Oh boy. A lot to unpack here for Hajduk striker and Croatia international, Marko Livaja. But more importantly, who is most at fault for this situation?
Earlier today, the HNS made a public statement that 29 year-old striker Marko Livaja will not be part of next week’s Croatia squad that will face the Dutch in the UEFA Nations League semifinal and that Livaja has excused himself. The statement from Livaja says, “with everything that has happened, I’m not ready to give the team 100% and by staying I would only be a distraction to a team that deserves peace.”
This seems like more of a mutual decision between the HNS and Livaja versus Livaja leaving on his own free will. But that’s just my opinion.
So what the hell happened?
It all started May 24th in Rijeka after Hajduk defeated Šibenik 2-0 to capture their second straight Croatian Cup title. After the match, Livaja grabbed a megaphone and started yelling at Šibenik supporters: “Freze, traktori i seoski putevi, pi*ke šibenske, pi*ke šibenske, dobit ćete batine!, Vecernji reported. This is where Livaja showed immaturity. What does he have to gain from saying that? He doesn’t need to flex in front of Šibenik fans. Livaja is on top of the HNL, scored the game winner against Canada at the World Cup, and is Croatia’s top pick as the true #9 striker. Dumb move. -1 point for Livaja.
That was two weeks ago. Things cooled down a bit. Croatian players left their club teams to join the national side in preparation for next week’s Nations League semifinal. Training began this week in none other than…Rijeka. And that’s where Livaja was caught at the scene of the crime once again.
While at national team training Tuesday afternoon, you could clearly hear Livaja being heckled hard by a Croatian fan in the stands. However, Livaja didn’t keep his cool and B-lined it over to the fan. He said a few things without any physical contact before teammates came over to separate the two. He may or may not have purposely kicked a ball at fans as well. The rest is history. Livaja showed weakness in front of his own fans, became unhinged, showed lack of professionalism (at both club and country) level in the past month, and now won’t be part of the team in a semifinal match.
-1 point Livaja
-1 point stadium security
-1 point anyone within 10 feet of the heckler (come on, we can’t have Croatian players being heckled by their own Croatian countrymen during a Croatian training session. It’s a horrible look)
LINK TO LIVAJA FAN CONFRONTATION
Livaja was already on thin ice in Rijeka following the Croatian Cup. Should he have kept his cool and ignored the fan? 100%. However, the guy just lost his father in a tragic motorcycle accident a year ago. He has a stranger talking trash about his mom in a public training session…on home soil nonetheless. And Livaja has never been known as a level-headed guy to begin with. He lost his composure and will now pay for it by not playing in a European semifinal.
This is just bad optics for the Croatian team all around. I can only assume Dalić had plenty to do with this Livaja dismissal as he never allows bad energy and individual needs affect his locker room. Just ask Nikola Kalinić and Ante Rebić about that.
This mainly rests on Livaja’s shoulders. The dude simply has to do a better job at managing his emotions in a public space, especially with a huge game he would have likely started in front of him. However, the HNS staff and stadium security simply have to do better. This wasn’t an away match in Turkey. It was a training session on home turf.
A bizarre series of events but this one is on Livaja. Here’s what Matt Lebo has to say about the situation:
Who would want to play with a bunch of Bosnians. There should be a Dalmatian national team. HŽV
Shoulda, coulda, woulda….
The guy just needs to reset. In other words, keep his mouth shut for a solid 6 months, stay off of any personally identifying social media, and maybe he and half the squad can pay a good dermatologist to remove the tacky tattoos in the mean time as a bonus.
Then all will be forgotten.
Samo Hajduk I Dalmacija
HŽV💙❤️💙❤️
The guy was a compelling prospect 10 years ago, but he himself knows that he passed his unimpressive peak when he returned home to score goals on domestic minnows. Coupled with stories of being a cancer pretty much everywhere else he’s flamed out, and this story amounts to little more than Livaja pulling a typical dick move and putting his teammates in the awkward situation of having to defend him. All while simultaneously not being able to relate to any of his actions. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
Good convo guys
I think the thing that bothers me most is if livaja wanted out at that point is if he would have played injured and could have brought beljo in for him
Maybe livaja and vida will be gone after this? Opening up some spots
Like I don’t know if it’s just me but don’t think we need this many defenders overall with a guy like stanisic and even Jakic who are more versatile to fill multiple roles
I think you have to hold Livaja accountable for his actions for sure. With that I agree. But to some extent, when seeing this, I am starting to agree on some level with Dalic’s notion of making unity part of his goal on this team, not in terms of team selection per se but in general.
