Luka Modrić played 90 minutes Sunday as AC Milan roared back to defeat Fiorentina 2-1 Sunday night at San Siro. The win gives AC Milan sole position of 1st place in the Serie A Table through the first seven matches of the season. AC Milan now have a 1-point edge on Inter, Napoli and Inter and will next face Pisa October 24th. Modrić received a solid 7/10 match rating from SempreMilan: “While it might sound strange to say given he was important in possession too, his most crucial contributions perhaps came in the defensive phase tonight. He worked very hard especially towards the end to limit Fiorentina’s chances of scoring. It’s that type of leadership behaviour that makes him so valuable.”
Andrej Kramarić scored his second Bundesliga goal of the season and was voted MOTM in Hoffenheim’s 3-0 win over St. Pauli Sunday. He received an impressive 8.7 FOTMOB rating for his efforts; also add a silky through-ball assist on the opening goal. For goal #2, Krama received the ball in the middle of the box and calmly picked a corner for the goal. It’s great to see him have an impactful Bundesliga game after a quiet international window vs. Gibraltar and Czechia.
Joško Gvardiol was not used Saturday in Manchester City’s 2-0 victory over Everton. He was surely rested in preparation of City’s midweek Champions League clash at Villarreal. However, Mateo Kovačić got his Premier League debut, coming off the bench in the 86th minutes to play some garbage minutes at the end of the match. Let’s see how Pep uses him moving forward. City currently trail Arsenal by three points for the league lead.
Dominik Livaković has yet to to see the pitch for Girona in La Liga action this season. When will it happen? Girona fought valiantly against Barcelona Saturday, entering injury time tied at 1-1. However, Araujo would bag the winner in the 93′ to earn Barcelona a 2-1 victory. When do we start worrying about Livaković heading into 2026?
Rough game for Kotarski today against Dortmund. He let in 2 preventable goals in a 4-2 loss.
Barcelona with a 17yr old and two 18yr old’s in the starting lineup of their Champions League game today.
@Dalic pls take note.
The youth tournaments are complete garbage and have no correlation with creating successful national team caliber players.
Bonehead Dalic sending Vuskovic to the U21’s when he should be gaining senior team experience.
We all know what’s going to happen….he is going to start Vusko during the World Cup even though he did not give him experience on the Senior squad like what he did with Guardi during the Euro where he made his debut.
We need more ‘boneheads’ running our national team. Coach Dalic has proven himself where others coaches couldn’t. And who hasn’t made some coaching mistakes? Scaloni, Dalic, Deschamps, and Ragragui are still coaching for a reason. Viva Zlatko!
Hopefully Vuskovic gets to play with us next month.
Even though it’s just Faroes and Montenegro…it should give him some time to integrate with (hopefully) Gvardiol as his CB partner.
You are correct that we want to avoid the “Dalic tax” which results in delayed integration (similar to how Gvardiol suddenly started at Euro2020).
Marco’s coming back to Europe per Sky Sports Germany
Orlando has a wild-card game tomorrow 20:30 EDT vs. Chicago
If they lose his season is done with Orlando (next season starts end of February 2026?) – so obviously he can’t sit around on the beach and bang chicks and go to John Summit concerts for 4 months in a World Cup year
No clue how MLS transfers back to European teams work (e.g. don’t think he could transfer to UK now as their transfer window isn’t open?) – and don’t feel like looking into it
I know some players e.g. Son at LA – are looking to do a loan move – for this 3-4 month period b/w seasons – given its a World Cup year
Will be interesting to see if he prioritizes World Cup vs. chicks and John Summit
Stay tuned
Morocco, just won the under 20 World Cup. It makes me sad that we don’t win these underage tournaments more often or at all.
I would love to see a young up and coming generation dominate in these tournaments at 14, 16, 18 and 20 instead of just adult success.
It might not be realistic and I’m absolutely astonished at what we do in sports in general but I’m greedy and want it all.
Euro Cups, World Cups and even coffee cup champs, lol.
This U20 is complete bs
It only includes players from clubs willing to release them outside of the international window
So it’s the crap of the crap
Good to know, Ty for the information.
