Croatia’s STACKED Under-21 side crushed Azerbaijan 5-1 in U21 Euro Qualifiers Tuesday night, led by a hat-trick from 18 year-old wunderkind Roko Šimić. Croatia remains perfect in Group A of the qualifying campaign, sitting in 1st place with 12 points from a perfect record of 4-0-0. The Mladi Vatreni also have an outstanding goal differential of +9 in their four matches played.
Roko Šimić opened the scoreline for Croatia in the 9th minute, followed by a second via goalkeeper error in the 13th. Center-back Nikola Soldo scored in the 25th minute to give the Mladi Vatreni a 3-0 lead. In the 44th minute of the match, Šimić converted a penalty to earn himself a hat-trick (all in one half) and give the Vatreni an outstanding 4-0 lead going into halftime. Azerbaijan finally found themselves on the board in the 55th minute, thanks to a penalty converted by Musa Qurbanli. Croatia answered again in the 81st minute, coming from a looping header from defender Josip Šutalo. The final score was 5-1 Croatia.
18 year-old Roko Šimić can’t stop scoring! Salzburg/Liefering’s striker has a total of 13 goals in 15 appearances in the 2021-22 season, and 10 goals in his last six matches. Šimić has scored four goals for Croatia’s U21s this international break, and has proven to be an extreme threat in the final third. Salzburg recently re-signed Šimić until 2025 due to his magnificent form. We’ve got a huge talent in our hands!
The question is: with Andrej Kramarić struggling to convert goals on decent looks in front of the net and Croatia without any real striking option at the moment, when is the right time to bring up 18 year-old Šimić to the senior side? I say give him a look against Malta next month. That should shake things up for Kramarić. 100%!
Now I want to see this Simić play for the repka! A hat trick at U-21 level and that many goals at his club is a good sign he could contribute for the senior team. Honestly, all he needs to do is to be able to run and finish plays. The problem with Petković was his running. The problem with Kramarić is that his finishing is only good when he creates space for himself. I still think Kramarić is going to come out of this slump, but we need another option whose name is not Marko Livaja. With Budimir’s and Pjaca’s current injury problems, getting Simić in the fold now could be crucial preparation for the world cup (and I do think we will beat Russia and qualify, even if it will be a very tough game).
If I told you all you have to do is beat Malta on the road and Russia in Split and you get to go to the World Cup, you would take it everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.
Get Rebić back in the fold.
Ivusic between the pipes.
Kovačić in the middle.
Sosa at LB.
Car in for Vida.
Start Vlašić.
Rest Modrić for Malta and bring his fresh genius for Russia.
Start Sučić for Malta.
ZDS
Uvijek Vijerni
U boj
Definitely. There is a lot of doom being spread on this site, but Croatian football is in a great situation right now. We have reason to be optimistic, especially with the depth of talent coming through.
If I told you all we had to do was beat Slovakia in Osijek and not lose to Slovenia, and we’d be a lock for the World Cup…I’m sure most people would take that as well.
But here we are.
Based on some analysis of WC playoffs if Croatia ends up 2nd, here are the 12 potential teams in the playoffs: top 6 seeds – Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Poland, Croatia, Wales, 6 unseeded teams – Scotland, Norway, Bosnia, Romania, Czechs, Austria. This of course assumes some results in the last two games of qualifying. Croatia could end up unseeded if a few things happen, like Wales beating Belgium and Scotland beating Denmark, which could happen, as Belgium and Denmark will have already clinched their WC spot and would probably play backups. If these are the teams, Croatia would be at home against one of the unseeded teams in the first playoff game. If they win that, they would play the winner of the other game in their mini-semifinal group. The home team would be determined by a draw.
That’s one giant mess
This is the playoff we want now
Beat Malta and Russia at home
That looks better then all that other garbage
And we watch the playoffs and enjoy
nice analysis. Only thing I might add is Spain with a real shot at going to the playoff too. It’s looking like Sweden will likely need to only tie Spain in their last game to win the group.
Plus in the game before that, if Sweden beats Georgia and Spain only ties AT Greece, Sweden would clinch 1st before their final game anyway. We’ll see.
