The 2014 World Cup ends Sunday.
In what most thought would be an all-South American final between hosts Brazil and hated rivals Argentina, quickly turned into the Die Mannschaft show after the Germans’ 7-1 obliteration over Brazil in the semifinals. It’s going to be hard to bet against Germany after winning the ‘Group of Death’, which was also comprised of Portugal, Ghana and the United States, while defeating a very good France team and hosts Brazil on their way to the Final. Germany has scored 17 goals in six matches while posting three clean sheets. The team is playing as a complete unit with no star player having to lean on. For you basketball fans, Germany is mimicking this year’s San Antonio Spurs in every way, shape and form. A well-oiled machine where the whole is much, much greater than the sum of all their parts.
However, Argentina have held their own in the tournament, winning five consecutive games before defeating the Dutch in penalties in their semifinal. They have arguably the best football player in the world, Lionel Messi, who has only scored four goals in the World Cup thus far. It’s hard to expect the 27 year-old Messi to have to carry this Argentina team against Germany, but he very well may have to at the Maracana on Sunday. Messi is currently in a World Cup slump, not scoring one goal in the knockout round after four in group stage. In the biggest match of his life, he’ll have to break the 3-game scoreless streak to play hero for Argentina. With Angel di Maria questionable for the Final, Germany look like heavy favorites, any way you look at it, to earn their fourth World Cup title. Argentina have only scored 2+ goals twice in this tournament (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Nigeria) but have posted three consecutive shut outs. Their struggling offense has to wake up otherwise it’ll be another blowout for Germany. Chances Argentina score 2 goals against zie Germans: Doubtful.
My prediction: Germany wins by 2 goals, (3-1) as Philipp Lahm lifts the World Cup trophy in front of the entire planet.
@ IvicA
Ademi has stagnated in the last couple of years at Dinamo. When you’re in your early 20’s and have been at Dinamo for 4 years now with little talk of you moving to a bigger team, that’s the writing on the wall really… Hey, I hope he is like a Badelj and moves to a big league and really flourishes but I currently don’t see him turning into a ‘stud’ – maybe at best he’ll be a backup DM on the repka?
King Bronk, you’re right about the referee bias. It’s just what Gen. Ante Gotovina said. I’d have to agree 100%.
Watch Arijan Ademi turn into a defensive midfielder stud, lol.
Havn’t heard of any young blokes in that position.
One needs to develop at the club level. You can’t plug in a guy on the repka who doesn’t play that spot for his club team or who doesn’t get much time with their club side.
Yep, against better teams you need ball winners. Look the successful teams at the World Cup were anchored by DMs: Holland, Argentina, and Germany.
We just gotta develop a solid one that can do the job. We develop good attacking midfielders, don’t see why we can’t for DMs.
What do you do then, just hope for a dm star to come through?
you can against lesser competition. Very tough against better teams. You need ball winners in the defensive third.
@Croatia vs antwerp
What are the other options for a line up without a dm? Can you have success without a true dm?
@ Soul Champ
Your line-up lacks a Defensive Midfielder. And Kovacic, who you put there, doesn’t have the qualities to be one.
Many on these boards talk about young studs, fresh legs, attackers. But where the hell are our up and coming DMs?
Let’s put Radosevic in the line-up. He mighta learned a thing or two being Dzemali, Inler, Behrami’s understudy at Napoli. All he needs is a loan move, to get some playing time, and Viola we gotta DM.
no chance…….those of us who live the “Za Dom…..Spremni” lifestyle don’t care about UEFA and FIFA. We can live with the competition being rigged, allegedly.
@Ziva we just need a couple hundred who live the “Za Dom Spremni” lifestyle and some media attention.
@Elvis…….good luck with your protest.
@Soul Champ
Agree Rakitic is a stud and i hope he plays well for the repka
I’m a fan of Kovac, that doesn’t mean that he is the best coach for us but fuck i hope he comes good in the qualifiers, saying that as a fan of his, a big fan, if he doesn’t get imediate results imediately he is out. Even if he wins right away if they play like shit he has to go.
We need to organize a protest in front of FIFAs and UEFAs offices. We are tired are these rigged games aganist us.
@King Bronk:
You are preaching to the choir.
Argentina got very “lucky” against Iran. Most people including myself don’t give a hoot about Iran, so it was easy for the official to overlook a clear penalty.
@ Faux Cro
Croatia is not big enough to overcome selectively lenient/harsh officiating.
I don’t know any team that can overcome that, including the Big Boys Germany France Spain Italy Brazil Argentina.
