Croatian sports fans around the world – including me – are spoiled. Especially when it comes to football, we are absolutely spoiled. Yes, the Spain extra time loss last week still stings, but at the end of the day, the Vatreni have only missed two tournaments since 1996. That is absolutely bonkers if you think about it for more than five seconds. Look at Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia. They haven’t done anything since the break up of Yugoslavia. On top of that, Croatia has been solid in tennis, water polo, and handball over that past three decades; and basketball in 1992.
We take it for granted and this week should be a reminder not too. The Croatian basketball team hosted an Olympic qualifying tournament in Split and was embarrassed. Even with Utah Jazz sharp shooter, Bojan Bogdanović, returning from an early NBA playoff exit, Croatia couldn’t beat Brazil on home soil before barely skimming by Tunisia in the 4th quarter of group play. In the semifinal round, Bogdanović and company blew a 10-point lead against Germany and lost 86-76. Croatia will not be heading to Tokyo later this summer for basketball. Granted, the team was without Ivica Zubac (Clippers) and Dario Šarić (Suns), due to their involvement in the NBA playoffs, but they should still get the job done against Brazil and Germany; especially with home cooking on their side.
Marin Čilić had a great chance to make a run at Wimbledon and move up the ATP rankings, but instead, blew a 2-0 set lead over #2 Daniil Medvedev. 32 year-old Čilić was in full control and won’t have many more chances to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. The Medvedev match took place in the 3rd Round and could have potentially set up a date with Federer in the quarters. It’s a shame Čilić couldn’t hang on as one more deep run at a Grand Slam would be nice to see. At the end of the day, the man has a US Open title to his name and has played in the Wimbledon and Australian Open Finals in an era which makes is nearly impossible to do so; having Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray to go up against the past 15 years.
@Maminjo
“And does testing out the Rebic-at-striker experiment DURING the Euros makes sense?”
In my opinion Rebic should be able to play as a striker, he’s done it before for his clubs. But let’s say you experiment with Rebic at striker in a friendly or a UNL game (games you call meaningless), should it be with Modric, Perisic, Brozovic and all the other regulars playing?
I’d ask you then when would those players get that much needed rest you guys always say they need? You surely don’t expect their clubs to rest them during their campaigns so they’re cherry ripe for Croatia?
I don’t watch all the friendlies, didn’t watch any of the UNL. But I know you call them “meaningless.”
I watched when Croatia drew with Turkey 3-3 in friendly with a very experimental squad, by the 60min it was 3-3 (Budimir, Pasalic & Brekalo were the goalscorers), Dalic then subbed in Modric and Perisic who were on the bench, Brozovic, Kovacic and Vlasic never saw the field, so you tell me, you see all of Dalic’s mistakes, who would you have played in that “meaningless” game?
Didn’t Croatia beat Iceland at the world cup after making a lot of changes?
Didn’t Croatia beat Spain with what you called a B team at Euro ’16, with Jedvaj playing CB and Vrsaljko LB? How many times would them two have played together in those positions? In fact their never having played together was the reason Spain scored, but they picked it up as the game went on and Croatia still won.
Rebic did nothing this tournament and that’s on him, not Dalic.
@Maminjo
Petkovic, Kramaric, Rebic haven’t combined yet to equal Davor Suker’s goalscoring efforts for Croatia, you think you guys had the cattle to make some noise at the Euros, you’re kidding yourself. The leading goalscorer for Croatia at the moment is Perisic, a winger, so goalscoring is a big problem.
The defense, most here said that Croatia’s defense is a weakness.
Croatia has good midfielders, that’s the strength of the team, but Modric may get you 1 goal a tournament, Kovacic wont get you any, I’m not sure but has Brozovic ever scored a goal in a tournament, Vlasic can score, Pasalic can score, but you among others thought Croatia would be in trouble if they had to rely on Pasalic, you said the same of Budimir.
You think Dalic had the cattle, good for you, I don’t.
“They played where they were told to play, many of whom are not used to playing in these new roles with new teammates.”
