Ivan Perišić and Inter Croazionale were in full effect Sunday vs. Torino but blew a 2-0 first half lead in a 2-2 draw. Perišić, Marcelo Brozović and Šime Vrsaljko all got the start for Inter with Vrsaljko being subbed off in the 72nd minute. Perišić opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a one-timer inside the box from a long sideline pass, but Inter couldn’t hang on to the lead. Vrsaljko was not at fault for either goal as Inter start the season slow; with only one point from two games.
Perišić Goal vs. Torino
Mandza Insurance Goal vs. Lazio
Former Croatia striker Mario Mandžukić now has more goals in a Juventus shirt than teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. With the match at 1-0 in Juventus’ in the 75th minute, Ronaldo missed an easy “sitter” in front of goal with Mandza cleaning up the trash on a volley to make it 2-0. Mandžukić got the start and finished the game as Juventus now move to six points through the first two matches of the season.
Mateo Kovačić got his first start for Chelsea in a late 2-1 win at Newcastle United. Kovačić was subbed off in the 79th minute with Chelsea up 1-0. He was given a ‘7’ grade for picking up an early yellow card, but it’s been good so far for Kovačić who is getting time at Chelsea on loan from Real Madrid early in the season.
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@BZ – very true they do usually end up settling out of court depending on the size of the case and what proof their lawyers feel they have as leverage to build a strong case.
@CP85-He probably would have lost in the slim chance it ever got heard (most of the time these things settle out of court.) Our law department is fierce.
He really did act like a typical lazy, entitled libtard.
Nobody on my team liked the guy. His work ethic was the worst on the team, which was my official reason I let him go…but the ribbons were the real reason.
crnkovic is a wacko.
Go back to Africa we dont give a shit.
@Bz – just curious – what if the internet search came up clean on that guy’s computer? How do you think things would have played out with the lawsuit?
lukaku is a donkey
“race card” tsssssss
there are so many examples. John Obi Mikel is a skinny, slow guy. what are his attributes? his attributes are reading the game and his passing range. but every time you watch him play you hear the commentators describe him as a “midfield enforcer”. why? because he is African. do you get it? you know slaves? they are not people they are beasts of burden. like donkeys. do you understand?
a good book to read is “23 things they don’t tell you about capitalism” Its pretty basic stuff. easy to read. easy to understand. my mums husband is a retired economist, we’ve had a lot of arguments over the years. finally i gave him that book this last christmas. literally shut him up.
here’s another thing. there is no such thing as IQ. you get it? it’s MADE UP. there is no such thing as schizophrenia…. ITS MADE UP. all the bullshit in this world, and there is tonnes of it seeping out of every americans mouth,…. IS MADE UP. so go read some proper books that show you the difference between MADE UP BULLSHIT and REAL THINGS. then we can talk. have a nice day. XXXXXXXX
love you bro
Maminjo I COME FROM AFRICA. i know exactly what i’m talking about. read croatianperson85 comments, they show some genuine intelligence and an ability to analyse rather than slap labels onto people. I’m not american so i dont play the “race card” either for or against. i’m a human with a brain, i also played premier league football in zambia, so i know everything there is to know about the varying physical and technical attributes of “africans”. you’re some guy who has probably never spoken to a black person for more than 2 minutes and has picked up a bunch of ideas from watching TV. I’m not saying you’re dumb. i’m not saying you’re an asshole. I’m saying you don’t know what you’re talking about. Let’s leave it there. in addition look at IVO comment above and you might start to understand what the problem is here. poverty is caused by economic policy. you know? the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. its called capitalism. “capital” ie: money you already have. you know when some people own 7 houses and others are homeless? the real “race card” is the one which seeks to justify the appalling injustice in the world by subtly claiming pre-determined characteristics are the reason for massive divide we see. racial stereotyping is key to that. #schooled
It begs to ask if these Africans have some sort of Physical advantage is there an advantage that maybe Europeans have?
Sorry Crnky,
I’m immune to your race card. So no point in playing it.
Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 dollars.
Sorry, but black dudes are generally faster and more athletic than white dudes (despite being malnourished, as you suggest).
Also, a lot of African football programs take advantage of that and tend to play a quick uptempo style. We all saw how Nigeria is wing and foward-heavy in their style of play.
Another thing, people generally pigeon-hole Africans as wingers or quick strikers when they are looking for the next best thing out of Africa. They even do it with black folks who are born outside of Africa.
Do you think it’s any coincidence that Belgium’s striker position has a lot of black guys on it in recent history (Lukaku, Batshuayi, Benteke…).
It’s a combination of African dudes having the genes to be fast and athletic, as well as them being pigeon-holed as forwards.
Also, if you are relying on speed and athleticism to be a good player, then (guess what) you are NOT going to age well in your career. You WILL peak at an early age.
It’s not ALWAYS the case with Africans, but it’s the majority. But, yes, you will have Drogba and others breaking the stereotype.
This was the point I was making earlier about Lukaku and the assumption that Belgium is going to get better because he will get better.
Lukaku is already excellent…but he’s not going to get better. A large part of his game is his speed and athleticism, which will diminish as he gets to his late-20s. So, if people like Truth are banking on Belgium being better in four years from now because of (as he said) “African” guys like Lukaku and Benteke, then they will be dissapointed.
Not talking out of my ass. You’re just hyper-sensitive and have succumbed to the “racism” trigger happiness that sadly exists in this world.
Is Brekalo a bad ass or is he sincerely trying to do what’s right, stay faithful to Christ?
I remember when the libtards at my work asked us to wear ribbons for Lgbt and BlackLivesMatter. I told them my team would absolutely not wear them. I fired the only guy who decided it was a good idea to wear political ribbons at the office. He tried to sue the company, but when we pulled up his internet history at work and found he spent inordinate amounts of time watching gay porn, he dropped the lawsuit.
Brekalo is a bad ass. He might be playing in the hnl by January, but a bad ass nontheless. That action is going to cost him millions, unfortunately. #GoFundBrekalo
@ Crnkovic and Maminjo – I think you’re both right. I’ll apologize in advance if you find the comment re athleticism speed, strength offensive. I think it is true and not just for Africans. Everyone grew up with players who just developed before everyone else and were always bigger, stronger and faster on their team.
Look at football in the US. You need to be a beast at a young age for certain positions in order to have a greater chance of progressing. Malcom Gladwell’s book Outleirs explains why a majority of NHL players are born in January, February or March. When you are 8 years old and have 10 months of growth on a another kid that is a huge difference so it’s a massive advantage. Less so at 22 but but things are already established at that point.
There was always that one guy. These guys dominated when we were kids and less so as we all got older. At the same time I have friends I played with from Ghana and Nigeria who openly told me they were older than what they were because of the false certificate you mention. All I am saying is there isn’t one perfect answer but multiple reasons.
BTW maminjo. your comments about africans are basic racial stereotyping. in the case of lukaku i agree. in the case of drogba it was the opposite. roger milla? peaked age 38 (at least) if you like. i can’t be bothered to go into it. but it’s a lot more complicated than you think. a lot of africans players “peak early” because they have false age certificate. most africans are under developed for their age compared to europeans due to diet etc. just pointing out that you’re talking out your ass
Why is homosexual being forced on him. Funny
Germans asking people to wear arm bands though.
I wouldn’t wear it either . Perverts!
At least Duje Cop got called up to the Repka
**my bad Rog sat on the bench and got 5 min the previous weekend
Pasalic played CAM midfield for 90 min and got an assist in a 3-3 draw w/ Roma while Coric sat his ass on the bench. At least Rog got 5 min this weekend. I don’t think Balic has even made the bench yet this year.
It is times like these that I like the truth. He clearly is being sarcastic, and some don’t get it.
Explains why Dalic didn’t select Brekalo for the World Cup, cause a replay of some Brazilian poolside fun could have caused Brekalo to go postal.
