It seems like ages since Croatia played a real game. Taking UEFA Nations League matches out of the equation – which I still count as a nonsense mini-tournament- the Vatreni have not played a competitive match since their last Euro qualifier against Slovakia on November 16th, 2019. That’s nearly 18 months.
On Wednesday, Croatia begin their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign in Slovenia before hosting Cyprus on Saturday and Malta on the 30th. The group consists of Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Malta. Top team in the group goes straight to Qatar while 2nd place goes to a playoff. The 2022 World Cup kicks off November 2022.
3 Things You Need To Know This Week:
1. As we all know, Croatia never dominate their qualifying group in any World Cup or Euro cycle. It just doesn’t happen. The Vatreni regularly finish second and find a way into the tournament via the playoff. With that said, Slovenia, Russia, and Slovakia could be tricky foes if Zlatko Dalić and company underestimate them. Croatia got a pretty smooth opening to qualifying at Slovenia followed by home games in Rijeka to Cyprus and Malta. They must get seven out of nine points in the next week. A draw against Slovenia should not be considered a failure as long as they clean up against Cyprus and Malta. Obviously, 9/9 points is ideal going into EURO 2021 this June. But seven will do the trick.
2. It was originally reported that Ivan Perišić and Marcelo Brozović would not be able to join in on the international fun this week due to the COVID outbreak at Inter Milan on Thursday. Inter’s match on Saturday vs. Sassuolo was postponed but our good friend CroatianScout, is saying otherwise on Twitter. CroatianScout is saying that Dalić has confirmed that both Croatian Inter Milan players will be traveling with the team this week. Ante Rebić has been ruled out with a minor knock and Wolfsburg said it would not release Josip Brekalo to play because of COVID concerns. He should also be with the team.
3. It’s Mislav Oršić time in the checkers! Orišić had the game of his life last week in Zagreb when he scored a hat trick against Tottenham Hotspur in Europa League to bounce them out of the tournament. Whether Perišić or Brekalo are good to go for the Vatreni, Oršić should get at least one start in the next three matches and come off the bench the other two. Strike while the iron is hot. I predict a Croatian goal from Oršić this week.
4. BONUS: CroatianScout is also reporting that CSKA Moscow’s Nikola Vlašić is being courted heavily by AC Milan. This would be a great move for the 23 year-old as he is expected to move back to a top-4 European league; previously playing with Everton.
A club team coach is different beast.
A National Team coach is a different beast.
Lots of dumb fellow Croats on here. Somehow Kovac isn’t a good coach, but Dalic magically is after one good tournament when he’s a career nobody? Lol, fucking morons.
God forbid a coach who preaches discipline like the Kovac brothers do.
Centre midfield is definitely not for those that lack awareness and passing ability.
Karlo Batrolec. What a legend. 😀
Vida might not be a threat offensively during open play but on set pieces he’s been very good. A lot of games are won and lost on dead balls.
.
@Slavonac
.
Yea, nobody here has seen enough of Bradaric or Sosa.
That’s been my problem. We may have something great there (or not) but we really should have tested them out in these low risk gaines.
Melnjak with 7 games, and the rest of them almost nothing.
.
.
@Markus
.
I’m sure Lovren scored in his own net three or four times after that. 😉
Did anyone see Lovren and Vida nutmeg Kramaric and Brozovic 🤣🤣🤣 who’d have thought it’d be those two nutmegging people in practice hahaha
ok ok…he just seems to be your piñata lately and I don’t think its worth the criticism considering he’s not nearly as bad as we’ve seen in the past and he’s been holding his own.
.
Yes, I agree he isn’t our skilled style of player…I usually prefer those types of guys as well but as you said, I respect the worker bee’s as well…they’re a necessity…especially as the game goes on.
.
I have not seen enough of Bradaric or Sosa so I can’t really make a judgement. I don’t understand Dalic’s decision making either but I will say, in some cases he’s respectful and good with is decisions…other times he thinks he’s got the ability to make something that really is not make-able…sees things that just aren’t there…and I don’t like it.
