Written by Branko Tomasović
Officiating bias against small countries in soccer has been a topic of discussion amongst fans and analysts, who argue that referees may unconsciously favor more prominent teams. This bias can stem from various sources, including the high stakes of the matches and the immense pressure on officials to ensure that marquee teams progress, maintaining viewer interest and revenue. In high-profile tournaments, referees may, even unintentionally, give the benefit of the doubt to well-known players and teams, who often have more significant followings and greater media presence. This can result in more favorable calls for larger nations, leaving smaller countries feeling disadvantaged.
I would include: Brazil, Argentina, Spain, England, France, Portugal, Germany and Italy into the “Big Boy” protected bucket.
A prime example of this was yesterday’s scoreless draw between France and Holland. Xavi Simons scored a goal in the 69th minute, only for it to be ruled offside by the officials. The reasoning was that Denzel Dumfries, who was in a passive offside position and did not touch the ball, was “interfering with the play.” The Dutch are no small footballing nation, but was this call made to protect the French moving through the tournament? The Dutch player in front of the goalie doesn’t touch the ball and French goalie Mike Maignan does not even attempt to dive for it. However, it was called back to favor France.
Larger footballing nations, with their rich histories and more prominent football cultures, often tend to receive more lenient treatment from referees, who might hesitate to issue cards, penalties, or fouls that could drastically impact the game’s outcome. Conversely, players from smaller countries might not receive the same level of respect or benefit of the doubt, resulting in harsher judgments and a higher frequency of unfavorable decisions against them. This discrepancy can significantly affect the smaller teams’ ability to compete on equal footing.
As Croatia prepares to face Italy in their upcoming Euro match, fans and supporters hope that the game will be officiated fairly; free from any bias that might favor the larger footballing nation. While Italy boasts a rich history in the sport, it’s crucial for the integrity of the competition that the referees make impartial decisions based solely on the events on the field. A fair and balanced officiating approach is essential to ensure that Croatia, with its own impressive footballing pedigree, has an equal opportunity to compete and succeed. This commitment to fairness will not only uphold the spirit of the game but also allow for a truly competitive and exciting match, showcasing the talents and determination of both teams without the shadow of biased officiating.
In past tournaments, Croatia have been screwed by refs in the following matches:
-2012 Euro vs. Spain (no foul called on Ćorluka in the box)
-2014 World Cup vs. Brazil (soft penalty call on Lovren)
-2016 Euro vs. Portugal (Rakitić is stomped on, should have been a red card)
-2018 World Cup Final vs. France (where to begin?)
What did I tell you was going to happen? I wrote an article in December predicting this.
https://croatiansports.com/will-the-refs-be-kind-to-croatia-in-2024/
Croatian walked as slowly as possible at every substitution, had a favourable var check, a generous penalty, celebrated the goal for minutes, throw themselfs on the ground for “cramps” only to dash seconds after, throw cups on the field at every corner (uncivilised people…) and then they are surprised to get 8 minutes of injury time…
Stop crying
Good article, the fix is in. Every time we play a “big” team we are playing against 12 men. Italy was always going to score, if not by the 97th minute the game would have just went on and on as they slowly creep up the pitch unchallenged as even a slight touch would result in an undeserved yellow card, until one of them finally flops in our box and we get a pen called against us. Whether in their half or in ours every 50-50 challenge went against us!
I am worried that we will get screwed with the Italians involved. Remember when Ukraine played the Italians in the last Euro qualifier and in added time, an Ukrainian player was taken down in the penalty area blatantly. There was no foul, no penalty and no VAR review. The tie allowed the Italians to qualify while Ukraine had to go through the playoffs. This all happened a day after FIFA president Infantino said, it would be a real shame if Italy did not qualify for Euro. A very strange coincidence that these decisions went in Italy’s favour. Since Italy is one of the big football nations, I could see us getting screwed just so Italy stays in the tournament longer and there is more money keeping Italy in the tournament for the tournament organizers and the Italian federation.
What a bunch of bs… keep crying my dear conspiracy theorist
I’m Croatian and I’m not crying at all, I said before the game that we’ll get what we deserve and we did, Italy got what they deserved, and that’s it. But crying, not me.
Remember guys, it’s just a game.
Not only did Griezmann dive to draw that foul but Pogbas shove in Mandzukics back is what causes the own goal. Mario can’t get enough on it to flick it back and over the net cuz of the shove.
Never hear that mentioned.
