Majer and Petković should not be taking penalties in that spot. Dalić should have kept Juranović on for the shootout. Why is Kovačić not stepping up to take a penalty spot?
I’m gutted. It would have been awesome to see Modrić lift Croatia’s first international trophy. It wasn’t meant to be. Spain was the better team on the day. They just were. Petko and Majer with awful games outside of the penalty shootout. Just sucks. We’ve been so close. So, so close! Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
I’m sad.
Thanks a lot for being our mentor on this niche. I enjoyed your current article very much… Soccer Streams
“Argentina is a mess economically and is a basketcase but pinch a world cup and they don’t care”
Is this bozo serious 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
So the people don’t care that their country is a mess because their football team won a world cup, and that is more important than the country?
Hey, what if the Argentinian players couldn’t care less about their countrymen and play without the burden of having to give their people a reason to go on 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What about if the Croatian players care for their people and burden themselves with the belief that if they win their peoples miserable lives can be somewhat more bearable 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Croatia is f*****, the young are leaving for greener pastures, parents are depressed, the diaspora don’t want to go back nor do their communist government want them back (look at what happened to Ziva Istina with his failed buisness venture, a guy that unlike all you wanted to go home), it’s really a sad state of affairs guys.
So if this Croatian bozo is correct (and this your best and brightest 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣) then the Croatian people still care about the sad state of affairs in their country because their team lost, not the diaspora though, because Croatia is not their home, they’re just sad a football team lost.
To me the Croatian diaspora are just fans of the Croatian national team because they’re better than the team that represents their home 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lol what a bitchy “frenchman “.
We need to find another mechanic in France aka Dado Prso, for our striker woes.
firstly fuck Spain they are nothing (that team wanst better than out tournament if any of you belive that you need get more sleep)Majer really let us down he fucking cracked and that is not a good sign for him or us, not a player we can rely on the thing that annoys me is he is a real talent but also has some now obvious flaws, when it counts Petkovic screwed up he is a reserve goal taker he’s got us out of trouble in the past but maybe rushed this one, see the mofo Spanish keeper asking if he was off his line to the Ref ,he knew he fucking cheated, fuck them ,they are all half arab anyway and its shows thankfully the tournament(even though we wanted to win it and should of) dosent get alot of worldwide profile.At the highest level winning is really dirty there is money ,fame, prestige, and power at stake, and everyone wants it Argentina is a mess economically and is a basketcase but pinch a world cup and they don’t care w ehave to be ready for literally any scenario to get that victory in a major tourmanet they we 100% deserve!.
Here’s my 24 hours later analysis:
Dalic will never be a good tactical coach. He’s World Class as a motivational coach, but that’s just not enough. If you reap praise upon him for his successes, you must accept the criticisms for his failures. He definitely failed here. I seem to be in the minority, but I’ve always believed that our achievements were not because of him, but rather in spite of him. He’s had a wealth of talent available to him.
Our midfield trio are World Class, full stop. They were all excellent yesterday.
There must be another issue with Sosa. Perhaps the dressing room hasn’t forgiven him? It makes no sense that he didn’t play. Those of you that have commented that he’s somehow out of form simply don’t follow him. He had a really good finish to the Bundesliga season.
Petkovic earned the chance to play. However, once his old habits presented themselves, he needed to be subbed out. Early in the first half of extra time, Brozovic was breaking out on the right wing (his work rate and effort are off the charts). Petkovic made no effort to join the play and simply jogged around. It was at that moment that a good coach would have removed him.
Livakovic was subpar. His gaffe in the first half was incomprehensible. Everyone knows that pk’s are a crapshoot, but he didn’t even get close to any, and even only made half ass attempts at a few.
Subbing out Juranovic was a mistake. He should have brought in Stanisic to play RB, moved JJ to LB, moved Perisic up to LW, Vlasic to Striker and removed Petkovic. Juranovic is an expert penalty taker.
The decision to not call Orsic was the correct one. Same for Rebic. No regrets here.
I’m mostly disappointed that Musa wasn’t given a chance.
After Mandza retired and Rebic bailed, our team identity had to change from an aggressive pressing style to our now possession based disciplined style. Dalic should actually get credit getting results while shifting the team as he can only do so much. We have one winger…we have zero classic strikers. Either we play players with more quality out of position or we play some second rate players in their positions.
No team is perfect but we have a number glaring holes.
Our next shift will probably be more defensive given our strength will soon be our back line once Modric and Perisic hang ’em up.
HNS has a choice to make, as does the team itself. Modric has been beyond a once in a lifetime pleasure to watch and have on our team, as has the supporting cast. At some point though, things need to move on.
This team needs to decide if it’s going to hold onto older players for the simple sale of reminiscing of what did happen while in present day not achieving any further. Or the team needs to decide to embrace the youth players and get them to form this team into its new identity and have them play their way.
There are some players in the middle like Kovacic and Brozovic, but they can be the transition piece that swings this team into its new identity, form, and how it plays games.
I’m hoping this Nations League loss, and Modric never winning a trophy, is enough of a trauma for the team to take the last, most difficult step and make its transformation into a truly elite entity.
After 1998, we had many years of darkness and sadness. We don’t need to go through that anymore in establishing this new identity.
Someone said the 98 team was an offensive powerhouse but cannot compare the present midfield to Kova, Broz & Modric.
Asanovic, Boban, Prosinecki, Jarni, Stanic could all score goals and were offensive.
Chain smoking Prosinecki, epic.
We need to start cloning the dream team under guise of Rimac laboratories 😉
Anyone else keeping one eye on the wales v turkey game this morning? Guess a draw is prolly a good result for us.
Also, Rebic has a lot more in common with Vlasic than he does Mandzukic. Fast and physical with a great motor, but not clinical and certainly not capable of being the striker for Bayern Munich in this lifetime lol
There are some puzzling comments all around.
It appeared to me that the plan was to use Perisic and Pasalic’s height and aerial prowess to create chances. It lead to some opportunities, but one of Pasalic or Ivanusec were always going to make way for Petkovic or Musa if we needed a goal. We did not plan to go to PKs or go into a shell. Plus neither Pasalic nor Ivanusec were imposing themselves at that stage.
Majer caused problems for Spain as soon as he came on. Was the moment too big for him? Maybe, but it was also a good stop.
Kramaric never lacks confidence. His fault is often that he has an excess. Fortunately he leaves the no-look bullshit in Hoffenheim.
I expected better from Petkovic on his PK, but Kramaric was spent and apparently our coaches agree with Benfica that Musa is not a finished product, despite averaging 1 goal per 92 minutes or whatever it was. Was the order wrong? Perhaps, but it’s hardly a science. You don’t face questions if they score, which Petkovic and Majer do for their respective teams. Kovacic – despite his recent brace, is hardly clinical.
Fati was eating JJ’s lunch. The sub took some bite out of our attack, but Stanisic is so technically sound and immediately neutralized one of their only threats. I think JJ could become our RW once we have a more complete striker in place. At the same time I’d rather have a wing back than a RW that doesn’t crash the back post. Can one of them love to the left, where Sosa is talented but out of form?
