…
– Croats never colonized.
– Croats made all forms of slavery ILLEGAL (including the trafficking of slaves by foreign boats via Croatian waters) well before it could ever take place…while Western countries were neck-deep in it.
– Croats don’t suffer from the guilt that current generations of western nations feel for crimes that others in the past have committed.
As a result, Croats get to experience the full sense of unapologetic pride of being a Croat.
The Western youth from places like USA, Canada, France etc…only feel shame.
..and, sadly, when someone does wave a flag and takes pride in these countries’ achievements, it’s met with a ridiculous amount of finger pointing and accusations (and you get stupid and ignorant articles like the ones written before the Finals).
A good example of how this affects things today are the celebrations after the World Cup in both countries.
Croatia had over 600,000 people packed into Zagreb’s square. Higher density per square mile than anywhere in France at that time. Barely any police, and zero incidents.
Compare that to France’s celebrations where you had military police presence, civil unrest, violence and even a few deaths.
Even the people who were celebrating in France…they were really just partying, and looking for a good time (while some were opportunists looking to rob, fight, or cause trouble). Even the ones who were happy and celebrating were not really experiencing that patriotic joy of being French and the great achievement of France. They were celebrating because the football team they cheer for won. These are two very different things. Only people from countries with a high sense of national pride like Croatia (or Albania, Armenia, etc.) can understand this kind of joy. It’s that feeling where a part of your life seems to feel more complete when an event happens. It sounds stupid from the point of view of an American or Frenchman, but that’s the point. It’s irrational, and yet, being irrational is part of being human. The French have lost that.
We should have been up 1-0 at the half.
Who knows what happens, but that’s a much different game.
I’m probably biased when saying this but we definitely were better than France and they were definitely not what I expected. I thought we’d get overwhelmed with their possession and attacks but that wasn’t the case at all. Another thing I noticed that really surprised me was was the amount of time Umtiti looked out of place, diving and he seemed confused. Pogba had his hands all over Mandzukic that entire game…that fucker looks like a gimp! Giroud and Griezmann were completely unnoticeable…they did absolutely nothing.
You are right Maminjo, that ref was calling every single contact between us and France in their favour. Even when it was a race to the ball and we stepped in front to win possession, we were called on a foul.
Believe it or not I watched the 1st half again last night and then I went to YouTube to see people’s reactions…from around the world. We were definitely robbed. Its really sad we have no recourse.
On another note! I’m not saying this to be racist, I am definitely not racist. Croatians are very proud people and extremely Nationalistic…which I see as a good thing. after the game, Croatians were far more united and louder than the French fans were. Our sense of pride was through the roof…theirs? We made an impact to the world, they have little dicks like Griezmann that dance like a damn homo and relate to shit like that…you won’t see that clown bullshit from our players!
@ BZ
LMFAO
You know what’s funny is you don’t realize it at first.
Maybe something happens and you forget to post your comment.
But then you are like .. Yo I am being editing??
The Soul is not phased by limited ego edits!!
Croatia and Sports are two passions of mine.
CroatianSports are core to my Soul.
READY !!
Yo I am getting edited?
No respect for senior members of this site?
Don’t make me start a new site and hire Vuki as my Director of Youth Development.
Yes my life would have changed I would have died a happy man
I would have been a most grateful Croat and would still be on a massive high
I know it’s only sport but we love Croatia and football such that is why the loss still hurts and probably always will until we actually win it
It’s almost like the holy grail and I do mean to blasphemise
https://www.90min.com/posts/joey-barton-names-ex-tottenham-star-luka-modric-as-his-toughest-premier-league-opponent-01e75cbbqqkb
I’ve always liked this nutters opinions.
Don’t forget pussy galore or whatever the F their name was storming the field as we had an odd man break out.
Would we have scored…maybe …maybe not…all water under the bridge.
This all feels like the night you had a chance to bag a 10 and she got away …it’s time we all moved on from coulda shoulda woulda …would any of our lives be any different if we had won?
Heck I’m betting a lot of ours would have been worse.
The week long hangovers …the imminent DUI’s…the jealous haters doing who knows what?
@Slavonac
Yea, it’s funny how everyone forgets the little details.
I keep telling people (even fellow Croats) how one-sided the match was, and people still have the feeling that it was a close game, but that the game ended up in a 4-2 scoreline due to us being unfortunate for the penalty and the Subasic (lack of) saves.
But the penalty was actually one of the least controversial calls of the game.
