Borna Sosa scored the game winner for Stuttgart off an impossible angle Friday night in a 2-1 victory over Mainz. Sosa ran down the left flank and looked as if his only move was to cross the ball. Instead, he ripped a shot off the bottom of the crossbar for the goal. We all gave Sosa shit for choosing Germany over Croatia earlier in the year – deservedly so. But this guy is going to be a rockstar left-back for us offensively.
Real Madrid defeated Sevilla Sunday night 2-1 with an 87th minute winner from Vinicius. Luka Modrić got the start for Real Madrid and played 73 minutes while Rakitić came on for Sevilla in the 71st. Modrić had an average day on the pitch as he received a 5/10 grade (The Real Champs) as “Modrić was one of the first two substitutes of the night, along with forward Marco Asensio. It’s not a good sign when a player is subbed first along with Asensio, and Modrić, in truth, had a mediocre showing by his high standards. Modrić was crisp on the ball and didn’t play poorly, but his performance lacked a certain edge to it. Madridistas expect a lot from the iconic midfielder, but he didn’t really deliver the goods at the Bernabeu on La Liga’s Matchday 15.”
Ivan Perišić and Marcelo Brozović both got the start for Inter Milan on Saturday in a 2-0 win over newly promoted club, Venezia. The win keeps Inter Milan four points behind leaders Napoli. In the tweet above, check out how Brozović absolutely bosses the Inter midfield.
Andrej Kramarić came off the bench in the 57th minute for Hoffenheim in a 6-3 win over Greuther Furth. The win brings Hoffenheim to 5th place in the Bundesliga; only two points behind a Champions League spot. Kramarić was credited an assist on Hoffenheim’s final goal in the 80th minute when he slid a perfect midfield pass to Bebou for chip on goal.
Croatia vs Serbia in the semi final of Davis Cup seems likely now
So I’m assuming everyone is going to jump on the Budimir bandwagon now that he scored a penalty on his first game back from injury. But this guy is 30 years old and it’s not like he’s been banging in 10+ goals for quality teams (Champs League or Europa even). I assess him as a decent back up who’s an aerial threat. Personally, I’m not sure he’s better than Colak right now. I’d rather have Pasalic there instead. Never hurts to get on the scoresheet though!
The thing about Budimir is that he fights hard for the ball and is big AND runs well. Does scoring a penalty means he’s the next Lewandowski? No. But there’s a reason he is the most expensive player in Osasuna history and also back in the starting lineup for a team that is vying for European competition this season. Look at the Spanish classification: Osasuna has the points to make a European push. Also, he was scoring 10+ goals for losing teams in Spain against some of the best team defenses in the world, such as Atletico de Madrid. Budimir is one player who knows how to put the team on his back and take responsibility for producing, rather than blaming the coach, the pitch, his teammates, the accommodations, etc. for the result. I never got off the bandwagon, because I think he’s exactly what the repka needs up top. The comeback against Spain was possible because Budimir was wreaking havoc on their defense. In our loss against Slovenia, he was the only one causing disruptions to the Slovene bunker late in the game. And who’s to say he won’t keep that up for another 4-8 years while these teenage phenoms develop?
Pasalic is so good. Agreed @Andrej L. Dude brings it, not great at one specific thing but good at all things.
Pasalic shows potential of combing well with Kramaric since he drops and Pasalic goes towards the penalty spot. Really seems to be our best attacking combo at times. But how does Dalic play Modric and Kova at the same time with Pasalic playing as the #10…only if we go 3 in the back which maybe Dalic explores now; Josko, DCC, and Lovren.
I think Budimir is decent but I rate Krama and reluctantly Petkovic and Livaja higher.
Agreed. Excellent question
This post makes no sense. Budimir is a professional soccer player who has established himself in a top league. Amen it’s that simple, he’s a striker who’s capable of playing alone at the top, again Amen, what does Croatia need a striker to play alone at top.