Gvardiol might have done better and prevented the semi final from going into aet, but even that’s a stretch. I’m very comfortable with Sutalo and Erlic and they did not cost us anything, despite some nervy lapses. We will be stout for a long time and perhaps as important, able to play the ball out instead of resorting to hockey “tactics”.
Putting Perisic down as the LB on paper is hardly wasting him. He’s going to run touchline to touchline either way. He had crosses, shots, headers, overlaps, and everything else you’d want your LW to produce. If there was a problem there, it was Ivanusec over Orsic, but I don’t like calling up players that don’t get minutes when they are paid to either.
Obviously I was gutted either way, but taking a step back, there is a lot to be proud of. A draw with France, beating them at PdP, knocking the home team out of the semis with 4 goals, taking the final to the bitter end. 3 medals in 5 years. I’m looking forward to the remaining qualifiers and Euro.
Just a comment about Musa, if that is true it’s just utter stubborness just to play their favourites.
Probably use the ‘unfinished product’ as an excuse to not play him. He fucken 25 years old, if it was with regards Beljo I would understand but like you said, he averages a great scoring frequency whilst being a sub 99% of the time at Benfica.
Next NT break there should be no excuses to not experiment with Musa and Beljo sharing the role upfront, we need to see progress and bin off both Petkovic and Livaja.
It will be so difficult for us to win a tournament. We just don’t have the population to sustain having a team to have all four on field lines, forward, midfield, defence , and goal, at a strong enough level at the same time. At one time, with Suker, Bokisic, and Vlaovic helping, we had one of the most dangerous attacking threats in world football. Now, our strength is midfield and it appears our defensive line will be world class for the next ten years.
In Europe, England has over 50 million people, France and Italy over 60 million, and Germany over 80 million. Argentina over 40 million and Brazil over 200 million. And the States with their population, infrastructure, organization, and money will soon be serious challengers. As well, look at the all the players France and England have as a result of allowing people from former colonies to reside in the home country. Croatia has none of this. Without this, France would be a second rate football country.
We have pride, incredible mental strength, and an apparent physical genetic advantage that allows us to punch well above our weight class when it comes to sports of all types. We just don’t have the ongoing depth in all positions to be considered a favourite. We will be dark horses that no one wants to face in an elimination game in any soccer tournament. Hopefully we will again have that balanced squad, like we did in 1998 and 2018, and have good runs in the Euros or World Cup. With our upcoming defensive strength and Livakovic seemingly becoming a capable keeper who can steal the occasional game (early against Turkey in this qualifying window, stonewalling Brazil) we will be factors in the next several tournaments and hopefully we can gel, and with a bit of luck, bag a major trophy.
There’s a difference between them and us. We play for Hrvatska into the endless night. That is what powers us. ZDS
I’ve always argued this point about the elite teams having the population, wealth and infrastructure.
Perfect example is the US women’s national team. Compared to the rest of the world they have all the financial backing and universities in place, as opposed to countries with less wealth who can only afford to support the men’s teams.
This illusion of dominance is totally fabricated as we see the men’s US side being a non factor since 1930.
If we look at Spain having La Liga and teams like Madrid going bankrupt 3 times, their infrastructure/population/wealth totally dwarfs Hrvatska yet we are still considered an elite side.
Being consistently ranked in the top 20 of the world is a massive accomplishment in its self. Do we want more of course but let us not forget we also have to fight two fronts. Match fixing and above mentioned.
Lastly, I tend to wonder 💭 if we’re still being punished for our ties to WW1 and WW2. The history books tell a different story but if you do some research, Hitlers rise was against sexual immorality and the New World Order. Similar to any country that goes against the West.
We know that when you’re the enemy of the establishment, they look 👀 for weapons of mass destruction that can’t be found, they create excuses to destroy countries that they deem rogue etc.
Anyway, I’m rambling now just some crazy cro conspiracies that help me mentally cope with injustice all the garbage calls.
The other thing I wanted to add about the orsic thing is this
We know that petko and him have chemistry
It’s like ya they are both hnl guys but two of them together they aren’t so hnl they are more Europa or even champions league kind of thing on their day
If that makes sense
Petko has his place as we all know but literally 20 mins max
Maybe on a bunker team he can create room with his big body and his street soccer skills he can pull out
But we need to see the young strikers
Really it can’t be worse
Can it?
putting things into perspective here…I’ll address this first.
“Croatia did well once again. Dalic obtained his goal once again of keeping the game tight again and taking he game into penalties against the top teams. Is it boring…..kind of. Is it similar to what Greece successfully employed to win the Euro’s…..similar but not the same.”
to compare us to Greece 2004 team …or to even bring this up seems like this guy is wayyyy off base but I see it more often…casual fans making silly comments and comparisons.
there are many ways teams decide to get a result and in our situation, we do not have a regular goal scorer so we are forced to find other ways to win. in our case, we have to protect our goal first…we don’t take too many chances sending players into areas where they wont be able to get back into defending positions and we try to keep our shape and remain tight through the middle. we have two choices….go for it and hope we score more goals than our opponents or we can be tactical, responsible, hard to penetrate and keep disciplined. I’d prefer we play a disciplined style of game…I could care less if we score 5 goals but we receive 6. it might be interesting but its definitely never gonna get you into the top 4 teams at any tournament.
we keep writing the lineups, adding the likes of Musa, Vlasic, Beljo, Simic (last season), Brekalo, Majer….many of these players are just not at the calibre we need them to be at and yet we keep insisting they’re a solution. we are a good team but part of the reason we can’t open up and attack is because we just don’t have the players to attack so we have to rely on being strong defensively…this has nothing to do with Dalic being a bad coach, I think he’s smart in realizing that we have issues…ie…Sosa as left back. Sosa had a very mediocre year this season, he was bad at the world cup so Dalic addressed that with what he had available to him. If we started Bradaric, I would have turned off the tv…overall, we had to play Ivanusec and if you ask me, he was solid and responsible. the guy is very physically responsible, he never caused any problems covering his defensive responsibilities and he did what he needed to do. could he have done more offensively…sure, but playing two teams in Netherlands and Spain, holding you own and not a single defensive error is pretty damn good.
the best thing we got out of this tournament is that we do have some excellent options BUT we need more for our attack. guys like Stanisic, Erlic, Ivanusec, Livakovic, and Pasalic all confirmed they are solid and excellent options for our future. guys like Bradaric, Vlasic, Vida (only because he’s on his way out), Petkovic, Livaja…don’t seem very relevant for our future and guys like Beljo, Musa, Sosa, Baturina, Majer…all need to play to their best to prove they are ready and relevant to make a difference for the senior squad. I don’t enjoy watching guys get minutes and the do nothing for us over and over again… they’ve already used up their credit and I’d rater see someone new come in and keep Vlasic, Livaja, Bradaric…at home….bring in some younger kids, they’ll do more for us than these guys ever could! after these past 2 games I’m back on the fence with Majer…too inconsistent for me.
I meant Barisic, not Bradaric…oops!
Ya I was like I want to see some of Bradaric in the future at LB
I think we all hoped more from sosa
Spot on with the comment “slovonac”;)
😉
A lot of interesting points Slavonac.
I agree with your take on the players. After this match and season, I am looking at Majer the same way and starting to question him more than I did before. He has struggled a lot this season even for his his club, not sure what’s happening there.
