On paper, it was another productive qualifying match for the Croatian national team. They earned a vital point to stay in first place (although that may change) against their main competitor. While both teams were always going to qualify, it was still an important test for Croatia. They were forced to play without two of their leaders in Luka Modrić and Vedran Ćorluka.
Croatia has evolved into becoming one of Europe’s most formidable sides. That doesn’t eliminate the task of playing without two players, who have played for the national team for nearly nine years. Both players have been through it at all from two Euro Cups to one World Cup. They even endured a Champions League run together at Tottenham.
Despite the emergence of Ivan Rakitić (who was Croatia’s man of the match), Modrić still brings more creativity and control to the midfield. Real Madrid felt the loss of Modrić through their failure to win any trophies this season. The magician may not have many tournaments left (will turn 30 in September), but still has proven to be the most reliable spark. Look no further than his movement against Norway to start an attack, which led to Marcelo Brozović scoring on a long-range effort.
The much-mangled Ćorluka, who has been deemed as too slow and reckless was also missed. Despite being harshly criticized over the past few years, Lokomotiv Moscow’s 2014-2015 player of the year has brought solidarity to the back four. His positioning is usually excellent, along with being able to play accurate long-balls to start potential attacks. With Dejan Lovren floundering at Liverpool, Ćorluka has worked well with Domagoj Vida throughout the qualifying campaign.
It was going to be a struggle without those two players, yet the game started relatively well. Croatia controlled the ball early and looked fluid as a team. This was reminiscent of the first meeting between both teams last November. Eventually, Darijo Srna won an odd penalty from an unnecessary challenge by center-back Davide Astori. Modrić is usually the first-choice penalty taker with Rakitić being the most sensible replacement.
Mario Mandžukić ended up taking the penalty and couldn’t have looked more unconvincing. His head was clearly drifting to the left throughout the spot kick. The entire process was pitiful, which is inexcusable against a world-class goalkeeper like Gianluigi Buffon. Mandžukić had been dealing with injuries and rifts with manager Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid. Fatigue seemed to hinder him throughout the game, albeit many players faced the same circumstance following their respective club seasons.
Mandžukić’s lack of speed and inability to generate anything significant on the ball hampered their attack. His goal was well taken through a bizarre counter attack that caught Italy off guard. That doesn’t eliminate the missed penalty followed by conceding a penalty for a reprehensible handball. Star players don’t commit such amateur mistakes in major games. A period of relaxation and finding stability at a potential new club will hopefully reinvigorate Croatia’s only reliable central forward.
As the first half wore on, the usual flaws were unveiled. Ivica Olić, Danijel Pranjić, and Srna all began to fade. After a bright start, Srna looked ragged in trying to close down the Italian midfielders. The captain lived up to his usual standards of putting poor crosses into the box and constantly pestering the referee for calls. Olić only lasted 45 minutes, which should become the norm, if Niko Kovač persists on starting him. The Hamburg striker’s only major contribution was somehow failing to put away Ivan Perišić’s excellent cross. What looked to be a routine finish ended up being a costly miss from Olić.
Pranjić’s defensive frailties were on full display, due to Croatia’s lack of control on the ball. It’s been no secret that Pranjić tends to be out of position far too often. Antonio Candreva dribbled past him on several occasions throughout the second half. Most of Italy’s best attacks came from attacking on the right side. Italy could have won it with better finishing from Andrea Pirlo and Marco Parolo, who were unmarked on both shots following Candreva’s playmaking efforts.
While Mateo Kovačić failed to replace Modrić, Gordon Schildenfeld failed to replace Ćorluka. It’s tough to criticize the hard-working center back in a tough situation. Lovren would have been the ideal replacement for Ćorluka. Despite his struggles at Liverpool, Lovren has consistently played in a major competitive league. That can’t be said for Schildenfield, who plays in Greece and hasn’t started in a qualifier or tournament game since 2012. Lovren was injured once again before international duty, which left a major hole alongside Vida.
Schildenfield clearances were spotty at best, particularly in the second half. Graziano Pelle got away from him on a few occasions and nearly scored at the end of the first half. Italy was able to move the ball with ease in the final third on too many occasions. That can be partially blamed on the back four, along with the lack of a true defensive midfielder.
