Lovro Majer came off the bench in the 55th minute to score two 2nd half goals Sunday in a 2-2 draw against Hoffenheim. He was voted MOTM with a 9.0 rating from FOTMOB. Nearly perfect for 35 minutes on the pitch. Two minutes after coming on, Majer placed an absolute perfect left-footed shot just inside the left post from 16 yards out. He was later fouled in the box and converted a penalty by rifling the ball into the top-right corner of the net. Majer now has four goals and three assists for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga season. Andrej Kramarić played 87 minutes for Hoffenheim in the match..
Mario Pašalić scored the opening goal for Atalanta Sunday in a 3-1 victory over Lazio. See goal here. He cleaned up the trash in front of a chaotic net with a semi-scorpion kick as he flew threw the air. Pašalić has been quiet in Italy this season but this is his third goal of the Serie A campaign.
Josip Šutalo played the full match for Ajax Saturday as Borna Sosa came off the bench in the 28th minute of a respectable 1-1 draw versus 1st place PSV Eindhoven. Šutalo received a 7.8 rating from FOTMOB while Sosa got a 7.3. PSV caught Ajax on a quick counter in the 1st half where they scored their lone goal. Sosa wasn’t able to back track fast enough to block the shot, however, it wasn’t his guy to defend in the first place. After an absolutely disastrous start to the season, Ajax are back to a respectable 5th place in the Eredivisie table; only six points back of a Champions League qualification spot.
Josip Stanišić played the full 90 minutes for Bayer Leverkusen in a 2-0 win over Darmstadt; receiving a 8.0 rating. With the win, Leverkusen remain two points ahead of Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga lead.
Mateo Kovačić, Joško Gvardiol and Manchester City take on Brentford Monday night 3PM (ET)
Luka Modrić on the bench Sunday as Real Madrid face city rivals Atletico in La Liga action.
“Come play with us” – What Diego Simeone allegedly told Real Madrid superstar during derby draw
Diego Simeone appears to want Luka Modric at Atletico Madrid.Diego Simeone appears to want Luka Modric at Atletico Madrid.
Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone appears to have told Real Madrid star Luka Modric to join him at the Wanda Metropolitano next season.
Modric, 38, has just four months left on his contract with Los Blancos, and this is his final campaign at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Croatian has enjoyed an illustrious career with Carlo Ancelotti’s side, making 514 appearances, and winning 23 major trophies as well as the Ballon d’Or.
However, the Croatia international has been handed a more withdrawn role by Ancelotti at Real Madrid this season. He’s become more of a bit-part player, starting 10 of 18 La Liga games.
Modric didn’t start Los Merengues’ 1-1 draw against Atletico in the Madrid derby on Sunday (February 4). He came on in the 76th minute but not before Simeone grabbed a quick word with him on the touchline.
DAZN claims that the Argentine coach urged the five-time UEFA Champions League winner to join Los Colchoneros. He allegedly said:
“Luka! Luka! Join us & come play with us!”
This wouldn’t be the first time a player has crossed over Madrid from either rival or played for both clubs. Los Blancos goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois previously played at the Wanda Metropolitano while the iconic Raul also turned out for both Madrid rivals.
Modric will become a free agent in the summer once his contract with Real Madrid expires. He’s been at the Bernabeu since August 2012 when he joined from Tottenham Hotspur in a €35 million deal.
Just read an interesting stat online
Mario pasalic since joining Atalanta in 2018/2019 has the most goals of all midfielders
So maybe he is not having his best season(or he sucks according to some;) however is still capable of scoring and contributing
I wish we had more throw away games to try him as a striker
I know it sounds dumb, but dude has a nose for goal
Cause have we really ever seen him much as a midfielder for the repka?
He is turning 29 now and should have these next two tourneys to be a good piece and potential super sub
That’s most goals for a midfielder in Serie A
@baka
did u watch Udogie / Van Den Van this w/end ?
