Well, that escalated quickly!
And then the sky absolutely fell on Borna Sosa. All in 96 hours. Sosa snubs Croatia and says playing for Germany is a “business decision.” FIFA comes backs and say, “Sorry man, you are not eligible to play for Germany.”
Awkward.
So I ask you all this: Would you want Sosa to represent Croatia at the top level after all this?
I say yes, but conditionally. He would have to apologize publicly and say that he made a mistake. Germany came knocking and I was frustrated that the Croatian senior team hadn’t called me up yet. Blah blah blah… But it would have to be a real public apology, on the podium, with a microphone. None of this “I’m so sorry” on Instagram stuff.
If he expects to be included in any future Croatian plans automatically, I laugh.
He needs 10 Hail Marys and 20 ZDS and he will be forgiven
“Sosa should become the prodigal son and play in the U21 Euro team.
As a Catholic community I would like for him to receive grace and ZDS training.”
That’s why @Soul Champ is Soul Champ!
That really shows what a humble/charitable guy @Soul Champ is.
It reminds me of another time when I was studying in Dijon, and we were taught about St. Bernard of Clairvaux (those were the days), that great Saint once said, and I quote,
For charity would not offend charity, nor scorn when it feels itself offended. For it cannot deny itself, nor be divided against itself. Its function is rather to draw together things divided; and it is far from dividing those that are joined.
– Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Can you guys see how @Soul Champ is not offended by Sosa’s choice of Germany, but others used the whole situation to show how offended they were, and perhaps to big note themselves, oh if they could only demonstrate the humilty of @Soul Champ.
The Croats that would never take Sosa back have been let down by their parents, so sad.
Also, you’d do well to remember, that globalist/communist Frank Tudjman never repented before the Croatian people for what his people did at Bleiburg, and well after the war in Croatia, perhaps he never felt his people did anything wrong? But it’s a fact that no nationalists (or rather those that feigned being of a nationalist character) ever asked him for an apology from Frank, but rather entered into his labours and created the new state of Croatia in his image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlRJa9N5iXc&t=3246s
good talk about sosa situation
Good video, thanks Tom!
Initially, I wanted to choke the guy on the right side but very quickly it became obvious he knows nothing about Sosa or his past few years of playing.
I highly recommend those of you that can understand Croatian watch this. The guy in the middle clearly explains the hierarchy, responsibility of coaches and other staff member …and most importantly something else I mentioned on another site…TIMELINE.
Two years ago Sosa had a very bad year and was injured a lot and played a total of 13 games. Last year was the same and he played 12 games…in 2nd division of their German league and MOST IMPORTANTLY….this season, Sosa started out very slow. He had 1 assist right up until December break. He was not in good form and even so, the U21 team game him the captain armband at times.
Dalic had to pick his player based on current form and during that period and the previous 2 years, Sosa was definitely nowhere near good form.
There’s more to say about this video but I suggest you guys watch it!
maybe we have lots of young people on this site who don’t remember early 1990’s? BTW, Croatia fought a bloody war to gain the right to fly it’s beautiful flag. Be free to say Croatia . Be free to be Catholic. Be free to slowly build it’s culture separate of communist dominance. I was 23 years old and the pride we had in 1994 and 1998 when the world took notice and said- these checker guys are amazing athletes and their support is something never seen before in the world of soccer because soccer was only part of it- it was about Croatia !!! Fast track to 2021 and this guy has the nerve to pull this stunt. All the dead who fought, civilians killed , children killed, churches burned down and he thinks people won’t associate the pain and suffering to this “hairboy” – Here is a business decision :move to Siberia maybe the Russians need you for medical testing – how a person can live with no brain. Sorry for the politics but it’s sad that someone would even think of dishonoring Croatia – I’m Croatian Canadian and I’m very offended by this kid.
Svaka čast Ante Kvartuc!! Great site. Still can’t quite access via my home WiFi?
Sosa ?!
This is playing checkers with playing for our checkers!!
Sosa should become the prodigal son and play in the U21 Euro team.
As a Catholic community I would like for him to receive grace and ZDS training.
Must admit I also like the way he whips in those left footed crosses.
26 man roster this summer?
Vlašić is on that 100%.
Full faith in his ability to train and rehab in time.
Off the bench for 20 mins is an asset.
Brekalo = the goods.
We don’t need him…
The repka plays with a back line of 4 and Sosa lacks the defensive capability to work with that system. He is more of an attacking wingeback or defensive midfielder which I don’t see being important to us in the near future
Yea, his defensive stats are not that good.
However, we’ve struggled to put in good crosses, so his elite crossing ability would have been great to have as an option off the bench.
I still thing that our ideal starting lineup moving forward should be:
Bradaric – Gvardiol – CaletaCar – Vrsaljko
Starting any one of Barisic, Lovren or Vida in our back four will weaken us…but it’s likely to happen for these Euros (unfortunately).
Hopefully it gets corrected quickly and both Lovren & Vida retire after this tournament.