Both teams had their chances to steal the victory. Despite not having the likes of Marco Verratti and Giorgio Chiellini, Italy played far better than they did in the last meeting. Croatia still had multiple clear-cut opportunities to secure the win. Perišić nearly scored on a blast from thirty yards out, while Rakitić wasted a golden opportunity by shooting well over the bar in the last ten minutes. Without Modrić, they still showcased their notorious fluid ball movement and technical brilliance on occasion.
It was a promising display by Croatia, yet still left a lot to be desired. Kovač has high standards and won’t let results fool him. Following Croatia’s 5-1 win over Norway in March, Kovač infamously stated, “I’m not satisfied, we were poor”. It was an accurate assessment, as they failed to generate any major attacks through the first 30 minutes and never fully took control of the game.
Besides the 6-0 win over Azerbaijan, every other qualifier has left something to be desired. As impressive as Croatia looked against Italy in November, they should have won through their substantial amount of possession. The future remains bright from a talent perspective. Ante Rebić failed to make an impact, but was fearless in attack and added more of an attacking element on the wing. Šime Vrsaljko was finally brought on to replace Pranjić. The versatile defender brought stability to a shaky back four. Both young players should feature in bigger games going into late 2015-2016.
Croatia faces on-going issues on and off the pitch. While racism and corruption linger over the nation, the reliance of declining veterans continues to impede the national team’s progression. Besides Perišić, Croatia’s other wing slot and full backs aren’t anywhere close to being assets. The qualifying campaign has gone smoothly from an on-field perspective. Now the questions about testing younger talent and giving them an opportunity to stake their claim into the starting eleven will begin slowly. It’s a never-ending saga that likely won’t be answered until next summer. Until then, fans will likely witness a successful qualifying campaign without feeling fully satisfied or confident against the European powerhouses going into Euro 2016.
Twitter: @Allen_Strk
Again, you need to understand what freedom of speech is. Euro qualifiers are events put on by UEFA and you have to live by UEFA’s rules and practices. So, if that means you want to play in UEFA events you have to abide by their rules which means no “za dom……spremni”. It sucks, but that is the way it goes.
No different than being invited to house party and the host of the house party tells you what is allowed and not allowed if you wish to attend.
Again, let there be no debate, I live a “za dom…..spremni” lifestyle, but you can’t enforce your view on those who control the dialogue in closed settings.
“ziva istina”: “Not a free speech issue. Need to learn that, this is not a free speech issue.”
Once again the toady coward justifies the supression of free speech. You just can’t stop exposing yourself for the obeying moral coward you are, can you?
If we arent expelled i exepect cevap Kovac to try following 11 Subasic Vrsaljko Jedvaj Corluka Barisic- Radosevic we need a dm and if plays well for Rijeka why not. Modric Perisic Rakitic Pjaca Mandzukic. With Brozovic Kovacic Halilovic Kramaric Perica Leovac Strinic Vida Lovren Rebic(if he plays for club)!
The Ustaše never had widespread support among the population of the NDH.
Their own estimates put the number of sympathizers, even in the early phase, at around 40,000 out of total population of 7 million.
However, they were able to rely on the passive acceptance of much of the Croat population of the NDH.
http://www.jutarnji.hr/video–nove-snimke-s-poljuda-svastika-se-na-travnjaku-vidjela-dva-dana-prije-utakmice-s-italijom-/1366770/
http://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/foto-dana-gorjelo-smece-pred-hnsom-/825702.aspx
Tko je Ustasa pametnjak? A sta si ti?
“Slobodno reci das te ustaše, i jes te.”
Not only in this example, but anytime society keeps tying symbols, flags, slogans, etc. to any group of individuals in history that have been harmful or evil, we keep being held hostage by them.
It’s what they want – to be remembered.
In this case, ignore and move on – no punishment necessary – if you do, you reward Hitler again.
@Ante
Fine, so the legal way is not working right now.
Still. Not worth the national team being kicked out of a tournament and our nation being associated with Nazism for a very long time.
It took 20 years for commentators to finally stop randomly bringing up the 90s war and ‘Yugoslavia’ whenever we featured in a tournament. That, for the most part is finally gone. Now, I definitely don’t want to hear commentators for the next 20 years talking about Croats having a nazi problem during every game we play.
I really would like to see Mamic gone, but not in a way where we give something to the Yugos. I pick Mamic over them.
@Ziva
Or maybe it was Goran Karan promoting his Buddhism beliefs by carving out the buddhist “yungdrung” swastika in the field.
