17 year-old Luka Vušković has done it again! The kid is looking more like a striker than a CB these days as he scored a Euro bicycle kick Thursday night in Belgium.
Will he become a greater defensive presence than Gvardiol in the next few years?
What should Tottenham do with Vušković when he turns 18 in February and can play in the UK?
Should Dalić call up Vušković for the upcoming World Cup qualifying cycle?
https://www.instagram.com/p/DELI6d1uHSQ/?igsh=OGVkeGlubzQyZDFp
Looks like Bjelica is done. That’s now 2 Italian coaches at our 2 biggest clubs. I’m not sure how I feel about that🤔
Dinamo buying Galesic for 3-5m
Confused
If he’s the top CB target in HNL how come he hasn’t been capped for Croatia (or Germany) yet ?
Happy Birthday Mislav Orsic! We need him to return to Dinamo , especially for our January match with Arsenal.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEHqlk0ipyS/?img_index=1&igsh=MWFoZGhsaWVyc2dsag==
For those of you who haven’t seen Vuskovic’s goal.
Zrinka Ljutic just dominated Semmering to claim her first World Cup victory (first Croatian women’s World Cup win since Kostelic in 2006)
x.com/eurosport/status/1873363058778579442
Watched the second run and she almost fell halfway down but recovered superbly to post the quickest time in both the first and second run and won by 1.75 seconds which is a huge margin in skiing.
She is 20 years old so hopefully she will only get better, and may be in with a chance of winning a medal at next Winter Olympics in 2026.
Vuskovic still has to prove himself on defense. I see him making similar mistakes to our other defense. But this is either Belgian league or U-21… chill out
In an interview for SN Vuskovic has indicated that his aim for 2025 is Tottenham and a call up for Vatreni. He also said that his biggest problem is speed and that he is working on that hard at training.
The coach at Tottenham, Angelo Postecoglou has a reputation of giving young boys a chance however the team is not going well and who knows if he will be still coaching Spurs come next year? Speed is the problem, and I cannot see him playing EPL next year? he will most likely be loaned to a club in Championship?
Dalic on the other hand might give him a callup if he continues to play well and some of our other CB’s are injured or not playing regularly like Erlic and Pongracic. Unlikely to start but could come off the bench for some senior experience.
Agree Star
There is a MASSIVE step up b/w Belgium and U21 to PL
He’s still subject to lapse of concentration (eg extra time goal vs Faroe Island) and at times not the best decision making in game
Next step is League 1 or Championship next season
Re Dion Beljo, I have a burning question that’s been on my mind for some time.
Beljo moved to Rapid Wien on a season-long loan with an option to buy. Since he’s doing well there, I expect Rapid to sign him from Augsburg at the end of the season.
If Rapid were to take up the option to buy Beljo, does it mean Augsburg is obligated to sell the player to them and to them ONLY? Meaning other clubs who might be interested in Beljo would have no avenue to buy him?
Correctamundo.
Thanks Maminjo. Glad I finally got this one clarified.
Hmm… maybe this is wishful thinking but I’m hoping that a liga petica club will be interested in Beljo and if an offer comes in (during the summer), Rapid might be willing to flip Beljo for a quick profit.
The other player who may have earned his call-up is Franjo Ivanović. He’s been scoring a lot of goals for a club that has one of the best player development programs in Europe, and he also assisted on the first goal for his club’s league match this week. He seems to be progressing toward the top level.
In terms of our young forwards…
Ivanović and Beljo should both be ahead of Matanović right now.
Beljo has 6 goals in 6 games in the UEFA Conference League (in addition to his 7 goals in the Austrian Bundesliga).
Ivanović is a little more intriguing right now, as he’s really started to hit his stride in recent games with something like 6 goals in his last 4 games.
Matanović, on the other hand, has 1 goal in 13 games (where he plays fringe minutes off the bench). He hasn’t had regular minutes at all this season.
I’m glad Dalić tried to experiment with a young striker earlier in the season by calling up Matanović…but Dalić has to be more dynamic and make adjustments as needed (as things play out).
This is one of Dalić’s biggest weaknesses. He rarely makes adjustments (whether it be an in-game substitution or with his team selection).
At the beginning of this Nations League campaign, he committed to calling up a young striker, and Matanović is that choice.
Now, it will take a MOUNTAIN of data for Dalić to move away from this selection and actually stop calling up Matanović and give his time to Ivanović or Beljo.
Even poor Ante Budimir pretty much needs to win the La Liga scoring title, simply to get some starts in for the National Team.
As you have said before, Dalic is not dynamic enough as a coach.
