EURO 2024 qualifying continues this week when Croatia host a winless Latvia side in Rijeka Friday before heading to Armenia Monday. The Vatreni have only played two matches thus far in qualifying due to their Nations League Final run in June. They drew Wales 1-1 in Split earlier in the year before a triumphant 3-0 win in Turkey.
No matter how you cut it, Zlatko Dalić and his boys should consider anything less than six points this week as “unsuccessful”. Euro 2024 qualifying will be 50% complete after this week and Croatia can legitimately start thinking how to bench players like Modrić and Perišić later in qualifying. Remember, the top two sides in group automatically punch their ticket to EURO 2024 in Germany next summer.
Latvia “should” be an easy win on home soil…on paper. However, don’t sleep on these guys and look forward to the next game quite yet. Latvia have been competitive even though they have yet to earn their first point in qualifying. Latvia has lost all three matches by one goal. They were beat by Turkey with a goal coming in the 95th minute and took an up-and-coming Armenia side all the way to 1-1 in injury time before a 91st minute penalty broke the deadlock. Yes, I can’t name one Latvian player and Croatia should win by two goals in Rijeka, but don’t sleep on these guys as they’ve been gritty.
On Monday, Croatia may have an opportunity to start locking up the group depending on what happens against Armenia and Turkey on Friday. If Turkey beats Armenia, that would essentially make the Croatia/Armenia match on Monday a must-win for the Armenians. They are coming off two straight wins over Wales and Latvia and may have to leave it all on the field against Croatia. We will have a better after Friday’s games conclude.
But if Armenia need to gun for a W against Modrić and company, they may have to open up for the majority of the match which could cost them dearly against a much more veteran Croatian attack.
Name of the game this week: grab all 6 points to qualify for Euro ASAP
Question of the week: would you disappointed if Croatia do not win both matches?
I WOULD.
This is that same BS
Luka is injured before any major tourney news on here as always
Perisic is immortal
Knees of a pagan god!;)
Lol , yeah
Sh*t
Perisic torn ACL left knee
https://twitter.com/Fabrizior0m4n00/status/1699531229115101427
Pretty dumb not to have Beljo on standby list
Can they still call him ? How about Orsic (most like-for-like) ??
Otherwise who do we start front 3
Krama – right
Petkovic – centre
Vlasic – left
w/ Pasalic, Frigan, Musa as subs ?
Feels we’re short at least 1 if not 2 players up front (none of the starting 3 can / will last a full 90 minutes – Perisic has historically also extra-time)
facepalm emoji
Unbelievable the amount of knee injuries lately!
Even if we could still call up Oršić, he is also one of the ones injured.
You’re right – forgot he’s injured
Terrible luck we having
Going to be a pretty anemic front 3
Hopefully someone grabs ahold of the opportunity and impresses
That is a fake twitter account looking for attention that tends to try and instigate Croatians – false alarm
That is good news Robert! I hope you’re right.
👍
Yes, it is fake- real one does not have 0m4n00 after his name- thanks for pounting that out!
Yes, and no croatian media is reporting it as far as i know
I was a bit skeptical because of not hearing it elsewhere as well.
Yeah, it would be nice. It may help having less pressure- knowing there isn’t a better option, rather than having to measure up to the starter if given a chance?
Mea culpa
Sorry for posting fake news
I follow the real Fabrizio Romano
This appeared under “For You” and didn’t check closely (assumed it was from the real – Elon plz work on the algos some more)
Have reported the post – everyone else should do the same
Karma is a b*tch – posting fake injuries about anyone is well below the belt – what goes around comes around…
All good! It caught me out as well for a sec but then I looked at more of their twitter posts and they had a bunch about Petro confirmed to go to Trabzon, which we all know also didn’t happen – so looks like it’s just a pure confusion account trying to confuse us!
Gvardiol and Modric just made the 30-man Ballon D’Or shortlist.
Livakovic is on the 10-man Yashin Trophy shortlist.
Yes, I would be disappointed without collecting all 6 points from these 2 opponents. We should win.