I cannot help but think that this line of thinking (meaning the lack of unity between Croatians) is too blame for a lot of this. I think that a lot of this has to do with the North and South divide that some feel. Everywhere Livaja goes, outside of Split, he is hated…the question is why?? Is it always him, I find that difficult to believe he isn’t the only difficult Croatian to have existed. Take Livakovic’s comments about Livaja for example in that he doesn’t believe Livaja deserved the award of HNL player of the year. I think it demonstrates my point here. Why does Livakovic feel the need to say that other than jealousy.
Look, I am not trying to defend Livaja on his actions, I think Livaja should apologise for his comments in Sibenik and his actions in general. But when thinking about this, we (Croatians) have an uncanny ability to be jealous of each other and spiteful of one another and often fall into this line bickering that I find irritating. In the end itnonlybhurts us more really, as demonstrated by this now we have one less player in the Nations League, whether or not you like Livaja it would have been better to have him than one less player on the team that’s atleast a substitute at the end of the day.
While we could say there are differences to North and South I don’t think those difference should be the deciding factor of our judgements or thoughts at the end of the day. Just a thought…
More to the point Petkovic said as much as well when they came back from the World Cup.
There isn’t a lack of unity between Croatians. The “North vs South” thing is a myth.
There is a fan group (Torcida) who is frustrated that their team couldn’t win anything for almost 20 years, and they needed to lay blame to Dinamo, Mamic and the HNS.
The overwhelming majority of people in Split, along with the rest of Dalmacija, have no beef or issues with anyone from Zagreb. Most of Zagreb is made up of people from Dalmacija and BiH anyway, lol.
Dalic is being overly dramatic with his goal of bringing ‘unity’ to Croatia. He is simply just trying to calm down Torcida, so that we can host games in Split without Torcida sabotaging the National Team. This is all there is to this.
I dunno bud, I don’t think it’s overdramatic personally. When I visited Zagreb and used my southern dialect it raised an eyebrow with a lot of people.
My friend who is from Karlovac had the same experience in the South in Split. I have to disagree with you there Maminjo.
While maybe a lot of people don’t feel this way many still do.
You’re the first person in history who’s ever made this observation . I usually respect your comments but I think you’re wrong about this. ZG is filled with dalmatinci because of university snd jobs…it has people from all over…sorry but this is in your head!
I’m picturing you speaking to people in Zagreb with a Southern drawl from Texas
Lol. That’s a good one, he Y’all lol.
Livaja doesn’t behave as a professional so this is why many don’t like him. At his club he shows up to practice when he wants to…this isn’t speculation, this is fact. He gets his own room for smoking on road trips and his history of being involved in controversy is well known.
The North vs South thing comes into play when the issue was about Hajduk not winning and then the accusation ls that Mamic was the reason why. Probably “some” truth to that but nowhere near as much truth as there is with Hajduk just dropping the ball far too often when they have the chance to take the lead in the standings. They’re notorious for choking…and then blaming everyone but themselves.
They support their own, regardless of right or wrong…period! Hajduk was the only team in 2018 to not show any support to the National team at the World Cup and they took the side of Kalinic when he got sent home. This is more about their “little man” syndrome than it is about anyone else unfairly stopping them from achieving.
Livaja just insulted the entire cities of Rijeka and Sibenik and yet one older man insults Livaja and Hajduk supporters don’t see his wrong and yet they want the old man penalized….it’s just comedy at its finest!
Slavonac and Maminjo just a couple of things here:
Not sure why the comment I made is garnering this reaction but people seem emotionally invested in this one so I happen to think I may be partially right.
