Niko Kovač, one of Croatia’s all-time legends, has finally decided to hang up his cleats after a spectacular 20-year club career. Niko went out with class Friday evening in a 0-0 friendly against Bayern Munich. Players from both squads gave Kovač big hugs after the final whistle as he then made a lap around the field to thank all the fans for their support with tears in his eyes. Robert Kovač was also in attendance to watch his brother’s last professional match.
Niko Kovač has played with Red Bull Salzburg since 2006 where he scored nine goals in 65 appearances. Earlier in his career, he played for the likes of Hertha Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg and Bayern Munich; tallying a total of 479 matches played at club level.
Kovač was a true leader his entire career. So what will he do now?
Niko has taken over the reigns as manager of Red Bull Salzburg’s youth squad. He definitely isn’t looking for a well-deserved vacation as he starts his coaching career immediately after retiring as a player.
All the cards are in place for Kovač to follow Slaven Bilić as the next manager of Croatia. Sure he’s still young but he knows the system and most importantly all the current players respect him. I would support this move by the HNS instead of bringing in a foreign coach or promoting one of the current assistants.
We’ve all witnessed how great Croatia really is without Niko, so why not keep him around?
Who’s with me on this?!
Boris Kurtović: Problem nam je mentalitet, vidimo samo nedostatke!
I couldn't agree more.
Hajduk has not done anything meaningful since they had their Champions League QF appearance in 1994. We're talking 15 years here of obscurity and their glory days were 30 years ago. The people that have run that club in the last 15 years have ruined whatever positive image hajduk had. They stole money and ran the club for self interest.
RE: hajduk's Uruguayan signing
Can someone please tell me what's happening with this player?
See below.
Najzanimljivija točka dnevnog reda bilo je donošenje odluke o Porti, Urugvajcu kojeg Andabak gura, a uprava i struka ne žele. Pronašli su na kraju kompromisno rješenje. Porti će ponuditi desetodnevnu probu, pa nakon toga donijeti odluku žele li ga vezati ugovorom.
I Siena treba reći “da”
– Struka nije na temelju raspoloživih podataka mogla donijeti sud o njemu pa smo se odlučili za probu – objasnio je Peroš.
No još bijeli moraju dobiti pristanak Siene i samog igrača, što je, tvrde upućeni, malo moguće.
Potvrdio je zato Nadzorni odbor Rodićev ugovor, uskoro će ga ponuditi i Eliakwuu. S Linićem su se bijeli sporazumno razišli, a Varteks će dobiti nešto novca za Sačera.
Peroš tvrdi da nikakvih svađa nije bilo.
– Sve smo odluke donijeli jednoglasno – tvrdi predsjednik uprave bijelih.
O Urugvajcu Miše nije želio izravno govoriti, no dalo se njegovo mišljenje iščitati između redaka.
– Zadovoljan sam igračima koje imam, mislim da nam trenutačno ne trebaju pojačanja – kaže Miše.
Demokracija ima slabosti
Bijeli su cvali od zadovoljstva kada je Hajduk prvi prošao preoblikovanje, postao dioničko društvo i neka vrsta demokracije u malom. Dioničari zastupljeni u skupštini izabirali su upravu i Nadzorni odbor koji je kontrolira. No, posljednji su događaji pokazali da i demokracija ima slabosti.
S druge strane, u Maksimiru takvih problema nema. Jest da je ondje autokracija, da ne kažemo diktatura, no zato nema sukoba. Zdravko Mamić odlučuje koji igrač dolazi ili odlazi, možda tek porazgovara unutar četiri zida sa svojim bratom Zoranom, pa sve izgleda divno.
On that we have to disagree.
If nothing else, hajduk has a very rich, proud history, including numerous successes in the 1990's against some of the better European clubs.
I, for one, hope we can look forward to those kinds of successes again.
Ironically, the Umbro catalogue I saw this morning describes Hajduk as "one of the best teams in Europe." Yeah, I have to admit, that's an exaggeration:)
Anyway, bring on Zilina!
True in dinamo's case…But not for any other team in the cro league. Playing for hajduk is the equivalent of obscurity.
We are in agreement:) Players will not come to Croatia in order to play against the likes of Croatia Sesvete, Zadar, etc…
But players will come for the opportunity to play on a larger stage, e.g. in the Champions League or Europa league. In fact, even if Hajduk and Dinamo don't progress through these tournaments, they still offer players an opportunity to be seen by larger clubs from more reputable leagues, no? Decent players in Argentina, Brazil or any other soccer-playing country have a better chance of making it to Milan, London or Barcelona when they're playing on a Europe-based team, no? Otherwise, they play in virtual obscurity at home where they'll never earn large paychecks.