See how fast they are – in particular VDV – now it’s official
He’s the FASTEST player in the PL @ 37 km/h
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-fastest-players-vandeven-32055118#
Compare to Gvariol 32 km/h in CL this yr
Look at Brentford goal today – Gvardiol couldn’t catch Maupay (not sure what he was doing – sleeping when ball bounced) – VDV would have 100% caught him (Spurs played Brentford a wk ago – and VDV caught him many times)
This 5 km/h is a huge difference – difference b/w able to be the best CB in the PL (and catching all the speed demon fwd / wingers) and just barely keeping up
And VDV himself says Udogie is faster than him
https://www.squawka.com/en/news/micky-van-de-ven-tottenham-speedster/
Again – it all starts w/ pace – this combined w/ anticipation, tackling ability, etc – is what is needed to be considered a truly World Cup CB/defender
This is all to say that Gvardiol needs to keep pushing himself day-in-day-out – not sure how much faster he can get himself – but this will be key for us tbh – otherwise he’ll get exposed vs. opponents at Euro, WC (especially bc he’ll likely be the fastest defender we have – unless someone comes out of the blue)
Gvardiol stepped up at the last World Cup (when it matters).
If Udogie can do something similar (like making a World Cup Team of the Tournament like Gvardiol did at age 21), then that would be impressive to me.
The EPL is a different beast than a World Cup or Euro tournament. Speed matters a lot more in the EPL.
At these upcoming Euros, we’ll see how Udogie does when his Italy plays against Croatia and Spain…two teams who dominate possession and will play ‘monkey in the middle’ with him.
Udogie is Nigerian background and plays very much like a Nigerian (with his speed up the flanks).
I recall Croatia playing Nigeria at WC2018 and a lot of pundits were pumping up Victor Moses and Nigeria as being some insanely fast team that will destroy our backline.
What happened there?
We made Nigeria look like fools, giving them the middle of the park and clogging up the flanks. If it weren’t for Rebic and Kovacic missing sitters, that would have been a 5-0 win for us (instead of 2-0).
I would focus less about the regular day-to-day performance in EPL games. So long as Gvardy plays as well as he did for us at the last tournament, that’s all that matters.
W/in the first 2-3 games of the season – I said Udogie, VDV, Vicario – will all be called up to their national teams (for the first time)
All three have (Udogie, VDV each two caps; Vicario behind Donnarumma and don’t see that changing unless Donna really drops in form (Italian football think it would be too disruptive / send the wrong message to the team))
Udogie not really speeding up and down the flanks at Spurs – he is crazy inverted in midfield in attack and once he gets the ball either does 1-2 with Timo Werner or does a rush (usually in / thru little space) like a box-to-box midfielder – it’s the box-to-box capabilities which are most impressive (sometimes he rushes all the way to the bi-line and shoots/crosses it back) – it’s really impressive stuff
His progression since game 1 to mid-way thru first season in PL has been remarkable (so has VDV)
Not 100% sure he’ll actually start for Italy – DiMarco ahead of him in peaking order – but he has looked good in the games he’s played for Italy – but you know how it is (the only reason he has already been called up / given game time is because the fans / media insisted they call him up bc of how he plays for Spurs i.e. he was looked over in Sep / but got called up in Oct)
vs. Croatia – outside of Marco Pasalic (let’s see if he grabs the place as our “RW” in front three) – I can’t think of anyone we have that will give Udogie issues (from a defensive standpoint)
If you look when he played vs. Saka in September – they were targeting Saka 1-on-1 vs. Udogie – but after the first 15-20 minutes onslaught of 1-on-1 – Udogie made adjustments and grew into the game – I’m not sure Croatia has anyone nearly as fast / skilled as Saka in “RW” position
Udogie vs. Marco Pasalic would be a good match-up (that in itself is a reason to call him up – as we don’t have anyone else in “RW” position who will give Udogie much hassle)
Having said that he is young – and it’s possible to get under his skin and he lashes out (he got 2x yellow cards vs. Chelsea and got sent off) – so that would be the strategy – to frustrate him and get him to make some rash tackles
Out of curiosity, how fast were vida and lovren in their prime?
Brzina! Vida and Lovren had decent speed on the field. There speed off the field to attend serbian music concerts is better.
Speed is vastly over rated when it comes to a defender.
I’ll take great positioning awareness and toughness over an erratic speedster any day.
Corluka and bilic were hardly speedsters in their day but both were solid tough and NEVER out of position,and they never pulled a lovren blunder!
