Dalić put together a perfect starting XI vs. France in Split. I couldn’t have done it better myself. Neither could our very own Markus. 🙂
With that said, Dalić should run back the exact same lineup this Sunday in Paris.
-4 in the back is here to stay. With Gvardiol at LB and a healthy Stanišić at RB, Croatia is in good shape defensively while having the ability to push up the field.
-Modrić and Kovačić both anchor the center of the midfield perfectly for Croatia. Kova is playing more like a #6 these days which I like. If we can slow down the game in Paris in the midfield, the Vatreni will be in good shape.
-The return of a 100% match-fit Perišić changes the entire dynamic of this Croatia side. Remember, Dalić played 2024 without any true wingers in his lineup. This gives our boys width and attack.
-Kramarić had an awful match against France in Split but the dude will rebound quickly. He won’t have two bad matches in a row and I would be shocked if he ever did anything cute like that again from the penalty spot in checkers. Croatia doesn’t have another true winger to play opposite of Perišić. We have a #10 CAM problem we have to deal with. Imagine if Rebić behaved. Or Pjace never got hurt in Italy. Or if Marco Pašalić excelled while still playing in Europe. It would be a different story. But for now, Krama is our best bet there as he can dip into the middle of the field and play behind the true #9, where he plays best throughout the year in the Bundesliga.
-Baturina is fine in the #10 spot for now. However, when healthy, I would play Luka Sučić there 100% moving forward. However, he’s hurt at the moment so that will be a conversation for another day.
-Budimir can do damage in the box when he received service. He received service in Split and we all saw what happened. ‘Nuff Said.
We’re in good shape going into the 2nd leg. However, this is tie is far from over. A 2-goal lead is the most dangerous lead to have in sports. Hopefully, the Vatreni don’t let France get on the front foot out of the gate. Keep the same lineup.
Hey Rainman, try to enjoy the game ok?
So let’s think this through. If you’re in pot 1, you draw a pot 2 team 9/12 times and if you’re in pot 2, your draw a pot 2 or 3 team as your pot 1 team 3/12 times and a pot 1 team 9/12 times. Isn’t it better to be in pot 1?
Looking at weighted-averages based on Pot 1 team = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 3
Pot 1 is actually 1.3333 (based on 2x Pot 2, 1x Pot 3) vs. 1.0 headline
While
Pot 2 is actually 1.8333 (based on 2x Pot 1) vs. 2.0 headline
So the benefit is less i.e. 0.50 (1.8333 less 1.3333) vs. the headline i.e. 1.0 (2.0 less 1.0) of moving to Pot 1 from Pot 2
So yes – it’s still better to be in a position to draw one of the teams from the 1.8333, than one from the 1.3333 – that’s the right answer mathematically – but from a “lotto ticket” perspective ending up in Pot 2 could be “fun” 😊
2026 will be 23rd World Cup
Of 22 WC thru 2022
21 have being single host country
Only 2002 has had more than one host i.e. Japan and S. Korea
As 2026 has three hosts
As result, 3 spots in Pot 1 for 3 hosts and only 9 remain (12 spots in total)
In “typical” WC (one host) – there would be 11 spots remaining in Pot 1 after host
As non-host, if qualified, USA and Mexico would be Pot 2 teams, while Canada would be Pot 3 team (based on current FIFA ranking)
The result, is the top 2 teams in 2026 Pot 2 would otherwise be Pot 1 teams in 21 of 22 WCs so far
Currently, Croatia is 2nd in Pot 2 (Germany is 1st in Pot 2, Italy is last in Pot 1)
If Croatia ends up in Pot 2 – they have a 1/12 chance of drawing a Pot 3 country (Canada) and 2/12 chance of drawing a Pot 2 country (USA or Mexico)
i.e. if Croatia drew Canada – effectively their group would consist of 1 Pot 2 country (Croatia), 2x Pot 3 countries (Canada + another), and 1x Pot 4 country
However, if Croatia ends up in Pot 1 – they have a 2/12 chance of drawing a Pot 1 country i.e. one of the top 2 in 2026 Pot 2 (Italy or Germany, currently), 1x Pot 3, and 1x Pot 4 country
So it seems
Landing in Pot 2 – might be a better outcome – as Croatia would have “upside” from getting one of the hosts (3/12 chance) – which would give them a better chance of getting through an easier group
Landing in Pot 1 – Croatia has “downside” from getting one of the top 2 Pot 2 countries (2/12 chance) (Italy or Germany) – which would give them a worst chance of getting through a harder group
The flaw in preferring Pot 2 is of course you might draw Argentina, Spain, France (the top 3 FIFA ranks), etc – but 3/12 chance of drawing a host country can’t be ignored (especially as said if they move to Pot 1 than they could still draw Italy or Germany)
How you view the above – determines how you feel re: NL – if you think it’s better to end up in Pot 2 (Anonymous is leaning this way) – than Croatia should lose to France tomorrow and not get to the NL semi (and potentially finals) and is better off taking the “easier” WC qualifying group (at the margin, based on the data)
Thoughts ?
