Whenever a major tournament arises, there are several players taking part in their final tournament. A superstar such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be looking to make his mark in a difficult group. A country hero like Eiour Guojohnsen has been playing for Iceland since 1996. After twenty years of striving to play in a major tournament, this experience will be satisfying for the 37-year-old striker. Robbie Keane is another big name that will likely be playing in his last major tournament. These are players trying to defeat the odds of their current or inevitable decline.
In 2012, most Croatians mourned the loss of Slaven Bilic following the European Championship. His ability to get the most out of players on most occasions and overall charisma were greatly appreciated. It was a sad farewell for the current West Ham manager. Now headed into Euro 2016, Darijo Srna will be playing in his final tournament. The eight-year captain has been a staple on the right side for Croatia.
Although he isn’t as beloved as Bilic, there are plenty of memorable moments for Srna during his international career. Unfortunately, a combination of poor play during qualifiers, silly antics, and mediocre set pieces outweigh the fullback’s biggest contributions. His career started to decline after replacing Niko Kovac as captain. During the Euro 2012 qualifying stage, Srna came under fire for not showing passion or leadership qualities as captain. Instead, the once-appreciated player was seen rolling on the ground more often than communicating with his teammates.
What can be attributed to Srna’s career is the ability to make an impact in big games. This started during the 2006 World Cup qualifying stage. Despite undergoing a transitional phase, Croatia won seven and drew three out of ten games under Zlatko Kranjcar. Srna played a vital role by scoring five goals in nine games. That included two goals in two close wins against Sweden, which secured them automatic qualification. One of those goals consisted of a blistering free kick in Sweden. His excellence from set pieces continued into the 2006 World Cup.
Srna scores the game-winner against Sweden
After missing a penalty against Japan, it only took three minutes for Srna to make up for the disappointing mistake against Australia. A stunning 30-yard free kick finally injected energy into the team following two goalless games. Although Croatia was knocked out of the tournament by Australia, Srna provided the necessary world-class moment on a squad limited of goal scorers and creative midfielders.
Srna’s goal on the grandest stage of them all.
The golden generation arrived at the qualifying stage of Euro 2008. It didn’t prevent Srna from taking set pieces and being apart of a newly founded creative midfield. Bilic’s switch to a 4-5-1 formation against Germany proved to be crucial following a lackluster win over Austria. This allowed Srna more freedom on the right side, along with giving 20-year-old Ivan Rakitic an opportunity in the starting lineup. An instinctive run by Srna and excellent cross by Danijel Pranjic sparked the biggest win during Bilic’s tenure. By him beating Marcell Jansen to the ball, it was a goal that no fan would ever forget. Everyone witnessed the beginning of the second “golden age” of Croatia from their performances.
One of the biggest goals in Croatian history.
As data shows from the past three major tournaments, Croatia has yet to build off Euro 2008. Instead of intense knockout round games, they’ve endured playoff matchups against Turkey and Iceland to simply qualify for these respective tournaments. No qualifying round has gone smoothly following Euro 2008. Srna took significant criticism from several underwhelming performances and received suspensions for excessive yellow cards. Despite his poor play, the captain stepped up once again.
In the playoff round against Turkey, many fans were nervous about the rematch from Euro 2008. Croatia was coming off a horrific performance against Greece. Nobody knew who were going to be the starting strikers, along with the actual formation. Srna played as a right wing rather than his traditional right back position. It ended up paying off with two assists in a memorable 3-0 win over Turkey. Some can argue that Turkey’s woeful defense provided assistance. In the end, both crosses were delivered in excellent areas for Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka to put Croatia back into the limelight.
One of the most satisfying victories in Croatian history.
That wasn’t the only playoff highlight for Srna. The versatile right back scored against Iceland to seal Croatia’s spot in the 2014 World Cup. Mandzukic’s careless red card initially put them in a difficult position. Iceland only needed a draw in Zagreb to claim their place in the World Cup. Following Mateo Kovacic’s mesmerizing run, he laid a pass off to Srna, who blasted a shot from an awkward angle. A better goalkeeper may have saved it. Nevertheless, it was the goal to put a distraught nation at ease and prevented them from missing out on a second consecutive World Cup.
Srna finishes off Iceland to put Croatia back where they belong.
Srna has received plenty of criticism over the past five years. The disparagement is well justified, considering his status as a captain. Kovac was a fiery leader, who never hesitated to make a 50-50 challenge and left his heart on the field. Many have questioned Srna for the diving antics and declining crossing ability. Replacing Kovac as captain was always going to be a difficult task. He never came close to completing it.
