The Vatreni have done it again!
After beating Russia 1-0 in a nail-biter at Poljud, Croatia have qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar! Anything less than three points would have forced Croatia into a four-team playoff for World Cup qualification, but the boys got the job done in wild fashion. Croatia broke the deadlock in the 81st minute, as Borna Sosa’s cross was tapped into the net by Russian defender Fyodor Kudryashov. Although the score was listed as an own-goal, the Vatreni deserved to have AT LEAST one goal on the scoreboard, as they possessed the ball for 69% of the match, completed 621 passes, and shot the ball 19 times. Russia only shot the ball twice during the match, causing very little trouble for Ivo Grbić in net. Thanks to Sunday’s victory, Croatia finished first in their World Cup qualifying group with 23 points. This is only the third time that Croatia has avoided a playoff whilst qualifying for a World Cup.
Now that Croatia has booked a ticket to Qatar in 2022, what have we learned from the qualifiers?
Croatia’s “rebuild” stage following the 2018 World Cup has actually been very good. Despite the retirement of many Vatreni legends, Croatia finished first-placed in both their Euro 2020 and 2022 World Cup qualifying groups and finished second-placed in their Euro 2020 group. Although Zlatko Dalić has made a few tactical errors throughout the last few years, he is successfully reassembling a very competitive Croatian side. In recent matches, Dalić has effectively integrated young players into Croatia’s lineups, a tactic that he struggled to find positive results with in 2019 and 2020. Croatia had an excellent +17 goal differential in their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, scoring 21 times while allowing only four goals. Zlatko Dalić has now coached Croatia to three straight major tournaments, an HNS managerial record. In the midst of a routine rebuild process, Croatia have impressively remained a top-tier footballing nation.
There are many young, talented Croatians to be excited about. 19 year-old defender Joško Gvardiol scored his first goal for Croatia against Cyprus, and his defensive performances were stellar throughout the qualification process. 21 year-old defender Josip Stanišić and 19 year-old midfielder Luka Sučić made their debuts for the national team, as they continue to prove they can hang with the big boys. 24 year-old Lovro Majer scored twice in a must-win match for Croatia against Malta, becoming another role player for the Vatreni. Avoiding a playoff for World Cup contention is huge for Croatia’s youngsters, as Dalić now has the opportunity to play his future stars in friendlies during the international break, rather than starting his best XI in hopes for a World Cup spot. We may see Luka Sučić, Roko Šimić, and many other promising talents feature for the Vatreni in the near future.
All important home matches must be played at Poljud! The electric atmosphere in Split has proven to be a “12th man” for Croatia recently, as the Vatreni have shut-out and beaten Hungary, Slovenia, and Russia in three crucial matches. Whether you support Dinamo, Hajduk, or Arsenal for all I care, there is no denying that the sound of Poljud singing “Cesarica” or “Poljubi Zemlju” before a match brings us all chills. Matches at Poljud also produce some TERRIFIC photos, as shown below!
Last but not least, the Vatreni seem to possess a bit of magic again. After their magical 2018 World Cup run, Croatia put on many dull, upsetting performances. It was evident that there were chemistry and attitude issues within the squad, and that Zlatko Dalić had lost the trust of his best players for a period of time. However, after Euro 2020, Croatia has been playing with the same hunger and desire that they displayed in 2018. The boys’ chemistry seems to be at a high again, and Dalić has made successful adjustments to his lineups and tactics. Dalić’s tears of joy following Croatia’s victory on Sunday are EXACTLY what we want to see. We have passion again. We have talent again. We have hunger, momentum, and joy again. If the Vatreni enter the 2022 World Cup with the same motivation and hope as they did in 2018, Croatia will succeed. Our current roster is even more talented than it was in 2018, and Dalić is approaching four years of experience under his belt with the Vatreni. Croatia has what it takes to bring the World Cup home.
Oh boy, we’re going to Qatar! Words can’t describe the happiness I’ve felt today. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re back.
Could you imagine Luka Modric playing a simple role for us in Qatar?
Not needing to deal with 3 guys on him?
Or running back to cover for 3 of our own scrubs?
