Photo: sports.yahoo.com
It has been the Mario Mandžukić show on CroatianSports.com for the past week; and deservedly so. The 27 year-old Croatian striker scored the opening goal in Bayern Munich’s 2-1 Champions League Final win over Borussia Dortmund and played the last 30 minutes of the DFB Pokal final this past Saturday, where Bayern defeated Stuttgart 3-2 to claim the first ever treble in German history.
Mandžukić got so excited during the Champions League trophy presentation in London last Saturday, that he lost his medal, only for it to be caught by French teammate Franck Ribery. We can only hope this isn’t the last piece of silverware Mandžukić is a part of.
i’m glad liverpool see the potential in rakitic. spanish football is dead.
stop sniffingg our neighbors jock !!!
thank you!
what bout for super mario, if the polack goes to bayern should he stay in bayern long term. im pretty sure he will ripple the mesh enough on lesser teams
might not be high profile but at least he is playing and doing his thing
or is maybe half play good for him so he can take it easy on his body since playing as hard as he does will take its toll
does anyone know whats gonna happen with Modric since the “the special one” ran to the EPL…it is better for Modric that Mourhino is out? or will it be more difficult for Modric when the new coach comes in?
Mihajlovic is an extremely proud Serb, he wants to win for his country, he will do anything possible to beat Belgium. I doubt he say to his team, ” cetnici, don’t play do hard against Belgium, lets just get our asses kicked to make it harder against Croatia, c’mon, i doubt that would be the pre-game speech lol…..anyway, I believe we will beat Belgium, what did Mihajlovic say, he said he wishes to play Croatia every single match so his team can get alot more experience. I dont know what it is with Serbia, they have an awesome defence on paper, Kolarov, Subotic, Natasic, and Ivanovic……strong back four, but its hard for them to score goals. but there defence is insance, on paper at least
@Stipe
Agreed!
Especially about the playoffs being tough.
Essentially we just need to beat Belgium.
Then we could still afford a draw and top our group.
@ Poglavnik
The only reason I mentioned World Cup 2006 is because there were other people mentioning it before, it is the only reason why I brought it up. We could have beaten Italy in the second round of World Cup in 2006 if we would have taken care of business against Japan and the fucking ungrateful Aussies, if it wasnt for Croatia, Australia would not even have a national team. whatever tho, we just need to qualify, we win the rest of the games, hopefully the Belgium ties a game, then we will be ok. We need to win this group, bottom line. If we get second, play-offs will be tuff
@Stipe
I don’t know too many people who feel that we should have “one” anything in 2006.
LMAO…. who cares about world cup 2006, futbol is a funny sport…….yes we should have one, but who cares, we should have beaten Japan also, we gotta worry about this next game against Scotska, and then hopefully beat Serbia in Marakana, Then we will be OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Belgium has an exceptional team, outstanding team. We also have a great team when we are all healthy and in good form. Lets face it, Croatia needs to win the rest of the remaining WC qualifiers and hopefully Serbia beats or a tie will be just as good as a win against Belgium. Serbia is playing against Belgium this Friday i think the Srbin are extremely capable of beating Belgium, I know the Serbs lost at home in Marakana Stadium 3-0 in think. But watching that game, Serbia had PLENTY of chances to win that game against Belgium….
@The Director
I obviously wanted Croatia to win too but in no way did i feel like we were robbed. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that we could have played the Italians and Ukrainians in knockout games for a shot at the semi finals. Fact is, we just didn’t have a good enough team in that tourney.
For the boys who thought Croatia should have beaten Australia – have a look at the penalties Australia didn’t get – the stupid 2nd handball by the Croatia defender and Simunic tackle on Viduka which was more of a rugby tackle than a football one. Also remember Simunic should have been sent off earlier than he was as he received three yellows. On top of that Kalac gifted you a goal. Result was more than fair.
Ps – I wanted Croatia to win as they have better record against Italy
@ The Real Jock Sniffer
I find this quote good for now…
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
sretno!
or is in the restaurant business
@ Ziva, also helps if they work in construction.
yeah, but that body ink of a grb is probably a requirement. Plus, you can always add in the cross on a necklace…..that helps.
Fuk theres some idiots on this site, like jarac. Hope Viduka back heals you in the balls one day
validation from SJOR ISTINA!
MY DAY IS NOW GOOD 🙂
@Jock Sniffer…..it appears you are on your way to becoming a good diaspora real hrvat. All you are missing is a tatoo of a grb on the your body and you should be all set.
@iggy
Exactly we lost because we played like shit and the worse Croatia team ever. We did not lose because of Viduka. We were simply awful. That was the past.
remembner simunic got 3 yellow cards too we cant just blame the ref on them winning it was a badly reffed game but i agree its our fault we didnt go thru and dont blame australia they just played their best its not their fautl tbh
The Australian FA was lobbying fifa for over 20 years to be included into the asian FA b/c they knew it would be easier. Two groups of deadbeats with top 2 automatic qualify and third place into playoffs while the best teams in Europe only the top gets automatic.LOL LOL LOL!!!!