Bring on the coffee cups!! Morocco have a massive diaspora in France, Belgium and Holland. They have always been very talented, World Cup 1986 they were very unlucky going out to a late goal on the round of 16 to eventual winners Germany. They have pedigree are the young French born Moroccans all want to play for morocco now that the federation has cleaned up its act and provides too facilities and support. In addition the Moroccan style gas always been based on fast skilful dribblers so this suits younger players. In contrast Croats peak late as our game is a more cerebral possession game which needs experience to work well. So very difficult for us to compete at that age group. I hope that’s a bit more info that anonymous offered. Lol
You actually surpassed the humanoid robot of unlimited football knowledge that was developed by Rimac as it’s first AI venture in programming, AKA Anonymous.
If U20 and U21 tournaments had any correlation with senior team success… then countries like Serbia, Ukraine and Israel and would be among the best footballing nations in the World.
Im aware of those past winners and very well know that it mostly doesn’t matter at the adult men’s stage.
Sometimes a youth squad wins the under 16 tournament World Cup, only to have most or all the players never to achieve any success.
I remember when we lost in the final to Nigeria, I believe? Correct me if I’m wrong. I thought Brekalo, Moro and the rest would be the new Golden Generation. Sadly injuries and other developmental issues transpired.
Again I’m quite aware of all this but I’m just saying, I want it all and that’s okay.
Yup.
…and Nigeria have the most U17 World Cup victories too. They won it five times.
Yet, they’ve never come close to any real success at an actual World Cup.
We have never made the final of the youth WC in any age group.
In 2015 U17 WC, we made it to the QF and lost to Mali 1 – 0.
That generation of players included Moro, Brekalo, Sosa and Erlic.
Nigeria beat Mali in the final and they were in our group, and we beat them 2 – 1.
We simply do not have a large talent pool to choose from like the big population countries Spain, France, Germany, England & Italy.
Every now and then a talented generation comes through, and we qualify for the World Cups or the EUROS.
We have qualified for the next months under 17 WC in Qatar.
Our group includes Senegal, UAE and Costa Rica. We have a talented squad, and I watched them recently beat Sweeden and Ukraine in friendly matches. I expect us to at least get out of the group.
I disagree with the comments on here that youth tournaments are not important. They are very important for the development of youth players.
If our youth teams were more successful i.e. qualifying regularly for the World Cups and the EUROS it might actually help our seniors win something instead of making the SF or Finals.
Then how do you explain all these teams consistently doing well in youth tournaments, but sucking a$$ in real tournaments?
Toronto 4-2 Orlando
Marco Pasalic registered an assist in the last round of the regular season. With Toronto 3-0 ahead, Marco delivered a great ball into the box to help his team pull one back in the 54′. Orlando finished 9th in the Eastern Conference standings and will face the Fire in the playoffs’ wild card round.
x.com/MLS/status/1979691401794171178
This match was also part of Croatian Heritage Night organized by the Can-Cro chamber of commerce together with Toronto FC. Some 800 Croatian fans turned up for the event and cheered whenever Marco touched the ball 🙂 After the game, Marco joined the supporters for a meet and greet session.
Toronto 4-2 Orlando
Marco Pasalic registered an assist in the last round of the regular season. With Toronto 3-0 ahead, Marco delivered a great ball into the box to help his team pull one back in the 54′. Orlando finished 9th in the Eastern Conference standings and will face the Fire in the playoffs’ wild card round.
https://x.com/MLS/status/1979691401794171178
This match was also part of Croatian Heritage Night organized by the Can-Cro chamber of commerce together with Toronto FC. Some 800 Croatian fans turned up for the event and cheered whenever Marco touched the ball 🙂 After the game, Marco joined the supporters for a meet and greet session.
https://www.croatiaweek.com/a-sea-of-red-and-white-checkers-as-croatian-pride-shines-at-croatian-heritage-night-with-toronto-fc
Here is actually the loss list. In terms meaningful losses, the worst you can blame him for is Slovenia in wc qualifiers and wales in euro qualifiers. But come on…this is Croatia, not France. It’s not realistic to expect 0 slip ups in 100 games
2018-03-23 — Peru 2–0 Croatia (friendly, Miami). 
• 2018-06-03 — Brazil 2–0 Croatia (friendly, Liverpool). 