CC @The truth2, @Maminjo
It is interesting that modric will possibly play for the national team to an age 10 years greater than rakitic (41 vs 31)
x.com/MLS/status/1903636055011602884
Wow – what a goal from Marco Pasalic tonight
Exactly what we need in the NT (our own little Jarrod Bowen 😢)
But ain’t happening anytime soon
#EveryWingerWillNeverMatter
Marco Pasalic with an absolute rocket in the top corner. Off to a great start in MLS. He should be with the national team
Yeah, pretty ideal start for him.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHhiNi6Nly3/?igsh=MTNhazE0dWt2ZzNzeg==
He should have been coming off the bench for us for the past year, but for whatever reason, Dalic doesn’t like him.
I’m sure this affected his career decisions. He probably doesn’t go to MLS if he received more exposure on the National Team.
Could have easily been picked up by a club in Italy, Germany or Spain.
Davor Šuker had a perfect 100% penalty conversion rate in his career, scoring all 38 penalties he took! Insane
He’s one of the best finishers of all time… amongst all footballers in history.
86.5% penalty career conversion rate for Kramaric, 91.3% for Budimir and 72.22% for Modric…. Stats don’t lie… Budimir is actually the best on the team….I haven’t gone through the whole roster… But if anyone wants to do it, post it here is anyone has a better penalty conversation rate than Budimir…
Maybe the decision was a wet grass thing…
I agree that the penalty attempt was horrible, but to shit on Kramaric isn’t fair… He still helps us gel at the front and had a decent game outside of the penalty. Furthermore, he is fourth in scoring for us and deserves some respect. Yes he’s getting older, but so are many of the players who are still achieving with above par performances. I will also argue that Budimir is tied as the top penalty taker on our team along with Kramaric.
Hrvatska Top Goal Scorers:
| 1 | Davor Šuker | 45
| 2 | Mario Mandžukić | 33
| 3 | Ivan Perišić | 33
| 4 | Andrej Kramarić | 30
Under17 with a 2-1 win today. Should have been by more as they had lots if chances. Horvat from Dinamo has as has Kusanovic although he did miss a couple of chances he could have scored today.
Under 19 actually had a chance as Netherlands tied today but they lost 1-0 to the Chechs. It was a fairly even game Croatia had a chance to take the lead late but missed then on a terrible give away Chechs score. Not really that much quality in this generation. Surprise Durdov did not play today.
Under 21 won 3-2 in dramatic fashion. After dominating much of the game Egypt scored to make it 1-1 then a terrible goal keeping mistake made it 2-1 for Egypt. Croatia tied the game in the 94 minute then won it in the 95 minute. They played well today with some nice passing. Soticek for me has been the most impressive player .
Cro911
They say Soticek has fairly good speed.
Do you agree with that assessment?
Where did they play him? Was he on the wing? Can he give the national team speed on the wings, is he potentially a dangerous winger for Croatia NT in the future?
Yes he has good speed fairly good dribbler. Has been mostly coming off the bench for Basel but that was the plan as Basel have 2 strong wingers. Soticek can play either wing but for the under21s he has been playing left wing.
