You know you’re good when they put your face on the cover of FIFA.
Kylian Mbappe is that level of good and will surely win multiple Ballon d’Or’s in his lifetime. However, for 90 minutes this week, Josip Stanišić absolutely put Mbappe in his pocket as the Vatreni scored early and kept a scary France team scoreless for the clean sheet.
22 year-old German-born Josip Stanišić made it his priority to keep Mbappe off the scoresheet…and that he did. And if you watched the entire game, you could see that Mbappe was hungry to reach the back of the net and put France on the board. He was running at the Croatian defense like a bull in Pamplona but our boys all held their own physically and tactically. How that Kovačić tackle on Mbappe wasn’t a yellow card – I don’t know – but Croatian fans will take it.
We talked about Erlić and Šutalo all week as the new kids on D, but now it’s time to talk about Stanišić, who played 14 matches for Bayern Munich this season. He was born in Munich. Played youth ball for both Munich clubs (Bayern & 1860). Played for the German U19 team. But guess what? Now he’s ours.
With a performance like this against Benzema, Mbappe and the rest of the finely tuned offensive machine that is France, this will do wonders for a kids’ confidence moving forward. Stanišić filled in for an injured Pavard at Bayern this season and did well with his first taste of Bundesliga action. If this is the start of something big defensively for Croatia – insert Erlić and Šutalo into the conversation – the Vatreni will be stacked for the next decade! And this is without adding Gvardiol or Sosa to the discussion. Still a small sample size as Stanišić has only been capped by Croatia five times, but these are the type of games you are looking for from your guys under 25 years of age.
Here’s Stanišić is action vs. Mbappe this week:
We can forget about Rebic returning to the team, first of all he will not apologise to Dalic and secondly he needs to be playing regularly for his club. Last I heard he could be going to Roma ?
Looks like Vrsaljko might be going to Olympiakos ? This could be good for him if he can stay fit and get some much needed match play. Vlasic also needs to find a new club, otherwise I would not take him to Qatar. There is talk that he might return to Hajduk on loan ?
There is speculation that some of our players who are regulars at their current clubs are likely to change clubs this summer. They need to be very care full, going to a new country ? and a new club could mean that you start on the bench and it may not be easy to break into the starting eleven. With the WC around the corner you need to be playing regularly to deserve a spot in the WC squad.
Yes with the cup being in the winter it will have some influence on how players transfer and if they transfer at all
It will be interesting how it plays out
How many times do we see someone with a surprisingly good tournament upgrading right after…
We can forget about Rebic returning to the team, first of all he will not apologise to Dalic and secondly he needs to be playing regularly for his club. Last I heard he could be going to Roma ?
Looks like Vrsaljko might be going to Olympiakos ? This could be good for him if he can stay fit and get some much needed match play. Vlasic also needs to find a new club, otherwise I would not take him to Qatar. There is talk that he might return to Hajduk on loan ?
There is speculation that some of our players who are regulars at their current clubs are likely to change clubs this summer. They need to be very care full, going to a new country ? and a new club could mean that you start on the bench and it may not be easy to break into the starting eleven. With the WC around the corner you need to be playing regularly to deserve a spot in the WC squad.
I’d rather have Rakitic then Rebic
I tend to agree
I would love to have Rebić back, if he was in-form, and if he humbled himself with a heartfelt apology. BUT…he is not in form. He does not play regularly, and from what I read, he is being pushed out of Milan. I hope that he finds a club where he plays regularly and becomes a beast again. I think he has the skill and determination, but is lacking in confidence and composure.
@ Ante Rebić
Istina !!
@ Svima
Rebić is going to come out on fire in August.
IF he is willing to apologize to Dalic for his bone headed comments and he is willing to play his role as beastmode, then he needs to be called for Denmark and Austria.
You would think you would hear some rumours if something like that was possibly in the works
If he makes amends and plays the way we need him then he is a super asset still
He Perisic and budimir can cause a lot of problems for opposing defences with pressure
If he is on fire that’s great. But I really do not want Rebic on the squad. You really have to look at the stats he has had this year it’s terrible. Granted he had injuries, but even in the years he has scored, he doesn’t look all that great on the ball. I don’t think someone who lacks that technical ability will help the squad that Croatia currently is, which is a possession based team.
