As the Croatian senior side takes on Bulgaria and Azerbaijan this week in Euro 2016 qualifying, the U-21’s have a home and away playoff with England which will put the winner in the 8-team Euro 2015 tournament next summer. Alen Halilović, Tin Jedvaj, Ante Rebić and company face the England 21’s on October 10th in Wolverhampton with the return leg in Vinkovci four days later. This Friday’s match kicks off at 12:45PM (ET) with the senior side going at 2:45PM (ET) in Bulgaria.
Not only would Croatia qualify for the tournament in Czech Republic in June, but should this finish in the top four, that would solidify their spot at the 2016 summer Olympics in Brazil one year later. It would be the first time Croatian soccer would be represented at the Olympics with the Mladi Vatreni getting a shot at redemption in Brazil after a failed attempt at the 2014 World Cup by Luka Modrić and friends.
This will be a solid test for some of Croatia’s future talent. Many of these boys have already been called up to the senior side with these matches being considered tryouts for eventual call ups. Can they get the job done against England? And make it all the way to Rio?
@Allen
Very good article. Some on wear homer glasses. Keep up the good work.
Lots of valid points from you Allen.
Good work!
i wouldn’t mind Kek as the NT coach
Ivica
Marchiso was rightfully sent off. It was almost the exact same red card that Mandzukic got against Iceland. He was studs up into an opposing player and caught him. Nobody disputed that. Of course, Suarez should have been sent off. Then it’s 10 on 10 but would it have made a big difference? Italy lost on a corner kick, which they should have been more organized for. They weren’t screwed out of anything.
Croatia didn’t get hammered against Mexico. Didn’t you watch the game and how it was pretty even through 70 minutes? They went for broke and eventually that cost them.
Kovac deserves blame and it’s unfortunate to hear him cope out like that. In the end, to call him a failure is laughable when he hasn’t even been coaching the national team for an entire year.
@ ziva
“Kum Kovac hurt his reputation and image since taking this job. Think about it, he was respected before and now is nothing.”
remember that all is well that ends well. kovac’s coaching legacy is yet to be written. a qualification and a lightning in a bottle run in the euros and suddenly he’s a coaching genius . respect to follow in waves
foxsoccer plus on cable will have game channel 419 time warner
http://www.foxsoccer2go.com/ will have the game, but you have to pay. Although they have a month trial kind of deal. Watch the game and then cancel it.
Nepoznat
Thank you! Talk to u then.
@Allen
The difference is that Italy were screwed out of the World Cup with that joke refereeing against Uruguay. Italy got a red card that game, but Biter Suarez got nothing? It’s not like Italy got hammered by Mexico like we were.
Also, Prandelli still stepped down after that loss (even though he took Italy to the Euro 2012 finals two years ago). On top of this, the Italian FA president stepped down as well.
What did Kovač do?
He blamed everyone but himself, and Šuker claimed this was due to our ‘inexperience’… even though we had Modrić, Manđžukić, Srna, Olić, Rakitić, Ćorluka, Pletikosa, Pranjić as our starters (all of them vets or in their prime).
@Ziva – I don’t see who else could take over the job in Croatia…….anyone who takes over Kovac, Puppet Suker would just have to fall in line under “Mamic Rule”
ESPN3 will show some of the qualifiers and friendlies live and on replay. Croatia is on the list for Monday against Azerbajian, but, not for Friday against Bulgaria.
The qualifiers begin tomorrow thru Tuesday. There will be 8-9 matches a day with games starting at 12:00PM and 2:45PM.
Valid points……cro sports fans are fickle. But, they see Kum Kovac as another puppet to Mamic. And they are not wrong.
I’m expecting six points from the next two games, so let’s get that out of the way. In terms of him having no respect, what if Croatia go into Italy and play well in pulling off a 2-1 or 1-0 win? Kovac will be adored and the respect will come back.
I know many of you are outraged from the World Cup, but many European nations failed miserably. The likes of Italy and England, who have more talent played poorly. If it wasn’t for Robben flopping to an extent, Holland may have very well lost to Mexico. It puzzles me why people are still bitter over the World Cup. What happened was a letdown and Kovac deserves blame for what occurred. Still don’t think he has lost all respect from everyone, although Ziva seems to be in the know more than most of us.
Well, I shouldn’t saying nothing.
But, if they did “Q” ratings in Cro, I am sure one year ago he would have been very high. Now, not so much. It’s not a good thing when people consider you to be in the same boat as Strucnjak Stimac.
Kum Kovac hurt his reputation and image since taking this job. Think about it, he was respected before and now is nothing.
It’s not worth missing a tournament just to remove an inexperienced coach. Kovac is not worth missing a tournament to get rid of, just like Stimac was not worth it.
There’s no point if they’re just going to replace one inexperienced boob, with another and hope to get lucky like they (kind of) did with Bilic (even though he had his downs).
I’m just going to hope that Kovac gets better and turns out to be a half decent coach and that we can get hot during Euro2016 and make a run (despite his coaching).
Kovac is already a failure in my eyes. We burned a World Cup for him, just so he could get some experience.
Making it to the quarterfinals at Euro NETS OUT what we burned for him to get his experience. Anything more than that is a net positive.
I think it would take more than a point in two games to remove Kovac.
Suker and the rest of the HNS would just point to a lack of ‘iskustvo’ (just like they did after the World Cup failure). For Kovac to be removed, it would take both Bulgaria and Italy being ahead of us, and the risk of Norway catching up. But not if we have at least third place in the group confirmed.
For some reason, we seem to think the playoffs is good enough for ‘a small country like us’ and that we should be happy because we are a ‘small country’. Vi ar smol kantri. Vi shud bi hepi!