I think Sweden has a chance to win the group too. Greece tied Spain in Spain and beat Sweden at home so no guarantee that Spain wins the group. At Greece and home to Sweden is a tough couple of games.
Serbia can win group aswell if the beat portugal. So spain and portugal could end up in playoffs.
Like most of us are saying beat malta and russia and avoid that disaster.
yeah. A little more far-fetched, but Italy too. Of the 3 (Spain, Portugal, Italy), I think Spain should be most stressed about it.
Let’s just get in through the front door and not the back door this time.
Too far fetched.
– Serbia winning in Portugal
– Switzerland winning in Italy
– Norway winning in Holland
– Russia winning or drawing in Croatia
All of these results are unlikely, but one of them can slip through the cracks and send the favorite to the playoffs.
The issue with us is that Russia doesn’t have to play for the win, so that gives them options in terms of what tactics they want to play.
I can’t see Russia beating us, but a frustrating draw is possible.
I really can’t see Serbia, Norway or Switzerland topping the favorites in their groups.
Maybe Haaland pulls something off in Holland, since Holland have been choking pretty regularly these past 10 or so years (in qualifying and in tournaments).
Haaland in Holland. Hmmm. Sounds like something to wager on.
ha. Yeah, that’s gotta be a prop bet somewhere.
Speaking of bets, I looked today, Cro now at 80-1 to win the WC. I don’t expect them to win, but at 80-1, I wouldn’t be shocked if we qualified, and made a run to the QF’s or something (at which point I would start hedging the bet). This is kinda the way we operate. And it is a team with Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic and Perisic after all.
Agree, most of those scenarios are far-fetched. But to me the Spain one is not. They could easily tie in Greece while Sweden beats Georgia (in which case it’s over). If not, Sweden can def tie in Spain.
I’d put 1,000 on em at 80-1… I like the way they have been trending the last few months…
I’d love to see Italy and Spain battle it out in the last chance qualifying, I didn’t realize so many divisions were still a toss up, honestly it prob has a lot to do with over extended top tier players over in these super condensed last few seasons!
yeah, I’m actually thinking about it.
Serbia ain’t beating Portugal in Portugal. They are lucky to still be alive for first because Ronaldo scored in injury time in the first game against Serbia and the ref and linesman missed it.
so much luck, not so much in the first playoff but the second one. Home team determined via draw and who you play is also just luck? That’s a lot of luck to get into the WC, it’s really not a good system at all.
It’s pretty stupid that you have the second game location determined by a draw. So if a seeded team wins one game and an unseeded team wins another, why wouldn’t the seeded team get the game at home? The teams should be seeded 1-12 and the higher seed in the second game gets the home game. Period. But that makes too much sense. If a team like Sweden wins their game and Austria wins theirs, Austria could host Sweden, meanwhile Austria is only in the playoff because of this stupid Nations League nonsense.
You really get the bull with rebic
Ironically the piece he probably needs to become a more complete player and humbling himself to apologize is the piece he probably won’t give
I too believe if he can make good with dalic he would probably tear it up for a little He is plysically stronger and athletic than many a footballer. That alone is dangerous
It somehow we could make him and krama both go then we would have something special
You don’t think deep down he is playing hard in Milan, saying look at me;)
He wants another shot at Croatian glory. It’s hard tho watching the king of assholes in zlatan But hey zlatan still wants to play for Sweden so maybe rebic will indeed take notes
I am not sure if Dalic internally / subconsciously demands an apology from Rebic before he considers calling him back?
I do know that publicly criticizing my bosses has not ended well for me, and I learned that it is ok to speak up; however, making a suggestion face to face / one on one worked better.
It does not guarantee that you will get your way all the time, but from my experience, sometimes you will, and it avoids having bad relationships and disappointing end results.
In most European countries there is a strong line between coaches and players that players should never cross. The entire team concept is about being united, sacrificing for each other, giving 100% commitment during practices and games….the coach sets the game plan and the players are there to execute.
I don’t agree with Dalic’s experiments, gaff’s, perceived favourtism to certain players and I think I’d be frustrated if my team kept having sub par performances and results also. With all that said, the hierarchy is set and its very very clear. Dalic has the ultimate decisions in his hands and his good or poor decisions are scrutinized by his bosses at the Savez. Every result from every player selection, match and tournament is his choice along with his trusted staff.