This is at least the 5th time you have mentioned udogie on this site ??
As someone once mentioned before …relative or agent ??
I too was wondering why the hell that guy keeps getting brought up.
Well, I like the he’s been brought up because we are facing Italy and Udogie plays for them.
I think Anonymous was bringing him up to compare Gvardiol to other EPL defenders and showing us what Gvardiol is lacking when comparing to them.
Now that Gvardiol is a 100M Euro player and is constantly touted as one of the best (if not the best) young defenders in Europe, he’s going to get more criticized for any mistakes or perceived flaws in his game.
I agree that Gvardiol does make mistakes, but I don’t care about that as much (so long as he doesn’t pull a Kiks-Lovren). Our backline has played a lot better since he’s been regularly starting for us. Much more dynamic and adaptable.
Pašalić was player of the month for Atalanta in December, he hasn’t been quiet.
I was told that Pašalić was out of form.
What’s going on here? 🙂
The last time he was out of form was more than ten years ago, if memory serves me. 😀
Why do we show highlights of Croatians scoring penalty kicks, then advertise t they scored a Gooooal!
False advertising I say. That is like someone saying they loss twenty pounds after liposuction surgery, give me a break!
With that said Majer penalty kick was kick ass good, in the top right corner. “No doubt about it”, unlike his usual Modric type attempts.
Considering Majer is a brutal PK taker, and cost us a Nations League trophy with his awful miss (and his near-miss at the World Cup against Japan)…
Him scoring an awesome PK like that is definitely worth a highlight reel.
Also, to be fair, he was the one who drew the PK as well. So he deserves a goal for that.
It’s significant that Halilović had two goals and an assist in a single game (including the comeback game-tying goal) and even more significant that it came against a decent team. His penalty was also a no-doubter, and that second goal was great. Now a bunch of people will pile on about how bad Halilović is, but this performance was no fluke. He has been the best-rated player on Fortuna Sittard nearly every match this season, and they aren’t doing so badly in the Eredivisie. Just imagine how cool it would be for Halilović and Pjaca to finally make good on their potential.
Nice to hear! Can’t stop believing in our players
Stanisic has been playing a full 90 minutes his last several games. Is the regular right back injured or did he wrestle away the starting job?
That’s strange.
Weren’t we all told (just the other day) that we should be concerned that Stanisic is not starting and is out of form?
Yet, it seems like he’s been starting for the top team in the Bundesliga since mid-December. Would ya look at that!
😉
On a serious note…
The regular starter (Odilon Kossounou) is not injured. He has been playing for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup this past week, but it seems like he only recently joined them for the knockout round…so that wouldn’t explain why he hasn’t been starting for all those Bundesliga games going back to mid-December.
I don’t watch Leverkusen games, so I can only go by the rating given by various websites, and the good news is that Stanisic has been putting up some steady 7.5 ratings on WhoScored.com which is very good.
Also, Kossounou has not been playing well at the Africa Cup and has been rated really low. He may have been out of form these past couple of months, which is probably the reason why Stanisic took over.
This bodes well for Stanisic being in good form for us at the Euros, if Leverkusen is still in top position in the Bundesliga and don’t want to rock the boat by changing the lineup.
Another interesting thing to note is that Leverkusen play three-at-the-back.
Makes me wonder if we could pull off a three-man backline with Stanisic, Sutalo, and Gvardiol one day in the future
(with guys like Sosa and Jura playing in their more favored wingback roles).
I would love to see that tried one day
But is sosa really that powerful for a winger role?
For sure we know he can cross and would be defensively responsible for that role
But I guess after Perisic for all these years, everything is second rate
I’m done with JJ on the wing
They both bring that defensive ability with good potential offensive side
Let these guys run and help out the work load and Modrić can string away in the midfield in 2026
Juranovic was MOTM against BRAZIL a yr ago in WC QF
How in heaven’s name do we come up w writing him off ?
He has shown he gives his best against the best
He deserves some slack in recent silly qualifiers against 4th tier teams
Likewise, I can’t understand our on again, off again Schizophrenia love affair with Juranovic, like we have major commitment issues.
