FINAL: Croatia take all 3 points on the road in Armenia and win 1-0. This is Croatia’s third straight clean sheet in Euro 2024 qualifying. The Vatreni have only conceded once in four matches.
(84′): Petković subbed out. Musa in.
(74′): Ivanušec subbed out. Majer in.
(73′): The ball comes to Stanišić across the box and he he relatively wide open. He smashed the ball one inch wide of the post. Croatia should have scored a second goal by now.
(69′): Kramarić subbed out. Pašalić in.
(61′): Modrić puts Perišić on a 1:1 with the Armenian keeper and the keeper gets a piece of it for a corner. Should have been a goal and Perišić should have done better.
(59′): Kramarić beats the keeper with a strong, low shot from inside the box but the ball goes just wide of the post.
(14′): After a long VAR review following a corner kick, Kramarić is credited with the goal. He was clearly offside but the review showed the ball bounced off an Armenian player last. 1-0 Croatia!
Croatia has its chance to find themselves top of Group D with a game in hand should they be victorious Monday evening in Armenia. However, this is easier said than done as the Armenians have proved to be no push-overs.
Croatia’s dismantling of Latvia earlier in the week inspires confidence in perhaps a newfound ability for the Vatreni to score goals, even against low bunker teams. Last time Croatia faced Armenia in a friendly match, it ended by the score of 1-1 with Armenia having effectively sat back and defended all game long. Perhaps this time, that strategy may prove ineffective against a much more threatening Croatian attack, with the likes of a youthful and energetic Luka Ivanušec, the skillful Andrej Kramarić, Ivan Perišić’s consistent quality and Bruno Petković’s recent hot-streak. Or was this just a one-off against a poor Latvian side? I believe a good result against Armenia will further prove our improvements on the front end, however a frustrating performance would maybe set us back and bring up more of the same questions fans have been asking themselves in recent memory. Regardless, three points here is needed considering the seeding for the four pots at the upcoming Euros. Should Croatia finish top of their group, they are not guaranteed a Pot 1 spot, but rather, need to be amongst the five best group winners in order to be in Pot 1 (considering Germany already clinched a Pot 1 spot due to them being hosts).
[…] در 11 سپتامبر، ارمنستان میزبان کرواسی بود. جمهوری سابق یوگسلاوی یکی از بهترین تیم های فوتبال جهان را دارد. این کشور در فهرست رده‌بندی فدراسیون بین‌المللی فوتبال (فیفا) در جایگاه ششم قرار دارد و تنها آرژانتین، فرانسه، برزیل، انگلیس و بلژیک قبل از نامش قرار دارد. کرواسی به مدال برنز جام جهانی 2022 دست یافت. قبل از آمدن به ارمنستان با نتیجه 5 بر صفر تیم لتونی را شکست داد. تیم ارمنستان اما با فداکاری بازی کرد و تنها 0-1 شکست خورد. این تک گل که در دقیقه 13 به ثمر رسید همچنان محل بحث است. داور مجبور شد برای بررسی آفساید وقت اضافی بگذارد زیرا به نظر می رسید مدافع کرواسی نیز لمس شده است. پس از یک بررسی طولانی VAR ]کمک داور ویدئویی]پس از یک ضربه کرنر، کراماریچ به عنوان گل شناخته شد. او به وضوح در آفساید بود، اما بررسی نشان داد که توپ آخرین بار از روی یک بازیکن ارمنی برگشته است. 1-0 کرواسی! گزارش شده است وب سایت کرواسی. […]
What is this some Cetnik scribble?
Surprised at some of the gloomy comments here. My guess is that many posters here probably didn’t watch the game before deciding to comment.
If anyone watched this game, it was a master clinic.
Croatia dominated Armenia for the full 90 minutes. Armenia had almost zero chances. Latvia had more chances in their 5-0 beatdown.
The Armenian keeper made some excellent saves, and guys like Perisic made more errors than they usually do, otherwise this would have been another 5-0 win.