I know this is Index but this is what they are saying:
http://www.index.hr/mobile/clanak.aspx?category=sport&id=825512
Hahaha…ufffff….kako bi te izmlatio!!!
Kidding….ali faken rajts da je sistem….jel nije?
Has anyone considered the swastika was only a friendly greeting to our fascist brothers from Italy. We were saying hello and welcoming them back to Spalato.
Is it the “fyftem”?
I agreed with Maminjo before and I still do. I’m no expert in corruption within the HNS but a also know the country is corrupt and each and every day we learn of new shit. With that said, we all know Mamic is a mental case and the fear of replacing him with an incompetent one is always a real fear….We’ve seen the results of Dinamo’s player development and then the transfer market while we’ve seen little from most other Croatian clubs. The corrupt part is where the money goes and this is a problem everywhere, especially in politics.
Right now I’m more worried about the penalty we will face for this mess, I do not want our team banned, I think it was destroy the last bit of positive ness we have regarding Croatian soccer!
DOZNAJEMO: Za kukasti križ osumnjičen policajac?
http://tinyurl.com/pru8ycn
It is at moments like this where the experience and trust we have in our leadership in Cro will see us through. Oh wait!!!
Slavonac,
Dude, write what you want. So what if I jump on you? It wouldn’t be the first or last time.
I really have nothing to add that hasn’t been said. To me the biggest fact is that they haven’t caught the person yet whereas in Italy they did immediately. They know who did it.
Maminjo,
I know you and many others are about to roll your eyes but I’m going to do it anyway. Remember the BBB that I’m a fanboy of? They have already tried to do it LEGALLY and it does NOT work. Furthermore you laughed at them for trying to do it the non-Balkan way.
@poglavnik……true. Hercegovci invented Gospa showing up in Medjugorje, imagine what they could do here.
Not a free speech issue. Need to learn that, this is not a free speech issue.
All i know is we need more Hercegovci running things over there.
Those are some crooks we can all rely on!
What ever happened to the definition of free speech: I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll fight to the death for your right to say it. ?
Apparently, this site as well as all of Europe are nothing but a bunch of pussies b/c not only will nobody fight for free speech, like the toadies you are, you justify the suppression of it by calling it “hate speech” and “racism”.
Your answer to the question: ‘What do you mean by the word “racism” exactly?’
is “no”?
Do you pride yourself on exposing yourself as a moron?
No, yes and maybe. There, I answered it for you.
Why can’t any of you answer my question? Since so many of you incessantly use the word “racism” to demonize your own people, the least you can do is define what that word means.
So again: What do you mean by the word “racism” exactly?
And while your at it, answer the following as well:
Have you ever accused any non-white people of being “racist”?
Has a non-white country ever been punished for “racism’?
Retardirana drzava i savez, retardiran narod………. ziva istina
Its only a matter of time before the players, especially the more prominent ones say, “fuck it, im done with international duty.” Why would you want to go out there amid and after long seasons, travel all over the place and the main topic after each game is about the jerk off fans we have. Fuck you and your Hrvatska is what you will be hearing, and I dont blame them one bit. Short term pain for long term gain, MY KURAC! Go tell that to Modric who turns 30 this year and probably has 2 tournaments left in him if hes lucky.
I’m out of this answer cause I’m not well enough informed on the topic and…..I don’t want Ante all over me on this….I have to zip it or expect another “incident”….which is something I’m just not into anymore!
I do think Maminjo makes very valid points and from what I do see and read, he’s right about soccer and the way it is in several parts of the world!
On another note, Venezuela is about to beat Colombia in Copa America….upset!
Good follow up…. I just ask the question and want you guys to answer….
I agree with you Maminjo….100%
@Ziva
Disqualification from the Euros in exchange for the possible exit of Mamic?
Absolutely Not.
If Mamic gets ousted, there is pretty much a guarantee that someone just as corrupt as him (and probably less competent) would take over. Look at Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and all of our neighboring football federations. They all had decent teams at some point, but the corruption from their football federations destroyed their national teams. Mamic is a crook, but he’s a competent one. If he were to be thrown out right now as a result of all what is going on right now, he would likely be replaced by some Hajduk-type crook, who is just as corrupt but MUCH less competent, which would lead to the eventual fall of our national team.