.
Dalic reminds me of a Bosnian coach I once had. He tried converting me from an outside player to a centre midfield position and I just hated it there. They think they can fit a square peg into a circle and its just not natural!
@Slavonac
.
Whoa there. I’ve never said Juranovic should play. I think he’s garbage and should never be called up. Uremovic, in my opinion, is a depth piece. He was worth starting in friendlies to see what we’ve got. After seeing him play, we now know what he is. He’s a decent backup (despite playing out of position). He’s probably similar to what I would consider Borna Barisic. But I wouldn’t ever start Uremovic.
.
Re: Melnjak…
.
I think he’s our fifth best player at LB, yet Dalic is giving him multiple games and full starter minutes over the past 6 or 7 games.
.
I don’t like his game. He runs alot on offense, but didn’t get back in time defensively a few times (which I guess is understandable as he was running up the flank). But even when he’s in good position on defense, he’s easily pushed around. He’s also not that technically skilled like the rest of our midfielders and forwards, who can make tight and confident passes under pressure (or nutmeg a player or two). He’s a weak link in our dominant dribbling and passing game. Melnjak is just a runner. Can send in a decent cross, and run. That’s fine, but not good enough to start for a World Cup Finalist like Croatia.
.
In the UNL, I watched a 20 year old Swedish-Macedonian push him off like a piece of paper all game. Melnjak is definitely a hard worker, but he’s just too weak defensively.
The second Bradaric was subbed in…the problem was miraculously solved. Bradaric also as a very solid technical game too, nutmeged a dude and makes passes in tight spaces. He fits with the rest of our team. I would have liked to see more of Bradaric, so we can determine whether he was starter material for us at LB (but we didn’t get much more of him at LB).
.
Slavonac, I think you value hard working players more than I do. I value them too, but not in place of talent.
This is where my “hate” for him stems from.
.
He’s played many games for us now. Good. Now we know exactly what he brings. Now it’s time to try others (especially since we have several options who are obvious bigger talents)…yet we aren’t doing this.
Bradaric got some games (thought not really at LB) and Sosa gets no callup. Gvardiol, not even a glance (despite playing LB all year). Even Barisic was riding the pine the entire UNL campaign behind Melnjak.
This is absurd.
.
Now we’re going into a tournament, and we’ve pretty much written off Bradaric and Sosa as just being U21 guys (when both players have achieved more in their young careers than Melnjak has in his veteran career).
.
I think if we play France, some big strong French winger or midfielder will destroy him…and that’s game. That’s it.
Forget about the rest of the team and what they can do. Deschamps will see that weakness and completely exploit it, without issue.
Modric will have to run back and cover for him, and it reduces his effectiveness.
.
Melnjak is identical to Karlo Bartolec. Exactly the same. Runs hard, not particularly gifted, can send in a cross, and is kinda weak defensively. These guys are just wingers in middle tier leagues, who have been repurposed as fullbacks.
.
I don’t really despise the kid, I just hate that Dalic is obviously trying to help him out.
He’s Marko Rog’s cousin, and Dalic has a connection to Varazdin. I think his relationship management is good, but maybe too good. He’s probably trying to give Melnjak a lot of exposure to get into a bigger club. Bradaric and Sosa are already at bigger clubs, so there is no rush for these guys because they’re already set for life and are still young, so they still have time for future Croatia tournaments.
Personally, I don’t give a shit about Melnjak’s future earnings, and all I care is how we do at these Euros and World Cup.
.
Now, we’re essentially stuck with two backup caliber LBs in Barisic and Melnjak as our two options for these March qualifiers and Euros.
Then, we will have to experiment with Sosa/Bradaric/Gvardiol during the 2024 World Cup qualifiers to see what works best at LB. This is unnecessarily delayed.