For a player who has played fourteen years with the national team, he deserves our gratitude. Srna has delivered plenty of goals and assists in enormous games. How he performs this summer won’t signify much for his overall career. It could be used to rectify his recent poor performances, most notably in a 2-0 loss to Norway, where Srna was responsible for both goals.
Similar to Euro 2012, expectations aren’t very high. What made the last tournament so memorable was how well Croatia played against European powerhouses such as Spain and Italy. They pushed both finalists to the brink. While morale isn’t necessarily high and questions linger across a disoriented federation, Croatia needs to advance into the knockout stage. That will likely require a special free kick or accurate cross from their captain. This is Srna’s final stand, where he will have plenty of opportunities to make his mark. That starts on Sunday against a team that left him crying nearly eight years ago.
Twitter: @Allen_Strk
Thanks for the article Allen.
Amen
@ Ziva
Remember, as good, practicing Catholics – at the end of the day, we are all on the same team – Isus Krist’s team.
I’m hoping once you depart the fortified basement, you stop at your local church before heading to the airport and going to France. Make sure you get a few Oce Nase and Zdravo Marije’s in for us on the site and the repka before you depart.
@Step TO…..here is the litmus test. Would that same player wear a jersey with your name on the back. I doubt it. If he wouldn’t, you shouldn’t either. There is no need to disrespect your last name by honoring/jocksniffing another man.
I live the za dom spremni lifestyle. You don’t see me walking around with “Pavelic” on my back or “Isus Krist”.
We will not get out coached. Cacic will do just fine.
Za Dom
@Stipe
Blasphemy!
Nobody insults the man who singlehandedly dropped Pranjić from the team, increasing our odds to progress from the group by 300%
That move alone, is good enough coaching for me.
My blue Lovren and white Halilovic jerseys will be getting plenty of love this month!
I hope Croatia does well. But my main concern is not Srna or what players we put on the field. It’s our coach. No matter how good we play, we will get OUTCOACHED.
Younger or older it shouldn’t matter. Represent you country and players period! We’re not a bunch of wops here with a population of 50 million. You should be proud to wear a Modric or Rakitic jersey their one of us.
@Stef T.O
Take it easy, bit over the top don’t you think? I don’t care if you wear a jersey with Modric’s name on it.
I just would’ve called Ziva a jocksniffer, because according to him that’s jocksniffing.
But Stef, if you’re younger than Modric you’re OK, you’re not a jocksniffer even in Ziva’s book.
Who the f*** cares if you wear a jersey with a players name on it? If I wear a Cro jersey with Modric I’m representing myself, country and proud of the best midfielder in the world. He’s like my brother and blood I’m proud of him. Anyone that thinks that’s embarrassing go put on a Serb jersey you f**** homo shame on you. I hate people that make stupid comments like that!
@ T Bone Norval sounds good maybe even Streetsville Park. I believe. It should be packed on Sunday because of the picnic. I’ll be wearing a Modric jersey 😉
Good answer Ziva, I would’ve called you jocksniffer.
@CroatianPerson85…….It just wouldn’t happen. I can’t justify disgracing my family name by wearing the name of another person on my back. I wear the jersey, just not the name of someone else. It’s just wrong. And honestly, kind of weird to have the name of a person younger than you
dkf
srna definitely presents serious pletikosa risk
although that is a really low bar…it might’ve been a different tournament in 2014 if pletikosa didn’t let anything in that rolled near the net
mandzukic presents serious pletikosa risk down the road as well cause it could be tough to not start him….maybe already????? only 1 of croatia’s 20 goals in qualifiers. hopefully not…looked much better in the second half of the season… but man was he cold from the 2nd half of la liga last year through the first half of eerie a this year
Where will all of you living in Toronto and surrounding GTA be watching the games? T Bone mentioned Norval…let me know where you are all going…
Are we 100% sure Srna is going to retire from international soccer?
Hey Stef TO what’s up? How you doing? Going to Norval on Sunday?
I can’t blame Srna just because he said yes to being captain.
If Cro asked me I would say yes without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I would give everything for them if I could. I don’t fault him at all neither should you. We should be upset at the guy who asked him to be captain.
Allen thank you for that article very well done.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again Srna at 33 years old needs to go back to RW and Sime behind him.
That midfield would be lights out and give Srna enough legs to finish the tournament.
USA looking great! 3-0 at half-time! I wonder if the same guy who insisted that Landon Donovan is better than Ivan Rakitic is now going to say Bobby Wood is better than Ivan Perisic!