Rarely have I seen any team in the World score so early then hold a 1-0 lead for so long, without the opposing team getting a real chance.
I was fully expecting the last few minutes to be a nailbiter, with Croatia probably dropping back to defend more and Armenia sending everyone forward…but Armenia couldn’t even create a half decent chance. Their coach was trying to pump the crowd, and push the players to give everything (which they did) but Croatia kept taking the ball away from Armenia very easily and dominating possession.
You’ve got top seeded teams in other groups squeezing by minnow teams (or even drawing them) and we criticize our team for this dominant display and getting the full 6 points?
We’re probably one of the hottest teams in the World right now. If a tournament started today, I’d say we are a favorite.
Re: the game…
I think I like Stanisic in the backline over Juranovic. Yes, Jura gives you offense, but Stanisic is lightning fast and tall.
Even if Stanisic makes a mistake (which he did at times) he is physically strong and quick to recover. He’s similar to Sutalo who is also tall and fast, and despite making the odd error, has the physical traits to hunt you down if you blow by him. Sutalo actually had an awesome tackle in the first half as well.
Armenia’s best players were on the right side and they attacked that side all game. It was a good call to start Stanisic there, because if Jura was there then Armenia may have gotten a few very good chances.
Also, for anyone who worries about this team dropping off when Modric and Perisic retire…just watch Gvardiol when he plays.
He’s 21 and yells at his teammates when they make mistakes. He chewed up Barisic for making a stupid play. Directs all other players when they pass the ball back. The kid is already a veteran and a leader and will likely become a superstar.
I especially liked it when it was the 85th minute and our players kept screwing up chance after chance (largely because they were gassed and maybe a bit demoralized), and then you see Gvardiol take over.
He long balls it to Perisic, who set up Musa (who almost scored) but the Serb keeper got a hand on it. Then he took the ball upfield himself, and pushed forward into the opponent box, forcing the Armenian defense to reorganize and drop back, and at one point was the furthest player up. You could see that he wanted to score and end this game himself, and he picked the right time to push forward as Modric and Broz (who were likely gassed) were dropping back more (which allowed him to move forward knowing they’d be back there to cover). He wanted to keep the pressure going and not slow down, which would have shifted momentum to the Armenians for the last 5 minutes of the game.
Veteran decision-making at age 21.
Losing Modric and Perisic will always suck, but Perisic has already dropped off (his World Cup was below standard for him) and he can no longer blow past guys one-on-one like he used to (he couldn’t do it today either). Losing him now won’t be as impactful as we’ve already lost a part of what made him great, and yet we still dominate.
We’ve lost equally good players in Mandzo and Rakitic, and we still medaled at the World Cup.
We may not be contenders when we lose Modric…but we said the same thing when we lost Suker, Boban, Prosinecki, etc.
Our goalkeeping and backline is suddenly really good, and our midfield will always be very good to great. I don’t see us dropping off to the level of our neighbors (they were never good at football…ever in their history, Yugo’s achievements were always ours) and I don’t see us dropping off to 2002 levels (when the war affected our youth sports development for that age group).
We’ll be fine.
Perfect
Yes, Perisic playing style as slowly changed, but his header against Japan was such a key goal, that is for the history books.
Amen M, lots of haters or closet Yugos talking smack. In 2006 someone said Croatian football was lost at sea and that was the starting point for the medal tally and tournament success we’ve had over the last two decades. Hrvatska u crce.
Everyone has a stand-on-their-head game, including goalkeepers from Armenia. I have to wait for the replay, so I am only guessing on the saves and the shots taken. I’d like to wager on the goalkeeper since all these Croats score goals, assist, or playmake on their club teams. All you need is one more goal than the other team. And we didn’t let a goal in during the last minutes or injury time.
Hopefully some adjustments can be made after six goals and two clean sheets in two games to get the team to the place they need to be.
Lol. Surely, some adjustments will come.