There was no newer player than Gvardiol, and how about that beautiful give an go he pulled off with a new teamate to create a chance for himself against Scotland. You see there is always freedom to express yourself in football just like Gvardiol did there. Is that kid the only one that can still do something like that with a player he’s not used to playing with?
I don’t think Dalic put Rebic as striker against England expecting him to do fuck all, which is what Rebic did, he can now blame Dalic all he wants but I myself expected Rebic to do something other than what he produced, which was nothing.
In my opinion Croatia got to where they were supposed to get to at these Euros.
We’ll see what Vlasic can do at Milan if he gets there, it’s one thing to get there another thing to make the team better, we’ll wait and see if he can do that, same goes for Brozovic.
@Maminjo
“I don’t think he cares if he gets fired.”
You can think all you want.
I think a few players sabotaged Croatia’s campaign because for whatever reason they wanted Dalic sacked, and they didn’t care if they wasted a tournament to achieve their goal. Some players thought they were bigger than the team and cared more for themselves rather than how they can help the team in this transitional phase.
You may of missed @Suba asking you,
“What did Kramaric and Orsic post?”
Now, what the f**k would Kramaric have to complain about, that his Hoffenheim role isn’t available to him? You said Petkovic and Kramaric should play together, but let me ask you, what happens to your vaunted “pressing” with those two lazy slowpokes on the field?
Mandzukic will press, Petkovic wont, so you try Rebic up top (which some of you, @Soul Champ being one, thought it a role Rebic could play well), but he couldn’t get it done. Then you go Petkovic, that guy is just shit, but you wanted him and Kramaric playing together, that means no vaunted “pressing” game.
You see you’re living in a fantasy land where you think the Croatian players are all high quality when the reality is the only quality in the Croatian team is still old man Modric, and to a lesser extent Perisic, the rest are good ordinary players that if they work hard like they did in Russia they can have a decent tournament. There’s just not enough talent on the team to play any other way but your vaunted “pressing” game, which requires a high work rate, which unfortunately Rebic didn’t want to give, and Petkovic and Kramaric can’t give.
I just think Dalic didn’t have the cattle to achieve any more than he did at the Euros.
Oh yea?
And does testing out the Rebic-at-striker experiment DURING the Euros makes sense?
Is that a sign of a well-prepared coach?
Trying out Petkovic and Kramaric together, or Rebic up top, or some other combination is what the UNL and friendlies were supposed to be about.
There is nothing wrong with trying out these different player combinations and formations…but you test it out BEFORE the tournament begins.
Also, you actually think the Croatian players sabotaged the campaign? Come on.
They played where they were told to play, many of whom are not used to playing in these new roles with new teammates.
The lineups we saw in the tournament (and the combination of players playing together) were the first time we’ve ever seen them. You can’t expect these guys to suddenly gel on the field DURING the tournament.
Dalic sabotaged himself.
So…(according to you) outside of Modric and Perisic, Dalic doesn’t have the “cattle” to succeed, yet every top team in Europe seems to disagree.
ManU and Barcelona wanting Brozovic, Milan wanting Vlasic, EPL teams all wanting Caleta-Car, etc. These teams are all idiots and are interested in buying our junk players ? Right?
Give me a break.
Dalic is benching 30 million Euro players while Vladimir Petkovic is taking down France by starting Dinamo backups and other Balkan rejects. Petkovic and other coaches would kill for our players.
Anonymous
Good analysis. Unfortunately some on here have a clouded vision.
@Maminjo
“If someone offered you a million dollars to be coach of the national team for a year, would you take it?
Personally, I wouldn’t take it because I don’t think I would do well, and it would probably cause a lot of issues within the team by having a lot of players probably not being on board with me being the coach.
Dalić is in this situation right now.”
Lol, and that hypothetical scenario is supposed to make you an honorable man?
Are you saying that Dalic shouldn’t of taken the job after Cacic?
Lol, I just can’t see how Dalic is in a situation you would be in when he has already done well and you’ve never been in the game at the highest level?
“The honorable thing to do is to just step down. But his honorable persona (that he always projects) is just a falsehood.”
