Croatian tennis has been quiet the past year outside of Donna Vekić making the gold medal match of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Marin Čilić has returned from two major knee surgeries to crack the world top-70 after making it all the way to the Wimbledon Round of 16. On the woman’s side, 22 year-old Antonia Ružić is now in the WTA top-90.
However, one guy that deserves more love and attention is Mate Pavić. He has arguably been the Roger Federer of men’s doubles tennis over the past decade. To his name, Pavić has completed the GOLDEN SLAM + Davis Cup in men’s doubles: winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, Olympic gold and a Davis Cup with Croatia. Only five men in the history of tennis have accomplished that and Pavić is one of them. The other four are the Bryan brothers and the Australian duo of Woodbridge and Woodforde.
Pavić deserves more attention.
Just get a family member with citizenship to buy them. But probably won’t be sold out
Maksimir these days because of the damage by the earthquake has a capacity of around 20K, so it will be a sellout.
Guys, I’m going to Croatia at the end of August and want to get tickets for the Crna Gora game on September 8. Anyone know the best way to get tickets? I’ve read on the HNS website that you have to be a Croatian citizen to get tickets online. Resellers online are selling tickets for 3 times the price and I don’t trust the resellers I’ve never used. Is it as simple as trying to get tickets the week before when I get there and hope? And will there will tickets available at the stadium the day of?
The real question is…
Why don’t you have your citizenship? 🤨
Do you have any relatives who could buy tickets for you?
If not, I doubt it will be a sellout game, so you could probably get tickets once you’re there.
Haha thanks Maminjo, looking into citizenship for sure. Been texting my cousin, but he’s in Split. He says I should be fine getting tickets in Zagreb, especially since I get there 10 days before the game. Best part is the game is the day before Luka’s 40th birthday. And if they had beaten France in the Nations League QF, the game would have been on his birthday against Iceland.
Mile, getting citizenship was one of the best decisions I’ve made for my family and I. I encourage you and anyone else on here that is eligible to get started on the process. It took a little under two years for me from the time I decided to go for it, so best to get started now.
Maminjo it will be a sellout.
Good move by Modric. Close to home. Nice club and Italians are lovely people. It’s a vacation before the retirement.
Josip Šutalo has suffered an ankle sprain during training with Ajax and will be sidelined for several weeks.
Croatian water polo team in Quarterfinals at 2025 World Aquatics Championship. Won every game on their group.
Currently ranked #1 on FINA world ranking list.
Shame they couldn’t close things out at the last Olympics. But the program is still good, so hopefully we get the next one.
Tape 😘😘😘😘😘
https://croatiansports.com/marco-pasalic-goal-tracker-10/#comments/518576
Never doubt Anonymous (the GOAT of all GOATs !!!)
Please check the tape
Anonymous told you 9 days ago the TRAVESTY of Marco not being on the All-Star team (especially since the Coach and Commissioner get to add players)
Well through a series of “eventful discussions” over the last week 😎😎😎
Anonymous corrected this travesty and made it happen 😊😊😊
You’re welcome 😘😘😘😘😘
x.com/OrlandoCitySC/status/1945136274857189516
No stress ❤️ ❤️ ❤️❤️❤️ Marco ❤️ ❤️ ❤️❤️❤️ you got friends in high places 😉
@ anonymous
I looked at the hospitality tickets but so far the ones for 6.5k to follow Croatia that are available are only for the fifa pavilion. That’s a hospitality zone outside the stadium which isn’t very enticing
I’m waiting for the champions club/trophy league to open up. Those will probably run about 12k.
I may get tickets for up to 15 friends and family so also just debating the private suite option but you definitely lose some of the atmosphere
I’ve thought about just reaching out to connections at uvijek vjerni or the hns to sit in the Croatian fan section but i may have some smaller grandchildren with me and that wouldnt be a great fit and there could be high risk they hear someone shout za dom spremni.
