If you don’t know the name now, don’t worry, you will very soon. In the next couple weeks, Mr. Cvitanić will make great coffee table conversation amongst us Croatian soccer fans. So let me tell you a bit about him before we delve further in.
Dario Cvitanich (we’re going to drop that pesky ‘H’ for sake of being correct in Croatian) is a 24-year old striker who was born and raised in Argentina. Everything he knows and loves is in Argentina. He has played for Banfield of the Argentina Primera Division (1st Division) since 2003; scoring 41 goals in 100 matches. Cvitanić was just bought by Dutch club, Ajax. He will finally be playing in Europe and will now have the opportunity to wow us all and prove that he his for real.
So why should you care?
Cvitanić is eligible to be called upon from the Croatian Football Federation to join the national team since he has a full-blooded Croatian grandfather and holds a Croatian passport. He has been said to be the missing piece of the puzzle in Croatia’s road to a World Cup championship.
With Cvitanić running up top with Eduardo and Modrić, Kranjčar, Rakitić and Srna controlling the midfield, Croatia could easily become one of the most feared teams in the world. Dario said he would gladly play for the country of his grandfather if he was given the chance.
Fans and I alike have waited for that special day when the front of the sports page would read, “Bilić calls on Cvitanić.” But wait! In recent interviews with coach Slaven Bilić, he has said that Cvitanić is no ‘Killer’ or Dudu aka Klasnić and Eduardo. Bilić has said that he will be scouting Dario when the Dutch season starts up in August. Could this just be Bilić playing psychological games or is he not yet sure about this kid? Klasnić looked good at Euro 2008, Olić should get the boot back to the bench and we all know that Eduardo will be back in the starting 11 once healthy.
What would you do if you were Bilić?
Source: Net.hr
The players that Croatian Federation will be more interested n who is 21 years old and is in the process of getting his Croatian passport, but has not responded about what his intentions are. i am doing cissp exam
you post a very good point…Bilic said he would not call Cvitanic up until October, not because he believes Cvitanic wont give his heart and soul to the team, but because he didn’t like the shape he was in and that it was still early…he just made the move to Ajax and European soccer for the first time….time will tell…October should be a fun month for us…
i believe that if he doesn’t play with his heart for croatia he shouldn’t play for the country at all. he mentioned other croat players not born in croatia in one of his comments… all of those players play with their hearts and souls for croatia and if you dont have that you cant be a croatian anything. he said that he is patriotic argentinian but that every footballer’s dream is to play in the world cup. one needs to have a passion for the country he represents. dario if you dont have the passion or rather croatian patriotism then better rethink your position. every true croatian loves croatia no matter where they live from argentina to australia to germany to bosnia and herzegovina to usa….
I guess he sucks enough to be on Argentine under 20 team no?
Fredes SUCKS
and Im a HUGE Independiente fan!
since I was born, been to million games and trust me, This kid needs to learn to trust himself! if not he is not going anywhere, he is like the mary go-round! he won’t stop going around and around, never ever foward! if the kid goes foward he would be at least on the bench for croatia
Glad to be of assistance. I also cleared up that little misconception that all FIFA set dates are official friendlies, because obviously they are not.
Ok… so now we know that to be locked in Dario Cvitanich must play in a qualifying match. Thanks Ante.
Ol I found the link. The Slovenia game is NOT OFFICIAL!! FIFA GAME SCHEDULE.
Mariano Ugglessich plays for Velez Sarfield and also Pavlovich plays for Banfield. They are both of Croatian lineage but Pavlovich is now 30 years old so I don’t think he will be recruited any time soon. Ugglessich I think is in his late twenties… and he’s a very good player but I don’t know if he is national team quality.
The players that Croatian Federation will be more interested in are Hernan Fredes of Independiente who is 21 years old and is in the process of getting his Croatian passport, but has not responded about what his intentions are. Also Independiente have in their Junior ranks a few second and third generation Croats that are 17 years old that are making some noise now.
Hopefully, the whole Dario Cvitanich operation will be a good thing for Croatia in showing players of Croatian lineage in South America the path to glory.
This is the hope of many since South America, specifically Argentina is full of 2nd and 3rd generation Croats.
is Nicolas Pavlovich and Mariano Uglessich Croats?
OK guys, so I obviously added another picture to this post; Cvitanic holding a Croatian jersey with a HNS cap on his head. Nothing is official as of yet but lets all thank Rob for this very important ” REL=”nofollow”>Cvitanic story. And I know Ive asked many of you before to try to go anti-anonymous just to try to build a sense of how many people are actually posting in these conversations and also build a sense of personality. It’s no biggie but would be nice. But yes. It looks like Cvitanic will play for Croatia and that he is really excited. He wants #20. He cant wait, he wants to be there and he wants to wear the checkers. What else can we ask for?
I appreciate your comments Ante and of course I’m a big fan of this site and all the info it provides to fans of Croatian Football.
Well, it looks like Cvitanich had his visit from Markovic and Srebric from HNS and they’ve come to terms and Number 20 is the number Cvitanich wore for his entire career at Banfield in Argentina.
There’s also talk that he might get called up for the game against Slovenia just to make it official or on the way to being official since it’s designated a friendly game. Let’s see what happens and it might take a while for the coaching staff to figure out some tactical options when Cvitanich plays for Croatia. It’s exciting news though. Cvitanich is the first South American born player of Croatian lineage to join the National Team. Hopefully the trend will continue and HNS will look at countries such as Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Brazil for others who are of Croatian origin.
Good luck to Dario and hope he scores a lot of goals for the Vatreni.
http://sportskenovosti.hr/index.php?cmd=show_clanak&clanak_id=2151
Done deal guys? It appears he wants number 20…sorry Budan!
I know Anonymous and I’m grateful for that. But there’s 2 reasons I created this post. 1. So there can actually be an official post where we can all comment and debate on the topic and 2. A majority of the readers only get their news from their emails of the blog. So no post=no email. But yes, it does look close and everyone should keep everyone updated on every little bit of news that comes out of Holland and Zagreb.
im in croatia at the moment and cvitanich is in the sport section of slobodna dalmacija etc everyday
apparantly someones going to amsterdam to talk to him so i think its close
Well… I’ve been talking about Cvitanich on this site weeks ahead of this report. I can assure all the readers that Cvitanich is the real thing and inside the area he has instincts which are just as good if not better than Killer Klasnic. He’s quick, good in the air and can score with either foot and he can set up players as well.
Bilic is playing it right. He’s moving with caution but let’s not forget that Croatian Federation number two man Srebric has already said that Cvitanich is picking up his passport in Amsterdam either this Wednesday or Thursday. It’s only right for Bilic to want Cvitanich to earn it and scout a few games of Ajax but make no mistake about it. Dario Cvitanich will have an immediate impact on Croatian goal scoring production.
As many Argentines already know about this player and many coaches in Argentina have already stated about him. Dario is dangerous in the open field. He’s very difficult to knock off the ball and one on one he has the ability to take on a player which just opens up other scoring opportunities for other players. Mark my words now. Cvitanich will be one of the biggest stars on Croatian national team if given that opportunity. He will be the perfect Dudu companion. In the middle of the pitch you have Modric, Srna, Rakitic and Petric and Killer Klasnic.
You have in the back Pranjic, Simunovic, R. Kovac and Corluka with Pletikosa between the sticks. This would be a side that would be one of the top three teams in the world.
Now add Cvitanich and slowly work in Vidosic, Dugandzic and maybe even Lustica from Australia and you have a dynasty.