Robert Uvanović live from South Africa
Having touched down in South Africa nine days ago, I must say the atmosphere here is simply electric and not just when Bafana Bafana play. I will say it hurts my heart deeply when I drive by apartments and hotels that have all 32 World Cup country flags flying and do not see Croatia there. Not having Croatia in this tournament means that the venues are simply just too quiet (other than when African teams play) outside of the vuvuzelas. Unfortunately at this point I can’t post any pictures or video, since the internet situation at my hostel does not allow for big downloads or uploads.
However, I have spoken with a good amount of English fans who have said that while they are pleased Croatia is not here (only since we knocked them out of Euro 2008), they do miss the outstanding and unrelenting fan support that follows the Vatreni. I was in attendance for Ghana-Serbia, and just like you all, was obviously pleased to see the Serbs crash and burn with a silly red card and penalty kick. The atmosphere was simply stunning as a result of the South Africans fully embracing the Ghanaian team. The Serbian fans kept it real classy as usual by instigating a few scuffles with the Ghanaian fans with security having to step in a few times.
Overall the mood in South Africa is of great hope for their national team and of great pride for hosting the tournament. Yet, with so many weak European teams being exposed so far, I can’t help but wonder what a healthy Croatia squad with Modrić and Eduardo firing on all cylinders could have done here.
Feel free to leave comments about questions that you would like answered and any stories that you would like me to write. Access to the internet is limited, but I am happy to write what all of you followers at CSR would like to hear!
And now a word from živa istina…
As for being down here, some quick observations…great sense of pride with the South Africans, especially the country’s black population. The blacks are the ones who follow and love soccer. The white population is into the World Cup, but they are more of a rubgy crowd. Different level of pride and support.
USA-England was a fun atmosphere. Brits outnumbered us by 3-1 or 4-1.
My two cents….
The Brits took the 1-1 tie against the US like they do with everything else, they drank themselves into the night.
The atmosphere is festive down here, but far from Germany 06. It’s chilly at night and the sun goes down early. I honestly did not think it would be this cold at night. Have to wear layers for the night games.
I have not seen any other Hrvati down here. There might be others, but since we are not in the tourney there is no way to know because no checkered shirts are walking around.
As for Slovenia…..I am of the opinion, “F^ck them.”
Bafana Bafana good, there horrible, its just they played a in crisis France who was in similar form in the WC qualifiers,hence the reason Serbia finishing 1st..
whats gotten into bafana bafana? they're freakin good
If you guys think the majority of Slovenia and Serbia rooted for us in WC or Euros, then you are mistaken.
They say time heels all wounds. Well, time is not up yet. I remember all too well what the serbs did to us from 91-95. The day I root for them is the day my heart stops.
Just my opinion here….I can be cordial to a serb, but I want nothing to do with them.
I'll be cheering on Australia, lets hope Serbia gets destroyed
I only used Mexico as an example. I meant theres no point in cheering for teams you have to relations to. You seem to have some relations to Mexico.
Mladen,You guessed it,I am supporting Mexico at this world cup,Id rather support Mexico any day of the week then Croatias neigbouring countries..
Reasons being.. I have many Mexican friends,Theyve told me many times Croatia is there favourite team in Europe because of our Catholic religion & bravery of our people,Secondly do you really think our friendly neigbours in Serbia & Slovenia were supporting Croatia at Euro 2008, ahahh not very likely..
VIVA MEXICO
I'm cheering for Serbia more so then Slovenia. I'm half Croat/Serb as well (first generation American), but I lean towards my Croatian side more since my mother instilled that culture in me when I was young (visited Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Sisak when I was 12). I rather cheer for a Ex-Yugoslav nation then a nation I have no relation to and fuck USA. If this country doesn't take its football seriously why should I take their team seriously?
About those two comments I agree with the earlier remarks…Don't see the point in the sarcasm considering our fans do the same things. And as for the Slovenia comment…eh who cares he said it, but wtf was the point in even putting it there?
-Marko
@dinamofan
"The point is proven by Jovetic and Vucinic who prob knew that they'd have more chance of success playing with Serbia, but despite that they went to play for Montenegro. Also both of them knew they could walk into Serbia's line up."