Just creating those moments in the final third to put us in scoring positions.
This is the natural cycle of life of honoring the old guard by the next generation.
He should average ~70 minutes of quality time.
Against lesser teams you could bring him off the bench for -20 minutes to settle down a win.
Point is we want him fresh to start for decisive matches in the business end.
“I mean, this man will be leading his team to the World Cup finals at the age of 37. How many players do you know that have done that?
According to MARCA, Real Madrid are delighted with Luka Modric’s performances this season, and they are looking to offer him a contract extension, which will keep him around till 2023.”
World class level matched with legendary longevity.
Modrić has led Croatia through TWO generations.
Now we have a crew of young talent out of which can carry us forward beyond his time.
This is ZDS.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I need to give props to Lovren who played with heart and excellence for us against Russia.
Dalic too has produced over time and has successfully integrated new players.
We do need one Ante Rebić.
Kovačić has yet another opportunity this year to grow into our next #8.
Modrić should not play for us till Fall ‘22.
I want to see all these kids fight for roster spots for Qatar.
We will have the deepest roster in the history of Croatia for ‘22.
If they keep going with 5 subs it favors us.
Slavonac got this one right. Our work rate was finally where it needed to be!!
I had to rub my eyes but even saw Petkovic running and pressing.
The vast majority of players played well (Perisic and Gvardiol weren’t at their best). More importantly we were cohesive. Blending in the vets with our youth is a bit of a slippery slope. You can offend the Lovren types and kill the team dynamic.
The toughest job Dalic has is having everyone buy in to working as a team. Tactics are important but these other factors are just as important. Lots of egos to manage.
Even though the conditions were horrible our technical ability came through. Russia thought they could play the bunker and counter game – bit them in the ass!
Brozo was excellent. He doesn’t get enough credit for us. Saved a goal on a long pass that would have sent a guy all alone.
Lastly, so many of you would hammer on Dalic. He’s not perfect but he understand our mentality.
Yes we were awful after the WC in 2018 but that was mostly on the players. We were flat…and most importantly uninspired. Coming off that high took a few years lol
I hope this Russia game is the start of another amazing run…but I don’t think anything could top the 2018 magic….a summer none of us will ever forget.
I agree with what you say, but I can’t agree that being awful after 2018 being “mostly on the players”.
For three years Dalic was tinkering around with random lineups that would never work and calling up players (that he would never play in a tournament) when his plan (all along) was to copy and paste the lineup from the 2018 World Cup for the Euros.
Problem was, we lost Strinic to retirement, Vrsaljko to injuries, and Lovren/Vida took a big step back. Corluka retired, and Pivaric injured.
Subasic retired, and Kalinic fell apart. Our back four and goalkeeping options were limited and the guy never bothered to look at the younger guys in three years.
He just goes with the third string keeper (Livakovic) and still goes ahead and plays the back four as they were (but with Barisic on the left).
When the Euros roll around…it turns out Vrsaljko is not okay physically (and can barely play), and he’s not so confident with Lovren/Vida either…so last-minute, he panic-adds Gvardiol and Juranovic into the Euros for their first full caps (to ensure no chemistry is developed).
He suffered the same issues on offence because Mandzo retired, so he couldn’t copy and paste that part from Russia.
Tried to use Rebic up top, Krama on the wing…then Vlasic…then (surprise) gives Ivanusec his first full caps while during the tournament. None of these things done in advance at all, because he was too busy playing randoms like Meljnak.
This was awful, awful preparation and you could see it in Luka’s eyes when the Euros ended.
He didn’t even want to look at Dalic after that tournament.
Rebic wasn’t the only one who talked smack, and luckily for us, they all pulled together as a unit and finished off these qualifiers to get into the Qatar World Cup where they belong.
That being said…
I think Dalic learned a lot this past year, and it woke him up.
It cost us two Nations League tournaments, a Euro tournament, a Pot B seed position in the upcoming World Cup, and our reputation (with many attributing our 2nd place finish at the previous World Cup as a fluke).