Don’t get me wrong. I want us to have a corrupt-free Mamic-free system similar to countries like Belgium or the Netherlands…but it MUST be done the clean and legal way. This shady coupe that is organized by the Yugos which involves slandering and Nazifying all things Croatian, is NOT the way to achieve a cleanly run Savez. You’ll just replace one crook with another (who is possibly worse).
In addition to this, you would officially be the first team kicked out of a tournament for “racism”. The label will linger forever, and you’ll forever be under a watchful and scrutinizing eye. All patriotic chants would eventually be deemed ‘Nazi’ despite all other footballing nations allowed to sing theirs. This would probably not only impact us on a footballing level, but this false Nazi perception would linger into all other things Croatian.
…And for what? So you can get rid of one man who is making an undeserved profit?
If we want to clean up the Savez, we cannot do it in this BALKAN way that you keep suggesting we do.
Creating hysteria and lies, with tons of collateral (missing tournaments, labeling the Cro fanbase as nazis, etc). all in an attempt to wrestle power away from one man, is the absolute WRONG way to do it.
Short term pain AND long term pain is exactly what would happen.
I thought this was an interesting comment from Ivkovic…I got this from Dnevnik
I Tomislav Ivković složio se da Rebić nije bio najsretnije rješenje.
– Ja znam da Olić mora igrati od početka, ali kada već izlazi, najlogičnije mi je da ga zamijeni najbolji igrač hrvatske lige Marko Pjaca. On i Rebić u ovom trenutku ne mogu stati u istu rečenicu, na žalost zbog problema s kojima je Rebić suočen u svom klubu. Nakon što Pjaca nije dobio šansu u ovoj utakmici, dođe mi da se zapitam – kužim li ja uopće više nogomet – kazao je Ivković.
Maminjo, I’m sure you’re gonna want to say something about this.
We have one card to play. Lover n needs to come out as gay. We can sell the HNS as very LGBT friendly. This would endear us to Western Europe and all would be forgiven. We have to play the gay card.
Better call Saul. He’ll get Hajduk and/of city of Split the settlement they deserve.
Friends, time to ask the following…….
If this could somehow lead to the exit of Mamic and the Puppet Suker’s of the world along with expulsion from the Euros, would you take it. Remember, short term pain for long term gain.
I wonder of hajduk will seek damages from the savez.
The game was played too an empty stadium Savez in charge of security the field gets vandalized on their watch could have been a bomb. The Savez is not competent to organize even simpl security Sukar as the head of the Savez is responsible for security as such he failed in a big way and should step down. What’s more German newspapers are reporting that the Savez was aware of the Swastka before the game yet failed to take measures to correct the problem as such Sukar is a failure and must step down.
Reason you haven’t heard anything about BiH for their actions on Friday is because you don’t follow them like you follow cro sports. They will receive a fine.
While this specific incident wasn’t Puppet Suker’s fault, things would be better if he gave his resignation.
@maminjo….. players are only being truthful. Their comments are the same we are making.
Savez rented the stadium and they returned it in damaged conditions.
Hajduk or the city of Split, since they own the stadium, should file a lawsuit against the savez for them returning the field in damaged condition with the swastika.
The savez can take some blame for lack of security on the field and Suker should give his resignation not only for failing to keep a empty stadium incident free but also for his idiotic press conference. Having said that Croatia can no more be blamed for a graffiti attack on its field then Boston can be blamed for having a terrorist attack on their marathon. That should be our position not only because it’s the right one but also the only fair one. Suker can not represent us as he is an intellectual midget and we need too demand he step down before any UEFA decision.
I hate all these comments from the HNS and players. They are essentially just talking about how they fear a heavy punishment by UEFA.
With all these bonehead comments, they pretty much empowered UEFA to throw out any sentence at them.
I haven’t heard one comment from any BiH official about fearing punishment for their actual fans’ behaviour toward the Israeli national team. This will get swept under the rug, and if they get sentenced, it will be a monetary fine at most.
Cro can actually be docked points or kicked out of the tournament, and it can actually be justified now with all these stupid comments.
Slavonac
After seeing how awful the last World Cup qualifying campaigns have been, it’s nice to see some actual stability within Croatia. I’ll wait till next June (hopefully) to start fully stressing out.
I watched the game and did not notice the “swastika” on the field. What bugs me now is that I can’t find any footage showing it. If someone is accused, why can’t the evidence be viewed?
Seems reasonable.
