The FIFA World Cup, which is undoubtedly the world’s largest sporting event, kicks off this week. But as most of us fans who follow the game on a weekly basis know, even FIFA has its holes. From voting the 2022 World Cup to be held in Qatar to building stadiums which will never be used again in the middle of the Amazon, decisions from highly ranked FIFA executives have to be questioned.
The following video has John Oliver, a former Daily Show with John Stewart pundit, give his two cents on FIFA corruption and their power controlling the world’s most popular sporting event.
(It’s a 13 minute minute video but well worth the time…I promise you)
damn straight on olic… he can run with a chicken with his headoff and for a soccer player very strong with his upper body and a pretty low center of gravity… dude is a pitbull out there… we know he fucks up plenty of times but for sure with his style he creates havoc and creates chances.
like they said jelavic is pretty easy peasy right now… a quality defender probably just gets into the right position and he is done…
olic maybe has another euro in him but probably not as a striker… he missed out on last euro, he is hungry. his quality at his age has not been downgraded… his athleticism is top of the mark and for sure much more experienced and refined his skills. he shows up when we need him and i believe he needs to be put up front not on the wing
he will be on those majmuns like corluka with a 2 dollar whore… where is ziva he would be proud of that comment
as per the defence… seemed to me schifo and corluka did just fine together at euro… thats why i think they should be played together… they fit better, been in these pressure cooker games. i really like lovren, we know he has the ability to bomb a shot in and has some skills offensively thats why i wondered why not try him at LB during friendlies
this is both hilarious…and sooo true….Otto Baric:
“i iako ja cijenim Jelavića, mislim da je Ivica Olić ključ. Jelavić ipak igra pravocrtno i njega pravi stoperi mogu čuvati, dok je Olić divljak. On trči na sve strane, ubacuje se ispred igrača, iza igrača…za njega nema pravog recepta, prave taktike kako ga čuvati jer je i on igrač instinkta, a ne šablone. A ove sezone, gledamo sam ga u Wolfsburgu i izgleda zaista odlično. Kad već nema Mandžukića, Olić je najopasniji.”
yes thats true!!!
Well, if Niko wasn’t holding the cards close to his chest in these past few friendlies, then it looks like we’re headed for 2 or 4 points. 😉
Ivica:
“We won’t be allowed to win the game” – I don’t think we won’t be allowed, but I may be naiive!
I do agree with most of what you said….I hope this isn’t a case of you being wrong here though: “Niko has seemingly been keeping his cards close to his chest (and disallowing me to see what his true intentions are) so I am hoping he’s a genius and can pick the best 11 every game” – what if he wasn’t holding the cards to his chest (although I think he is)…
and as per you comment on luck…sometimes teams need luck, thats for sure!
Honestly, I could see anything happening in our group.
Niko Kovač’s lineups have me confused which, I hope, is what his intention is.
However, I do think we’ll play a good game against Brazil. I don’t see us coming into that game and playing in the same sluggish way we did in Iceland. We won’t be allowed to win the game (if we lead, Brazil is guaranteed a penalty) but I could see a draw. I could also see Brazil winning by two goals, but with Croatia having some decent chances and it being open.
I can see the Cameroon game being similar to the two rough games we played against Japan in ’98 and’ 06. I hope I’m wrong, and we come in there and crush them. Either way, I see Mandžukić coming in hungrier than everyone else and having a good game after missing the Brazil game. I hope our wingers play well that game and find him. I think we come out with a narrow win, or a draw.
With Mexico, I see us dominating the midfield with Mexico resorting to long balls and some runs up the wing. I would be surprised if we lost to them, even with Chicharito flopping in our box for the penalty. If we have Schifo & Ćorluka as our CBs, we’ll be fine. I can’t see these guys outright beating us. Maybe a lucky goal, but I don’t see us not scoring on them. Win for us, or worst case a draw.
Luck is so important in these tournaments, so if we have luck on our side (a good bounce, no yellow/red cards, no injuries) we could end up with 6 or 7 points in this group. Worst case, with everything going wrong, we could be as low as 2 or 4 points (with 4 points still potentially being enough to progress).
I think there’s a very good chance we progress, as I think Niko’s focus on fitness & discipline will help increase our luck. However, with regards to his tactics & lineups… Niko has seemingly been keeping his cards close to his chest (and disallowing me to see what his true intentions are) so I am hoping he’s a genius and can pick the best 11 every game. For this reason, it’s impossible for anyone to base their predictions on his tactics & lineups (which is a HUGE wildcard).
Ivica- what are your predictions for the 3 games?
The only thing Šuker is good for nowadays is possibly winning an Inspector Gadget lookalike contest.
I pretty much ignore any comments or news articles involving him.
genius?