I hope France doesn’t high press us. Spain killed us with that in the first half at the Euros. Other teams who have employed that strategy against us have given us problems. We have trouble getting out of our end when a lot of pressure is applied. We don’t have enough speed on the wings for effective counters.
Dalic is not a good coach and I’m sure he’ll be trying to play conservative and we’ll be on our heels from the start which is not the way you play France. We did that in the second half and like many have said, we were lucky it wasn’t 2-1 or 2-2. I say we will see the reason we get scored on so often in last minute of games . It will be tentative soccer and Croatia doesn’t play that game . If we can survive first 20 minutes, we will be ok- is there a new form? Love to say yes but don’t see it
Croatia U21
Scored two goals in 94’ and 95’ minutes (!) to win 3-2 vs Egypt
Look forward to MaxSport YT channel highlights when posted
Some scores in youth matches.
U21 win 3 – 2 against Egypt in Doha. This time we score TWO goals in stoppage time 94 and 95 minute to win.
U19 lost 1 – 0 to Chech Republic and can no longer qualify for the EURO.
U17 win 2 – 1 against Slovakia and need a draw against Italy in the last match to qualify for the EURO.
100% disagree that Dalic should stick with the same lineup. You don’t play Modric, Kramaric, Perisic on 2 days rest. Bonehead Dalic did not call up any other wingers so Perisic has no choice but to start. You also don’t want to play DCC. He should only be used as a sub. Start Juranovic as LB and move Gvardiol to CB. France will not misfire like they did in the first game. We need fresh legs to start the second game. Budamir gets the start because he was pulled early in the first game. Livako will have to have another MOTH performance.
P. Susic, Pasilic, Juranovic, Ivanovic should all get starts. Pasilic has had a very good season for Atalanta and deserves the start at the #10…the position he plays for at club level.
Livako
Stani – Sutalo – Gvardi – Juranovic
P. Susic – Kova
Ivanovic – Pasalic – Perisic(no other wingers on team)
Budamir
LMAO
sportske.jutarnji.hr/sn/nogomet/hnl/klubovi/hajduk/rakitic-da-se-luka-oprostio-ja-bih-ostao-u-reprezentaciji-a-perisic-mi-je-uvijek-bio-vise-od-suigraca-15565748
Rakitic now says that in 2018 if Luka had retired – he would have stayed on – to be the leader of the team
News flash – you were never the leader – it was always Luka from day 1 – you deserted the team at 31 probably bc your wife told you she wants you take out the trash during international breaks
Although kind of funny she told him he should have beaten France in 2018 like Luka did in 2025 ! she probably has him sleeping on the couch now for a month
Rakitic must be having some sort of 1/3 life criss or something – he’s become a complete attention whor* – every day he makes statements to the press, clarifies what he says, what he meant – it’s all about him – he should get over himself and keep quite before people lose even more respect for him
For once I agree with Anonymous. Don’t forget also Rakitic didn’t report to the national team once for qualifying games because he was not right in the head due to contract talks with Barcelona.
He seems to be an easily influenced guy.
From the time at Schalke when he was going to cajke concerts with that old Serb teammate, Barcelona likely influencing his national team duty, his wife too…
Still, he’s one of our best ever midfielders.
He’s all over the place
3 weeks ago he said he’s in contact with Basel (and alluded to that he’d be open to returning there in the summer once his contract is done at Hajduk)
x.com/CroatiaFooty/status/1895821967602725163
Today he’s decided he’s all about the HNL and wants to do everything for the HNL and wants folks to worship him because he’s “martyring” himself (also mentioned today he could be Saudi right now)
At this point it’s just empty words blah blah blah and he’s become a big distraction for everyone (and none of this is helping Hajduk stay focus on the title race)
Croatia played a great 60 minutes but then a lot of red flags were raised after that where France arguably should’ve scored a few goals
The expected goals of this game were 1.55 -1.4 in favor of France and that’s considering Croatia shot a penalty shot which is worth like .8.
