The Croatians have taken London! But it’s in doubles tennis instead of Euro football.
Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić teamed up to win the Gentlemen’s Doubles Wimbledon crown Saturday night at Wimbledon. Pavić has won the doubles crown at the Australian and US Open’s in the past, however, this is the first All-Croatian duo to lift a Grand Slam doubles championship. It happens on the 20-year anniversary of Goran Ivanišević winning Wimbledon as a wild card in 2001.
It was a rough month for Croatian sports as the Vatreni were bounced out of EURO 2020 in the Round of 16, Croatian basketball did not qualify for the Olympics, and Dario Šarić tore his ACL in the NBA Finals. Yet, here are Pavić and Mektić lifting some silverware for the red and white checkers.
Like I said in a previous post after EURO, Croatians are spoiled in sports.
Did anyone see the Croatian dude masquerading as a woman umpiring the men’s Wimbledon final?
I could see “her” doing really well umpiring indoor tennis on the “carpet!”
Dalic simply overplayed all the vets and didn’t play the right players. Vlasic displayed talent with 3 goals in Euro qualifying and two goals/assists in nations league. He had an outstanding season and better be a starter. Give Modric rest if he chooses to continue staying the captain. Mids should be Vlasic, Pasalic and Kovacic. This is the period we move forward with the new generation. Qatar qualifying games aren’t far away. Dalic will stay but who knows how long. I personally don’t give him much credit for the last two tournaments. He has no confident in himself. He actually stated that he didn’t wanna face Spain after the Scotland victory. Also said he made many mistakes in the Spain game. Please sack him. He’s lost touch the last few years.
He should be sacked simply because our team played very poorly in most of the tournament.
It’s his job to pick the best eleven, the best formation, and the best tactics to play based on your opponent.
He made glaring mistakes in all of these areas, and it’s been already a very long time since we’ve played well as a team. Next year is the last tournament for Modric, and possibly Perisic too…so it’s a shame that their talents will be wasted by Dalic.
@Maminjo
Lol, and you wouldn’t take the job if you were offered 1mil to coach for a season?
In the words of Babu, “you see everything don’t you.”
I have given Dalic his due. In fact he has stumbled across some amazing insights.
For example, the Rebic revelation of 2018. After a pathetic outing from our presumptive starters vs Peru, many starters had to go back to Europe for club obligations. That was when Dalic stumbled across Rebic’s value as he and Rakitic destroyed Mexico on Mexico’s home turf (Dallas).
Dalic was smart enough to stick with Rebic, and the rest is history.
Fast forward to 2019, while Croatia was struggling to qualify for the Euros, Rakitic gets “injured” upon which we were all blessed to watch how well Vlasic, Rebic, Perisic, and Petkovic played in front of Modric and Brozo. We finally had an identity, for the first time since Mandzukic left. We went on a tear….but then something happened.
Dalic got offended by something Petkovic did, and later even started doubting Vlasic and Rebic’s value. We then were left with mind boggling experiments that resulted in the worst stretch of games I can remember for Croatia (including some games against shitty opponents.)
We will never know if the Rebic, Perisic, Petko, and Vlasic combination would have blossomed, bc Dalic abandoned it prematurely.
Good thing we have the easiest group for world cup qualifying, otherwise I would say, with certainty, we will not qualify without Rebic.
Other Dalic achievements:
Being so feckless that he could not (or would not) convince Mandzukic to stay on board.
Same goes with Rakitic
Benching Vlasic during the euros? Lol what a joke.
Dinamo going through with orsic and ivanusec scoring
Didn’t see the high lights
Those two working their way into playing regularly and seems like they should be
Let the hungry ones play. Those two are talented enough if they play with that fire
Why were people riding on a younger less experienced Vlašić when rebic having 3 goals in 42 and Vlašić has 6 in 26
Unless I read it wrong
And I know it’s not all about the goals but for someone who plays on wing for us and with that attitude you better be putting them away
I thought bz was chased off this website hahaha
@Croatia’sNextCoach
“What a pussy Dalic is. Pitting player vs player. Instead of omitting Rebic himself, he holds a meeting with players to pit them against their brother, Rebic.”
So you acknowledge that Rebic (according to Mr. Kvartuc) “was this years Kalinic”?