Armenia had to defend 9 corners and 8 shots on target, plus another 18 shots that were off-target. Even on a day when Croatian players were missing the mark a lot, Armenia’s keeper and defense had to do a LOT to keep the game close. Armenia played quite well, and especially their keeper. Those who say they didn’t see Musa involved obviously didn’t see him connect with a low cross from Perisic to force a reaction save from Armenia’s keeper that rebounded to Brozovic whose shot got smothered by an Armenian defender. That play would have ended in a goal against a less alert defense. Stanisic had a heavy touch today, but he reads the game well and tends to recover from his mistakes. It was good to see him push up into scoring position. Also, Barisic wasn’t bad. He didn’t do anything to cost Croatia the game on defense, and his attacking game was fine, finding spaces to play the ball up into, but no one was making runs to complete the play. Gvardiol even was shouting at the forward players about that once he started playing more balls forward. The problem with Barisic is that he pushes up too much and gets caught out of position and exposed on counters. He’s a wingback for 5-3-2, not for a 4-2-3-1. He has the same problem at Rangers. Considering that Sosa is a similar profile of player (albeit more technically skilled) but with less physical strength and aerial ability, you can’t blame Dalic for choosing Barisic for this match. It’s time for Sosa to become the player we all want him to be, so as to settle that LB question once and for all. Perisic is still our best LB.
1-0 or 5-0
3 points is all that matters
If we can’t beat armenia by more then goal were in trouble,,, I’ve said it numerous times Dalic doesn’t think about the future just the past luck he’s had on defense and penalty shootout
By my calculations, Croatia need only two wins out of the last four games to qualify. That gets them to 16 points. Only way that’s not enough is if Turkey beats them by more than two goals in Osijek, and Wales wins their last three games, including Croatia. Hard to see that happening, never mind Croatia only getting 6 points out of the last 12.
This is our best qualification cycle since Euro2008.
We actually may end up wrapping things up in next month’s round of games.
Glad we got the win, although a couple more away goals would have been nice!
Regardles, as it is, we currently are 5th overall in the qualifiers, and we are occupying a spot in pot 1 for the final draw.
Keep up the good work Vatreni!
Germany as hosts and Portugal are 100% certainties of being in Pot 1. Other probabilities based on current results are France and England.
The other two spots will most likely go to Scotland, Hungary or Croatia providing we keep on winning.
Slovenia currently has 13 points. A dark horse.
Well one positive
We didn’t concede a goal going away where the keeper and the defence are on the up
I’m not worried about the future of Cro football
As long as we are passionate about playing for the homeland we will be fine
We are too talented to have such a massive drop off after luka goes
We just have to learn to readjust after the great little maestro is gone off to the sunset
I just watched the Kramaric goal again. It was lucky, but it was definitely a goal. The ball was intended for Gvardiol, but he missed, and the Armenian defender redirected the ball to Kramaric, who would have been offsides if the deflection had been from a teammate.
A mass brawl broke out with some Cigan Cetnik Armenians. Remember when in a Chetnik Cigan country to be prepared. All of them support their Schizum brothers.
I don’t think most Croatian soccer fans are prepared for the “serious” drop in quality the national team will experience once Modrić, Perišić and Brozović retire.
We will be just as weak, if not weaker than we were in 2002, with little young prospects for the future.
Along with HNL dropping in rankings, Croatian soccer is in a serious decline!
Let’s enjoy this team for now. After the Euros I may no longer be interested in following.
Good riddance then…win/lose/draw, a real fan follows no matter what.
Great win by the way. First in the group, played and beat 2nd and third already away, and we can pack our bags, we are going to Euros.
Disagree- I’m old enough to remember that Modric was just some kid sitting on a bench and there was not one media outlet predicting that kid would be a future best player in the world. We have no idea what kids will back fill that position . Serious decline , I wouldn’t be that dramatic but we have had some great players in the last decade and it’s easy to think we won’t be that good. I also recall people saying after 1998 that we will never be in a world cup semi final again . If I recall, we keep receipts too.