@ Maminjo
Dinner on me for breaking it down!!
Dalić was the most experienced coach we have had in 20 years and surprise we made it to the finals.
Dalić is not even elite, he is good but not world class.
We have had ZERO infrastructure in the national set up and yet we produce the best players in Europe.
This World Cup run was another reminder that we are who we know we are.
Ako znaš .. once znaš !!
@ BZ
Ask Spain if size matters?
They had to naturalize Costa and Sena before him to win anything.
We looked like shit for 10 years until we put Robo Rebić on the RW.
Chucky Lozano is the most powerful Mexican ever and he bum rushed Germany.
Mali nogomet is for all the dudes who are too weak to cut it.
Modrić has popeye calf’s.
Rakitic is a strong dude as well.
Messi has been on HGH since age 12.
Ronaldo is a specimen.
May we always play with the power players on the flanks and up top so our creatives can flourish.
yeah. you got to draw the line somewhere…
@the truth, we are better than england. don’t be a goof. you’re so annoying
…when it comes to rainbows. i was of the belief that it was against the rules to display political banners or symbols in football stadiums on jerseys etc…what is politics? when kanoute was at west ham he refused to wear the sponser on his shirt, because it was a betting company and he is a devout muslim. the Irish west brom player refused to wear the poppy on is shirt because he regards it as linked to jingoistic glorification of the British armed forces.
It’s very easy to spot hypocrisy in these things. and very easy to end up becoming a hypocrite yourself for doing it. ….
so people will lecture you about your lifestyle choices while driving a gas guzzling car which is powered by petrol which comes from the oil which is the reason for all the bloodshed and innocents lives lost in the middle east, not to mention the immigration crisis in europe. is it worse to wear a rainbow arm band than drive a car?
are you proud of your family who runs off in uniform to kill for the profit of the elite? what do brekalo’s christian values tell him about MacDonalds? you know the destruction of the planet we live on? does he boycott macdonalds? WWJD? hehe. LOOOOOOOOL
Reports coming out that brekalo is being suspended from both wolfsburg and by the hns
Just because i like to suck a couple of cocks every now and again, does that make me a homosexual? I like women too sometimes.
Truth, Brekalo doesn’t have to agree with your homosexual lifestyle.
Meh. This stuff is just a distraction.
I’m sure Wolfsburg are about to sell a popular player or two and just don’t want people to hate on them or something.
Just throw some gimmick at people and they will be so happy and supportive of a club that regularly sells its star players off with no chance of competing anymore.
They’ve had a lot of star caliber players on that team, and more money than almost every club in Germany. There is no excuse for them to regularly fall out of a Champions League spot, but they do.
They don’t give a crap about gay rights, and Germany is one of very few countries who have gay rights, so it is kind of a pointless gesture… But people will love it and praise them (while they continue to suck as a football club).
Smart move.
You can think it’s wrong for a person to do something without being intolerant or hateful of them.
I tell my children the should not lie, fight, swear, smoke cigarettes, do drugs, etc… Does that mean I hate them if they do these things? Of course not!
First of all this rainbow crap in itself is bullshit. People in the gay community have their rights as they should. Anyone should be able to live as they please. Society has come a long way in recognizing this gay marriages social equality etc etc .. But this constant over the top make gay community welcomed needs to end. It’s not the 80”s anymore, people have changed. Now it’s only for show and corporations making money. If someone dose t wanna wear a rainbow on their arm that’s their right and any liberal who says other wise is a Marxist fascist.
First came tolerance now it’s participation I see. Being gay is nothing to be proud about.
It has always been a peversion to me. And where is the proof that Lovern is a homo. That was started by Ziva.
It is not tolerant to suspend brekalo. It is intolerant of intolerance
The simplest translation of our footballing greatness is to think how many teams would control play against us. Out possess us?
Spain, Brazil, maybe Germany.
I can barely think of a handful.
Tolerance???