Imagine Argentina was robbed in their first game like we were do you think they would have made it to the finals? All their games they were squeeking out. Now imagine in those close moments the refs ruled against them. This “superior squad” would be out. It’s not tactics or the coach it’s the ref making or not making the call at the right time that does it. The so called luck. Except the above teams mentioned seem to be luckier than others.
Lionel Messi carried that Argentina team he set up most scoring opportunities. Lebron James wasn’t going to get the golden ball after for going back to Cleveland just joking. But yeah James from Coloumbia already had won the Golden boot so no way they would give him Golden ball as well.
@ Bobby v
Point well taken.
I love Kovac but I am really concerned by his limited view on where to deploy Rakitic.
I fear he simply cannot relate to that level of creative attacking midfielder. Like he should simply play defense because of its Hrvatska.
@ Croatia Antwerp
That Line up is appropriate for all the teams in our group including Italy.
@ Faux … Say it so?
Rakitic will break right in. He will have space for days to make the magic happen with Messi and company.
@ Svima
Rakitic is a stud. Play him where thrives or do not call him up anymore. I too have tired to justify playing him in deeper but he is simply not a destroyer type player.
Barca signed him to bring them back to the promise land.
Time to create the team around him.
You got 4 more years of pure prime.
Please honor the presence of this young man.
Kovac is on notice and better makes some real shifts in his tactics.
Yuichi Nishimura reacts to Higuaín offside goal!!!!
http://tinyurl.com/pbl2d4u
@ Faux
he will break right into the team, Fabregas sold, xavi is leaving , mascherano plays CB that leaves iniesta, busquets, song who is becoming fringe and rakitic, Barca is in every competition, rotation rotation rotation
Bang on king bronk it wasn’t Kovac.
Croatia is not big enough to overcome selectively lenient/harsh officiating.
If the playing field was level, the group stage would have had a different outcome.
Either way, if grandma had balls she would be grandma.
Our lack of a true quality defensive midfielder hurts the NT greatly. Playing Vukojevic or Modric/Rakitic out of position doesn’t yield top shelf results.
On a positive note, La Liga should be great this year.
Unsure if Rakitic will break into the team any time soon.
All of the long Argentine faces. They barely beat Belgium.
@IVICA
We were playing for the draw, and we probably would have pulled it off if it wasn’t for the faux penalty. Our called back goal only happened AFTER we were down 2-1 and had to push forward. We wouldn’t have played offensive at all of the penalty didn’t happen, and likely would not have won.
In the Brazil game we didn’t get a point. If we got at least a tie we wouldn’t have had to chase a win against Mexico and that game tactically is played very differently. A draw would have put us through.
Bottom-line losing points due to corrupt officiating is difficult to over come with a 3 game round robin.
The same happened against Spain @ the Euros and at the 2006 WC against Australia.
It wasn’t Kovac, it was Pletikosa it wasn’t tactics, it was FIFA and UEFA that showed us the door the last 3 tournaments.
Expect more of the same with the officiating in future tournaments because Croatia generally have a good team that on any day can beat the big boys so the refs throw them life lines @ our expense.
Ziva just makes my point.
Even if FIFA was fixed……I’m cool with that. They make it interesting.
WWE is scripted, still interesting.
This is why corruption in soccer and sports continues and it is not an honest competition but a manipulated media event.
This WC proved that. Messi wins the Golden ball?…Even Maradona said that was fixed and was nothing more than a marketing ploy. He clearly wasn’t the best player of the tournament James, Muller & Robben had much better tournaments statistically. Its just insulting.
Modric and Rakitic continue to under perform for the repka. Doesn’t matter where you play them.
… I mean, would the Dutch coach place Robben and Snijder as defensive midfielders?
Would the German coach do the same with Muller and Kroos?
Who the fuck told him that would be an awesome idea? If he is such a smart coach as most of you say, he couldn’t come up with that on his own.
Safet Susic would be an excellent coach for us – very much attack minded which would play to our strengths.
Take a look at where our midfielders and forwards play their club futbol.
Now take a look at our defenders. If that doesn’t tell you where our strength lies, nothing will.
How can you handicap your 2 best players, Modric and Rakitic?
I’d rather have them play where they belong and get our asses kicked than what Kovac did – which was to give us no chance at all.
We were never going to win the World Cup, but, at least we could have gone out on our own terms doing what we do best – attack with creativity.
That’s all you can ask for.
@ Bobby V we all know it, the world saw it but our esteemed leader refuses to acknowledge it. The lack of experience argument can only explain away so much, he was plain stupid and refuses to admit his shortcomings which is the worst part of it. If he came out and truly owned his fuck ups you can almost live with him holding the job.