Transitioning to the newer, more talented young players during the UNL and Friendlies mitigated the risk. Now, we have to do it during the halfway point of a qualifying campaign.
The Boers gave away the country they built so their soccer team could play internationally. Stupidity has always been a capital offense.
.
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for people who in times of crisis claim neutrality. They just go along to get along.
.
The worst place in Hell, the Circle of Ice, is reserved for traitors.
Markuc, I seem to recall Uremovic playing two games…the first game was bad, his second was decent…I may be getting confused but I don’t think I am.
.
with regards to Melnjak…I’m not his fan, I just don’t understand the constant bombardment against him when he’s really been playing at a 6-6.5/10…almost never a defensive reliability…he’s no star but he has not been a liability either.
.
the reason I’ve gotten sticky over this topic is because we have seen many players do diddly squat over the years and yet, we almost never critique them soo harshly! let’s not forget how bad we were prior to 2016 Euro’s, 2018 WC…even our best players were shit at times!
Melnjak is not awful as a fourth leftback for us. He’s just not a quality performer. Watch him play, he can’t cross, isn’t very fast, not the smartest player and isn’t sturdy defensively either. Look, he’s just not up to our national teams quality. Uremovic wasn’t even bad for us not sure why you think he did horrible. He’s easily the second RB behind Vrsaljko for me. I can agree Juranovic was pretty horrible though, especially in the friendly against Turkey where he pretty much caused 2 goals against. At the end of the day, the thing that bothers me and I think Every1 else on the site is that Melnjak is just not near the quality of our national team… if you look at our worst midfielders (Badelj, Pasalic), they are MILES ahead of Melnjak talent wise. It’s just having someone that unskilled isn’t good for the national team, even though he hasn’t really even directly caused anything that bad. That’s why I’m not bothered by him being called up since Bradaric and Sosa are with the u21s. Once they’re available, I don’t think Melnjak needs to be called up anymore.
Maminjo, I also agree that Caleta Car should play…lets drill down a little more.
.
Who should start at right back? Vrsaljko? he’s the obvious choice although he’s not played many minutes in the last 2 years.
Centre pairing – Caleta Car and Lovren? is that a fair dual to start? Gvardiol is injured so he’s totally out of the equation and should not be mentioned.
Left back – you say Barisic. the 1 game I saw him playing there he looked like a scared fawn…you say Melnjak is a liability and yet, the only time you made a clear example of when he was at fault for a goal…it was very sketchy and most defenders would not have been able to defend that scenario. I’m not an advocate for Melnjak but I do feel you’re ranting on and on when he’s actually done well…better than expected and better than Uremovic, Juranovic, Vrsaljko playing on the left…on the other hand, Melnjak gets forward, he’s relatively fast and energetic, he seems to play well positionally….why do you constantly crap all over him? can you identify exactly what you’ve seen that makes him soo bad?
.
I have watched Uremovic and Juranovic play absolutely HORRIBLE…both guys you suggested should play and I did not hear a peep from you about their shit perfromances. Its soo weird that you’d focus soo much on Melnjak when we’ve had much worse.
One other thing to know – finishing in 2nd place is different this time, much harder to finally qualify if you do than before.
The ten 2nd place teams join 2 other Nation’s League teams (total of 12). Only 3 out of these 12 finally go to the WC (25%. Before, 2nd place meant you had about 50% chance of qualifying).
Also, the playoff is now SINGLE ELIMINATION (not home-home anymore). You have to win 2 DIFFERENT single elimination games to finally qualify (potentially on the road). Anything can happen in just 1 game. Really can’t afford any typical slip ups at all this time
Tying? no
.
I want us to win all three games, no matter what.
.
But I do believe Dalic is loyal to a fault.
Even though I’m confident that Caleta-Car will start at the Euros, it still gives me anxiety that we still might see a Loven/Vida pairing (which is crazy).
.
