Croatia’s Mateo Kovačić will turn 24 years old in three months time. He will be entering the prime years of his career; and although he has been a key player for Real Madrid off the bench, his time in the Spanish capital has been riding the pine rather than playing the pitch.
Real Madrid are having a horrendous season. Los Blancos are currently 19 points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, fighting for fourth place, and have already been ousted from Copa del Rey in the quarterfinals, losing to Leganes on away goals. The only thing Real Madrid have going for them is Champions League, where they will attempt to defend last year’s title starting with PSG in the Round of 16 on February 14th and March 6th.
But with that said, how will manager Zinedine Zidane run the team?
The La Liga title is all but lost and we can only assume that a majority of the superstar power (Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Modrić) will be rested on the weekends Real Madrid have Champions League matches.
But what would that mean for Kovačić?
He has been under-utilized with the club with recent transfer rumors stating that Kovačić could move to Arsenal or Manchester United. With Alexis Sanchez moving to United this week, Kovačić in North London would have been promising. He would be able to run the entire midfield while getting starts and quality time with the club.
Unless Modrić leaves Real Madrid or gets injured, Kovačić will never get the time he needs to develop as a player. So will Real utilize Kovačić down the final stretch to increase his value for a larger summer cash or will status quo remain?
Kovačić has yet to be uncaged in his adult footballing career. He had a brief 2-year stint at Inter Milan which matured his game coming over from Dinamo Zagreb but the Real Madrid bench has been his companion ever since the move.
If we’re ever to see Kovačić’s full potential, a move away from Real Madrid must happen in the next six months.
Nice Poglavnik…
Cracks me up all this white talk. No bigger scum on this planet than whites from the southeast US or former confederate states. Inbred, no teeth, poor hygiene and incredible ignorance.
If these states suddenly found themselves under 20 feet of water….. the planet would be a far better place!
@poglavnik goy
So you’re threatening a fellow Croat with physical violence because you still haven’t noticed that non-Whites are indeed being pushed/glorified in sports and all media to destroy the national identity of every single White countries? Acknowledging our current globalist reality is not “race baiting”, and even a Serb would no better you damn cuck!
Oh I’ve definitely threatened you and that still stands. if u ever talked your race baiting shit to my face you’d be choking on your chicklets. Or better yet I’d hand you off to some friends who aren’t half as nice as I am. Your gaće would full of piss and shit and you’d be sobbing for your mama when they’d be done with you.
But once again, wrong dude about the Swiss.
I don’t engage in those conversations. I do my best to avoid you on this site but every now and then I can’t help myself.
@”poglavnik”, I don’t “have the wrong guy”, it was definitely you who said the Swiss shouldn’t complain about the anti-white establishment’s non-white imports raping their women b/c non-white imports made them a better soccer team. That’s who you are anti-white.
Have I threatened anyone here with violence? You threatened me with violence (although you didn’t have the courage to do it in English) and I have no reason whatsoever not to take that threat extremely seriously. I hope you realize that threatening me with violence is a serious crime. You have given me license to defend myself by any means necessary.
@anonymous. You sobered up from your last night tirade. Good points for a change. That’s the dude i like.
I like watching Kovacic play, he’s an exciting player, very lively, and I believe that he can play any midfield position admirably, AM, CM or DM no problem.
Brozovic and Badelj bore me to tears, Badelj in particular is good to watch if you have trouble sleeping.
“Our main strength has to be the team. I believe that pride and patriotism shown by our players when playing for Croatia is a very important attribute. That’s something we need to combine with our quality; if we do that, we’ll have a good chance of reaching our goals,” said Dalić.
“I always put playing for my country before anything else, for me the Argentina shirt was the priority.”
– Diego Maradona
I don’t believe that there would be a single Croatian footballer that would feel the way that Maradona felt about the Argentina shirt, that’s concerning.
Hoping that Dalic can make them proud of their nation and more patriotic, it will be tough, it’s not one of the traits you would generally associate with Croatian people.
Brains and discipline are what Kroos Casemiro and Brozovic have over Kovacic.
Kovacic looks like a headless chicken to me at times.
@ Svima
Before the merry go round of Inter managers.
Kovačić was attacking in the final third just fine.
Kovačić is a BEAST.
Injuries have slowed his progress at Real Madrid.
The main “problem” is that for club and country he is behind the greatest CM on PLANET EARTH.
Personally I would drop either Kroos or Casemiro or both and start Kovačić and Isco.
For survival he has grown defensively at Real Madrid. Going forward you have many hungry attackers in front who demand the ball.
Brozovic over Kovačić … ????
I dont think he, himself knows.
Anybody know where the Croatian section in Miami will be for the game against Peru? Thought I saw a link somewhere awhile ago.