@Ziva, while I find crying is a bit much. Its not about feeling bad for the players, the NT is our team they ars just fortunate enough to be playing on it, when we lose I feel bad for all of us who love Croatia and the players should remember thats its not just about them they are representing all of us, they carry the hopes of the nation and lately have served up some shit. Same goes for the coaches who have served up some complete shit lately.
I copied and pasted below from the internet which is more reflective of Kovac and the team. People have to get over it. He is our coach and I wish him the best.
“But the fact is that Kovac isn’t the only one to blame. The reality is that the Croats overestimated their own team and raised the bar much higher than was possible to reach.
An easy win over a terrible Cameroon in Manaus disguised most of the issues that this Croatia obviously have.
This team has some brilliant individuals, but that does not give them the balance that is needed at this level of football. Croatia are a limited team, and their going out early in the tournament comes as a logical and realistic result.” BR June 23, 2014
http://www.rantsports.com/soccer/2014/06/23/2014-world-cup-croatia-crash-out-after-failing-to-get-the-best-out-of-key-players/
For all you Niko Kovac fans – best written article yet.
^ someone who has power and dynamism.
@ soul champ
That line up is all Fine and Dandy, but quick question: where is the khedira/mascherano type player who will win balls? Someone who can power and dynamism!
@ARMADA87………oh, I’d be down a for a few minutes, but the drinking and partying would still continue as you walk out of the stadium and into the bars. Knowing me, I’d be the first one joking around and poking fun if I saw anyone in tears over the outcome. In situations like that, I always go back to this…….do the players on the repka feel bad for you when you have a tough day at work in the office? The answer is no. So, no reason to get all emotional over their play. For me, sports in entertainment. I watch it to be entertained, win or lose……..To be fair, one of the funner things in life is seeing people crying over a sports event while wearing a jersey of some player. Something about that just makes me chuckle.
Germany has set the standard.
Time to take a our individual talent and bring them into a collaborative attacking futbol juggernaut.
Can you imagine the Argentina goalie sits behind Subasic!
Every top team had a real baller between the pipes.
This World Cup was a stepping stone for us.
Need to put together the system that brings out our individual talent.
Time to put the smack down in our qualifying group and come in first.
No more of this struggling against scrubs.
Uvijek vjerni.
____________ Mandžukić
Rebić ___Rakitic_____Modric ___Perišić
______________ Kovacic____________
Strinic____Lovren______Jedvaj___Vrsajlko
______________Subasic______________
Need to attack all qualifying campaign as we have superior talent .
Spremni
@ Ziva
Hypothetical situation time….
Croatia pulls off a magical run in a WC/Euro and we play some nail biters and make it to the final and play …. just for the sake of argument … one of our big international foes in the final; Italy, England, Greece, Serbia (not realistic but stay with me here…)
So we play big rival X in the final and the game goes down to a penalty shootout and we lose….
I’m not saying you’re crying like a little girl, but 100% chance you get slightly emotional if Croatia lose a final in PK’s
Failure is also shedding tears for the repka……..
That’s ok, I watch WWE, you guys watch organized after school backyard fight club. As they say….isti kurac.
Failure is not having a girlfriend and into wwe.
I am quoting Ziva but I made it more encompassing to include all family and friends as well…. to quote another Ziva saying too that would apply
WWE is not part of a “za dom …. spremni” lifestyle
@ARMADA
If you’re quoting a Živa line, then your parents have completely failed you. (yes, I understand that I’m doing it now too)
If you are 20+ and are still in WWE, your friends and family have completely failed you.
^ ^
Agreed!
Even if FIFA was fixed……i’m cool with that. they make it interesting.
WWE is scripted, still interesting.
And some of you know waaaay too much about Serbian football.
There’s absolutely nothing cool in that!
it might be……..it might not be.
if you guys think it is, then why do you watch? Don’t watch if you think it is fixed.
breaking news………………..Kovac is sitting at home trying to think of better ways to instruct his players on how to speak with the media.
@Ziva
It doesn’t matter that our goal against Brazil was an own goal.
What matters is we were leading, hence the calls started goin against us.
If Brazil were up 2-0 in the first 20, I’m sure we wouldn’t have seen any bad calls from then on.
KING BRONK rules!
Soccer’s is fucking corrupt!
@King Bronx
Let it go.
We were playing for the draw, and we probably would have pulled it off if it wasn’t for the faux penalty. Our called back goal only happened AFTER we were down 2-1 and had to push forward. We wouldn’t have played offensive at all of the penalty didn’t happen, and likely would not have won.
Yes, it probably would’ve ended 1-1, but none of this fixes the nonsense that occurred in the Mexico game. Even if we didn’t need to play for the win against Mexico in our final game, Pranjić would have likely still started at LB and we’d still lose.