Just to clarify, I never suggested it was everybody or all Croatian’s in general, and I sure as hell don’t think this just because of what happened in Livaja’s case or because of what he did which was wrong. I think in his case there are some examples of individuals who fit this category like the idiot on the stands or some of those fans who get a hard on just because it’s Livaja and Hajduk, or like how you said people talk about Mamic and Dinamo (maybe myself falling into this trap sometimes) which for me is another good example of this as well. In fact, one could argue Livaja’s actions in Sibenik in and of themselves fit the bill as well. It’s just finding fault because it’s the other club, or the other if you will. But I think we can all agree that there should not be this focus on the other banter.
My comment was more from the standpoint that as Croatian’s we can be our own worst enemy at times we do not need someone else for that.
I’m not the first person history to make this observation at all man. You didn’t hear the latter half of what I said, my friend who is a Karlovcan made the same observation. There happen to be some individuals who think this way. Making the claim that it’s all in my head is a strange retort by any stretch of the means. But I get it, if the point is that there is some unity (or a great deal of it) I would say there is, but if you look hard enough some disunity is visible too.
And yes there are plenty of Dalmatinci in Zagreb, but that doesn’t necessarily refute the argument I am making. The same is true for Split, I am sure there are Northerners there too. There is a lot of change in your defence. The comment was not meant to be deterministic and fatalistic, it was rather an observation of things experienced and a possible reason for some this bantering between individuals on the field and fans.
Look don’t get me wrong, I think Livaja is a huge jackass in this but it’s not just himself that is the issue here. Plenty of Croatian’s bad mouth eachother in a lot of ways, all you need to do is read Slobodna Dalmacija or Jutarnji List for clear picture they shit talk eachother all the time.
Mate, I’ll address this part because in my opinion, this is your example and it’s where the conversation began.
You said: “I think in his case there are some examples of individuals who fit this category like the idiot on the stands or some of those fans who get a hard on just because it’s Livaja and Hajduk”
You really have to look back at what happened just over 2 weeks ago. Hajduk deservedly won the cup against Sibenik, Livaja then grabbed the megaphone and started singing “Freze, traktori i seoski putevi, pičke šibenske, pičke šibenske, dobit ćete batine”, then Torcida began tearing up the seats and the hysteria began in their section.
So two things happened. Livaja insults Sibenik and their fans and Torcida tear up their section of Rijeka’s stadium.
Fans were immediately pissed off. There was no fine given to Livaja, there was no action taken towards Livaja and the stadium suffered damages which the Rijeka fans took as disrespectful. Yes, many fans do it at the opposition stadiums…I believe those idiots from Zagreb did it to Split recently as well and like I’ve said here and everywhere a million times, those people are all losers, not to be idolized, they’re nothing but criminals and bums that shouldn’t be tolerated. Fanboy clubs have never interested me at all…I always wonder why they they think they’re relevant. A normal fan that sings, chants, cheers and celebrate is totally normal, the rest are irrelevant bums! Now, with all that said, a player, Marko Livaja, started the hateful and derogatory singing and chants and he’s the one responsible for the hate targeting himself!
You seem to be quite the intellectual person. Your expressions and exemplary writing skills would indicate that you are very educated…so I ask myself how this guy Mate can be soo blind and not see the exact problem here? It’s mind blowing that you focus on some old and irrelevant guy that made some comments towards Livaja and then somehow suggest you understand how that would have set Livaja off? How about exercising self restraint as a professional athlete? What about the hundreds or thousands of players around the world that get verbally abused every week like Harry McGuire from Manchester United. And if that isn’t one good enough example then let’s hit a little closer to home. Do you know the #1 fan base that hates on Luka Modric? No, it’s not Barcelona…it’s our very own fans from Hajduk Split…Torcida…and their favourite song for Modric is “Luka Modrić, govno maleno”!!! Have you ever once seen Modric approach the fans and make a gesture, a comment, make a show and have a tantrum??? No, you’ve never seen his respond because he behaves like a professional, not like a cowardly little baby.
I’ve spent a little more than 6 months in ZG over the years and one thing I’ll tell you is they are far more cultured than most other places in Croatia, without a doubt!
Hmm. I was aware that Hajduk did not pick Modric as a player initially but not aware of the chant. Fair statement focusing on a few fanboys may not be the right approach. Also to be fair those were my ZZ top years back then when travelling I also had a beard which may have done it too, lol.
