In one of the most wild World Cup group finale days ever, Croatia survived multiple Romelu Lukaku 2nd half attempts and Japan came back from the dead to beat Spain 2-1 to top their group. With those two results, Croatia will not play Spain or Germany in the Round of 16, as originally anticipated, but they will face off with the Blue Samurais of Japan instead. The match takes place Monday, December 5th at at 10AM (ET).
It’s absolutely wild to think how today could have finished for Croatia. One Lukaku goal and the Vatreni would have been knocked out of the tournament. However, they finished second behind Morocco with a 0-0 Belgium draw which meant a clash with Spain in the Round of 16 was 90% inevitable. And now, out of the blue, it will be Croatia v. Japan in what has to be an absolutely ideal matchup for Luka Modrić and company.
Big question: Did Spain play for the loss today to setup a match with Morocco on the easier side of the draw? The only thing that would have messed up that plan was a Costa Rica win over Germany, which nearly happened as well. With Spain’s loss today, they get through to the knockout rounds and don’t have to face Croatia/Brazil the next two matches.
Did they lose on purpose or accident?
I wouldn’t think even use zorro for toilet paper..my shits to good for you..now go kill yourself ..zorro you complete loser govno..you should be ashamed unless you kiss the feet of every cro you meet for the rest of your life..if not..jump in front of a bus to make yourself useful..poor serb..thank God I’m not a serb chetnik.
lolllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Japan 1-0 Utases you fucking country is a fucking garbage
Let’s not forget the Fifa payed-off crooked Yuichi Nishimura officiating during the 2014 opening game against Brazil in the world cup. There was no VAR to help us as we were mugged and robbed in front of the entire world. Let’s dole out some payback on Monday!!!
Second round exits are for scrub nations.
We need start and play all the studs Monday and lay the wood Croatian style.
Please start our best athletic players.
Budimir is made for Japan.
Budimir is a bum
This is where dalic is an idiot..
He needed musa or Čolak. And against japan he needs quick legs up front big time,,and Lovren is to slow to defend
Samo Gaas protiv japanszi undana Brazilci ce dobit po picki =U=
So do the recent events of the last 2 WC’s cement the position of German Croats to choose our squad over theirs when there is a doubt?
Is Gabriel vidovic fully ours or does he have a choice of still representing Germany ?
I’m pretty sure he’s ours but I’m not 💯 on that.
Forget Germany
We will have guys wanting to jump ship to play for us soon;)
Vidovic can still play for Germany, until he plays for Croatia at senior level i.e. WC or Euro qualifier.
Not sure if UEFA NL matches count ?
So Serbia chokes again. They were in recent history viewed as great defenders and it got them nowhere. Now they have the ability to score but can’t keep it out of the net.
Here’s the lesson:
Being a Pot 3 team is a massive handicap. Your FIFA ranking matters. A lot.
Being serbia matters. It’s a handicap in itself. There’s a literal comment war going on at vecernji and on youtube & reddit. Sore losers with salty comments. Same story as every World Cup with those pesky chetniks. They huff and puff and then go out with a fizzle.
Idemo jako brazil if we pass japan quarter finals imagine brazil choke v korea semi final croatia usa hahaha nice to dream
I guess they needed Neymar, more than they thought though. They haven’t been blowing anyone’s socks off, like 6-1 ,etc.
I agree with dalic all our strikers are good in their own way
But I guess budimir is the only one with some pace and if we dont play him we should have brought a musa or colak
Musa or another type like him is what’s missing to change the look of our attack
I really do think if we are struggling to score in euro qualifiers we try Perisic at striker role with orsic on the wing
Perisic can still run but he shouldn’t have to do as much as he does
He would provide plenty of pressure and while not always completely lethal with scoring would probably create more chances alone then the other guys if needed
If I’m seeing thigns correctly, if switzerland scores one more goal and beats serbia 4-2, and cameroon can score a goal on Brazil and win 1-0. Switzerland will move to first in the group and fall on Croatia’s side instead of Brazil
Wouldn’t it be funny for Croatia to have all this luck. Lukaku highest expected goals without a goal in 25 years, Japan beats spain to face croatia instead, switzerland crush serbia and cameroon beat brazil to move brazil out of croatia’s path
and then croatia loses to japan 1-0.
wow…almost happened
Too good to be “The Truth”
@ 36 min
Perisic sprinting back full speed 50+ yards to break-up Belgium rush
Unreal
wildcard here for Croatia will be Orsic/ Majer – just when do you put them on? Majer always seems to score or be dangerous off the bench
True and same with orsic
Tho both really haven’t had true starter type mins for the repka as far as I know
Kinda hoping uruguay would go through. They hate Brazil and at the very least they would have physically pounded the heck out of them which matters a lot.