With regards to Vlasic, I don’t think I have ever really been a fan he seems oafish to me.
The one player for me who was a surprise was Ivanusec because I didn’t see it at the beginning of the Nations League personally, but that could just be the fact that he hasn’t played much with the team.
I do wonder about our forward line though, I dunno what Dalic is gonna do with regards to that issue. I think he may just have to bite the bullet and play younger players more often.
Bottom line, we can’t score for shit, unless this is addressed and I don’t where the answer is but it will continue to be same, live and die in shootouts, can’t survive that way. Positive is or back line will be solid for years to come
We scored 4 goals on the Netherlands.
It’s just how we chose to play in some of these games.
Dalić is a conservative coach. He’s always going to play it safe, especially against the Brazils and Spains of the World.
Losing hurts, especially losing like that. However, there is no real negative here. Unai Simon made all of the saves he had to (forced to make two or three really good ones during the match). He owned his box, and his technique on the penalties was impeccable. The Spanish players stayed in the game mentally until the very end, in spite of their physical inferiority.
Stanisić had to come in to shut down Ansu Fati. Spain put all of their hope for a goal in Ansu Fati, and Dalić took it away with Josip Stanisić. Petković made some remarkable plays as the point man, he just couldn’t get any calls and couldn’t get into the box to score. Majer and Vlasić put pressure on Spain, but they didn’t crack. Spain showed that they are also among the top teams. Today was their day and not ours. As the commentators said, if Croatia keeps the same team, they could win the Euro in a year from now. Tests against Turkey, Wales, and Armenia will only make this team stronger if they keep going for the wins. Ajmo Vatreni!
We won’t win the Euros unless we integrate the new players (especially the forwards) and continue to not play Sosa.
Dalić was late in integrating Gvardiol, Sosa and Juranović back in Euro2020 qualifiers.
He has done well integrating Šutalo and possibly Majer and Stanišić too (by giving them all multiple starts and gametime to build chemistry).
But he’s still too far behind in integrating Beljo and Musa (especially since they’re forwards). There’s no excuse for these two to still be “standby” callups when we’re starving for a center forward. Give them 15 minutes at the end of each game, especially games like this where you’re playing the counter and these two are known for running and countering at their club teams.
He also needs to bring back Sosa and not rely on Perišić (who will be 35 next Euros) for both offense and defense on that left side. If you’re going to keep Perišić at LB, then it’s critical you at least call up Oršić as insurance for that LW role.
All of Gvardiol, Šutalo, Sosa, Stanišić, Majer, Musa, and Beljo should be playing regularly now.
Oršić needs to be brought back into the fold (cutting him was obviously a mistake).
I would even go as far as to have guys like Baturina and Vidović on standby callup (just so they can practice and learn from the vets but not actually play unless it’s a late sub).
We’ll see what happens in these September games and if Dalić is still going to roll out Modrić, Perišić and Broz for the full 90 like he has been non-stop this past year.
Livaja behavior cost us. He should have taken the PK not Majer.
Croatia did well once again. Dalic obtained his goal once again of keeping the game tight again and taking he game into penalties against the top teams. Is it boring…..kind of. Is it similar to what Greece successfully employed to win the Euro’s…..similar but not the same. Has Dalic turned this team into Greece 2.0?…..that is debatable. He chose to play one of the only scoring threats this team has and play him as a LB….that say’s it all.
No one is mentioning it but Erlic was shaky AF in the game. I know it was a lot of pressure to get thrown into the final. But he had 2-3 really bad giveaways that could have easily resulted in goals.
Luka Ivanusec is at best a Dinamo lifer or bottom/mid tier Seria A player yet he gets the starting left winger position even though he is not winger.
Pasilic did well to score a goal but other then that he is useless as a winger, because he is not a winger.
If Modric retires can he pls take Dalic with him?
Erlić was surprisingly shaky at first.
This is why I like Šutalo more despite Šutalo being a big risk taker. Like Gvardiol, if Šutalo makes an error, he will very likely make up for it on the offensive end.
I think Erlić wasn’t as comfortable technically with the ball against Spanish pressure.
Dalić probably thought Erlić would have fared better than Vida (who would’ve been disasterous in that situation).
Ideally, we should have had Gvardiol/Šutalo there. But I think Dalić really needed to try out Stanišić at CB as well, in case we don’t have one of Gvardiol or Šutalo in these types of games.
Great team! Great achievement! Great coach! Bad luck.
We still live to fight another day!
Živeli dečki!
Hvala za sve!
Ajmo na more za odmor.
Bog i Hrvati
UNL has been the biggest blessing for Croatia becoming a consistent force in world football.
HNS never would have the vision nor the infrastructure to facilitate elite competition on a consistent basis.
We are more ready for the Euro’s than ever.
Young and hungry legs have to be integrated this Fall.
We have 6 matches to fine tune our squad.
The talent pool is there.
Modrić and Perišić have to want to play in front of stadiums packed with Hrvati.
I agree with the nations league comment.
The better your competition the better you have to be.
Let’s take that Euro!!!
Bog i Hrvati
Sutalo is a complete stud and in my opinion, he’s close to being as good as Gvardiol in many areas of his game…possibly better when anticipating the play and his calmness on the ball. If he were Italian, he’d go for 60 million Euros today!
5-3-2 backline with a modern backline of Sosa, Gvardio, Sutalo, Stanisic, and Juranovic?
If Modric retires prior to the Euros (or right after) I guess Dalic would be gone as well. I can’t see Dalic sticking around without Modric.
Which makes me wonder if Igor Biscan or the new U21 coach (Dragan Skocic) would be next in line as coach, assuming he has a lot of success with our U21 team.
Igor scares me at times. Skocic is an unknown who did very well with Iran. Not sure who the other options would be, as most of our coaches are in good club situations and probably wouldn’t leave to coach the NT.
I just can’t see Modric retiring prior to the Euro’s….he’s still playing some very high quality football in every appearance for club and country!
If we end up seeing Biscan as our coach, I think we need to give the guy a chance before we criticize him. He seems to be very organized and detailed…you never know, he might surprise us?!
Orsic penalty kick during the Brazilian match up, was one of the best penalty kicks I have ever seen. having him on the team, was a No Brainer really, when you also include the strike for third place against Morrocco, and the pass assist to Petkovic.
Orsic deserved a spot. He was instrumental in Brazil game as well as Morocco.
“Igrati za reprezentaciju je bila najveca cast mog zivota ali sve ima kraj.” -Luka Modric
Well fellas it was a good run but it looks like Luka has made his choice. All respect to him for all he’s done.
Where did you see this?
Whatever.
If we had Gvardiol and Oršić, we would’ve won this thing. Shit happens. Dalić is good but he isn’t perfect. He can’t do anything about Gvardiol’s injury, but the Oršić non-callup bit him in the ass (especially since it seems he never had any intention of playing Sosa in this tournament).
Most importantly, is to keep this going.
We’re going to be a top seed after this, and we need to integrate Beljo, Musa, Sosa, Majer, Šutalo and Stanišić into the lineup now (in preparation for Euro2024).
No more full blown experimental lineups without purpose, and no more overeliance on the exact same veteran lineups.
