Gabriel Vidović scored the game-winning goal for Vitesse on Saturday in a 3-1 Dutch Eredivisie victory over Heerenveen. Vidović is currently on loan from Bayern Munich and now has a second goal to his name this week as he scored days ago with a funny chip/deflection from the goal line. We know Croatia has to find a true striker in the next 1-2 years. Vidović is absolutely on the “Watch List” and it’s a great sign that he has adjusted to a very competitive Dutch league so quickly. It will only increase his value at Bayern Munich. Vitesse currently sit 13th place in Holland with the win.
24 year-old winger Josip Brekalo will find new life in 2023 as he returns to the Italian Serie A with Fiorentina. There were rumblings around Europe that half a dozen clubs were interested with the “in-limbo Croatian national team player”, including Dinamo Zagreb, but it will Fiorentina who land Brekalo. Brekalo found great success while on loan at Torino in Italy last season, but returned to parent club, Wolfsburg, who have owned him since 2016. Unfortunately, manager Niko Kovač could not find a place for him with the A-squad this season. Expect some magic and resurgence from Brekalo with Fiorentina, who currently sit 12th place in Serie A.
Ivan Perišić played 90 minutes and supplied an assist to Son in Tottenham’s 3-0 FA Cup win over Preston North End on Saturday. Spurs have now secured a spot in the last 16 of the tournament. Perišić has yet to score a goal with Tottenham this season.
Joško Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes in RB Leipzig’s 2-1 victory over Stuttgart Friday night. With Bayern Munich dropping points for a third straight match, RB Leipzig now only trail Munich by two points for the Bundesliga lead. It should be a tight finish in Germany this season as six teams sit pithing five points of each other.
Antonio Čolak has cooled off tremendously for Rangers since taking the end of 2022 by storm. Čolak has not scored since the World Cup ended and he has only been on the Rangers squad in half their games.
Oršić did not leave the bench in today’s loss vs Newcastle United.
I think the Orsic move to Southampton is going to be a huge bust and setback for him. It really wasn’t a good move for him. He is a slick player in the right environment. Southampton are brutal.
I don’t know what he was thinking going to Southampton in all honesty, Leeds would’ve been better for him cos I believe they were in for him at the same time?
Petar Musa scored today for Benefica. Here it is:
https://youtu.be/ONX3pcUf38Q
If he’s not playing in March’s Euro Qualifier instead of Budimir, I don’t know what to say. 🤷
Cancelo to bayern as RB
End of stanisic..he has to wait for pavard mazraoui cancelo to be injured or suspended to get a chance to play
Was always his fault in the first place, was given the opportunity to go on loan at the start of this season to Bundesliga and premier league clubs and decided he would compete his position which has completely backfired.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoCgKm0MQ6g/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=
The English are already all over Orsic. He better deliver soon or his career will basically be over.
Exactly @Becar. Orsic not having a good time at Southampton. Fans are shouting that he runs like a pony. Feel sorry for the dude, but that wasn’t a good spot for him.
It’s been a slow week and month for Croatian sports. We’ll never see our players circulating in the media that much because we have no top star at the front or one thats had a break out year. Although, I’m beyond impressed how much steady progression they national team has made in terms for defence. Our back line has been stronger than ever and they’re only getting started. When we have Gvardiol, Jurnaovic and Stanisic starting at top teams in the Bundesliga, it’s a sign of reassurance that our defence is top quality. With Sosa and Erlic included. Since the hiccup against Austria, we’ve conceded 10 goals. The Argentina game was by far the worst performance I saw ever. I’d just wish we get more guys in gritty leagues like the English league or the best league which is La Liga. Besides Kramaric doing his usual thing at Hoffenheim. Nobody else is putting numbers up. Perisic has been our top striker since 2016. I reckon he’ll retire after the Euros with Modric and several others. We should go undefeated at Euro qualifiers. Any winning side for Euros or WC don’t draw or loss games to minnows or weak teams. Our only decent opponents is Turkey and Wales. A draw away to Turkey is anticipated.
Perisic may stick around for World Cup
But you are probably right he will leave with luka, lovren , hoping vida will retire before to make room
Kramaric maybe as well?
Livaja and petko and budimir i Hope will call it quits when young Guys step up
I’m not sure how quick dalic would be to cut them before euro
Between now and euro one or more of these young and fairly close making it prospects will make their presence truly known
And we know the dinamo and hajduks especially the hajduks will be all in a tizzy If livaja gets left off
Also to answer the minnows comment. Italy called, they want their rematch with Macedonia 😉
I agree tho. We should be losing really any of these qualifiers
I think us making the Nations League Finals is going to mess up our transition to the younger players.
I think a few of these guys would have already retired (or accepted smaller roles) but the prospect of winning a trophy is a real possibility, so they’ll want to keep their starting roles and play until at least the end of June.
Dalić will use the excuse that these guys were part of the Nations League campaign, so they’ve earned a chance to finish what they started…but I doubt that these guys will then suddenly get cut (or retire)from the team at a random point midway through Euro2024 qualifying.