While I agree. At least Brazil won’t be familiar with how S Korea play. Not expecting much though
I think Brazil are shaking in their boots at the thought of Playing Livaja & Petkovic in the quarter finals. Has their been any two strikers as slow as this pair in the history of the World Cup?
It will work out okay if we get Bruno Petkovic to flop on contact, during back pass attempt, in from of the Brazil goal box, to extract our final “Fred” revenge. I would love to see that. Yaba daba dooo!
Agreed Bruno is a much better flopper then Marko. Kramaric also looks like he is playing in slow motion most of the time…..only works against Canada unfortunately. Is this the slowest Croatian world cut team of all time?
Olic and Mandzukic were always running. Mandzukic last goal was typical Mario hustle. People used to make fun of Niko Kranjcar as slow. Bottom heavy like our current options. I saw youtubes on Ante Budimir, did see a lot of foot goals vs. header type goals, which I thought there would be, an advantage against Japan. Wish they brought Musa. Us fans were never 100% satisfied with Olic or Mandzukic either during their time.
No one ever doubted Olic’s hustle. he left it all out on the field.
Iconoclastic Olic, still one of my all time favorite players.
They look like a couple of cows out in the field.
Geez Japan and Korea going good, amazing, good on ’em
Insanity
What a World Cup
Guys we are in it
Like someone said below
Lots of ugly ways to get through
Argentina was bad at our group in Russia then made a run
Pretty sure when Portugal won euro 2016 they limped in with three ties
Monday it really starts
We know we haven’t played our best game yet… let’s get it!!
Lukyuku Four Left foot Clover – Ditelina S Četri Lista
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dalmatino
I think what I saw with Japan Spain game it will be similar to ours, we will control a lot
Either it’s just the Spain match or the whole tourney but Japan had less then 18 percent posession
Spain got in trouble a couple of times especially the keeper trying to be too cute with tiki taka
They will press the crap out of livakovic and our back line
They have nothing to lose, it’s worked really well for them thus far and against a possession type team in Spain which I’m sure they will view us as similar
I didn’t watch the German match. It would be good to do that tho over the weekend
I worry any of the lovren back passes to liva could cost us
You can see the diff between gvardiol and lovren
Gvardis 5th option is back to livakovic
Lovren is like number 2 option;)
Just something to be mindful
Japan’s press reminded me of ours in Russia
Livaja didn’t even look like he was trying to press but even if he was it’s too slow to add any issues
I wouldn’t personally mind seeing a half from budimir…he as well is certainly capable of getting hot
And yes Belgium had the overall more dangerous chances. I think deep down our guys especially luka knew unlikely we would beat courtois with anything less then a well above average opportunity that they were trying to create
To paraphrase Ante, ” As Perisic’s fortunes go, so does Croatia’s”. Seems like Ivan is still central but usually we needed at least 3 direct goals from him and 1 from modric to move ahead. We got neither, but they are still the father figures in the background pulling the strings to make the wedding day with the trophy, and to lead the singing around the bar, and on the table. They are no longer the groom or groom’s men but the father facilitators of the event.
Don’t know much about Petkovic, but it seems like he has a knack of acting like a tradition center in basketball on most and making back passes to others for the final set up.
Sosa has to change his black boots! Awful! Makes him look frumppy and slow.
Luke Skywalker Frumpy Sock/Footwear “Piston Pete Maravich” style is the way he rolls. I kind of like is retro unique self-expression.
Seems like Sosa crosses, in the Belguim game, were not accurate, in most cases, went across the box, rather than landing in the box. Can’t they practice, Sosa semi-set pieces. No one is where his passes are landing. They look nice and serviceable for a ghost we can’t see. We need to employ some center backs on a rainy day in russian, for this approach to work. Shots for goal, were not within goal frame to start a discussion. Hope he does better. Juranovic seems to work hard but is he are best choice.
I’m still trying to figure out why Livaja was so piss poor yesterday? Was it just an off day or was he just being lazy? Not sure if he should see one more minute of action.
Gvardiol
https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-sports-soccer-international-middle-east-f1e4684152535efc808fca6dd7743cae
Interesting
So dalic is staying till euro from that article
I really hope he brings in more youth to at least try out after this
@=U= and other ppl who think the ball was out of bounds
“That second Japan goal shouldn’t have counted. The ball was so out of play.”
It was the correct call. From the side view the ball wasn’t touching the white line, however from a top down angle we can see that the ball is actually in play by about 2mm.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/wMqeJA8UKzHrBdLeLwYrfA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2022-12/96665580-71bd-11ed-93f6-fca6eef59ac1
On your keyboard press “command +” (on mac) or “CTRL +” on windows. Zoom in all the way, you can see a sliver of the ball over the white line.
The same thing happened to us, but it was actually well out of bounds in our case…yet they continued the play.
I believe Cigan posted a bunch of Lovren’s mistakes below, and it was in one of the videos.
Maybe VAR would have corrected the call if Belgium scored there, but it was weird that it still ended up as a corner kick after we cleared it out.