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oqmTM-mNBL0
Liberal insanity!!! Tolerant of everyone and everything, except those who have a different opinion than theirs!
You still didn’t answer my question. How is it tolerant of Brekalo to suspend him from the national team!
We can be tolerant of natural human conditions that do not harm others. We cannot tolerate intolerance
The Truth,
You didn’t answer my question. How is expelling him from the national team being tolerant of his beliefs.
Yes, Jesus loved and ate with sinners (like me). However, he told them they had to repent/change. He never told anyone it was O.K to sin!
@ bz
Luck plays on all sides. I wouldn’t be opposed to an argument that we were unlucky in qualifying just like we were lucky in the world cup, which means Croatias true quality is somewhere in between
We are better than Iceland and Turkey but still worse than England,, Belgium, France etc
Croatia was arguably quite unlucky during qualifiers giving up last minute goals to Iceland, Turkey, and Finland. Not to mention the weather disaster vs Kosovo that nearly cost the team 3 points
@horvat
The rainbow arm band representing a tolerance toward the lbgtqtiap+ community. That’s all
As Catholics, we should understand that people have natural inclinations along a broad spectrum of sexual desires and just because of that they should not be excluded from the flock
We must always welcome all our lgbtqtiap+ friends to be one with us. Christ welcomed the ostracized… Even the sinner if you deem it so
Brekalo is not saying to go out and kill all homosexuals.
He simply doesn’t believe homosexual acts are morally acceptable.
Truth/Turkey
Can you please explain how it is being “tolerant” of Brekalo’s sincerely held religious beliefs that sodomy (anal sex) is morally wrong, by banning him from the national team?
Hate that we are giving Truth any serious airtime, but if luck has anything to do with this conversation, then I’d say we were unlucky during qualifiers.
Losing Vrsaljko, Pjaca, Rakitic, and Kramaric going into our away game at Iceland was an unlucky/flukish scenario (not even counting Subasic.) That was when qualifying turned ugly. Mind you, we still dominated the game.
Despite my family being heavily effected by the war and my brother fighting in it, i don’t hold a grudge against Serbia. Gotta move forward
In terms of brekalo, i had recently named him as the guy to watch
But this arm band incident is heavily questionable.
The main goal of Croatian soccer is to present ourselves favourably to the world so that Croatia may prosper
I had long advocated giving the arm band to lovren to show Croatias friendliness to the gay community
Because of the trouble brekalo has caused for us we should probably consider
1) lifetime ban for brekalo from national duty
2) making the Croatian captain of all age groups wear a rainbow arm band like wolfsburg does
This way Croatia can portray itself as the open minded, tolerant place it must be
Truth/Turkey,
How about your Serbia or Bosnia??? Nothing to say about them???
Pretty pathetic for you to be so obsessed/envious of us!
@ horvat
Population is irrelevant in the convo. I think everyone can agree that Croatia punches way above its weight in terms of its population
@maminjo
Qualifying campaigns count for a lot as they provide a much larger sample size. Simple statistics here.
Since 08, Croatia has played about 50 qualifiers and 17 tournament games.
If you look art correlation between qualifying performance and tournament performance broadly, it is very high. Qualifying tells you a lot and Croatia has consistently struggled
I’m willing to concede that Croatia might be slightly better than it shows in qualifying because it does not have the continuity of some other large nations where their players play together and with similar styles… But the general thesis holds true
No one celebrated harder in Moscow when Croatia beat England than me. But a big reason was i knew how lucky the results had been, how fortunate we were to see them, and that we may not see them again for some time
I still think Croatia gets knocked down to earth in l of n, although i hope not
Truth. Lol.
You’re losing credibility here.
Since when do qualifying game count for more than tournament games?
Qualifying games are pretty much prepared for on the fly, during the club season.
Who cares if they won their group or not. Most of the these guys care about simply qualifying. I’ve never seen a team care too much about their actual record, lol.
Also, Switzerland? Come on man.