We’re in an easy qualifying group, so we should use this to try out the various young strikers we suddenly have and get guys like Sučić, Majer, Šutalo and possibly even Vidović some gametime with the first team.
Livaja shouldn’t be cut because he played well at the WC and is still in his best form (and fans love him). Budimir absolutely should be cut, and probably Petković too, in spite of his moments of brilliance at the WC. Lovren is no longer needed, and he should be given a seat on the bench, even though he is starting at Lyon. Vida is the best attitude on the bench and should be kept. Jakić is not an absolute starter at his club, even though he is a solid defensive option. Barisić is no longer needed on the Repka. Who else can really be cut ?
Vida and Budimir should be cut. They’re older and getting worse.
Livaja is no better than Petkovic, and they’re both on the bubble.
Still deserve occasional callups, but are not guaranteed any minutes and could be cut (depending on the form of our younger strikers like Beljo, Musa, etc). Other bubble players are Lovren, Jakic and Barisic.
That right there is 2 players who should be cut, and another 5 who should probably never be guaranteed any minutes.
We should also start winding down the minutes of Modric, Perisic, Kramaric and Brozovic.
Poor Modric plays every single game at 90 minutes per game, despite being our oldest player. Brozovic plays even more (and it resulted in him getting injured right before the World Cup). Perisic and Krama should also not be overly played as well.
These four guys are still starters, but we have so many capable backups like (Majer, Orsic, Vlasic, Pasalic) who could relieve them for these qualifiers and we have some interesting youngsters (like Sucic and Vidovic) that need to be integrated.
There are plenty of minutes to go around that doesn’t necessarily mean having to outright cut several players.
We’ve got lots of interesting youngsters in Sutalo, Sucic, Vidovic, Erlic, Beljo, Musa, Majer…who could all easily cover for our starters (especially in Euro qualifying games against Wales or Latvia) who can start developing chemistry with our existing young starters in Gvardiol, Sosa, Juranovic, etc.
I don’t want to see us rolling out guys like Lovren, Livaja and Barisic for the full 90 minutes against teams like Latvia and Armenia, while we have better, younger players on the bench that need to be integrated.
That top 100 player list looks a lot like a list from 2 years ago
I’ve been the biggest modric supporter but id probably trade him for the next 20 players behind him on that list outside the other legacy selections
Hopefully Brekalo wakes up in Italy this time:
https://bulinews.com/news/16034/confirmed-brekalo-transfers-florence
The Guardian’s top 100 footballers.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2023/jan/24/the-100-best-male-footballers-in-the-world-2022
Gabriel Vidovic with another for his Vitesse side in the 45th. His squad won 3-1.
https://streamja.com/Lpn9K
Nice finish.
On that high light he looks pretty central but of course they were all sort of in the middle
Is he mostly on the LW someone was saying earlier in the week ?
Keep it up
But we still haven’t officially capped him have we?
At the U21 he’s been capped but not on the senior level. His parents are from central Bosna. I’m not worried about him playing for Germany. He’s ours
From Kiseljak.
Probably the most hardcore Croats in all of Bosna, and they’re surrounded by Serbs and Bošnjaci.
No chance he plays for anyone other than us.
Looking more and more like our Perišić replacement every day now.
@ danny
baturina is going to be the next modric+. imagine modric’s metronome qualities and perfect weight on passes but combined with messi’s goal scoring ability
I’m hearing barcelona, real madrid, and chelsea are all looking at him.
Some say baturina is an even better prospect than croatiansports.com top croatia prospect of 2022 Stipe Biuk.
I have heard the same about him. Biuk is supposedly average and that the MLS is actually his big move.
19 year old right winger goal for dinamo
I know baturina has been talked about in past
But what’s the details on this kid?? Progression and potential ceiling?
As maminjo said below he is now over the 18 years Old mark and we need to pay attention
He’s skilled but makes a lot of mistakes (loses the ball alot).
If his defensive game can catch up to his offensive creativity, then he’ll be in that Modrić/Rakitić tier.
If not, then the next youngster will pass him and he’ll be Vlašić for us.
https://sempremilan.com/milan-lecce-young-croatian-goalscorer
Who knows anything about this kid?
Probably no one, haha.
Too early at this point to gauge.
I try not to follow any player until they’re at least 18.
I remember 16 year-old Rocco Zikovic going to RB Salzburg from Pula, and they paid something like 2.5 million Euro for him. Now that he’s 18, they have him at Liefering, but he’s not even starting (there’s some other random 18 year old Croat ahead of him in the starting CB role, who they probably paid nothing for).
There are tons of Croats littered across the youth teams of Europe in places like Italy, Austria, Germany, etc. Better to just wait until they’re 18 and see who breaks through (like Erlić, Vidović, etc) because almost none of them will. There’s just so much that can happen in that age group.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn8_KwlMHke/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=
Brekalo to Fiorentina is official. 5 year contract, 1.5 million per year plus bonuses. This should give him an opportunity to get his career back on track. It’s a solid move.
Hopefully he can get in there and get legit playing time
Def should have stayed in Turin
But seems like Italy has been good to Him