@ maminjo
I kind of disagree. Was any croatia chance that dangerous? Looks like they were all saved comfortable enough.
Croatia had 3 chances I can recall. Kovacic shot, which Courtouis made look more difficult than needed. Brozovic from the center which was likely the best chance. And then Modric lefty shot, which in the end, just was not that threatening.
And we really can’t feel great about that penalty shot. Firstly, it was not a penalty cause it was an offisde. So can’t count something that simply did not happen.
Also, it wasn’t like that penalty was drawn from croatia producing anything too dangerous. The Belgium player just got clumsy and barely touched kramaric
Modric, Krama, Kova, Sosa and Perisic all had the ball in the box and didn’t put it on goal.
Sosa had a shot available to him on goal, but chose to cross it for some reason even though he was already in the box.
We were dangerous getting into their box, but I think we were just overpassing and trying to look for the perfect goal.
Belgium did not waltz into our box the way we were waltzing into theirs.
Belgium was happy to take whatever they could. They were just throwing it on net, and seeing what would happen…and some chances did happen as a result.
They were more desperate with their chances, whereas we were being picky for some reason.
But on any stat sheet this would look as if Belgium had more chances. But they didn’t. They had less than we did this game.
hey Sosa, just for fun, set up like your going to do a cross and actually shoot on net – the whole side is open –
Braco moja this is an uspjeh in my books. We got out of the group boli me kurac how.
How many times have germany england italy argentina brazil Portugal get out of groups with pure luck amd make a run.
Sometimes you need luck people forget that we have had more bad than good luck at tournaments
This is the first Game 3 of world cup were we needed a result and got it.
2018 Was not must win.
1998 we lost but already qualified
2002 Ekvador
2006 Australija
2014 Meksiko
And finally got a result im proud iznad svi Hrvatska
yes, sir > Miki. We should be proud and to see so many non Croatians going for us is amazing. We got lucky so let’s see if we can play a solid 90 minutes against Japan and leave it all out there. We got through and I don’t think Modric has had a good game yet so that is something I say we get against Japan- he can see them eye to eye-LOL
It has been said before, but CROATIA WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY YESTERDAY!
We should be going home. And that should have been Luka Modric’s last game.
So lets look at the stats.
On expected goals, the score should’ve been 3.2-.75 Belgium over Croatia
Lukaku himself had 1.7 expected goals… which is the most by any player to not actually score a goal dating back to 1996.
This was simply remarkable that Lukaku did not score.
Some of the chances I think were not as clean maybe as the analytics pick up. As mentioned, he hit the post cause he had to curve around Gvardiol. The header in front of the goal was arguably from a ball that went out of bounds. One just bounced off his leg that he didn’t see.
I know a lot of people were bashing Lovren, but he played excellent. It looked like he played terrible but he was really just playing 4-D chess.
By making moves so unexpected, he continuously caught Lukaku off guard. Sometimes he was even able to coorindate with Livakovic to confuse the other team.
On the final Lukaku chance by the baseline, Lovren completely had him fooled making Lukaku believe he was going to head it off the goal line. Right into Lovren’s web, Lukaku was shocked when Lovren let the header go through and fall right to Lukaku’s feet at the baseline. Baffled and surprised, he blundered it.
Dalic actually has the whole team training now under Lovren to learn these ninja tactics. Gvardiol has been the biggest resister insisting when the ball comes near you in front of the goal you should hit it away. Dalic has been stern with him and warned him though that anymore of that non sense talk and he might get the Nikola Kalinic treatment.
Nah.
Croatia dominated for 60 minutes and Belgium dominated for 30.
Lukaku had a lot of fake close chances.
Nobody takes into consideration that we carried the ball multiple times into their box, but chose not to shoot (looking for the pass).
Those won’t count as shots by any of these metrics, but they were clear cut chances.
Also, having a PK called back is the closest chance of the game. Doubt that gets captured in any statistical metric either.
Lesson learned is that we need to stop looking for the perfect shot on goal, and just take any opening. Could have easily scored multiple goals today in that first hour where we dominated play and had all the chances.
“Dalic actually has the whole team training now under Lovren to learn these ninja tactics. Gvardiol has been the biggest resister insisting when the ball comes near you in front of the goal you should hit it away. Dalic has been stern with him and warned him though that anymore of that non sense talk and he might get the Nikola Kalinic treatment.”
Haha. Lovren is aggressive and physically strong but thats just about the only positives about him. His anticipation and defensive awareness is possibly the worst i’ve ever seen. He simply processes information slower than the average person.
Petković cannot start as he can’t play more than 30 minutes against Japan.
Budimir is a horse that plays in La Liga, which is the closest thing to the quick skilled Japan side.
Majer is made for Japan as his slick skills and movement are necessary, and he can create scoring actions of which we sorely need.
Erlic for Lovren.