I want there to be question marks around those two, so that it’s a guaran-fucking-tee that AT LEAST one of them doesn’t start. Caleta-Car is better than either of them (and it’s not even close). I am convinced of this. It will definitely hurt us if he doesn’t start.
.
I, personally, believe that starting Gvardiol ahead of them too is better for us in both the short and long term…but I know there is no chance of this happening now, so I’ll be happy to take what I can get and ensure that Caleta-Car is the unquestionable starter this summer.
Barisic, I think, will also start too. I have less of a problem with him, mainly because I think his direct backup is Melnjak (which scares the shit out of me).
I actually think Dalic has Bradaric behind Melnjak, and I think we’d be lucky to even see Sosa get a damn callup.
These latter two are better than either one of Melnjak or Barisic…but again, I’ll be good and be quiet about this (and not suffer the wrath of Dalic who may start Melnjak to punish me).
.
I think a back four that contains Melnjak, Vida and Lovren at the same time cannot progress beyond the Round of 16. That’s a guarantee.
We will face some tough opponents in that round, and these guys are not up to par. Melnjak can’t handle anyone (who has any size or strength) defensively, Lovren is too easily tricked, and Vida provides nothing offensively at all (and has been oddly making more mistakes lately).
.
So…yes, I want Slovenia and others in this group to expose this a bit. I think I said that maybe get a very cheap embarrassing goal on us (from like a Lovren slide tackle gaffe) after we’re up 3-0. But, no, never a loss.
@Maminjo
Hope your wrong and to confirm (shoutout to whatever anon who was saying I was wishing defeat for Dinamo) I HOPE WE WIN THE GAME.
.
Was that you that came up with the scanario where maybe its for the ‘greater good’ if Lovren has some awful gaffe at CB that leads us to tying the Slovenci (or in a ideal scenario, gives them a easy goal, but we win 2-1 or something) and that puts him on the fast track off the starting XI? Not advocating for that, but interesting thought….
“I think the biggest question mark is ensuring our backline doesn’t have a gaffe that leads to them going up 1-0 before we score.”
-ARMADA87
(March 23rd, prior to a 1-1 draw resulting from Lovren penalty foul)
I get the POV of not taking teams lightly, especially a neighbor like Slovenia, but for those that are already thinking we might draw with them:
1. Honest question, but who are we scared of on the Slovenian NT? Outside of having an all-world keeper in Oblak and keeping an eye on half-hrvat Iličić, who are you worried about? Yes, Kek will probably have them ready, is familiar with our football of course and play them compact with a lot of guys behind the ball, but if we keep posession for the majority of the game, stay patient, we’ll break them down and get a first goal, they’ll try and open up a bit and we should get another. I think the biggest question mark is ensuring our backline doesn’t have a gaffe that leads to them going up 1-0 before we score.
2. Our fans talk about Slovenia playing us tight, but I think fans think back to their teams from the 2000’s that were actually pretty damn good with Zahovic, Ceh, Novakovic, Acimovic, etc. and DID give us a run for our money (when we were lacking in talent too). Fact is, they never have beaten us in game and with this lineup they’ll bring out, I’d be shocked if we lose to them and still kind of surprised if we tie. They aren’t the Faroe Islands… but if we stick to what we do and don’t do something stupid in the back, I think we should win 2-0, 3-1.
Something’ll go wrong in this first game i reckon.. just got an uneasy feeling about it, hope im wrong of course, already Petkovic out, just need Krama to have an injury too and that +15 goal diff might be just a tiny tad optimistic lol
Over the years we have squad depth issues and TV repair man coaches.
Slovenia being the first match is an advantage for our veteran core.
Ball out tomorrow and then rotate in fresh hungry legs.
If you can’t get up to beat down our arrogant neighbors to the west then you shouldn’t put on the Grb.
Kek will have a legit game plan so we have to bring the intensity.
Oršić has an opportunity of a lifetime to have the greatest 2 weeks of his career.
It is his time to shine.
He can become the best late bloomer of all time if he goes on a tear from now through the Euros.