So what were your thoughts on the treatment of Kalinic in Russia exactly, you seem to believe Rebic deserved the same treatment? I ask because a fanboy may have a double standard when it comes to the two players.
Remember Mr. Kvartuc is privy to what went on at the Euros, whereas you guys don’t know what he knows, and with that knowledge (that none of you have) he has dubbed Rebic “this years Kalinic.” But, what we all know, is that Rebic didn’t recieve the Kalinic treatment from Dalic, and that is something Dalic can be blamed for, but that still doesn’t absolve Rebic.
Like I said, don’t be impatient, and wait for Mr. Kvartuc’s expose, only then can you know what went on.
Anyway you may of missed @Maminjo’s asking,
“If someone offered you a million dollars to be coach of the national team for a year, would you take it?”
So would you take it?
Does anyone think @BZ is still with us, or is it just me?
Speaking of tennis a Serbian just won Wimbledon. So proud he makes our country what it is. I am a proud gay man
Team meeting seems like a good idea from Dalić. Just imagine how much poor attitude he must get from all these players who play at big clubs. It’s not just Rebić, I’m sure. Anyway, for the team to win, they all have to have a common focus. Croatia’s exit from the Euro was due more than anything to lack of commitment from the players who were on the field. This showed in the England and Czech games and throughout the Spain match. The reason Italy won was their attitude. None of their players is really that good at this point except Donnarumma and Bonucci; but they all knew what they were there to do, and they got it done, if just barely. My guess is that Dalić is getting this point across so that Croatia can start winning again, instead of coming out the favorites and underperforming the way they have been. It used to happen to Spain too, before Luis Aragonés took over. They only became dominant once they had a common vision.
https://sportske.jutarnji.hr/sn/nogomet/nogomet-mix/hrvatski-as-zbog-problematicne-snimke-odstranjen-iz-momcadi-i-dalje-je-zarobljen-u-klupskom-kaosu-15087294
Anyone have an insight on our Olympic team? Any medal hopefuls?
CroatiaWeek released an article just talking about this:
https://www.croatiaweek.com/tokyo-olympics-who-is-representing-croatia-and-the-gold-medal-hopefuls/
But we have very few athletes going this year. Our lowest in a very long time.
I think our only guaranteed gold medal is from Tennis Doubles with Pavic/Metkic.
I would be surprised if those two didn’t win it.
We would have probably gotten another one in swimming if Franko Grgic didn’t get injured. That kid is a phenom.
We have a lot of athletes in rowing, sailing, taekwondo, trap shooting, and we still have Sandra Perković (discus) and Sara Kolak (javelin) who both medaled last time. Plus maybe our waterpolo team.
Hard to say now.
Sinkovic brothers are always in the hunt. Tremendous athletes!
I’m not sure I like the big pickle heading off to Milan.
At CSKA he was playing each and every match and who knows what’s going to happen with him at A.C. A few bad games and he’s in and out like rebic not getting consistent burn.
There is a lot of Blame being placed on Dalic and rightfully so but did any of you seriously think we would go far with our patchwork defense?
I mentioned this 6 months ago and someone said”Are you seriously talking about defense?”
Italy has won all of their titles with a stud goalie and formidable back line who have played together for years.
Other than Chiesa who was a real threat for them and then locatelli one game… who was truly an offensive force for them to pop in goals ?They stayed in each and every game and gave themselves a CHANCE like we did in 18.We needed luck in 18 with PK’s just like the pizza makers needed it the last month.
Ciro not so mobile was their rebic.
Our 98 success came about In large part due to the solid pairing of bilic and stimac playing error free ball and Ladic being solid.Watch those games again bilic was truly under appreciated.
In 18 vida and lovren replicated that back pairing performance playing solid error free ball just like bonucci and Chelini.
Until we figure out a stud back 2 with livakovic hopefully improving we have no shot at anything?
For some of you to mention winning “IT ALL!” Is laughable!
I’m going to die before we ever reach a World Cup or Euro final again,if we even get to a semi?
We got to the prom in 2018 with the hottest chick in school but couldn’t close the deal…we won’t find the hot chick ever again..France Spain Portugal Italy England Germany Holland etc have hotter chicks 🐣
Quite a few of you guys just live to blame Dalic for our performance over the last 3 years. Have you ever considered that we might have been far worse with a different coach?