You better score 2 goals plus if you want to beat Japan as they will all out for 90+ minutes.
We had a tough group phase.
Modrić and Perišić heavy minutes.
Brozovic looks better and better. He must be healthy. He is due for a moment. His ability to hold down CDM role while facilitating the offensive flow has been impressive.
Kovačić has been his explosive self. Could he give us a goal and put to bed all the doubters?
Modrić has given his heart and Soul. His 37 yr old legs may need a break late in the game Monday.
We have got to support him with a second half sub.
His presence to start games is a blessing and gives us confidence against anyone.
Dalic can’t burn him out in the second half.
We need to handle our business within the regular 90. That extra time run last World Cup took our legs out.
We have the quality to beat Japan if Dalic tweaks the line up and the tactics.
There is no way that you can start the same 11 of Canada/Belgium against Japan.
The Japan coach plays a tactical set up for 90+. He knows his players will stick together through adversity and have the quality to send home Germany and beat Spain.
We are a different side as we too have a collective power of Croatia. We just need a bit more energy up top and on the RW.
Japan actually has some pretty tall center backs, so maybe our height advantage is not as big as we thought. However, they will be mismatched on corner kicks anyway because their midfielders are all short. Petković could get the start because of his solid performance against Belgium, but my guess is that Dalić keeps the same lineup. Stanisić for Juranović could be a good idea, but then again, Juranović played really hard against Belgium. The team defending system worked, with Kramarić and Perisić so fit that they could track all the way back to the box when needed.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/asparagus-psychic-makes-world-cup-28539537?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
Remember the asparagus lady prediction
This is a newer article
She had us winning last year and then I saw this
She told the Sun: “I only see England getting as far as the quarter-finals, I don’t see them progressing any further.
“I have predicted that Croatia will win, and I could also see the letter B, so that suggests that they will be either facing Brazil or Belgium in the final.”
She can’t be perfect but we took out Belgium and now Brazil!!!
I’ll take it!!!;)
Ha ha, yeah, I remember this kook too, from last year. Let’s hope the crazy twat is correct and we get our revenge for 2018 and the north african team.
How many times have we seen FIFA sabotage us?
Ok then. https://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/rubrika/sp-2022/neka-pati-koga-smeta-hrvatska-obrana-pliva-i-ima-srece-gol-treba-znati-zabiti-vatreni-su-sada-najopasniji—754577.html?itm_source=HomeTopRow&itm_medium=Dnevnik&itm_campaign=Naslovnicahttps://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/rubrika/sp-2022/neka-pati-koga-smeta-hrvatska-obrana-pliva-i-ima-srece-gol-treba-znati-zabiti-vatreni-su-sada-najopasniji—754577.html?itm_source=HomeTopRow&itm_medium=Dnevnik&itm_campaign=Naslovnica
Now we just need someone to knock off brazil in their round of 16 lol
anything is possible this wc
You think Brazil lose to Portugal or Ghana. Yeah no way.
No, i dont “think” it will happen, but i didnt “think” Morocco would beat belgium, Japan would beat spain and germany, Saudi beats Argentina etc etc. I’m saying it would be NICE if it happened and this wc has had a lottttt of upsets. It’s incredibly unlikely but i will be hoping for it of course.
Who cares about how great Brazil are.
As elite as they are, it still took them 83 minutes to score on lowly Switzerland (who don’t have anything close to the talent of Gvardiol in the back).
We’ve been great defensively despite Lovren and Juranović, and we would probably hold Brazil to a 0:0 draw.
Sounds crazy, but if Serbia could hold them very well for a half…and Switzerland could do it for almost a full game…then Gvardiol could probably do it by himself for the full 90.
I bet the game would be decided in extra time or PKs.
I think starting Majer, Orsic and Stanisic could benefit us. Japan has insane speed and could easily outrun Lovren and Jurnaovic. Pasalic as a sub possibly again but earlier? We need the big guys to step in the box. Also, Three of Japans central are on yellow cards. I like the sounds of that. I have a funny feeling we get a penalty call on Monday.
Agree, all valid points. Also agree it’s time to let especially Juranovic and Lovren rest against Japan, they have to much speed for those slow pokers. I don’t think it would be wise to let Petkovic play either, better put on Budimir, he’s tall AND fast so would wreak havoc inside the Japanese box.
My takeaways from all three group games is how solid we’ve been in central defence. Livakovic has upped his game, Gvardiol is more comfortable in his role. Sosa clicks well at the wing. We had numerous chances today against Belgium. There’s no shame in a draw. Courtois the best goalkeeper in the world right now. Belgium were hanging on for dear life. Then we were at the end. A draw against Belgium and Morocco aren’t results that should be looked down upon. Morocco will be a dark horse and cause frustration against Spain. Morocco have only conceded a goal and it was an own goal. They’re goaltending is on point. They play as a unit.