I saw Modric play in Toronto for Dinamo against Rangers at Skydome (now Rogers Center)in 2005 and I said that short blond dude is gonna be good.
fuck the press/media.
https://www.rangers.co.uk/article/dinamo-zagreb-10-rangers/3eSTrs5BVNUkaHLSrtEeaD
Nobody respects a fair weather friend or fan …so you’re only interested when they are doing well horvat?
We will ALWAYS be competitive it’s in our blood!!
Eventually we will drop. Look at Italy. How did they win the Euros? Even Germany has been going backwards the last 3 major tournaments. It will happen to Croatia eventually. I don’t think we will ever got to the level of Bosnia, but a fall to the level of Serbia can happen.
Population continues to decline in Cro. We have gone from 4.5 million to under 4 million. Slavonia is getting emptier by the day. As you lose population, you lose a talented workforce. You can see that today in Croatia. Only a matter of time. So enjoy all of this while we can. Before long we will resemble what our basketball program looks like now.
why is Slavonia emptying?
Little job opportunities. Government stopped investing there long ago so people have to leave to survive
Why wait for the government to invest. Invest with like-minded Croats and you can get somewhere.
Go spend a day there. That is enough time for anyone to want to leave. Hahaha
Have you looked at Italy’s Primavera squads?
No Italians.
It’s bad enough if your Serie A clubs are 90% foreigners…but your youth teams as well?
When Hajduk’s U19 team played AC Milan’s U19 squad in the UEFA Youth League semifinals, there was maybe one Italian on the field.
Even the white guys were from places like Romania, France, etc.
They may have Italians on the squad, but the starting eleven were all outsiders.
Hajduk’s U19 team was not only entirely Croats…but pretty much all local Croats from Split, ha ha.
The biggest foreigner was Josip Skoko’s kid (Aussie Croat).
So long as we keep playing our own players in our youth squads, we’ll be fine (especially with our midfield-centric footballing culture).
We will never drop to Serbia or Bosna’s level because (other than the odd player or two) they’ve never produced a complete squad of good footballers in their history.
at different times throughout our history we’ve had some really good players. recently we were blessed to have Rakitic alongside Modric and we lost a lot when we lost him. we lost a lot when Mandzukic retired. we will lose a lot when Modric goes but there are several ways to win games, I don’t see anyone that had our quality midfield and yet there soo many awesome teams out there…some better than us without our quality in midfield.
if you’re not gonna be interested in following because some guys might retire then I think its your decision, many casual fans might do the same.
Ridiculous comment considering we just saw a 21 year old Gvardiol transfer over to Man City for 90 million.
Some media outlets are reporting that there was fighting in the stands among the fans. I hope that our fans were not involved? if so our next match against Turkey in Osijek could be played with no crowd in view of the fact that we are on a 2-year good behavior bond/suspension. In the first half you could definitely hear some pyro technics going off, again I just hope it was not our fans.
https://twitter.com/MATalibli/status/1701286766471422125?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
really cant complain much about this game. croatia keeps up their very strong form.
they failed to finish effectively and their expected goals for this game was probably like 2.25 vs the 1 they actually put in… but sometimes your just unlucky..and given croatia doens’t really have goal scorers, that’s not shocking either
slavonac echos my thoughts on musa.. the guy just hasn’t shown me anything now on several appearances. i get its hard to come in for the last ten minutes, but show some activity at least
One of those matches where you wonder if all those missed chances are going to cost you in the end. Good away win that should have been by a bigger margin.
In the end a lucky goal by Kramaric following a corner was decisive.
Overall, we controlled the match well with Brozovic and Modric dictating the tempo of the match, just a pity that we could not finish them off with a second goal. Next match is against Turkey in Osijek and three days later away to Wales.