We have grown to more maturely accept our love affair with Kovacic, our chubby girlfriend with a good heart and character, who makes the best Hrustule, and gets along with your mom.
We should do the same with Juranovic.
Huh?
Nobody here has been writing off Juranovic.
Sure he’s not great defensively, but we have Stanisic for that.
We have a good rotation of offense and defense between them, and use whichever one we need (depending on the opponent).
The issue has always been our LB side.
Sorry my typo
I’m “down” with JJ on the wing. Stupid I phone
I love me some JJ
I think he has that extra for the repka
Thanks for the update.
Stanisic has had some really good performances for us
Most notably against France(maybe mbappe wasn’t going all out, who knows)
But he did the job nicely
And of course against Turkey
He had some super good running with the ball on his feet I recall
He has a good attitude and same thing chose Croatia
Good work rate
Learned a lot at Bayern
Still quite young
He has more to go, but I believe he won’t fizzle out like a tin Jevaj
@Maninjo
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The reason why the National Team overachieves is due to the leadership we have on the team across each generation. A lot of it is rooted in patriotism and love for your country.
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1000% agree (I’m a bit concerned when Modric leaves – given he has the strongest affinity (given what he went thru when he was small i.e. grand-father) that that might get “diluted” – meaning when the team is all born >1995 – they won’t have the same connection – hopefully I am wrong – but it does concern me (it would be sad))
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I’d give him a callup on condition that he rips up all his FK Sarajevo gear and absolves himself of anything “Bosna”.
Nothing was more painful than listening to Halilovic fawning over Bosna and FK Sarajevo in every interview he gave.
As if the guy ever watched an FK Sarajevo game, lol.
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I didn’t realize this – if this is the case – than case closed
These are the only things I’ve seen on it
2014 article (from a Bosnian paper) – which sounds like a joke w/ an old Dinamo team-mate who moved to FK Sarajevo (that’s how I take it that he’s a fan of the club, see also Messi comment)
klix.ba/sport/nogomet/alen-halilovic-uvijek-sam-navijao-za-sarajevo-reci-cu-i-messiju/140808027
Also – 2012 article – where his dad says the reason he changed from playing for Croatia to Bosnia – was purely sports reason – bc he didn’t think he’d play for Croatia w/ Boban, Prosinecki and Asanovic in midfield ahead of him (sounds like his preference would have been to stay playing for Croatia)
vecernji.hr/sport/tata-halilovic-za-max-nismo-htjeli-da-alen-ode-u-real-ili-juventus-461886
Why did Alan join Croatia (not Bosnia) in 2013 ? Looking thru the 2013 Bosnia squad the only midfielders I recognize are Pjanic and Lulic (they had some guy Visca in Alan’s position – who spent his career in Turkey) – so presumably – if he applied his dad’s same logic – he would have chosen to play for Bosnia – no ?
Also his mother Vanessa is Croatian
But again – if he’s really been saying that in a bunch of interviews – than it’s case closed from my side
Yea, it’s always a concern when you lose a player like Modric.
However, Croats are far more proud than the average self-hating Euro. You don’t have to go through a traumatic experience (like Modric did) to have that patriotic pride.
I can tell that guys like Baturina, Sucic, and Roko have that fire in them. Sucic pretty much told Austria to eff off and didn’t even consider suiting up from them. Gvardiol has a good mentality too. I’m not too worried about leadership and National pride in our youth ranks.
Re: Halilovic…
There were a lot of quotes from Croatia media online during the time. You won’t find much of it on English speaking sites.
Alen definitely wanted to play for Bosna, but he was likely pressured by Mamic to play for Croatia (and increase his value once being called up). There was a little bit of concern in the media whether or not he would play for us. There was a constant question. I remember Alen’s Dinamo teammate (Said Husejinović) having to alleviate some of the media by stating that of course Alen should play for Croatia. But it’s funny that it came from him and not Alen.
It seemed like Alen only liked to hang out with the Bosnjaci on the team and admired them and “his Bosna” as he liked to refer to it.
He likely cared about Bosna more than they all did. A lot of those guys are Yugos (like most Bosnjaci are) and don’t really have that much passion for BiH like a Croat generally does for Croatia. Many of them (like Spahic and Dzeko) choose to live in Croatia over Bosna.