There is a 0% chance that he gets called up for the Euros. Regardless of how the masses feel about forgiveness, it’s the players in the locker room that matter and it’s a certainty that it would divide the room. It’s crazy how this all played out because I’m 100% that he would have been called up otherwise.
Imagine Sosa having to look any of his teammates in the face after this?
Imagine Vrsaljko, who was playing in the WC with a blown out knee, risking his career for Hrvatska, has to play with a guy with this type of mentality!
I’m not sure it’s possible.
I would rather take 11 sub par players with undying loyalty to the team and to the cause, than any ‘superstar’ who thinks it’s all about him.
I fully believe that our success (in any sport we play, not just soccer) has more to do with our love of Croatia than any other factor.
Sosa, I’m afraid, has tainted himself beyond repair.
This unfortunate situation will be in his head any time he has to put on the jersey. Imagine him before a game, when the national anthem is being played and they do those closeups of the players…Imagine this scenario playing out against Germany.
Just can’t happen. It’s a psychological mine field.
When it comes to the national team you cannot have even a hint of divided loyalties…it just doesn’t work.
Poor kid.
I’m sure we have all made boneheaded mistakes in our early twenties….I know I sure did…and guess what, I had to live with the consequences of my actions.
Yes, it is possible to be forgiven, sure, but the repercussions remain.
Maybe by next Euro or next WC after Qatar…we’ll see.
Good point Robert V, you could also ask why didn’t Dalic know the rules, he wouldn’t of wished Sosa luck if he did.
Good point by @Mixed Grill also, “nationalist chest beaters” lol!
In hindsight he wouldn’t make the same choice again, but therein lies the problem, any unforgiving person can simply say that Sosa has been compelled to apologise because Germany is not an option.
Why doesn’t the Croatian Federation call up players who they feel might be future candidates for call up to the national team just once, put them into a useless Nations League game and lock them into playing for Croatia?
This Sosa incident would have never happened.
Why isn’t this being discussed? It’s a simple solution.
Absolutely correct. They did it with Lovric.
So hard to believe that both parties were ignorant of the rules. This was such a loss for all parties including dreamers. So sad to know the truth there was no heart felt desire, pride, affinity to his father’s motherland within him. Wanted to live in denial of that truth . We are living in the times of rollerball, where heartless corporate nations distract the masses with show, and spectacle. Wanted to believe matchstick had a eternal burning torch in his Vatreni soul.
One last thing – I totally agree with Maminjo’s post about Gvardiol. Dalic MUST call him up not only because of his undeniable talent but to also prove that yet another young player has just passed Sosa in the pecking order and to show it could have him.
Seeing Bradaric get the call up earlier than him and scoring that bomb against England in the U21s must have burned his ass.
What I think will happen is that time will heal and if his play keeps up he will get a call at some point next year.
Talk about horrible advice from his people. He is 23 after all but talk about horrible decisions!!!
Now if it was up to me I don’t think I could ever call him up.
Two things…when he said that this was ‘business’ was one thing. But the deleting of his National team pics from his social media really gets me. He wanted nothing to do with BEING Croatian. It shows deep down he does not care about the repka period. We don’t need that. I’ll take Maminjo’s fave Melnjak over him purely because of heart. It goes a long way and can often makeup for talent (couldn’t resist Maminjo).
I’m not a fan of nicknames but this kid deserves one…and the only one that fits is from letter he got from that fan that called him a tourist…love it.
I’m calling him ‘the toruist’ from now on.
🤣🤣 love that hahaha
I’m also very hard on Melnjak but I’ll take him over Sosa any day. He plays with heart, and puts his all on the pitch. As much as I want him out and Bradaric in, I’ll take his work ethic any day.
Can’t we just ban BOTH Sosa and Melnjak from the team?
He will definitely be ignored for this Euro tournament, assuming he was even in the picture. But if he is the goods, I can see him playing for Croatia, providing his form is good. My guess is his HRV teammates are laughing and shaking their heads at him. Dumb mistake. By him and his advisors, as others have commented.
Also, huge own goal for the German Football Association. Makes the HNS look not so bad.
Oh, and props to Kvartuc for the new look for the site. Good job!
It’s quite simple really, if Sosa starts playing well at club level he’ll be picked for the senior team eventually, you’d have to be stupid not to pick him if he’s playing well, also, I can guarantee you guys he wont turn his back on the Croatian national team again, he’ll be all in!
That laughing guy passed away recently, sad news that.
Yes but conditionally as you mentioned.
He wont play this Euro and shouldn’t regardless of his quality after this debacle. Things need to cool down. Dalic released his statement.
Also, does he want to play for us? We shouldn’t have to force anyone who doesn’t want to.
A legit well thought out public apology.
There is just so much attention on Sosa right now, that there needs to be a distraction.
If I were Borna, I would take a page from the Vlatko Marković playbook and just make an obscure gay comment.
Just tweet out something like “there should be no gays on the National Team”…and that’s it. The media would stop talking about Sosa’s attempt to play for Germany, and spend the next several weeks trying to figure out who the gay guy is. Poor Stjepan Tomas would be getting PTSD flashbacks again.