The France 2018 final refereeing was an absolute joke, Griezemann free kick was a game changer, clear dive and he was rewarded, I see that as the defining moment which lost Croatia the World Cup, obviously it led to a goal and completely changed the momentum of the game, football ⚽ is a game of momentum, always will be always has been, if France don’t get that free kick and goal Croatia most likely become World Cup Champions, a nitemare for FIFA ,they couldn’t have a country so small winning the biggest tournament, it would have been a win for all small nations , another Uruguay Cinderella story, not for FIFA tho, they want the big dogs at top
I agree with you 100% but my only question is, and i might be naive…why does fifa only want the big dogs to win (England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain maybe Portugal, Brazil, Argentina). Is it because people are more prone to buy merch associated with those teams?
Couldn’t agree with your article more! I think you do need to think about the 2022 WC. I’m sure every FIFA official was quaking in their $1000 Italian Loafers over the prospect of Croatia vs Morocco in the WC final and all the Messi, and Mbappe heresies that would stay on retailer shelves as a result. Great article!
As an add on to the note below where we were already guaranteed a round of 16 spot in Euro 2016 before the final group game against Spain, here’s an article on the game. Funny how it notes that although Croatia and Spain were both assured of a playoff spot, they wanted to win the group to avoid Italy. Instead, the winner Croatia, ended up winning the group and getting a third place team, which unfortunately ended up being Portugal. We lose to Portugal and Spain lost to Italy.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/438173
@ anonymous
you bring up some of the valid known points about expected goals. Exactly as you mention, what makes a good player is 1) can they get in a position to go for expected goals 2) what rate do they convert them vs the average player.
obviously messi can both get to them and convert at a higher rate = greatest player ever
Alas, Croatia has no Messi.. all it has is the players it has. Therefore, expected goals still matter incredibly. They are still an indication that we are getting effective scoring opportunity. If we don’t have the horses to finish them, then we simply don’t have them.
But I heard a 60 minute podcast talking about how lack of winger play is killing us.. But if our players haven’t been able to finish the prime opportunities they have gotten so far, what are the chances they would be able to finish a Marco Pasalic cross?
Furthermore, we don’t have Messi on the team, but I still think we have at least average finishers in players like Kramaric, Budimir (was league leading in la liga for a while), etc etc that if we are getting expected goals on average we will score close to that amount.
In regard to possession, firstly one world cup is too small a sample size. Secondly, just looking at having more possession or not in itself often doesn’t move things too much at the margins. For example, a 53 to 47 possession advantage is insignificant.
Where historically over wider data sets one finds that possession is a key indicator over a certain threshold of possession disparity usually starting in the high 50s to 60%.
Croatia hit the threshold overwhelmingly against Albania (67 to 33) and did not vs spain (53 vs 47)…although they at least avoided a big deficit like most spain opponents.
These expected goals and other attempts to quantify football into a statical science are meaningless. Context is everything in foootball (and life). We were never going to score in that Spain game. Every one of our chances, much as I was jumping up and down shouting with my hands on my head afterwards, were never going in. It’s the psychology of the player in that moment, which science can’t see, it’s the microscopic bits of balance and timing, which make a chance a goal. And nothing was right.
Playing dynamic players like Marco Passaic changes the feel of the game. It’s that FEEL that ultimately sets the rhythm of the game, players then get their timing right and chances start to feel like good chances rather than desperate half chances. Even if on paper the cross looks the same and goes to the same player. People who know the game can just feel it when a goal is coming.
Agree Crnkovic
The intangibles/psychology/feel are very important
When we watch – not just Croatia but any team – it’s that “feel” of the game is critical – sometimes teams are “on” – sometimes they are “off”
We have definitely been “off” for most of the first two games (despite what Xg and other “stats” tell us) – the story on the field tells us the real story
#####
In regard to possession, firstly one world cup is too small a sample size. Secondly, just looking at having more possession or not in itself often doesn’t move things too much at the margins. For example, a 53 to 47 possession advantage is insignificant.
Where historically over wider data sets one finds that possession is a key indicator over a certain threshold of possession disparity usually starting in the high 50s to 60%.
Croatia hit the threshold overwhelmingly against Albania (67 to 33) and did not vs spain (53 vs 47)…although they at least avoided a big deficit like most spain opponents.
#####
If you don’t like one WC data – than pls provide wider data set (but absent of a better data set – we stick with 64 games – as absent larger data set does not nullify the data we have)
If u read the report u would have seen Figure 1.3 – which shows the exact opposite of ur thesis/gut feeling i.e.