Mean-fucking-while, this ‘small country’ has their star players playing on the biggest clubs in Europe, with almost every team in the World wishing they would swap their midfield and strikers with ours.
Ziva- What if people like me still like Kovac and don’t want him gone?
Adame, I can invite you to TorrentHR where you can download the game afterwards. Or I should be able to find a public download spot, just remind me on Sat/Sun (takes a day or two for the public spots to have the matches)
Friends,
I offer you this possibility…….
Assume we only get one point in the next two games and it leads to the removal of Kum Kovac and then Puppet Suker decides to offer his resignation (or gets run over by a car)…….Would you take that possibility?
This would be one of those short-term pain for long-term gain.
And before you I am nuts. I offered up the same situation with Strucnjak Stimac. Assume he struggles and lost points to Scotland both home and away. Well, he did and he was removed. We got rid of that clown.
Uefa is celebrating Boban’s birthday today
Does anyone know where I can watch a replay of the Bulgaria match on Friday???? Please and thank u
yea schifo should definitely be on the team. has always played solid and is playing solid, first team football in greece
i don’t understand the logic
how is big gordon not on the team? i can’t remember him fucking up anytime given the chance to play. i bet you anything he would probably do a better job right now in liverpool then lovren is doing. he is a guy that steps up to the challenge… not fancy in anyway but seems strong enough, tough enough and smart enough to play where he plays
I gave up on the national team really dont care anymore the Mafia ruined it for me until the game is cleared up in cro dont give a shit
@Chupe
He’s our only midfielder who takes shots on net.
I’m glad he’s on the A team.
Its funny Pasalic Pjaca Rebic Jedvaj go to under 21s but Mujo Halilovic is with A team Funny.
IvicA- ti si pijan!
This is Pranjić’s time to shine!
Time to play him at CB!
Sifo is not on team but somehow Pranjic is?
I was thinking Schifo would get called up. I forgot about Leskovic.
Does anyone know anything about Leskovic?
Lovren got injured today.
If he cannot play, who would be the best replacement?
Jedvaj, Vida, or Schifo?
Does anyone know of any XBMC add ons that contain HRT and other Croatian channels?
The squad: Matej Delac (Arles, on loan from Chelsea), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen), Antonio Milic (Hajduk Split), Dario Zuparic (Pescara), Niko Datkovic (Spezia), Matej Mitrovic (Rijeka), Filip Bradaric (Hajduk Split), Drazen Bagaric (Split), Domagoj Pavicic (Lokomotiva Zagreb), Marko Pjaca (Dinamo Zagreb), Mario Pasalic (Elche), Dominik Livakovic (Zagreb), Stipe Perica (NAC Breda, on loan from Chelsea), Marko Livaja (Rubin Kazan), Marko Rog (Split), Mijo Caktas (Hajduk Split), Ante Ćoric (Dinamo Zagreb), Ante Rebic (Leipzig, on loan from Fiorentina), Petar Misic (Lokomotiva Zagreb), Karlo Brucic (Lokomotiva Zagreb), Petar Brlek (Slaven Belupo).
Read more at http://www.thefa.com/news/england/under-21/2014/oct/croatia-squad-selected-021014#LcWPOWd0xRY6w460.99
Pretty sure Halilovic is on the national team, not on the under 21. That’s what it said when the callups were announced.
maybe a couple of the subs who could still be effective that haven’t played much at euros?
im sure the brothels would love Charlie back 😀
Plus, would Brazil want someone back like Lovren who runs around naked in his spare time.
Euros are being played earlier that summer. Hard to see a situation where the club sides would be happy with their guys playing in the Euros and then a month later in the Olympics and then get back to their clubs for the long season. Not going to happen.
This about if from the club side……no chance you want them also in the Olympics. They pay the salary and take all the risk when these guys go on international duty.
Seriously though, I don’t think we could get Rakitic and Modric for Rio 2016. They would have already played in euro 2016, and I don’t think their clubs would let them go.
In that case, we can seriously juice up a potential Olympic team with Rakitic and Modric. 🙂
Just imagine Modric leading the charge in Rio 2016. Trying to make things right, after the debacle in 2014. 🙂
All depends if the club sides will allow their players to leave. I might be wrong, but do the clubs have to release the players if called up. I don’t think the Olymic tourney falls under the FIFA window to let players out.
Either way there is nothing in the history of the Cro savez that suggests are youth sides are a priority. They have sent teams to the youth world cup in previous years with almost zero practice time. Shit, they sent the last youth team the WC with Livaja on the roster. That tells you all you need to know on the lack of seriousness if you put that ass clown on the roster.
Looked it up. Brazil had Thiago Silva, Marcelo, and Hulk as their 3 seniors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_team_squads#Brazil
Did Mexico have any when they won in 2012? I think Brazil made the final as well
I seriously doubt any of the top sides would allow their overage players to go in the Olympics.
threw*** DAMN AUTO CORRECT
Possible U-23 Team at Olympics
Zelenika
Vrsaljko, Jedvaj, Lovren, Pivaric??
Pjaca, Rakitic, Kovacic- Halilovic
Kramaric, Rebic….
Probably could have made a better lineup but through this one on quickly since im a little busy…thoughts?
fun thought* and a ?*
Would be awesome if CRO made the Olympics because it would become a U-23 tournament and each side can choose 3 Senior players.
Who would you want CRO to choose from the senior side if they make the Olympics (long way to go for that but still a fun though)…
I’d prolly choose Rakitic to captain the side…A good striker…possibly Kramaric and maybe an experienced CB to take charge of the defense…so Lovren?