Coach Zlatko Dalić confirmed Nikola Kalinić’s expulsion this afternoon to media after the story broke this morning that the AC Milan striker would be packing his bags to go home for disciplinary reasons.
Reports from Russia suggested that Kalinić refused to go on as a sub in the 85th minute against Nigeria when requested, telling Dalić at the time that he had a sore back. Marko Pjaca was then sent on instead.
“Nikola warmed up, he was due to go on in the second half and then he said he was not ready to go on as he had pain in his back. The same happened against Brazil (at Anfield) and also at training yesterday. I need fit players who are ready to play and I sent him home as he is not ready,” said Dalić on Monday.
Kalinić was never going to start at this World Cup, and that may very well be the underlining issue here. But he would have been a pivotal substitute off the bench.
It is fantastic to see Dalić showing some backbone and not letting one player interfere with the entire team at the World Cup.
Sorry slavonac. no hard feelings. dont take it too serious. but it’s like you’re happy that our squad is down to 22 players because then you can harp on about how you were right to hate on kalinic. that is pretty annoying. but i shouldn’t have called you an idiot. apologies. big hug
I think we go as Mandzukic goes, and how he goes will depend on Kramaric and Rebic.
I hope if Mandzukic scores no goals that you guys don’t blame Kramaric and Rebic for not providing him the service he needs. Lol! Perisic can hardly play better than he did at the Euros and that didn’t translate into any goals for Mandzukic.
Isn’t what’s happened with Kalinic the same thing many here were worried would happen if Mandzukic didn’t start?
Mandzukic would behave the same way Kalinic has if he wasn’t starting, that’s why Mandzukic starts. Still hoping that Mandzukic can put in a solid defensive shift from the striker position against Argentina though. Would hoping for him to score a goal be hoping for too much?
@Ivo
How was Mandzukic at the Euros, Slavonac thought he would’ve been great but wasn’t given any service by the “scrubs,” that’s a homer?
Kalinic got 1 goal at the Euros getting service from those same “scrubs” in less playing time than Mandzukic, but Slavonac calls him shit because he scored a goal and Mandzukic scored none.
That’s a homer?
The Mandzukic homers than came up with another defence for their favourite player, that being, that “Mandzukic wasn’t at the Euros to score goals, he was there to defend from the striker position.” Lol!
Crnkovic, you call me an idiot? For what?
grrrr. annoying
where is my reply to slavonac???
Slavonac I said Kalinic was a player with lots of tactical and technical qualities. him getting sent home for having a bad attitude proves nothing regarding that. you idiot…
btw. our best result in recent years the 2-1 win against spain was acheived thanks to a kalinic goal and kalinic assist for persisic. he wouldn’t be in the squad at all if he wasn’t a good player. unfortunately it seems he couldn’t handle the situation of being a permanent sub at club and international level. he probably should have worked a bit harder on his game. but certainly if he had become a negative influence on the squad he had to go. so well done Dalic
More like we will lose 5:0 FIFA wants Argentina to go and win it not us. Its about the star players Messi Ronaldo not about us its all scripted.
If we score the first it could very well end up 3 or 4 nothing. In my humble opinion..
Much like the Russia/Egypt match.
Soul Champ, great post bro!
So long as we don’t get a Japanese ref, I’m happy
We will control the game and win 2-1.
imagine we run savage on arg
4-0
We certainly don’t need that type of attitude going forward but who thinks he had 1-2 goals in him this World Cup?
@Soul Champ- Yup. Some say we should have brought Santini, some say Brekalo and others Halilovic.
I go Halilovic then Brekalo. Brekalo is good but his skills overlap with all our great LWs. Halilovic gives us that cut in RW that we need.
I actually feel worst for Mitrovic, he was actually part of our qualifying and it broke his and Dalic’s heart when he was cut. At this point it would be nice to even have Mitrovic available, especially after our plethora of yellows we will get vs Argentina.
Argentina might play only three at the back.
Pretty risky move with guys like Mandžukić and Perišić hovering around up there.