Kramaric is good but he isn’t the answer for what repka need. We need a talented striker to do the dirty things to open up space for all our talented players. I have no doubt had it not been for injuries Budimir would have started in those qualifying games in September. He needs to round into form and earn a spot but most definitely he needs opportunities.
Making a great starting 11 isn’t about the best players or names on back of jerseys it’s about finding players that gel and are compatible. The Repka is 1 striker and 1 right winger away from legitimately making a serious run.
Had it not been for injuries, maybe he would’ve played more for the repka and maybe produced more…on the other end Pasalic scored 3 goals today
Great photo of modric and rakitic greeting one another
True Croatian brotherhood at full display
Fantastic!
For years, I have been asking myself what happened to Croatia’s production of young talented strikers.
All of a sudden, we have 4-5 good young strikers take came out of nowhere; Simic, Ljubicic, Beljo, Cuic, and Matanovic.
This has to be the most exiting time to be a Croatian football fan ever!
These guys are very young. Wouldn’t be surprised if someone came out of nowhere and surpassed them all.
Two years ago, almost none of us even thought about a player like Gvardiol or Sosa cracking our first team for the past Euros or World Cup.
Now the two of them took our backline to another level in terms of technical ability and offensive creativity.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Sucic was integrated into our first team within a couple of years (despite the competition at his position) along with another player or two from our youth teams who decide to suddenly take a big step forward in development.
However I do like Roko Simic and Petar Musa’s size.
I think we just need some tall mofo up top who is willing to challenge every ball and pressure the opposition non-stop.
We don’t really need some elite finisher (though that would be fantastic).
Just someone who ensures they are always well positioned (like Mandzo and Olic were good at doing), receive high balls from Sosa, and press, press and press the opposing defenders.
Stanisic is another one. Two years ago, I thought that guy was dead…and now he’s a 21 year old Bayern defender who is dynamic enough to play anywhere across the backline.
We’re in a good spot right now with most of our team positions. Just need that striker and half-decent keeper and we’ll continue to be a top-10 team.
The savez have got to invite players and give an opportunity to players like Cuic and Prskalo into the youth teams ASAP.
Sorry, is this Mario Cuic?
What’s so special about these two?
Filip Cuic, he’s a stud with Hajduk U19. 18 year old Croat/Bosnian player. Chose Bosnia recently because he didn’t get called up for Cro (baffling tbh, he should be on our U19 or U21).
Oh, Filip is Mario’s younger brother.
They’re Hercegovci but Mario was born in Split, and there are four brothers in the family.
What’s with these Hercegovci from Posusje region choosing other National Teams? LOL
Borna Sosa’s family is from there too.
Antonio Prskalo this season: 12 games, 17 goals (61 mins per goal)
Filip Cuic: UEFA Youth League – 4 games, 6 goals (59 mins per goal), Prva HNL – 5 games, 6 goals (60 mins per goal)
We can’t let these kids out of our reach, the talent is there and we need talent upfront.
Thankfully, we finally started producing young striker talents again. Possibly better than ever.
I started to wonder what Croatia’s future was going to look like without quality strikers.
With those results, I can’t imagine that the HNS is not aware of these guys and closely watching them!
Where are you pulling these stats from?
Prskalo is shown as only playing one game this season in BiH (on Soccerway).
Does Zrinjski have a junior team, and that’s where these goals come from?
I assume that those goalscoring stats for Filip Ćuić are coming from the U19 team (and not actually the HNL) too.
I got the stats from the transfermarkt website, forgot to mention that the stats were from the u19 Premijer Liga for Prskalo and that he only has played 10 minutes for the senior team.
Sorry about the confusion.
Tottenham Hotspur is interested in signing Luka Modrić – much better for him and Croatia than a move to the MLS.
The article also stated:
Newcastle United is also interested, but that Luka prefers a move to Manchester City.
I do not like Manchester City or Pep Guardiola, but playing there would be a great move for Modrić at this stage. I’d rather he just stay at Real Madrid, but I can totally see why he would want to go to Guardiola’s team.