Historically, we have never been a team that just breezes through qualifying campaigns, not ever! Yet we qualified for this tournament (from a group in which 4 of the 5 teams qualified and played pretty well, Hungary was tough for everyone in the group of death), played a cagey match against England (finalist), tied a solid Czech team who should never have had a pen., rolled over Scotland at home, and narrowly missed pulling off a stunning comeback victory against the most technically dominant team in the tournament which was Spain. We are first in our qualifying group for the WC.
Looking at that objectively, I would say that is more than acceptable. So our Nations League record is bad, who the eff cares about that. Nobody!
Now you guys are taking offence at the fact that Dalic had a player meeting?
You complainers are clueless! That’s exactly what a modern manager needs to do. With players like Modric and Perisic, Dalic would be a fool not to consult with them! To build a strong team (which I consider to be our greatest strength) you need to have everyone on the same page.
I actually think this all bodes very well for the future of the Repka. Perfect timing to build on our positives in the lead up to Qatar. I’ve said it before, we are just a few minor tweaks away from having a very strong, cohesive unit that lives to be a giant killer.
Qualifying will be difficult as always, but if we make it through we should go to at least the quarters in the WC. At that point who knows what can happen. I think that this being Luka’s last major tournament will inspire the boys to new heights. We may just win the whole thing!
Lastly, some of you take offence at Dalic mentioning God when he speaks. Did you ever wonder why so many of the best players in the world do the Sign of the Cross when they enter a game? (Google Modric shin guards, to see why he is the best player Croatia has ever produced).
All things that happen on Earth are driven more by spiritual realities than by anything else. Unfortunately, for many of you, these realities are hidden from worldly men. You grope around blindly not understanding the true reason for anything that happens.
If you want to know the Truth, there is an easy formula to remedy ignorance.
Seek and you shall find.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Ask, and it will be given to you.
Bog i Hrvati!!!
What a pussy Dalic is. Pitting player vs player. Instead of omitting Rebic himself, he holds a meeting with players to pit them against their brother, Rebic.
These are some middle school bitch ass moves. I expect shit like this from a 12 year old girl.
I have lost all respect for you Dalic.
Dalic went to the media to bitch about players, and some retaliated. Now you are acting like Rebic committed some horrendous act of treason.
Let’s not forget that Dalic:
Benched Vlasic this Euro, and also played him out of postion at other times, amongst his other rejected moves.
Elvis comes in many shapes and form hahaha
His spirit still lives
@Fed Up
Being an American idiot and not a Croat you wouldn’t know that a lot of faithful Croats say “ako Bog da,” those Croats wouldn’t think that what Dalic said is idiotic at all.
Americans like you may say it’s idiotic but that’s only because you don’t have that spiritual connection to the majority Catholic Croatian people, you have more of an American spirit. Your comments remind me a bit of @Elvis, is that you?
In fact Alijosa Asanovic, among others, said “Bog nije dao” when referring to Croatia’s loss to France in ’98.
Why do you think that Canadian guy @”Slavonac from Canada” said he was going to say some prayers before the Spain game?
Listen, no one knows more about the Croats than this Frenchman born in Dijon, and most of you guys just don’t cut the mustard as Croats.
Hopefully Pogba and the rest of the Francuzi can bounce back and beat Switzerland next year,
ako Frog da
Mark my words the world cup will be ours again.
Just like when Portugal beat us at Euro 2016 because we didn’t pay them the respect they deserved, we learned from it to win the world cup in Russia, same thing is going to happen again at the next world cup, you see because we don’t lose, we learn, and the Swiss just taught us something again, you have to respect your opponent no matter how much better we really are than them.
2022 is going to be the easiest world cup we ever win you watch, no one wants to play us in the next world cup believe me.
France are done.
Benzema and Griezmann will leave the team soon.
Griezmann is too busy dreaming about playing in the MLS and rubbing shoulders with NBA players. He won’t stick around for the long haul. Benzema is 34, so he’ll bail in a year or so.
Mbappe will plateau for a bit before taking a next step, so we’ll see some more growing pains from him… but the rest of these stars will be gone by the time he figures it out.