I don’t agree with the stupidity that can come out of the fan base at Hajduk, in fact I dislike that very much, at all. Modric deserves a lot more than that for what he has done for Croatian sports, as do many of the players on the international squad.
You make very good points, and I do think Livaja should show restraint that would be my point in calling him a jackass which I think he is. In all cases I was try to look and see what’s motivating someone to be fair to their perspective, but maybe in his case it’s more transparent as you say
The passionate nature that individuals from the South have can either be a very good thing or very bad thing depending on the person. In Livaja’s case, it’s 100 percent terrible given the output.
Well maybe I should be more like yourself in perspective and not see the negative could be a life lesson, lol.
Unfortunately, he got his PHD, like most of us, at the Josip Simunic school of communication. It is always better to sleep on it, but even if we do, we still might do it. Torch and burn, take no prisoners, usually does not work out, no matter how what indignation we feel might justify our considered action. Would be calling the kettle black most of us.
Any link to today’s game with Qatar?
Did you find anything? Thanks
Unfortunately no.
Game was not televised. Croatia ‘B’ team was listed on a play by play site that also said it finished 0-0. ESPN app told me it finished 1-0 za Hrvatska. No goal scorer named. Did this game even happen? 😆
I think it may have been a part of the deal when that makeshift U23 team played them before the World Cup.
It was probably a two-game deal. I doubt any notable players played in the Croatia squad. Probably a HNL all stars team.
Where was the game even played?
I never heard anything about this. Which Croatia team is playing? Who’s on this squad?
The Repka.
I think it’s our U23 team that is playing Qatar again (similar to last year)
U23’s match, it was supposed to be played on 8 June in Austria.
No result anywhere ? most likely not played.
Livescore says it was 1:0 Croatia
This is 100% on Livaja. As a professional athlete you will run across idiotic/drunken fans who will say all kinds of awful things. Be the bigger man and ignore it.
What would he expect after grabbing the megaphone and saying what he did?
I don’t mind Livaja as a player and like seeing some of our players with attitude, but he is easily replaceable. Ironic that our most in form strikers Budimir & Beljo wont be playing.
Did Budimir ever really get a true opportunity for us? I recall he was never really on the field with Sosa and always thought that combo of Sosa whipping in balls to a striker with some decent aerial skills could be effective. He got zero time in the WC so we know what Dalic thinks of him. In the few times I saw him, I thought he was a poor mans Mandza as he pressed the D and was decent in the air and holding up the ball.
I do hope Musa gets a chance now and does something with it. In his limited minutes thus far on the NT he was invisible.
I will say that Dalic does seem to have zero tolerance with potential distractions to the team. Ie Kalinic, Rebic and now Livaja.
I would say a case a year as far as potential distractions are concerned is making me point my finger towards Dalic more so than at those 3 players.
Messi heading to Miami
Wonder if luka will pull a quick year in mls after next season and stay fit for 2026?;)
I know he has said repeatedly he wants to retire in Madrid
I guess he wants to live in Florida (which makes sense due to the massive South American population, and it’s a good connection flight to Argentina).
Probably won’t make much money there, especially compared to what the Saudis were offering. But Miami makes a lot of sense for him and his family.
What a storm in a tea cup
This family talk is a bit overrated
Family fights too
Regardless livaja was surplus to requirements and let’s move on and upwards I say
Croatia plays Qatar tomorrow? Anyone know if its going to be broadcasted in the states?
It’s a shame for Budimir that he didn’t perform well until the end of this season. He scored two goals in the final match day to send Osasuna to the Europa Conference League qualifiers (Is it their first time ever in European competition?). He also scored a brace a few weeks ago to keep Osasuna in the race for European football next year. Not that he can take all the credit—he was just a part of a great team with a great manager—but he demonstrated qualities that distinguish professionals from lesser professionals. I don’t mean to call Livaja lesser, by any means, but his spot on the roster was contested by other professionals, and he would have done well to keep that demand in his focus. On the other hand, he probably is most concerned about winning at Hajduk and therefore not as prepared to be a leader for the repka. Budimir was always too green to be a leader for the repka. Petkovic always too much of a wise-guy, though maybe he steps up this time. What’s sure is that Kramaric needs to play off someone, and Musa has the chance to be that someone.