Ya we talked about it before the start
Orsic has that spark as we know
He just had a bad career choice this year but he didn’t lose that ability to bang something like he has done numerous times in big games before
He’s a true threat from nothing
And yes of course gvardi was sorely missed
His explosiveness would have been great
I will be pushing for this back three of gvardi, erlic, sutalo
I think stanisic has alot to offer and needs to really get into the mix
JJ on the wing so he doesn’t have to run quite as much would help him
Kept waiting for some kova magic and to split 3-4 guys
The whole match had a bit of that 2016 Portugal feel
Frustrating
Yolo as the kids say, we got more I keep seeing people say the golden generation is over
We have been playing striker less for a few years
One of these kids are gonna step up
Beljo maybe destroys the baby euros now!
Lots to look forward to
I think luka takes one final kick at the can where he pretty much announces he is done before hand and there is no guess work if he is leaving or not
A beautiful swan song
We can take euros
Right on. You can’t teach speed and Orsic has it. I also feel he was a player off the bench that could have helped us.
Hats off its been a great 5 years. But i dont want to sound like a downer but Dalic fucked up at the finals 2018. 2022 v argentina and now in the finals. Frustrating watching perisic at lb being wasted. Why not have played sosa and Stanisic at backs later on push Jura to Rw from Rb.
And kovacic majko mila been waiting for him since he was 16 to explode. If raketa didnt retire hed still be bench player for croatia. He should have shot the penalty no excuses.
We choked yesterday but Spain were better our olayers were not in it
Spain were favourites and we lost in PKs. That’s not choking.
Did anyone watch this on DAZN?
When Cro and Spain were getting ready for penalties, both sides were at the centre of the pitch arguing.
There was no commentators to explain what was happening. I just saw Corluka slap away the Spanish coaching staff arm away.
Anyone, have a clue what happened?
I was watching on Sony and I saw the whole altercation. Not sure what led up to it but I saw everyone fighting in the middle of the pitch too.
Also found it strange the DAZN commentators didn’t address the Majer incident in the box. Not the ‘tackle’ but the wrestling move that followed….and this despite them showing some Croatian players seeking VAR, and also showing the crowd yelling for a PK. Bit bush league.
Perisic and Alba were going at it for a foul before ot ended
Maybe it was about the Majer incident
Maybe they were trying to see who each other were picking for pk??
Could have just been some frustration’s boiling over
Dalic playing to our world class midfield and solid D makes sense.
And has produced consistently deep runs in major tournaments.
But to lift a trophy you have to maximize your talent pool.
Rebić would have been an explosive difference maker, especially with Perišić at LB.
JJ at RW with Stanisic at RB?
Gvardiol was missed as he can make something happen on offense as he plays out of the back with his speed.
Musa could have played a part.
Brozovic was a revelation against Spain.
Full respect as he saved his best for Croatia taking heat at Inter for doing so.
Euro ‘24 will be like playing at home.
Some fine tune adjustments in the attacking third and we can lift a major trophy!!
Rebic would’ve 100% put that missed shot by Juranovic in the back of the goal…
????? Rebic has no finishing skills. And why would he be in the Juranovic spot in that case. Makes no sense. And let’s all stop with the Majer penalty claims. If that happened the other way, and we got called for the penalty, we would all be livid. It would have been a harsh penalty.
Unfortunate loss. Nations League isn’t so prestigious but it would’ve completed Modrić’s career to lift Croatia’s first international trophy.
Petkovic and Majer should’ve never taken a penalty, both were having shit games to begin with. Why didn’t Kova take a penalty? So many questions.
Petkovic wasn’t performing, we should’ve subbed Musa or Beljo who are hungry to prove themselves.
I personally felt there was a foul on Majer in the box after he was tackled by Nacho, when Alba grabbed him by the shirt. Why did VAR not review the shirt pull?
Either way I think the story stands that we don’t have a strong attack, we don’t have a “killer” striker. Should we have brought back Rebic? In terms of aggressiveness he’s the closest we have to Mandzukic
I love this Team of guys , how do you talk shit about this team … because your a bunch of posers not real Hrvati … maybe on paper you are but your a disgrace … if you talk bad about these guys… =U= Za Dom Spremni
I love These =U= Za Dom
Sure we wanted to win. But you roll the dice in ot enough times and a L will happen. Credit to Spain for hitting wonderful pk’s. This generation has been wonderful. Our lack of a speedy striker or pure goal scorer is why we can’t cross the finish line in 1st. Also, we also fell a little short today because we waste so much energy in ot games. We had 3 overtime’s in Russia and then had no gas vs France. 2ot in qatar and then no gas vs Argentina. And to be fair I feel we wasted gas playing 120 vs holland. If we would have won that game 2-1 and not given up the late goal I feel we would have beaten Spain today. But we never seem to get the job done in 90. Last time we won a knockout game in a major turnir without ot was in 1998.
Petkovic is the problem. Slow. Not technically capable. Only useful for last 5-10 minutes to be in the box for headers. Overall, net negative for the team.
Pasalic is the future of this team. He makes great attempts and often delivers.
That was the substitution error.
After Petkovic Wednesday performance, who could blame him?
I have been a Dalic supporter, but I think the time has come to rethink that.
There was no reason to substitute Pasalic. We all know Petkovic is only good for 15 minutes, and that’s when he delivers the heavy boot goal. I have his World Cup instant card framed on my wall along with the Mandzukic World Cup instant card. Petkovic was the hero of the Brazil game.
Then there is Gvardiol. The only reason we won bronze was because our super defensive defender joined the attack and headed in a ball, unmarked, dead to rights center of the box.
We had absolutely nothing to lose today going into extra time. Worst outcome would be silver. No risk taking with a young gun as striker. And taking Pasalic out took away any threat to making a goal. I can’t imagine what the havoc would have been with Perisic having two tall targets in the box; especially with the amount of corners won at the end of extra time.
Spain had a couple very young guns in there. Netherlands too. Why Dalic decided against a risk that could have yielded rewards is beyond me.
I just keep hoping. And it’s hard to hope anymore. And people just don’t understand. This isn’t a club competition. And this isn’t anything like American sports. This is a culture; a way of life and an identity in this world.
No small teams make it out. Sure, there was Greece that one time. But it’s always the same large nations. It’s always weighted. And I feel we appreciate our team a lot more than people of other nations appreciate their teams. Every victory for us is a reason to celebrate.
It took a generation after 1998 to get to where we are now. I’m hoping it won’t take another generation to get to that final step.
And I remember the dark days. Tie breaks, GF/GA, the last day of the qualifying. I don’t want to go back to how things were, but I also don’t want to wait forever; if the day ever comes.
To me, this is just so heartbreaking. Nations League or not, and how people rank it.
Yes, it would have meant a lot to croatia I believe. To Spain maybe not so, been there done that, and they still won.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHh-EbdKWcc
European news reporters were not impressed by the quality.
I agree with the guy who said let’s not blame individuals who missed penalties, that’s one of the things i always hate about England and Italy; they always lay the blame solely on one guy or two guys who missed one penalty shot and hang them out to try (especially if they are black in england’s case).