I seriously wouldnt be surprised if dukes reads this hahah and some of the other Aussie cro’s like Kalac and Jason Culina
australia didn’t make a WC for 32 years, & that was them competeing in the oceana qualifiers, they ditch the oceana quallies because they said they wanted more of a challenge & they go to the asian qual’s , & make a WC appearance right away”
Some how the oceana quals seem more difficult since you have to usually play a 5th place South american team, this year it’s an asian team but more often then not its a southie, no wonder they didn’t qualify for so long.. lol ”
Ziva=Jock Sniffer
Watching the jap v oz game was like watching the deadless chickens ( japs ) vs the barbarians ( oz ). Tim cahill tries to climb on defenders shoulders. Must be confusing soccer with afl! Garbage teams in a garbage group with dead easy qualifying. LOL
Looks like I upset an Aussie, dont be mad a me be mad at viduka, if it wasnt for his stand out hard play, he was easily australias best player, we wouldve won.
Biggest Chetnik on this site is you Jarac. You idiot.
@JOck sniffer
hahah
We lost to australia cause Viduka was playing like a cetnik against us.
ziva
how do can I become a real hrvat?
i wear nice HNS jersey, i drink Karlovacko, i make love with trashy picke from Zrce, i speak broken croatian, i have picture of boban kicking yugo police in my basement
what else braco? tell me!
I was at the Australia-Croatia game. I was waaaaaaaaaaa up in the sky to tell if it was offside. Even though we lost, one of the best days of my life. The first time I sat in the Croatian section.
After the match, they played “come from a land down under”
I will forever hate that song.
.
The tape is used as a sweat band. Keeps the sweat from dripping down their arms and onto their hands for throw ins. Tape is better for that than actual sweatbands are because they’re not as hot and cumbersome. Also, not sure if FIFA allows players to wear anything on their wrists besides tape. This is just from experience. He could have a totally other reason for wearing it. I wear it on my wrists because I’m a keeper. Helps protect them a little bit. Not sure what an outfield player would need wrist protection from.
You’re right.
Signed,
The 1987 Bears Defense, World Series Champs
@ Ante:
Also, since we’re being picky…
“Wasn’t nowhere close” is a double negative, meaning you actually said that the 2006 team “was not, not close” to as bad as the 2002 team? Meaning they were were as bad as the 2002 team? In fact, I’m not even sure what the hell you meant.
Sorry, the distinction had to be made. Nice one.
easy, they failed to win the game. it was a must win game, we didn’t win. bad calls happen all of the time. You have to find ways not overcome them, we did not. Either way, we didn’t deserve to advance into the second round. It’s probably a good thing because if we would have played any more games there would have been a homicide investigation on the team between the Kovac brothers and Tudor.
@ Ante, Dont be a douche man. I’ve got a fucking thousand things going on and I typed the wrong number. Thanks for pointing it out though
Ziva how are the Vatreni to be blamed for this offside goal:
http://imgur.com/VxfgLVq
If being right means I’m a dick, so be it. The reason the distinction has to be made is because the 2002 team was easily the worst team Croatia has fielded. 2006 wasn’t nowhere close. That and the fact the 02 Cup was in fucking Japan. Nice one.
blame our own boys for that tie against Australia. We had the lead and failed to protect it.
@CousinBilo I know, I just watched that game again the other day. I took a picture of the blatant offsides goal that had the Socceroos go through over us… man was I pissed!
2 Croatians in WhoScored’s list of best signings 2012-13:
http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/covz2tem2eueiism1m16pq/Show/Player-Focus-Best-New-Signings-of-the-Season-XI
Thanks dick, thats what i meant.
Close, you meant 2006
I hope australia never makes another world cup after the shit they pulled against us in 2002
What kind of cheap fabric can’t hold that medal? Probably made in Kina.
jebi Japan i Australija, got to be the easiest qualification rounds for WC 2014.
@Matesic – agreed, Rakitic is only 25 years old – he hasn’t even reached his prime playing days yet.
japan 1 – 1 australia
How about this for Scotland
Pleti
Srna Vida Joe Strinic
Kovacic
Rakitic Perisic
Kranjcar
Olic Mandza
@Rijecanic……….some athletes wear the tape on their wrists for no reason other than it looks good in their view. Others use it because of a belief that it prevents injury to the wrist; helps support the writst when falling to the ground.
Liverpool is more of a brand, but they no longer are a top tier club in terms of what they do in the standings. From a national team perspective i rahter have Rakitic stay in Spain. Playing in Spain has improved his game. The only thing he could do better in England is learn how to head the ball.
@ Bobby V
I am big Rakitic fan. I feel he has the physicality to do well in the EPL.
Plus Sevilla has run it’s course in his career.
Liverpool is an international brand. This would be great for his profile.
That Scotland stat is about to add a big time W.
Liverpool offering 14 Million to Sevilla for Ivan Rakitic.
Croatia has met Scotland three times and has not beaten them yet.
never got that either… looks a little stupid if you ask me, but hey, if it helps him score goals, jebiga
Just got to ask. Whats with the taped wrists? This has bugged me ever since I have seen him do it.
Funny shit, the look on both their faces!