Wow
Lucky we have some decent depth
Budimir can slot up there if needed
Again luckily we are playing the on paper weaker opponents
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/petkovic-ruled-out-of-croatia-qualifiers-with-shoulder-injury-14464696
Lineups I want to see:
.
vs Slovenia
Livakovic
Barisic- Lovren- DCC- Vrsaljko
Brozovic- Modric
Orsic- Vlasic- Perisic
Kramaric
.
vs Cyprus
Livakovic
Barisic- Vida- DCC- Uremovic (I don’t want Vrsaljko getting a stupid injury in a meaningless game that could put him out for Euros)
Modric- Kovacic
Orsic- Vlasic- Lovric
Kramaric
.
vs Malta
Livakovic
Barisic- Lovren- Vida- Uremovic
Brozovic- Badelj
Perisic-Vlasic-Brekalo
Budimir
If our guys take these games seriously, and play their hearts out, then we will destroy them. My only worry is if they come out half-assed thinking they are way better then their opponents, just like Tottenham did vs Dinamo. I hate to say it, but we have played down to the level of of an inferior team many times before. I enjoy matches much more when we play against high level teams, because we elevate our game…we rise to the challenge.
this international break is different, cuz for once we have pretty much our entire core squad. no more uremovic at rb, jedvaj lb, rebic at striker, or other random shit we had to do cuz we were missing players. in each position we now have multiple options, this is by far the most depth we’ve had in the past decade. If Melnjak, by far the worst player on our squad, played for cyprus or malta he would be the best player. and if he played for slovenia, he would be one of the best players, let that sink in. We will dominate all 3 games and finish the week with a 15+ GD.
Maminjo
Positive thinking. 😀
@Ante
.
You’re half right. Real Madrid SHOULD be telling Modrić to go have the game of his life against Slovenia, then watch the next 2 games from the bench.
Guys, we have this conversation every two years. Of course we are better than every single team in our group. Of course we should slaughter them. But guess what? We won’t. We never do slaughter anyone in qualifying and once we drop a couple points we lose our shit and the Croatian press lose theirs minds.
.
What do you think Real Madrid is telling Modric? Go have the game of your life against Slovenia or save yourself because we have a week go games in April where RM places Liverpool, Barcelona, and Liverpool again. Same with Kovacic. Luckily those are the only two remaining Croatians win CL.
.
Croatia has only failed to qualify for a tourney TWICE. That’s incredible!!! We don’t need ALL 9 POINTS this month. Do I want them? Yes. But do we NEED them? I’m trying to set proper expectations because i Have seen these boards meltdown after qualifiers for well over a decade. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But fool me 10 times….
Yea but Melnjak will cost us a couple points though 😉
Screw this pussy talk. Nine points or get out of here.
None of these three teams have anything on us. Our players are in great form And travel shouldn’t be an issue. Time to get it done.
We spend a lot of our time discussing the quality of our players and sometimes we even argue that we have better quality than we think we do.
.
Playing a team like Slovenija with relatively good core of Modric, Brozovic, Kramaric, Perisic…(lets just start here) and then we can debate on whether Meljnak is suitable for left back or is it Barisic…Vrsaljko at right back, Caleta Car and Lovren…I mean, there should be enough motivation for these guys to prove they deserve to start over the next guy…some healthy competition!
.
I’ll be mad if we don’t perform. As far as I can see, most of our players are not overly tired, most are in decent form, most should want to be in the starting lineup…and they guy that subs in should want to prove he deserves to start!
Anything less than 9 points would be disappointing, but it can be expected due to injuries and the whole messed up pandemic thing ruining preparation and other possible things.
.
I would be upset if we drew in Slovenia. Not so much out of fear that we wouldn’t qualify, but moreso that I think Slovenia will upset one of Russia and Slovakia (and I want us to have that advantage).
.
I want a comfortable qualification campaign.