To question a man’s character because he wants to see out his contract rather than leave because you want him to is akin to throwing ones toys out of the cot lol!
Grow up.
See out his contract? LOL
I don’t think he cares if he gets fired.
He’s already lost the team. Some players have publicly made comments already about our coaching being the problem (and many others I’m sure are thinking the same thing behind closed doors).
He wants the full amount of his contract. The HNS won’t fire him because they don’t want to pay him (plus a new coach). They’re just as guilty as Dalic.
He won’t step down (despite already making good money these past four years as National Team coach already).
He’d rather just maintain status quo and remain coach until he gets fired. He wants to be paid out, and he’ll do so at the cost of our National Team results.
Most coaches who have lost a team and have not had success in three full years, would just move on for the betterment of the team because things are obviously not working anymore.
Dalic won’t do so, because he wants the money…or in your words…”see out the contract”, lol.
You can’t rig it past the Italians
Heart breaking not to watch our Vatreni today at Wembley.
Get ready for more heartbreak if things don’t get sorted by September.
Three critical games against Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia that could end our World Cup already.
You expect too much if you thought Croatia was good enough to make it to the Euro final. And I would want no part of losing another final, especially to England in their stadium, with the refs and UEFA on their side. No part.
I call BS on this story from Index. How would they know what was discussed, even if this “meeting” did happen? Just some more anti-Hrvatska garbage, trying to divide everyone.
Going to watch the Italian smash Djokovic now.
Yeah that was never going to happen. Djokovic had this tournament in the bag before it even started. Federer is old, Nadal has done nothing at Wimbledon for 10 years (and didn’t even show up) and Murray is broken down. There is no one athletic and good enough to beat Djokovic on grass in best of 5 sets. The easiest Wimbledon to predict since the Sampras days.
This Dalic situation seems like a bad reality tv show. A lot of lame drama! Someone should tell him the coach is supposed to help the team do well, not bring it down. He had his chance. The 2018 WC wave he was riding has ended. He officially burned out at the Euro and should be released. Money/contract is an extremely weak excuse for why it hasn’t happened! Who knows what goes on behind the scenes with the characters in charge but obviously he’s pretending everything is ok.
Dalic is completely bogus as a coach at this point. If he is still coach for 2022 WC that will be a shame and a sham. Hopefully a coach who can get the job done comes in and takes over before it’s too late. THE SOONER THE BETTER!!
If someone offered you a million dollars to be coach of the national team for a year, would you take it?
Personally, I wouldn’t take it because I don’t think I would do well, and it would probably cause a lot of issues within the team by having a lot of players probably not being on board with me being the coach.
Dalić is in this situation right now.
The HNS is giving him a million dollars to be coach until next year, and even though he knows that he is the cause of alot of the issues within the team… He refuses to step down because he wants that million dollars (despite all his talk about being a locker room unity guy).
Hey good news out of the pag conference
Lovren recognized that in the best interest of the National team, he should step down from his starting duties
And in his place should play brekalo
The only exception is lovren will be subbed in if any free kicks need to be taken
@Suba
Dalic has a contract and doesn’t have to go anywhere.
Maybe just wait for Mr. Kvartuc to produce his expose of what went on in the locker room before giving your opinion on who should go.
If Modric and the others believe that Rebic should be left off the team for the time being, then you have to believe that they’ve come to that decision with a full knowledge of what went on at these Euros.
Maybe Rebic said that “it’s not important who is to blame,” because most of the blame would fall on him if you were to play the blame game.
Do you believe that Dalic got a contract extension on merit?