In the end, it will probably cost at least half a million all in I’m guessing
15 tickets x 12k = 180k
Private jet 5 leg. Lets assume 2 hours a leg so 10 hours =10hrs x 15k/hr= 150k
6 hotel rooms for 10 nights at 2000 a room = 120k
Food/transport/recreation/misc: 50k
Overall not bad. Probably cheaper than 2 weeks on the yatch in the med
Yamal inviting “dwarfs” to his bday party (and now getting in trouble from the “little people” foundations)
Unreal
Step off social media for a minute dude
@The Truth
https://fifaworldcup26.hospitality.fifa.com/us/en
Can already buy “follow your team” at WC
4 matches: 3 group + R32
c.$7k
Hey Soul Champ there are LM10 kits on sale now at the Milan site. I went to order one and it told me I couldn’t order that — I need to order it with something else. U tri pizde!
(LM14.)
Guys, which is the better option for Vuskovic this season: stay at Tottenham or move on loan elsewhere?
Wherever he plays
Just went to read up… my word, Tottenham have got many other CBs on their roster: Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Radu Dragusin, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies, Ashley Phillips, Alfie Dorrington, Kota Takai.
1st friendly: Saturday vs. Reading 10am EDT
Need to buy SpursPlay to watch – gbp45 gets you all 5 preseason games
https://play.tottenhamhotspur.com/section/Benefits/
Let’s at least wait until after first pre-season game, please?
Could be he stays with Spurs in the fall and they reassess in Jan (i.e. if insufficient game time in fall, than loan in Jan)
Romero likely to sign extension (with Kudas and 99% Gibbs-White joining)
CBs currently at pre-season:
Romero
Mickey VDV
Danso
Dragusin
Ben Davies (one more year)
Kota Takai (bought for gbp5m this summer)
Ashley Philipps
Luka Vuskovic
This good news is CB Alfie Dorrington is playing with U21, so at least that’s one out of the way, lol
Thanks Anonymous. Any chance Thomas Frank will play a line-up with 3 at the back?
@Bartolec1912
A tough call. I guess it would depend in part on where the loan is to…..the chatter is that Hamburg would be one possibility as they have been promoted to the Bundesliga this season.
I would usually say a move on loan so he gets enough playing time, but one factor possibly pushing towards staying at Tottenham is that they will play a lot of games this season as you know…
They have their 38 Premier League games and then at least the 8 Champions League games this year. Then they have the FA Cup and the EFL cup, let’s say 6-8 more games between the two. Let’s say at least 52-54 games, and could be more.
Playing that many games will require a fairly large squad. Romero has been injury prone. Frank will probably try and get him some rest, here and there, where he can. I think Vuskovic would get enough playing time. He might also get starts from Dalic in qualifying once the team clinches a World Cup berth.
Vuskovic played 28 games last year in the Belgium League. How many games would he need this season to make it work out if he stays with Tottenham?
Got it buddy. I just hope Vuskovic makes the cut for Tottenham’s CL squad as I understand there are limitations on the number of non-homegrown players that can be registered. Also hoping he will get some minutes in the Reading friendly later. Oh btw, some time ago, you asked us whether it’s better for Sutalo to stay with Ajax and transfer to a better club. I have a definite opinion on this one now since he’s picked up an ankle injury recently – Josip should get well asap and continue playing for Ajax this season!
Random qs/observations re: Yugo 1990 WC
1) 21 yo Croatian Andrej Panadic CB was in the squad – if he was called up to Yugo (he had 3 caps for Yugo in 1989) – despite being Croat – presumably he must have been very good (considering the other young Croats being called up were best of the best Zuti, Suker, Boksic, Jarni) – but he was never called up for Yugo or Croatia after the WC 1990 tournament – what happened to him? Most of his career after Dinamo was at Hamburg with 121 caps
Panadic wasn’t part of 1987 U20 team (despite being born March 9, 1969) – and he wasn’t part of Euro 1996 team – but was good enough for 1990 team (while CBs Stimac and Pavlicic – who were part of the 1987 U20 team – were overlooked for the Yugo 1990 team – but part of Euro 1996 team)
Also Bilic and Soldo at Euro 1996 – but not good enough for Yugo 1990 (although I recall in the FIFA doc Bilic said something about why he was excluded from the Yugo 1987 U20 and WC 1990 teams)
What’s the story with Panadic (seems odd in retrospect that he was a Croatian selected for Yugo 1990)?