Good point.
Re: Tome
Point taken.
I didn't initiate the Yugo conversation and the first thing i said was that its not the right place for such a conversation, but i couldn't see what harm it would be to say who the best players were from the region. Fans in England sometimes come out with their best British line up. Its same thing. But yeah as i also said its a none topic.
I do agree that there is more pride playing for seperate nations. The point is proven by Jovetic and Vucinic who prob knew that they'd have more chance of success playing with Serbia, but despite that they went to play for Montenegro. Also both of them knew they could walk into Serbia's line up.
The "yugo team" was always heavily stacked with talented players. However, they have always underperformed only managing to crack the world cup quarterfinals once or twice I believe, last time coming in 1990 losing out to Maradona and Argentina in Pk's.
Just like Ziva istina said, most of the players on that squad never played for the shirt. Even the Serbians feel like for the first time they are representing themselves and not "serbia-Montenegro", "yugoslavia"…. just Serbia.
Croatian players finally started to play for the shirt in 1994, when they upset world cup finalists Italy in Palermo and topped the euro 96 qualifying group.
If you were to round up a "yugo" team today, it would never work. It would look something like France of today.
@King Bronk,
I agree with you on profanity. However, an F-bomb here and there we let slide especially if you write a novel for a comment. For those that write two sentences, each with 2 f-bombs, thats a waste of our time and will be deleted.
Hopefully, this clears things up. Also, no politics or religion talk.
@ johnny
who cares what a yugo team would look like today? it's a moot point. it's like asking how great would the USSR team be with shevchenko, hleb, etc in their prime. or czechoslovakia for that matter. those countries were artificial creations by hardcore commies and tyrants. they were never legitimate in the first place, and that's why they don't exist today, despite the wishes of yugophiles everywhere.
what if 50 years ago croatia didn't end up in yugoslavia, but rather in a confederation with germany and italy? how great would that NT be today? it's pointless to speculate on such questions.
the yugo soccer federation was always hyper political and full of commies. favoritism was always given to partizan and zvezda. boban was banned from the yugo WC squad in 1990 for trying to defend unarmed fans from club-swinging gorilla yugo police.
btw, the NDH squad was undefeated from 1941-45.
No need to get your panties in a bunch. I just offered a suggestion.
Cheers
Oh and I forgot to mention I am still a big fan of the site as far as the soccer goes
cheers
I just wonder since when this site became a place for political disputes. Everybody has the right to cheer for whoever they want. Obviously many here cheer for the U.S. I know many Croatians who cheer on Serbia and Bosnia when they play. As for myself I cheer for Germany because I grew up there, but I really don't care who wins because Croatia is not in it. I look forward to good games with creativity and lots of goals which so far has not been happening.
As far as the line-ups go dinamofan I believe made most sense…ko god da je stavio Misimovica i Kranjcara mogu samo reci da moja Baba i Dida bi vise trcali od njih dvoje. Bez ljutnje necu da se iko ljuti ali to je stvarno kao sto je neko rekao "laziest midfield possible" 🙂
Pozdrav svim normalnim ljudima
bok
"I am half Croatian and half Serbian. But since my family lives in Croatia I am 100% a fan of the Vatreni. I just think it would be great if we did not bad mouth Serbia. Of coarse I would much rather see Croatia in the world cup kicking Serbia's ass, but I gotta say that out of every other team in the world cup I would like to see Serbia do good. I'm I wrong to think this?"
Your definitely not wrong with your thinking. If your home team can't win, why not go with bordering countries? Its hella better than cheering for Mexico n Spain (teams you have absolutely no relations to)
"I am half Croatian and half Serbian. But since my family lives in Croatia I am 100% a fan of the Vatreni. I just think it would be great if we did not bad mouth Serbia. Of coarse I would much rather see Croatia in the world cup kicking Serbia's ass, but I gotta say that out of every other team in the world cup I would like to see Serbia do good. I'm I wrong to think this?"
I'm with him.
I am half Croatian and half Serbian. But since my family lives in Croatia I am 100% a fan of the Vatreni. I just think it would be great if we did not bad mouth Serbia. Of coarse I would much rather see Croatia in the world cup kicking Serbia's ass, but I gotta say that out of every other team in the world cup I would like to see Serbia do good. I'm I wrong to think this?