Pogba is still doing his dance as we speak, while Man United are dumping him this summer at a discount rate just to get rid of him. He’ll be too busy looking over his shoulder to avoid the wrath of Rabiot’s mom.
Nobody is scared of France. They didn’t underestimate Switzerland at all. They just panicked and couldn’t stop panicking as Dinamo’s backup striker kept tearing their back line to shreds. The Swiss won 4-3 but the ref gave France some help and called back a goal for offside. France was playing for penalties at that point.
France would have lost to Italy without question.
Frenchman the in fighting has just begun for your west African/Algerian team…from in the stands moms berating other parents of players to other players angry with mbape etc etc
Difficult to form cohesion with a cornucopia of religions races cultures and even languages…do they all even speak French?
Italy all white Catholics= COHESION!
Some would say that Elvis isn’t even a man. He is more of a wind that strikes you across your face when you need it most. He can
come as a summer breeze or with the force of a class 5 hurricane. Listen to the wind for it brings knowledge and guidance.
Where is the locker room scoop?
Has someone gotten cold feet?
Dalic referencing God for his abysmal coaching is the mark of an idiot. Dalic has to go !
Vlasic should do well in the serie a if he works hard but hope that he doesn’t only do well for ac and then drop off for the vatreni like our friend ante
Did anyone see Davor sitting in the vip box behind her majesty
I wonder how much brown paper bags were being accepted for us to bomb and perisic to get the phantom virus this summer to enable a Italy England final
Apparently the “away goal” rule has been dropped for all European competitions. I’m not sure how I feel about this, I always thought it made 2 leg matches more interesting.
Did they?
I liked the away goal rule. It added a fun element to the game.
You couldn’t play for the draw in some scenarios. It was cool when you were down, but then one goal puts you up.
They did it to encourage more drama. 2-1 and 0-1 results will now go to extra time. Also, before, in the event of extra time, the stupid away goal rule was extremely unfair.
Dinamo will be eliminated tomorrow in the Champions League for making the stupid decision of starting their bench and substituting third stringers in the home leg – stupidity
No chance Josip.
No world class coach would ever want to coach Croatia- Petkovic has too much respect for himself to be flogged out by Suker and all those other puppets- we have a Croatian only mentally and that narrows down the field real fast- we haven’t had a coach yet- 25 years plus as a country and zero coaching- you could write a book about Croatian soccer management and it would be entitled- “who do you know ” and the “art of mangling great talent”
You’re probably right.
But, I think our poor coach-hiring issues came down to three things…
1. HNS wants too much control
2. Timing of our hirings was bad
3. Money paid for coach was too low
#1 is generally a problem for many Football Associations, but ours especially. The HNS likes having control and they seem to still want this (despite many fans pinning it on Mamic trying to sell Dinamo players). I think it’s just a control thing and not just Dinamo player selling thing, but either way, it’s not a good thing.
#2 is an underrated problem. We hired our last three coaches at the WORST possible time for a new coach to take over. We fired Stimac, Kovac, and Cacic at the end of a qualifying campaign with a game or two left to play. No self-respecting coach would want to take over that high-risk lose lose situation.
I recall when Kovac was fired, we had Matjaz Kek and Prosinecki (who were both doing very well for Rijeka and Azerbaijan) tell the media that they would not take over if they were offered the job. We couldn’t even get them, and they’re not some elite coaches. With these delayed firings, we keep putting ourselves in desperate situations and we can only hire very inexperienced coaches who have nothing to lose.
If Dalic loses a couple of these games in Sept/Oct, we’ll be in this exact same situation again.
#3 was a problem in the past, but it’s finally fixed. The HNS just paid the least amount when compared to almost any other team.
This got better once Stimac demanded at least 250K euro, then it (oddly enough) increased a lot when Cacic took over (750k). Dalic’s most recent raise puts it over a million, which can get us a legit coach.
The money thing (moving forward) should not be a problem anymore.
I think a lot of good coaches would accept some HNS control to coach our National Team.
The problem in the past has also been the low salary and the horrible timing.
Now that the salary issue is fixed, we should have used this summer to properly reach out to other coaches and see what we can get.