The Dutch would have clobbered us with Pranjić in our lineup. After seeing what happened to Spain and Brazil, I think we got off very easy for such amateur mistakes.
@Živa
Why does it matter if Pilić considered himself a Yugo?
This doesn’t erase the fact that he’s an ethnic Croat, which was the point of the discussion.
We have a guy who comes on here to knock Croatian athletes, yet the example he used as an elite Serbian player was actually a half Croat, trained by a Croat. It’s hilarious.
He proved that the whole “best Serbian athletes are almost never ethnic Serbs” is true.
Quit crying about that blown call on the Brazil goalie. It was a blown call, but it is a call that 90% of the time goes in favor of the GK. They are overprotected.
While we did make it hard for Brazil, we did nothing to warrant winning that game. Our bets offense was an own goal.
Look at past winner of the WC.
How many small countries do you see?
You have to go back to the 30s to find one.
That’s 2-1.
Did they win? Nope!
We did score against Brazil but it was disallowed.
well, why then even show up………….
To blow you theory away…….Uruguay in 2010. Small country, no???? Made it to the semis.
We did nothing against Brazil to suggest we deserved to win. Tie yes, but that is it.
Small countries don’t get the calls and the fix is in against them. I may write another article about this but lets look at this objectively. The last 2 world cups and the last euro the fix has been in against us. Refs have eliminated Croatia not all this other stuff you guys are talking about.
2006 Offside goal by Australia was allowed to stand sending us crashing out of the group phase giving Italy the eventual champions a much easier game.
2012 Offside handball goal scored on us in the late stages of the game by Spain, plus 2 obvious PKs not given once again allowing Italy to get through to the knock out phase. If that game was refed honestly Croatia would have eliminated Spain.
2014 Brazil is literally given 3 points in a game which Croatia outplayed them and should have won. 1 Goal disallowed and 1 Phantom PK given and Oscars goal was the result of a tackle from behind on Rakitic by Ramires.
Bottom-line like I have stated here a million times small countries generally do not get the calls. The officials are not impartial and they help the big countries progress in tournaments at the expense of the small ones.
People talk about 98, how did we get that far. It was a good team plus the war storyline that helped us get some calls to get to the semis. We Germany got a straight red, where I’ve seen worse fouls in this tournament get yellows or nothing, probably to give France an easier game to get to the finals that they hosted.
Against France on the winner everyone saw Thuram push Jarni out of the way to score and the goal stood. Yes France got a red for Bilics play acting but lets get serious, does anyone think if Croatia scored to tie it up that the goal would have stood? Ask the Yamaguchi about that one.
These tournaments are for the big boys, no one wants to see Croatia go deep into a tournament other than our small fan base here. Least of all FIFA or UEFA.
Quit crying. We didn’t deserve to beat Brazil. They scored goals for us. Outside of Cameroon’s implosion, we did nothing with the ball.
Plus, I don’t recall hrvati complaining when terrible referee decisions were in out favor (98 against Romania and 02 against Italy).
Well the final is over and I think the best team won-Germany.
However, The Fix Was In once again giving the golden ball to UEFALONA and FIFA Golden boy Messi. He scored 2 goals against Nigeria, 1 against Bosnia and Iran. He did nothing in the knock out phase and was invisible in the final.
I hope CR7 doesn’t get robbed of another B D’Orr.
As for Croatia everyone here is talking about mental toughness and all this other stuff. What got us eliminated was the fact the Fix Was In that first game. We should have won 2-1 and we would have been through. I am convinced had the refs not helped Brazil that they wouldn’t have got out of the group. Croatia beat Cameroon all be it in another fixed game, although I think we would have beaten them anyway. That’s 6 points and on to the knock out stage.
That last game against Mexico we would not have been chasing a win and the results would probably have been different there too.
You sure you really want to call Niki Pilic a hrvat????? That dude is a jugoslav.
Would a hrvat take a coaching/advisory role with the Serb Davis Cup team?
Pilic is a great example of of someone who has not lived a “za dom…..spremni” lifestyle. Someone like him would never be allowed into the confines of my fortified basement.
There are two types of hrvati in life: those who live the “za dom…..spremni” lifestyle and those who do not live the “za dom…..spremni” lifestyle. Which ones are you people????
Plus was trained by Niki Pilić at his academy in Germany.
Croatian Mother + Croatian Mentor = Novak Đoković .
Lives in Monaco!
Classic Serbian duplicity having us believe that Đoković is not Croatian!
@Ustaša Slayer
Come on now. You can’t go around calling people sick in the head after you guys almost re-elected Milošević, despite everything he did on the 90s. That was mind boggling.