Ciro,bilic and a few others had more of a pedigree but Dalic is going to go down as the greatest Croatian coach of all time BASED strictly on results.
How surprising is that when every one of us were besides ourselves when he was appointed!
We shouldn’t question anything he does considering he makes us all look foolish time and time again.
Bilic was way overrated. Good initial impact, good at giving new talented players a chance (like Dudu, Corluka, Petric) but he always fizzles out after his first year in charge (both for club and country).
Ciro was good but cocky. It cost us at the Euro96 when he rolled out his B team against Portugal when he didn’t care to be paired against Germany in the quarters. He did the exact same thing again at WC98 against Argentina too, ha ha (but we went all the way to a medal that time).
Dalic achieved the most (two medals) but Ciro would have done the same if Croatia was allowed to compete in the ’94 World Cup when all of our players were in their prime.
I still think Ciro is a better coach (not to take anything away from Dalic).
Training should have been promptly suspended while that “fan” was removed from the stadium.
Coaching staff has a job to do, and they should be able to ignore fans talking shit (that will always be the reality in a game sutuation), so good practice as far as I am concerned.
A fan has too much to drink, and he acts like an idiot because he was hurt by Livaja’s words in the past (perhaps he’s even embarrassed his freinds and family and regrets his actions as the result)?
Security may have done nothing or perhaps was too slow to do something?
None of that makes it right for Livaja to act unprofessionally. Furthermore, he needs to recognize / admit what he did wrong, apologize for his actions, and make a decision and a commitment to act differently in the future.
Without the effort on Livaja’s part to change, I don’t see a reason to call him back – as much as I would like for us to have another option to go to in the Nations league.
Slavonac and Dannyj brought up excellent examples of what happened in the past with Modrić, and how he acted / accomplished afterwards.
It also reminds me of a past incident where many of us criticized Canada’s coach John Herdman of having no class for saying “we are going to F Croatia^.
Livaja’s behaviour is similar to Herman’s, and we would be hypocritical for allowing him to get away with it just to fill the roster.
Not same. Herdman was asked an innocent and wide-open question by a reporter and he decided to say that. Livaja’s was a response to some pointed and rather offside shit-talking by a “fan” at a quiet facility. Not saying it’s right or wrong, but it’s nothing like the Herdman thing.
Livaja after the game publicly shouted out with a megaphone crap that offended people of Sibenik.
That episode likely had a lot to do with the second one you refer to.
There are certainly differences if you look for them, but the main thing I saw that was similar to me was the lack of class they both displayed.
Y’all easy to write off Livaja and move on cuz he is replaceable, which is completely true as far as the NT is concerned. Petkovic, Musa, Budimir etc could come off the bench and play 10-15 min just as good as Livaja rn more or less. The important thing here is that the narrative that is being pushed is #obitelj which is completely fine, but in that case Modric and the 23rd player should have the same treatment (svi za jednog jedan za sve) and there should be unity. This happening is an HUGE embarrassment of HNS and Dalic. Ask yourself if the same thing hypothetically, happened with Modric or Brozovic or someone else who is a vital member of the team in Split with some Torcida members. The reaction from you all and HNS and Dalic would be one where they and you completely defend him. In that case Livaja and anyone else who is called up even if he sucks and plays in NK Granicar Zupanja should be defended as well. Podrška Livaji.
TL/DR – if Livaja was a world class player the reaction would be completely different from all parties involved (fans, Hns, coaches). A case of a lack of unity which clashes with croatian mentality which keeps the few of us together
Govori se “Bog i Hrvati” a besramno pljunite na hrvatskog reprezentativca bez sekunde razmišljanja
“Ask yourself if the same thing hypothetically, happened with Modric or Brozovic or someone else who is a vital member of the team in Split with some Torcida members. The reaction from you all and HNS and Dalic would be one where they and you completely defend him.”
it did happen to Modric…and the abuse he took was far worse than what happened to Livaja. when we were approaching the World Cup in 2018, tons of people were verbally abusing Modric and he kept quiet…do you not remember that?