Our team has more unity in its pinky than those countries have in their whole bodies and that should continue. Dont want to see anyone blaming Petko or Majer for the loss. We’ve had a super run with PKs but it has to end somewhere, can’t keep going to the well forever. Unfortunately Livakovic wasn’t able to get a hand on any penalty at all, but Spain were excellent in the shootout (except for the crossbar one).
Just a real shame. Good news is only 12 months to euro in Germany where we know we will of course have excellent support. As someone else said, we need an X factor up front – if that were to happen we’d be set. Happy with today still, not conceding a goal to Spain in 120 mins and losing a close PK to spain, no shame in that; could’ve gone either way.
We have two Left backs and only ONE winger (perisic). Dalic doesnt use either left backs and forces Perisic as our LB to make room for Ivanusec. I really just do not get it. I really dont. Ivanusec has a good 3 months for Dinamo and he becomes our starting LM??. Orsic was hot for 3 years for Dinamo and Dalic never gave him sh*t. Why the sudden hard on for Ivanusec and you push our ONLY winger into the LB position? Its just so f**ken stupid i cant wrap my head around it.
I agree. Perisic to Left Back was not the best of ideas. You can see from his body language how he wants to push forward always. It’s too much to ask of him to go forward than come back to cover defence, all game. Putting him at left back basically eliminated an attacking option on the left.
Majer was not “awful”. He was ok. You can’t expect much from him when Dalic played him as a winger
Yea exactly. Majer was ok, but everyone seems to be playing out of position . Our fooling around up top because we have no true threat cost us.
Until we get that true threat up top, we ain’t gonna win.
Dalic should have at least tried Musa to bring something special. You never know
I guess we soured on Sosa. He was suppose to be our main crosser, but the Perisic chemistry was not working.
It was working fine in the World Cup qualifiers.
Sosa had a bad World Cup and now Dalić refuses to give him a chance.
He pulled the rug out from underneath Sosa and Orsic unfortunately, and Orsic had a great world cup, just not getting playing time I understand after trade.
This one hurts, because I really believed the stars were aligned for croatia to win this. I know that their 30 year record is very impressive, and should be satisfied, but this one hurts because I thought it was a great stepping stone.
We won a lot of PKs and it was bound to happen . We lost a PK. There wasn’t enough go for it and thats on Dalic. He played for a shootout and that’s what he got. Not a big deal but there is definitely a trend of conservative play in Finals and it’s a coaching thing . Time for the Euros and see if we can change some mindset for finals But good for our guys to get there
I’ve mentioned it and others have too
I know orsic isn’t in form but he has that ability to get a bomb from nothing
Him and Perisic can be great on that left side
I think we really need to look at a back 3 of gvardi sutalo and erlic
They have the ability to cover what needs to be covered and move the ball effectively
5 in the middle of
Perisic
Luka
Kova broz and JJ
Krama and maybe Musa/beljo up front
Let’s do it! Arm chair dalic in da house
I feel Kramaric lacks the confidence. He has good skill and shows moments of brilliance but really needs to come out of his shell. He really needs to step up and lead the front line and own that no 9 shirt. He plays too deep for mine. He may not be a classic no 9 but has the potential to be a target man if he wants to.
Thought Croatia would win after the Spain guy hit crossbar – but then Petkovic was next shooter so lost that hope right then
Modric should continue through Euros – you only live once. But it’s been a heck of a run since 2018 no matter what.
If that elusive striker is miraculously found, we have a good shot at Euros…hoping for that miracle
Also, the Argentina game hurt much more than this one- I felt Croatia was going to win that one…
Didn’t feel like Croatia would win today, and never really came close until possibly in shootout
Luka should retire. There is nothing left for him to do. Dalic picked the wrong PKers.
The match was pretty pedestrian overall.
Some of the big teams are going to get better soon and you guys will come to realise that your time was from ’18 to ’23, this was when your team was presented with favourable circumstances but you just couldn’t capitalise. When some of these big teams get their shit together, you’ll be back to hoping you get out of groups, anything else will be a bonus, and that really guys is your spot, because you’ll always be a good team but favourable circumstances will not always present themselves.
Remember, silver is as good as Gold for a small nation like Croatia.
Croatia is why you have pound for pound lists.
You said this exact same thing right after Russia 2018.
Croatia then revamps its team with 7 new starters and almost goes all the way in Qatar 2022.
Then they get to the 2023 Nations League Final.
So now you adjust your timeline from 2018 to 2023.
What’re are you going to say after Germany 2024? Or 2026?
I’m still waiting on these big time players (like Haaland) to bring his National team to a tournament.
Waiting for Italy and Germany to be relevant again.
The Dutch are on a serious decline too. Same goes for Belgium.
Curious to hear who these “big teams” are that you think Croatia can’t handle, when we’ve beaten Messi’s Argentina in 2018 and Neymar’s Brazil in 2022.
It doesn’t get bigger than that.
To me, it’s England, France and Spain that will be better…but France was always elite, so there’s no change there. Croatia has proven it can take out elite teams and with our possession game (and fast and capable backline) we’ll be where we always are (capable if making deep runs and taking out an elite team here and there).
Typical arrogant frog!
Dear Ante,
I humbly disagree. Spain was in no way better than we were today. Majer and Petko did not cost us the game. Spain did not win this game. We lost it. We had plenty of chances to win . Petko messed up and telegraphed but that goalie from Spain was off his line . Mjaer made the same mistake . Yeah we lost. but we lost way before that . we had more chances than they did . our team has made a lot of progress. We have a talented squad . Our issues, despite our team being talented, we still have not yet found that guy that’s going to score . We have no MESSI NO RONALDO NO MBAPPE. That Ante is our problem. We cannot continue to drag games into Ot Pk shootout. We need to win on the field . We turned on page with Savez. When you look back on 2008 to the present our team failed because of infighting , bad management and players and coaches who had no business on the field of battle . to win we need youth who are talented . We have that now! but we are still lacking those keys people who will deliver that knock out punch . There are not ready yet. Not seasoned or talented enough to get over the hump in the big game. If we don’t have the talent or luck to overturn bad circumstances we will never win . We all always be a qualifying team . We will always be able to compete . But we will never get the respect we deserve because we dont win . We always regress . I am not upset because we lost . This nation thing is BS. Spain wanted to win because they look down upon us. it would off been niece to win but it is what is. GOING FORWRD WE CANNOT REGRESS . This loss should be a learning experiences . The Pk loss from 2008 is ancient history . This Pk loss should not haunt us. We need to be prepared mentally and develop our youth to compete . Thank you for providing this venue for our diaspora to meet and discuss ideas and opinions .
Dude, I’m a homer too, but there is no way Croatia had more scoring chances than Spain. Spain came close on three or four legitimate shots. What shot did we have that was threatening, other than the Juranovic chance, which wasn’t even close? We had chances but our forwards and attacking players are too slow to make anything out of them. And when we had a chance to push when the Spaniards were caught out, we slowed the attack, which drives me nuts. We also have nobody to cross the ball to. It’s just a shame we get so close every tournament. At least in this one, the referee didn’t screw us over. I was just waiting for that. There’s always next year of course.
I agree with all of your opinions, except that Spain was not disrespectful to Croatia. On fact, it was much the opposite. During the Pre-match conference they talked about the quality that Croatia possess. Unlike the approach for example that Canada’s coach had.
But your right about everything else.