On another note, Silvio Ilinkovic, a Bosnian u21 has decided no more and he’ll switch to the checkers. He’s from the Travnik area in Central Bosna I believe.
Don’t know much about him other than the fact he is a midfielder, plays in Rijeka now.
Anybody know more about this young man?
The links to the game are never posted.
Would fellow fans be kind enough to provide one?
Here it is now
just bookmark the site, it will always show all upcoming games
https://vipleague.im/football-schedule-streaming-links
Hvala Iggy!
I am disappointed whenever Croatia does not win. The talent is there for the team to win nearly every game.
Every nation plays the game and can take points from you, especially in Europe outside of the San Marinos of Europe. If we don’t get 6 points that doesn’t mean it is the end of the world. We might play some great nogomet, but not be able to score. Or, we might look like govno and still win comfortably. Belgium kicked our ass at the World Cup, but they couldn’t beat us. Sometimes better to be lucky than good.
Main concern is doing enough to qualify without having to be drawn into the playoffs. Nothing else matters.
Actually due to the way that Euro2024 works (which is different than other Euros) – it’s actually very important for Croatia to win the group, as seedings for the actual Euro 2024 tournament will be 100% based off qualifying records, as opposed to FIFA rankings / UEFA rankings / Nations League rankings.
So, it’s imperative to pick up 6 points and win this group as otherwise, life next summer in Germany can get much more complicated.
Interesting. Thanks, didn’t know the new format
Belgium kicked our ass at the World Cup? lol
They were the better side on that day. We were not better than them. Go watch the game again and all the chances they created but couldn’t finish especially Lukaku.
I watched the first match between Armenia and Türkiye, and Armenia is actually decent. They have a few diaspora Armenians from south America on the squad who have made the team much better than one would expect.
I don’t think you know what the word DIASPORA means.
I think there would be major questions if we drop points to either team. I know we typically do drop silly points to inferior opponents during qualifying cycles but we had a hiccup with Wales already. At the end of this cycle, it’ll be us and Turkey I feel and they have already beat both Latvia and Armenia so we need to keep pace with them in order to ensure we finish top of group (given we beat them already). If can get the 6 points from these September games and beat Turkey again in Osijek, we’ll be in the drivers seat for this group and then can take a breather/experiment with players and formations for the remaining games.
Every team not named France, England, Portugal and Scotland have dropped points.
I don’t think there would be major questions if we dropped points. It all depends on context.
We dropped points to Wales, but that was due to lack of focus in the end (after a pretty dominant display) and, of course, having a weird weakness to deep throw ins into our box. Still not a big deal, and we got things done in Turkey shortly afterward.
Hopefully we play more disciplined this time, and don’t take the foot off the gas.
Juranović and Sosa are definitely a weakness we have (in terms of defense) so I’m curious to see if Dalić starts them both.
Jura was at fault for the Wales goal and a World Cup goal, and Sosa was at fault for a couple of World Cup goals too.
I think Juranovic is a lock to start as we really don’t have depth at RB. Sosa is a question mark at LB with Perisic getting time there recently but if we go for our usual 4ATB, can definitely see both starting. We just don’t have better options or more in form pieces to deploy at those positions.
Sosa in starting 11 Friday ?
Drive the internal competition for on field time and the competition is less Latvia and Armenia and more guys trying to prove themselves. Give the kids a shot and run these 2 weak oppenents into the ground. They have nothing after a few starters and they should be looking for the showers by halftime.
I’m still questioning why Livaja wasn’t called up. Are they really afraid of a player being booed at a home game? Modric has been booed at national team games in Poljud. I know they are not in the same category, but I just find it strange they didn’t call up Livaja because of what took place with a heckler back in June.
Not a big issue at the end of the day….Plus, it does give us another reason to watch Hajduk fans cry
It’s to minimize Rijeka vs Livaja events from taking place..
They want a packed barn at Pampas when Repka arrive ..
Not for it to be empty from UEFA penalties
Livaja will get called up next international break
So, the fans in Rijeka are anti-Croatian?