Belgium were mentally broken after today. Gvardiol is the reason why we are still in this World Cup.
Japan are a force that can be go from the worst to the best in a split second. They are an inconsistent team that relies on long balls and shoot from a far distance. That second Japan goal shouldn’t have counted. The ball was so out of play. Why can’t we get calls like that? Lol
Japan’s central defence are the weakness. They can’t handle counter attacks. The long balls is what killed us against Spain in the Euros. Germany gets eliminated Asian teams two straight world cups.
Let’s pray that we don’t go goalless again. Two out of three games is unacceptable. Although, we had two
of the strongest goalkeepers in the tournament. Japan have beaten Spain. Beating Germany isn’t impressive.
Also, why wasn’t there a penalty called on Perisic? That wasn’t offside. Corrupt FIFA refs.
Lukaku was so unlucky to miss that shot. Why did we have three defenders ball watching?! Josko got caught on that play. Only mistake of the game could’ve knocked us out.
Let’s beat Japan. We humbled Canada then broke Belgium. Amjo decki.
ZDS
I agree with others
I don’t feel JJ is bringing anything crazy offensively
Somewhere vrsaljko is regretting his retirement
Stanisic to shore up that side and Luka to get more freedom
Whoever on the wing
Majer/vlasic/krama
Love to see some majer
I would probably start budimir against a more offensive or controlling team but I feel Japan willl give us most of the ball
So maybe petko to work through the bunker
He made some good touches
It’s crazy the talent he has if only he was super fit to go with it
So maybe budimir later for some energy and pressure??
Too late to call musa;)?
They should totally let teams call one phone a friend during the tournament
One mulligan
I have to watch the whole game all I saw were the highlights so I cannot really comment. But from the highlights, it did seem as though Croatia controlled the game or had more chances for the first 60 to 65 mins.
Look it’s Belgium man, the second placed team in the world. Plus they were on the back foot due to the last two games. I never thought this would be an easy game for us, and I had a strong feeling Belgium would come out swinging and they did.
As mentioned below that VAR call was a slim margin and the way that offside calls go now it’s ridiculous but I get it it’s still offside. Even still that was really poor luck both Modric and Kovacic were unlucky with some of the shots as well. Personally that game, based on highlights, could have gone either way. This for me was the true test for us and I think for Dalic as well to see if this new line or system works. I won’t say much again because I didn’t watch the game yet so I am hoping it’s available tomorrow on demand on my app.
You need to seize the day against Japan.
Need fresh legs to match the intensity.
Japan beat Germany and Spain in succession.
We need fresh ideas up top and on the right flank.
Our midfield plays well but needs more options to work with them through the middle and the left.
I actually think starting Stanisic and Majer on the right makes sense.
You are going to need to sub both of them in the second half as Japan game plans for 90+.
Why does Petković get the call and has done squat?
Budimir is due and he would be highly effective for 60+.
We got to think 60/30 with minutes against Japan.
Asking too much of Perišić and Modrić.
“Japan beat Germany and Spain in succession.”
••
Wrong. They beat Germany, then lost to Costa Rica, then beat Spain.
Is Livakovic good saving penalties?
I don’t think so.
I remember that one Europa qualifier where it went to a PK shootout that lasted for like 10 or 11 penalties lol. He had like 10 out of 11 go in.
Forgot who it was against. Some Balkan or Eastern Euro team that we had to beat to go to the next qualifying round.
No It was Amreeka where you reside
Thoughts….
Lukaku – need to build this guy a statue outside of HNS HQ.
Gvardiol – the real deal. Impressive. Monster. Dude is King Leonidas in 300. absolute animal defender.
Petkovic runs around like it’s Sunday league in the selo and had a few too many beers the night before. dude is fluffy and needs to slim down, or stop lifting wieghts. He looks like Brazil’s Ronaldo a la 2006. but not as good. He’s not good enough to jog around the pitch and make magic happen when he gets the ball, he doesnt chase defenders, he isn’t great technically, he doesnt shoot. What does he do? Can i go out there and play striker? HNS come to Cleveland and check out my sunday league, i score like 3 goals a game and i promise to quit smoking (maybe).
Livaja inconsistent, lazy. Had a good finish vs Canada. But its mighty mighty Canada – i expect us to score 4 goals against that glorified MLS team. Do we expect any less?
Juranovic – Scary defensively. Going on box to box runs in the 92nd minute of the game and leaving us exposed in the back. WAT?!
Livakovic – holy shit Livakovic. Just re watching the game right now and as i type this in the 84th minute 35th second the dude was a lost puppy in his box – forgot where he was i think? or maybe had some Kuna on belgium winning 1-0???? Peresic almost slapped him on the field. he probably got his ass kicked in the locker room. dude was doing as much as possible to allow a goal.
Lovren – wish he got a yellow today so he could take the next game off. Missing the header in the 90th minute with Lukaku on your back, holy christ.