Possession is what Dalic’s Croatia is all about and I think he needs to stick with that. If you look this last game with France that is how we won. Rebic just cannot fit that type of play, he is too direct, and what’s more he has very poor ball control. That will not help out the squad at all.
So, as far as I am concerned if he is not getting a goal per game or something close to then I wouldn’t bother calling him up. And to be honest, based on his lack of technical ability he would have to continually produce goals along with goal opportunities to earn a call up in my eyes. Either that or just get better with the ball control.
Harsh, I am aware, but it’s a difficult to won that trophy and you need your best around players to achieve success.
Agreed. I remembered how much possession Rebic lost against Spain at the Euros. We need our guys that don’t lose the ball.
Sole chump get off the rebic train before it runs you over.
You are entering uncharted LA Knat halilovic waters now!
ekipa bi me trebala nazvati
Ako hocemo izgubiti onda bi trebali te odma nazoviti.
Well guys, you heard it here first… Croatia will win the World Cup 2022 as predicted by Mystic Veg and her asparagus…..! Let’s hope the crazy kook and her asparagus are correct….! Time to place your bets on our team, seeing as the odds are 66 to 1 it will give a good return.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2022/01/01/fortune-teller-known-as-mystic-veg-reveals-her-predictions-for-2022-15851536/amp/
She was wrong about Man U taking out man city tho
But she does say she is 75-90 percent accurate
So let’s go and say the World Cup prediction will be right
Let’s keep our hopes up high and keep those asparagus flying in the air 😀
Sosa is the goods.
This move would see him become more athletic and physical.
He is more a wing back that has thrived in a 3-5-2.
The Barca move is wack and they are broke.
I like Crottenham for him with Conte.
Conte trains you into a killer.
Tuchel is wound to tight
https://tothelaneandback.com/2022/06/05/barcelona-stuttgart-borna-sosa-tottenham-hotspur-chelsea-spurs-transfer-news/amp/
Sosa to Tottenham would see our left side be so tight with regular play with him and Perisic
Sosa has to be careful.
All these teams that are interested in him (Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea, etc.) already have options at LB.
He needs to make sure that he’s a starter.
You’re absolutely correct
I agree with you Maminjo if these transfer to the wrong team it may have a negative impact on their call up.
I think we have to go with ivusic
He has only had that one game with 3 against
I didn’t see it but sounds like not many keepers would have made the saves anyways
He is much more comfortable with the ball
Seems to me to scoop up loose balls better then liva
And he doesn’t look like well liva and his mama please save me look back there
After the 3-0 loss to come back with a shut out against France to me shows some of his mental character….
I think most of us would agree he is the best of our hopes right now and if he gets exposed after dalic starts him I wouldn’t be mad as for sure I would give him start in game 1
Really we all know it’s gonna be at least one of lovren and or vida and liva back there. Sad but true
Say we play the new guys in September and they do well
Is it enough for dalic to put the old back 3-4 on the bench?
What about
Sosa on left wing and stuck Perisic on right?
Opening up for something like
Gvardiol/erlic/sutalo/stanisic
That left side would have plenty of crossing power with defence not being overlooked
Then Perisic yes will be less effective but can create all he wants from the right side and have stanisic being solid at covering behind him
I just think If we can Load the wings with crossing power it will make us so dangerous
Pasalic to get in the junk
Budimir to cause pressure on the opposition somehow
Not sure how it all can work but just some random ideas
If we had a better back 4 at the last World Cup we would have won the final without a doubt
I think the back 4 was overall ok
They only really got exploited in the final
But for sure if we had a back 4 who could have moved the ball a bit better to make less on our midfield would have helped no doubt
That’s actually not true they were exploited almost in every game actually. It’s because of the fact that we had the best midfield trio in the international tournament (2018) that got us where we were. Also the pairing of Perisic and Mandzo up front was helpful equally helpfully as well.
I don’t for a second by into Lovren’s hot-headed comment that he is one of the best defenders in the world, he was decent but not that good.