Only Cico Kranjcar gave us one (where we qualified over Bulgaria and Sweden with games to spare). Bilic did too against Russia/England back in 2008. Funny that we qualified comfortably in two of the most difficult groups we were in, lol.
BTW Ante is there any way we can login? Forum is a dead end for me now
I’m actually kinda surprised Every1 seems to be alright with a Slovenia draw. Look at their lineup man… our u21s have more talent than they do. Only ilicic and oblak would make our 23 man roster from that team. The rest wouldn’t even skim our top 50 players lmao. Anything but a win and I’d be very disappointed… we need to start consistently beating teams that are worse than us if we want to be considered as an elite national team. We proved our capabilities in 2018, now it’s time to leave no doubt that we’re the strongest team in this group.
I was thinking too i wouldnt be surprised if we drew the away game to Slovenia. It wouldnt be a disaster, i agree.
World Cup 2002 match against Italy was when Niko Kovac played great. I always loved Robby Kovač . I even had his Jersey 2006 checkered R. Kovač. I always liked Niko Kovač as a player. As a manager, he isn’t all that good.
That match against Italy in 2002 was great. Watching Boksic smacking Italians in the face. Good Times lol
Slovenija will give us a hard time. They always do. This is a tuff group
I’ll never forget the Niko Kovac CDM revolving door shitfest lol.
.
Vukojevic, Mocinic, Males…there were several others I forgot.
I remember when we qualified for the 2014 WC and we started having issues finding players to fill gaps because of injuries. I just read an article about Ademi, a guy I really like and would support. He was at first passed over by Kovac and he then decided to commit to Makedonija….THEN, Kovac decided to call him and Ademi said NO because he didn’t want to go back on his word!
.
Thanks character right there! Ademi is a good guy and a good player who chose us over makedonija because he was born in Sibenik to Makedonija and Albanian parents.
That’s a HARD NO
As long as its not in Serbian or Russian I won’t complain.
HAhahaha that was for my buddy Anze Kopitar of the LA Kings
.
You guys are funny. It was simply the best (and most colorful) graphic that I could find. Whenever I use a German or Italian graphic, no one bats an eyeleash. But if it’s Slovenian, I know 100% I’ll see comments in the morning. 🙂
Anze Kvartjaz…
Best laugh of the day!
Kyle,
I saw it listed for ESPN3?
Any tips on where to watch in Canada, please share.
Hoping uefa.tv updates and has all the games like previous.
Will try soccerstreams site someone shared in earlier thread, should that fail.
Kyle – looks like it will be on ESPN3 (not sure why on espn.com they only list the games that will be on ESPN+ and not ESPN3. If you have the app on your phone and search Croatia, you’ll see the Cro-Slov game is listed to be on ESPN3)
If we don’t get 9 points out of these 3 matches then we really aren’t serious about qualifying. I’m kinda surprised we’d think Slovenia might hold us to a draw. Sure, they’re a decent squad but we really are a better quality side and we should be motivated to win that game and make life easier for ourselves.
Suba – actually clubs have been given a brief “exemption”, they can withhold players from national duties this round if they want (alot of clubs aren’t letting their players travel to S. America for example). Partially because of COVID, also partially because the club schedule is so much more packed. Luckily, it seems most clubs aren’t enforcing that for their European players.
Any know how to watch the slovenia game in the us? It seems espn+ is not carrying it.
Ante Kvartuč?
.
More like, Anže Kvartjaž
When did this become SlovenianSports.com? Hrvaška?!
@BECAR
.
LOL. Uh oh, that’s bad luck. 😉
.
Hrvaška i Slovaška sta dobri ekipi! Gremo!
@Ante
.
Why did you use a Slovenian graphic above?
Clubs can’t prevent players from attending national duties
What are we back in the 90s
Fuck people are still carrying on over covid
“Our”
All Croatians Milan is a thing
May the beg for boban to come back
I would love to see more of our boys together
I would think if are two central defenders were together but would be most helpful