More precautionary measures I’d say as there is history …( between Marko and Rijeka
Pampas, the nicest newest stadium in Cro, 1st time hosting Repka , HNS don’t want it Empty
Your hard to read, did you want or not want Livaja to be called up?? Either answer is fine I am just not sure based on how your raising the issue
Agree with the write up, however probably a dozen times in the last 20 years we’ve encountered a pair of qualifying games where we “should“ take all 6 points, but more often than not we don’t. I bet we drop points in one of the games (maybe even a loss at Armenia). We’ll still qualify though, just not until the November games.
Play with your strongest team…but use up all your subs to test and integrate players that have potential to really help us at the upcoming Euros.
Got to prepare for next year, starting now.
Agreed. Our best XI need to take care of business in the fist 45 minutes of each upcoming games. Control the tempo, get a goal or two and then we can bring in subs, try out different combinations and see what we have in terms of depth. I just hope the boys are preparing well for 10 men behind the ball at all times while we have possession with the next two games and figuring out ways to break that down. I really don’t want to see guys like Modric, Perisic, Gvardiol and Broz play a full 90…
Anything but 6 points from the two matches would be a huge disappointment.
Latvia at home should be a comfortable win and although the away trip to Armenia will be a lot more difficult, we should win. From memory we have won our last 10 away matches, this includes the NL semi final against the Dutch.
Against Latvia I would start with our strongest lineup and in the second half bring on the likes of Musa and Frigan. For me Petkovic is a must starter up front, he is in tremendous form at the moment for Dinamo both domestically and in Europe.
Good news is that there are no injuries and none of our star players have been overworked at their respective clubs this early into the season. Both Modric and Perisic have mostly been coming off the bench for Real and spurs and should be able to start and play full 90 minutes in both matches if required, although one hopes that younger legs will come on and replace them in the second half.
I feel that from now on, there’s gotta be a fresh new age upfront because it’s about time that Dalic should actually start finding solutions upfront actually playing them instead of them just being there. We really have nothing left to lose in regards taking a risk on either Musa or Frigan and it’s important we give them patience.
We have to move on Petkovic as he isn’t at the level of NT quality that we need him to be (he wouldn’t be getting into Denmark’s, Ireland’s, Ukraine’s or even Sweden’s team). I completely agree with what you say about his Dinamo form but that’s is his ceiling right now, definitely not NT material and it isn’t his fault that Dalic doesn’t want to move him on and it would’ve applied to Livaja if he hadn’t had reacted at the open training and still be apart of the squad. In regards that, it shouldn’t have gotten to that stage as he should’ve stop being called up after the WC.
Agree with you that Petkovic and Livaja are not top NT players, however till Musa, Beljo, Frigan and anyone else for that matter start performing and playing regularly at club level Dalic will not discard them. Personally, I would never call Livaja because the guy is too slow and overweight. Petkovic on the other hand despite being slow is tall, strong in the air and has the skills to trouble most defences and score goals.
Watched a lot of Musa for our youth teams and was never impressed with him and often wondered how the hell did he get called up. The guy is a bench player for Benfica and has scored quite a few goals coming off the bench. From my recollection he has not scored too many goals against top sides such as Porto and Sporting. The goals that he has scored have been against lesser clubs in the Portuguese league. These clubs I reckon are on par or worse quality than Hajduk, Osijek or Rijeka in the HNL. There must be a reason why he is on the bench? coaching staff at Benfica obviously think that he is not good enough to start. I think that he needs to find another club.
I disagree Petkovic and Livaja are definitely on par with with one another. It didn’t really matter to people that Livaja was still nursing an injury much like Brozovic was, so neither of them were 100 percent.
They have had equal contributions to the National Squad as far as I can tell.
I personally think that the argument of Petko over Livaja or Livaja over Petko really just boils down to whether someone prefers Dinamo over Hajduk or vice versa.
……………………..Musa……………………….
……………………..Krama……………………..
Ivanusec………………………………..Vlasic
………………Kova………Modric…………….
Sosa…………………………………………..JJ
……………Gvardiol…….Sutalo……………..
………………………………………………………
………………………Liva………………………..