If Modric went to Man City that would be the end of his career…100% guaranteed. Guardiola is famous for using players as an alibi, he did it everywhere he’s been so I hope Modric stays clear of that asshole!
Much like Diego Simeone, I think he hates Croats.
What he did to Mandzo to prevent him from winning the scoring title in the Bundesliga was incredibly petty.
He also had quite a beef with Ibrahimovic in Barcelona too.
Guardiola is a piece of shit – he hates Croats and all Yugo blood period whether it be Zlatan or MandZo.
Guys a shit coach who’s overrated and inherited teams that a special needs person could coach (as they need no coaching) being some to most of expensive players in world football. Would cobra Kai that fuckin bald spick if I had the chance. He’s slime
Guardiola is a piece of shit – he hates Croats and all Yugo blood period whether it be Zlatan or MandZo.
Guys a shit coach who’s overrated and inherited teams that a special needs person could coach (as they need no coaching) being some to most of expensive players in world football. Would cobra Kai that fuckin bald spick if I had the chance. He’s slime
Didn’t he extend with Real for another year? Or was that not finalized?
Personally, I would hate it if Modric went to the EPL.
I still think he can play until 40 (similar to Ibrahimovic) and Modric already conquered the EPL. Sure, he didn’t win it with Spurs but who cares. He was elite in that league, and there is no need to go back and prove anything. More importantly, there is no point in going back there to blow your knees out.
The EPL has not been kind to older players. I’m sure Ronaldo already regrets his ManU move, Cavani definitely hates it, and Ibra quickly got out.
Serie A is a nicer place to close out his career.
Not as physically demanding, and his technical skills would go a much longer way.
His favorite team growing up was AC Milan, and now that they are finally a decent team in Serie A again…Modric can take them to the next level, even as a 37 year old.
Modric could get them the scudetto for the first time in 12 years. He would have instant fans there and go out a legend, even if it was only for a couple of seasons. He will get Champions League football with them too.
Gazidis is a prick, but Pioli is good and Maldini is half Croatian too. Ask his first cousin (Pero Maldini) who teaches at University of Dubrovnik. Just don’t tell this to any Italians. They already are upset with us about Marco Polo and Prošek.
😉
😂 👍
I read another article from last week’s news, which in summary, stated that both Real Madrid and Luka Modrić were keen on another 1 year contract extension.
The expectation is that it should happen within the next couple of weeks.
No shortage of places to go for Modrić if it does not work out for some reason.
Lololol
I disagree in the fact that the EPL is the most physically demanding league out of the top 4 big leagues and would rather none of our hravti play there.
Sure might be all around best league goin’ these days but I care for our NT first and foremost and they’d over work Luka at spurs as they’re a semi decent (not top) kinda shit team in EpL standards and there currently a mess period.
It’s all about healthiness and longevity for our Croats who play in EPL (not counting Vlasic who can’t even get subbed in at West Ham) – reminds me of young Croats recently (2017-20) goin to Italian league and riding the pine.
I hope Vlasic’s agent searches elsewhere for him in January transfer window cause if he’s in current position he ain’t helping his cause for us come Qatar. He can be an X factor if used properly but he hasn’t seen any mins lately and our talent seems to be flourishing in various positions so time to shit or get off the pot as they say. We gotta start thinking ahead as this could be our time with the youth and experience combined.
A top striker as I always said (Mandzukic,Olic,Eduardo hybrid would be perfect) but I’ll settle for one that has 2 out of the 3 skill/ability wise with a high press and a decent goalie and I’d faith for a far run.
I’d go with Grbic now (sure we all agree) as we ain’t miraculously gonna get a keeper outta thin air like we been blessed over past year or so with Sosa, Gvardiol and Stanisic.
Doubt that he will move away from Madrid until at least one more renewal. He loves playing for Real and they need him. I think this is a ploy to move the negotiations beyond the impasse.