No idea how it would’ve impacted the actual games, but having livaja for pks would’ve been nice
I felt we played a smart game and took away Spain’s advantage they usually have in possession. Some players like Pasalic and Ivanusec weren’t as noticeable in attacking but they did extremely well to help out closing passing lanes and making it hard for Spain to have easy routes down the wings.
Petkovic did his best to hold up the ball but he was fouled 100% of the time, I’m not sure why the ref didn’t call more fouls against him…if he was anyone else he would have had at least 8-10 fouls called in his favour. Other than that he was slow and lazy. I know pk’s are always a risk and I could see Majer was gonna miss before he even took his shot. Not easy for a young man to take a pk in a finals like that.
I felt Krama was less relevant today than he was last game and Sutalo was a complete beast…intercepting at least 3-4 passes and them calmly passing the ball.
If I had one wish it would be for us to find a better solution than Vlasic. I’m tired of the same old excuse that he doesn’t play any other position than in behind the striker…he’s completely useless and a waste of a sub! I’ve tried to find the good in him as a player and even though he’s scored some important goals for us I just feel like he’s a waste of player to bring into our team…just terrible!
Our team was good today, so was Spain! The game couldn’t have been more even and although they may have had some better chances, we were also close and should have done better around their goal on certain plays! I’m sad Modric couldn’t bring home a trophy but I do think we still have a chance at the Euros!
The second Majer came up to take the penalty, I took my jersey off and went to hang it in the closet knowing the game was over and Croatia lost.
He looked terrified!
Well said Slavonac. I thought the Pasalic sub was puzzling as I thought he was really good these two games. Majer had a poor few games. Kovacic was also average at best these games.
Petko was getting mugged over and over again. But he’s too lazy to get that much time. Might be a decent joker off the bench as he does have skill and can hold up the ball well.
Our drop off came after the Kramaric and Pasalic subs. Spain began to control things more and the last 10 minutes of the game was nail biting time.
Overall, it was an even game aside from that last 10-15 of the second half.
As Bobby V said in a previous post, Pasalic is the closest thing to a striker that we have (aside from the kids who haven’t had a chance). He has a nose for the net and gets his head on the ball. Brozovic was unbelievable the last two games. Unbelievable stamina!!
The trouble with our attack is we get the ball out wide and should whip a cross in, but we have no one to get on the end of it!! Therefore we stop, back pass and try to prod our way through with short passes and runs.
This current team needs to play a 3-5-2 given our players….
you make some very good points Mali Ante…well done kid!
We can analyze this game all day long, but I think it just wasn’t meant to be today
Let’s go win the EUROS
I think that we shouldn’t step in and start blaming individuals for the penalties taken because the game can go either way at that point. What needs to happen is breaking down the game and going back looking at where were.tge points in time in this match that Croatia could have ended the game before that point. Furthermore, what strategies moving forward should be looked at to try and finish the games without expending so much energy, and pushing it to penalties like the way it happened. It cannot always be the midfield to carry the team forward, sometimes.the frontline needs to do it.
Where were the point in time I mean***
Dear Mate 1. Your right. I think we have a good team . As I said in the post above . We are still missing a few key players that can put the ball in net. This I just my take, But a strong powerhouse midfield would off hung 3 on Spain today . They were good team but not great . Spain was lucky to win
I know I am saying this after the fact. But I really did not want this game to go to penalties before hand, I kinda felt that Croatia needed to be the first to score on this one. It just didn’t happen, I had a feeling Spain was gonna be a tough opponent, if it went the distance, given the style play that they have which is similar. The fact that both teams play for possession didn’t help Croatia in this one.
Croatia needs a frontman, a Davor Suker, which they have been missing for sometime. Croatia have talent everywhere else on the team but they are just missing someone consistent in that role as people have pointed out even in past posts. It really shows and as the one person pointed out below that X Factor person, I hate to say it like Ronaldo who can just hammer in goals like it’s nothing.
Hopefully these younger players can come through for us (as others have mentioned). Between Musa, Beljo, Simic, and Ljubicic there needs to be someone who can stand out and fit that role for us. In this kind of a game, someone who can take advantage of those corners could have been a deciding factor for us before the end of 90 mins.
I think the focus has to be set pieces, set pieces, set pieces in my view. Who can fill that role, and what kind of a line can best handle those situations and come out of those situations with an advantage. Pasalic did in the past but it didn’t happen here for him. Musa and Beljo, who are both tall guy, were not given a chance to try and do it. I personally think that could have changed things here potentially.
Vlasic for me was not the right substitute unless your were planning on penalties, he is not so great on the ball on every scenario. Dalic might have been better off trying out Beljo or Musa to get that stature in the box, I hope they get some time in the Euro Qualifiers to see what they can do.
A lot of positives here with the defence and midfield as I believe we will still have that going, but the frontline seems to be a reoccurring theme here.
Spain’s penalty kicks were exquisite. Only miss was top of bar. How to we compete. Orsic deserved to play based on his performance at the world cup. We needed him to play in this game especially.
Allowing Majer and Petkovic to shoot pk’s…..disasterous. The chances in front of net today non existent. Modric and Brozovic world class, we have have one more shot with Luka, June 2024 in Germany
Let’s be honest the better team won…olmo should of had 2…we really didn’t have even one solid chance let’s not kid ourselves?
This doesn’t hurt like being knocked out of the euro or WC.
Our defense looks solid for a decade minimum.Sutalo erlic and josko what a 3sum.
We punch above our weight but can’t muster a KO PUNCH 🤛🏻
I have to disagree Pero. If Spain were the better team why did they not find the net ? How come the score was not 3 -0 . We had chances. we blew it . I am not upset. your right . It does not hurt . I am more hurt that I know I know we punch above our weight but cannot muster a Ko Punch
There is clearly something wrong with our mindset, coaching or game preparation leading up to these big games. Continually not having a killer instinct to put teams away has become a tradition and mental midget syndrome. There is a reason why teams such as Spain, France, Germany and Italy are champions. We are clearly missing something.
we’re missing a competent coaching staff. Got outcoached today just like against France in 2018.
The main reason why we are always coming close to winning something but in the end miss out is because we do not have the X factor up front. As we all know we do not have quick forwards as seen today – on TWO occasions firstly Kramaric and secondly Majer both had open path to the Spanish goal only to be caught on the edge of the penalty box by the Spanish defence.
Dalic has to find a solution and try some younger players up front. Petkovic and Livaja are slow and Kramaric is not much quicker. U21Euros start on Wednesday and let’s hope that Beljo, Frigan, Ljubicic and Simic can impress so that Dalic can give them a chance.
Why Orsic wascalled up and used over Majer, with a casted hand beats me, especially when you are going into extra minutes, ans need a penalty kicker.
Long time follower, first time poster.
As a person who sat on a couch watching this game, I’m not going to begin to offer an opinion on players other than there was no excuse to not score a single goal in 120 minutes.
I’m also sick and tired of the world saying Croatia punches above its weight. We don’t. We have talent. That’s why we are good. But we are just not good enough. For some reason or another, we just can’t seal the deal on a trophy.
I guess I should take comfort that we have gotten a few medals while almost every other nation in the world still has nothing.
I appreciate this site and I appreciate the people who comment.