Slavonac, I totally agree Kovacic is a jack of all trades master of none. The kid has real talent. I don’t know what his true position is.
Just pump the kid with roids so he looks and plays like Gareth Bale and cycle him off (so he gets perma-injured like Gareth Bale).
I’m not so sure a person can teach Kovacic how to be a more lethal player. technically, he’s very good, he has a lot of speed and can change tempo. he’s got a decent shot and cross….my concern is that he’s not super strong in one particular area…ie…like Modric who’s strength lies in linking the defense with the attack. Kovacic lacks the ability to be dangerous in the last third of the field. this is mt biggest challenge with him. most players have an identity, I really am not sure what his is?!
as long as our biggest goal threat is playing at LB i’ll be happy. lmao BTW Frajer good post up there. long may sense prevail. personally my line up would be….i don’t know it’s too hard..too many good players, not enough consistently brilliant ones…it will spend on form at the time and hopefully also the opposition, hopefully dalic can analyse and pick the best team for each game. manage the squad
no it doesn’t because kovacic will not play over badlej or rakitic
On a football note :
Dalić has finally pushed Modrić forward with the #10 role to match his jersey.
This allows Kovačić to be integrated somehow someway.
MF Ivan Rakitic, 8 — In a sweet moment of form. Physically he gives everything and he offers quality, too. But his biggest strength at the moment is his ball recoveries.
These three up and down the spine of the midfield.
Dalić has to create some system that expands out from this central channel of consciousness.
Not only do you smoke pole but seems like you smoke crack too.
You got the wrong guy asshole.
I honestly don’t post 10x more than the average user. As for posting early comments it’s as others said, Ante tends to post articles around prime time Aussie so that’s really the reason. I don’t have some RSS feed or anything set up.
Anywho unfortunately Cilic ISNT going to play the singles – or isn’t listed to anyway so we could potentially lose to Canada, see how we go in a few hours anyways. Hopefully we get through anyway.
Ahh “poglavnik”, you once criticized Swiss people for being enraged that the CRIMINAL anti-white establishment’s non-white imports were raping Swiss women. You said they shouldn’t complain “because the imports made them a good soccer team”.
And you call yourself a “leader”? LOL! pfft.
@”Frajer”, you have no idea, “racial talk” has gone my way BIG TIME. The world is a very different place than it was 5 years ago.
@”idemo”, yea, “iggy’s” posts on this site prove he’s “class”. LOL!
@”Zee”, if you could prove anything I say isn’t true you wouldn’t resort to childish name calling and accusations. A chump is a person who throws shit at a wall hoping something sticks/someone who makes accusations he can’t prove.
Frajer. Great posts. Keep em coming. Dude is a chump but he might need help with a doctor.
iggy is Class. Protect iggy at all costs
Classic Anonymous!
Him and his insecure alter egos need either a hug or a šaku u nos. I gladly give him the later.
@anonymous/HAET/Wallace/whatever name it is you chose
I have a family that keeps me occupied along with work and other interests, so I don’t read every post on this site. I can’t recall a time there was a death threat. If there was, I have a hard time believing you felt genuinely threatened.
This site is intended for sports talk, but it does veer away from time to time. The reason you seem to get singled out for bad form isn’t necessarily the message you’re posting but how you go about doing it. You’re repetitive, you capitalize words, you get personal, you get vulgar, you jump to conclusions, and you condescend. Many people here do each of these things individually (me included) but you’re the total package (maybe you should consider Lex Luger as your permanent handle- sorry to those you don’t get the 1980s WWE reference). I could get just as passionate as you do about virtually any topic but if I took your tone I’m pretty sure I’d be shut down as well.
All I’m trying to say is, if you’re frustrated that racial talk doesn’t go the way you’d like it to, then don’t bother. You’ve been going at it for at least half a decade here and haven’t made any inroads. Bottom line- you don’t need to try to shut down others, whether their posts are meaningless or otherwise.
@”Frajer”, I know how time zones work wiseass, is there nobody West of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. or Canada who is awake at midnight?
Iggy for President of a declining brown hellhole where the people drink out of the same river they defecate in! Yea, that’s sounds about right!
Iggy for President!
Censorship has always stopped progress. Is this the 1st society in human history where censorship won’t stop progress?
If I were writing articles for this site, losing viewers would be the last of your problems. I remember I wrote a comment about a fight I’d seen in Pride; the way I described what I’d seen was so impressive that I think it was either kvartuc or denis who replied “WOW, you even know about MMA!”
But many of comments were being erased with the excuse that “this site isn’t about politics” eventhough NOBODY ELSES POLITICAL COMMENTS were being erased BECAUSE they were within the confines of your religion of Political Correctness.