Agreed….anything can happen in sports.
My point is that the cro league is weak and that any player worth anything will not come to this league because of the lack of competition and quality, especially now with 16 teams in the first division.
Agreed….anything can happen in sports.
My point is that the cro league is weak and that any player worth anything will not come to this league because of the lack of competition and quality, especially now with 16 teams in the first division.
RE: "hajduk's govno is slighly worse than the govno dinamo produces"
Man, all the negativity around here is bringing me down.
That's okay. I have just returned from the sport shop where I ordered a $130 Hajduk "hoops" jersey. I should have it in time for the Europa League qualifier.
To state the obvious, without Dinamo or Hajduk, we would never have experienced the exquisite joys of watching Suker, Boban, Asanovic, Rapaic, Jarni, Boksic, Srna, and countless others. Obviously, the list just keeps growing, with the constant addition of names like Modric, Corluka, Eduardo…
In short, the HNL is what it is. Yeah, most of the teams will never challenge Hajduk or Dinamo for championships but that's just the nature of professional sports. I'm not a baseball fan but I'll use it to draw an analogy, e.g. the Boston Redsox and the NY Yankees always start with seemingly insurmountable advantages over every other franchise. Still, every once in a while a team like Arizona or Florida will come along and snatch a championship.
It's all about competing, isn't it? That's why they play the game, right? This is why most sports fans are eternal optimists.
Regards Eduardo as i said he scored against whoever was in front of him for Dinamo, Croatia and Arsenal. Isn't that all you can ask from a player? I have no idea why you are analysing Eduardo he played only minutes last season. 5 matches in total and recorded 4 goals. Yes against second rate opposition. Maybe we should snap your leg in half and see how it feels. Got no idea why your accessing him after his injury. Before his injury surely your not saying Eduardo did nothing to merit being first choice for Croatia. If you are saying his fitness may be patchy for the Belarus game thats a different story. It might be – it might not be. Who knows? Belarus are not world class opposition though so if Eduardo is 80% fit he will be able to score i'm certain of that. Eduardo's goal v Burnley was not a fluke. Ridiculous comment. I'm also certain Modric will be better next season, Krizanac is essential for big matches which he's missed so far and Olic, Petric and Klasnic should be able to be of danger against Belarus.
No quite…hajduk's govno is slighly worse than the govno dinamo produces.
Back to Da Silva….Again, what has he done on the last 2 years for anyone to think he is back and will help us against Belarus. I hope to God he comes back, but a fluke goal in a FA cup match where Arsenal played their 2nd stringers is not really impressive to me.
Firstly since when is 1-0 in control (did u watch that match as it was far from in control) and that team is also a Prem side now.
As for what has he done – what didn't he do? When he played there was goals galore for Arsenal, Dinamo and Croatia. Its a peculiar comment as the guy was clearly impressive. Scored against what ever was in front of him. Lets drop this arguement cos we're going nowhere with this.
Also i think your Andric comment falls apart as we are comparing Dinamo and Hajduk here not foriegn clubs. Why you talking about him doing nothing in Greece. that's irrelevant as Dinamo players done nothing outside Croatia just like Andric so again we come back to the same point Hajduk's stars are no worse than Dinamo's. You also made a comment that Dinamo has no playmaker which means you think our team is rubbish and supply to Mandza is rubbish so basically we're no better than Hajduk in your mind either.
Da Silva has dome nothing in two years….Yes, I know about the injury, but he has done nothing. Spare me the move he had against a shit opponent in the FA Cup when the match was already in control.
I'll hop back on baord the Da Silva bandwagon when he does something meaningful in agme that cmatters.
I'm in agreement with you on Mandzukic, but saying Kalinic has equal parts around him is wrong. Andric couldn't make it in Greece and Cro is the only place he can play. Gabric is OK…a kid who hustles. Ibricic and Kalinic sound good a tandem, but they have to do anything special on the field.
Why is Eduardo first choice… ?? baffling. I'll let you work that out. I've broke my leg like Eduardo before and after a year it does heel. His few games last season showed he has no problems performance wise just needs to get fit. His goal against Burnley shows he's still got all the tricks as a finisher which well can you imagine any of the others scoring such a goal.
