Since coming over from Celtic last week, Josip Juranović is already making a name for himself in the German capital. In his first match with Union Berlin, Juranović supplied an assist in a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen. Tuesday night, he did it again with an absolutely wonderful cross from the left flank, which was perfectly placed for teammate Robin Knoche for the game’s equalizing goal. Union Berlin defeated Niko Kovač’s Wolfsburg side and have now clinched a berth in the German Cup (DFP Pokal) quarterfinal round. ASSIST ON YOUTUBE @1:09
We have a Petar Musa sighting off the bench today! And you better believe that CroatianSports will be posting every goal from a possible future #9 moving forward knowing what we know about our current strike force. Musa came off the bench in the 66′ and scored 14 minutes later as he cleaned up the trash in front of net with a nice low shot to the far corner. It would add some insurance in Benfica’s 3-0 win over Arouca. Benfica currently sit in 1st place in Portugal; 10 points above Braga.
I am tired of the B.S. that people keep levelling against Dalic… The guy can’t seem to do anything right for some people on this site. Look, the guy has had two successful World Cup tournaments. Both second and third place finishes is nothing to scoff at.
That said, all the youth players are individuals to keep our eyes on, noone is a solid call up yet as far as I can see.
Some players may have earned a possible spot in Euro Qualifiers but time will tell us who Dalic will pick. I don’t think he is sold on Petkovic or Livaja, personally.
The striker position is still an issue, but much to Maminjo’s points, making it as far as we did without someone to put the ball in the net is more than accomplishment.
I am hopeful that players like Ljubicic, Simic, Beljo, Musa will start to pan out. I think before I may have been sold on Colak but I don’t know if we see the picture clearly with this guy. He is 29, and still playing in substandard league, so I don’t know if it would have been much different from calling Petko or Livaja to be honest. It’s not as if we can really look at consistency in his case it is only one season so far for him at the Rangers that he had been doing this.
If we are arguing for youth development than it has to be the other players mentioned including players like Vidovic possibly as well in other positions.
Colak’s best chance for the National Team has passed.
He was playing in a suspect league, but was scoring so much that it was probably worth taking a flier on him. Rangers doing horribly in Champions League probably tainted his scoring streak in Scotland, and Dalic didn’t end up picking him for the team.
Now, the situation is grim for Colak.
He is turning 30 and has lost his starting spot to Morelos (who has suddenly caught fire himself). They play with one striker up top, so Colak is pretty much going to remain a backup until the younger Morelos gets cold or is injured.
Younger strikers are showing signs of life (Musa, Beljo, Ljubicic, and Simic) and they all play in better leagues. If any one of them starts scoring consistently, then there is pretty much zero justification to ever call up Colak.
Actually, the British media was calling Livaja Croatia’s most well-rounded striker (which I agree with). He entered the World Cup with a slight injury, which is why he came off the bench in the first match. Čolak, as good a finisher as he is plus height/size, is neither a superb dribbler like Kramarić and Livaja, nor a physical tank like Petković and Budimir. Dalić went into the world cup looking for results and brought a team that could very well have won the thing if it hadn’t been for a very poor clearance by Borna Sosa, which is something you can’t really predict. It will be nice to see Budimir removed from the team for not performing on the highest level, but you really can’t criticize the other guys. Kramarić is still fit and still excellent. Livaja is in his prime (don’t be too hard on him for missing that PK; it even happens to the very best). I don’t like Petković, but he contributed in the biggest moments. Most of all, the manager put together a team that got results. That’s important.
Croatia would’ve won the thing if it had a player who could put the ball in the back of the net, simple as that. The defence was superb and the midfield was good throughout the tournament as well but the biggest let down was upfront.
Both Petkovic and Budimir preferably should be let go from the team, Budimir isn’t at the level and Petkovic is way too lazy. Bring some fresh new faces in, you can’t keep trying to polish a turd with Petkovic and Budimir because it’ll be the same result.
Rumor has it Chelsea want to sell Kovacic. I really hope this happens.Chelsea is a mess. Where do we want to see Kovacic? Me personally? Juve will want to resurrect itself. Back to Real? No thanks. Barca? No thanks. Bayern? He would look good at Bayern.
The simple answer is: “anywhere out of the Premier League!”
I think he would excel in any top La Liga or Serie A side.
I would love to see him back at Real Madrid, just in time to takeover from Luka! An Inter return would be interesting too.
Juventus or Bayern.
I think his tireless running would be appreciated in Germany, and his skill level fits well in Serie A.
I would only want him at Barcelona if Brozovic were to go there, but I don’t think Barca can outright buy anyone right now due to financial fair play rules.
@ maminjo
to finish up the haaland, devin booker comparison from the other day.. You argue that booker didn’t start to win until chris paul arrived and that showed that booker isn’t actually a winning player. That’s not what I take from that event.
I take that Booker is a winning player, but even in a star dominated sport like basketball where one player can have an incredible impact, one player alone is not enough for a team to win.
You can take that concept, and multiply it for a sport like soccer which has 11 players on the field and a single player will have much less control of the ball and direct impact than a sport like basketball.
I think you should look at Haalands goal scoring rate and any lack of team success that doesn’t follow and conclude its because of lack of quality in his teammates rather than him.
It sure seems like Man city is winning with him.
I’d gladly trade gvardiol for haaland. When croatia is tied 0-0 against some so-so team, you’ll feel it too.
Straight up, I might do a Gvardiol for Haaland trade too…but it’s not as easy a decision as you make it out to be.
Even your other scenario of trading every single good player (not named Gvardiol) for Haaland is a risky one that banks on building around a few stars, and trying to fill the gaps with makeshift role players.