FYI, Djoković is half Croatian, half Montenegrin. I’m still waiting for Serbia to produce an elite athlete that’s actually Serbian.
@ Bijeli Oroz Armenia are 38th in the Fifa World Rankings they are not a bad side. For the 2014 World Cup qualifying they had a 4:0 win in Denmark, away win in Czech Republic and a 2:2 draw away to Italy so yeah they were competitive in a difficult group. They also have Henrik Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund.
ziva i wasn’t saying the savez doesn’t need funds and changes, for sure we all know this shit is rotten… they need to change everything including down to the carpets in the offices
but at the end of the day suker or kovac shouldn’t have to make you want to jump for that header or win that ball in the midfield… its the fact that bums are getting paid millions to play a game and the fact that you are wearing a shirt made off the sweat, blood and tears from people that knew what its all about. if you play hard and lose to a better team, nema problema, when you play like some pickas then…
for me that mexico game stings more then almost any loss we’ve had… it was there for the taking
and to that douche quoting Robert Allen Zimmerman, ask him why did he change his jew name?
Supposedly, two black guys on the American team are considered “German-Americans”, LOL. The amount of verbal diarrhea that spews out of the mouths of the “main stream” media is astounding.
“Hitler is rolling in his grave”
Funny how Germany lost the war to the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, & yet those three countries have become a lot less White than Germany since the war. Many Turks (who were allies w/ Germany in ww2), including the father of Turkey – Emil Ataturk, are Aryans; as is the Albanian Mustafi. Why do you think for the 1st time in history an Eastern European country – Poland has a more efficient economy than Britain? If most of Germany looked like Boetang, would we see commercials here in America of German products that brag about “German engineering”? There must be magic soil within the political borders of Germany that makes anybody who goes to live within those borders become a “German”!
What are you talking about? Tito saved your asses! After what you monsters did in WWII (i.e. Jasenovac etc.), you should have been punished! And please don’t give me any of that Bleiberg crap. Bleiberg was a slap on the wrist to Croatia and a spit in the face to Serbdom. Tito – a Serb-hating Croat – murdered scores of Chetniks there. Tito murdered Draza Michailovic.
You should have been punished. Tito hid all the shit (i.e. Croatian shit) under the rug and pretended that nothing ever happened. You’re a bunch of wolves crying you got attacked by sheep.
Honestly, you people are sick. Really, what is the matter with you? One guy here calls himself “Poglavnik” while another calls himself “Mad Maks” after that Ustasha mass-murderer Maks Luburic. Why are you people like that??? I mean, even Bob Dylan says you’re all a bunch of Nazis. Being of Krajina Serb extraction, I’m DEEPLY offended by what Josip Simunic did. How can you support someone so low?
You guys are never going to win any of these big-time soccer tournaments (i.e. the World Cup or European Cup). You guys are never going to produce an athlete like Novak Djokovic.
RSK 1991
@German kraut Kovac
How does Serbia finish 4th in that group? (Portugal, Denmark, Armenia, Albania.)
Be real man. Portugal and Denmark might pip them for first and second. But seriously who would finish 3rd above Serbia from Albania and Armenia?
I have Serbia finishing second in this group.
Some of you are rating them based on your dislike for them and with the hope they will fall flat on their face.
In reality they were a simunic denied goal away from finishing above us. And have made great inroads since then, took a different approach. While we have remained the same or even taken a few steps backwards.
If Croatia want to evolve as a footballing nation? They need to make serious changes on the field and at the savez level.
When we continue to fail at tournaments, we have to go back to the drawing board, something is not working. Yet the savez is too stubborn to realise these failings and continue with the status quo.
jebes srbiju, they are scared to qualify for major tournaments after the humiliating defeats they suffered in the past.
GERMANY were the best team in the tournament and are deserved champions.Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles!!!
@dannyj……..and where are we (cro soccer federation) going to find that money to invest. We have Puppet Suker running the savez, an uneducated slejacina. The league is rigged. Best thing for our players tips to leave as early as possible. That way they collect gaur entered paychecks.
@Faux Cro – My mother talks about the real Tito missing a finger, which was replaced by some jew.
@ Svima
Mexico match was a debacle.
To play worn out, tired and old players was a mistake.
I don’t give a flying rats ass about Serbia but there team set up could have beaten Mexico. With their wings and back four Mexico would not have dominated the second half.
We got bum rushed and need to own it.
Seeing Germany succeed after their 2000 debacle is the gold standard.
This is the problem in Hrvatska dysfunctionality is allowed to persist and evolution is denied.
The thought we would get physically dominated is an embarrassment.