@ Bronk,
I take it you are mentioning the interview I had with Andrej at the beach. I was obviously joking when I said 'watch your language'. Roll with it.
If I didn't want the F-bomb I would have cut it out of the video. Simple as that.
And for the record, we try to be as professional as we can while giving you the facts but there's also room to have fun and joke around. This isn't the Anderson Cooper of soccer reports, it's more of the Daily Show/Colbert Report. Fun and informative!
@King Bronk
this is a website put together targeting the mlada generacija of hrvati who follow soccer. if you dont agree with the cursing, dont let your kids go on to view! no one is asking you to curse and what not. just go with the flow.
@dinamofan:)
its pretty interesting to think what a yugoslav team would look like but please, post that on JugoSoccerReport please?
1st of all I agree with you Ziva, I support Serbias opposing team everytime,I was so fustrated & disgusted while viewing the V Germany game even tho I had money riding on the Serbs,I still wanted them to loose,I might as well throw my German soccer shirts away,because I know if im to ever wear 1 again,Serbs around the area would be cocky & yelling score line remarks,This WC has been mad fustrating with all there bull crap soft Red cards..
& Dinamo fan, I didn't got into setting up formation buddy,I just said which starters would be best,As for your majority Serbian Squad,it sucks buddy just face it,Serbs would be very proud of your squad..I suggest you stop Brown nosing Krasic..he aint nothing special,& I also seen you had misimovic on your subs,so make some sense before you talk,Spahic can play left back & has leadership..great player,anyhow enough with the Bull crap Yugo Stalgia s h **
KING BRONK said…
Im just saying you can't be hypocritical. In your interviews I've seen you lecture people when they swore. Then posting an f bomb….It just doesnt look professional, thats all I am saying.
As you mentioned in your own interviews its a family site kids see this stuff. I think you can express yourself intelligently without dropping the f bomb on the main page. I can understand here in the postings ppl using colourful language but on the main page I think it looks bad and it distracts from the article.
However, whats done is done.
I'd leave the yugo team debate as its not the right website for that, but RAZOR your yugo team is SHIT too. Kranjcar is not even a central midfielder and playing him alongside Mismovic is a joke. What's this the worlds laziest central midfield lol. Krasic is better than Srna and spends less time on the floor. Srna purely plays for free kicks these days.
Where on earth did you pull out low level guys like Miljas and Koren from. West Brom and Wolves … marvelous!
Where the heck have you got Spahic playing?????? He's not a left back. Begovic – what's he doing there and what you think Stevan Jovetic and Vucinic are not class. You might wanna check which teams they play for, their goal output and their price valuation.
Hey guys….
I don't want to get too much into it, but I root against Serbia and Slovenia… Serbs for obvious reasons and Slovenia because they root against us in all sporting competitions, so why not root against them. Plus, throw in the recent dispute over the bay and water rights in the Adriatic and you have your answer.
As for what a "Yugo" squad would look like. It would look great on paper but would do nothing on the international scene. I am disgusted every time I hear "wow, what would a Yugo team look like now." The reason Yugo never won anything back in the day was because the players played for themselves and not the country and flag. Go back to 98 and the core of our team who grew up in the yugo system and played for yugo before independence. Every single one of them said playing for croatia was a calling beyond the soccer pitch. It was to play for country and the flag. That was not what they played for in the Yugo days. And hvala bogu those days are long gone. Plus, therre is no way any of the boys from the diaspora would have ever played for Yugo.
Denis, to answer your questions…..
1) Why did you go see Serbia-Ghana?….obviouslly, this is for Robert. I did not go to this game.
2) How much are scalpers asking for?…..I have seen prices from 500 Rands and upward…about 750 Rands is 100 US dollars. So, prices are anywhere from $75 and up depending on the match.
3) How is the nightlife, after parties?….nightlife is OK, not great. Nothing will compare to Germany in 06, but the weather has a lot to do with it. But, less fans are here than 06 because of the weather and distance.