Regards Mandza – nope i don't actually rate him highly. I think he's currently been over hyped and yes that bid from Werder was satisfactory and he should have gone. I personally think Mandza can't shoot properly which was on display in our draw in midweek when he scuffed some good chances. However his energy, physical presence and dribbling ability is impressive and thus you need to have different strikers. You either take Mandza, Budan or Klasnic as the rest are all small and you have to have some guy with a bit of weight on them to mix up your style when you need to.
When i wrote that list i was also trying to be realistic taking into account how high up the pecking order Mandza is anyway. Also those performances against Ukraine, England, Ajax, Bremen and Sparta were decent so that is why he has shown something against big teams which Kalinic hasn't. Also Kalinic plays with Gabric, Andric and Ibricic which is good as anything at Dinamo so am not agreeing with the arguement that Mandza has it easier than Kalinic. Kalinic is also on penalties which Mandza isn't.
I think you have Mandzukic too high. He and Kalinic are the same, both score about the same number of goals, but Mandzukic has better talent around him and more oppurtunities. How is Da Silva #1, he has done nothing in 18 months because of his injury. People that are counting on him to be the answer are hoping for a miracle. I doubt he will be OK and in game shape to play against Belarus.
I'm well aware of money English put into things. We're not just talking football here – lots of money is thrown at things which ultimately leads to nothing. In Croatia youngsters get opportunities to play football as the coaches believe in them – in England most Englishmen play down in the lower division as they can't get into the top division. As for the coaching there is barely an Englishmen in a job in a Premier League. When you talking good English coaches there's like what Roy Hodgson who made his career abroad and that's about it. Sam Allardyce, Tony Pullis is a long ball merchant. Harry Redknapp.. you know its not great is it. At the end of the day money is just money – if you don't turn the money into good use then what's the point. Might as well just be a system like in Croatia. They put loads of money in an acadamy that's not been built yet for about 5 years since they thought of the idea and clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd are even buying their youngsters from abroad. Sadly the English have no soul. I think the phrase will sell their own grandmother applies to them. A life of sitting on couch having a few beers is where the English are at mainly. In their team Rooney is talented, Gerrard is a great player as he is forceful and able to single handed take control of a game and Terry is hard, solid defender, but other then that the rest of the team is same standard as Croatia if not worse in areas. Thats why we beat them twice somewhat comfortably.
On Ruki i don't think he perhaps did enough to get in, but in my opinion he should been ahead of Kalinic and Vrucina which he isn't in Bilic's mind. Mate Bilic should be ranked 5th striker on what he did last season.
I'd rank the strikers like this on what they did last 2 seasons at club and international level:
1. Eduardo
2. Ivica Olic
3. Mladen Petric
4. Ivan Klasnic (purely based on international form should hold his place, but another bad season and he should be gone)
5. Mario Mandzukic
6. Mate Bilic
7. Andrej Keric
8. Ante Rukavina (purely as Greek football is better than Croat and he don't need penalties to score his goals)
9. Nikola Kalinic
10. Igor Budan (could move up on good season in Palermo)
However just cos Olic and Petric are second and third best doesn't mean they should start together as they are both number 10's really. With Ruki there is no harm in him playing some friendlies for Croatia even if it against half motivated players as it gives him experience. That is simply all England has done to work out there best team.
If you live in England then pay attention to the money sopent in the youth programs. They might not use the youth and discard them for foreigners, but money is ivested into the system…
I agree with about Bilic, Mikulic and Sablic. They all deserved a look, but not Rukavina. Again, scoring a few meaningless goals against bottom feeders in greece does not deserve a call up. But, playing these guys in a friendly means nothing. Thye would be going up against other hal motivated guys as well.
Pletikosa was not benched until recently, so its tough to say what will happen next month. Agreed on Juric, Vejic and Bilic. Although, in Slaven Bilic's defense, he did bring up Juric and based on his club form he deserved the call up.
I live in England and that's rubbish about England putting enormous money into youth compared to Croatia. This is why Brooking is at logger heads with the English FA. This is why English football is awash with foriegn players. General feeling in England is that clubs don't care about home grown youth so what's point in pursuing a career in football. Foreigners own all the clubs.
Why would those players not be tried. Have they been banned or something? Why can Capello experiement with players and Bilic can't? Are we under some sort of restriction or something. Of course we could have arranged friendlies to try players. Whats point in making Olic and Modric play pointless friendlies. Also Klasnic's playing time for Croatia has brought goals so i wouldn't say he's the guy to be dropped. Its blatantly Kalinic who has never played against any strong side ever and scores his goals from penalty spot.