Yes I did at the time because of his success at the World Cup however in hindsight it had become the wrong decision
The claim that we can’t pay out his contract is not correct it happens all around the world in other sports all the time
The diaspora financed the war against the greater Serbia project during the nineties I’m sure we all can afford to relieve Dalic off his duties from here on here
Oh really maminjo
What did kramaric and orsic post
This Dalic guy has lost the locker room and is losing credibility real fast here
The only thing that would save from now on here is that pag crew pull out a stellar performance at the World Cup similar to the feats achieved at Russia
I’m a little surprised modric is continuing given he looked tired and old but his class is still there
The World Cup will be the last hurrah for this pag crew
Better be a good one because a whole generation of a good young players will be wasted on this crew
Aka 02 Mexico game would come to mind if we don’t watch this process closely
Rebic will be 29 and at his peak but he surplus to requirements
I can call it it the Pag Crew
For fuck sakes
That’s interesting in how the elder players back in Dalic into dropping rebic altogether as the scapegoat
I find it interesting that vida vrsaljko and kovacic are part of this brains trust
What the fuck did those 3 do at the euros
Be careful who casts the first stone I say
Dalic is turning into a mini Tito here which is dangerous
One should only truly onto their top job through merit not creating a cabal of supporters which is happening here
Has anyone explained on how perisic got covid and completely derailed our entire campaign
Nothing but crickets
Ok rebic was terrible but he has been terrible for years they have only picked up on this now and why is kramaric off the hook if the process is to purely blame players and not the coaching staff or the hns
Could not blame if rebic chose not for croatia ever again really
Don’t start me on petkovic
Dalić is just trying to get some support so he doesn’t look as bad pulling this “uhljeb” move where he’s trying to get paid in full.
The honorable thing to do is to just step down. But his honorable persona (that he always projects) is just a falsehood.
He wants to get paid in full…but he is also trying to make it look like it’s not just about that, and that we were just unlucky at the Euros and that narrowly losing to Spain is considered a success (despite playing like horseshit the entire tournament and past three years).
It’s obvious the dude just wants to cash in on the rest of this inflated contract (he’ll never get this kind of money again) but not look like a seljak in doing so.
He’s made enough money off the National Team. It’s best for him to just move on… But he doesn’t care about Croatia as much as he does in getting the rest of this payment.
Dalić held a meeting at his Villa on Pag with Modrić, Perišić, Kovačić, Vida and Vrsaljko and talked about Rebić and they agreed to leave him off the National Team for the time being. Rebić is not being called up for the September qualifiers.
Dalić won’t be speaking to the media until September, but he pointed out that everything is going according to the plan.
LOL.
Yea, the man has a plan. Just like the three year humiliation experiments.
Someone fucking fire this clown. Rebić isn’t the only one who talked smack after the tournament. Kramarić and Oršić posted negative shit too. None of them have respect for Dalić.
Our team captains are way too weak and beta to say or do anything. Modrić needs to tell the HNS to toss this loser.
I don’t see Dalić going anywhere after reading this report. He’s basically consolidating his power by gathering the support of the senior leaders on the team.
I don’t see much changing in the future for us. He’ll continue to play the older guys to maintain their support even though in some cases it will be to the detriment of the team.
I’ll always be grateful for 2018, but we seriously need a new vision at the helm.
Maminjo
I thought you were making this up and being sarcastic. Did this really occur?
I read it on Index:
https://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/dalic-odrzao-sastanak-s-igracima-u-svojoj-vili-na-pagu-rebic-prekrizen/2289666.aspx
There was some BiH portal that had something similar too.
Judging by the comments, it looks like the entire country wants Dalic gone from both the National Team and from Pag, lol.
This won’t end well if we lose in Russia this September.
Thanks for the link.
We play Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia. We lose points in September and we are in trouble. We shouldn’t be in this position.
Then sosa won’t be called
We will rock lovren and vida till the wheels fall off, brekalo subbing one of them off;)
No other keeper will even have a look
What happened to bilic coming in?
Do we have to start a go fund me to pay off dalic contract?
500,000 thousand Croats have to put in 1 euro each
I’ll put 100 lol
Who is starting it off:)
Then we have a public vote to see who the new coach is
True democracy lol
Man, I was only being semi-serious last year when I said that we would still be debating the Lovren/Vida CB pairing for 2022…but here we are.
It honestly looks Dalic is just going to continue with the Copy&Paste Russia 2018 lineup until someone collapses on the field.
The GoFundMe page to fire Dalic is actually a great idea. I would put money in too.