2) Boban infamous kick was May 1990 – was he not at the 1990 WC because of the kick or was he injured ? I assumed bc of the kick, but he played for Yugo after the 1990 WC e.g. he played May 16 1991 against the Faroe Islands (and scored a goal)
3) Forgot Zuti was nominated best young player in the 1990 WC (if you look at the qualifying for the WC – he was the only young Croat who was given a chance on the field – suspect this is due to him being half/half – as no other young Croats were given a chance – although ironic that young Suker and Boksic were being impeded by Croatia Vujovic)
1) There were plenty of talented Croats from the 90s that didn’t get many callups for a variety of reasons. Guys like Alen Peternac and Robert Spehar were leading scorers in Spain and La Liga but barely played for us. There were several others here and there, but it’s life.
Ciro Blazevic had a pretty eccentric personality and way of doing things. I’m sure he was the reason for a lot of these issues (I do somehow recall Spehar having a falling out with him, and I believe Igor Cvitanovic did the same).
However, with Panadić, I think it was just his career stagnating and dropping off in the mid-90s. He was playing and starting for Dinamo (back in the late-80s when he was capped for Yugo)…but by the time 1994 rolled around and Croatia had a team, he was already playing in the lower divisions of Germany. We had better options playing in the premier leagues of England, Spain, and Germany.
2) I think Boban was left off the Yugo squad due to DEI practices.
There were very few good Serbs, Macedonians and Slovenes during that time (and generally throughout history).
The best players in Yugo’s history were always Croats, with Bosnians and Montenegrins being probably the next best caliber of players.
That 1990 Yugoslavia team had 12 Croats on the team (out of 22) despite the Yugo FA trying to diversify the team and create more representation from the other states.
There were only 4 Serbs, 1 Macedonian and 1 Slovene (who was Srecko Katanec, an ethnic Croat)…and this was AFTER they tried to even out the nationalities.
If they picked a squad based on merit alone, the Croat count would have probably been closer to 18 players.
3) I think the reduced playing time for young Zuti may have had more to do with the old school Yugo mentality of opting for veterans first.
Dalic has this same mentality as we all know. Pretty much anyone born before 1970 will have this communist-influenced mentality, where they will opt for a player who has ‘earned their stripes’ over an elite young super talent.
Everyone always blows their load over Ivica Osim as a coach, but he was no different from the Otto Baric’s and Mirko Jozic’s of the world.
Also, regarding your comment about Bilic being left off…
The Bilic one was (I believe) political.
As much of an SDP commie Bilic himself may be, his father wasn’t.
Slaven Bilic’s dad was a pretty outspoken die-hard Croat, and this resulted in young Bilic being overlooked for Yugo youth teams (and likely the senior team as well).
100% agree w/ Bilic (that’s what he said in the FIFA doc, you refreshed the memory)
On Boban – hear you re: DEI – but the really weird thing is that in the fall of 1990 thru to summer 1991 – he was playing for BOTH Croatia and Yugo – it is absolutely WILD that Yugo kept calling him up (and playing him) after he played for Croatia in Dec 1990 – absolutely wild
He played in the following:
10/31/90 Yugo vs. Austria 4-1 [Euro qualifier]
11/14/90 Yugo vs. Denmark 0:2 [Euro qualifier]
12/22/90 Croatia vs. Romania B [friendly]
2/27/91 Yugo vs. Turkiye 1-1 [friendly]
5/16/91 Yugo vs. Faroe 7:0 [Euro qualifier]
6/19/91 Croatia vs. Slovenia [friendly]
***.transfermarkt.us/zvonimir-boban/nationalmannschaft/spieler/89545/verein_id/3556
On Panadic – complete speculation, but if we looked at who his parent(s) were I would guess we’d have an answer (like Ivan Bilic – but the opposite i.e. supporting Yugo – or maybe some pay-for-play situation)
Otherwise it’s completely odd he wasn’t good enough for Yugo 1987 U20 squad (where Stimac and Pavlicic were) – than had a “growth spurt” and leapfrogged everyone by 1990
It’s possible, but seems unlikely (I get that he could have fallen off after 1990)
It’s doubles, few care. Daniel Nestor here, a Canadian/Serb, was a longtime world No. 1 in doubles, not many here cared or could point him out from a lineup.
Doubles is easy tennis.