Support he core with young studs and let’s getting going for 2016.
its true you can blame the savez, you can blame kovac(yes he made some questionable decisions, but at the end of the day you only have one person to blame when you burn your dinner and no its not mama;)
Faux Cro – no shit dipshit! That’s not what is up for debate. How nice would it be if the Motherland had a standard of living being even close to the commie Merkel’s homeland.
Tito was a traitor.
Either that or he was killed and a Serbian look a like was installed.
Again you are a stupid fuck! Germany is a highly successful democratic country. Once again if I could have been just 1 f-ing % as successful…..
@Marshal Tito, what was stupid about what I said. Merkel is a commie, it’s a fact, just like that traitor Tito.
Mishko you are a stupid fuck! If I could have only been as half successful as that commie Merkel.
Hey drugi Hrvati who are saying Serbia will qualify for Euro 2016 think again. Serbia is in a group with Portugal,Denmark, Armenia and Albania. I can see them finishing 4th in that group.
Hey Živa, I thought you couldn’t see heart from the tv or inside a stadium?
Our savez is not the problem. Our players are. Have no fear Rakitic will have another great club season but come country he will be asleep.
Can’t believe this bs on this site about how good the Serbs would of performed at the W C and how unlucky they were in past tournaments. Lol
@dannyj
Honestly, considering how multicultural Germany is today, I would expect a lot more non-ethnic Germans. But only six out of 22 are not pure Germans (with two of them being half).
One Turk (Ozil),
Two Poles (Podolski & Klose),
One Half-Tunisian (Khedira),
One Albanian (Mustafi), and
One Half-Ghanian (Boateng)
Croatia, on the other hand, is not multicultural. But there are two Brazilians, a half-Austrian, and a Serb on the team.
We’re almost there! 🙂
i wish they would dump some money like germany did into the system… maybe in a few years we could seriously challenge for a cup
i don’t see why we couldn’t have beaten either teams today with the right system
on another note, hitler is rolling in his grave see the turks, slavs, and black dude on his team;)
@Bobby V
Come on now. Like you, I’m upset at our campaign, but let’s be real here.
Serbia wasn’t really rebuilding in the past campaign. Sure, they called up a couple of youngsters here and there (Duricic, Ignjovski, Scepovic) who are all in the 22-23 year old range. But we also called up some youngsters in guys like Kovacic, Rebic and Radosevic …who were actually a lot younger in the 18-19 year old range at the time.
The majority of Serbia’s team during these past qualifiers were still the 26-30 year old players they’ve been playing (and failing with) for a long time now. This upcoming Euro and possibly the next World Cup is the last run for the majority of this Serbia team. In a couple of years from now, Serbia will already need to rebuild…which sucks considering they’ve only qualified for two tournaments and finished last in both of them.
Serbia has okay players, and they should qualify for this expanded Euro 2016 format, but they will really need to hope that some of their midfielders and forwards take several steps forward in the next two years if they plan on doing anything.
We just had out WORST ever qualifying campaign with three losses (two of them at home) and yet we STILL finished ahead of them, and we still integrated some younger and lesser experienced players than they did during the cycle.
Our problem is not our players, it’s been the savez. For Serbia, it’s actually been the opposite.
All done, all of the two year fans I encounter on the streets/work/outings can go fuck off now
Watching Germany just score and they show that commie piece of shit Merkel.
Is the guy playing in the final the backup to subasic? This is bugging me watching this game
I think the worst thing that happened was Cameroon not banging in a softie against us
Then subasic would have started not that the last game was pletis fault but subasic probably could have inspired some more confidence in the team. However we don’t know as he is unproven for us cause is never given a chance. The thing is if pleti don’t retire u know most likely kovac will keep riding him and subasic may not get a chance
For all we know pleti may bounce back but as we all know some changes need to be made
Croatia finished only 3 points ahead of Serbia in qualifying who had a youthful midfield/forward group of players.
Unlike Serbia, our youngsters are not ready to replace the veterans who will be leaving.
Kovacic is the best of the youth – at this point, even he showed in Brazil that he is not ready, much less anyone else.
I am not a Serb-lover by any means, but, I’m mature enough to separate politics and sports. The Serbs knew they would take their lumps the past 2-3 years, but, by Euro 2016, they will be a force.
Even though it was a friendly, Serbia outplayed Brazil in their match before the WC started – and was playing inspired attacking soccer – unlike the Kovac led Croatians.
@Anon – what smart move has Kovac made so far?
@By
It’s true they should be motivated enough as it is.
Kovac still has to remind them why they are here and why it’s so important for our small nation to succeed in some way.
And remember that game (Argentina v SiCG)
2006. It was one of the best goals I’d seen in a world cup that beautifully passed cambiasso goal.
Poetry in motion.
They (Serbia) were unlucky not to progress last World cup though.