A big price to pay…but it could have been much bigger if we didn’t pull off the win against Russia yesterday. This is why I think Dalic was crying yesterday. Went from a complete high in 2018, to a near total collapse. Emotional roller coaster ride and near (coaching career) death experience.
It looks like he’s got most of the lineup right now, and the locker room is probably all good now.
I expect him to still make mistakes (like having Livaja, of all people, as his ‘joker’ off the bench)…but I think we are good enough to make a very deep run in Qatar if we get some luck in the draw and our players being healthy.
You don’t think players deserve any of the blame? What about Kalinic, Livakovic, Lovren, Rebic, Kramaric. All of them were dull at some point or another after the World Cup. How many players retired that player significant minutes and contributed in Russia? Rakitic, Mandzukic, Subasic, Corluka, Strinic. Vrsaljko injured. Lovren & Vida quality declined a bit too. He brought up Jurnaovic, Orsic & Budimir all of whom played key roles in the left euros. He’s not perfect but give him credit. Rebic & Kalinic were acting like immature idiots. Lots of changes these past 3 a half years. Then finding a goalkeeper who doesn’t shit his pants. Hard to replace a starting and long term striker, centre back, and goalie.
Players retire, get injured, or fall out of form all the time.
My point is that the coach has to plan for this.
Dalic’s intention was to play the exact same Russia 2018 squad at the next Euros come hell or high water…then panicked and changed his mind at the last minute during the tournament.
He brought up Juranovic and Gvardiol way too late. Gave them their first full caps during the actual tournament (Ivanusec too). You can’t ignore these guys then suddenly throw them into the tournament. He also didn’t bring in Sosa at all. He only brought in Vlasic after Rakitic suddenly jumped ship (otherwise he probably would’ve brought him in very late too). He barely capped Orsic or Budimir, until the Spain game (which was just a hail mary that luckily worked out). Orsic with his form probably should have had a much bigger role for us. He didn’t even bother looking for a goalkeeper, and just promoted Livakovic because he was already on the team.
Point is, he didn’t plan for the Euros. He was just going to play the Russia 2018 team and swap in someone for Strinic and Mandzo, and that’s that. But then Raketa suddenly retired, and a bunch of players got older (obviously), Vrsaljko didn’t recover from his injuries, and then Dalic had to react at the last minute (instead of planning for this very predictable set of events).
That’s moreso on the coach than the players.
But whatever, it looks like Dalic learned some things and we probably should expect to see him plan better for the World Cup.
There may be injuries and out of form players…so we need to plan for that, and ensure that we have a couple of options at every position and that NOBODY suddenly gets their first cap DURING the tournament. We have plenty of friendlies to prep for this.
Agreed with everything you said. Spot on. Dalic did everything last minute and did just enough to get us out of group stage. You’re absolutely right, he brings on Josko & Jurnaovic, two guys with no prior national team experience. I think he’s coming to his senses now. (I hope) Hopefully Modric & other vets gave him shit for not having a long term game plan. Doesn’t help when he has guys who he are recent players and have experience.
Looking at the teams which are in the play-offs for the World Cup: Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Wales, Turkey, Scotland, Finland, Macedonia. None of these teams are walk-over matches….! And only 3 will get to the World Cup. Now more than ever should we be happy that Croatia qualified directly. This new play-off format is a joke in itself, honestly.
Bring on the World Cup. I really hope we get in the same group as half-Turkistan, it would be good to bash in 3-4 goals in their net and send them home.
Imagine if gvardiol was english his price would be gazilion hahah.
Im just glad Dalic moved on from 2018 syndrome and finally started trying something new. Lets face it kramaric livaja petkovic budimir are best we have. I didnt mention rebic because he needs a shrink thanks for 2018 but popravi glavu dragi.
Potential cf are ljubičić and Simic petar musa aswell.
Big footballing nations such as Croatia and Spain got the result they needed in the final game. While Portugal and Italy did not, and will go the play off route. That’s Football! And I’m sure we too will go the play off route in the future….
But I’m glad Croatia made the Mundial, it would be a crime against football if Croatia did not qualify….the iconic checkers belong in every World Cup!