Teams with -30% or less possession (e.g. 30% vs. 70%) have won even MORE games vs. the 64 games average (i.e. 5 wins or 55% win rate vs. 53% win rate for 64 games)
Teams with -30% to -15% less possession (e.g. 36% vs. 64%) have won even MORE games vs. the 64 games average (i.e. 14 wins or 61% win rate vs. 53% win rate for 64 games)
So I re-iterate – having MORE possession is a NEGATIVE – that’s what the data shows
Remember when I told everyone how great Ross Barkley has been for Luton ?
Well despite Luton getting relegated – Barkley going to Villa now
So will play CL football next year – ETA until he gets called back to England ?
Ironically, he’s the player they are missing in midfield right now (to play alongside Declan Rice)
x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1804817827351654733
Wrong forum, Anonymous.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C8jzLWos1ao/?igsh=c3pkbWpkcm1rdjUw
We all love confidence, but giving your opponent something to hang in their locker room isn’t usually wise.
Why is Sutalo a “guaranteed” starter ?
Where did this come from ?
Don’t get it
It’s crazy
The guy had a bad year on a bad Ajax team
We say “Not his fault. He needs to play w/ best CB in the world” lol
We also say “Not his fault. Ajax was bad” lol
Ajax manager says “Not entirely his fault. He had kids next to him all season” lol
***.ajaxshowtime.com/bijzaken-en-geruchten/steijn-neemt-het-deels-op-voor-sutalo-aan-de-andere-kant-meer-van-hem-mogen-verwachten
The common denominator is Sutalo – so when do we call a spade a spade – he is the problem not every thing else around him
It’s possible he had an “over-performing” season at Dinamo which led to the 20 m Ajax transfer and is now reverting to his “true mean”
And age is not an excuse – look at 22 y.o. Dragusin master-class vs. Ukraine – where everyone says he was MOTM – look who he has around him on Romania team (e.g. his CB partner is a 31 y.o. Burca who spent his entire career in Romania before taking a pay day in Saudi)
I would put Gvardiol and Pongracic as CBs based on actual performance
“Why is Sutalo a “guaranteed” starter ?”
Cuz dalic/modric like him i guess. He made defensive errors resulting in goals for the past 3 games, hard to believe he still starts for us. Also he missed that wide open header vs albania lol.
“I would put Gvardiol and Pongracic as CBs based on actual performance”
You would srsly still play Pong after the spain game? Do you recall the 3-0 Austria game when Pong played? Even years before the austria game he got a few caps and conceded a bunch of goals as well. Defensively he was terrible for wolfsburg and dortmund. Poor guy has worse mental lapses than lovren.
Erlic has always been the answer.
@ Ante
Are you and the boys planning to do a pre match podcast?
I’m headed to my first Vatreni game tomorrow and looking forward to seeing us step up in our typical fashion against the Italiani!
I’m hopeful we see Sucic start but as Markus has mentioned during Dalic’s press conference that he will live or die with his vets. If he starts them and they don’t play well, Dalic is likely done.
I would like to see a Sutalo/Erlic(Pongracic) combo with Gvardiol on the left and Stanisic on the right.
Based on Dalic’s comments we probably see a Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic midfield with Perisic on the left, Budimir up front and likely Krama on the right.
This would be a safe lineup for Dalic (which is his MO) and leaves some good options off the bench in Sucic, Pasalic x 2 and Majer if we need goals.
Personally, I hope he leaves Broz off for Sucic (to play in front of Modric/Kova) and can bring in Broz if we need to protect a lead…..unfortunately I doubt it.
@Slavonac
You made mention on how everyone was jumping on the Broz should be benched bandwagon. Surely you have to agree he’s been poor. Not only has his passing been poor but defensively, he’s been partially at fault for some of the goals. Obviously Modric has as well, but playing these three mids against the Italians will set us up to play a game of chess when we need to put the foot on the gas and go for a W.
Either way we have created chances and not capitalized. If we can clean up the defensive gaffes we can win this game!!
Ajmo!!!
“he will live or die with his vets”
Did Dalic really say this? I watched the press conference and remember him saying something like “he is grateful for the players from 2018 WC, but will ultimately play who is most in form”. Where did the live or die quote come from? maybe from a press conference I didn’t watch or maybe a bad translation from a diaspora kid idk.