Japs are gonna be interesting. Quick little kamikaze dragonball Z dudes. I dont know much about them, except we beat them on 98, and tied them in 2006, but thats a lifetime ago.
imagine they are fit and quick. In the past there used to be a lot of brazillian influence in japanese soccer. So wonder if they are still a brazil lite, need to watch their games over. might be a nice warm up for brazil the following game. Clearly they can hang with the big boys, but are also prone to losing a howler like vs costa rica.
Hope we get a Morocco/Croatia final. Flip FIFA on it’s head.
Real Madrid forum are blowing their loads over gvardi. I told these guys Months ago and they are like whatever
Sutalo the biggest potential bargain to get Croatias next best young defender
Šutalo is pretty much Leipzig property.
If he was starting this World Cup, then his price would’ve gone too far up for Leipzig…but lucky for them, Dalić chose Lovren.
Leipzig just this dirty middle man I’ll take this shine it up make it less Balkan and more Germanesque and cha Ching
Absolutely need to win on Monday, Japan cannot replicate what they did today. We need someone or someone’s to step up in the goal scoring department
I wish Dalic would play the defenders he used during Nations League final games…is there something wrong with going back to that? (Injury, something we don’t know about?)
He buckled under pressure from Lovren.
Otherwise, it would probably be Erlić or Šutalo back there.
Interesting comment. Why do you think that Lovren has this much influence over Dalic?
Because Dalić is a people pleaser and values relationships more than his tactics/lineups.
Lovren is probably friends with several teammates and would kick up a storm if he were to be benched, creating lockerroom issues.
Dalić starts players in key qualifiers based on geography. The Splićani started in the Russia game in Split, the Osijećani started in the Slovakia game in Osijek, etc. We actually lost points because of this.
He lets guys disrespect him (like Kalinić, Rebić, etc) but won’t do anything unless it’s some big unanimous decision made by others.
Called up Vida over more capable depth players in this tournament, just to give him his 100th cap.
The list goes on.
Would it be shocking if we get a header goal against Japan? Dilly- Dalic isn’t bright enough to expose those advantages but it’s there
Honestly kinda suspicious 2nd half from Spain, but whatever! I’d much rather play Japan than Spain, and Spain probably dosnt want to get in to a midfield battle with Croatia… now no more jockeying for group leverage, just go win the game! This fits our playing style much more! The boys can play free!
Croatia played well.
We easily had all the good chances in the first half, and we dominated the first part of the second half. It was in the latter part of the second half where we gave Belgium too much of the ball, but that was largely due to Belgium making smart substitutions and Dalic just sitting on his hands.
The biggest negative in the game was that we stopped pressuring Belgium’s backline and allowed them to set up their offense and play their game (despite our dominance in the first half and early in the second). This was thanks in large part to Perisic and Kramaric pressuring the Belgian defense (in addition to carrying the offensive load for us)…but then running out of gas (all thanks to Livaja’s laziness).
Marko Livaja was frustrating to watch.
Just walking or jogging all game, while Kramaric and Perisic are killing themselves on the press. What the hell is Livaja doing? Watching his teammates press the Belgian defense, while he lightly jogs and watches them?
I though Dalic for sure would take him out at the half, but Dalic is Cacic version 2.0 with his substitutions, and waited far too long to sub out Livaja.
Perisic and Kramaric were gasping for air in the early part of the second half (thanks to Livaja) and this allowed for the Belgian defense to set up without any pressure on them.
Martinez actually made a smart play by bringing in Lukaku in the second half. He is out of form, but was good for a half. Dalic took way too long to make changes, and this allowed Belgium to get back into the game.
Livaja needed to be subbed out the moment it was clear that he wasn’t going to give 100%. I would not play him next game.
Other than Livaja, I think we generally have the same issues.
Modric was largely covering that right side because of Juranovic’s lack of defensive ability (and overworking himself). The same thing happened at Euro2020, where Modric was covering too much ground and started to make mistakes. He’s doing the same in this tournament.
Lovren is Lovren and will make mistakes. He made a few today. Livakovic made a stupid cowardly move where he stayed on his line, and Gvardiol blasted him for it.
Gvardiol and Modric are essentially masking Lovren, Juranovic and Livakovic’s play.
This is frustrating for me, because we actually are playing well and have some serious potential in this tournament.
We’ll probably narrowly beat Japan, and get blown out by Brazil…and Dalic will be celebrated for taking us to the quarters.
But in order to pull off an upset, I think we needed to take some risks and try out some lineup changes. I think that solidifying our backline with Stanisic and one of Erlic/Sutalo would be a big upgrade over Juranovic and Lovren.
Juranovic isn’t really sending in crosses, so there’s no real point of starting him. He’s an okay player, but if subbing him out frees up Modric, then that’s where the value is.