Italy, in a group with Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania have to go to the playoff round.
see folks, its not only us that give their fans heart attacks!
Swiss are no joke.
KO’d France in the round of 16 and took Spain to pks in the qtrs. I know everyone loves Dalic this morning but imagine if we were managed that well
Yes for sure. I guess I’m a bit surprised since they just won the Euro’s and have a decent coach as well.
My whole issue with Dalic is his choice for lineup and substitutes. The fact the man put in Petkovic of all players to score is something I can’t fathom. Petkovic should never play for the NT. Why not Orsic or Colak? Everyone keeps pushing for Croatian league players as our first choices. These guys can’t keep at the level of teams at major tournaments. Petkovic, Livakovic, Livaja etc. What I think is finding a consistent forward. Perisic will be 33 by next WC, Kramaric 31, Rebic 29. No forward is going to step up like Mandzukic again. All equally need contribute. If it wasn’t for Modric, Perisic, Kovacic and a few others in the last Euro, it would’ve been a disaster. Defence looks very bright compared to what we had in prior generations. Lots to choose from in both vets and youth. Can’t see Vrsaljko starting again. Lovren and Vida are maybes. Build our goaltending, seek offensive production from a few forwards. Let’s face it, we have no one close to a premium striker but Italy didn’t have one that stepped up in Euros. Solid defence and goaltending is what made them champs. Both areas we’ve had struggles in recently but have improved and are in the works. Our midfield are top class right now and defence has potential to be.
I was just gonna say it’s like Italy
They aren’t playing with a proper striker today either
Speaking of, north Ireland holding them tight
Italy is not creating
I have to say these last two games were so dominant
Russia is not star studded but they are strong and physical and work hard
They got out worked by higher talent and that’s just hard to beat any day of the week
I have an odd feeling Italy draws and Swiss wins and gets first. Switzerland are highly underrated and could make a run again. It be crazy to see both Portugal & Italy (both winners of last two euros) compete in the second round.
Gavranovic had a goal disallowed
Still 2-0 Swiss and 0-0 Italy Ireland
Drama
Northern Ireland almost scored and it’s over. Italy are in playoffs..I’m shocked. Imagine they play Sweden again and lose in playoffs like 2017 LOL
You can’t bash our HNL players then at the same time pump up Switzerland (who’s greatest success comes from a HNL player, lol).
Yeah I can lol. You think our league means something? Dinamo the best team didn’t even make CL. If your referring to Gavranovic, still doesn’t make sense. He plays well for Swiss and went to a better league. Mario’s success comes from quality coaching and being on a consistent team. Excluding our own, how many players in the HNL make significant contribution to international tournaments..I’ll wait
He put in Petkovic beacuse he is tall did you see the pitch the idea was for sosa and juranovic later brekalo to just send in crosses
Petkovic is a tall, slow uncoordinated oaf. Please don’t hype this guy up.
That photo of the all black in front of the checkers in the stands is absolutely legendary and we need to keep with black aways
A black jersey with some red and white checkers sort of like 08 or something would be epic
Make it happen Nike!!!
Black, and black/blue away shirts have been my favourite ever since Nike introduced them to our boys! Not that I prefer black due to some old “political” stance. But I had a funny conversation with my brother about these black and black/blue shirts. They’re just super cool, and should be a reminder of Vukovar, Stalingrad and wherever our brothers fought against heavy odds and made a stand!
On that note, it’s 30 years since the fall of Vukovar. A big salute to our heroes and defenders!
Just go to 40, majstore!
https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2021/11/15/61928a1ae2704e22408b45a1.html
Last euro in Germany and then he can retire!!
If we had a different manager (especially a foreigner) we would NOT have qualified!
International Nogomet at the senior level is more about managing egos, and balancing skill sets, than tactics. These players are elites, they know how to play their positions… they do it every week on some of the best clubs in the world.
Take this Sunday’s game as an example, do you think Dalic had to tell them not to try and play our usual style because of the waterlogged pitch. Of course not!
Dalic has been and still is a great manager! Humble, loyal, faithful (I chalk up that miraculous own goal to Dalic praying his Rosary!).
A true gentleman and class act!