It’s going to stink for a few days though.
I’m proud that we have the best midfield in the world. But that midfield can only take us so far and none of them are scorers (at least Rakitic in his time could belt them in ). Kovacic took one shot and it was 15 meters wide. Brozovic was simply great tonight. Best game I have seen him play. Perisic was also his old self, wonderful and Modric played well against very tight marking. We did the best we could with what we have. As we know, this generation needed a striker and it’s tragic that none ever emerged. Also, this was one of the few matches where I did not want any subs. The subs did not help.
Nothing to be ashamed of. This game confirms what we’ve known. Croatia is indeed a good team capable of competing with some of the best teams. It also confirms that Croatia was extremely lucky in multiple games in the past two world cups and our cindarella run and joy was extremely influenced on luck rather than Croatia being the 3rd or 2nd best team in the tournament. If you run the simulation 1000 times, Croatia’s average position would’ve been worse than that.
And alas, the clock struck midnight and the luck ran out.. So it goes some times.
It’s a shame. I would’ve really liked the trophy for Modric and the boys and to see some more celebrating in Croatia. I would’ve considered detouring from the South of France to Zadar for some celebration. But I guess it will be Rose and Foie gras for me rather than Cevapi and karlovacko amongst the people. Crepes over Palacinke.
Unfortunately this does mean Modric will likely never win a trophy with Croatia. Coming into this Match his trophy odds were about 55 to 60 % and now with just the Euro’s left it goes down to about 10%
Still we have been quite fortunate as croatian fans to get to experience this because we likely will never have a run like this in our lives again over 5 years. #feelingblessed
Well brothers
Another football induced trauma
I was fearing pk
Feeling our luck was running out for them
Nonetheless we will be back soon enough
Saving it all for a euro cup trophy!
I Didn’t like the JJ sub off that late
I’m sure he was tired but I feel he is probably a better set piece guy
I thought majer would be the goods but he is probably just gonna be a decent stop gap till a guy like baturina comes in to his own
Ya you have to wonder if kova didn’t step up then, then when?
This is not trashing but Just reality
Krama with good strong effort and it’s a shame he wasn’t around for pk
Sutalo and erlic looked solid
Defence is safe for a few years friends
Broz was everywhere
Petko really is good for like 20 mins max
I still say orsic could have been used on that left side
Love to see him with Perisic behind potentially for next year
Beljo Musa got to have looks coming up in qualifying
The youth, exuberance and speed is needed in that role
Krama and broz pressed well but krama as we know is better in that second striker/advanced mid field type
Put one of the kids to hound defence and I feel both can make an impact
We are great friends
Euro is around the corner
Lots of good stuff happening
Luka hopefully will stay for one final kick at it
Majers penalty sure was disappointing
Any news about Modric?
Well, that was kinda crappy, sigh, would have been really cool to win.
Proud of this team. They were never outmatched and I would argue played better than Spain.
Losing in a shootout by one goal and having the ref call a fair game, for the just part, is more than I could ask for.
God Bless every player on this team and all whole strive to make this site a good football place to banter.
All those who are keyboard warriors, well you know my thoughts.
Proud of our boys!
They played well today, but so did Spain.
Croatia is truly a football superpower!
If Modric stays, we will be one of the favourites next summer.
Haha Croats lose again! What else is new! Why do you Croats even try!? I know you thought you could sneak a trophy out of a tournament that no one cares about but you couldn’t even do that! Hahahaha!!!
Why are you even on this site??!!
there should be a moderator to erase his comments and block him. This site is for our own . trolls should not be tolerated
At least were all Croatian, you guys bring players from countries you colonized,so beat it! No one likes france
You’re a f****** dumb bozo John, that “Frenchman” is a fraud that I would say is an invention from the communists that run this site.
You’re not as good as me ya fake “Frenchman,” anyway, I was going for the Croats even though the children of the diaspora and their atheist boy Milanovic make me sick.
The reason Croatia will never win a trophy is obvious to me, it was sitting there in the stands you f****** stupid izdajice.
Sjeti te se, Ustaša je domoljub, partizan je izdajica, i Hrvati su licemjerni narod.
So now I say, you got what you f****** deserved in the end, and now after this behaviour from this fake “Frenchman” I’ll come back to this site and teach you some truth about your little nation that can never win, you are all gonna regret what this fake “Frenchman” did here today!
Also, if you think a watered down Euro is better than this UNL trophy, you’re a f****** dickhead!
Why was Petkovic taking a game decisive penalty? I keep asking why we can win a knockout match in 90 minutes? When was the last time? 1998 against Germany in the quarter finals. Not the biggest sting…it’s not a trophy worth bragging for. Regroup and focus on Euros. Modric will stay until next summer. Perisic & Modric played the best.
to be fair it was a good penalty, but an excellent save
Stfu Iggy ya communist c***, you should be supporting Australia or Denmark ya f****** fraud c***!
Sooner or later your luck runs with penalties. Livakovic had no chance with any of them. Well done to the players on the effort and coaching staff.
Sorry meant to say your luck runs out.
Sad. Petkovic was a poor sub in the end. Slowed us down and killed our pressing. Cost us shoot out too. But we played well. Still proud.
Were those not penalties?
On Majer totally to me. Where was VAR?
Yeah, that was total crap!
No, not even close. Come on.
Genuine question, I recognize the first defender played it perfectly but the second defender was pulling Majer’s jersey. Why was the second defender not penalized? Genuinely curious about that. Was it because Majer was attempting to play the ball while on the ground?
Well, at least we’re totally in this final and it’s a fifty-fifty.
Not creating enough chances in the first half – only thing working is the thru ball.
Perisic with a couple of decent headers.
Ivanusec with a couple of bad traps.
Kovacic and Livakovic look nervous.
Need Petkovic, Vlasic in second half
Kovačić was fine, just kramaric, Pašalić are not national team material, same goes with Petković
any links?
https://live.soccerstreams100.io/event/uefa-nations/spain-vs-croatia-live-soccer-stats/654361
Hvala, thanks!
So this win will also help for qualifying as Spain if they win are well behind Scotland in their group. Scotland has played one more game but are at 9 points
Spain at 3 with 2 games played
Spain can definitely beat Scotland when they play again but who knows what that will do
I still think tho we qualify direct and not need a play off
I assume winning a play off through “A” nations league gives you a better play of position over 2nd place in your group ?
The truth is not Ziva Istina.
Ziva’ s a phenomenal guy if you know him, personally.
He just liked getting under people’s skin and the comment board would light up because of it.
You could still catch him on Twitter.;)
So I guess he did fully embrace it after all these years???;)
Apparently erlic over vida i saw online
Everything else stays the same
Can anyone confirm?
I’ve been away from the forums for a while but if your defending people who like to troll people like psychic vampires, I’m sorry but the whole good guy in real life is total garbage.
If you’re truly honourable in person then that will automatically reflect on. message boards.
Anyone, who talks BS on forums in my opinion is lacking testicular fortitude and class
“Ziva Istina,” I remember that guy, for the longest time he was this site, do you think us foreigners came here to read comments from your Slavonac & Crnkovic types, bozo’s that only use the site to show how much they know anout football, which mind you is f*** all!