How could anyone just walk into the stadium? Why wasn’t security there? I mean that is seriously dangerous that any schmo can waltz in the stadium and do this. It’s just as easy for a terrorist to mozy in and plant land mines in the field. You would expect any normal football federation would have the tightest of security and have the place locked down before a international match. Not our savez. Real negligence, and no excuse for this shit. UEFA will come down hard this time.
@ Allen
You have earned it!
Hrvati in the NBA write ups on a regular basis.
Heck you should be a regular at Nets games, at least when another Hrvat is coming in to play against Bogdanović. Plus Bojan will have a good year next season.
Hezonja will be a top 10 pick and Dragan Bender looks like he is own his way sooner then later. Šarić arrival is eminent in 2016. Let the Sixers suffer another year without him.
I am really curious about Porzingis. He looks and sounds like the real deal.
Man it is SO much easier for Euro players these days to play in the NBA. No hand checking, value placed on shooting 3’s, respect for the stretch 4 player of which Kukoc pioneered.
Decline of American players who have little skills and even knowledge of the sport. AAU punks who have been spoiled since 13 years old.
Ironic how American ball players from the inner city have been raised “privileged” through their basketball development, losing their hunger to be the best that they can be.
@ Svima
Where is the next great Croatian point guard ? You know Dražen was a point guard who just happened to shoot and score like a beast. He would have destroyed in the current NBA. His training would have focused on speed and explosiveness without need to bulk up which slowed him down a bit.
All in for EuroBasket in Zagreb for pool play.
Deep run in France for play off rounds !
Doesn’t matter. Part of the job by the savez is to ensure shit like this doesn’t happen. That is how UEFA will view it.
As for the swastika on the field what are we ashamed of. Stadium was empty no fans and no evidence that any of our fans where involved. Quite simply we are victims of a terrorist attack. If I had too guess this was done by former udbashi. Split was and has always been ante fascist and suffered under the Italian fascist occupation during world war two no reason for any croatian from split too put swastikas on field.
Talk about a strange and quiet atmosphere with no one really there.I threw Ziva a play date party the other day and told him he could call all his friends.
Well….Savez Guy turned up-Couldnt even find the the house right.Useless.
There was a strange kid who came.Just introduced himself as “Lucifer”.Strange kid,though seemed to get on with Ziva due to some “deal”.
The only one who plays with heart-regardless of being paid or not-is Mario.
Allen, you’re a good and positive guy….I may not always agree with you but I love your enthusiasm and positive thinking!
This game the Italians were BARELY better then us.
However, the first game they could BARELY touch the ball. Lol!
Soul Champ
You just gave us a great idea sir. Thank you.
Ziva
I may have exaggerated with that great side comment. How about very good?
Maminjo
Kovacic going to Liverpool would be an awful decision. Henderson, Milner, Can, Coutinho already feature in that central midfield. You’d have to think Lallana is going to fit in their plans somehow, given his talent and hefty price.
Worried about this Kovacic move to Anfield.
Seems like a bad fit. They have a lot of central midfielders too. Not sure what their plan is, but hopefully he does well and continues to develop.
@ Allen
Well written Brate.
Are you going to score some media credentials for the NBA draft at Barclays?
Interview Hezonja and Porzingis?
@ Svima
I too am feeling a bit of burn out with Mandzukic. He is too slow and his hold up play slows the attack.
He needs to start coming off early in the second half when he tires.
I wonder if Perisic is ready to play up top?
I think we go with a non -tattooed freak hair -do line up. I think it would be pretty strong group of players. If we lose we lose with dignity. We would lose a few good ones, but even Mario was -2 +1 yesterday, might of won without this handball and missed penalty kick. Rakitic can play for the Swiss where he’s from or wear long sleeve shirts made especially for him . Modric and perisic are class acts , that rely on talent effort not mimics to distinguish themselves .
I don’t know, maybe we could friggin’ put Jon Snow at left back–anyone but Pranjic for cryin’ out loud!!!
Niko Kovac is a amateur. Also this formation doesnt work if we want to attack vs equal or lesser teams 4-4-2 v better teams 4-5-1 also Lb needs to be addressed big time Leovac Strinic are not in favor with heir Kovac he clearly loves Sranjic. Maybe give Barisic Brucic Sosa Gorupec Kukoc? Dm needs to be looked at Radosevic Bradaric Pasalic? Kovac likes 2 bundesliga so Kreilach is a dm haa. Brozovic Modric dm partnership how will it do v Big teams? And wingers Pjaca Coric Rebic Vlasic Balic Halilovic? No more Olic Pranjic in 11.