Bog i Hrvati
I think the own goal was part of his tactics.
Play for the own goal. 😉
On a serious note, I’m sure many of us would not be singing Dalić’s praises right now if Russia didn’t score in their own net.
We deserved to win this game and top the group, but we started our qualifications VERY poorly in March and we lost to Slovenia, and were lucky to get the full six points against Cyprus/Malta after that.
This was all due to Dalić’s lack of preparation. It worked out for us in the end, but we need to spend the next year to PREPARE for the World Cup.
I hope Dalić realizes this, and doesn’t waste these friendlies or other games trying out random things that he would never do in a tournament.
I think in the modern game, it is not uncommon that lower ranked teams will surprise higher ranked teams fairly consistently,
Ex. France-Ukraine, France-Bosnia, Serbia-Portugal, Sweden-Georgia, Ireland-Portugal, Netherlands-Montenegro, Germany-Macedonia (these results were just in this last qualifying cycle).
I think these types of results are due to the amount of games played by the elite players(too many) and the motivation of lower ranked teams to fight for points. It’s just gonna happen from time to time.
Overall, we had a very successful qualifying campaign.
I think the preparation was fine, we just had a shaky start. Better to start slow and finish well than to come flying out of the gates and crash at the end.
It’s not easy to qualify for the World Cup (at least not coming from Europe).
And of course the own goal was part of Dalic’s tactics…to prove that God’s providence is always superior to the plans of men🙏. The new chosen people (Hrvati) came through the flood to the promised land (Qatar).😉
Bog i Hrvati
to be honest…I felt our “WORK RATE” was higher than I can ever recall in a 90 minute period. At no time did we take our foot off the gas and for that reason, I was very happy and I don’t think I could have blamed Dalic if we had tied. We did everything in our power to win it
Croatia should come play Canada at least once while Canada is actually good
Would be good to put a few past a Serb goalie no matter where he plays;)
We all knew we are stuck with Dalic cause of this contract and 2018
Better he has done some learning and perhaps gets some luck again and we cause a scene in Qatar
So we may as well support him and hope more youth step up and give him no choice
If dcc is slow maybe we really need to see pongracic. He plays enough on a good team seems to be quite athletic
Vida seems to be happy with just being there as well. Not so ego driven as lovren
We need a healthy luka for one magical run and hoping Kova can continue his growth. If he can stay consistently doing what he has been for Chelsea and us recently….
Sucic gonna have some to say by the time Qatar rolls around
We have talent yes but we still don’t have a clear cut keeper and true target man
Do you guys think truly we are better all around then 2018?
Lots can happen in a year
Let’s hope for development and health
Why does it have to be in bloody Qatar, should be on euro soil majority of the time… it just seems better
And I can’t imagine that climate will be good for European teams?
It takes a big man to admit he was wrong and yesterday, for the second time in a week, Dalic openly said he made some bad mistakes. In his interview, he mentioned how he gave several players “preferred status” because he felt they were experienced and had deserved his confidence. As much as I don’t necessarily agree with him, I do understand him.
Being a coach/manager requires someone that can understand personalities and their strengths/weaknesses. I don’t think Dalic has ever made a decision based on wanting to create an unhealthy environment although I do believe he may have unintentionally done that. He’s the type of guy that likes to include players from certain regions in certain games, to bring out more pride from the regional fans…ie…Vlasic in Split, Skoric in Osijek… Its not necessarily a bad idea but when we need results it can hurt us and Dalic admitted to all this.
Recently (yesterday) we’ve seen him openly invite back Rebic and he’s proven that he hasn’t held a grudge with Sosa. He’s brought in Orsic, Majer, Sucic, Stanisic and others while trying to balance some veterans or senators (as he calls them). He has his perspective on games and those perspectives are usually based on his experiences while playing and seeing how his mentors/coaches in the past have handled situations.
Soccer culture in Croatia is far different than soccer culture in North America. I’ve said this many times before. Players aren’t as privileged and opportunities are earned, status is something that takes a lot of time and most guys understand that the coach is the law…period.