When Rebic (out of clear frustration) posted the Instagram comments, he knew there would be a consequence and he most likely thought Dalic’s days were numbered but in my opinion, he made a very big mistake doing what he did. Very much like I saw the value in a player like Olic and Mandzukic I see the value in Rebic. He has his mental block periods but when he’s in form and feeling good, few defenders can stop him for an entire game. As much as I really do love the guy, he made a cardinal sin….a sin thats not easy to let go and from what I see (or don’t see), Rebic has to publicly apologize before he’s invited back to the team. Its the only way Dalic maintains respect from his squad and the public and the its most likely the only way Dalic can personally get past this.
If anyone of you have worked hard to make it on a select team, a semi pro or professional level in any team sport, you must know that the coach cannot lose the respect of the players or he’s dead in the water. If Dalic doesn’t stand his ground, things will be worse for him….from his players and Rebic will always be looked at differently. He must apologize publicly and we all move on. There’s really no other way to do this.
Dalic repeated many times that “the door is not closed” for players to return, including Rebic. He is practically inviting Rebic to make the next move and apologize. If Rebic is too stubborn or immature to do this, then he doesn’t deserve to represent Hrvatska. IMO Sosa’s situation was much worse, and he was forgiven quickly.
But Sosa wasn’t tarred and feathered by Dalic or anyone in the HNS. It was only Sosa who talked smack, so it makes sense for him to apologize. Nobody did anything wrong to him.
Rebic is going through the Ben Simmons experience.
He was tarred, feathered, and criticized as the reason for our Euro failures (which was unfair to him).
We sucked in that tournament. All four games we sucked, except for maybe a half hour against Scotland and 20 minutes against Spain.
Hard to come out and apologize to the group that was responsible for the poor tactics at the Euros, and that same group being partly responsible for using you as a human shield/scapegoat.
Dalic doesn’t have an ego, and would easily bring Rebic back.
But Rebic is understandably upset. I don’t blame him.
Other players publicly criticized the coach, but since he was scapegoated for the Euro performance, only he is required to apologize.
Thanks to the media, Rebic’s required apology has been linked now with our Euro failures, and it will be seen as Rebic apologizing for his poor play at the Euros (when he shouldn’t have to apologize for that).
I think he would accept a callup, but I don’t think he puts out a public apology for this reason.
Rebic does not need to apologize for poor play, he just needs to continue playing well.
The applogy that is required is for criticizing the coaches publicly- that is not his job.
The coaches are asked to give their assessment, and if they relied too heavily on Rebic, thats their error. When they point out that Rebic did not do this, that , or the other, Rebic just needs to simply say ‘I will work on my part of the underperformance’.
Nobody can tell me that one player is responsible for a team loss, and I think most fans also understand that.
Even if other players were also publicly criticizing the coaching staff , they decided to take a stand with Rebic. The perceived overall damage that a player can cause by altering coaching decisions is unquestionably greater than the advantage Rebic can offer over the next best guy.
Therefore, if Rebic thinks the coaching staff will just forgive him and call him up because he is good enough / playing well; sadly, I think he is mistaken.
Everyone drives overspeed on the roads I travel, but olny the people who get pulled over are the ones who pay the fines (unfortunate, but it’s how it is).
In this case it”s character building that is required, (we can all become better, and yet never become perfect,). It may be his biggest life challenge yet, but if Rebic succeeds, he will be much better because of it. The guys who don’t make any ammends wont get any benefit.
Well said Slavonac!
One thing I
disagree with is the need to publicly apologize. I think Rebic can admit to Dalic / his coaching staff that he was wrong, and that he is willing to go forward without repeating the ssme behaviour, and they can decide if and when they wish to share that informarion with the team and public.
Either way, what is important is for Rebic to make some form of ammends. Otherwise, the message Rebic is sending is that his actions are justified, that the coaches need to ask for his approval before making any final decisions, or they will face more public criticism.
if we have this lineup in november we will smack russia:
…………………….Petkovic…………………..
Perisic………….Kramaric………….Rebic
……………..Brozo……….Modric………….