Nahhhhh krama must start had a good game played with flare baller
exactly Ivo…in hind-sight, maybe it would have been a good idea to bring Brekalo!
@slavonac
Anyone who argued he was good was nothing but a homer. Real shame we could of brought a youngster to the WC but now that spot is gone.
I am impressed that Dalic did this and sends a good message to the team.
Agreed and some good comments Soul Champ!
I thought he turned the corner in 2016 against Spain. He was pivotal with both goals.
There is a gap in our 18-22 young man training in Croatia.
Kovač saved Rebić.
At the highest level .. character counts.
In his own quirky way Mandžukić is a big time presence on and off the pitch for his clubs.
There is no accident that his teams win trophies.
Ironic that Kalinic was competing against our most powerful player for PT.
There is something about guys who fight for the team and how the ball happens to drop there way.
@ Slavonac
Remember back in the Bayern days when folks were down playing his goals as tap ins?
Bayern has not been near CL trophy since and Mandžukić playing LW has has scored against eventual winners Real Madrid on the regular.
I just want plan B sub for him when he tires in the second half for leaving his heart and soul for the Vatreni.
I’m not trying to stir shit up but where did all the Kalinic lovers go? I spent 1.5 years arguing that he sucks while they were all saying he’s better than Mandzukic!
@ BZ
I love Ante Rebić as striker … AND then you can put Halilovic at RW … oh wait … we didn’t take him because we gave Niko Kalinic a spot after having a crap year with AC Milan.
Funny how Kalinic falls under the mediocre 30 year old that you NEVER take to a World Cup .. but we always do.
And then instead of coming on a scoring a 3rd goal against a stretched Nigeria he feins a back injury.
This is all healthy for our national psyche. For crap to be healed it has to come out to the open and acknowledged for what it is and then RELEASED.
I never really understood why Kovačić can’t play RW?
I know he struggled there in the past for us and Inter.
But he is our fastest player with the ball, takes the space and can find a pass.
We need him in the middle for Argentina but maybe he can help for Iceland match?
Either way he needs to be on the ptich for Argentina.
He is 24 and needs to play the full 90.
Messi knows how slow Rakitic is and will be licking his chops to blow past him.
Rakitic has too much affinity for Messi and Barca to lay the wood.
I say give him a rest and bring him on in the second half.
T – 2 days
Even in the unlikely event Mandzukic & Kramaric were both suspended, I’d go with this before I started Kalinic.
————Rebic———
Perisic–Modric–Rakitic
—-Brozo—-Kovacic—-
Lb—-Vida—Lovren—Vrsaljko
I have a friend who is a Leverkusen fan and says Tin Jedvaj can play any position—maybe we see that tested here.
There very well could be this kind of bickering going on elsewhere. Maybe those other managers don’t have the cojones to send someone packing in the middle of the tourney like that. I’m sure mangers pretend to not hear the rumblings of their players sometimes. Even at that level.
Lol whenever Kalanic was on the pitch we were all probably hoping a different striker was on instead of him anyway.
Even if we took another striker instead of him (Santini) he would just be an average sub anyway.
Personally for me this makes me upset because we are the only team so far in the World Cup right now to my knowledge dealing with this type of BS from a player.
Agreed. My post has been selected before and I’m ok with that because the site has cleaned up. Good on you Ante.
Question – Is this site capped for creating an account? My posts still get through but I kept getting an error message when trying to create an account. What tab should I be going to to create an account if still available?
How will this affect the atmosphere of the team? Positive or Negative? Hopefully this doesn’t affect the momentum we have going into the game against Argentina.
@Ante
I think the site has been a million times better in the last while as I’ve seen fewer of the idiot posts. Thanks for making the effort to reduce these garbage posts.
As for Kalinic, I echo the comments of almost everyone here. It’s incredibly selfish to put himself first before the repka. Good on Dalic for making the call and sending his sulking ass home. It’s a shame he took someone else’s spot. Many would dream to have the chance to be part of a World Cup team for your country. Sram te bilo.