Buy into**”
Oh I agree Suba. But how in the hell are we going to put these kids in a penalty shootout. Vida was strong.
That being said maybe we wouldn’t get to a shootout who knows.
I’d rather have a guy like Vida taking a penalty than Stanisic. I dunno
Well you have to give it time, they may not be at that confidence level yet but we do have a few good penalty takers, unlike most I actually think Modric is decent at the spot kick. But with both Krama and Livaja that’s two of the best right there.
So those who are good at it have to help train the others. With time they will get there.
Plus your putting a huge stock in winning the game prior to that point which is why I think our search needs to continue for a good striker and front man. Otherwise your relying on the spot kick to get you there in many games.
I think you’re overestimating Vida.
He’s 1 for 1 on penalties (so it’s a small sample) and I’m pretty sure he just pretended he was taking a goal kick, lol.
I’m glad he took it, and I think his strength is that he doesn’t get mentally rattled by the pressure of taking a World Cup penalty…but that’s also probably due to him being too dumb or too drunk to get nervous in the first place.
The main reason why we lost the WC Final is the fact that Subasic was injured. He had a hamstring injury and should have never played. The two second half French goals should have been saved, but he was restricted in his movement to the his right hand side. Apart from this we did not have luck with the two ref decisions in the first half that resulted in goals.
Yup.
He was injured in the Russia game too and Lovren was taking his goal kicks for him.
In the shootout against Russia, he could barely move and we were lucky that Russia’s first attempt was a botched panenka and the Brazilian-Russian attempt missed the net. Suba wasnt close to saving any of the other attempts.
But Suba didn’t have much to do in the World Cup.
He was great in the Denmark shootout, and had a great save on Kane against England…but for the most part, his positioning was off and his reaction too slow.
Not surprised that his career was done, immediately after that World Cup.
Our issue in the final was goalkeeping. And not having offensive punch. Down 2-1 in the second half, with Croatia pressing and France continually coughing up the ball in their own half, you could sense if Croatia scored that the WC was ours. But you couldn’t dive because of your hamstring injury, giving up the weak third and fourth goal. You cost us Suba!!!!!! Quit blaming your back line……
The new solid defense that Croatia has just shown is a major factor for us going deep in the World Cup. What a blessing. The midfield is world class and If we can figure out a dangerous scoring strategy we are going to have a great tournament in Qatar. Let’s hope we figure out the best scoring options and have a strong showing.
Good luck HNS
Yup…and even if we’re not sold on Ivusic being a good shot stopper…he’s at least more capable than Livakovic of making a comfortable pass to the defenders.
That passing that Sutalo and Stanisic displayed was elite for a defender. We already know Gvardiol and Sosa have these skills too.
Erlic looked okay in that regard (he’s not as good as the guys mentioned above, but he’s still decent)…and Ivusic looked like he wasn’t scared shitless of making a pass under pressure. For that reason alone, it may make sense to just go with Ivusic (if all of our keepers are in same ballpark when it comes to shot stopping anyway).
Yes.
This.
Would even try to inclined Erlic and move Gvardiol to LB.
Rock solid defense 💪 👌
Probably on days that we are missing Perisic.
You can slide Sosa further up, and have Gvardiol behind him at LB.
For example, it would have been nice last game to have Sosa instead of Brekalo and Gvardiol instead of Juranovic.
We probably would have pumped France 3-0 with just those two changes.
Živjeli
haha i got this suggested on FB:
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/ana-maria-markovic-beautiful-footballer-27256451
And Lovren looks on from his hotel.
What amazes me the most from that video is how cool Stanisic is on the ball. The solid defense is great, of course, but look at that passing! All while going against the tremendous speed and pressure of MBappé.
Šutalo was even more impressive.
My friends were yelling at the screen for him to punt it out…but I was like “no! Fuck that! Don’t give away possession”.
I love that our backline is capable of keeping possession (under heavy pressure) from the top team in the World.
100% agree.
And just like that, Josip Šutalo was included on the Nations League Team of Eleven.
