This post is not to make excuses or play the “victim” card. I promise. Croatia did not play good football in Germany this summer. However, I’m taking a look at some Euro tournaments our beloved Vatreni have played in from a macro POV. And my question to you all: is Croatia the unluckiest nation to ever play in the Euros?
Croatia has three World Cup medals but has yet to win a single match in the knockout round of any Euro competition. So are the following moments/paths simply unlucky? Or could something more have been done?
-2008 quarterfinal vs. Turkey: concede 122′ equalizer. Lose in penalties.
-2012 group stage: Drawn with Italy and Spain. Both make the Final that year
-2016: Beat Spain to top group; get Portugal in the Round of 16. Portugal wins the whole thing.
-2024: Concede 95′ equalizer to Albania.
-2024: concede 98′ equalizer to Italy. Tournament over for Croatia.
Has Croatia been unlucky at Euros or is it something else?
Unlucky? Or a bunch of lazy, selfish bastards?
Perhaps this is not the place for this comment. Is it fair to say if our people destroyed the dolphins stadium we would suffer severe consequences. Columbia will face no repercussions for there actions . They should remember that the next time they want to fine us
It’s not that we have been unlucky. It’s that we have been mismanaged and poorly coached both on our team and within our savez. We had players who had no business on the team and players who came to play when it was already too late . Perhaps. If we had some fresh legs and better coach this euro could have been different. I truly want the best for us like all of us here do . We want to see our people lift that trophy. Sadly many times we are own worst enemy and continue to be . Until that changes we will continue to experience these failed campaigns. We also need to take into consideration that a country of 3 million and declining that talent will also be up and down as far as producing top tier talent that will affect future tournaments
I’m sure the horrible jerseys didn’t help lmao
Hopefully, What does not kill you makes you stronger.
We needed to have young legs on the wings .. at least for some portion of the matches.
Not sure why we got 6 minutes and 8 minutes extra time with Albania and Italy?! Lost the lead in the last minute of both matches, 2 minutes lost 4 points.
I have been watching all these Euro and Copa matches have not seen any top team get anywhere near that amount of extra time.
I pray Dalic uses UNL for young players only.
Give every kid a real run out.
Musa needs another look as well.
MLS bias aside.
If the squad needs a veteran type of player than you give the kid a look.
Slovenia is now the standard for us ?!
Domestic players running their asses off.
@ soul champ I am starting to think there is some bias against Musa. I agree he needs a second look. He is starting to find form and if he improves he needs to be considered
I mean this tourney we were prolly the most unlucky, conceding those two last second goals..
i know we shouldve defended better blah blah shouldve done this or that but it is still bad luck anyway.
I think it’s the Albania game that cost us the most. That was a game they needed to win.
It was defensive blunders that caused this for us. Sure luck plays a part in everything, but they needed to hold on and they didn’t.
A strong defense always wins you games just take Italy in the past for example. Spain played well defensively in this entire tournament. Sure they have talent up front but they did not concede a single goal in group stages. I think that is something we need to focus on, we had too many problems in the back during this tournament.
We’re speaking about Euros and casually over-look our first match ever ?
Against Turkey in the 86′ minute (not final kick of the game – but close enough)
If we don’t win that game – our whole tournament would have looked different (negatively) and could have profound impact (if we even make the knock-out rounds, etc) not only on that tournament but 1998
Nonsense.
We were one of the best (if not the best) teams in the tournament.
If we drew Turkey 0-0 then we wouldn’t have clinched automatic progression from the group phase (with our 3-0 win over Denmark), which was the man reason Ciro fielded a B lineup in the final game against Portugal (because he didn’t care if we finished first or second).
We probably draw or beat Portugal in our final game with our starting lineup and end up avoiding Germany in the quarters and ended up in the Finals against them or England.