So you can go FUCK YOURSELVES.
@Kruno, if you could contradict what I said, you would; b/c you can’t, you try to change the subject with childish gibberish.
@anonymous Dude, you need to go for a long walk in nature or something.
@Frajer, the fake croat is ALWAYS the 1st post on every single article & he’s constantly posting multiple stupid meaningless crap on every single article as well; maybe THAT’S why people are sick of this site.
He didn’t “change his mind”, he contradicted himself as all anti-white faggots constantly do.
This is a guy who’s said the most awful things about other White ethnic groups then calls anyone who’s pro-White a “racist”. And then when he’s asked what a “racist” is, he doesn’t answer the question and keeps pretending he’s right. He’s an ugly stupid piece of shit anti-White with no hope of redemption.
I bet you didn’t have a problem when there were DEATH THREATS being made on this site against pro-Whites, right?
@anonymous
I think Iggy gets in first because he’s in Australia and articles are posted late at night in California. Check out Wikipedia if you’re struggling to figure out how time zones work. Not sure why waffling about Cilic (are people not allowed to change their minds) or posting pictures of himself (he seems to take pride in his marriage- good for him) makes him a two faced imposter. I would argue he’s anything but an imposter since he’s willing to share a lot about his personal life.
This site provides a decent venue for English speaking Croats to share info on sports happenings involving our larger community. Unfortunately it’s effectiveness has been eroded by incessant aggression towards anyone who doesn’t toe the ambiguous line of what a handful here think is appropriate for comment.
There were a number of people who used to post really insightful stuff that’s hard to find even if you can read Croatian. Slowly but surely many have disappeared because of all the negativity brought on by people like you. If you truly are a Croat, lay off on the needless attacks or you’ll find there won’t be anyone left to attack.
Ilija ?
How is it that “iggy” is the 1st to comment on every article & posts 10x more than the 2nd most commenter? & all of his comments are gibberish which is precisely why they never get erased by his fan boy kvartuc.
And it just so happens the ugliest gypsy looking douchbag moron is the one commenter who posts pictures of himself on this site.
He was calling Cilic a “mental midget” and a “choker” not to long ago, now he’s saying “Cilic is my favorite athlete”. It’s no wonder kvartuc has taken a liking to this fake Croat, two faced imposter.
Best case Kovacic scenario for me is that he’s our first guy off the bench and makes an impact like that. Maybe next tourney we can think of him as a potential starter.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2018/m=1/news=dalic-my-dream-has-come-true-with-croatia-2927221.html?cid=newsletter_en_20180201_newsid
I agree that Liverpool could’ve been a perfect spot for him to be a cemented starter. This issue with him leaving Real Madrid is why would Madrid be willing to let go of their number one midfield option off the bench. Especially, such a young developing talent who is likely to replace Modric down the line. Maybe Kova needs to demand a transfer in order to leave. Maybe if Inter make it to Champions League, he could go back or maybe for a loan at least.
While at RM, I think his defensive toughness has really developed over the last 2 years. I think at this point, he can contribute more defensibly than Rakitic and Brozovic (plus way faster than both). While Rakitic and Brozovic may have a bit better passing range, I think Kova’s ability to dribble makes him a better playmaker. So I personally think it’s time to start him at the national team level. Put him beside Badelj and let Rakitic go back to his old role at RM. With Modric playing the number 10 role obviously.
great talent. his game has improved massively at Real Madrid. His major problem is that he is so intuitive and just basically loves to run with ball. he often plays too quick. he is kind of the opposite of zidane. zidane would do everything with the minimum required, kovacic can run around a guy 3 times and end up where he started but enjoy doing it and its great to watch. now zidane has been helping him to try and appreciate the tempo of the game around him and understand before he gets the ball what he is going to do with it. and this has helped a lot. he can play a disciplined game in the midfield now with few mistakes. however a talent like kovacic can never really be tamed without losing all his sparkle. I think now is the time for him to go to a team where he will be loved and appreciated as the main man in midfield. he has enough experience now, enough confidence. the perfect team would be liverpool without doubt klopps energetic end to end football would suit kovacic perfectly. he would become liverpools best midfielder without doubt within months. Interestingly liverpool have signed naby keita already who is the player most similar to kovacic out there. he can do all parts of the game but ultimately loves to drive with the ball at his feet. both Navy keira and kovacic understand that sometimes you have to play it simple but neither of them get any joy from doing that so half the time they are going against their instincts thats why liverpool is the right team for them both because its all go go go. kovacic is the better player by the way. apart from in goalscoring where naby keita is confident and kovacic under confident. i believe in kovacic, but agree he needs a move to shine
I think he’s joined the Borna Coric club tbh lol