Ha. My response to Iggy evidently went to moderation. The irony
I’ll take half the well thought out and insightful posts in excgange for 30% less troll posts.
Or we can just ban Truth Troll and the racist crazy
Lol!
But how will those stop the trolls? This stops, what, 30% of all comments RANDOMLY. A troll can post a couple msgs and one will get through for sure, it won’t stop them. It just stops well thought out and valuable contributions to the site from regular users, whilst doing nothing to abate the trolls.
(i still have one in moderation in this thread)
I could NOT disagree more Iggy. I’ll take flawed moderation where some legitimate posts disappear, vs the troll mess this place had turned into for a long time.
Heck, Truth Troll and some others still grt through, but it’s a ton better
^
Good point Iggy.
I’ve been called one of the crazies/trolls in the past, and my comments have all been getting through without a problem Lol!
Ante, i really think u should turn off the moderation. There’s no point in having moderation that is arbitrary, completely defeats the purpose.
If it isn’t AT LEAST set to keywords, just get rid of it. You’re just trolling the actual regular site users who occasionally have comments disappear into the ether now.
Sounds like he was a negative attitude and had to go. It doesn’t help us on the park tho cos Mandzu could easily get suspended or someone injured etc, which is a bit of a concern. Did we bring any other strikers? Santini got cut didnt he?
https://www.barstoolsports.com/barstoolu/huge-bitch-croatian-striker-sent-home-from-world-cup-after-refusing-to-come-on-as-a-sub/?_branch_match_id=537400107483662733
The thing is, nobody on this site or in Croatia for that matter, from Zvonko the gay barber in Zagreb to Vidoje the homeless bum in Rijeka, had him in their starting lineup. Why the fuck was he so surprised?
I put some money on Mexico to win the world cup at $101-1.
After they beat Germany, I’m very confident. I got no choice but to be confident after we beat the Champs!
I got money on Portugal $26-1 and Croatia $41-1 as well.
If you guys decide to make some bets, I would advise you to gamble responsibly.
Good on Dalic for not letting weakness stay at the camp. Kalinic is just too sensitive, probably why his form is so inconsistent. Shame, since I though he looked decent near the end of the Senegal game.
I don’t think we can bring in another player. Brekalo, Halilovic or Vlasic missed out on some good experience.
@Slavonac, Bobby, Raz- yes, yes, and yes.
Our team confidence should be high vs Argentina. Looking at all the results, our boys have no choice but to believe in themselves.
Will be interesting to see if Dalic uses same lineup or not. Although we look better with Modric attacking, it was our first time using the Perisic/Kramaric/Mandzukic/Rebic combo, might just need time to gel.
Kalinić is a guy who I would hope we would never have to play, but yea, he was good for injury or suspension insurance in case Mandžo or Krama had to miss a game.
Still not a big deal. In many cases, I would still rather experiment with a Rebić or Pjaca in the striker role than have to start him anyway.
Kalinić is good against weaker opponents, where we would dominate possession. As the tournament progresses, we won’t be coming across any weak opponents anyway.
He should be thankful for any call up he’s received since his Hajduk playing days.
@ Bobby V
Well said, totally childish and immature move by Kalinic.
If he was so concerned about his status, he should have discussed his role with Dalic when the wide roster was announced. And when Dalic tells him he’s a 3rd string striker, Kalinic could just say cut me and include someone else in the final 23. If playing time is such a concern, why did he even accept the call up?
And he should be thankful to be there in the first place, ’cause his season was nothing to write home about!
He should be happy to even be there dont put yourself ahead of the team strange. He struggled at AC Milan he is not worthy of the Croatian dres.
Unbelievable. He must have had this on his mind before the team went to Russia.
What he could have at least done is tell Dalic he was upset with his lack of playing time, so, if he was going to be a little used sub, volunteer to fake an injury.
It would have allowed Croatia to bring in a substitute and would have saved his reputation.
Big time selfish, childish move. Carried his hissy fit to the end and hurt both his country and himself.