Kept his head down
He knew he was in a mess and kept to his business and became balon dor that year
Luka shows he is a leader, we all fuck up but there is a reason he is where he is
I’m not bashing livaja but you ain’t no poor man’s ibra and mandzo that’s for sure. He has talent but he is not so talented he could just float. If his work rate and attitude matched his ego he could have been talked about in the higher end of cro strikers
Dude is doing punk shit, you gonna get treated like a punk from what we can see from the outside In
Again you beat a demoted sibenik. Take it easy young man
Act like you’ve been there before
If they beat Dinamo last match of season to win hnl then maybe you can talk some shit
Anyways, bridge under water as they say
It’s time to see more of the young guys moving forward
We can’t negate musas numbers
Beljo just starting to find his stride
The future looks brighter
If hajduk can produce a world class guy then he would play and torcida would be pleased enough
But sadly at this point they aren’t
I surely hope it changes
The hypothetical situation i laid out in my previous comment was one where Modric reacts in the manner Livaja reacted. The reaction would be different then from Hns and dalic
Higher quality players don’t need to make a lot of noise to get attention- they get it from their display on the field.
I for one am not writing off Livaja (he is and will always be one of us, and has accomplished a lot).
He had a chance to show what he can do and to become the hero; however, he chose try try to slow down what appears to be the inevitable replacement of himself in the wrong manner.
Ironically, Musa now has more of and opportunity to play more, integrate sooner, and to become the hero.
Why shouldn’t we have a code of conduct that demands better when we have players who will likely perform just as well, and who have a higher po ceiling long term?
Allow Livaja to go to the Nations league without telling him to act more professionally, and we risk him embarrassing everyone even more.
Da, da. Govori se Bog i Hrvati.
Ako jedan igrać te repke pljuva po druge Hrvate i govori kao on ‘pi.čke šibenske dobit ćete batine’
Takvega nećemo ni ne trebamo. I ne treba se puno razmišljavat.
Bog i Hrvati
Stari, mogo si samo stavit:
“Mrzim Livaju,Bog i Hrvati”
Na lijep način pokazujes kakvu strast imas prema hrvatskoj. Velik si ‘Rvatina kralju
He shouldn’t be on the team in the first place.
I don’t care about this “family” thing. The family thing is more for the fans and country as a whole, and that we’re all in this together, whether we are actually playing on the field or not. It’s not about keeping players on the team if they prove to be subpar performers or if they are distractions. Livaja is a poor performer and a distraction, so he needs to be off the team. He can still be a part of the “family”, but just not a player on the field.
The National Team is about representing Croatia with our best players to produce the best results.
Are you suggesting we keep a player on, even if he’s no longer producing results? Because he’s a “family” member?
You’d probably be the first to call for blood if they missed a tournament with washed up players who stayed on the team for too long.
Maminjo,
We can discuss whether or not Livaja should be part of the team based on his exploits on the pitch. That is a manner of opinion and is what is discussed on this site.
The facts are that Livaja had been called up by Dalic for the nations league finals which means Dalic considers him in Croatia 23 best players rn. Also, even if you don’t care about the “family” thing, the players and Dalic do as evidenced by numerous interviews where it has been stated multiple times as one of the key reasons for Croatia’s success.
No , i am not suggesting that a player be kept on team cuz he’s part of the “family”, this is a results driven sport. To clear up what i was suggesting is that when you put on the NT jersey whenter it’s for one friendly game or 10 yr period you are part of let’s say a collective where everyone has your back. The failure of Dalic and the savez particulary to defend Livaja inconsequentially and immediately is a failure on their behalf. Showing also a inconsistentency in treatment of it’s players and for me its concerning. After this, Rebic, Kalinić, etc I am coming closer and closer to the conclusion that the success of the NT happened in spite of Dalic not because of him.
This is a mess and should have been handled better by all sides. Didn’t Ziva Istina warn us years ago about Livaja. Can someone ask Ziva about this now.
Livaja isn’t significant enough to be ‘warned’ about.
If he’s a distraction, then you cut him. He is an end-of-the-squad callup. He’s not a core player to this team.
It’s more of an issue if a current core player (like Brozovic) or a future core player (like a Sosa, Beljo, or Sutalo) becomes a distraction with their attitude. Then it becomes something you really have to manage because any decision to remove them from the team will really impact results.