I really dislike mandzukic ….for starters dude is a bitch crying about every play he doesn’t win. He is hot headed and can easily get other team red or our own. Hasn’t scored for Croatia in very fucking long time …missed a peno too what else needs to be said. Mario works occasianlly on D it really depends which Mario showed up but on offence he’s so lazy.
Marko,
I was going to add a comment suggesting that,
The problem is that Kovacic is so unpredictable. He can be great or non existent.
Kovacic or Brozovic on the wings is an option. It would be safer to use Rakitic at the #10 spot.
Oh well, so much for Poljud hosting any repka games in the future…
Horvat, you would give preference to Kova over Raketa at #10? Kovacic doesn’t perform well enough for Croatia to start in the middle. Maybe he could take Ola’s spot on the wing.
When were there any good times? It’s always been bad soccer times for Serbia, lol.
@ziva
So now Poljud bears no responsibility here. Come on and wake up. Shaking my head at your bias response.
love how you were wrong on Halilovic, or even better Bosnia will be a top ten team and better than us. You are one miserable and negative guy. Keep it going with your inside connections and insightful views. 🙂
Yikes. Greece lost AGAIN to the Faroe Islands.
Serbia lose to Denmark 2-0 (with the Danes missing a penalty too).
While I do think a lot of these Serbian players in the EPL and Serie A are overrated, I can’t believe they are this bad. They fielded a full strength squad with Ljajic, Matic, Nastasic, Ivanovic, Kolarov, Markovic, Tosic, Mitrovic…all playing. They cannot seem to create anything offensively, and have swiss cheese defence. Bad soccer times for Serbia.
————Kramaric————-
Rakitic—Kovacic—Perisic
——-Brozovic–Modric
Vrsaljko–Vida–Corluka–Jedvaj
————Subasic——–
Random formation of the day: Ciro’s 3 back
——————Perisic-Mandzukic—————–
————————-Rakitic————————-
-Pranjic——-Brozovic—Modric——-Vrsaljko-
————–Lovren–Corluka–Vida—————-
————————Subasic————————-
Evolved into becoming a great side??????? Who have we beaten that makes you think that. On paper, we got talent. Yet to see it on the field against the top sides. We played e worst Italy we have seen in a long long time and all we manages were two ties
Allen Strk,
I think the team is doing well because of the quality and debth of talent.
I think Kovac is our weakest link.
I felt it was time to give someone other than Bilic a shot after 2012, however, I would be so happy to have him back again. I think he would get the player selection and lineups right with the talent we have.
Thanks for the praise and for those that don’t understand the title. Even without Corluka and Modric, I still felt that Croatia could have easily won that game. They created several good chances and should have buried them. That is why I said they left a lot to be desired.
This team has evolved into becoming such a great side, yet still lack the finishing touch to create a statement win.
I agree with you Ziva but, didn’t the last government end up in jail?
This was the case of people voting in total extreme opposites….maybe Ante B has more insight on this…I’m pretty sure he’s in tune with the politics far more than I am…..Ante?
I think Croatia wont get kivked out but instead get fined and play rest of 2016 and all 2018 without fans!
Doesn’t UEFA ifficials inspect all fields before every game?
I think we will get a 6 point deduction.
We will still easily qualify with that.
Hopefully it’s not more than that.
If they disqualify us, we go golfing with the Serbs.
They lost again today.
@ Živa Da they need another war so they can steal and become war profeter i mean war heroj 😉 Its sad days ahead what about torcida saying they are heros funny the root for a communist club no wondef they hate the repka.
And on another note……..we hrvati don’t deserve nice thugs. We deserve Tito and more communism. The Croatian public elected the current leadership in Cro, so we deserve what we get. We are Balkan to the rotten core and only another war, time a cultural war, will fix anything.
@mr.Black…….nope. Croatian can appeal, but won’t win on appeal.
@bobby V…….dumb example. Go ahead, once arrested they will know who you are and will see it is an outside national trying to do something.
@BLx……..wrongs as well. first Poljud is a stadium and this was a savez event and they had responsibility for the stadium, not Hajduk. The savez is responsible for security inside the facility. Local police responsible for security on the outside in public spaces.
I see you guys are mad about this, but you are now making up arguments to fall in with your line of thinking.