• 2018-07-15 — France 4–2 Croatia (World Cup final, Moscow). 
• 2018-09-11 — Spain 6–0 Croatia (UEFA Nations League, Elche). 
• 2018-11-18 — England 2–1 Croatia (UEFA Nations League, London). 
• 2019-03-24 — Hungary 2–1 Croatia (Euro 2020 qual., Budapest). 
• 2019-06-11 — Croatia 1–2 Tunisia (friendly, Varaždin). 
• 2020-09-05 — Portugal 4–1 Croatia (Nations League, Porto). 
• 2020-09-08 — France 4–2 Croatia (Nations League, Saint-Denis). 
• 2020-11-14 — Sweden 2–1 Croatia (Nations League, Solna). 
• 2020-11-17 — Croatia 2–3 Portugal (Nations League, Split). 
• 2021-03-24 — Slovenia 1–0 Croatia (World Cup 2022 qual., Ljubljana). 
• 2021-06-13 — England 1–0 Croatia (Euro 2020 group, London). 
• 2021-06-28 — Spain 5–3 Croatia (a.e.t.) (Euro 2020 R16, Copenhagen). Counts as a loss. 
• 2022-06-03 — Croatia 0–3 Austria (Nations League, Osijek). 
• 2022-12-13 — Argentina 3–0 Croatia (World Cup semifinal, Lusail). 
• 2023-10-12 — Croatia 0–1 Turkey (Euro 2024 qual., Osijek). 
• 2023-10-15 — Wales 2–1 Croatia (Euro 2024 qual., Cardiff). 
• 2024-06-15 — Spain 3–0 Croatia (Euro 2024 group, Berlin). 
No, the above is not an actual Dalic lost list
Once again, zero qualify control, fire your sub-standard Analyst
Off the top of my head
2023 NL finals loss vs. Spain (0-0, penalties 4-5)
2024 NL loss vs. Portugal 1-2
2024 NL loss vs. Scotland 0-1
2025 NL QF 2nd leg loss vs. France 0-2
I’m sure there are more missing – please hire an Analyst with at least half a brain – who can run basis analysis accurately
Thx
@maminjo
I think is likely disingenuous to say dalic has the worst record
Opponent he likely has the best
Remember that Croatias presence in every tournament and going far in many has had them face an incredible amount of tough opponents
Most importantly though is likely the introduction of nations league where Croatia has done three cycles in the a division
Always though Orsic had more to him than he has shown. The guy is fast, and we need that speed on HNL. Don’t know why has disappeared as much as he has. If we can ever find one or two guys that can run quickly with the ball. Speed kills and we need some killers.
Well hopefully Marco P, Oršić, Pjaca, Valinčić, Ivanović, Krivak and Šotiček continue to play well and get callups.
There’s about a 5% chance that Dalić will play any of these guys more than 10 minutes at the next World Cup, but who knows.
Dalic already covered his a*s
He got SN to write an article saying that the average age of the bronze winning 1998 team was higher than current team – implying nothing wrong w current vets on the team
Sad
It is sad. He’s delusional.
The 98 squad were the remnants of perhaps the best u20 squad ever assembled.
Most of our boys played in Chile. Of course 11 years later when all of them around the same age matured and fueled by national pride would be successful in France.
Most of that squad was born between 1965-1969. The only players of consequence who were born in the 70’s were Simic, Vlahovic and Stanic.
Boksic born Jan, 1970 did not play.
Dalic is playing a lying politician .
Delusional? We are lucky to have a coach who has taken the team to 2 World Cup semifinals and 1 Nations League Final. And he is the cusp of taking the team to the third straight World Cup. Ask Italy how easy it is. Viva Zlatko!
Delusional about comparing ages of the 2 respective squads.
Can’t compare the 2 generations.
Regarding Italy, they won a Euro recently while we have won nothing.
I’d trade all those WC medals for a Euro title every time.
Nobody would be able to take from us.
Greeks still talk about their title 20 years later. I can’t blame them.
We will appreciate Coach Dalic after he leaves as he has spoiled us. No Croatia coach has done what he has done. And for that I continue to support Coach Dalic. Viva Zlatko!