There are a half million Croats who would throw the cost of a cup of coffee on it just for entertainment value alone
This start of the qualifying campaign during the whole not finishing euro is the Shit part
It may save modric for one more year but will take on the loose baggage
I’m down for a rebuild now and hope to put it somewhat back together for 2024
Selected rebuilds are almost always better then forced ones
Maybe if luka pulled the plug
The other older guys would as well
The thing is even tho we played
Like shit overall. We were still bloody in it.
Maybe the rebuild won’t be so bad??
I would rather we just don’t wait till lovren and vida die and have to break in 25 year olds when they should be starting to git their prime then
poor dario Saric
I actually like the guy. He’s a smart, crafty player who plays hard and also has a passion to play for croatia.
He looked really promising as a swiss army knife player with Philly, especially as he became a legit 3 point shooter scoring 20+ points in playoff games multiple times.
Since then, he hasn’t been able to find his niche and this season was a bit choppy cause of injury even before this devastating one. the ACL will likely take him out of all of next season as well. I hope he comes back strong. Although after a big injury like that, he’ll likely have to give serious consideration of whether he can take the extra summer wear and tear of national team basketball.
Prkacin is a so-so prospect. Not a great shooter, handle etc.. So-so length. Looked good in the youth system, ok stats so far… but perhaps have many misses on croatian prospects, nba gm’s aren’t giving any benefit of the doubts
@ Maminjo
I fear you could be bang on about folks not caring about basketball in Croatia.
Which makes the most sense why Slovenia is so good. They love basketball and all the talented kids flock to the few clubs at a young age.
We got kids getting free sandwiches to play Rukamet at 5 and NOT being allowed to even touch a basketball after that.
Which is sad when half the Rukamet reprezentacija could be million dollar basketball players.
Not to mention bolster HKS.
I actually think Roko Prkacin is the best prospect in a while. He has long arms, can ball and seems focused on his game.
I remember when he busted Spain up in some youth championship.
Till we see a legit lead guard we will always be mediocre.
Bogdanović is a legit NBA scorer and he is by far the best paid athlete of all time.
You would think that folks in Croatia would do the math between Rukamet and Košarku ?!
Basketball is popular in some cities in Croatia, but I think there is just too many other sports that waters down the interest.
Everyone in Croatia plays football. That is first second and third. But a lot play tennis. My entire family plays tennis. I think people from Split put their kids into tennis before any of them would be put into basketball (which is crazy considering how tall they all are).
People from Dubrovnik all play waterpolo.
Then there is a ton of people who will do all these other random athletic sports like swimming, rowing, etc.
Excellent, tall athletes…but yea, they opt to go all-in on sports that don’t pay nearly as much as basketball.
Croatia is a pretty dynamic country when it comes to sports though.
We seemed to have pulled off at least one top athlete from every discipline. Football, Tennis, Basketball, Waterpolo, Handball, Swimming, Shooting, MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing, Judo/Taekwondo, HighJump, Javelin, Discus, Skiing, etc.
Naturally, with 4 million people, you’re not going to be peaking with all these sports all the time.
It seems like most Croatian “NBA” players don’t have any heart anymore and have too easily taken a paycheck and don’t really care. Bogdanovic still has heart I would say and Zubac hopefully is still hungry to improve and become a force. Other than that it’s a let down unfortunately….it’s crazy? growing up watching Kukoc and Drazen and Radja you would think that they laid the foundation for European players to make the crossover to the nba to see not much production from today’s players these days from their efforts is unfortunate. . Where’s the pride? Where’s the effort? Where’s the hard work? Where’s the representation? Drazen had probably vthe most intense drive and work effort on the same level as much as anybody…even Jordan. Now I couldn’t even tell you. Today tvhese guys get paid big bucks and don’t give a flying duck. Sad. I thought some of these guys were going to be actual stars? Now I see a bunch of could of beens collecting paychecks and producing sub par results.
People don’t really care about basketball in Cro, as much as they do other sports.