I can’t blame Srna just because he said yes to being captain.
If Cro asked me I would say yes without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I would give everything for them if I could. I don’t fault him at all neither should you. We should be upset at the guy who asked him to be captain.
Allen thank you for that article very well done.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again Srna at 33 years old needs to go back to RW and Sime behind him.
That midfield would be lights out and give Srna enough legs to finish the tournament.
Burak Yilmaz was no joke before he went to China
@Poglavnik
Hey man you shouldn’t talk about Hakan Unusal that way. He’s really good for the throw ins. He is #1 in Asia Minor
Prediction for Sunday; 3-1 to the good guys! Goals from Mandzukic, Srna, Perisic, and some bum that no one outside of Turkey’s heard of.
Agreed and Turkey is in the Middle East
Damn ran out of characters…. and the attacking channels worked out. My prediction : 1-1.
@Ziva
If you had to wear a Croatian soccer jersey with a name of a player on the back who would it be?
For Pete’s sake Ziva just pick one, we won’t call you a jock sniffer!
Man its hard not to get caught up in the hype for these major soccer tourneys. Contrary to someone else’s opinion this current Cro team is pretty different from ’08. No N. Or R Kovac, no Big Joe, no Golic… no Pleti… what disappoints me is Lovren didn’t step up and stake his claim as a first choice starter; he did worse getting booted off the team. I think Perisic is a stud… Subaru has done great replacing Pleti…. we need that DM player or players to really step it up and Raketa and Modric to shine. If Mandzu plays like he did for Juve (tracking back… being a general nuisance…) it might make room for the mids and wingers to counter, instead of him just being the sole target man.
For Sundays game I think the key is intensity. Turkey is gonna be fully charge and primed… Cro will have to match their intensity or could find themselves a goal down early. Turkey will not give any respect so the play has to be fast and fluid and the attacking
@ CroatianPerson85 – Yes, it absolutely hurt us – that was my point.
I keep wondering if there is some unwritten rule that almost all national teams follow – that you don’t replace a veteran star performer from the past until they obviously play themselves out of a spot.
…on the World stage – even though coaches and fans know there are younger more in-form players available.
It happened to Spain at the last World Cup as well.
@Bobby V
Agreed, I know what you’re saying regarding keeping a few older players but didn’t that hurt us by playing Pletikosa over Subasic?
How many older players play in place of younger players in better form?
The Italians did that for years. Italians were notorious for letting older players play out of respect and I am sure for other reasons as well but that hurt the Italians in a few tournaments. Everyone would always say they were old and they showed it with their play. It looks like they have since changed their ways considering the older players weren’t good enough to allow Italy to continue to play their defensive and counter attack soccer which worked for years. Things need to evolve or change if the system isn’t working the same way Brazil didn’t have the iconic players we’re used to seeing in the past (Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Adriano, Kaka etc) who were good enough to allow Brazil to play their fancy, technical ginga circus soccer this past World Cup and because of that they were hammered by Germany.
I agree with you when you’re referring to having a few older players but that can hurt a team when you have an arguably better player in better form on the bench. Just my opinion.
Srna will be fine. Every national team drags a few past their prime veterans into a major tournament.
It happened to us at World Cup 2014 with Pletikosa, Pranjic and Olic.
After Euro 2016, I don’t think we will be talking about Srna in the same way
@everyone
Guys Srna has put in his fair share but that was a while ago. His last big goal, Iceland, was a very important goal (all the credit given to him.) I am not hating on him but I think we were all surprised that shot went in, the whether wasn’t the greatest.
My point is, aside from that goal vs Iceland, it’s been a while since he’s done something significant. 2004, 06 and 08 was a while ago.
Srna simply isn’t the same player. His age has caught up with him. Hard to imagine him being announced as having the fastest sprint time on x metres at the World Cup in 2014 when I look back. It was only 2 years ago.
Croatia’s talent has been the same since Euro 1996.
Average goaltender, average defense, above average midfield.
The difference in 1998 was Davor Suker – a goal scorer.
When Croatia’s next great striker shows up, we will have another deep run into a tournament. Hard to believe that we are still waiting.
Spain loses its last friendly today 0-1 to Georgia.
So Srna’s own personal interests are above what’s best for the team. I thought Cacic supposedly left out Halilovic for the same reason. I remember when Srna could barely compose himself against Brazil at the World Cup, a good captain knows when it’s time to step down. He’s more likely to become the next ‘Pletikosa’.