Speaking of Beljo, don’t think this was mentioned here but he scored a nice goal in Rapid’s 3-0 win over FC Copenhagen on the most recent matchday (Dec 19) in UEFA Conference League. Put his team 1-0 up just before halftime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlHimiCRqkA&t=10s
Yeah, Coach Dalic is not as a dynamic coach as Coach Guardiola. Look at the criticism he is getting today who not too long ago was considered the game’s best coach. I’ll back Coach Dalic through the ‘26 qualifiers and hope he will get us to the World Cup. Thanks for the 2 World Cup Semifinal appearances! Viva Zlatko!
Captain Milan Badelj puts Genoa up 1-nil in an otherwise “drab affair.”
He must’ve just not liked Dalić because the guy has been consistently solid since retiring from the repka. I always wonder what happened with him and Rakitić to make them leave so early.
It could be no reason and just commitment. It’s just too much soccer for some. I can’t fault them. Mandzukic could have been helpful for longer too. Luka legend. Griezmann has retired from the Frenchies…..great player and he’s only 33.
Back to vuskovic. Petko scored that bicycle kick a few years back and while it doesn’t necessarily make a striker
But none of our strikers are doing stuff like this now
How does he not get called up
The father Frank was born in Toronto in 1976
The name Ivankovic is most prevalent in Serbia, followed by Bosnia then Croatia and there’s some in Slovenia and Montenegro too. His parents likely identified as Yugoslavian. Throw a dart.
Right after WWII. Most Croats that emigrated were Ustashe, most Serbs were Chetnik’s as they had to leave Yugoslavia. A few years later the Yugoslavs started coming.
Take your pick. I doubt the kid even knows.
Most Croats who emigrated were not Ustase. They were mostly persons who did not want to live under communism. The communists, however, told people that the Croats who left were Ustase, and this was of course repeated for decades, ie. What other reason would they have to leave Tito’s Yugoslavia?No point repeating that nonsense now.
Quick search will show you that his pops is a Croatian guy from Toronto.
This is an irresponsible comment. Do you know the family?
Why is the “son” listed as 6 inches shorter than the “dad” Ie 5’11” vs 6’5” ? His mom must be 4 foot something for the math to work…
Jack Ivankovic goalie for Canadas world junior team Youngest goalie to start for national team
Dads name is Frank
Seems croat with Frank is my guess?
They are calling him the future of Canadas goal
He should now be called up. He’s been consistently great in a professional league with a high quality of competition. Croatia’s weakness has been defense, with the very gifted Gvardiol and Šutalo not performing at their best. A three in the back with Duje CC, Vušković, and Jakić could be effective. Move Gvardiol up, keep Sosa as a backup, put Juranović and Stanišić at their best position, and use the huge height advantage of such a lineup to full effect.
He’s been our most in-form CB this season and he plays in the 8th-ranked league (per UEFA country coefficient rankings).
None of Gvardiol, Sutalo, Erlic, or Pongracic have been defensively consistent this year.
Duje has been pretty consistent, but he’s just a role player and isn’t enough to hold the fort.
Dalic has not been calling up a full set of CBs either, and seems to be too scared to actually call up CBs from the HNL (like Uremovic) or call up anyone deemed too young (like Vuskovic).
He needs to break his stupid mindset and call up Vuskovic (and actually play him). He also shouldn’t be afraid to call up Uremovic or Prpic from the HNL if guys like Pongracic and Erlic are still injured or not playing.
I agree, especially in the case of Uremović, a veteran of several leagues including the Bundesliga who has also played very well week in and week out for Hajduk for 1.5 seasons in a row (and is still only 27). Selections should be based on form, and it’s clear that Vušković is in form and ready to compete at the highest level. Belgium is a strong league, especially this year, and he is on top of the level in that league. Erlić and Pongračić should be left out of the question until each starts playing regular minutes again. Jakić should be considered a swiss army knife because he seems to give his best wherever he is put. I trust him to defend more than Gvardiol, Šutalo, Erlić or Pongra at the moment because he is in form.
He’s way too tall to be any good!
Lol
Next up: “I didn’t say he was too tall, I said he was tall like a bust”
He’s too tall to ignore!!
Remember when he bombed that one from half court with the hajduk juniors, and people here said it’s just junior level blah blah
But the balls it took and accuracy to do that is obviously just raw
I realize it’s much harder to pull off in a big league
But still the field, ball and goal is the same
I need to find that video somewhere
It’s getting pretty hard to ignore him
How do you not call him up and least to taste a bit
Play him and gvardiol as left wing and striker at this point…
Let him cook….