A single goal against Australia would have sent them through. And they were unfortunate not to get a penalty from a cahill handball.
That would have placed them in a easy progressing route. Look at Ghana almost went to a semi-final if not for suarez goal keeping skills.
Anyway it’s all theoretical.
Gold for sbs on telecast of this cup here in Australia, all former socceroos with Croatian background cast for this final game. great to see.
Kovac job to motivate therm! Oh please if these millionaires don’t want to play for Hrv it falls on them.
Argentina beat therm 6-0.
There’s no way Serbia would have made it out of that group we were in. Last World Cup they lost to Ghana, had a lucky win against Germany, and they lost to Australia. In 2006 World Cup the Chetniks lost all their group games to Argentina,Holland and Ivory Coast.
Kovac nedaj se. Samo naprid.
I said that Serbia had to qualify first.
But I also believe that if they had they would have beaten Cameroun and Mexico.
Just my opinion.
Hrvatska really squandered their opportunity. Kovac’s persistence with pletikosa, pranjic and insistence with playing players out of position and his uninspired tactics were the major factors. But also the teams lack of interest was concerning but that also falls under Kovac’s job to get the team motivated.
Yet the savez says that everything’s ok and Kovac gets another chance to implement his ill coaching style.
A doomed repeat is inevitable.
God help us!
Why don’t You bring Me as a Coach ??
http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=53a98132e4b00f1381969dad
and Take for my Masterpiece !!
…………………………Mandzukic…………………………..
…….Rebic………………Rakitic……………..Halilovic…….
Vrsjalko…………………L.Modric………………………Srna
…………………Lovren…DMF…Corluka…………………..
………………………..…Subasic…………………………….
This will be our finest lines up >
1) while Rakitic and Modric (both) can be change with Kovacic.
2) and Vrsjalko can be right back wing instead of Srna .. while the left back wing be on Strinic’s role ! !
3) Rebic and Perisic can be switch to each other !
4) Rakitic and Modric have space to their own in the middle
they can show for technique with support from
FW WingFW WingDeff and DMF
5) remember .. the big problem in this team .
when we are too affraid to changing Modric and Rakitic. . even further bench him > and playing for alternative ! !
@Ziva-Re your questions,my answer is…….
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Lately, Serbia seems to be adopting Croatia’s coach-searching strategy by hiring inexperienced former players from their previous generation.
Mihajlovic was hired and was a flop. Now Drulovic has been hired, and will probably flop. Then again, at least these two had some experience in club coaching (although without any notable success). Whereas, Stimac and Kovac had pretty much nothing on the resume. Bilic had little more.
I guess Serbia got frustrated at the lack of success despite hiring experienced coaches (ie. Antic, Petrovic) and even when they went the ‘foreign coach’ route (Clemente).
I guess they figure, hey, if we’re going to potentially suck then why pay extra for it? So, they choose not to take the risk, and hire a former player for minimum wage and hope it pans out.
Give me A fuckin break about Serbia having a smarter coach.
I think everyone was agreeing with my point about coaches knowingly bringing in and playing an older side knowng they should have brought in and played with some talented youth.
As for Serbia advancing, it’s a matter of opinion. They couldn’t have played with less heart than Croatia did in Brazil, and I know for 100% sure Serbia has much smarter coach.
A large reason that Concacaf teams did “well” is because they are accustomed to playing during the summer in tropical/subtropical climates.
Players also have more to prove as most have shit club careers.
Deutschland uber alles!
@Franjo Tudjman
The Serbs do have good defenders and defensive midfielders…but, for some reason, they play terrible defense.
They allow A TON of goals regularly, both in qualifying and in tournaments. They did well in the few friendlies they recently played prior to the World Cup, but that means nothing.
They have zero central offensive midfielders and zero strikers. They would have struggled terribly to score, which would ease any defensive pressure on the other teams and allow them to cheat forward.
Serbia would have finished last in their group in this World Cup, just as they have done in all of the (rare) tournaments they’ve played in since becoming an independent Serbia.
As always, your answer are encouraged and appreciated.
Who shows more emotion, heart and passion:
A. Our repka
B. A $5 dollar hooker
C. The kid taking your drive through order
D. Kranjcar’s weight loss coach
E. STD Colruka’s life coach
F. Pletikosa’s wife after her attempted &%^#$@#@
G. The current state of the Air Malaysia passegers
Love it!
@ mkez
Looks like the party is just gettin’ started. Holland up 2-0.
I would love to see another Brazilian massacre today.
Our guys underachieved, plain and simple. If we had 1% of the heart of the USA men’s national team, we would have beaten Mexico. As soon as it was 1-0, our guys folded like a cheap suit instead of fighting to the end.