Rakitic and modric are different players today compared to 08
Brozovic is great
This team is not that similar to 08
Reality is, since 2008, the team is little changed. That is not a good thing, you would hope some new talent would have emerged (perisic maybe counts). So for me this tournament rests on whether this group wants to have a swan song. That is up to them and we cant predict it.
23 years ago today, we lost a legend – our captain.
http://hoopshype.com/2016/06/07/things-nba-personalities-said-about-the-legendary-drazen-petrovic/
when u read about srna’s charitable side makes you have to cheer for the guy
lets hope he puts in a crazy last tournament and gives us some magic
guys look on the bright side, we neither have sranjic or samir getting time on the team
things are looking good;)
I think Srna is going to play at an extreme:
He’s either going to play like a madman and leave it out on the pitch.
Or he’s going to put in a stinker or two in our first games, to the point where Cacic will have to move Vrsajlko to RB and maybe slot Srna in the midfield?
No way in hell does Cacic bench Srna for a game in France. He wouldn’t have the nuts to do that.
It would be really nice if Croatia wins their group. The two favorites, IMO, are France and Germany. If Croatia get first, they are on the opposite side of the playoff draw of those two teams (assuming France and Germany win their groups). Their half would be England group winner and the Portugal group winner. Of course with Croatia, nothing is guaranteed. They could get first and then lose to a 3rd place team in the second round. Whereas getting 2nd would get them a playoff draw of Belgium/Italy in the second round, then Germany in the quarters and France in the semis. Hmm, those last two sound familiar. A repeat of 1998 would be nice. But a different outcome in the semis would be better.
T Bone
The point was to talk about his highs-lows, along with how he can still make a difference in the tournament.
There’s nothing “golden” about our ’08 team. “Golden Generation” should be reserved for teams that actually win championships at some point.
Petar
First 2 games I believe the away blue jersey
Last game vs Spain home jersey
Weird article in Srna. Seems pretty ambivalent, either the guy is celebrated for being a Croatian centurion or should be lamented as Captain due to perceived deficiencies. Either way the article doesn’t reach a strong conclusion.
If anyone wants to read a great summary of Croatia’s Euro lineup go to UK site Guardian.com here:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2016/jun/01/euro-2016-the-complete-guide-to-every-squad-and-every-player-in-france
Good insider info provided.
what color jerseys you think we wear for the group games
My dad spoke to cacic to
i didn’t speak to my friend from the team today…those guys have been traveling and getting set up so i’ve been leaving him be….but like i mentioned last time, what i hear from him is most guys on the team get the joke that srna is not what he used to be and vrsaljko should probably be starting…but most are at peace with it cause srna is generally well liked and people feel he deserves his curtain call…vrsaljko of course is frustrated by it, but he gets it too and knows that he’ll have the RB spot for the next several years after this tournament
If Belgium come in first and Croatia come in first they will not play round of 16
@dejan
safe trip
…u zatvoru.
you said it, long live Mamic
If it weren’t for Maminjo we would still have a EURO 2004 squad.
Idemo
I leave tomorrow for Paris so whatever post is the newest well communicate on that
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/06/ivan-perisic-croatia-chicken-farm
perisic article from your boy holiga…pretty interesting
\
if not for perisic, where would the repka be? showing himself to be quite a talented player….his free kick with his left foot against san marino was better than all of srna’s righty free quicks over the past 10 years
But I think all of the teams in Belgium’s group are flawed – Italy isn’t what it used to be, Sweden is Zlatan and not much else and Ireland is Ireland. If Croatia does get second place in group play, they shouldn’t be too worried about having to play the first place team in Belgium’s group.
I think Belgium has paper champion syndrome. They probably have one of the deepest squads at this Euro but I’m not sure they make it deep into the knockouts (semi’s and further)
I have Belgium as first place. I want to actually pick Austria to win Portugal’s group. I think they are a team to watch out for.
You have Belgium coming in third place in their group?
As far as I can remember, Srna’s 2006 WC free kick against Australia was the last free kick goal he scored. So 10 years ago. Every time I see Croatia line up for a free kick on goal, I cringe when I see him line up to take it. Rakitic, Modric and Perisic are all much better options.
Here’s the Euro 2016 predictor. I filled in Croatia as first place in the group (not that I necessarily think that will happen, but there’s a chance). The draw is pretty good after that if it happens. But we know that does not assure us anything, as Turkey in 2008 showed us.
http://europredictor.uefa.com/bracket/newprediction