Apparently this is Dalics lineup for Italy;
Def: JJ, Erlic, Sutalo, Gvardiol
Mid: Kova, Modric, Mario P
Att: Sucic, Budimir, Kramaric
@ ante, zoric, markus
I’m still interested in how you square focusing on Croatia’s offense for 60 minutes of the podcast when they are
Near the top for expected goals
At a higher expected goal rate than previous tournaments
Second in total shots per game
Second in average shots on target per game
Dominating possession including outpossessing Spain for the first time in 16 years
What exactly are you expecting Croatia to produce? Number 1 in shots? 3 expected goals per game? 70 percent possession?!
The easy answer is actually score more goals but we know that’s how casuals assess the game
Math lesson begins
1) Expected goals
Based on a somewhat convoluted formula based on an “AVERAGE” players ability to score a goal
It doesn’t take into account a player’s overall ability nor their historical performance – so the Xg for Messi taking a the same shot as Budimir is identical
Obviously this is silly from a math/data perspective (we can refer to actual historical data to ensure we laugh here)
Croatia achieving a high expected goals – while not actually scoring – is a NEGATIVE (not positive) – specially, it shows a) how un-clinical we have been (best case – hopefully we can become more clinical) and/or b) how UNDER-AVERAGE the players we have on the field are taking shots vs. the “AVERAGE” (worst case – we can’t change our players beyond our squad)
So – do you really think Budimir magically becomes Messi next game and scores every shot he takes ? (or least comes up to the “AVERAGE” player mean/median) – place ur bets
2) Possession vs. Winning
***.fifatrainingcentre.com/en/community/fifa-research/possession-analysis/part-1-1-the-relationship-between-possession-and-winning.php
As previously shared – a real math/data/stats guy sticks to what the math tells us (not what we wish the math tells us)
As I previously mentioned/educated on here – Croatia out-possessing Spain is a NEGATIVE (not positive)
Data from WC 2022
64 games played – team who had LOWER POSSESSION – won 26 games and lost 23 games
16 knock-out played – team had had LOWER POSSESSION – won 6 games and lost 5 games
So based on math/data/stats in order for Croatia to have a better chance to WIN we should be aiming that they have LOWER POSSESION
Math lesson ends
The winning teams having lower possession prolly means they scored first and were happy to sit back.
“Near the top for expected goals”
Croatia: ~5.1xG
Spain: ~4.0xG
Portugal: ~3.7xG
Germany: ~3.6xG
Belgium: ~3.5xG
This was the write up on our group from Sportsnet in Canada.
Ah yes, the Group of Death. It’s certainly been morbid for Croatia, hasn’t it? Zlatko Dalić’s side can’t seem to catch a break, first getting blanked by Spain then getting the rug pulled out from them by Albania in the final seconds of added time.
Looking ahead to its third match against Italy, Croatia seriously needs to regroup and find a new gameplan, or else the only award it’ll get is one for participation.
How will its midfield begin to click? Is it time to bring some younger, fiery players into the fray and leave the aging ones as substitutes?
Right now, it’s also unclear what Croatia’s fighting for. On the pitch, the players don’t seem to be on the same page, which they’ll need to sort out ahead of a make-or-break match against Italy.
The Italians are also a curious case. After squeezing out a win against Albania, Luciano Spalletti’s side were victim to an absolute clinic by Spain (thanks to 16-year-old Lamine Yamal’s technical brilliance and Manchester City star Rodri’s fluidity).
Quite truthfully, Italy were lucky the scoreline stayed 1-0. Against Croatia on Monday, Le Azzuri will need to prepare to play against a side that wants to redeem itself.
Mentally, Italy need to lock in and statistically, they must improve passing accuracy, which was only 82 per cent against the Spaniards.
Spain is in a similar position to Germany, being the second team to advance to the next round with two wins in two matches.
However, this isn’t the time for Luis de la Fuente’s squad to pump the brakes and hold up. It would be easy for Spain to check out knowing the last 16 awaits, but as proven against both Croatia and Italy, Albania have a knack for scoring early goals and catching opponents off guard.
Albania is hungry, and clearly doesn’t see even the best of teams as threats. Will Sylvinho’s men turn this group on its head?
@questioner
Is this false? Study is required?
https://www.gotquestions.org/Hail-Mary.html
@Keep It Real
@questioner
If you think I only pray for soccer then you are foolish. I pray daily for humanity, righteousness, holiness, morality and for everyone to find Jesus before his return but I digress.