“Brazil je favorit za osvajanje Svjetskog prvenstva i sigurno ima puno bolju momčad od nas. Puno je igrača koji nam mogu zabiti i tri gola – kazao je predsjednik HNS-a, no istaknuo – “ali ne mislite da će im biti lako”.
would he say this if he played on the team?
it doesn’t sound like he’s giving his team confidence….he should have said “ma tko jebe Brazil…imamo i mi kvalitetu”!
he is the face of Croatian soccer…the president of HNS…he should do his best to instill confidence!
Fucking genius.: “brazil are the favorites, but dont think it will be easy for them” (as he’s trying on rubber flip flops and a thong) http://www.24sata.hr/nogomet/suker-brazilci-favoriti-ali-ne-mislite-da-ce-im-biti-lako-igrati-370768
…and 70% of Mexicans believe they are better than us…and yet, they continuously criticize their team!
End of the day 9 out of 10 non croatians believe brazil will beat croatia. So theres no pressure on us.
It almost feels the same way just before we beat England in England that day when they needed to win..
Ivica- good coaches ensure good results! I was a fan of Bilic, for the most part…under him the team did relatively well winning or getting a tie when they needed it, they rarely faltered BUT we all know they did falter…it just wasn’t often!
My point is that when you have a coach that is focused on the details and a coach demands discipline, you often get good results if you have the personnel. Look at Greece, regardless of what we think, they played with discipline, structure and they had a game plan…Italy usually does the same…regardless of the quality they have…they unite and play the system…this consistency gets you results!
Losing to Cameroon would definitely piss me off and it would surely express a loss of focus…we are a better team so we have to play like it!
I think we will see a lot of what we’ve seen in the exhibition games…players being responsible defensively and then trying to create opportunities going forward. I believe Kovac had a plan in these warmups, from what I saw, he was trying to implement his system in different parts of the game without fully disclosing his cards…thats why we didn’t see Modric, Rakitic and a few others playing at the same time against Australia!
Horrible?? Horribly perfect maybe.
hvala Ante, the John Oliver clip was very good
@Slavonac
If there’s any time a good set of players will step up, it will be during tournament play… and in Croatia’s case, against more favoured opponents.
The game that worries me is the Cameroon match. I don’t want to see a WC2006 repeat, with a solid showing against Brazil then following it up with mediocrity.
This video was horrible…
I keep reading from our media that we have a stronger midfield and that the game will be won in the middle of the field, I think this comment is to appease people….currently Croatia boasts some very good players in midfield, but we’ve never dominated before, are we that different than what we’ve shown in the recent past? I think the media hasn’t looked at players performances and analyzed…they continue to name drop…Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic along with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan….this is kinda stupid if you ask me!
Make no mistake, I think the game in midfield is crucial but those 3 players named are part of the solution. their reputations don’t do much come game time and we will all be fooling ourselves if we believe the fact that they play for these big teams will do anything in our favor! Brazil is stacked with great players…so are many other teams…I wish we’d stop all the nonsense and let the game be played on the field and not put soo much emphasis on who plays where…its irrelevant!
Suker also said he who smelled it delt it.
Suker is a ‘yes-man’ moron, he should not be running the HNS but rather some small pub in Osijek, or a corn on the cob stand, Every stupid quote in any of the Croatian portals is attributed to him. Translated..”Suker thinks Croatia can be a surprise, Suker thinks we need to score a goal against brazil
..Suker believes this team is better than ’98, Suker says advancing the group would be a great accomplishment, Suker thinks the team will make surprises”…just because he scored 6 goals in 98 does not make him smart, all the above quotes are attached with him looking like a stooge in photos. What, I repeat what has Suker really done in his time a head of HNS? besides stupid quotes and posing
Contradicting styles on defense.
Here is a problem for Kovac and it will be interesting to see how he handles it. The three main figures are Corluka, Schifo and Lovren.
Lovren and Corluka are like oil and water, there styles do not compliment each other at all. Corluka likes to drift back towards the penalty area, Lovren likes to play up high and run up to try and get an offside trap. He cannot do that if Corluka is dropping back. So what ends up happening is that the defence is split down the middle. Corluka and Schifo compliment each other well as both like to drop back.
Thats why I think you will see Corluka and Schifo on the field together. Lovren while more skilled, does not compliment the rest of the defense that we are playing.
The solution might be to put Corluka at left back and maybe Schifo can work with Lovren and play up higher. I dont know, I just havent seen enough of Schifo play in Greece to see what he is capable of. If not Schifo the perhaps Lovren and Vida in the middle like we saw against Australia.
so possible combinations are
RB Srna, CB, Corluka, CB Schifo, LB, Vrsaljko/Vida/Pranjic
RB Srna, CB, Lovren, CB Vida/Schifo , LB, Corluka
I highly doubt you will see CB Corluka, CB Lovren combination.
Fantastic clip.
great clip!! The WC should come back to the states ASAP…