To be fair, Alen was pretty much a teenage diaspora Bosanac (much like how we’re all diaspora Croats) who love their father’s country more than the country of their birth. It’s totaly fine if he feels this way, but to me, this is a big no-no when trying to create an atmosphere of players who play with pride.
Duje Caleta-Car got demoted (as he deserved) when he wanted to take a Carribean vacation with his girlfriend over playing in some qualifiers for us. No need to call up guys who don’t really want to be here 100 percent.
That you @Maminjo for the good explanation
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A lot of those guys are Yugos (like most Bosnjaci are) and don’t really have that much passion for BiH like a Croat generally does for Croatia.
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That’s the weird part (that he has so much affinity – never really heard of this before / came across it or at least nothing like a Croatia (Croatian diaspora) has for Croatia)
But clearly didn’t appreciate this background on Alen fully – so yup full stop – pretty clear it’s case closed
We can also add Marco Pasalic to list of who has the passion – I’m probably overly worried about it – but I really like Dalic made a point of speaking about how proud and enthusiastic Marco Pasalic is of playing for Croatia
We need the majers and both pasalic boys to step up as super subs and depth for euro
They can all cash in crucial goals I feel
With Mario pasalic probably our best trash converter in front of the goal right now
(Budimir as well)
While budimir is wirey and strong
Pasalic has a stronger build to make room in the box
I haven’t seen Rijeka pasalic play much but he looks like he may have that bit more Perisic take on a guy head on kind of thing as some have stated here
Plus man you can see he wants to play for the repka
That can’t be bought with a passport my friends
I can see that even on my little phone screen;)
We are seriously wasting ink ✍️ on the god of halilovic ?
Nice set play from Dinamo with a tidy Baturina finish.
https://youtu.be/cAHiStpRYi8?si=p-cU9Mkw5htRvvRP
I was told that Baturina sucks ?
Just this weekend too apparently;)
https://www.goalstube.online/2024/02/atalanta-lazio.html?m=1
Lovely goal from Pasalic.
Also Marin ljubicic has been getting a bit more consistent, starting to score goals with regularity!
Listen guys the god of halilovic is eternal
He will be unveiled in 2026 World Cup
His watered down Croatian genes will finally take over at 30 In true late to mature fashion
Heard it here first!!
All of croatia’s wingers are injured and halilovic scores two goals!?
Could this be a hollywood redemption story in the making?!
I think not. I looked at Halilovic, now 27, and the guy looks grizzled like a man aged more than his years. I feel the years and hardship of this failed journey have taken his toll on him. I also can’t help but always think he looks slightly pudgy.
Slick goal from Majer straight off the bench!
Rounding into form, right before the Euros. I like it.
If we can get just one of Perisic, Orsic or Ivanusec back for the Euros. That would be sweet.
We have a stop-gap front man up top (Budimir) and a pola-spica (Kramaric). Both in good form.
Modric and Brozovic are automatic. Kovacic is looking like he’s back in form…and we have Majer now as well.
Just need someone on that left side. We need one of Perisic, Orsic or Ivanusec back.
Last World Cup we had all these guys but we had no in-form striker, plus Brozovic was also out of form.
If we can get the same World Cup team, but with an in-form Brozovic and in-form Budimir, then we should be a lot better offensively.
Staying with the Eredivisie…..I thought Sutalo also had a very good game for Ajax against league leader Eindhoven. (1-1 tie). Thought he was one of the best players on the pitch, he looked a lot more confident than he has in some past games this year. He was even a threat offensively.
Sosa didn’t start, but he came in due to an injury half-way through the first half, and also had a solid game. Some good crosses and long balls and not at all bad defensively.
Both these guys have time to round into form for the Euros.
To the HNL…..It doesn’t seem to me that Baturina has had the 2023/24 season that some had hoped he would have for Dinamo so far. Any thoughts or insight on his season so far?…or on his development over the past several months?