🤣🤣🤣 that’s pretty good. I’ll remember your tactics next time you get in trouble on these boards
I’d call him up, but he has to do ten laps around the field after every practice and game.
What now for Sosa
Like all Catholics Sosa needs to truly repent and seek forgiveness for his sins
HNS needs to forgive him not saying right now for the euros however in the future should he ever be in race to be our best left back which will become evident over the next couple of years
Who knows but this will take time to heal the mistrust
Seems like this whole episode did not even need to happen if people had bothered reading the rules in the first place
Very disappointing
Let’s hope he still becomes Croatia’s Beckham according to the Germans
Watch this space
Society is now used to the aphrodisiac of public apologies, ritualized weeping, contrition and remorse etc. I’m sick of all of that. What ever happened to once you best your foe you show grace and decency? He is utterly defeated, looks like an idiot and will be forever hated by all the nationalist chest beaters who would drop their flags in a heartbeat for a few bucks, speaking of business decisions. He has paid the price and publicly failed. That is enough for me.
Probably best for everyone to keep him off the team.
In my opinion, it’s now a perfect opportunity for Dalić to finally call up Gvardiol.
We’ll move forward with Gvardiol, Bradarić and Barišić at LB… transition Gvardiol to LCB (with the aim of starting both Bradarić and Gvardiol on the left side of defense), and see how things go.
If we are in desperate need of a LB in the future (whether it be from injuries or whatever) then we can open the door for Sosa to come back (but this would all assume that he’s somehow demonstrated that he’s worthy of being called back). I don’t know what that looks like right now, and I don’t care. The focus today must be on integrating Bradarić and Gvardiol moving forward.
This is pretty much where I stood before it was official that Sosa couldn’t play for Germany after all. I was definitely upset when Sosa decided to kick us to the curb, but I’m willing to wait to see what he says and does after all of this to decide whether he deserves another shot. I personally think that if he is still willing to play for Croatia that he will at some point.
I said to a lot of people as soon as the news about him possibly switching came out that he was probably trying to get a move to Bayern. I think like Simunic said that he was getting really bad advice and people were probably pumping him up like he’s already some superstar and that he would be a star player for Bayern and Germany if he made this decision.
Who knows if Sosa even has it in him to apologize for all of this. I guess we will know soon.
As for Gvardiol. There is no way that he should not be on the squad for the Euros. Not only is he our TOP prospect, but he is honestly already at a level where he should be in consideration of being a starter. He still makes mistakes like a young player does, but so does the rest of our defense so I can look past that. Also, since he can cover at both CB and LB it opens up a spot for a player in another position since we don’t have to call up your favorite player, Melnjak.
My only worry is that because of the U21 Euros that all of Gvardiol, Bradaric, Majer, Moro, Ivanusec, etc. are going to be called up to it because Biscan asked Dalic for them. I’m assuming they CAN play at both tournaments, but it’s a matter of if all parties involved (players/coaches) think so too. We should know very soon as the squads should be out I’d guess in the next week or so.
I know people are going to attack me for this one, but he doesn’t deserve to wear the checkers. I really hope he never plays a game for Croatia again. We play best when everyone on the pitch is giving it their all for their country, and this situation proves that Sosa won’t be capable of doing that.
Why would anyone attack you for that? that is undoubtedly gonna be the popular and most common opinion.
Because he’s a good player who plays in a position that we’ve been pretty weak at in recent years (although we’ve gotten a bit stronger there). Also, just reading through the comments on this site, quite a few people are willing to give him a second chance.
I’d let him play for the U21’s after a full apology. If he plays with a full heart and performs at a high level, I’d let him back in.
Im still wondering how he thinks he’d get a game in at Bayern? He’s no where near Davies athletic level and Theo Hernandez is a great LB too.
Even if he wholeheartedly apologized and we took him back I wouldnt want him anywhere near the team til at least September
He would be mostly a substitute. A player like Davies has high injury risk and Theo is more defensive minded so it would make sense that Bayern wants another LB
If Sosa apologized for fabricating stories that Dalic and the savez didn’t let him know he was in the plans, if he apologized to Croatian fans for deleting all Croatian related photos of him, if Sosa demonstrated some humility, some remorse and regret….I’d let him know he could start talking to the senior team after the Euro’s. Maybe Biscan and his U21 team could find it in their heart to look past this….only after Sosa does all the things I mentioned.
He would have to do all this AND fire his agent and handlers for advising him poorly and manipulating him dreams of wealth.
He would also have to re-post all his fotos with the Croatia Jersey, and put them back on his social media–where they belong!
Furthermore, he would have to do this just to be “considered.” Right now, it’s actually best to keep him away from the team, maybe for years, until things settle down.
Wait..what? He took the pics of himself in the Cro jersey OFF his Instagram?
That right there is why he should never ever be allowed to put on the checkers ever again.
Either this guy is touched in the head or he’s got some very, very stupid people guiding his career.
Scumbag.