“Look at me livaja” he called him if I’m correct
Maybe dalic says the door is open up keep the peace for now
Hopefully musa this week and beljo during the u21s shows his quality and livaja gets squeezed out
Come on he’s had a couple moments but like someone said below it’s not like he is really more skilled then budimir and budimir at least puts max effort
Lighting up hnl isn’t scoring at a decent rate at a top 5 league….
Sibenik lost and were dropped from top flight
Take your trophy and walk away
Emotions can run high he is a Croat and a professional soccer player
But take this summer to learn to regulate better
You aren’t 20 brother
Maybe this will forge us again
I certainly hope so
Krama gonna step up. I randomly feel it
Brekalo today Spam vs Flo
Ready to fight his own countrymen because they said something? Get this guy out of here. He scored a goal against Canada and didn’t do anything else. Tat guy things he’s something. He’s not. Out the door for him . How does a pro get that easily rattled?
He was instrumental in the Orsic goal against Morocco. third place, but still.
He has lots of talent but yea he needs to calm down a bit.
Livaja finds it necessary to talk shit- add insult to injury after defeating Šibenik, and that’s ok in his mind.
A fan says some shit back to him and he cant take it. Its more important to him to get into a fight with the fan than the business of the team because his fealings were hurt (childish and self – centered).
Furthermore, Livaja expects the rest of the team to back him and follow his example of poor sportsmanlike conduct, immature / undisciplined behaviour (or else he won’t play for Hrvatska).
We don’t need his bad attitude!
My guess is that he sees nothing wrong with what he has done, and he will not apologize nor attempt to alter his actions in in the future.
As the result, as long as Dalić is there, he will not be back.
Bring on the youth.
Well said Franjo- 100% agreed
Well Dalic after the whole encounter in a press conference said something how Livaja is still in the future plans for the National Team which isn’t a good sign.
I’d be asking and most should as well be asking, where’s the progress in these selections, where’s the ruthlessness in saying, “Vida you’re not needed, Petkovic you as well gotta go” and then go on for “Beljo, Frigan, you’ll be part of our squad. I see you having a future with our NT”
I would like to see more of that instead of trying to hold on to try please everyone.
I think MART is right, and that Livaja will be back in September unfortunately
As stated below ( likely after you guys all posted),
I believe that what is expected of Livaja is an attitude adjustment. However, it is difficult for a person to change, and the odds are against Livaja.
excellent comment Franjo!
No great loss with Livaja leaving the team. The only disappointment for me is that it is not permanent. Both Dalic and Livaja in their latest comments have indicated that that he will be available for selection in September for the EURO qualifiers against Latvia and Armenia.
Here’s how I interpret that:
Dalić says Livaja is available for selection – fair enough, but so is everyone else, and you need to earn your spot (that includes change of attitude where deemed necessary).
Livaja’s big ego expects the team to come crawling back.
Highly unlikely that we will see Livaja on the roster in September.
RIP – Dražen Petrović
Champion of our people.
Actually quite amazing the contrast to some these modern mental midgets.
Tempest in a teacup.
Really, who cares!
Livaja, seriously, never a fan of the guy as a player (wow, he scored against Canada, big whoop). And after hearing about his comments to the Sibenik fans…absolutely classless.
As far as I’m concerned, never should have been on the repka to begin with. Slow, no effort and hotheaded absolutely no upside.
Bring back Budimir, scored 2 nice goals on the weekend, can run, puts in an effort and doesn’t spout off and offend people.
The sooner we all forget about this and stop paying it any attention the better.
Let’s get on with playing some nogomet!
Ajmo dečki
Bog i Hrvati
What are the chances that Livaja was told that he wasn’t going to be first choice striker and decided to piggyback on this nonsensical story that’s been blown way out of proportion?
LOL. Good question. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he walked out for that reason.
Even when you consider the Sibenik incident, it seems strange that the recent (minor) fan incident would all still be a major distraction to the players, despite playing a couple of away games in the Netherlands.