Also you say club form should dictate whether a player gets a call up okay – fine – Bilic scored 12 in hardest league in world. Mikulic won Belgian championship; Sharbini scored 14 goals from midfield (thats just one behind Kalinic by the way); Sablic and Vukojevic won the Ukraine league and semi final of UEFA Cup; Rukavina ended the season with a good goals to minutes ratio. Ruki couldn't have done much more with the time he was given. Galinovic put in an outstanding club season.
Going by your club form theory therefore they still all deserve a game for Croatia. Compare this to Pletikosa who is reserve at Spartak; Runje who played last season in second division; Drpic who was kicked out of Dinamo and got relegated with Karlsruhre; Vejic who is getting old and done nothing special at Hajduk; Juric had a good season, but is too old for a call up now; Kalinic who scored half his goals from penalties. If we make the comparison we can see which players are better on club form.
You cant compare the youth in England against the youth in Croatia. The money spent on player development and quality of coaching is insane in Engalnd compared to Cro.. None of these young guys you mentioned would have featured in any of our matches during the qualifing process even if we had friendlies. Let their play on the field with their clubs warrant a call to the national team.
Bilic….probably should have at least received a call over Klasnic
Galinovic….has been on the roster, usually the third choice.. The coaches see him in practice.
Rukavina….speed and nothing else so far. His first touch is inconsistent. Let him develop in Greece before he gets a call to the seniopr squad. His play has not warranted a call up so far. Scoring a few goals against bottom half Greek teams is not impressive.
Sharbini….Has to do it somewhere else besides Rijeka to risk putting him on the roster for the national team.
To be honest i think Mate Bilic has only ever been interested in playing football which is why he spent several seasons on loan in Spanish league 2. However he still scored a hell of a lot of goals in that league. He recorded 18 goals in one season for Gijon which okay i know its the second division, but not many Croatian strikers hit near 20 goal mark in a season. Also his spell in Austria was again quite positive. You can say about him during those times he wasn't at in a strong league but last season he was in a strong league and a club with a tiny squad and his performances were good. If we also assess him as a tactical player he also plays right up the top and stretches play which is why Olic-Petric are failing as they spend too much time in the midfield. My opinion is actually that Petric is constantly in Modric's space whilst Olic never stays in one position and is hard to find. Both of those players are better playing off a number 9 or from bench.
Rukavina did enough in Greece i think to be tried out. He could have done more but he started barely any games – being a virtual ever present sub. I'd still say he's a talent and could have been given a friendly. You say there is no room for friendlies, but Croatia actually missed friendlies when everyone else was playing friendlies. We are at least 3 friendlies behind the rest of Europe which shows complacency and disinterest in experimenting.
Basically people have been judging whether Bilic, Galinovic, Ruki, Kalinic, Sharbini, Vukojevic are good enough to play for Croatia without seeing them in a Croatia shirt for at least three quarters of a match. I'm sure something could have been arranged to allow them to look at them. Then we'd know if they were in fact good or not. The only new players we've really seen is Ivan Juric who is no good to Croatia long term, Hjorve Cale which was obvious that anyone could have worked that out, Mandzukic who i approve being in squad due to his physical presence and that he has some Euro experience – but other then that Bilic has tried look at anyone else. That's like 3 new players tried in the last 12 months. For me that's why i criticise Bilic. If Croatia doesn't qualify i refuse to acknowledge any lack of quality it'll be purely Bilic's fault. Capello not only has outdone him tactically but also Capello has had a good look at his players in friendlies and B matches and Under 21 games in the case of Walcott, Agbonglahor, Milner and Young. England are always looking at players in practice games. They even have a friendly against Holland coming up. I am yet to know if Croatia play a friendly at same time??? or is it Petric and Olic again against Belarus with Juric in midfield and Runje in goal.
Good comments, many of the things you said I agree with.
few exceptions…..More friendlies….forget it, they are worthless. We learn nothing from playing those games. In an ideal soccer calendar a few friendlies might be helpful, but there are not enough dates to accomodate a few freindlies.
Rukavina….has not shown anything in greece that warrants a call up to the national team.
Mate Bilic….he should have received a call already even though I think last season was a complete fluke for him. Until last season he bounced around from La Liga, 2.La liga and Austria. But, his play warranted a call.
Drpic is still in the squad. He's very close to the first team line up and that's worrying as the guy has done nothing to deserve that. Who should be instead of Drpic? Mikulic for one. Sablic another and Knezevic is also better than Drpic. Lovren is also better than Drpic.
What else could Bilic have done?