Here’s what we haven’t had in a while
A Luka broke his leg in practice report and can’t play
Or an appearance from turkey or frenchman or whatever bullshit name
As mentioned in the other post, one of my proudest correct calls was to stick with modric when others on this site doubted him. I believe this so called “ziva istina” you speak of never called modric a bust but simply said he was playing like a bust when he got to madrid and that was 100 percent accurate
I still don’t have confidence in Kramaric to score… I would rather have a hungry Musa in there trying to put one in the back of the net. This would be a great opportunity for Croatia to win and get a trophy on the books!!! Good luck
Let’s gooooo
Kramaric played very well in the last game. Better to have him with his “current” work ethic. Maybe Musa in 2nd half.
I recently listened to the croatiansports podcast while doing cross fit the other day, and I had one main comment.
I love Ante for all his efforts on this site and forming a home base where Croats can gather and talk about the national team and learn from me.
But Ante…. how can you keep going with this Modric and Kovacic can’t play together theme?
Did you not just type that Croatia has lost once in 16 matches (to World cup champ Argentina) and twice in 26 games. Won a silver at world cup at 2018 , bronze at world cup 2022, and at least a silver at nations league, which one can argue is harder to win than Euros.
Ummmmm……I think the evidence would say they can not only play together, but play together well.
Also, since Croatia has forged this hold the ball, smother the game identity (re-invented Euro Greece), the Kovacic-Modric pairing has worked even better as Kovacic’s lack of final 3rd activity is not nearly as detrimental to the game plan.
To Ludnica, formerly known as The Truth:
The notion that you think this site was designed so people could learn from you is incredibly arrogant, lol. All of us are just giving our thoughts and comments and can hardly take any credit in this regard.
And Croatia is not a reinvented Euro Greece that comment is completely assinine. Greece won one Euro Tournament and pretty much by luck alone, and they should have lost to Portugal technically, if you even watched the game. Atleast, that was my take from it. Croatia has been far more consistent to be compared to the Greek national squad. It’s absurd to draw such a comparison. With the exception of this year, a Croatian player has even lifted the Champions League Trophy for what like ten years. I don’t know the last time I saw a Greek player on that list, although I could be wrong.
With the exception of your Modric, Kovacic comment there is not.much else to take from what you said here.
I don’t kno if I read your comment the wrong way but that’s just how it sounds unfortunately…
Remember, “the truth” used to be called “ziva istina” who made the worst call in the history of this site: declaring Modric a bust at Madrid after his first season.
Don’t forget in one post, way back ziva referred to a lost business venture in Croatia. He lost money and is simple bitter. Poor old man. Bitter and no family.
I thought he had so many guys running numbers for him and calculating on their super computers(Xbox) on percentages of a Croatian would score outside the box on any given weekend
He was running a massive multi million dollar biz, at least that was the impression he gave
I’m glad he is busy with CrossFit these days
Probably a vegan too. I’m sure he will let us know tho if he is
This Greece comparison is utter nonsense. Calling them a team of destiny is the only credit they will be given.
Since then, teams like Norway have tried to recreate the magic but with little results.
Greece played garbage football, similar teams who have zero talent, ie Scotland/Ireland have to score on set pieces via the head, hence their league emulates the sane game plan.
To compare the talent we have to those are likened to calling us Latvia Vs Canada in ice hockey.
Whoever the truth two is, it’s a non conversation like Greece. If they just say foolish nonsense to cause strife then let them reap what they sow.
Truth you will truly reap a giant harvest.
Good Luck 😉
This post is a complete lie. There is no way your mom’s basement has enough room for you to do cross fit.
Great article Markus! Ajmo Vatreni!!!
I think this is the starting 11, with Petkovic being the first sub on for Pasalic or Ivanusec if we need to switch into a 4-4-2 (ie. if we can’t control enough possession with 3 in the middle). The good news is the latter 2 are natural mids, so it wouldn’t burn a sub if we shift.
Croatia has always been doubted and continues to be doubted by the general public. Even after our game with Brazil people kept echoing the “it was luck” phrase every time there was a conversation about that game, atleast that was my experience.
I think that this goes back to my point a while ago where I mentioned, in reference to Broz, that soccer is not all about goals and goalies even though it’s a part of the game. People generally overlook the midfield and what is happening on the other side of the game defensively. And as we have seen it is huge contributing factor to Croatia’s success.
So with regards to the underdogs thing, some things will never change, and it doesn’t seem to hurt the team much. In fact, they seem to do much better as a result of it.
I think Dalic probably will stick with this lineup, but who knows he may change it.
Everything that Dalic has done so far has seemed to work. Where others would have failed, he has succeeded in spades.
I haven’t always agreed with his decisions but then again who am I to judge what he is doing given how far the team has come on multiple occasions.
I think Slavonac’s words were best, in a post a couple threads ago, maybe we should just sit back and trust the guy and let it play out. I am paraphrasing of course.
This isn’t stated as a challenge to your comments Markus…just pointing out. Rather it is in effort to build off of the last thing you said about faith in the team overall.
I’ve been a Dalic supporter for most of his tenure but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t doubt the guy on numerous occasions. Around that 2019-2021 period when we had the underwhelming Euro campaign, I was on the Dalic Out bandwagon. But there is a method to his madness and the guy has produced unreal results in 3/4 of his tournaments. Not to mention he truly loves this country and his job. So he’s proven me wrong and almost every other Hrvat, and now all I can do to return the favour is have faith in him. So going forward I’ve learnt not to question the weird decisions he sometimes makes because although they aren’t always flawless, he sure as hell is right more than he is wrong lol. Let’s pray for tomorrow because I think we’ve got it in us.
I think Dalić having this depth and keeping a healthy locker room is paying off.
It’s hard to get a lineup wrong when there isn’t much dropoff between many of our starters and bench players, and they’re all playing together as a team.
In many circumstances, I could see Majer being disgruntled that Modrić won’t retire (which has prevented him from starting) or seeing guys like Erlić, Stanišić and Šutalo having to take a backseat to guys like Lovren and now Vida.
This has probably impacted their careers and exposure for future transfers, but everyone seems to get along just fine.
You think vida calls it quits after this or hangs with luka and dalic and they all call it quits after euro??
Didn’t Dalić have a contract till 2026?
Some have said on this site dalic leaves with luka…?
Somewhere rakitic is saying man I should have stayed and got revenge for that euro 2012 miss against Spain;)
Rakitić was probably cheering for Spain,,his wife has control over him, he’s a papak
In Dalic’s defence, he’s had the best results ever and the Repka’s biggest issue has always been overuse of vet players and Dinamo contracts.
I seriously doubt we can’t find a striker like Boksic or Suker, in all these years, I firmly believe it’s a Dinamo and National team issue (FYI, I’m a Dinamo fan but hate BS leagues where there’s one horse in the race). Playing favourites to showcase contracts for a certain club as opposed to best player, has always been the issue.
If anything, I’ve seen Dalic slowly break away from this strategy. The broadcasters are still talking about us as a Golden generation. Most of Luka’s original entourage are gone.
That being said, Dalic has been able to add youth in combination with the veterans. I still argue there more youth is needed but who any I.
Just some old fart 💨 with a Argentina 🇦🇷 jab at England 🏴, 😅