Norway are currently a team of two stars (Haaland and Odegaard) who are probably the best #9 and #10 in the EPL, playing for the top two teams…and yet they can’t qualify for tournaments. I understand that they are young…but they’re not that young, and they’re being eliminated by Pot C caliber teams like Turkey and Serbia.
Actually, Serbia is a good example of a team with a handful of stars, and not much else. Lots of us here were weary of them, thinking a team with stars like Vlahovic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kostic and Mitrovic would go far in this past World Cup (you were probably one of them)…and they ended up finishing last place behind Cameroon and a washed up Switzerland.
Yes, it would be nice to have an elite striker if we’re tied 0-0, but I don’t know if it makes much difference if you’re trading away all the quality in the back and midfield. Norway has a lot of 0-0 games (and some 0-2 and 0-3 losses in important matches) with Haaland on the field.
Having an elite striker doesn’t guarantee you a goal if the rest of your team can’t find him.
Our striker situation was bad at the World Cup, but we still ended up third place.
That’s all thanks to our possession game with zero weak links (in terms of technical ability) on the field.
This is why Serbia failed. You can have a great midfield with SMS out there and Kostic, but when you throw in a Nemanja Gudelj (who is pretty much an Ognjen Vukojevic with two left feet)…it spoils the whole bunch.
I value what Haaland brings, and I expect Norway to eventually put it together and make a good tournament run (similar to Denmark)…but you cannot underestimate the value that our depth in technically gifted players across all positions of the field can bring. The Norways, the Serbias, and the Ibrahimovic-led Swedens all see that.
I don’t agree with you guys on this.
Firstly I want to recall that the first debate I had on this site was when someone (it could have been slavonac but I’m not sure) suggested back in 2015 that modric was a good player but never really capable of winning a match. He said if only we had a player like Gareth bale he would certainly swap him for modric. I said no, modric is far superior player.
Gvardiol is a better player than haaland. Gvardiol is a complete player. He has every attribute you need to be the best. He could potentially (there is a long way to go) become the best defender of all time. Haaland is limited in a number of areas. He can’t dribble, his touch is average, he can’t create on his own, he doesn’t score from outside the box. He needs a particular type of service to score, Man City are of course doing well…BUT not as well as in recent seasons when they played with a false 9, what does that tell you?
Of course haaland is much better than any of our strikers but swapping Gvardiol for haaland? Bale for modric? No thanks. I’m looking forward to seeing how musa, beljo, ljubicic and simic progress. You never know one of them might become better than haaland..then you’ll be relieved you didn’t trade Gvardiol to Norway. Lol
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it agian
When we call for a changing of the guard and rotation in of youth, we talk as people on a message board that look at the players as chess pieces, not as dalic looks at them as people
dalic had just had a great success with these guys in the world cup. he hugged, and cried and sang nije u soldima sve with budimir and livaja and petkovic.
with nothing changed, he doesn’t just break ties with those guys.
so this youth rotation process is just not going to happen quickly without either injuries or poor results or some guy really exploding on the scene
Musa is a MUST for March !!
Nice to see JJ in the Bundesliga.
We got a big Spring ahead of us with WCQ and then UNL.
Dalic will never try to put him in the near future_
he still wants to have Kramaric as a forward }}
also don’t forget about the existence of Lovren
that will bully youngsters,- Dalic is shit after all!
What’s amateur is changing your name every week thinking you have us all fooled Amateur!
HAHA!
https://www.goalstube.online/2023/02/fiorentina-torino.html?m=m3
Vlasic with a nice assist in a losing effort.
……………………Musa……………………Beljo…………………….
………………………………….Majer…………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………….
………………………..Kova……………Modric……………………..
Perisic……………………………………………………..Juranovic
………………..Gvardiol…….Erlic…….Sutalo……………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………….Liva…………………………………….
Huge that Musa has scored today, if he keeps proving himself on his cameos gotta get him in ASAP no more of this hesitant call-up bullshit.
Also important for Beljo to start finding the back of the net, I don’t want to be seeing Petkovic or Budimir next NT break.
Musa with 6 goals this year in all competitions, mostly as a bench player. Great scoring rate, but I really wish they would play him more.
Musa was one of the league’s leading goalscorers last season. He had 12 goals last year in 2,450 minutes played…but this season, he has 6 goals in 770 minutes played.
He’s actually scoring at a much better rate, probably because he’s surrounded with better players. I’m curious to see what he could do with our midfield and wingers around him. At the very least, he would be a great joker off the bench.
Dalic may call him up for March (since he was on his radar back in June) but we’ll see if scoring regularly off the bench for Benfica is enough to usurp the almighty Budimir. 🙂
Beljo is starting at Augsburg. So long as that continues, he should start scoring hopefully. He’s a lot younger (being only 20) but so long as he keeps starting in a top-4 league like the Bundesliga, he should continue to develop.
Yeah I would’ve really wanted them to have gotten Goncalo Ramos on a transfer then he would’ve left.
I saw a comment about his agent speaking about how he likes it and all but just needs more game time and that Ramos wouldn’t be able to do what he has already done with all the minutes that Musa had only played. I liked the comment.
Another interesting comment I saw from a Benfica fan I’m pretty sure was that Raul Jimenez was in the same boat at Benfica as what Petar is now.
I only found this interesting because Raul Jimenez ended up making a move to the premier league and made a decent name for himself before his nasty injury.
and Ramos was in a similar position himself last season, playing behind Darwin off the bench and scoring 7 goals for the season.
Musa’s just gotta keep proving that he can score efficiently in limited time off the bench and Benfica will feel more comfortable selling Ramos and giving Musa the start.
Would be a major thing if he became starter for benfica
This would surely make him get close to maybe getting a call up;)
I’m only playing
But seriously, this kid is showing he is the goods. It’s not a hot streak. He’s shown his quality over a fairly large sample size