If Dalic messes up in September, we’ll end up rushing to fill in his vacant spot (if he gets fired) and we’ll only get some HNL caliber coaches or other inexperienced ones lining up for the job again.
https://sempremilan.com/sky-ac-milan-target-e25m-rated-cska-moscow-star-two-formulas-considered
CSKA are now asking for 35 million Euro I believe, lol.
I think Vlasic will push his way out if CSKA wants to play hardball.
He will end up in Serie A for sure I think.
Looks like Vlasic to AC Milan.
https://twitter.com/RusFootballNews/status/1414554057067225092?s=20
This wood be good for him. He needs to get out of Russia.
Agree
To clarify I Agree that’s a good move for Vlasic.
You guys are nuts!!!
Italy barely beat Austria!!! Their goal against England was a lucky, pinball goal. Other than that they created zero chances yesterday. They got played off the pitch by Spain (who were hands down the most dominant team in the tournament, they just couldn’t score, 70% possession, minimum, against EVERY opponent). But Mancini is some type of tactical genius? Please, he’s got 2 tough, experienced CB’s and a lot of other gritty players who don’t give up.
Pride and toughness combined with competence will always beat talent and skill that have no fire behind it. And a little luck doesn’t hurt too.
I’ll say it again, if we score one of those 2 early chances in extra time against Spain we go on to the final. We would have beaten Italy (just ‘cause that’s what we do).
You blame the HNS, you blame Dalic…come on, please think about it. We are a nation of 4 million that makes nations of 30, 40 and 50 million worry, EVERY TIME we play them. The modern game is one of very fine margins. There is not much separating the top 20 teams. What Italy learned a long time ago was to just play tight and hard and stay in the game and you never know what can happen (it also doesn’t hurt to ask your Nonna to pray a few rosaries for you).
We are a good team! With a great mix of talent, grit, experience, youth and pride! A coaching change right now would be a disaster. All we need is for the players to get on the same page, stop bitching and start playing!
The next games vs. Russia and Slovakia are huge. We MUST get minimum of 4 points.
It’s a fine balance to run a team like ours, a foreigner can never do it. The Croatian mentality is too complex for an outsider to understand.
If we can qualify for Qatar (which we should, but it won’t be a cakewalk), we can definitely do some damage.
We are a few minor tweaks away from pulling off another Russia 2018 (but this time we will win it all.)
Napred Hrvati!
S’Bogom
That is what Italy does, thats how Italy has played for the last 60 years lol. They’ll never blow a team out and they dont mind not having possession, if you know anything about the game you know this
We’re you watching the same game? Italy totally dominated the entire game after the England goal. More possession, more shots on target, created bigger chances, smoother passing, blocked shots and played with more pride. Please think before you comment. Italy may have had a easy group but they had a tough path to the final playing teams all top ten in the world. Italy played a great tournament and they have a few things Croatia lack; coaching defensive minded, better tactics and passing. They conceded four goals the entire tournament. If your able to concede four goals in seven matches against high scoring teams like Belgium, Spain & England then it’s not luck. I love Croatia but don’t be so bias. Croatia lack defence and it clearly showed against Spain. I agree it won’t be a walk in the park against Russia, Slovakia & Slovenia. Not to mention the next crucial games are away. But if we can defeat Russia & Slovakia. Two teams that had a negative 5 goal difference and didn’t make it past the group stage. Then that’s pathetic. If we want to win then juggle the coaching, mentally and players. Dalic is not our guy and if you payed close enough attention, it’s shown post 2018 World Cup. Our record has been horrific. Don’t even give him that much credit for us reaching the final. We just happened to play good football, the players had chemistry, lots of talent and players that succeeded from club level, and experience. If you think a Croatian coach is the answer, hate to break it to you it isn’t. A guy that coached in UEA league and Qatari should not be our man.
I hope we can figure out what the hell we are doing in time for the WC 2022 QATAR
I don’t want to see another bad experiment play out like Euro 2020. Talk about high blood pressure!!
Honestly I’m disappointed that internal problems, mismanagement and lack of team pride got the better of us. We beat ourselves!!!!!!!!
Stupid and waste of time/talent.
Plus we have to wait until next year to see them again.
How do we get a bloody keeper?