The extremely long time it took to decide, and insistence by the VAR staff made be suspicious of this game. VAR can only reverse a call if there is no doubt, and the ref was obviously in doubt but was likely pushed hard to reverse his call.
My guess is that he wanted to even out the fact that he made multiple NON-calls for a penalty when Croatia actually had several arguments for penalties in the first 25 minutes alone.
People have forgotten it, and the problem is that all the highlights online do not include these.
Heck, you can barely find videos of the Griezmann dive, as all of the official highlight videos begin the highlights right after.
It’s as if they don’t want to taint anything by showing this one-sidedness.
Strinic was body-checked out of bounds by Mbappe when he made a sudden and unexpected run into the box (a few feet from Lloris) with the ball in the first 10 minutes of the game. Mbappe was caught off guard and actually played the body, didn’t even attempt the ball. Strinic falls down (not a dive) and the ball goes out of bounds.
The ref likely didn’t want to call it because it was so early in the game, but that could easily have been a penalty. It was a dangerous chance, that caught the French off guard. I don’t even think we got a corner for that, lol.
Also, another one was Mandzo being pulled back by Pogba with BOTH hands wrapped around his shoulders to prevent him from getting his head onto a free kick cross in the 23rd minute…and this was after they were awarded a cheap Griezmann dive. Worse off, the ref was literally behind them. He ignored the call, that would have evened out his bad Griezmann dive on the earlier play.
We literally needed to create 4 or 5 serious chances into their zone, in order for the ref to even acknowledge a foul.
It was only after all these multiple dangerous attacks (and uncalled fouls) did he finally award us a free kick from way far out (in what he probably thought wasn’t dangerous territory) and it led to the Perisic goal.
Then we were punished for it with that France penalty shortly after.
The second half was just the same. We didn’t really slow down that much. But the calls and stoppage in play every time we made a run was insane.
I still remember Rakitic throwing his arms up in frustration and disbelief at YET another call against us.
Then Pussy Riot of all things, run onto the field during another dangerous buildup play (with a frustrated Lovren literally dragging one of them off the field).
Rebic almost got a nice rocket under the crossbar that Lloris managed to get his fingers on. That would have hyped us up enough for the comeback…but this ref very likely would have thrown another penalty at us if that happened.
France scored on essentially the ONLY shots they put on goal.
– They got a free kick from a dive (and even the free kick was controversial with that Pogba push on Mandzo).
– They got a stupid penalty, despite the multiple penalties ignored the other way
– They put two weak bouncing shots on goal (because they literally could not create any chances all game, so they took what they could) and both of these go in because of Subasic playing on a hamstring injury.
But even if an in-form Kalinic were playing, I have no doubt the ref would have thrown France a second penalty to try to give them the lead.
I think FIFA has an old-school mentality where newer footballing superpowers need to ‘pay their dues’ before they can claim a World Cup crown.
They think that a 3rd place finish in ’98 and a 2nd place finish is good enough for us, but we need to make multiple deep runs to the semifinals and finals before we get a fair shake.
The Netherlands gets dicked around just the same. I see our path as similar to theirs.
i Rafael Boban
Zds
I Jure Francetic
=U=
If that ball went in they would have called it on side lol.
Come on.
Yes, I never really thought about it that way but I totally see your point Maminjo!
I watched Croatia vs France again, it was on tv here and I recorded it. I was very impressed with our total dominance and composure and you are right, that ref needed his moment to secure the game.
I learned some new things in the last World Cup! I now believe that “even” at the World Cup finals there can be scandals. I also saw many soccer stars, former players and retired players state that we were robbed and the true winners of that final. I also learned that people like Griezmann never fail to prove they lack character and class.
I used to shy away from conspiracy theories (ie…Boban gave away the World Cup in ’98) and I still do for the most part but after watching what happened in this past finals, I truly believe that the ref had the outcome of the game in his mind before he even stepped onto the field!
I am only a fan of the game and I enjoy watching the different styles of players at each position, formation, strategy. I don’t care much for the politics in the game and I certainly NEVER give much attention to the fanboy organizations…. I just can’t understand how and why anyone would care to affiliate themself with the fanboy club of the actual organization? its like admitting you want to belong to something because you need to feel a part of something. This site has opened my eyes to many things I didn’t know before…some good and some bad.
He was already offside on his first attempt this was the rebound which of course was also offside that is why England only had one shot on target in 120 min their goal.