I don’t think Dalic is much of an authoritarian but I do believe he is greatly influenced by the “culture”, whether we agree with his ways or not, he believe’s he is being a “just and honest man” and I do see where he’s coming from whether his decisions have been right or wrong…he’s tried to make decisions by demonstrating what he believe’s in.
I think he has taken the right steps to realize he’s made some horrible mistakes and on several occasions he’s made the wrong decisions because he’s followed his conscience and “cultural” mindset. He openly confessed on live tv and for that reason, I do forgive him and hope he clears his mind and makes better decisions going forward.
If you ask me, I think he deserve’s our support. Dalic has reputable guys surrounding him…ie Ladic, Olic, Corluka…all guys that we’ve loved and respected as players and men and now those guys completely back Dalic…to me, that means something!
Dalic is fine. He just has to realize we have very good players and should be winning all the time. And if we have a string of loses it’s on him. We have class players time to act like it.
I’m the first to criticize Dalic, but I will give credit where credit is due.
He is not a great manager when it comes to tactics and game plan, but he is a good man-manager (other than the whole Euro fiasco). He seeks strong locker-room chemistry and rides him matches off momentum + passion. Croatia are so skilled, we can beat anyone in the world with either proper tactics, or insurmountable motivation. Dalic opts for the second choice and that’s what brought us to the WC final.
A portion of my trust in Dalic has been re-instored and I’d like to see where he goes from here. He has integrated Gvardiol, Stanisic, Juranovic, Sosa and now soon Majer and Sucic pretty well (other than the Euros again, of course) so we can say he’s taken a step forward in terms of integrating youth. World Cup 2022 is his last chance, and I feel like even if he does well, we need to start parting ways. Dalic can nab himself a good club job and we can find a step up in managerial quality. Win-win.
Dalic’s biggest strength is calming the waters, relationship management, and not having an ego.
You need these things to manage Croatian players.
This is the reason why Kovac (who has a German mentality) did not succeed. Kovac yelled at players for talking during training sessions and wearing flip flops in the hotel. That “Felix Magath” style authoritarianism won’t work on a Croat as it does for a typical rule-following German.
This is why I like Italian coaches because they are as mentally unstable as Croats, and they understand that they need to be more relaxed with some things to manage them well.
Dalic’s biggest weakness is that he’s not really an expert tactician, but more importantly, he doesn’t plan or prepare well for tournaments. The preparation for the Euros was non-existent.
Hopefully the two wasteful Nations League tournaments and the Euros forced him to take the World Cup preparations more seriously.
We are lucky to have quite a bit of selection now in the back four and in the midfield for Dalic to choose from as we suddenly have a surge of new talent there with Gvardiol, Sosa, Stanisic, Juranovic, Pongracic, Majer, etc.
Kramaric has been finding his place in this lineup as well. Aside from our lack of a pure target man up top, we should have a good run in this tournament.
While Dalić’s preparation for the Euro finals and Nations League tournaments has not been so good (I give him a pass for the 2018 UNL because the players were either exhausted or new to the team, and some players like Jedvaj or Kalinić played a lot worse than we were expecting); however, he now has a full year to prepare for the world cup, and I think he will prepare for that like crazy because it is likely his last as well as Luka Modrić’s and Dejan Lovren’s. I see this next year being about taking the team to the next level, even if he does it with team chemistry rather than tactics
We have a good crop of 18-22 players that we should test out over the next year.
I don’t want to see him trying to find the next “diamond in the rough” like he was doing with Melnjak, Čolak and others.
We need to figure out which combination of Modrić, Kovačić, Brozović, Majer, Vlašić, Perišić and Kramarić works best and in what formation.
Then we need to try out some situational changes with players like Oršić, Brekalo, Ivanušec, Pašalić, Budimir, Petko, etc. See what works based on how we want to play (if we ever need to make a change in game).
Unless someone takes some major strides over the next few months (maybe Sučić?) we don’t need to start experimenting with full rotations of brand new players to evaluate them for inclusion into the National Team (like we were doing in many friendlies and UNL games).