I was concerned Croatia ended up losing the midfield and were heavily out possessed. It shows perhaps that the sun has set on Croatias midfield dominance with modric , bozo gone and kovacic i thought doing a poor job last game as i felt he went invisible where Croatia needed him to regain control.
I liked stanisics presence back in the line up and i long advocated for budimirs inclusion
I tried to root against Croatia but it was too unnatural and falling back into old habits and cheering for them to win even if it means a tougher qualifying group.
The issue with the Ukraine group is we are so exposed to random occurrences with only four teams in the group and a second place off that is not a two game playoff but single elimination two game tournament
It was one game for the midfield. Maybe you are right but chill. We have owned enough midfield games and luka and kova will be fine. Maybe it’s new luka who needs the other job or his cousin.
It will take some time to Make it fit
Sure France went pretty dominant in second half
But again we need to remember these guys are arguably the best team in the world
We clearly aren’t but hey we can and have beaten all the big boys and I always say.
No one looks at their draw and say oh boy glad we got Croatia
We may lose tomorrow we may not
So if we lose then we get this supposedly easier group
Sounds like we are sitting well either way
My Commodore 64 predicts no matter what we always cheer for Croatia and this may sound racist to the average but we still do it with our own blood for now at least
And no I’m not gonna throw all these Serbs you will say that play for us in the mix;)
Everybody is back on the Dalic train after this win, but I’m definitely not.
France took over immediately after Dalic’s ridiculous subs.
He’s known for taking too long to make subs…but when our starting eleven is actually doing really well, then he decides to make a 60th minute substitute?
Once Budimir was taken out of the game by his own coach, then France’s backline had all the time in the World to get organized (including their goalkeeper who spent a lot of time off his line).
Taking out Baturina also made it a lot harder to maintain possession (as Mario Pasalic is not that type of player). Vlasic was at least physical and aggressive, and applied pressure…but Pasalic was a pylon in this situation. Not his fault though, as he shouldn’t have been subbed into the game for this scenario.
If you watch the first half alone, then Croatia was good. Second half, we were very lucky not to concede.
If we play the same lineup as we started with (but maybe include a potentially in-form Petar Sucic instead of Krama)…then we should be able to progress.
My hope is that we do not blow our loads and offer Dalic a contract extension after this quarterfinal (after a full year of terrible play). He needs to show us that he’s committed to playing Budimir up top and that he is at least trying to slowly phase out the old guard (while integrating our talented youth into the roles they need to play for us to succeed).
I have always been on the train for a man that has taken us to 2 World Cup Semifinals. Before Thursday’s game it was all doomsday, but then we won. Coach Dalic should be given credit where credit is due. Whether we win or not tomorrow, our coach has done a great job. Viva Zlatko!
The bashing on here is predictable. Win, lose or draw … isti kurac.
Before the game it was all doomsday because we played very poorly this past year and only made it to these quarterfinals due to VAR bailing us out against lowly Scotland.
Glad to see that Dalic got the starting lineup correct, and it showed on the field.
But his in-game adjustments deserve criticism.
I’m hoping that this is a turning point from our very awful play these past months, but you need more than a one game sample.
Hopefully we get by France and see what we can do in the semis.
I would have loved to keep some of those players on the field, but we had a game just a few days later. So the quality was not going to be the same. The subs held their own and they gave the opportunity for Budimir, Baturina, and Perisic to get some rest. France is so good that we had to keep Modric and Kovacic in- which could be a problem for Sunday’s game. At least Coach Dalic sent a message to the soccer world that the Croatian soccer team should be taken seriously. Viva Zlatko!
Maminjo stf up. Get yourself a wife and kids.
Sick of Morons like maminjo who know nothing about the game. Now go back to your video games.
Bravo Dalic. Ignore the noise from the ones who want you to fail.
Why don’t you counter my arguments then?
You go onto a soccer forum/site to just be in an echo chamber with zero thought?
Natural is too slow. He lacks pace and he looks a bit overweight. Not knocking his talent. It’s just that to be elite, you need pace theses days and Baturina is amongst the Slowest guys on the team until Petkovic rejoins .