It looked like Stanisic hit the post. Overall, it seemed that keeping possession in the second half was a challenge, but fortunately, Armenia couldn’t keep possession either. Armenia defended very well and moved the ball up the field well. They’re a pretty good team, so it’s good that the boys beat them in Yerevan. Unlike in the Wales match, the defense at the end was rock solid and held onto the lead.
I’m satisfied with the result but obviously wished we scored a couple more goals…we had the chances.
this wasn’t the easiest game to come in as a sub, I felt Majer was very poor (and he’s been poor for a few months now), Pasalic was ok and Musa is beginning to remind me of another Budimir…tall, lanky, slow moving and just doesn’t leave me with any type of impression. What can I say about Musa in the time he’s on the field?
Barisic scares me. the guy gets weaker as the game goes on and by the second half he looks completely bagged and easy to beat.
the rest of our guys were pretty good, not a whole lot to complain about. ugly win but its a win and this is what we needed.
Games like this build toughness and character. 6 points in 72 hours and a 6 goal differential, I’ll take it.
We have to get some striker production though
After game , shooting practice. Try and hit a side of a barn. A few decent shots should have had an easy 4 -0 victory.
Come on Musa!
So many missed chances. Just hoping it doesn’t cost us. Can we score another goal and end the game with the comfort of 2-0?
Looking like the Wales game all over again. Should have been 4 or 5 zip in that one. Hope it doesn’t end the same way.
I like that we’re actually taking corners
(instead of doing that short corner BS)
Agree, however we did have a few of those BS corners.
wow we are wasteful
Looking for the perfect shot
I hope it doesn’t cost us
Thank you for the help stari. English is not my first language and we all know one of the hardest parts of English is the spelling
With the kind of go get it attitude you showed there, i think we could even have a place for you aboard the yacht as part of the crew. I’ll speak with my head bosun and revert
Overall very good half from croatia. They continue to show themselves as a better team than the team we hoped they were pre 2018
Still boring with no new offensive talent though
Armenia is very disciplined and compact…they’re holding their own and even pushing forward. I hope we don’t make a gaffe…this result is good.
We’ve been dominant.
We really should be capitalizing on this more and be up at least 2-0.
We’d better not take the foot off the gas in the second half.
yep!
Tough Environment
I am impressed by Ivanusec. He has been playing solidly the past two matches.
Stanisic is getting worked on the right side so far.
Baka, thanks….more updates from you and minivatreni and others would be great! The blog I am following on another site is not very good….hopefully people will provide even more detailed commentary at half time….
Stanisic got a yellow, got better towards the end of the half.
Better that Stanisic is there instead of Juranović
im sure we’ll find out later in the second half
in US, it’s live on FS2.
Krama goal was a deflection off of a corner kick that went straight to him in front of the goal and he tapped it in. Originally goal was going to be called off for offside. Krama was def in an “offside” position when the ball was deflected to him, but VAR showed the deflection was actually off an Armenia defender (not a Croatian player), so no offside, and the goal stood.
Don’t think that’s why the goal stood. The Armenian player near the corner was the one that made it onside.
In the USA, there is a replay of the game scheduled on Fox Sports 1 tonight, 11 pm EST – 10 pm CST. I don’t know how dependent regions and service providers are regarding this.
Any streams?
It’s on FOX sports if you’re in the USA.
Barisic at LB? Am I seeing that correctly? Is Dalic counting on his veteran presence? Stanisic at RB too. That’s one heck of a back line lineup.
I sense Dalic sees this as a physical game and he is sizing up a bit on the back.
Bigger guys than he has so that’s the only thing i can think of for this change.
It could be. Or possibly (just speculating) he also sees Musa or Frigan as better targets for well placed crosses from Sosa and Juranovic, so they will come on later to feed one of the younger strikers if/when Petkovic is subbed.
Some of us don’t have television access. Any updates or rolling commentary would be appreciated.
Although pleasant to see a decisive victory, I found the last game vs Latvia quite boring.