I have multiple family members who are freakishly tall, and none of them picked up basketball lol. They all just did tennis, swimming, handball and other sports.
I couldn’t believe it, considering they were all 6’6″ and taller.
@ Ziva Istina
That must be you!!
You were always so spot on with your basketball analysis.
Basketball is about having a lead guard of which we haven’t produced since Dražen Petrović.
So 2nd ball on the pitch, a marshmallow soft penalty call, and then a laser on the keeper
And still Kane has to get a rebound to score
Fuck England
How good would a South Central European Confederate team be? Doncic, Jokic, the Croatian Bogdanovic, the Serbian Bogdanovic, etc. Should be an NBA team, then I’d have a reason to watch, someone to root for as opposed to random blacks drafted from where ever to play for whoever.
We tried that. It was called Yugoslavia.
Might be more ‘names’ on a potential jugo side, but I’ll take what we have as Croatia.
Yugoslavia wasn’t a Confederacy, a Confederacy is nationalistic, and I’m only talking in terms of basketball. If I was talking Politics, I’d be talking about a larger Central European Confederacy.
@Bob
“If I was talking Politics, I’d be talking about a larger Central European Confederacy.”
“A confederacy is a political union. The most famous American confederacy consisted of the southern states who fought the northern states in the American Civil War. When you confederate — that is, join together for a common purpose — what you get is a confederacy.”
So @Bob, what would be the common purpose, that in your opinion, should cause Central Europe to confederate?
Just a brutal year for Croatian sports in general…
Stipe lost his title
Croatia lost to Spain
Saric is out for the rest of the finals
Cilic hasn’t won a title since his win over that Jap in 2014.
Didn’t qualify for Olympics for basketball
Overall, I’m excited for the trilogy for Stipe. Soon or a later, he’ll get the rematch because Jones will never fight. Once Gane and Lewis fight in August, the winner of that should face Francis and if Francis wins then then Stipe fight will happen.
You touched on former Yugo teams a bit. There’s talent all around but we just have way more. Croatia plays with passion, pride and is fearless. Serbia has made two world cups (2010/2018). Neither tournament did they get out of the group. Slovenia made 2010 and that was the year Croatia missed. Slovenia actually did well but blew a 2-0 lead against the US. Then they made 02 but didn’t get a point. Then Bosnia made one in 2014 and got robbed. So only four teams have made it. I’m convinced we’ll be the only ones next time in Qatar. No other nation will compare to us and get as far.
Just a slight correction, Cilic won the Stuttgart Open (first title in 3 years) just a month or so ago and carried good form into Wimbledon, only losing to #2 Medvedev in five sets, so he did have a bit of a resurgence there.
Croatia is better alone in all sports then all other forget Yugo countries together.
i like to often talk about overhyped croatian soccer youth, but sadly it seems to have occurred even more so in hoops. and the shocking thing is, hoops players are much more accurate to predict. let’s recap
2014: Dario Saric # 12
2015: Mario Hezonja # 5
2016: Dragan Bender #4
2016: Ante Zizic #23
2016: Ivica Zubac #32
2019: Luka Samanic #19
2021: Roko Prkcin second round
Removing canada from the equation, since 2014 Croatia has the most first roundres of any country, most top 20 picks, tied for most lottery picks, and tied for most top 5 picks.
So one can say the results, have been extremely disappointing.
In this most recent qualifying round, Croatia did not have Zubac and Saric who would’ve made a huge difference.. But arguably they should’ve still had the 2 best players in all their games in Bogdanovic and Hezonja, so it’s very interesting to see them fail to win given how important one player can be to a team (see Doncic and Slovenia)
Bogdanovic gave it his all and was great in the final game after shaking off some rust. He is a real deal player.
Hezonja tried, but at the end of the day he just doesn’t have a great basketball mind, is just not a good enough shooter, and doesn’t have elusiveness to shake players off. His main offense move is to use his good size and athleticism to straight drive into his defender and then often use his off hand to create some space (probably illegally) to finish.