Does Croatia even deserve prayers since the country which once holy is now Godless as the west, probably not. Yet, again I pray for its revival and the worlds.
When God had chosen the Jews it was not because they were powerful but because they were the most pathetic of nations. He glorified his sovereignty by making them a great nation.
We are to live in this world but not be a part of this world. While we are here we are to promote salvation and a holy life first and foremost but we still can enjoy things like the beautiful game.
We also can pray for justice and fairness in a match. Idol worship would be putting football before God and nothing else.
Remember false witness is a sin, so before you throw stones at Stephen, maybe removing the beam from your own eye would be more effective.
@HrvatiHebrew
“If you think I only pray for soccer then you are foolish.”
I didn’t think that, I was just saying that it’s pretty stupid to pray for a soccer result when sport isn’t serious, it’s just a game, or, do you believe it’s more than a game?
I think it’s important to the people of a tiny nation. We all need some joy in our lives as we toil in this world.
As well I’m a man who hates injustice, cheating, corruption and sin. So praying for a fair outcome is what I ask for everyday.
Anyway, your entitled to your opinion, I used to be like yourself and thinking praying for a soccer game was sacrilegious but after 8 years of dedicated Bible studies teaching and participating in Bible classes every Tuesday, I’ve learned that prayer isn’t so fixed.
God wants success and joy in our lives. As followed of Christ we suffer in this world because it goes against the stance of Satan who’s the ruler.
As well due to all the generational curses and unholy altars that have been erected in our lineage
Once you’re aware that you can pray for anything as long as its heartfelt then you’ll truly can fight battle of unseen forces.
I wish you well.
God Bless
BTW, Petar Musa scored his 9th goal of the season for FC Dallas.
The few chances he got for the National Team, it was as if Dalić and his teammates didn’t even want him on the team.
He’s played 18 games though. That’s not too impressive in the MLS, but it’s better than nothing.
Hopefully he becomes a league leader next season and parlays that into a contract back in Europe.
That’s a strike rate of a goal every 2 games. Who wouldn’t want that?
He’s getting great service as he did in Portugal.
There is validity to the “small nation” argument, but the offside call is a poor example.
The keeper probably doesn’t save it anyway, but they are expected to make that call and do 99.9% of the time in similar cases.
https://croatiansports.com/how-will-croatia-line-up-against-italy/#comments/508845
Mile posted in the above comment: “In Croatia’s 12 previous tournaments going into their final group match, 5 times they had already secured a second round place.”
I went to look up the records and believe the aforementioned 5 times are 1996, 1998, 2008, 2016 and 2018.
But I’m a bit unsure about Euro 2016… did we already secure a place in the knockouts going into the last game vs Spain? At that point in time, we had 4 pts with +1 GD after 1-0 win over Turkey and 2-2 tie with Czechia. Would anyone be able to confirm or recall the situation then?
Ok. Daniel Dale the fact checker
You’re right.
We didn’t mathematically secure a spot, but we already had 4 points and even if we lost our final game, there were very few possibilities for us to miss out.
Cacic seemed so confident, that he rolled out a B squad and we beat Spain anyway.
Yes, Croatia were already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Three of the other groups were already done their three games, and two of these groups third place teams had three points, so Croatia was guaranteed at least a third place playoff spot even if they lost to Spain and Czechs beat Turkey.
Pjaca Kramaric Marco Pasalic
Kovacic Sucic Modric (Majer)
Perisic Gvardiol Sutalo Juranovic
Livakovic
I only watched the highlights of France vs Holland and I thought the goalkeeper didn’t dive because #22 was stopping him from making a play i.e. interfering with the play whilst in an offside postion?
@ ante, zoric, markus
I’m still interested in how you square focusing on Croatia’s offense for 60 minutes of the podcast when they are
Near the top for expected goals
At a higher expected goal rate than previous tournaments
Second in total shots per game
Second in average shots on target per game
Dominating possession including outpossessing Spain for the first time in 16 years
What exactly are you expecting Croatia to produce? Number 1 in shots? 3 expected goals per game? 70 percent possession?!
The easy answer is actually score more goals but we know that’s how casuals assess the game
2pm wherever you are it will be done. No need to meet, we will be unified in spirit.
Za Dom
@ Anonymous
The issue is calls will be dictated by who your opponent is. Todays game between Czech and Georgia was called quite accurate but that’s only because the teams who are playing were not important.
If this was any elite team there would be great controversy.
I understand many here lack wisdom on the true ruler of this world.