I know it may be long shit but musa has been playing well in portugal as cf would not hurt to try him in liga nacija why not options never hurt
Especially with all of our CFs (Krama, Petko, Livaja) all of the sudden wanting to play like #10s, it only cracks the door open for guys like Musa and Simic. I think Dalic would want to see them actually score a goal like every 180 min with a team that at least plays in the Europa League (better competition). Simic is clearly too good for the 2nd Division in Austria. Maybe even Gabriel Vidovic (17) has an outside chance (11 goals in 18 matches for Bayern Munich 2). A lot can change from now until the World Cup. Sad to say but with our depth, Lovren and Vida might not make it.
Hmmm 4 goals in 8 starts.
That good to see. Both Musa and Šimić are young so hopefully these two are being closely watch by the HNS.
Roko plays in a 2nd division league, so it will probably be some time before a callup.
If Musa does finish the year in Portugal scoring a goal every other game, then he’ll get a callup for sure, especially if Budimir has a bad season.
Budimir had bad luck to get injured early on and have the Eder Avila/Kike Garcia pair playing extremely well in his absence. He should be considered a priority as a striker based on his qualities, and if anyone else scores a lot of goals, they should be brought into the fold too, as Colak was in spite of his low speed. Eventually, someone will be the #9, though my bet is on Pasalić beating them all to it 😉
It would be nice to have someone for our guys to feed who can convert consitantly.
Here’s a glimpse into the Top 5 European League assist leaders (5 days ago):
Muller 9
Mbappe 8
Several players tied 7
Kramarić -tied with others 6
Kovačić – tied with others 5
Pašalić ” 5
Hopefully our guys can at least keep it up if not improve on their pace.
The Italians will flip if they don’t make their second consecutive World Cup
Good to be a hrvat ain’t it?
Yes yes nice goal from Sosa
There’s an argument he should have squared it across the box for an easy tap in though?
Sosa has just become more unpredictable and valuable in my mind as the result- known as capable of delivering quality crosses, and seeing him confidently and skillfully executing that finish is priceless.
I hope to see more of this from him as you could also argue that the goaltender and the defence was well positioned to have a good chance of dealing with any cross?
Man, I fully remember when Bradaric was playing okay for Lille and killing it with the U21s. Sosa was just starting lobbing crosses for one of the biggest strikers in the Budesliga. I was fully on the Bradaric train and said I want to see more consistency from Sosa. Crazy to see how players develop depending on their situation. Sosa is such calm and collected player who always makes the right decision with precision. Really impressed with his play over the last year. Great finish this weekend.
Funny how a couple years ago, we were all worried about our depth in defence and now we have so much depth at LB, CB, and RB. We don’t talk about him a lot but Jedvaj has been playing well at Lokomotiv Moscow this year as well.
Yeah, Jedvaj finally gets to play his true position regularly. Good for him. He’s a great athlete. Has experience on his side now too, and he’s still young for a defender!
Great goal by Sosa….
And how great is it we have one year to the WC and can follow our guys progress stress free….I used to worry every time our guys would get hurt and miss out on NT…but now, its relaxing and watching others going to the playoffs squirm…
Nah.
I would rather be in Italy or Portugal’s shoes…because they wanna be the best, right?
and when you wanna be the best, ya gotta beat the best, right?
Draws, seedings, rankings…none of this matters.
In order to win the World Cup, you need to clean sweep every contender on the way there…during qualifications, during the playoff round, and in the group phase of the World Cup (ideally as a Pot 4 seed). LOL.
[Now back to being serious]
This is why I shake my head at anyone who suggests that seeds, ranking, etc doesn’t matter.
I don’t think there is a single World Cup winner out there that beat more than (maybe) 2 or 3 contenders on their way to a World Cup trophy (from qualification all the way to the Finals).
Yet we have to put this impossible standard on our team for some reason lol.
Have to like “how” dynamic our defence is, it should say
Sick goal
Have to like two dynamic our defence is
That 3 at the back may be a thing that could work well
As long as dalic doesn’t use lovren amd vida as part of the 3
Awesome! So glad we have Sosa.