Figure out the right combination of our offensive players, try out the different back four players (from the pool of 8 defenders we’ve been recently calling up), and give Grbić/Ivušić more time (to see if we have something there in terms of quality goalkeeping).
I don’t wants to waste friendlies calling up guys that have no chance of playing in Qatar.
You can give Modrić and other vet players a pass, sure, but we still have guys like Stanišić, Pongračić, Majer, Brekalo, etc who could be very useful pieces for us at the World Cup and we need to exclusively play the pool of 18-22 players we have been calling up (unless a Croatian Haaland suddenly comes out of nowhere).
“typical rule-following German” says the guy who calls heretics to our established religion of political correctness “racist”. Actually, while Rome was “uniting the world”, German tribes were never “united”/conquered by Rome, nor the Huns, nor Genghis Khan, nor Islam, nor Communism – they all got crushed at Vienna – a Germanic city.
Dey still followin dem rules, mistah
I have to say Im glad we qaulified and im glad the Serbs beat Portugal and qaulified any time the Serbs were at a WC with us we finished either 3rd or 2nd. Other times we didn’t get out of group stage. So they may bring is luck to finish 1st in 2022.
I like that line of thinking!
I never realized this. You’re definitely on to something. To be World Champions is our destiny.
Nations league and we’ll scheduled friendlies coming up. No more Estonia’s or some other wack ass country.
Play young fast teams with a
ability. I don’t really care about the Nations League.
Use this for experimentation
and cohesiveness like it was supposed to be last time.
A buddy of mine told me that while it was pouring in Split, Zadar was basking in sunshine. What about building a proper stadium in Zadar so it can host national games? You will not find a more rabid fan base.
Yea, I am against a National Stadium and would rather the HNS give some sort of a credit or rebate to HNL teams who want to renovate or rebuild their stadiums to increase the UEFA “star rating” category of each stadium.
I don’t know how that would work exactly, and you need to audit/police it well…but it’s in our best interest to have quality stadiums with proper fields for such a technically gifted team like ours.
We’ve already had two rainy wet pitches now in Osijek and Split during two very critical and recent qualifying matches. This hurts our style of play and could cost us a tournament. This happens every cycle too.
I like the fact that we play in multiple cities across Croatia. Croatia is a beautiful place from Zagreb to Split to Zadar to Pula to Dubrovnik, etc.
Unlike most of the world, Croatia isn’t a country where the entire population is concentrated in the capital city (with the rest of the country being crappy towns that feed the capital). We have like 10-15 beautiful smaller cities, with most of them being football cities.
It would be great for our youth development, HNL, and National Team if we had quality stadiums (which would be used quite regularly in each of these cities) spread across the country.
The idea of having one National Stadium in some random Zagreb suburb (strictly for National Team games and maybe the odd third division club) is just so wrong and wasteful.
Zadar has always been more of a basketball town.
My father’s first cousin, Luciano Valcic, coached them years ago.
Re: Dalic
He got the job done. Saying that doesn’t immunize him from criticism. In business terms, the project was delayed and over budget. So yes, he got it done but I’d say it got done in spite of him, not because of him. Also, what does him crying have to do with it? I’ve never believed for a second that he doesn’t care. Of course he does.
Barring any catastrophic injuries, I really believe that we can catch lightning in a bottle again and win it all. IDEMO DO KRAJA!
I demand the Group of Death – include Brazil Croatia Portugal Australia
and see how Lovren can handle this! – seriously –
will lead to the demise | Livakovic may get his turn here |
there is no way bringing Petkovic and Livaja – for a game changer!
and what the heck about the Malta game |{ for DCC and Gvardiol }|
also, the best thing from Majer combination with Modric }
put Vlasic instead or keep Pasalic there .^.
NO WAY –> DALIC STILL KEEP HIS STUPIDITY
this is the real test to know – how shit Dalic is!!
I am no lovren lover but he played today beacuse dcc is slow as shit and we played high line today. And dcc got exposed by malta for 2 breaks.
i am just glad Gvardiol is the fixed cb i think him with anyone but vida makena good cb partnership.
This game an own goal was only fitting. Hard game to play drainage was too much too handle.
54 weeks to world cup starts lets just build and see which players mKe the cut.