Auto correct thinks Baturina is Natural.
Auto correct thinks Pogba in Unnatural
That first goal by Budimir and it was a cheeky one. Fine by me. We need those dirty goals and luck was on our side. Kramaric should hold off on penalties. I don’t know why Modrić didn’t take the kick. That was a much needed win after a disastrous and frustrating 2024 we had at both euros and nations league. Budimir finally found his rhythm and is mixing in nicely as our striker. Despite him being 33, he would a dangerous player for next year. As for a comment I saw that said about us winning and moving on and playing Ukraine in the qualifying group. Ukraine still isn’t that impressive and a victory over Belgium. Please….lol Belgium has been diminishing for a while. They’ve had one win since the Euros and it was against Israel. Enough said. Give us the hardest teams to prepare for the World Cup. Give us Spain and Germany to get a trophy. If we can compete and beat them then we are considered a dark horse next year and back on top.
Modric vs. France compilation
x.com/_Wangster/status/1903148784281915498
One point to mention – Modric is very lucky that Digne is not a dirty player in the tackle in the 2nd half where Modric went to ground (Anonymous held their breath as they saw the play develop) – that’s way too dangerous a tackle for Modric to be doing – a dirty player on the other side and that can easily end up a serious injury
Out of France’s 16 shots last game (look at the shot map)
11 shots came right next to/in front of DCC (i.e. “LCB position”)
This was clearly a tactic of France (vs. 2 centrally and 3 vs. “RCB position”)
Hopefully Dalic has realized this and makes adjustments
Allowing 16 shots is way too many – allowing 13 shots inside the box is also way too many (beyond Livakovic being very good – we are lucky their finishing was terrible and missed/mis-hit several shots) – they will most likely not miss that many shots two games in a row, especially at home, hence Dalic also needs to make adjustments to limit shot generation in the first place
Has anyone actually looked at the heat maps ?
Baturina was NOT a central “#10” last game
There is literally a BLANK rectangle where a central “#10” operates (i.e. outside of the box in the central channel all the way to centre circle) – it’s completely blank – not one touch, not one action, nothing
50% left channel
45% right channel
5% central channel (pertains to that one shot inside the box plus restarts)
SN article y’day saying Petar for Baturina (makes senses) and Franjo for Krama or Budimir (would be stupid to bench Budimir – we need his physicality, presence and high IQ vs. Konata and Saliba – so that leaves Krama)
There’s no CAM problem, Dalic has overcomplicated it because he still playing them out of position and has been for years. I’m thankful Linolada didn’t do that with Baturina in Split because if he did, we don’t have the first half that we had.
Baturina > Kramaric at #10
Hopefully when Luka Sučić comes back from injury, he’ll be given a chance there instead of being pushed to the wing.
Both Baturina and Luka Sucic should be battling it out for that spot, keep them on their toes and it should only be them that battle it out, the rest of the other options have to be let go/should not be considered (Vlasic, Kramaric etc).
I think Luka Sucic is a far better option than Baturina in any midfield spot. Baturina and Krama are true #10s but Sucic is more versatile and plays multiple midfield positions well.
I would be even be opposed to having Sucic out of position on the wing just to get him in the lineup.
All this hate on Krama for missing the PK…he’s our best PK taker and got way to cute with it.
Yeah I didn’t see it
I still trust krama overall with a pk more then luka
You can go ahead and stone me if you want
Thank God livaja wasn’t playing as he would have taken it
Krama definitely is our best PK taker.
I think this frustration from fans has more to do with Krama being 34 years old and still having seniority and occupying a position in our offense that Baturina or Luka Sucic could easily play.
He’s still an asset, but should be moved to the bench with any one of Petar Sucic, Luka Sucic or Baturina being worked into the starting eleven.
That’s what you can’t do with any player just to get them in the lineup (Pushing Luka Sucic on the wing). If they don’t suit it (which he doesn’t), don’t include them in it.
If Luka Sucic can play as an 8 as well which I’m pretty sure he has done for RB Salzburg before, I’m all for both Baturina and Luka Sucic sharing the pitch.
@Mali Ante