Go back to the Suspension Joey mess…….most didn’t think he would get hit, which was flawed thinking. Same here. Separate what you want from how it will be likely handled. The hope here is for Puppet Suker to do enough to convince UEFA otherwise. And out recent history does not work in our favor.
No the savez is not responsible. This was Poljud’s responsibility but the savez will get penalized and in the end the fans will miss out.
@slavonac. Worse.
Ziva,
Uefa is also responsible for their website.
Fifa can punish Croatia but I’m pretty sure Croatia will win this case if they take this to a civil court.
At least a 6 point deduction?
What if I ran on the field during a France Euro qualifier in Paris wearing a Platini jersey and carrying a Nazi flag? Does France get eliminated?
The savez is responsible for what takes place in the stadium. It is their job to make sure “unknown” people don’t break into the stadium. At is where UEFA is going to get us.
Last backtrack a bit here, shall we……..some of you guys didn’t think Suspension Joey was going to be banned. I said he would. I didn’t think it would be 10 games, I thought it would be 3 or 4 for his selfish act. We got hit and we will get hit here in all likelihood.
Hvala Allen,
Great analysis.
About a possible punishment: I don’t know if that will happen. The way I see it “unknown” people broke into the stadion and created a swastika on the field.” Once the Savez noticed it, they did everything to fix it (try to get rid of it, condemning it and apologizing for it).
The way I see it, that’s like I would hack the Euro website and place a Swastika on their homepage. Would Platini step down if visitors saw the symbol at the Euro homepage? I don’t think so.
On the bright side it looks both gypsy cunt brothers Greece and Serbia are out of the euros.
“While racism and corruption linger over the nation”
What do you mean by “racism” exactly?
sports website
^ ^
That’s exactly what i thought!
Otherwise a good write-up.
Weird headline … as though the absence of Modric/Corluka means they should impress more?
@slavonac
Excellent analysis.
Considering the flaws still good to have first place. I was surprised Rebic played. Dude plays second division and has yet to score a goal this season. He was awful on the field. Hope his game turns around and soon.
Listen Crveni Kosuljasi i Ustaske Crna Legija will live long in the Our Ljepa Nasa. The right is too far right and the left is far left in Croatia. Its sad that pokitics and lack of history knowledge ruin the beautiful game i just think the Crveni dont want Croatia to go to tournaments and the far right love fasism?
The irony between this game and our last game vs Italy is that even though we didn’t play as well yesterday, we easily could have had 3 more goals before Italy got their first.
Mandzukic missed a penalty, Olic missed a relatively easy slide (just get his foot on the ball) and Kovacic should have easily just hit the net when the Italian got injured.
In the first game, we had limited scoring chances….in this game, we had a couple of 75-80% chances and missed!
Olic was terrible but Rebic was equally or worse. Pranjic looked like a fish out of water, Kovacic was in and out….disappeared for long periods and our back line was unstable….not organized….looking like Swiss cheese at times.
We could have killed them if we were better at finishing, even if their goal did count, our chances were easily better. We also play better when we don’t score too early, which I felt happened yesterday. We scored and then defended for long periods in the first half and then, had more possession again in the second after the game was tied!
The swastika on the field may destroy us and we can turn this site into Croatianpolitics.com….what a bunch of losers….I’m embarrassed for our people, Croatia is not represented by a few assholes like we have in our government but unfortunately this is what the world now sees!
Srna our Kapetan didnt want to shoot Cevap said that in press intervuj. And also Croatia play it too safe just looking to go to 2016 and then showing up like neznalica is no good gotta build like bilic in 2008 and alittle 2012. Srna want bad yesterday got the penalty sent ok crossea but Olic Pranjic nemaju sto traziti u repku Jedvaj Vrsaljko are 11 material. Pjaca Rebic Halilovic Pasalic Barisic Mocinic Rofulijic Basic Coric need to step up if not Sranjic Olic are semented in 11 and who cares for euro 2016 with shit 11
Also where is Srna on the PK list?
Has he even taken one for us since his miss against Japan in ’06?
If he’s still good enough for free kicks he should surely be a better choice than Mandzukic.
We all know 11 meters is out of Mandzukic’s range!
Nice job Allen!
I agreed with Conte when he said Croatia deserved the victory in Italy and Italy deserved the victory in Croatia.
All in all two draws are a fair result.
Excellent assessment of the team’s performance, couldn’t have said it better myself.