You can’t tell me there isn’t a 6 foot 5 kid that can’t jump with good reflexes in Croatia
I guess it’s just not a sexy position there?
If we had Dona what’s his nuts we beat Spain
No way he lets all 5 goals in
Livakovic is an above average keeper who hasn’t hit his ceiling quite yet.
Think those 5 goals was more of a sign of how awful our backline is vs. GK play. Livakovic obviously could of done better – but no goals due to major GK gaffe.
I agree sadly. But are we lacking in defence cause of talent, lack of organization, or both
@Maminjo
“Are you an idiot or something?”
I just gave an opinion on what @Poglavnik said,
“If u get 11 well coached players in sync and playing for each other you can pull a Denmark or a Greece.”
What do you think he means by pulling a Denmark or a Greece?
Keep in mind Denmark won it all in 92. Not just referencing this current run
“If u get 11 well coached players in sync and playing for each other you can pull a Denmark or a Greece.”
Denmark won with a Dane coaching them though, that’s better then Greece’s win.
Greece understanding they couldn’t win on their own went out and got foreign help, that’s where you Croats are at, no way you guys could do a Denmark. You guys all know that, but do the HNS?
Are you an idiot or something?
Croatia made it to the World Cup finals. Denmark made it to the Euro semifinals.
… And you’re saying that Croatia can’t do what Denmark can do?
LOL.
They already did them one better in the previous tournament, while taking them down in that same tournament.
What was our run in 2018 something to forget?
“We need a world class manager and keeper to win a major trophy.”
Croatia don’t have world class managers, so you need a foreigner. In my opinion for that to happen the HNS have to realise that Croats are not good at coaching, and that Croats can’t do it themselves, they need someone other than a Croat to help them. You bring in a foreign system, and then hope the Croats can assimilate, I guess it’s worth a shot, the Croatian system will never win.
As for keepers, get one from Italy, not all of Italy’s good keepers can play for them. You guys have never had a world class keeper and will never produce one, that has to be accepted for you guys to start looking elsewhere, like you want to do with your coaching position.
Vladimir Petković is a world class manager.
Ivan Jurić and Nenad Bjelica are showing some promise, and could be cheaper options down the road.
These guys are not World Class, but better than the Danish coach you seem to hold so dear (and his mediocre resume with Nordsjælland).
Croatia doesn’t need a “World Class” coach.
They just need a good experienced coach.
Unfortunately, they tend to just roll the dice with inexperienced coaches and former player coaches.
Bilić, Štimac, Kovač, Čačić, Dalić…. These guys are just waaaay to inexperienced or mediocre when they took over (even within the Croatian coaching pool).
I agree , our coaching has never been good- and if you go Croatian only as a coach we will continue to get garbage- we don’t need a world class coach- don’t agree with that but in our system of hiring coaches this is what we get forever- we will lose to Russia, Dalic will get canned and Bilic will be back- our movie never changes- it’s like a car wreck- I see it coming but i can’t look away- should be a very interesting September- God willing I’m wrong
This Wimbledon win is flying under the radar for us. This is huge. Also I think at one point there were 10 Italian coaches in the top 20 highest paid (Lippi, Capella, Mancini, Ancelotti, Conte etc)
*Capello
If we had a Mancini for instance
Would that make us that extra 25 percent better to take us to the end
Italy has talent for sure but you can’t tell me besides keeping and the two cb they are that much more talented??
Italy won thats debatable if its the overall team we want to see win
But It’s never coming home baby
Who slots a 19 year old to take the final penalty for real
That’s got to be one of your leaders
It’s like we know modric isn’t great at penalties but still you don’t put gvardiol to be in that spot
You put your main man
Verratti was awesome. I know Bonucci scored a goal, a pen, and was awarded MOTM, but Verratti ran shit today. England’s best spell was when Verratti was subbed out.
Always been a fan of Mancini. Coaching is damn near everything. Soccer isn’t basketball where 1 or 2 guys can dominate all the way to a championship. If u get 11 well coached players in sync and playing for each other you can pull a Denmark or a Greece.
Neymar was recently asked who are the 5 most technically talented players currently. He had Messi #1 then Verratti. De Bruyne and Hazard too I believe.
Verratti is his teammate and friend, so he’s obviously going to pump him up.