I think Baturina is just an over-hyped typical croat boy just like Halilovic, Krovinovic, Pjaca, Coric… as soon we see someone play a bit better in the HNL at a young age we assume very fast this is a new talent, a new modric… but to be a new modric you have to play very early internationally too, even decide every international game… just look at the match against Ajax, modric was crucial there with Dinamo… up until today we have seen nothing the same in croatia so maybe this also explains why no new modric has turned up and why modric has to carry croatia even up until his 40s while most of the croatian youth spend their weekends drunk in night-clubs… the problems root much deeper, sadly most croats just don’t call those problems out, maybe they are afraid or whats worse but very likely the truth is that they don’t even see such lifstyle as a problem… not good
Pjaca was never over hyped. He simple blew his knee. He could have been a massive player.
there are plenty of others players who had big injuries too but they still managed to return, even much worse injuries.
Whats even better there are still, up until today, lots of great player who NEVER got seriously injured, maybe Pjaca should have used his head and changed his playing style because as it looks his body could not have taken this playing style else his ligament wouldnt have gotten teared.
And like I said it isnt like Pjaca is the only croat that could have gotten better at football… how about the others? Even broader, how about those in the diaspora? There are millions of us, what priorities do we have? For sure not football as it looks so no wonder we always choke, it is even a wonder that croatia even wins medals if you look how the average croat lives. The international sucess of croatia is solely build up on croatian emigrants (almost zero croatian international live in croatia) that have left croatia because croats in croatia can not and dont want offer them the opportunity for anyone who is serious and ambitious… but this has to change to, I personally put sucess above croatia even tho I believe and want that both things are connected to eachother, rather win everything with france and even get considered a GOAT like Nikola Karabatic in Handball than to carry some obese kvazi-serbs that drink themselves each weekend like Modric had to with Marko Livaja and many others, these like Marko Livaja are not rare at all in croatia just look how Livaja is idolized in Split and meanwhile how hated Modric is. So hopefully we will maybe even see Modrics son in spanish kit and win international trophies with ease just like Iniesta and Xavi did.
Can you give examples of players returning from much worse injuries than Pjaca? I can’t think of any.
Also…What are you complaining about here exactly?
You’re upset and are alluding that the average Croat has changed the way they live? What is the problem exactly? What has changed in the way they live?
I also don’t get these very untrue comments you make here:
– “No wonder we always choke”
– “The international sucess of croatia is solely build up on croatian emigrants”
Since when does Croatia always choke? LOL.
Are you saying this because they didn’t win a World Cup in their 7-tournament history (but almost won it 3 times in that short spell, haha).
There have only been 8 different winners in history (and that’s if you include the fake winners Uruguay and England).
We’re such ‘chokers’ for only being one of the 13 in history who made it to a Finals, and only one of 5 nations who actually made the semis three or more times these past 7 tournaments.
Also, what do you mean by “international success” of Croatia being built up by emigrants? Are you talking about football players? None of what you’re saying is even remotely true.
Halilovic with two goals. He’s having a good run in the Dutch league.
Given his recent repentant-like statement (that he F up by leaving Barcelona instead of going on loan again) and that he rejected a big Saudi $$$ move (who knows if true, whatever) bc he still wants to achieve big things – sounds like he has eyes on a fresh call-up with the National Team
He’s 27 and brings a world of experience with him – there are worst choices in his position (that we have played recently) – so don’t think we should rule him out (bc he has a big ego when he was young – what do you expect when media keeps saying he’s the next Modric)
If he was smart (and has really worked thru the ego) he’d call Modric – and give him an update – show he has a good attitude and is ready to serve his country once more
Hope Dalic keeps on open mind (I think he only had one cap under him)
Just watched the goals
Nice patient penalty on the first one
2nd one smart positioning top of the box and nice technique to drive the ball in
Important goal to tie it up 3-3 – good to see after he scored he was quick w/ his celebration urging his team mates to get back in position – and go for the winner
I’d give him a callup on condition that he rips up all his FK Sarajevo gear and absolves himself of anything “Bosna”.
Nothing was more painful than listening to Halilovic fawning over Bosna and FK Sarajevo in every interview he gave.
As if the guy ever watched an FK Sarajevo game, lol.
Alen should have taken notes from the long list of successful and patriotic Croat players, and used them as roles models.
Instead he admires these Yugo-loving Bosjnaci whose National Team and clubs achieve nothing.
Look at what his father’s Bosanska glava did to Alen’s career with his antics.