Fucking Kalinic, all he did was use up a spot and fuck things up for a guy like Stipe Perica who should have been given a look anyway as bad as our forwards are, or Santini.
Don’t really no if this if for the better or worse but we have to move on without a replacement so 22 players for the rest of the World Cup.
Kvartuc Legendo. I hope we draw or defeat Argentina but i cant see it happening especially after the 1:1 with Iceland.
@slavonac,
I’m not. The site is. A bunch of comments go into moderatiin now randomly. Only way to get the trolls off.
Kalinic did score against Spain at Euro and in the 4-1 game vs. Greece. Still not enough juice there to complain though. Bye Felicia…
Kali go home and never come back- should be honored to wear the Croatian kit and play at the World Cup level- to be told to go on and say no- 10 old rep kids in soccer would never consider a no response to their coach- NEVER
Should have taken him to the locker room and give him some real back issues- a nice LIKA beat down is in order for this prima donna
If reports are right and Argentina plays 3 in the back against us, y’all think it gives us a chance to win? I dont know why they expect to control the entire game against us.
Yes Davor Suker
Can someone else get called up with Kalinic gone?
uhhh…..did he send kalinic home for mama to go rub his back with some rakija and maslinovo ulje? I understand sending a message but if we make a deep run could use the depth…let his ass sit on the bench and watch…if he was a cancer then excise him and send him home.
uhhh…..did he send kalinic home for mama to go rub his back with some rakija and malinovo ulje? I understand sending a message but if we make a deep run could use the depth…let his ass sit on the bench and watch…if he was a cancer then excise him and send him home.
4-2-3-1 with Mandza for 60 and Krama for 30 who says no? We don’t need Kalinic.
If we could sign in with facebook that woudl be fantastic
Slavonic leave
It’s simple. Mandzukic comes off for Corluka and Lovren moves up to striker. There is a reason he wears no. 6— 6 is 9 upside down.
Why play with a false 9 when we have Lovren?
Now I want to see Slavonic’s comment.
Glad Klanoc was sent home. Sends the right message.
Kovacic false 9!
He’s good and running like a mad man.
Would pressure the back line well.
Thank you.
Bring in the Croatian Messi Alen Halilovic.
@poglavnik no one, it’s too late to add players now.
What an arrogant entitled bum. Took the place of one of the young guys or even someone like Santini, who even if he didn’t get to play would undoubtably be 100% supportive and behind the team. If Kalinic wanted to start maybe he should’ve gotten more than 6 goals in 41 games.
So who comes into the team?
@Kvartuc…why the hell you screening my comments? if you want me off this site, just tell me!
“pivotal substitute”???
Look Ante, he’s been nothing but a shitty option thats scored on a few occasions. When we stopped looking dangerous, we brought him in as an option…that was when (and still is) we weren’t getting many chances or finishing them. We all looked at why Mandzukic wasn’t scoring when in fact it was our wings that weren’t providing service. Last game, we definitely got better and it was revealed that Kalinic on the bench is where he belongs!
Dalic (is he a Mamic guy?) made the right decision, Milan Badelj talked about egos of players, this only proves that Kalinic was a cancer and I would never ever allow him back. I’d rather take an absolute horrible Santini over him…at least play like you are grateful to wear your national team jersey!
Look at Rebic! anyone here notice how he is working his ass off? the guy wants to be on the field…and he’s working hard to stay there. thats what we need. Modric was sliding to reach for a ball in the 80th minute last game, players are leaving it all on the field. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen everyone giving their 100%…I have ZERO complaints about work rate in the game vs Nigeria.
Kalinic is a LOSER! He should go play in China if they still want him!
They say we don’t have a second no. 9. They are forgetting Dejan Lovren!
I like it. Dalic did the right thing. A player with that attitude has nothing to contribute to a team that will need lots of spirit and fight to continue their success at this tournament. Pjaca is the more versatile of the two and can provide us with some creativity and off the ball movement.
Happy trails, Nikola!
Tko ga jebe?