Verratti on a technical level is nowhere near those guys. He’s probably not even top five on a Croatia squad lol. He’d get nutmegged by Milan Badelj in practice even.
Oh please. You know a ton about football but your homer-ism clouds shit. Jorginho and him ran the midfield. Jorginho can be clumsy and was lucky to not see red whereas Verratti has a much classier style to his play. Very silky. He was a top 5 rated player throughout the entire tourney according to whoscored. For me he looked as good as Modric has ever looked and I love Luka. Luka never put in a performance like that against France. Verratti’s replacement was a big downgrade and England finally came to life at that point.
Neymar owes Verratti nothing. That’s not lip service.
Mancini > Southgate.
Luis Enrique > Dalic.
Dalic > nobody Scotland coach.
Mancini is the best international manager in the world and now they have 22 year old world class stopper in Donnaruma.
We need a world class manager and keeper to win a major trophy.
It’s frankly amazing that we even can compete on this level.
Modrić may have been better than we give him credit.
Now he is got Ancelotti back to create even more of schism between the level of club and Croatia managers.
We are too intelligent of a people to have this malaise of mediocrity at HNS.
New President and world class manager for Modrić and Perišić for their World Cup swan song in Qatar.
@ Doom
Valid point. But it is the flip side of lack of early competition that our boys can develop naturally until 16-17 years of age.
I bet half of them wouldn’t make it in a metro area USA system where you have millions of kids getting pumped up from all angles.
Now it seems we haven’t mastered that 20 – 24 year old stage when you see a Donnarumma type lead his team to a major trophy.
After watching the final of Euro (what a bore!), I realize that the problem with Croatian football is not lack of talent by any means. It’s a lack of humility. These kids grow up as football stars in Hrvatska without necessarily having competitors breathing down their necks. Having each new talent being dubbed “the next legend” makes them all think they’re the protagonist, whereas if they were in a big country with a lot of other kids who are talented, nobody would build them up like that. Now, that is great for them and their families individually because they get big contracts abroad, but it holds back the project of winning an international title for Croatia. If these guys didn’t think they were gods, they would actually win games, rather than waiting until they’re about to lose to prove themselves. Maybe this exit from the Euro will teach this lesson. After all, the biggest impacts were made either by the perennial studs like Modrić, Brozović, and Perisić or by players who nobody outside Croatia has heard of like Budimir, Orsić, and Ivanusec. If the guys in between just learned to respect all of their adversaries and fight for every minute on the field, Croatia would win titles, instead of barely losing to the greats.
*Barely losing and then looking for whom to blame. The problem is an attitude one.
Has nothing to do with our players. It has everything to do with our coach who didn’t have any gameplan, tactics or even knew where to play each player positionally. Every time we did play someone in the right spot, then they did well. But since we got most of our lineups and tactics wrong, we were outclassed in most of this tournament.
We got as far as we did in spite of our poor coaching. All the positives were against the run of play, created by individual talent alone. For example, during the Czech game, the Czech players can’t stop Perisic running the ball up by himself on the left side, then roofing it into the far corner. Brilliant things like that will happen from time to time when you have a talent like Perisic, but the general play in that game from Croatia was very poor and created no chances. Only the odd individual brilliances from the likes of Perisic, Vlasic and Modric. Other than the Scotland match, we played absolutely terribly. Even the Scotland match, we played decent, but not great by any means.
Great post –
100% – we have never had a pro coach- if we can get somebody who knows anything about tactics- we would have one World Cup title and a euro cup final –
No doubt
Olympic gold is possible for them
Mate Pavic keeps winning, and it doesn’t matter who his partner is.
He’s won three Grand Slams with three different partners.
8 Grand Slams puts you into the top-10 all time.
He’s got 3, and he’s winning at a good rate and still 28.
The guy is actually at pace to become one of the best ever doubles players, lol.
$677,607
That is a nice piece of change for two dudes playing doubles tennis at a country club.
Maybe they can buy some Paski sir on the way to visit Dalic?!
Maybe they will contribute to the go fund me to fire dalic
Congratulations to the boys
Well done
At least these 2 deserve the rest of their summer break along our beautiful Dalmatian coast
Maybe they should catch up with Dalic at his villa in pag