Rebic is out for me dont want him heard from inside source big ego and only talks to perisic in lockeroom.
Is Lovren faster than Duje though?
I agree that Duje is not Speedy Gonzales, but neither is Lovren and Lovren gets beat by forwards quite often.
Gvardiol is fast, and can get away with pushing forward (because he runs right back). I am interested in seeing how Stanisic and Pongracic fare for us at CB (and paired up with Gvardiol). But we’ll have to wait until after the World Cup for this because I think Lovren is cemented in our starting lineup until he decides to retire (or Dalic leaves).
What impressed me was the way the played in terrible conditions, especially in the 2nd half. Compact, precise for the most part and the technical skill just outshone anything Russia managed to come up with. It had to have been at least 80% possession to us.
The only way today would have been ever better is if the gedos lost.
Imagine if Split had a 40-50k new stadium with that passion every game?
Don’t wanna hear any more moaning or bitching about Dalic. The man was in tears after the win, this means the world to him. He’s contributed a lot and got us to three consecutive major tournaments. No Croatian coach has managed that. No other person for the job so whether Dalic fans or haters like it or not, he’s here to stay.
He might have been drunk though.
Guys can be emotional drunks sometimes.
😂😂😂
Lmaoo I’d be drunk too if I were coaching this team sometimes
Croatians teams through history have succeeded despite inept coaching- Dalic is no different- losing to Slovenia, tying Slovakia? We had a terrible group and we had to take it to the end- we have excellent players and when we can just make Modric the player -coach we’ll be far better- no way winning was credited to Dalic- i don’t see the connection with Dalic and team success- I see it despite him
He’s a mixed bag. He makes some good calls, but makes some obvious bad ones too.
He’s nothing special, and was woefully unprepared for the Euros (after wasting two Nation League campaigns for nothing).
This is what set me off about him.
He may redeem himself and be better prepared for this World Cup, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
100%
‘we have talent again’? We’ve had talent even in the days of Milan Rapaic and Dado Prso. Talent is never the issue for Hrvatska, I would say we now have depth
Never forget about Milan rapaic’s left boot!
I underestimated them, but beyond happy that we qualified and showed the world we still possess quality. Lots of time to prepare and it’s crazy to realize that the WC is only a year away. Euros still seem like it just happened. The own goal was luck but all that’s happened this year and the amount of times we’ve never received a break, that own goal was still earned. Russia had no offensive ability and looked dull. Credit all to them competing in a crucial away game against us. But no threats from the offence. That Russian goalkeeper was young and played well, looked a lot more confident than Livakovic. Thank goodness for Grbic even though he had no work to do. Lots of emotions and passion in the stadium considering it’s the anniversary of Vukovar. The only criticism I have is the fact we played in those horrible conditions. I distinctly remember it happened when we played Kosovo for qualifying for Russia and won 1-0. That’s ridiculous…players could’ve been injured and the ball was hardly moving. Regardless, great game and atmosphere. So what happens now? Nations league isn’t until 2023. I’m assuming they play exhibition games in 2022. I don’t understand why they don’t travel to Canada or USA. Croatian North Americans would be lined up at the crack of dawn to get a seat in Toronto, Chicago, Pittsburgh. Lots of passionate fans here in the west. The fact Serbia beat Portugal in Portugal was a shocker to me. Got to give Serbia credit because they have talent but not close to ours. Not a shocker Bosnia, Slovenia or any other former yugo teams didn’t make it.
Well Russia took the L in 2018 and took it again today. Excited for Qatar but not the timing of the tournament. Cheers brothers, maybe we’ll get Serbia in our group.
ZDS
Tough to schedule games in North America with CONCACAF teams still playing qualifiers ( schedules don’t align.
They did play Peru 🇵🇪 and Mexico 🇲🇽 back in 2018 run up
So proud to be Croatian, what a team, what a country!!
The lads were great today and put on a dominant display, so pumped for the upcoming matches.
U14, great article, you’re a great friend, a great writer, and best of all, a great Croat.
Za dom!
Much love brate…beyond proud!!!!
Spremni!