It was our time to make the next step – any way you slice it – all the bad luck turned our way in 2018- only God knows why – but it was so magical – I felt out of body from the semi final win to the final – we played so well in the final and then eventually the bad luck came back- we finally outplayed France and we lose- who can explain it? I would take that time again over this COVID crap- sto tke mo?
Nestor Pitana is no different than that dumb Japanese ref we had at the 2014 World Cup.
Whistle on the mouth, just waiting to give the favorites a free pass to first chance they get.
You saw it when Lovren touched Fred in 2014, and how quickly that ref blew the whistle to decide the game on a penalty.
This game against France in the final was no different….
UTTER DOMINANCE by Croatia in those first 20 minutes of the game, to the point where there was widespread panic on the France bench.
Then, after 20 minutes, when France finally actually crosses the into the Croatian half for the first time in the game…they lose the ball, but Pitana bails them out and blows that whistle instantly for a free kick in a dangerous position.
He had his mouth on his whistle the moment they crossed into our half, looking for any reason to give them a bailout. Meanwhile, it was swinging on his neck for those first 20 min when we were in the French half when they couldnt even get the ball from us.
Yes I agree with you Maminjo, Kane is not a natural on the ball and most Englezi aren’t!
Regarding Nestor Pitana…he doesn’t come across as the type of man that has a conscience nor does he seem to regret his two decisions that heavily influenced the outcome of a World Cup final! Sometimes I wonder how some of these refs are chosen? Do they have the mental stability, the aptitude, the common sense, the ability to maintain level headed and unbiased?
I find it weird that a Argentinian would ref a Croatian team in the finals…at a World Cup where we completely outclassed them and where it was openly demonstrated for all to see that Argentina are a bunch of fucking gypsies. Their coach, their fans, their players…and now their ref that represented their country!
Lol.
Néstor Pitana’s Wikipedia is strictly about his failure in the World Cup final.
The only thing stopping Perišić from scoring more goals was Dalić constantly subbing him out early in the second half.
The Denmark and Russia games would not have gone to penalties if Perišić (who was red hot in both games) was not subbed off.
Oddly, he was subbed off on both those games only moments after cracking the inside of the post in both games.
Another thing I think about is how many posts Perišić got in the tournament. He probably could have lead in scoring.
Don’t forget the dodgy argentine of French origin who officiated the final jebim ti mater
Don’t forget about the header that vrsaljko had to head off the goal line
Don’t forget even about Argentina’s two gimme chances in that game… They score this might’ve changed the tide of everything
On the flip side…. That is soccer
Vs England perisic hit a post and mandzo almost scored before
i Dinko Sakic
First twenty basically all English but they got tired and that middle was open for Luka to do his thing and England had no answer.
=U=
Bog I Hrvati I Mak’s Luburic
Vatreni are inner winners and true Soul Champs.
They transcend the treachery of host country cheating for both Brazil/France in 2014/2018.
Fascinating that there is a need to rig a match against a small 4 million homogenous country against neocolonial international footballing power?
Yo I am being edited??
I guess my posts are moot??
@Slavonac
Harry Kane isn’t a natural with the ball.
It was a very sharp angle and only a very skilled technical player can score on that angle.
He knew he would botch it if he tried, so he gathered himself and tried to score on a better angle. Unfortunately for him, it takes a few seconds more to do this, and it was enough time for Subašić to make the lunge.
A Šuker or a prime Eduardo (or even a Kramarić) would have scored that no problem. No hesitation or gathering the ball at a better angle required.
English players don’t have this skill.
France has the EU behind her. No way
We were to be allowed to win.
Sorry, meant to type, forget to say that.
Guys he was offside. British media forget to leave that out. Goal would not have counted
The headline should be about Subasic’s save.
that wasn’t easy to score. Kane had to set himself up really quickly and we were reacting and getting back into defend the play. I thought it looked easier than it really was.
England were better than us for the first 25-30 minutes and then after that we were the far better team.
Sime clearing John Stones header in extra time also huge huge huge moment. i love watching Stones reaction
@Suba
It was his fault for losing the final, lol.
This was a great reaction save, but he was done for that Final.
could have easily gone off subasic into the net after it hit the post as well. thats how you know Bog je Hrvat. just a shame the french sold their soul to the devil
Shot of Cro Fans
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8268647/ITV-match-Euro-96-fans-entertained-coronavirus-pandemic.html#newcomment
Croatia was playing Tottenham and basically we hate Tottenham! Stupid Yids.
Let’s get to the point where it was my fault for us losing the final