Dalić has the second worst record among Croatian NT coaches 😉
I’ll take his record with the results he has accomplished. If his record has to be substandard to get Croatia to WC final fours, I can live with it. Viva Zlatko!
Brother how many wild card teams with average regular season records have gone on to win a Super Bowl , World Series or a nba title c’mon
Exactly, and this board is full of people who think their opinion is fact, mirroring politics today. Too bad these opinions are worth govno. And cherry picking some stats to undermine Dalic. I’ll take his results over any Croatian coach. As I like to say sometimes, some people are only happy when they’re unhappy. It’s very Croatian to complain about everything, even good things.
Sure he has had some good results but he’s also had by far the best players available to any Croatian manager. Just look at that 2018 team we had the best midfield in the world with Modric, Rakitic and Broz along with other world class players like Perisic and Mandzukic.
You could definitely argue that he has underperformed given the players he’s had at his disposal, especially when you look at his results at the Euros
Why then didn’t we do better in the Euros in 2016 and the World Cup in 2014 with a lot of the same players? Underperformed? Give Coach Dalic some credit. Why hasn’t England won anything? Look at Brazil and Germany since 2017! Viva Zlatko!
Why then didn’t we do better in the 2016 Euros or the 2014 World Cup with a lot of the same players? I think the Coach Dalic has gotten the results even though his overall record isn’t the best. Let’s consider Brazil and Germany since 2017: what have they done? Viva Zlatko!
Because Niko Kovac was a worse coach who was completely inexperienced and out of his element.
That 2014 team should have easily taken out Mexico, but we looked terrible in that game.
Dalic gets a lot of credit for 2018. He picked the correct starting eleven, especially sticking with Mandzo up top (when Krama performed better in qualifying) and adding Rebic at RW for the sole purpose of pressing the opposing defenders.
Since 2018, he’s fluctuated a lot. Bad at Euro2020. Bad at Euro2024. World Cup 2022, he was okay. He made some bad calls that almost cost us group progression…but then things began to pay off during the knockout phase. I give him credit for using his subs in 2022 (something which he hasn’t been doing lately at all).
I have recency bias, so since we did bad at Euro2024 and these recent UNL games (where we were bettered by Scotland of all teams)…I worry if he hasn’t learned his lesson for this upcoming World Cup.
Finally playing Marco Pašalić may be a signal that he’s trying to see what he has off the bench. If we start to see guys like Oršić, Pjaca, Valinčić get callups (and minutes) in our final two qualifiers, it may be a sign that he’s willing to go deep into his bench the same way he successfully did at WC2022.
Pongracic has played fairly well for Fiorentina today against AC Milan. It seems he plays better in Serie A than for the NT.
Modric has been solid for Milan.
Krama scored for Hoffenheim and was man of the match . . . He seems to be finding his form, after a bit of a slow start to the season.
Leon Grgic winning goal Sturm
Here’s the goal (it’s the 3rd goal – sorry wasn’t the winning goal)
***.youtube.com/watch?v=pXTUFzWlk2E
No surprise – both Baturina and Luka Sucic unused subs
Soticek had a really good game yesterday. Had a goal called back by Var for offside. Bullshit call it was a great shot but they ruled offside due to a player being in an offside position on the shot. Goalie had no chance saving the shot.
Smolcic in the starting 11 for Como v Juventus and as expected Baturina on the bench. Como leading 1 – 0 early on and Smolcic so far is playing well.
Big loss for Tudor there
Baturina baffles me. Love to know what’s going on with this dude
I mean, he plays the exact same position as Nico Paz.
I believe he also can play alongside him, but Como’s captain currently holds that position.
I think Baturina is really just insurance for next season, when Nico Paz is likely to be recalled (or sold) by Real Madrid since his release clause is only 10 million Euro.
Unless Como is willing and able to drop 60-70 million Euro for him, he will likely be sold by Real to someone else.
Yeah ,good point. Hopefully he’ll score some minutes .
What’s going on with Ivanusec? Nobody really mentions him anymore. He’s still only 26. Anyone see him play in the greek league?
Livakovic: sad case now.
Labrovic: same as livakovic
Stanisic: boey is performing at another level now and is even better than laimer who is performing consistently well at LB and RB. Stanisic will have issue breaking into the team given he only consistently deliver 7/10..and davis and gurreriro are back soon.