Sosa………….Gvar……DCC……………JJ
………………………Ivusic…………………….
either start krama or vlasic CAM. i dont think colak or budimir will be called up anymore so for striker i would go with petko cuz he can receive passes comfortably uptop and win air balls. at around halftime sub in vlasic for krama and livaja for petkovic. and later maybe ivanusec for rebic. the best games we’ve had since the world cup were against slovakia and hungry where we scored alot of goals we had petko and vlasic uptop and perisic and rebic on the wings.
but in reality dalic is an idiot so rebic, petko, ivusic, DCC, sosa, etc wont be there and we will struggle.
I see him going with the old guarde i dont know why i just have a hunch
Gavi plays for Fc Barcelona in the Primera Division and the Champions League.
Simic plays for Lieffering in the second division in Austria.
Look at Spain and the kids they play. Pedri and that Gavi kid just turned 17. USA have that Pepi kid who’s 18. Theyve been the best on players on the pitch when used.
I agree
He may not have that impact but how can we not ever have a 18-19 year old diff maker?
Maybe we mature late but surely the talent we produce something will be special at that age
I don’t believe krama is playing poorly either but I just hope
He starts scoring in bunches for us soon
Even when he was super hot at hoffenheim he wasn’t scoring for us
Sure maybe he just doesn’t have top midfield who can dish him the ball, wait a minute he actually does;)
He did look plenty dangerous last couple of games
But I’m down to see what simic can do soon
Maybe he just gets 10 mins against Malta at the end
Also as good as it’s to see sucic getting capped, how do you do that at that point of the game when we really need a goal
Sure he can score, but what has played like one practice with the old boys
Maminjo’s point about Rebic and Kramaric likely providing more than what Simic currently would is a very good one.
However, from what I have heard, Rebic and Dalic are not seeing eye to eye, so who knows if we will see Rebic anytime soon?
Rebic and Kramaric definitely provide more attitude. I’d prefer a super talented kid with something to prove over those misfiring egos
2 tap ins and a penalty so im not quite sold yet, need to see more
He’s scoring them though, isn’t he? Who’s scoring those types of goals for us? Certainly not Krama just to name one…
Just saw Denmark qualified. This is team that plays like a unit. The fact they were able to go the distance with us and make a euro semi finals. They would beat us any day. Just going to put it out there. Only giving up 12 goals in 24 games and have played strong teams too. Denmark will be a favourite next WC.
Perfect record with 0 goals against. Must he nice having a keeper like Schmeichel
They have improved since last WC in 2018 and look very impressive. With a bit of luck they can go far in Qatar, although I don’t think they can win it.
QF or semi final most likely.
It would be nice to develop Simic into a solid contributor for Qatar (provided we qualify).
Giving him some playing time now could start that process, and he may take to it better than most players who are moving up do?
Playing Simic somewhat against Malta could not hurt (particularly if we are already up by a couple of goals); goal differential no longer matters for us – we must win against Malta and Russia next month to qualify.
I wouldn’t call him up yet.
He’s doing well in his age group at Liefering and the U21s, which is great considering he is younger than everyone in both of these competitions.
But the NT is a huge jump up, and we have Krama and Rebić playing regularly for their clubs and are both playing up top with them this season.
I like what I’m seeing so far from Roko, but he likely won’t provide more than what either Krama or Rebić can.
Krama just scored two goals this past round (one wrongly taken away by VAR) and he won a penalty in a solo effort.
He deserves more time.
Our strikers haven’t been the problem in these recent matches.
Roko is scoring 3 goals in that match against Slovakia, Krama only bagged one.
So you’re upset that Krama “only” scores one goal per game for us now?
Where have you been? Krama was good at the WC with a goal and a couple assists. Had a penalty goal too. Since then, he’s been garbage for the vatreni. Don’t expect him to score now for us. He’s on pace for a goal per year.
Roko Simic looks impressive, reminds me of Mario Mandzukic. Mario was slightly taller and better in the air. Roko on the other hand is quicker and technically better than Mario. Roko also has a good work ethic like Mario and runs and runs for the entire match, fighting for every ball.