It’s probably a combination of Livaja being probably frustrated from the fans, his role on the team, and the local shqiptar accidentally putting kajmak on his ćevapi instead of ajvar.
without any doubt …
Dalic is shit | it’s him+
Dalic, since he become coach, has been pushing the idea of family into the Croatian NT. The failure of HNS and Dalic to publicly defend Livaja was from my understanding his reasons for leaving. After one day of not publicly defending Livaja, he decided to leave. Livaja is a hothead, but in a family you need defend your teammates and players. Dalic is speaking fairytales about the repka being a family, when he needs to react, he fails. Jedno je pričat, drugo je cinit. Vec se slicna stvar dogodila sa Rebicem i Kalinićem.
I think Dalic is thinking bigger picture.
He’s thinking of the entire country uniting as a Family, which is why he tends to cater to Torcida (which is the black sheep of the family), like a father who doesn’t want to lose his kid forever.
I get what he’s trying to do, but sometimes I just want him to worry about coaching.
Hopefully this leads to more PT for Musa. He made the most of his limited minutes with Benfica…. 7 goals in 640 minutes is nothing to sneeze at in a league with some decent competition. I believe he lead the Primeira in scoring rate, but it’s at least better than Ramos, and with as many assists. Meanwhile Ramos will fetch 100 million euros at some point in the next year. Granted Ramos is getting the minutes vs top tier opponents, but Musa also had 2 goals in UCL, including 1 vs finalists Inter. I will be interested in watching him enter his prime.
I’m curious to see if Musa is simply best suited as a ‘joker’ off the bench (just like how Nuno Gomes used to be) rather than a starter.
I mean, I’d obviously start him over guys like Livaja and Petkovic…but a part of me is hoping that Beljo becomes that starting striker for us, and Musa continues to be this hyper-efficient joker scoring a goal a game off the bench for us.
WTF, now we’re fighting each other? I don’t live in Croatia and understand the rivalry between the different clubs but come on. We’re a small nation that needs to stick together. Whether Hajduk wins, or Dinamo, or Rijeka, we all gotta get up and go to work in the morning right? Perspective people! Sometimes I think the diaspora are more patriotic than the actual Hrvati.
I read this in disbelief! No twist, no Hajduk slant, no excuses…I’m very impressed with the facts and sticking to them…well done Ante!
If Livaja wasn’t a hot headed, fiery personality…he wouldn’t be scoring and assisting in bunches in the HNL…it’s partly what makes him a great player. I always support Croatian players and in this case, I’d support Livaja too if those apologists would just accept he made a mistake and let’s move on.
I think this is all such a shitty situation. We could use him now, a couple weeks of rest and coming off another great season…he’s probably flying with confidence. I just wish he had some self control…it’s demanded from a professional and especially at his level!
We definitely couldn’t use him now. Whatever you think of him for Hajduk and I think he’s fantastic for Hajduk considering I’m a Hajduk fan myself, I despise his performances for the National team with his lack of professionalism and most importantly his work ethic and shouldn’t be on that roster ever since the WC.
I was wondering how he’d do for Hajduk when he came back and I was surprised at how good is in for that league, he’s definitely a beast. With that said, it would have been better for him to stay calm and take the abuse…he gave out the abuse in that city two weeks ago, Torcida tore up seats in the stadium and Rijeka and Sibenik fans were angry!
I’ve heard multiple things but they all differentiated from each other, one was how the guy said along the lines of he’s showing 0 effort and the other one is just because of the cup thing. If it was about the 0 effort in the NT and he should walk, I would agree for him to have a go at Livaja for that but if it’s the other thing, it’s a bit irrelevant because almost every ultra group in Europe would do something to an away stadium even BBB did it at the poljud set the away section on fire but you know, it won’t be talked about.
I doubt Livaja can walk around at the National Team camp and offer 0 effort…guys like Broz, Modric, Perisic, Kovacic…would all make sure of it…although it’s different at his club where he does what he wants.
With regards to the fanboys!!! I respect some of what they do for veterans, for the hospitals during the recent earthquake and things like that but they can’t make the games about themselves and ruin someone else’s stadium. I don’t stand behind BBB or any other fan club when that happens…that’s what thugs do, not fans!
It’s the little kid’s fault for getting in the way of Marko Almighty’s missed shot on goal