We also need Majer to play a bigger role. Bring him off the bench sooner (none of this injury time substitution bullshit with him). Bring in Orsic too when our wings are tired at the 60th minute mark. Also need to tell our strikers to press nonstop for a full 45 minutes because none will be playing for more than a half. We need our strikers to RUN. I’m indifferent who we start up top, but whoever does will need to just press until his legs fall off (then we sub him out at the half).
Personally, I would start Petkovic then Budimir off the bench. Livaja get nailed to the bench for me after this display.
I think we could pull off an upset over Brazil, but we won’t do it with Juranovic, Lovren and a striker up top who is jogging lightly.
We need Modric to be released from his RB duties, and fresher legs in the second half with at least 3-4 subs at the 60 min mark (like Majer, Orsic, fresh striker for pressing, etc.)
Great recap… I was rooting for a lovren yellow, best case scenario he picks one up against Japan and we cruise to victory! Then we will be forced to pair gvardiol with someone that can move and pass (to someone other than gvardiol, brozovic or livakovic) .
Yeah a Lovren suspension for the Brazil match would be a dream come true
Nice thoughts, but Dalic is going to ride or die with Lovren.
Probably Juranovic too.
For sure.
This is why we’re praying to the Yellow Card gods.
DALIC- SUBS EARLIER-MAJER/ORSIC/STANISIC/ERLIC/
SUTALO
Wow, who could’ve predicted this? Japan will be no slouch, but we gotta like our chances.
Positives:
Modric and Perisic are due to have outstanding games.
Lovren and Livakovic haven’t shit the bed yet (despite trying their best)
Negatives:
Lovren and Livakovic are due to shit the bed.
Sosa has yet to deliver.
No striker. Livija scored a nice goal against Canada, but his touch was awful the rest of the game. His touch was awful again today, plus he’s a lazy donkey.
I’m no Petkovic lover, but credit where credit is due. His hold up play that some on this board are enamoured with (Maminjo, I’m mostly talking to you🤣) was on point.
I’d love to see Budimir get a chance.
Dalic still takes too long to make adjustments.
Yea, Petkovic was good. He was getting mauled but still manages to stay up and finish a pass or dribble. Almost freed up Majer there at the end for a goal.
Even though Japan is speedy, they’ve been giving up 80% possession so I think having Petkovic up top would be great.
Sending in crosses to our taller strikers should be part of the game plan (so Budimir is an option off the bench too). Petkovic is also great with distributing the ball in the box with his back to the defenders when we have possession.
I really, really hope we don’t start Livaja. His touch is not as soft as Bruno’s and the the speed Japs will pounce on any hesitation.
Spain tanked against Japan just so they could avoid Croatia in the next round.
There’s no way Spain threw the game to avoid Croatia. At one point Spain were out of the WC altogether had Costa Rica beat Germany. Too much of a gamble. Spain looked like they were playing for their life in the last few mins of the game trying to equalize.
Nah.
I’m not sure how you could tank goals like that.
If it was a botched back pass, fine. But these Japan goals were wild. No way Spain could fake that.
Dalic needs to freshen up the first 11.
You need to play 90+ hard against Japan.
Majer – Budimir – Vlasic – Stanisic – Oršić
All need to be integrated in some way.
Budimir plays in La Liga which is the closest thing to Japan.
Quick skilled players.
He needs to start.
Livaja and Petković are obsolete at this point.
Majer is a must.
This is when you need a legit game plan to honor the opponent in front of you.
“Lucky” is overstating it. With Belgium needing a win, did we think they wouldn’t get a couple of great chances? Croatia played well, and didn’t play for the nils. Could have scored a couple themselves (and that PK VAR reverse call…..sheesh).
I agree. I just rewatched the match. We player well.
Croatia never play well against Asian teams. Thats a fact. Look at our history.
All I remember is that draw with Japan and Tudor looooong ago
How many Asian teams have we ever lost to?
Rapt for our Japanese friends to get through!
Obviously you’d prefer Japan to Spain in the 2nd round, and for that we have to thank the stupid Canadians for F****** themselves against Morocco lol! And they thought they were going to “F” us!
Canadians suck!!!!!
japan looked FAST and played with so much heart, hopefully the vatreni can come with in and score some goals. spain figured out the easiest way for themselves i guess, i’m just going to keep thinking they were scared to play hrvatska and thats why.
Japan will play bunker and counter vs us. I think kramarics feints will be useful next game. I think crossing to budimir/pasalic is plan B if we go goaless in the first 50 mins.
Japan will do a very high aggressive press against us, its now or never dalic, plz put in Sutalo. Lovrens defensive awareness is abysmal, and offensively hes useless on the ball.
Careful what you wish for …how many of you thought you got the Woman of your dreams only to greatly regret it now!
So we are ecstatic meeting a team that beat Germany and Spain 🤔
The man who looks too far into the future will never learn from his past!
I would have rather played Germany to be honest!
