Mateo Kovačić has started the Premier League season with a bang! Kova scored an 84′ insurance goal to secure a 2-0 win over Chelsea Sunday afternoon; dribbling past 2 Chelsea defenders before rocketing a shot from 20 yards out off the post. On top of that, he was given MOTM honors and a 8.4 FOTMOB rating for his efforts. Imagine if Kova can learn to shoot from outside the box late in his career just as Modrić did….oh my. Goal.com gave him a 8/10 player rating as he “Deputised for the absent Rodri and put in a passable imitation of the Spain star as he dominated at times against his former club. Capped a fine performance with a goal.”
Joško Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes for Man City in the win. There wasn’t much for him to do in the victory as Chelsea only had three shots on goal. Gvardiol was given a 7/10 rating for his efforts. “Showcased excellent defensive nous to halt a couple of dangerous Chelsea counters. Didn’t get forward as much as he might have liked, but managed to mostly keep a lid on Palmer.”
Borna Sosa is joining Nikola Vlašić at Serie A club Torino from Ajax on a season-long loan. Ajax, Borna Sosa, and Torino FC have reached an agreement on the player’s loan to the Italian club. The loan is effective immediately and runs for one season until June 30, 2025. The agreement includes an option to purchase for the Italian club. The 26-year-old player’s contract at Ajax runs until June 30, 2028. This is a great move for Sosa as long as he gets playing time. Ajax was a disaster to start the season last campaign and Torino finished 9th in Italy. This move SHOULD get Sosa pointed in the right direction again after leaving Stuttgart last summer.
Dion Drena Beljo scored a goal and was given MOTM honors Sunday night (8.3 rating) in Rapid Wien’s 2-0 victory over WSG Tirol. This is a the 22 year-old’s first league goal in Austria this season while on loan from Bundesliga club Augsburg. As a young striker, we will be keeping our eyes on him this season.
Luka Sučić makes his La Liga debut for Real Sociedad coming off the bench in the 83rd of a 2-1 loss to Rayo Vallecano.
Luka Modrić came off the bench in the 63rd minute of his La Liga season debut Sunday in a disappointing 1-1 draw to Mallorca. Modrić was given a 6/10 grade from Goal.com as he “Floated around, found some nice angles, but never the killer pass.”
Yo yo Mateo !!
World class #6 coming this September.
This may have been his natural position all the time.
When he was 20 he got pushed around but now he has presence.
I still think Sosa can still bring something to the table for us.
I still have hope he can find the right club, gain confidence and maybe Torino is it. I hope so.
Big goal from Kova!
Yeah, that was a beauty!
HNS twitter congratulating Halilovic on his two goals, lol
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1824926014197158263
Guess he’s getting called back up
Otherwise completely odd for them to post on a player that hasn’t played for Croatia since 2019 (they aren’t posting every time a non-National team player scores a goal or two)
According to the media reports Dalic is expected to name the squad for the upcoming NL matches in September on Monday ? Should be interesting to see who is on the list ? I wonder if Perisic is going to be on it ? The guy is without a club and has not played a lot in recent weeks.
Juranovic is definitely out having undergone an ankle surgery.
Poor Dalić was probably banking on starting Broz and Perišić.
I think he still might call up Perišić and break his own rule about players needing to play competitive first team football.
He’ll use some excuse about not having any LW players, meanwhile Anton Matković has been starting for Osijek this season at LW, has been in great form, and scored in both legs against Zira during their Europa qualifiers.
Anton Matković should receive a callup…but we’re very likely going to play Vlašić, Mario Pašalić or Krama there (if not Perišić).
Matkovic won’t get the callup from Dalic, but he must be called up by Olic for our U21 side. Matkovic is not a LW player, the matches that I have seen him play for Osijek he is more of your no.9 and tends to hang more on the right-hand side of the field.
While we wait for Beljo, Simic, Ljubicic etc. I would like Kulenovic from Dinamo to be given a chance up front. The guy has improved a lot and is scoring goals regularly for Dinamo in HNL. I would also callup Matanovic from Eintracht Frankfurt. Both are similar to Budimir so it is unlikely to happen, but I’m hoping that at least one of them will be on Dalic’s list.
Vlasic wasn’t in the Torino lineup in their opener against AC Milan…..there is a note he is out with an injury…..anyone know his current status?
He is still recovering from injury, and from what I have read he has started to slowly jog so it could be another month or so before he starts to play?
Thanks Mart!
Rumours Sigur considering Canada, anyone hear anything?
I’m not sure how many people on here have actually seen Sigur play for Hajduk or our U21 ?? I have seen a lot, he is nothing special and did not stand out in the many matches that I have watched. He is young so he might yet develop into a decent player, however if he wants to play for Canada good luck to him.
Diaspora players tend to be overhyped by the media in Croatia.
We all saw this with Robert Ljubičić at Dinamo, and we continue to see this with Ivanović at Rijeka.
I haven’t watched too much of Sigur, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s benefiting from the same thing.
Yep, agree with you. Ivanovic at Rijeka has struggled last year to cement a spot in the starting 11 yet with all the media hype about him I honestly thought that we had a super star on our hands till I saw him play. He is still young and is a good player but has a long way to go before reaching star status.
Player mangers are very good at providing media with exaggerated deeds and abilities of their clients.
When it comes to judging players and their abilities, I have learned that “seeing is believing”.
Source of “rumours” ?
Sosa to Torino.
https://www.torinofc.it/news/17/08/2024/sosa-al-toro_29213
Good move for him. He needs playing time, and Torino has strikers who can finish his artful crosses and lobs.