Stipe Biuk on the other hand for me is a huge dissapointment. He comes on as a sub with 15 minutes to go and looks totally disinterested. Biuk has an attitude problem and poor work ethic on the pitch and probably of it. I think all this hype about him in the Croatian media has gone to his head and unless he changes his attitude and work ethic he is going to be another one of those promising juniors that never makes it on the senior stage.
Bit lucky to have beaten Finland ( 0 -2) and Norway ( 3 – 2), however with maximum 12 points from 4 matches we look good for a top 2 finish.
He kinda does look like Mandžo.
He has the same stride when he runs, and it seems like he does like to pressure the opposing defenders and keeper.
However, Mandžo is not taller. Roko is currently 6’3″. Mandžo played big, but he is not taller than Roko.
I’m not so sure I share the same enthusiasm of giving the starting striker role to Roko Simic. Sure, he’s in top form and Kramaric is out of form, but Simic is not doing this against any kind of real competition. Maybe it’s worth a shot and maybe with great players around him he can perform for us, who knows.
The problem is, his only taste of senior level play was last season at Lokomotiva and he did not exactly light the world on fire. He had 3 goals in 25 appearances in the league. True, Lokomotiva was pretty bad last season, but he was really struggling before that himself. It wasn’t just his teammates. You can excuse it because he is very young, but even if he’s on fire now, I’m not sure that he would be able to do so well against actual senior level players.
I rate the kid very highly and I think he just might be our future striker, but there’s a difference between throwing in guys like Gvardiol and Sucic, guys who have played at senior level and in Champions League and Europa League level matches, versus throwing a guy who’s only really proven himself at youth level into the most important part of the qualifying cycle.
Anyone who has been around since the times I was posting as ‘vuki’ knows that I love giving young guys a shot, but I’m not sure I’m willing to throw our chances of qualifying onto the shoulders of an 18 year old with very limited experience. Maybe give him a shot against Malta and if he looks really good, maybe he truly is the real deal and he belongs on the team.
I honestly think what we need is for Dalic and Rebic to sit down and get over the childish crap and just pummel the crap out of Malta and Russia. I, just like many of you, am not happy with Rebic being so childish after the Euros either, but we need to call up the best available players next month and get the job done. Anything can happen in the playoffs and I’d rather just qualify outright than have to deal with that.
As for Petkovic. He hasn’t shown me much when I’ve watched Dinamo this season so I think he’ll have to kill it in the next few weeks to get back on the squad. He looked really good in Euro qualifying and looked like a great fit for us at the time, but he simply hasn’t done anything since then for club or country. Budimir hasn’t done much this season either and has been injured for a lot of it. I STILL don’t see him as a top option for us. I think he can be valuable off the bench when we need a goal and need to cross, but without having seen him get an opportunity I don’t trust him in the Russia match either.
This is random, but I think Pasalic should be played as a forward for us as well. He doesn’t fit our midfield at all and should not be starting in it. He really slows the play down when we’re moving it quickly as he doesn’t have the best first touch or passing quality, but he does tend to find a way to get into good positions to score. I think he is also best served as a super sub when we need a goal though.
If every player is healthy and available I’m still starting with Kramaric up top and Perisic and Rebic on the wings. That, in my opinion, is our best bet. If we can get first half Kramaric to show up for the whole game against Russia we will win. Perisic and Rebic provide the pressing and Kramaric will hopefully provide the finishing. Everyone saying Kramaric had such a bad match must have only seen him miss chances. You have to get into the right positions to make chances and he’s the best we have at that. He will start to bury chances. It is inevitable.
Yea, I thought Krama was good.
He may have missed chances, but all top strikers do.
Lewandowski misses sitters then scores Euro goals. Krama is no different.
Even if you consider Kramarić’s performance as poor, he still managed to score in each game (with one of them unjustifiably canceled by VAR)… AND he singlehandedly won a penalty too.
Not a bad output for an alleged poor performance.
Age is nothing these days
Throw him into the mix
He looks ready plus we really need a centre forward
The veterans on the team will shit in thier pants if he is called for the Malta match.
Expect a lot of grumbling.
That’s right boo hoo
Their wives would leave them too shortly if they keep firing blanks