Best analogy of the tournament! But still….
The one team i absolutely HATE to play is Spain. I’m sick of playing them and France. I’d almost rather Brazil at this point, i’m just so tired of Spain all the time so im super happy to play Japan. Doesn’t mean we’ll win of course.
Japan will be easy win we can look towards Brazil Uruguay possibly.
Some of Lovrens mistakes vs Belgium:
1. Defensive positioning is wayy off. Not cutting off the passing lane, and when Mertens does recieve the ball, Lovren is not marking him and in no mans land:
https://streamin.me/v/80f08ad7
2. Again poor defensive awareness not being able to cut the passing lane off. But the major thing in this clip is that he completely misses the tackle on Carrasco then stumbles on the ground:
https://streamin.me/v/715d767e
3. Instead of heading the ball forward and out of bounds for some reason he flicks the ball up and behind into our own box:
https://streamin.me/v/0bf6f8fc
4. And now, the ABSOLUTE worst thing he did…misses a header ball in the 90th min:
https://www.ziscore.com/qa91/
First two mistakes were terrible and naive defending. Third, not so much. As a defender it is natural to do whatever you can to get in the way of the ball. Maybe Liva should have called him off but it happened quickly. Fourth was Liva’s fault. Lovren didn’t have time to react to Liva withdrawing his arms and did what he could. Same reason that Lukaku didn’t head it; wasn’t expecting ball to make it to him.
i disagree, The third mistake he coulda headed it out for a corner, but instead you can see in the slow motion he deliberately put his head underneath the ball to flick it upwards but failed, giving lukaku a free header.
4th mistake is absolutely lovrens fault, was just horrible anticipation and reactions as usual. This isn’t the first time hes misjudged an easy header this badly.
Worst thing about all of Lovren’s gaffes is that he drops to the ground right after, even though the play is still going
Ya if we are going to take advantage of some great crosses(Sosa anytime now) and budimir/pasalic height it’s now
Gvardiol/lovren can also come down with a header
Actually sosa had some better crosses today
No one really there
Also had those two long range ones. Have to keep em down
Japans goalie is not courtois
We should have possession and Japan will wait like they did against Germany and Spain
Shout to out to Lukaku for missing those goals 😆, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’m trying to figure out why he chested that cross instead of sticking a leg out. Gvardiol won the game for us at the death. He doesn’t make that tackle it’s a goal; Lukaka wasn’t gonna miss that one.
“I’m trying to figure out why he chested that cross instead of sticking a leg out.”
Because Lukaku wasn’t expecting it. Lovren was right in front of him with an easy header clearance but completely whiffed it. By the time it hit Lukaku he didn’t have time to react.
Yeah it almost looked Lovren was ducking out of the way of it.
If Lukaku actually out that in and we lost because of it…that may be the only way Lovren finds his way back to the bench. Me thinks Dalic will ride and die with Lovren now.
Not sure why everyone thinks Lukaku “should have” gotten so many goals.
He had two great chances. One of them was the goalpost that he hit…but he couldn’t put it on goal because Gvardiol closed him out. It was a geometric impossibility for Lukaku put it on goal without Gvardiol blocking it…so, no, this doesn’t count as a goal that Lukaku “should” have scored.
The other great chance was the absolutely idiotic header miss by Lovren right in front of goal. That chance probably should have been a goal, but Lukaku’s poor reaction was understandable because he didn’t factor in the “kiks Lovren” effect.
It was only a matter of time that Lovren would do something like this. Funny thing is that Lovren was running backward and almost knocked the ball into the net for an own goal.
We will struggle against Japan. They are a very fast team. Cannot play Lovren. Way too slow. Dalic will need to play quicker players for this gave.
Time for Japan. Formidable opponents. Play with energy and play to survive. But this is our game to win. Perhaps Petko to start given his size. Then bring on Livaja. If Perisic tires bring on legs. He was kept on today to be able to defend with calmness. He was tracking back late in the game Antonio Conte style. Everone needs to realize since we don’t play with a true target striker our way to victory will be with either Modric, Brozo or Kova scoring. They all do it here and there with their club (minus Kova). But if one of those 3 can snip we will win. It is on them as they have had chances in all 3 group games. Ajmo!
With the height advantage Croatia will have against Japan, Pasalic should start
We need to give it our all against this tough Japanese side.
I’m super proud that we made it out of the group stage of yet another major tournament, so the only way I’d be disappointed in the next game is if we underestimate Japan and play without any spirit.
Budimir up top to start!!
Majer in on the right wing.
Need to shift things up for Monday.
Haven’t scored against a good side yet.
Asking too much of Modrić.
Oršić needs to play a part as Perišić tires.
No time for status quo.
Gvardiol are best player now?!
World class.
Erlic for Lovren.
Juranovic matches up well against Japan actually keep his motor at RB.
Sosa is up for his moment!!