I turn 50 in July. It took me almost 4 decades two tours in Afghanistan to understand the real truth and it’s not this woke garbage.
Anyway, I just pray my Croatian Brothers and people of the world find God.
At the end of the day that’s all that matters. On a side note the power of prayer is incredible.
I have personal testimonies that prayer can literally change one’s fate. So I call all my Croatian Brothers to join me at 2pm Monday for corporate prayer, to give DaLic the tactics, the supernatural strength, speed, stamina and fair outcome.
Matthew 7:7-8
Effective Prayer
7 Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
@HrvatiHebrew
Praying for a soccer match is really stupid if you ask me.
It’s only things that pertain to your salvation that you should be asking for in the name of your Saviour, not soccer results ????????????
You have commies/athiests here that have nothing to do with the Croatian culture supporting Croatia, what good does a Croatia win do them in the grand scheme of things?
Croatia will get what they deserve, so don’t worry about it.
Sport is not serious, it’s just a game.
he is worshiping a false god –
and committing idol worship
Sosa could have been called for handball @ 2:28 in extra-time
So sometimes the calls go for you / sometimes against u
The Dutch call is 100% correct – the issue is people don’t know the rules (and start judging based on what they THINK the rules should be)
As e.g.
“The Dutch player in front of the goalie doesn’t touch the ball and French goalie Mike Maignan does not even attempt to dive for it”
This is completely irrelevant (this is a subjective overlay what the rule should be)
Anthony Taylor consulted with one of the assistants – they shared notes and made the call – than VAR looked at it (and clearly was not sufficient to over-turn, hence the initial call was correct)
Took you all day to come up with that conclusion?
Well done.
Frank Lebuef thought the goal should have stood. The point is the rule is interpretive. Ask yourself if the shirts were inverted and the exact same play happened would the call have been different? If Mbappe took that shot does the goal get called back? I doubt it.
That’s why they have the VAR system now. The refs don’t decide the majority of the result, the players do. Hrvatska needs to get the ball in the goal.
The refs always decide. VAR is just a tool. Unfortunately it’s used when they choose too. Just as Gvardiol.
I think Croatia has bigger problems. We just need to score first. Without scoring first we can’t win big games, we will never win any finals against big teams.
Scoring is overrated.
Just ask Euro 2016 champs Portugal.
I can’t remember when we scored first in a major tournament game in a Euro Cup or World Cup (own goals don’t count).
We didn’t against
Spain 2016/2021
Czech Republic 2021
Albania 2024
England 2018
France 2018
Russia 2018
Denmark 2018
Japan 2022
Brazil 2022
Canada 2022
I think we did against Morocco in the third place match. Then we have games when we get blown out against Argentina and Spain 3-0. Those were the two heaviest defeats for us. You can’t win games trailing always!!! We have a tendency to always concede first and never start aggressive. You’ll notice champions hardly trail in big matches. We don’t have that capability. Hate to say it but it’s true. We may have mental strength to climb back but lack urgency.
Can’t win games always trailing… But you can medal in tournaments at a higher rate than all but five nations on the planet.
I get where your coming from but teams like Germany, Portugal, France and Argentina went through the years they were so close to tasting victory and finally captured it eventually.
Argentina 2014 WC & 2015/2016 Copa runner ups and then won a few of trophies. 2021 & 2022
Germany 2002-2010 were semi finalists until capturing the gold in 2014 with different generations
Portugal 2004 runner up and 2006 semi finalists. Won a trophy in 2016
France Did nothing from 2004-2014. 2016/2018/2022 so dominant. Won the gold against us.
Spain Did nothing in football until 2008-2010.
Here’s the fact. Our ABSOLUTE BEST YEARS was 2016-2022. We beat Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and England. We had a slip up in the last euros and are experiencing that right now. Idc if we’ve had 2 medals the last two world cups. We need to rebuild. This roster shouldn’t have ten players or more for qualifying for the next World Cup. End this chapter with Dalic. Time to move on. I want gold and to stop living the times where we ‘almost won’. It’s nice to reflect on and think about and great success but the winners write the history books.
Well we’ve only been allowed to take part since 1996.
Getting several medals in a 28-year period is no joke.
Teams like the Netherlands and Portugal won one Euro each (and no World Cups), and that’s after almost 100 years of trying.
We’ll eventually win one.
I’m guessing it’s gonna be in 2038.
(bronze in ’98, silver in 2018,…)
WC2038… maybe it will be held in Asia. China perhaps?