Sutalo: ever since he made in starting 11 last wk, ajax has lost its first two matches. No idea if its linked
Juranovic: injured and no updates
Bradaric: hopefully is rested this weekend
Sucic: bench for important matches..he is more of a squad player like moro
Baturina: benched
Majer: benched these days
Vlasic: any idea why he is not called up?
Ivanovic: pray hard mourinho is sacked pls
Perisic: seems to have lost his spark for assists and goals these match.
Budimir: only one open goal this season
Kovacic: benched
Covic: with some hope playing these days
Basic seems to be doing better these days:)
Stojkovic and vidovic: benched at dinamo
Sosa: shd ignore him even if he plays regularly
Conclusion: gvardiol jakic vuskovic kotarski modric and even orsic are doing well.
Orsic with one assist and per assist
Pafos 4-0 Ethnikos
Mislav Orsic played the full 90 in the above league match on Friday. He provided an assist on the first goal from a corner kick (headed in by ex-Brazil defender David Luiz). Also hit the post early on with the open goal at his mercy. Sofascore gave him a score of 8.4 and MOTM honors. According to the app, he also made 5 key passes in total. I haven’t had time to check out the full highlights but trust Dalic and his team will get up to speed on his performance. Pafos will travel to Kazakhstan to play Kairat Almaty in the CL on Tuesday.
Match highlights (Orsic is No. 17)
youtube.com/watch?v=dEegu2hQdLQ
He’s 33 playing in Cypress after a bad injury. He ain’t going anywhere
Dalic didn’t played him when he was 28 and in top form. If he is the best option on the left side he should play. One of the few purely attacking players we have.
06:30 EDT Baturina bench vs. Tudor
Does anyone have the highlights of U19 Dinamo (coached by Jerko Leko) vs. Chelsea ? (the game Belinho wanted to play in)
Here’s the winning goal
x.com/DeggioHighlight/status/1979561950380982568
Here’s the full match !
***.youtube.com/live/vPquV2RENpU
Sorry it was Dinamo U21 (not U19)
Noa Mikic was playing.
Does anyone actually watch Krama on a regular basis at Hoffenheim?
Perhaps we should replace Krama’s game (that nobody really cares about) with Luka Vuskovic 09:30 EDT Saturday vs. RB Leipzig?
Franjo Ivanovic is getting very few minutes under Mourinho (subbed on 82′ in a cup match against a second tier team today).
Meanwhile, Sebastien Pocognoli, who is Franjo’s former coach at Union SG, is now in charge of Monaco. I believed he placed a lot of trust in Franjo when both were working together and he used a lineup with 2 strikers at Union SG. Come January transfer window, let’s see if the two of them can reunite via a loan arrangement. Quite unlikely yes, but never say never I guess…
Benfica have 7 games b/w the October and November int’l windows
This was the first game – they play every 4 days (one game comes 3 days after the previous) – that’s a lot of games
Doubt Pavlidis (who scored 2 more goals y’day) starts every one of those games – so Ivanovic will get his chance to start – and has to take it
Also, all it takes is Pavlidis picking up an injury and Ivanovic gets his chance to start
We need to be patient – will be shocked if he doesn’t get a chance to start soonish (Newcastle isTuesday – tough match away – but Benfica really need to pick up at least a point there – so Mourihno probably starts Pavlidis again)
P.S. Anonymous will have a chance to watch Monaco this Wednesday in the Champions League vs. T – so will report back if looks like they have a need for a Franjo (but looking at their front 3/forward options on paper – they looked pretty stacked tbh)
Nice! Btw Ivanovic is ineligible to represent Monaco or any other club in the rest of the CL competition. If Monaco reaches the knockout phase, I doubt it would make much sense for them to bring in Franjo. Eh… sucks to know Monaco are stacked up front, but I think their first choice CF, Biereth – who was amazing last season) – has had a slow start to the season. Hope he flops today vs Angers and next week in CL vs T. =P
True what you said, when Ivanovic gets a chance to start for Benfica, he must seize the chance and deliver. Even when coming off the bench, I hope he can somehow find a way to score from time to time, like what Musa did back then.
good fences make good neighbors