The rest of the Croatian team was an absolute disaster with very disappointing marks having to go to Zizic. The coaching also looked very suspicious as the defense was very shaky and shockingly the coach did not start Hezonja or Zizic in the first game against Brazil (30 point loss) and instead started some European journeymen.
As always, there is a massive hole at the lead guard spot both offensively and defensively. Maodo Lo, who was a former Ivy League guard, absolutely torched the Croatian point guards in the game vs Germany which tells you all you need to know.
Truth you make some valid points but ZU is great value for where he was drafted in his draft class,and he’s young and far from a bust.
Samanic is showing improvement with the Spurs and he’s what 21 and pop has high hopes for him.
Prkacin is a true wild card..kind of like hezonja same size,great hops attacks the rim but no outside shot…time will tell if he’s another Croat bust?
Just googled Maodo Lô. How did a former Columbia University PG torch a team of NBA lottery picks… joj
SRAMOTA!!
Good points. The decline of Croatian basketball is not discussed enough on this site. Saric was touted as the best baller outside the NBA. He started well in Philadelphia but his career has been in a tailspin since he was traded. He has hardly featured for Phoenix in the playoffs and he is not young anymore. I suspect he will abandon the NBA. Hezonja and Bender went nowhere. Zubac is all energy and is large but has no outside shot, or at least doesn’t take it, and takes no threes. He won’t develop much beyond who he is if he can’t expand his game. Meanwhile, as Croatian players flounder, Jokic and Doncic are excelling in every sense. Not sure why this is happening, except that our players are getting drafted well before they have proved themselves and before they have fully developed, then they come to the NBA unready and don’t get enough minutes. You can’t develop sitting on the bench during key formative years. That being said, Saric did come as a developed player and it is sadly not working out.
Good points. The decline of Croatian basketball is not discussed enough on this site. Saric was touted as the best baller outside the NBA. He started well in Philadelphia but his career has been in a tailspin since he was traded. He has hardly featured for Phoenix in the playoffs and he is not young anymore. I suspect he will abandon the NBA. Hezonja and Bender went nowhere. Zubac is all energy and is large but has no outside shot, or at least doesn’t take it, and takes no threes. He won’t develop much beyond who he is if he can’t expand his game. Meanwhile, as Croatian players flounder, Jokic and Doncic are excelling in every sense. Not sure why this is happening, except that our players are getting drafted well before they have proved themselves and before they have fully developed, then they come to the NBA unready and don’t get enough minutes. You can’t develop sitting on the bench during key formative years. That being said, Saric did come as a developed player and it is sadly not working out.
Really sad to see what happened with Dario. He had all the makings of our next ‘great one’ in the NBA. But after 18-19 and the injury, he’s just been a different player and his numbers acorss the board have been dropping.
If I’m him, I fish around some good EuroLeague teams and move back to Europe. I’m sure he can get a big money deal and hook onto a team that will make a deep run in EuroLeague.
Just wild to think that with the ‘young talent’ we developed, we’re still leaning on guys in their late 30’s like Simon and Ukic for production….
Two balls on the field and a dive. It reminds me of a World Cup.
http://irelandoncraic.com/olympic-diving-team/?fbclid=IwAR3EOzGVxxQr9NfaC6xTXk9HUYWrdJaDPMu2vlTWnGkz1MTlOVL-enVKYD0
I’ve said it before that VAR has made it possible for the “beautiful game!” To ensure that corrupt officials have even MORE influence over games.
Coach’s should have one chance to challenge a call in each half something like the NBA and a committee of 5 should decide on the call with majority rule.Then again the big boys will find a way to hand pick 5 patsies anyhow so that won’t work either!
Think how many billions would have been lost in advertising,beer sales,gambling etc etc if Denmark had made the final and not England?
Why has nobody mentioned Chelini’s hand ball against Spain?
You’re trying to tell me if that was lovren it wouldn’t have been called ?
That Chelini handball wasn’t even close to a call.