In the past, when there have been easy opponents and low stakes, I’ve still found it interesting because I wanted to get a glimpse of the new and upcoming offensive talent… the next potential great croat.
Croatia seems to have that potential on defense.
But this offense is barren for a new generation and we are left watching the same old same old players. Who are great to watch in real competition but don’t bring much excitement in these.
Croatia really has a massive talent hole from the midfield and forwads that is just not getting filled.
We can go through the historic bust list as usual
marko pee-ass-a
josip bust-alo
alen hal-lil- sh@T
tin jedva igra
antoni “oh no he sucks” marin
ante “doesn’t deserve a nickname” coric
luka suck-ic
gabriel ne vidi-ga-ovic
borna so-so
brun “oh man he’s slow” petkovic
josip on-the-bench-i-sit stanisic
lovr- “oh he’s slow” majer
petar mu-“suck”
others who don’t have time to make nickname for because yatch is taking off
nikola vlasic
mario palasic
roko simic
zzzz zzzz zzzz. will there be another croatian offensive talent ever or are we going to grind kovacic-modric-brozovic-perisic-kramaric for another 5 years?! many of these players are fine and serviceable…collectively along with the defense may let us win greece euro 2004 style in the future… but just not seeing any generational talent
Hey, goof rhymes with troof.
What’s a yatch?
It’s yacht you pompous ass.
You’re a bee-yatch.
Smooth sailing!
Bog i Hrvati
I trust Dalic’s opinion although I’m not a fan of Barisic…but he knows better than me, he see’s things from the ground level!
I think this is a good lineup. he’s keeping Petkovic, Ivanusec and Perisic hungry while they’re all in good form!
Looking like
Barisic In ✅️ Sosa Out❌️
Stanisic in ✅️ Juranovic ❌️
According to Sportske…
HRVATSKA: Livaković – Stanišić, Šutalo, Gvardiol, Barišić – Modrić, Brozović – Kramarić, Ivanušec, Perišić – Petković.
Looks like Dalić is worried about Jura and Sosa’s defense.
Which I understand
But Jura and Sosa both went up against Brazil 🇧🇷 too ..
I would start:
Livakovic
Stanisic Sutalo Gvardiol Sosa
Modric Brozovic
Kramaric Pasalic Perisic
Petkovic
MB,
I like the plan. It would be great to see Stanisic get a start at right back. I think he deserves a start.
You look at that young back line and ask: would it be an exaggeration to suggest it has the potential of being the best defence in the world, maybe for the next ten years? (Ajax looked disjointed last week — they had a ton of new players who had never been on the field together — but Sutalo really stood out and was stellar.)
I’d like Maminjo and some of the “walking encyclopedias” to weigh in on whether, in their opinion, we have ever had this good a defence that was this young. I’m not sure that we have.
I might go with the big three in the midfield if Kova is 100% healthy, and start Pasalic on the sidelines. Other than that possible quibble, I think your lineup is A1.
Yea that’s the thing I’m guessing Kova isn’t 100% to play from the first minute
How does a player deserve a start when he doesnt play at the club level? This is not charity.
Put Jarni at leftback and yes you have the best D of a quarter century.
Seriously though Croatia’s D + Liva is top 3 in world right now and look to stay that way for the next 10 years.
I rate France and unfortunately Argentina’s D higher.
I would leave Perisic up front on the left wing and leave Ivanusec on the bench despite his good form. We need to play attacking football and I predict that we will win by an odd goal or two.
Vušković to Tottenham: https://thetopflight.com/2023/09/10/tottenham-sign-defender-croatia/
Hajduk has to sell him and take the money on offer. The kid is 16 and you just do not know what can happen tomorrow i.e. serious injury or he just stagnates in his development and is unable to make the transition from youth to senior football.
He can also void his contract on his 18th birthday (thanks to our anti-Mamić law) and leave for free
Maminjo, you must be joking? never heard of it.
Naprid Vatren!!!