As of right now it looks like Spain or Germany are winning this tournament.
Let’s wait and see Germany against a good team first.
Federico Dimarco injured will not play Monday
LOL watching the turkey v portugal highlights and the first goal is almost a carbon copy of albania’s late one against us, couldnt have been more similar !
The fake Portuguese stomp was on Luka Modrić
It was on both.
We are long overdue to muster something in the air considering we do have some lads with a distinct height advantage over the pizza ???? makers.Buddha,pasalic,sutalo,gvardiol pongranic if he plays?im surprised we haven’t even had anything even close to a goal from a set piece even though the service has been severely lacking into the box.
Just my thoughts as I drove my Ferrari along the coast of Croatia and Montenegro but skipped Slovenia!
@ ante, markus and crew
I listened to the podcast while actually passing on the boat from Greece to Dubrovnik. I skipped stopping in Albania in case you were wondering. . Thanks for putting together.
But we need accountability.
Thirty minutes doing typical bemoaning of offense and talking almost nothing about the real culprit…the defense
So I want to know how you square constantly pinning blame on the offense and focusing all your attention there when Croatia is producing expected goals at a higher rate than previous tournaments, dominating possession and second in shots and shots on target in the tournament. What more are you expecting from them?
A longshot path has just opened up for us. If Turkiye beats Czechia, Portugal beats Georgia AND Scotland and Hungary tie, a tie with Italy would put us through. A lot of ifs, but not entirely impossible.
Also if Denmark beats Serbs and England blows out Slovenia.
@ Bila Lasica
I’ve learned to accept the fact that unless Croatia turns out a Golden Generation that becomes an unstoppable juggernaut then are fate will always be in the hands of those who oppose us.
well said my brother
Officiating in most sports is dismal. Whether it’s incompetence, favouritism or myopia. VAR in theory should have made things better and fairer but it’s just another tool they use to achieve the result they want to see.
Sometimes when watching a sports game on TV or live I think that there are two differing rule books one for the favoured team and another for the other team. The only way to really change that would be for everyone to boycott attending or watching but that will never happen. So I guess it is what it is.
I don’t see us causing Italy many problems. We lack the wing speed that we see in so much of this tournament. Spain Italy has always been a possession type game, and usually close. Spain dominated Italy because of the speed on the wings. They used to be possession based tiki-taka. We need guys like Mario Pasalic, Pjaca and Ivanusec to play on the wings. And Gvardiol and to play LB again. I know the first game was a defensive issue with him not in the center, but it didn’t get much better when he was back in the middle against Albania.
It boggles my mind that we will most likely start Krama on the left wing vs Italy; a right footed AM/FW that never plays out wide for club, is 33 and has lost a step.
We don’t have speed on the wings so we end up playing midfielders on the wings who can cut and shoot. We do have Pjaca, Ivanusec, 50 percent Perisic and Mario Pasalic, heck even Juranovic crosses but I think Dalic is too scared to gamble with them.
If it works, he’s a genius if it doesn’t fans, media, pundits etc will say he should have used his usual players.
I get it though partially because we generally have a slow and older team and if we played these speedy wingers we’d be caught up the field. We don’t have the pace overall to track back which is why we seem to default to Mali nogomet, posession based small ball. That’s also why I think we take short corners, fear of the counter.
In 2018 we had players with more pace which allowed us to be able to play both and they were defensively more responsible. We had work horse Mandza who isn’t the fastest but presses with Rebic, Perisic behind. Budimir pressing with no support is pointless and I don’t think Pjaca and Pasalic defend like Perisic and Rebic did which leaves a younger less experienced and less disciplined defense further exposed. Say what you want about Lovren and Vida, I’ll take a defender who isn’t great with the ball at his feet but more defensive minded instead of the opposite. We lack CB leadership, before we had 2 of them.
Also, the more forward minded we are means we give up something defensively as the previous poster mentioned.
If we had the luck in the past tournaments this is a different convo. We already saw the stats vs Spain. We came out content with a tie vs Spain.
Who knows how much pull Modric and senior players really have with these lineups. I think they do, because I still never understood how Modric is our first penalty taker when there are other players with better penalties.
All that VAR has done is expose what we’ve always suspected.
Now it’s even worse because it’s deliberately blatant. The excuses of VAR not being perfect really insults the intelligence of every fan.
It is perfect only when the elite teams are not the recipient.
Thank you for this article because it needs to be discussed.