Basically he could have arranged more friendlies (certainly – no arguement there) and tried different things, different options – Mate Bilic, Rukavina, Klasnic etc. Could have just tried to see what else could have worked instead of going to Olic and Petric your the only people who can score for us. I mean look at all that time Eduardo was out and the guy never experimented. You say England are better than us but you forget we beat them last qualifying tournament for same reasons as they are ahead of us now. Without Terry, Gerrard and Rooney England are mediocre team and us without Kranjcar, Krizanac and Eduardo all who missed the Ukraine and England game drop down a level as well. I think both sides are similar when they are at full strength, but when each side loses a key player the other gets the advantage.
As for Kalinic, i'm not in favor of him starting, but i don't think he should have been took out the Under 21's as its harmed them and also has not helped his progress and does not help the squad as he never plays and is a wasted player who Bilic doesn't trust. All 5 strikers should be able to be trusted so fifth striker should been someone else who Bilic could not have said is too inexperienced to come on – i.e Rukavina or Mate Bilic. Next season hopefully it'll be better. Hopefully Andrej Keric will be monitored as well as Igor Budan.
Also you can't say England who have to play Emile Heskey in attack have better players than Croatia. That's just rubbish. England are playing to their strength. They don't play pretty only to win. Croatia is still trying to play total football with no plan B. If you play Olic and Petric all the time you can never put crosses in the box as they are both too small. That's criminal when you got wide men like Pranjic, Srna, Rakitic, Kranjcar and Modric with their crossing ability. Should be looking at alternatives to Olic-Petric partnership ages ago like Klasnic-Olic or Klasnic-Petric or Olic-Mandza, Petric-Mandza. You might say Klasnic had a poor season but still his time on pitch for Croatia since Eduardo's injury has prob been more successful than the others. He should definitely had minutes v Ukraine.
Also regards the friendlies right if you lose Simic, Niko Kovac and Eduardo is that not the spine of the team. You have to experiement to find out whats the best way to replace them. Bilic just does not experiment anymore.
Who should have Bilic played instead????
he never used Drpic, he was just on the training roster.
What has Kalinic shown at Hajduk to indicate Bilic should play him in a crucuail qualifier. We are not a deep team and when he have injuries and yellow cards it shows. Our first 11 and one or two off the bench makes us a legit team that can play with anyone, but as soon as we lose a few players our level of play drops. its remarkable we have held up this long and been able to qualify for major tournaments with the lack of skill we do have.
Bilic was outcoached against Engalnd and Capello. But, England also has better players than Croatia. It was a fluke that England did not qulaify last time around and it might have been there wake up call. There is no shame in losing to them. Once that first fluke goal was scored by England and red card to Kovac, it was over for us.
The Ukraine game at home was amtch where we gave up soft goals because our D is average and we could not finish (hit the post twice). It could have gone either way.
My point is that we don't have the talent to think we should win a World Cup. We have the talent to think we should be able to qualify and that is it.
Radman would agree with this that we do have talent but Ladic misses them and has got guys in like Marko Simic, Smrekar etc. Kalinic, Perisic, Sertic, Sivonjic, Tomecak are all missing from Under 21 side. Instead he plays guys from Varteks and Osijek who lets face it if they were that good would those two teams had such a poor season. Ladic just picks the wrong team/ squad time and time again. As for the coaching staff no nobody did complain when we had fully fit Eduardo and Kranjcar and Dario Simic available as he had strength and depth, but now Bilic has been put to the test by losing Niko Kovac, Simic, Kranjcar and most importantly Eduardo – he's come up with all the wrong answers. He also manages to field Drpic when barely any Croatia fan likes the guy. And he misses plenty of potential Croatia internationals and insists on Kalinic whilst never giving the guy a run out. Its fair to say Bilic has messed up the first half of the campaign, but he has a chance to redeem himself in the second part. I think a win over England would rectify everything. Bilic has to live with the fact that he had no answer to Eduardo being injured. You can make a team win with inferior players to Eduardo if you get the combination right, but Bilic blatantly can't. He's just not a good enough coach. He also needs to be careful cos if Croatia finish third nobody will want him as club coach come the end of his contract. Kovac will coach Salzburg juniors in short term and will see how he does there, but i wouldn't mind him taking a position from one of Asanovic, Prosinecki or Jurcevic as i think his judgement is prob better. Croatia has to make decision on U21 coach soon as the side is not functioning. I'd not mind Noveselac back or Gudelj moved up although it seems like he's on to a good thing with Under 17 side which is just as important.
