Expect tons of changes for the Bulgaria friendly on Tuesday, per Sportske Novosti.
Croatia manager, Zlatko Dalić, has already said that many key starters from the Slovenia match will sit in lieu of a B-squad. Modrić, Perišić, Kovačić, Livaković will all see the bench for the following Starting XI:
Ivušič will be in goal. Dalić looks to play another 3-5-2 formation with Vida, Škorić, and Ćaleta-Car in the back. Barišić will play on the left wing while the jury is still out on Juranović on the right wing as he played Saturday vs. Slovenia. Moro, Pašalić, and Majer will boss the midfield while Vlašić and Livaja play as strikers up top.
It’s the right move as the game versus Bulgaria means absolutely nothing for the Vatreni. Croatia has already locked up a Pot 2 seeding (2nd strongest possibility) for the World Cup draw this Friday.
So what should we be looking forward to against Bulgaria?
All eyes on Ivušić in goal and Livaja up top. Goalkeeper and striker are Croatia’s Achille’s Heel at the moment.
Where is Borna Sosa? He is with the team but picked up a small knock not worth risking for this week’s friendlies. Dalić promised to return him back to Stuttgart in the best possible shape.
Pa Dalić ymeće ynsš Talenat..Da Svi Igraju Golmana..U Odbrani..Pa Daj..!! igraj Tri Do Pet Štrajkera..I Goni Loptu Napred?? Dalić .Jesi..Jebena Kurva..
Kind of hoping for Canada
I am Canadian and love that they made it and they could be dangerous but now it’s time to play some real deal teams
My ideal World Cup group would be
Qatar
Croatia
Morocco
New Zealand
Morocco wouldn’t be a easy matchup. I recall last World Cup they managed to draw Spain and were unlucky against Iran with an own goal. New Zealand might not qualify due to them playing a South American team in the inter confederation playoff matches. I don’t think we could play Qatar. We drew Brazil in 2014 and FIFA must juggle the pots to ensure teams can’t be in with the hosts two out of three tournaments.
I’m glad Dalic can play the entire bench and rest our a-team. To be honest, I liked it better in the old days when there were more throw away friendlies. It gave more opportunities for second tier players to get a chance and would spare the players who are under constant competitive pressure who play for big clubs. The nations league is only good for the teams outside the elite group. We should totally just experiment and play our second tier and up and coming players in the Nations League. Rankings be damned. We play better and go further in the big tournaments when we are coming out of more difficult groups anyway.
A question….who do you guys want to have in our WC group?
I’d love to see something like
Belgium or France or England
Croatia
Japan
Saudi Arabia
Bog i Hrvati
FYI you can’t have two Asian teams in one group, only two UEFA teams can be in the same group
this is why you need guidance in your life |l
you put 2 Asian teams in the same group …
West ham wanting lovren on a 2 year deal supposedly?
Not sure what they’re thinking but they obviously won’t be getting Bilic in his prime when he suited up for them years ago.
It would be catastrophic for us if he actually played well and Dalic kept him around for another 2or 3 years!
What’s going on with Lovren exactly?
He hasn’t been in the Zenit lineup since early December (he’s not even on the bench). That’s three and a half months of not playing any football.
The guy isn’t even injured.
I’m not complaining. This is my dream come true.
It took several months of Lovren being benched….and THEN several months of being left off his club squad entirely, for Dalic to stop starting him (though he still calls him up, which worries me).
I really, really hope this West Ham thing doesn’t happen.
Putin holding Lovren hostage may very well be the thing that saves our World Cup campaign.
Russian Premier League has an extended winter break from Dec until the end of Feb, and by then Russia had invaded Ukraine so situation changed
Right…but Zenit has been playing games since late January.
They’ve been playing Europa League games, Club Friendlies, and Russian Premier league games too.
But Lovren hasn’t played a minute since December 12, 2021.
Surely they would have been playing him in the Europa League games (that took place in January), or at least the several Russian League games since the break had ended.
I believe he was out due to an ankle injury for the 2 Europa League matches. He is their Captain and basically plays the full 90′ nearly every game where he is not injured or not suspended. Definitely wasn’t a benching
From what I recall, he was benched sometime during the first half of the season for poor performance
Just a technicality, but Lovren played half a game earlier this month, lol.
I actually misread it, he played half a game in early February.
Vida and Skoric together in a 3atb? Ouch… lol.
For some reason I feel like our B team will win against Bulgaria much more comfortably than our A team played vs Slovenia.
I’m saying 3-0 for us, goals from Livaja, Pasalic and Majer.
Ya vida and skoric, the amount of side to side passing will be great
Notice how dalic doesn’t put livakovic there cause you know vida will give a number of back passes to the keeper
These are more jokes now than anything. Before it was our reality but now we have a much more competent backline
CC may not be the stud we were looking for but played well off gvardiol
Is pongarcic legit starting repka stuff?? I didn’t mind him. Had that bleach your hair thing Early repka days going too
I think Pongracic is better than Caleta-Car.
He’s just been injured a lot these past two years, and had a bit of disciplinary issues with his club.
But in terms of talent, I think he has every bit of passing and technical skill that Duje has, plus he’s noticeably faster than Duje.
He looks wirey and strong
Mandzo like a bit
Rebic apologize yet?
Nope. Doesn’t matter, he’s playing like shit now, and may be dropped by Milan soon.
Would rather stick with and experiment with Orsic and Majer on that right side anyway.
Rebic ruins the passing flow with our central midfielders (as we all witnessed against Spain at the Euros).
Majer or Orsic in that spot would probably work very well with their elite technical ability.
From all the players that came on in the second half against Slovenia, Lovro Majer impressed the most. Good to see that Moro will finally get a chance in the midfield. Not sure about the result ? If things are not going well at half time I would expect that Dalic will bring on Kramaric, Perisic and Orsic. Dalic has indicated that Vlasic and Livaja will be the forwards. I cannot see them scoring goals. Vlasic is in bad form and not playing a lot for WH, while Livaja in my opinion is a bit over rated and most of his goals for Hajduk are from the penalty spot. I hope they prove me wrong.
This is the “b” team match Livaković should play in
Love to see what majer can do out there Haven’t seen much of Moro should should be interesting
For some reason I feel this b team will own Bulgaria
No idea why, wishful thinking maybe
Kind of like when our b team handled Mexico in 2018 prep
hahah i was gonna make the same comment about Liva but u beat me to it