It would be if it was vida or lovren
Don’t even get me started on the England game. These guys still won’t win. All these delusional donkey inbred English fans are too stubborn to realize that ref gave them that call to ensure England played Italy at Wembley Sunday. No other reason. I mean honestly, England needed an own goal & a cheap call to beat Denmark? Denmark lost their best player, lost 2 group games & only got 3 points in the group stages. Meanwhile Croatia beat that Denmark team without an own goal & on penalties which was a even and fair ref/match. That referee knew if that call wasn’t made, he would never officiate a match had England lost. Also anyone else find it odd that this ref for the match. Also officiated England against Germany and twice in nations league for England? Seems fixed to me. England needed the ref to win and make it the final at home. Bunch of cowards and bums. Hope Italy shuts these cowards up.
Arsène Wenger on England’s penalty: “No penalty. I don’t understand why in situations like that the VAR, the referee doesn’t go & look on the screen. In a moment like that, he has to be absolutely sure.” (BeIN)
That England shit makes me never want to watch again. Not that I’m surprised.
I was just saying something similar to someone! When you see those decisions made it really turns you off watching the sport altogether. VAR and the ref must be the only people on earth who saw that and thought, yep, penalty! They should both be sacked.
I think at the last Olympic Games we got 5 gold medals and 3 silvers or so which was a terrific return – our best ever too. Not sure how this Olympics is gonna go with the bizarre circumstances it is being run in and who is or isnt going etc so we will see how we go this time.
That penalty to England was the most BS call i’ve seen, how can VAR look at that and give a penalty? So fucking rigged, as if giving England 6 out of 7 matches in London isn’t even they need to give them phantom penalties also.
Was it the Czech game that was blown early for us?
England had an extra minute after the 6 mins of added time to the second half
Fuck the corruption
if you watch the stirling play again – you will see there was a second ball on the field right behind him- that play should have been blown dead but it was allowed to play on- watch the play again and see if there is something absolutely fixed about the result- not one announcer or any commentator has mentioned that back ball behind stirling- why is that?
Yup I thought that was a bloody ball on the pitch
Fuck VAR and that piece of crap sterling
Modric has more class in his left nut then England has as a country lol
Sure we would be happy getting the call but you know we wouldn’t feel right to win it like that
They are celebrating like they beat 1990s Brazil in Brazil
I’m always game for a good conspiracy but this is so blatant that it becomes kind of ridiculous – it wasn’t like the ball was down the other side – it was right behind Stirling- i understand it is at the refs discretion but man it is so obvious – I bet if Denmark got the ball before the Stirling dive it would have been blown dead because there is 2 balls on the field- double standard -for sure.
VAR strikes again. It’s amazing how soccer has taken a tool that should make the game more fair and just and has just added more corruption. So you’re telling me if that happened at the other end, Denmark would have been given a penalty? Yeah right. And I just don’t understand why the play isn’t dead after a penalty miss. Why the *#@! should you be able to shit the bed on a penalty and get the rebound and score in an empty net? And then celebrate like you’re God’s gift to soccer. Makes me want to puke.
England is the most dirtiest team.
Dinamo is shitting the bed. Instead of taking a 4-0 lead, Ademi misses a penalty and Valur scores two late away goals against some of their third string players.
Incredible that they would take the Iceland champs for granted and now have to play the second leg away.
The cherry 🍒 on top of a terrible few weeks is Dario Saric hurting his knee last night …hope it’s not serious
Torn ACL.
Steta.
I think you said it perfectly when you said Spoiled. People don’t realize how far above our belts we usually punch. Yes, we somehow are really athletic but technically and statistically we shouldn’t be. No reason to get mad at the athletes, instead just enjoy the ride, the lows just make the highs that much better. Im sure we’ll get a few medals this summer. yay
Croatia sport is our most successful advertising globally as a people. I remember in 1976 when Toronto Metros Croatia won the North American Soccer Bowl people were asking what Croatia ment. The game was televised on ABC Sports and Croatia couldn’t have asked for more publicity than we got after winning 3-0 . The yugo. embassy in Washington and Beograd tried to have the name Croatia removed . The team was sold after the 1978 season and renamed Toronto Blizzard. We should be proud of our success in sport and may it continue and get stronger and stronger.