Pentz (Austrija) – Cancelo (Portugal), Elvedi (Švicarska), Šutalo (Hrvatska), Mendes (Portugal) – Rodri (Španjolska), Carvalho (Portugal), Tielemans (Belgija), De Bruyne (Belgija) – C.Ronaldo (Portugal), Depay (Nizozemska).
https://sportske.jutarnji.hr/sn/nogomet/reprezentacija/veliko-priznanje-za-novu-zvijezdu-i-hit-igraca-vatrenih-izabran-u-idealnu-momcad-ovosezonske-lige-nacija-15211109
That was the main difference for me when looking at our defence from 2018, because they kicked the ball out a lot especially against England in the first half, it was pretty ridiculous atleast. I remember thinking that they will get possession and that they would potentially score which they very nearly did.
But with a defence like this we have potential to go even further. Hope that Dalic builds on this.
We got the GSS defence now. Gvardiol, Sutalo and Stanisic.
Maybe they’ll be vaunted much like the once-vaunted BBC defence of Italy. Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini. That would be sweet.
Sounds really good, let’s hope our dream visions are 20/20.
Correction. It’s the GŠS defence.
Rolls right off the tongue.
Nice!
I would even do GSES
Gvardiol Šutalo Erlic Stanisic
Rock solid defense 💪 👌
Gvardiol played the worst game against Spain, the only game I have been able to watch in its entirety since the world cup. The Spain offense made him look silly. I never seen someone schooled and burned so bad. I can’t wait to see, with my own eyes live, this real Josko, that all the selective highlights appear to show, and everyone talks about. Is he going to a Jelavic or a Perisic in terms of progression? Will the future Legendary Real Josko please stand up, we wait in eager anticipation.
I’ve watched him play entire matches since the Euro, and he really is that good. The guy is an amazing athlete and amazingly quick thinker on the football pitch. He was thrown in off the deep end at Euro 2020 with Caleta-Car and Vida as his main references. As we have seen, we can do better than that.
He did, along with Rebic, play a very bad game against Spain. We have yet to see if he has turned this around and it seems as though he has come a long way. Hopefully we get to see him September, along with Sosa. Gvardiol had the speed and tenacity but I wonder about his skills with the ball, having been watching RB Leipzig too much so I would be curious to see what anyone who has been watching him thinks??
What Stanišić did against a very, very strong French side is incredible. The fact that him, Šutalo, and Erlić held Mbappe, Benzema, and Nkunku to zero goals (all having less than 5 caps for the Vatreni) should be talked about for a very long time.
The future of our defense is often overlooked. We talk all the time about our strikers, midfielders, and forwards to carry our squads, but that’s just because it’s all we really know. Some on this site weren’t even born when Croatia last had a world class back line (late 90s), and we’ve since only relied on players further up the field to give us results. With Vušković, Šutalo, Gvardiol, Sosa, Stanišić, and Erlić all showing signs of being the real deal, we might just be able to get by with scoring one or two goals per game. Defense wins championships, and if you have a fearsome, unbreakable backline like we could have, that’s what makes you a legitimate powerhouse in international football.
Scouts will tell you that Gvardiol is THE BEST young defender in Europe. Statistics show that Sosa is already one of the most dangerous left-backs in world football. And they didn’t even play against France 2x and Denmark! Wow
Curious to see how they measure these statistics on Gvardiol and Sosa.
They’re both extremely talented offensively. No question about that.
Gvardiol is like an NFL runningback, and Sosa is like David Beckham.
But are they good defensively?
Erlic and Sutalo are very, very sound defensively. Would hate to mess that up, but we can’t possibly bench the talents of Gvardiol and Sosa.
Since Sosa plays a lot of LM at his club too, it may make sense to put him on the wing. He’ll probably play there once Perisic retires…then we can slot Gvardiol behind him at LB or LCB (depending on our formation).
I like having at least one monster-sized CB in there (like Erlic). Sutalo is also tall too at 6’2″. Sosa (believe it or not) is the same height as Sutalo.
Stanisic being 6’1″ completes a very tall backline. Very refreshing to have a backline that is both physically imposing AND technically gifted.