The reason why the National Team overachieves is due to the leadership we have on the team across each generation. A lot of it is rooted in patriotism and love for your country. Not sure Alen has that.
very well said and everything is correct, but I think that is the case with most croats anyways, they also don’t have to be from other yugo-countries. We may all live abroad but believe those that live in croatia there are alot of yugonostalgics its mind-blowing, I still can not believe how 90% of croats back then wanted to seperate from yugoslavia, my presumption is that today the number would be barely 50%… and this not because yugoslavia was so much better than croatia not it isn’t at all, it’s because most croats are just immobile retards… they have the whole ocean in front of them to connect with people from all over the world, we could easily go to france and finally learn from them and maybe day even beat them, with sea-acess they have acess to the best of everything in the world, but what do they instead? you see just like halilovic they just limit themselves to this poor and toxic former yugoslav territory…
You can’t take what people say at face value.
They’ll talk positively about things they remember in the past (when it was Yugo) but those were also times when they were younger.
People will always talk positively about their youth (especially when they are currently old, fat and aching).
They also want to sound rational, reconciliatory, and politically correct, because it makes them feel smarter. But this doesn’t reflect how they would act.
In reality, they would never go back to Communism and they did vote against Yugo (and would do it again). Those are the facts.
@Maninjo
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The reason why the National Team overachieves is due to the leadership we have on the team across each generation. A lot of it is rooted in patriotism and love for your country.
####
1000% agree (I’m a bit concerned when Modric leaves – given he has the strongest affinity (given what he went thru when he was small i.e. grand-father) that that might get “diluted” – meaning when the team is all born >1995 – they won’t have the same connection – hopefully I am wrong – but it does concern me (it would be sad))
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I’d give him a callup on condition that he rips up all his FK Sarajevo gear and absolves himself of anything “Bosna”.
Nothing was more painful than listening to Halilovic fawning over Bosna and FK Sarajevo in every interview he gave.
As if the guy ever watched an FK Sarajevo game, lol.
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I didn’t realize this – if this is the case – than case closed
These are the only things I’ve seen on it
2014 article (from a Bosnian paper) – which sounds like a joke w/ an old Dinamo team-mate who moved to FK Sarajevo (that’s how I take it that he’s a fan of the club, see also Messi comment)
https://www.klix.ba/sport/nogomet/alen-halilovic-uvijek-sam-navijao-za-sarajevo-reci-cu-i-messiju/140808027
Also – 2012 article – where his dad says the reason he changed from playing for Croatia to Bosnia – was purely sports reason – bc he didn’t think he’d play for Croatia w/ Boban, Prosinecki and Asanovic in midfield ahead of him (sounds like his preference would have been to stay playing for Croatia)
https://www.vecernji.hr/sport/tata-halilovic-za-max-nismo-htjeli-da-alen-ode-u-real-ili-juventus-461886
Why did Alan join Croatia (not Bosnia) in 2013 ? Looking thru the 2013 Bosnia squad the only midfielders I recognize are Pjanic and Lulic (they had some guy Visca in Alan’s position – who spent his career in Turkey) – so presumably – if he applied his dad’s same logic – he would have chosen to play for Bosnia – no ?
Also his mother Vanessa is Croatian
Halilovic having a decent run in the Dutch league. Two goals today.
it’s still just the dutch league… hope dies last but man seriously all of our promising talents became flops… the future of croatian football doesn’t look good, guys like Pjaca, Krovinovic, Halilovic, Coric and plenty more all of them were predicted to dominate croatian football, loot at them where they are now… they can’t even play in the croatian league, a league that in european competition is a non-factor… clubs like maltese Gzira or kazak Tobol and many more easily beat the best croatian clubs
I’ve been waiting for Ivo Grbic to get a decent chance in a good league to get some starting minutes and he gets injured in his first game! Ssssssshhhhit!
nah he is not as good as many people think, two matches are enough of a chance and grbic was bad, very bad. He had plenty of shots to save and he did save almost none. Not the first time he is like that. Grbic is way too overrated, he is very likely only rate just because he is croatian, thats the problem with many croats they just dont live a serious and ambitious lifestyle (even generally not just in sports).