Its about the talent out on the field and not the assitant coaches. Bilic was a ble to create a good atmosphere with the boys when he took over. Nobody was bitching about Prosinecki, Asanovic and Jurcevic when we qualified for the Euros.
It has to do with talent on the field. I like Kovac as a player and person and my favorite moment is when the tow of them cam close to beating up Tudor at the 06 World Cup, but nobody knows if Kovac can coach. So, I am not so sure about this lovefest with him. We hit a home run with Bilic and what he was able to do in the Euros and the qualifying cycle to get us to Austria/Switz. If Kovac wants the U-21 job, I am fine with that. Ladic has not done the job, but its not his fault either. We dont have any young talent.
Re: Ante
Yeah i remember. He should stick around. Bilic must be able to make use of him. He has some absolute rubbish on his coaching staff. I'd question Aljosa Asanovic's coaching ability considering how when he was left in charge of the Croatia Under 21 side against Serbia the team containing Eduardo, Kranjcar and Modric absolutely fell apart.
Also Nikola Jurcevic who i loved as a player, but he's very average as a coach at Dinamo. Also i lost respect for Prosinecki when he gave a negative opinion of Mate Bilic who went on to score 12 goals in Spain and Prosinecki said the guy's not doing anything. I also don't like how Bilic has set up the Under 21 system under Ladic.
If Niko's around it might actually be more useful than being exposed to those guys. Maybe at least he might regalvanise the group a little bit. Also look at the Ukraine game with the mobile phones – they need to lift their heads up and start discussing solutions and ways they can make things better. Someone like Niko would be someone who'd get them doing this rather than other coachs on the National team staff who i personally don't rate much. After all Bilic can't do it all himself. Also since the last game both Juric and Klasnic have given impressions of poor team discipline. So maybe the coaching staff needs a change here or there. Personally i think Bilic has to do something. He can't put the same line up out against Belarus and believe just bringing back Eduardo is all that needs altering.
Without a doubt my favorite Croatian soccer player of all time. Niko combined Croatian talent with German discipline and should have been included for Croatia in world cup 1998.
I will never forget watching Kaka score for Brazil, a few yards away in Berlin, minutes after Kovac went off with a small knock. Niko would give blood for Croatia.
Niko should take over the U21 Croatian team. Ladic is a joke.
Great sendoff for a legend!
I can see him becoming the nt coach one day for sure. After viewing Denis's posts from Zagreb, we got a chance to see how niko gets along with current nt players. He is a very well respected player and person not only amongst the hns, but throughout the soccer world. It is only a matter of time before we see him coaching
@ Vinko,
Haha easy there. I was just bringing up Kovac as the coach from my own thoughts and feelings on the team. I'm a firm believer of the 'good group' and chemistry. We already know Kovac has it with this batch of players.
Absolutely no Croatian press has even hinted at him being any kind of Croatian coach though.
@ dinamofan,
If you remember when Denis was at the Ukraine game in Zagreb, Niko was at practices and on the field during the game. Looks like he just can't get away from the national side. He loves it too much!
I think Niko's had a strong career and very consistent national team career, but i think on this one Bilic played him as long as possible. In fact he played him until the point he was available as he was injured anyway for the rest of the season since his final call up.
I think we've got replacements, but have not tried them out. We're only giving Ivan Juric the chance so far and Vukojevic has impressed in the short time he's had. Juric is worse than even a 37 year old Kovac so we have not really started finding a answer.
I think you can argue that Niko Kovac could have had an even better Croatia career when you consider some of the guys he's played alongside like Tomas (in 2002), Zivkovic (in Euro 2004) and Tudor in 2006. If he had a out and out midfielder with him he could have achieved more. It seems no coincidence that when Modric played with him he had his most success. I'd like to see Kovac around about the squad, but probably needs more time before being coach. Even if we gave him under 21 job i'm telling you he can't do any worse than Ladic is doing just now.
He's going to be an amazing replacement for Slaven Bilic. He's going to be able to connect with the his former NT teamates just as well as Bilic currently is. I respect his leadership over the years and no one worked harder on there fitness level, strength, conditioning, skill before last year's Euro than Niko he gave it his all because it was his last tournament with the NT I know if Eduardo was there we would of won it all but hey he can still win a medal as our future Manager.
I am with you on this 100 percent!!!
Niko is class, and my favorite all-time player. He is a natural born leader, and he will be a GREAT fit!!!
Robert Kovac for assistant when he calls it quits as well…why not?!?