Nemoj plakati kao pičke.
WC 1998 – we score on a penalty against Romania. At that time in 1998 Romania was had a really good team and they topped the group with England in it.
Euro 2000 Qualifiers – Zoran Mirković gets a red card in Zagreb. Yugoslavia played better with 10 men. We couldn’t even capitalize on that.
WC 2006 – Dario Srna penalty against Japan (goalkeeper saved it)
WC 2006 – Joe Šimunić received three yellow cards against Australia. ( I know the referee made a mistake. Šimunić was speaking with the Australian accent and the referee got confused ) Even with that we couldn’t capitalize
EURO 2016 – Subašić saves Sergio Ramos penalty. ( yes I know it wasn’t a foul to begin with ) Subašić jumped off the line way too early.
EURO 2024 – Penalty against Spain we all saw what happened there.
The refs fucked during the World Cup final and the semi finals against Argentina. But if it went the other way in both of those games, we wouldn’t be bitching about the referees.
Such a loser mentality that we automatically think the ref is going to fuck us against Italy.
Mi smo Hrvati! Some of you should grow a set and just enjoy the game on Monday.
Ref complaining makes up about 2.5% of the content in this site. Relax.
The problem is the calls don’t go the other way. They 99 times out of a 100 go one way.
1998 I agree we did get the calls including the red against Germany. The only tournament in our history that we got the Argentina treatment. Platini also later admitted he fixed the tournament. So did we get the calls to Ko Germany so France and Brazil could meet in the final?Look that one up.
2006 An offside Australia goal put us out.
2016 Yes Subusic was off his line but it also wasn’t a penalty. Moments before that play Pjaca was also legit fouled in the box and it wasn’t called. Moments after that an invisible penalty was given to Spain.
In 2022 We had a legit penalty on Gvardiol ignored by both the ref and Var against Morocco. Why?
2024 Ask yourself this question. If the shirts were inverted and the exact same play happened except it was Croatia that committed the foul against Spain would it have been called the same? We both know it wouldn’t.
The only time big teams get bad calls go against them is generally when they play other big teams-not against small countries.
Can you post a link to the Platini statement that WC 1998 was fixed in France’s favour?
everyone knows that Brazil took the dive .
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/platini-admits-draw-for-1998-world-cup-was-fixed-so-france-faced-brazil-in-final-11377566
I agree with what your saying but that was a clear red vs Suker no?
Just because it’s a clear red that doesn’t mean it’s always going to get called. We’ve seen stomps on Modric and Rakitic in 2016 and nothing was called. We saw a clear penalty foul on Gvardiol in 2022 WC and nothing was called.
Good point and more often than not those calls go the way for the larger teams. It’s like when NBA teams say in the playoffs in order to beat the Lakers by 2 you have to be up 20
Based
Argentina got, what, five penalty kicks in seven games on their way to winning the World Cup? I think it was five at least. Amazing Croatia played seven games and got not-a one. (Yes I know Croatia didn’t spend hours in the other teams’ boxes.)
The Gvardiol non-PK call in the third place game was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. (Not that their opponent, Morocco, is a “big” team either, but point being.)
FIFA wanted Morroco to win that one.
Even had an Arab ref for the match, but we were far better in that game. Result should have been 4-1.
Croatia haven’t had 5 penalties in our entire history of tournament football never mind one tournament.
it was six Pk. France also had help to reach the final in 2018 with a few PK to
Mistakes from refs are a part of the game. Let’s just admit to it, our Croatian players have had a tough Euro Championship so far. But a win against Italy can change all of that! I hope Coach Zlatko makes the right moves for this game.
The mistakes tend to just break one way.
Another example of refs favoring big boys was the match between Germany v Hungary (2 – 0) the other day. First goal for Germany should have been disallowed for a clear push in the back of the Hungarian player yet the ref failed to blow his whistle and VAR also failed to intervene.
The officiating at our two matches so far has been fair.
Just checked we have Dutch officials for the match v Italy. From memory the same guy that officiated the WC Qualifier against Russia in Split when we won 1 – 0.
The officiating in the Albania match was maybe “fair,” but it was also very poor. It took the ref 70 minutes to stop calling every single dive by Albania a foul, and he mishandled a truly dangerous situation late in the match when Albania resorted to hacking Croatian players wildly, including a kick to Liva’s face when the ball was already dead. Not necessarily match-fixing but still an abomination.
I think the officiating in that game was pretty good. Croatia just choked.