Euro 2004
Trezeguet goal to level it 2-2 was 10000% a hand-ball (most blatant hand-ball ever/one of the worst call against us – surprised we don’t mention it more)
Than Olic makes a last minute/extra-time run to the by-line (top speed – was beautiful to watch) – cuts back to and passes it to Mornar who shoots it over the net from 5 yards out
If we win the game vs. France – our whole mentality / scenario is different going into last game vs. England (Croatia would have 4 pts – England 3 pts – we could have played for a draw and just park 11 men in front of Pletikosa – albeit against a popping his cherry Rooney it would have been tough)
I also remember in the first game in our group England vs. France – England was winning 1-0 going into extra-time – and France scored two goals in extra-time to win 2-1
So it’s not just Croatia who has lost games in extra-time – if you go back through the Euro 2024 matches – there was a bunch of deciding last minute / extra-time goals all tournament
Also the Silvestre penalty on Rossi (which Miki then converted) was a very lucky call for us – it wasn’t a penalty at all – Rossi more or less flopped
So to be intellectually honest – we should also look at all the calls that have gone in our favour
Than weigh up the against us vs. for us (we only focus on the against us – which is really silly – victim mentality is rampant on here)
France also lost in the last minute to Greece.
Euro 2004 reminds me of Euro 2024. Both tournaments had a lot of decent teams that just didn’t play well at all. There were only about a couple of teams in each tournament who played well and probably actually deserved to win it.
At the Euro2004, the only impressive team was Czech Republic (who should have won the whole thing). Portugal, England, Sweden and Netherlands were okay, but all were missing something. Everyone else was crap.
I would add that they were unlucky in 1996, as they went toe to toe with Germany, and as soon as they tied the game and had the momentum, the ref had to get involved and give Stimac a second yellow. I think if they win that game, they may win the tournament. England at home in the semis would have been tough. And they were also unlucky a bit in 2021. Although outplayed by Spain, they came back and tied it to get to extra time, and had the momentum. If Kramaric scores on that point blank chance, maybe they win.
True. Goal there might have changed outcome.
Top notch mind games by LM10 v-a-v Nole
Nole cries about Runa fans/booing
So LM10 rocks up to the final – sits in Alcaraz box (which Nole didn’t know in advance and was shocked – like why didn’t he ask me ?) – and spends the whole match cheering for Alcarez point-by-point
Straight sets win by Alcarez
Top notch mind games by LM10
Didn’t see LM10 at the finals. Saw him at the semifinals two days prior (Alcarez-Medvedev).
Ironically, the play of the tournament was Olmo disciplined goal tending ability without the use of his hands. Discipline Defense won the match.
Slovenia had half the talent made the final 16 and never lost a 90-minute game, and most of the players originate from the Slovene leagues. They defended as a team in a disciplined manner without dynamic scoring potential. They were so close to taking Portugal out, by a millimeter, as everyone knows, but Sesko was no Suker in the end. It did not have to be so close if Sesko just chipped it over
Lesson to be Learned.
There was no rhyme or reason, or disciplined tactic to the Croatian approach which seemed to be predicated on utilizing fading old veterans and keep the rising youth off the field, to avoid losing.
We look for outside world to determine who is good and who is not, and we let the outside world determine our national team now. Dalic can’t seem to recognize where talent exists, until somebody else tells us it is so. We therefore play Majer rather than Marko Pasalic, and Sucic for example. So much youthful fire power was completely wasted.
No shame though, 90% of players for the English, Netherlands, France, are African descent, and they have realized long ago, there is no genetic talent in their own country of origin, and it they used it, they would utterly lose.
As Danny said it was the Colony cup, and they stacked their teams from their captured colonies.
2008 and 2024 when conceding goals in the last seconds of the match you have to say unlucky, but also dumb defending.
In 2016, they also pushed forward for a last minute goal because they desperately didn’t want to go into penalties.
I guess the trauma experienced from 2008 and us being 0-1 in PKs at that point, got into our players’ heads thinking they wouldn’t win if it went to penalties.
Then Portugal won on the counter.