This is a great problem to have. Will be interesting to see what combination of Gvardiol, Sosa, Erlic, Sutalo and Stanisic will start in the backline. I would be upset if we go back to starting Juranovic, Lovren or Vrsaljko, when we have better, younger players. Maybe it does make sense to play Perisic on the right side, so we can play Sosa on the left.
Once Modric and Perisic retire, the gate is open to field a 5-3-2 formation.
Backline of Sosa-Gvardiol-Erlic-Sutalo-Stanisic is looking to be the real deal right now.
Majer, Sucic, Brozovic, Kovacic, Vlasic can all partipate in that middle three (hoping that they reach their highest potential, maybe even further)
And then we just have to hope that Musa, Simic, Beljo, Matanovic, or even a potential secondary striker becomes world class. Hopefully even two
We can start to win games through our defense, and have support from a very, very good midfield and attack
That second striker should be Gabriel Vidovic hopefully
Really didnt see sosa as 6’2”
I thought stanisic was taller
Interesting and very good stuff
Actualy… Stanisic is also 6 ft 2 inches too. Just checked.
Did not see game but impressive highlights, looks very solid and poised, lots of excitement heading into WC, still need to figure out other areas of weakness. Looking forward for transfer news and rumors this summer
I am thoroughly impressed with how this guy played in both matches he has to be a starter. We have a lot of great things moving forward defensively and Dalic has to build on this. As we have all been saying Lovren, Vida, Vrsaljko officially are out. I’m sorry but they need to retire and move on, or Dalic needs to be the one to make the call on this. Sometimes as a coach your disliked for the choices/decisions you make but it has to be done, they can no longer provide us with a viable defence they do not have it in them in my opinion. 3 major mistakes in the form of penalties conceded in major tournaments for Lovren. Vida is an aging defender that gave us issues at the back against Austria, and was a liability even before this. Vrsaljko is a player I was never really fond of to be honest, I didn’t find him to be that great.
With players like Stanisic, Erlic, Sutalo, Sosa, Gvardiol all to choose from you cannot hang onto the aforementioned individuals.
It is hard to believe that the under 21 was eliminated with such talent as we have now in the senior team. Not sure what Igor Stimac is doing there. Maybe they need a new coach for under 21, maybe he is the issue here as well.
Never really fond of Vrsaljko?!
It was his cross that gave Perisic the tying goal against England and he cleared a sure goal off the line also in that game. If not for his contribution we would not have went to the finals. Not to mention that he was risking his career playing on a bum knee!
He’s got fire in his belly to win for Hrvatska.
If not for all his injury woes he’d be one of the best defenders!
We may have better options right now but I’d definitely keep him on the team. He has much to contribute and who knows, if he stays healthy he could get back to his former self-ako bude Boža volja.
Bog i Hrvati
I didn’t find Vrsaljko to be particularly strong defensively. He was decent on the counter and pushing the ball forward but he made a lot of mistakes even in the game against England. I am not saying in 2018 that the team didn’t do great things, they did.
But our defensive line was not really strong back then. You could tell by the mistakes happening, and the goals being scored the way they were. Lovren and Vida were not particularly the best either. We did as well as we did because of the midfield trio we had back then. We also did well because of the pairing of Mandzukic and Perisic. Not to mention that Suba was a decent goalie.
But our defense was nowhere near what it can be now. Not to suggest these guys will always do prefect but they are exactly what we need based on the two games they played, far better than the older guys.
Understandable that he took big risks, and as a fan I appreciate and commend him for the things he has done in 2018. But not everyone has it in them to continue this way, and he is one of those individuals unfortunately.
U21s are in the playoffs (not eliminated yet).
What’s worse is that the two-legged playoff match takes place in September.
…and you know that Biscan will push Dalic to give him Sucic, Sutalo, Stanisic and all of these new senior squad guys.
It’s pretty much a given that we won’t give Roko a chance, since he’ll be with the U21s for those playoff games.
What’s borat above going on about?
Sadly I missed this game
Of all games to miss
That compilation was intense
Stanisic keeping pace with one of the fastest most dynamic forwards in the game
Love it
Can’t wait to see how he develops
If we can have our d play that well and midfield do their thing, we will eventually get some offence