The Serbian National team has a good defense, but nothing else. They would have also been eliminated.
That Mexican team was better organised than any Serbian team I’ve ever seen.
People have clearly gone crazy on this site!
yes, Serbia would have advanced. hahaha. What bullshit!
Serbia lost in qualifiers. We suck. Blame the coach, blame the players, blame luck, we didn’t deserve to make the second round. But to say that Serbia was better, is better, would have done better is ridiculous. The only European team that didn’t qualify that I would say that would have done better is Sweden.(and Scotland of course haha) I’m with Iggy and Poglavnik on this one.
.
@poglavnik
self hating hrvati, only way to put it
^ ^
That was me.
Was so hopped up after reading some of this bullshit I failed to sign in…
@Bijeli Oroz, Bobby V, Soul Champ
BLASPHEMY!!
I would never spit those words, nor do I think you guys are right!
CONCACAF and CONMEBOL had great tourneys.
No way the Serbs would have done shit.
Bite your tongues!
Atta boy Iggy!!
Yeah the Serbs would of beaten Mexico. They failed to qualify. They play shit. You retards anything to put down Hrvati.
iggy, I never said the serbs are even close to us!! I agree with bobby v about spain etc…and the old guard falling.
every “croat” on this site that say serbs are better than us at anything should be immediately banned for life
go fuck off
wtf with u cunts
u are agreeing with this croat-hating karadzic is a hero faggot ?
wtf is actually wrong with ou ?
“bobby v, bang on brate”
fuck u shitheads
get fucked
fucking hell
we lost a game and all u cunts are like “serbs are way better than us”
take your tiny little cocks and shove them up your arses, wankers
arg will limp over the line even tho they don’t deserve to
they’ll win
and brazil will be hugely happy cos not only did they lose 7-1 but arg will win the wc on bra soil
hehehe
we might even get to see more footage of brazilians crying like they’re only child just died and burning more of their flags
we can only hope
bobby v, bang on brate!!
Kovac shit the bed in brazil…Pleti was a disaster…Pranjic horrible…Rebic should of been more involved…overall like ziva said…our guys are mental midgets! overall our midfield is on another planet compared to Serbia…they have no creativity..our future is much brighter!!!! we need leadership! srna needs to step down as captain…
Serbia has some young talent…not even close to the talent overall Croatia has.Kovacic…Halilovic….etc.
@ NK Susak
Boban is the best we have !
Captain of Milan and an unmatched tactical awareness.
Maybe when we evolve he will get involved.
@ Bobby V
Great point Brate!
It is some sort of mass idiocy that we play older worn out players past their prime in major tournaments.
Kovač disappointed with his conservative approach in playing older players.
You play one or two Zidane level players in key positions. Then you fill the team with young studs.
We finally have young talent and we need to blood them.
Hate to admit it but Serbia would have beaten Mexico.
Need to really learn from that Match.
We have a core in their prime. Fill in the open spots with young legs that will perform in France.
Germany miss chance for 8-0 9-0 10-0
even they gave Brazil goal from Ozil’s failed ! ”
they don’t deserve to this World title !!
For those that have the Bein Sports channel, did anyone catch the ‘Xtra-bein Brazil’ show last night? Its a show thats on every night that talks about all soccer related stories and has a studio set up in Brazil. They have regular former stars like Ray Hudson, Tony Meola, Christian Vieri and others as regulars. Lat night they had Zvonimir Boban live in studio in Rio with Christian Vieri. Boban looks like a cave man with his hair cut, or lack there of. He said that even if Messi wins on Sunday, he will never be what Maradona was. It was cool to see him get into the tactics for sundays game. We could use someone with a brain like that in the HNS, although Boban has continuously said he wants nothing to do with Croatian soccer. Understandably, the entire hour show was primarily about Germany and Argentina, so there was no mention of the current state of the Croatian National team or Niko Kovac from Boban which I was hoping for. Anyway, was awesome to see him in the spotlight again. Nothing but respect for that man
I also agree that serbs would’ve advanced from this group.
But karadzic you have to get there first.
Have to agree that Serbia would have advanced. They went to their youth movement at a good time.
Ever notice that certain countries in the recent past (France, Italy, and now Spain) let their veterans get blown out a major competition before making a change?
I’m sure the Spanish coaches knew this was going to happen but wouldn’t have the guts to replace Xavi, Iniesta, etc. The public wouldn’t allow it – it means wasting an entire tournament to justify a move for the next one.
Seems to happen to all the great teams.
time to look forward to euro 2016… i know serbia would have beaten mexico and gotten to next stage but croatia won in qualify… hopefully we can avenge our loss in maksimir