4) Are you traveling around SA, or stationed in one city?….I am mostly in Johannesburg, or Jozi as many call it. We are traveling to games and coming back same night.
Dinamo fan your yugoslav team is Garbage,throw it out,phh I cant believe youve added an old warn out geezer like stankovic & a un-experienced overated Krasic,overall a horrible line up..
A good YUGOSLAV Team would look like this –
GK – A.Begovic
Defenders – V.Corluka – N.Vidic – B.Ivanovic – E.Spahic
Midfielders – D.Srna – Z.Misimovic – N.Kranjcar – L.Modric
Forwards – E.Dzeko – G.Pandev
Subs – V.Ibesevic – I.Rakitic -R.Koren – M.Vucinic – N.Milijas – A.Lukovic
@ King Bronk,
First of all, the F bomb was written by ziva istina in a comment, not by Robert. Ziva istina is not aware that I even posted it on CSR as he has limited internet while in South Africa. Ziva istina is one of CSR's most educated and well-spoken contributors.
I liked what he had to say and used it in the post without his permission. Hopefully this will be alright with him. I used what he said word for word.
The F bomb gives the guy character. What's the big deal? And yes this is a site where everyone is welcome. However, if you can't take a few 'bad words' used in the proper context, then you need to grow some thicker skin. CSR has been built upon raw opinion and frame of mind. I won't let things become sugar coated on this site for political correctness. If you have an opinion, express it and stand by it.
If someone disagrees with another's point of view, like you have right now, then they are free to point this out and back it up with evidence.
It was an editor's call and I stand by it. One F bomb will not shut the site down. I guarantee it. Unless you think this operation is rigged too. 🙂
@ the Anonymous Serbs,
Robert was simply reporting on what he saw during the Serbia-Ghana match. This is something that obviously was not shown on TV. Unless you were also at the match there's not much for you to say. He stated what he saw and said it was 'real classy'. Yes, sarcasm.
I'll make sure to visit SerbSoccerReport when it's up and running so I can shoot off my mouth as well with no first hand information.
I didn't even include Pandev in that. Yugoslavia these days as a football team would be extremely extremely good. Prob one of the best 5 sides in the world. The reason is that you have a very very good Serbian defence, but also Corluka. Also Krasic, Jovetic, Misimovic, Modric, Kranjcar are extremely creative and talented and Stankovic has kinda been there and done all there is to do in football. The strikers is actually funny as in my opinion the best strikers do not come from Croatia or Serbia. Best strikers are Dzeko, Pandev and Vucinic. Yes Olic plays for Bayern but those three are much more rounded players. Croatia and Serbia does not have a 15-20 goal a season striker, but Dzeko and Vucinic are that. The team obviously would be extremely good, but apart from having a brilliant football team the nations don't want Yugoslavia no more but yes obviously it would be an extremely good side that should at least be winning a Euro..
lol a bit of a No No question that lol
i shouldn't really answer this but its so tempting so,
Handanovic
Corluka, Ivanovic, Vidic, Kolarov
Krasic, Stankovic, Modric, Kranjcar
Dzeko, Vucinic
Subs: Misimovic, Lukovic, Jovetic, Srna, Olic
lets just say the team would look a little bit tasty to say the least, but its kinda of a superficial question. I don't think any one nation would dominate the squad and i think Slovenia have the best keeper..
What would a united Yugoslav team look like? How would they stand up on the world stage? I'n interested in some thoughts. European Brazil?
Questions for you…
1) Why did you go see Serbia-Ghana?
2) How much are scalpers asking for?
3) How is the nightlife, after parties?
4) Are you traveling around SA, or stationed in one city?
yeah seriously you dip, show some class, their is no reason to talk smack about the serbian fans as ours are not any better. And i was rooting for serbia, and slovenia. Your living in the past and need to move on, horrible article.
Yea man why are you talking about Serbia and Slovenia, obviously your attitude is no different than theirs. Show some class.
"The Serbian fans kept it real classy as usual by instigating a few scuffles with the Ghanaian fans with security having to step in a few times. "
Yea, Croatian fans never do this…
Hey Robert…This is a family site kids come on here…no need for that kind of language. It takes away from your article. Show a little class next time.