Their best player (Shaqiri) is on the bench at Liverpool, and their strikers are B rate Croatian and Bosnian players who couldn’t make the cut for Cro or even BiH.
They are coached well and (surprise surprise) they put a lot of stock in qualifying games… But their talent level caps them as a Round of 16 team. They are a low ceiling team who has had a lot of luck in recent tournaments with the draw and has maxed out on their ceiling.
@the truth, we are much much better than switzerland. going into this world cup the only teams i feared were france, brazil, belgium, germany, spain…it was no fluke we got where we did. the only problem we have had is a psychological barrier caused by people thinking like you. according to pure football ability we have underperformed in several tournaments and been unlucky at times…so therefore i consider us to be an elite football nation. despite a small population, lack of resources, poor facilities, corrupt politics and all the rest. we have talent and we have passion and we have intelligence. we have a good culture that keeps peoples feet on the ground and hard working. like i say the barrier was psychological more than anything. i hope that psychological barrier has now been broken and we will continue to go into tournaments aiming to win them. Croatia can go to a world cup or euros and say “come on guys lets win this” with genuine conviction. i don’t think you can say the same for switzerland
The Truth,
Let’s not forget buddy, Croatia has a population of only 4.2 million people. Every tournament the commentators a blown away by the talent we continue to produce.
People over estimate how good Yugoslavia was. Croatia has done a lot better the last 20 years than they ever did!
Stop coming on to this site trying to make yourself feel better by posting anything negative you can think of about our team.
Josip Brekalo my boy!!!
https://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/hrvatska-zvijezda-bundeslige-necu-nositi-traku-duginih-boja-ja-sam-krscanin/2020054.aspx
In the end, i think it’s tough to put Croatia much above Switzerland
It’s true that Croatia now has this world cup silver on its resume but although well deserved i will continue to believe there was a lot of luck behind it. Tough to argue otherwise
Instead, to address Croatias full body of work, we should probably look to their qualifying campaigns which are less subject to fluke
In those, Croatia has not won a group since 2008? And finished runner up or third to England and Ukraine, Greece, Belgium, Italy and nearly Norway i think, Iceland
Not a great overall body of work there
Maybe you could argue the players are unmotivated during qualifying though
But you can’t argue the results of big events were much better
First round loss euro 2008
Missed wc 2010
Not out of group euro 2012
Not out of group wc2014
First round loss euro 2016
Contrary to what you may have been told, size does matter. We’ll see if Brekalo is willing and able to put some motion in the soccer ocean. Our success this summer was predicated on wings that liked to slam opposing players from behind. Hard to slam from behind effectively if you are smaller… is all I am saying.
I take issue with both.
RE: the Mamic theory…
The Mamic theory is something that I like to joke with peers about (hence my username), but the history of Yugoslav football counters that theory that Mamic is the sole reason why we have been good since 2006.
Fact is, Yugo always produced quality footballers and Yugo did pretty well in the World Cup and Euros. However, Yugo’s best players were all Croats. This is undisputed. I can get into details about this, but will only do so upon request. Not sure why Croats dominated the sport so much, but this had always been the case and it seems like the trend has continued even after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
You can say we got lucky in this past tournament…but we’ve done this before. Recently, in 1998. It doesn’t seem recent, but it is. Only four other teams in the World have made it to a World Cup semifinal twice in the past 20 years (Croatia, Brazil, France, Holland and Germany). That’s pretty good company.
I would not say that Croatia are a ‘slightly above average European team’.
Slightly above average teams would probably be a knockout round team like Switzerland, who likely never makes it as far as a quarterfinal or semifinal (let alone an actual Final).
Croatia are a very good team. Period.
A good team that was handicapped over a ~10 year period thanks to a war.
Making a semifinal and final over a span of 20 years, and doing similar things under the Yugo banner at both the World Cup and Euros (finishing in the semis and in the finals multiple times) is something that cannot be ignored. Those accolades have gone to Serbia (since they have taken over all things Yugo), but we were the reason Yugo did well in the past. No one else.
As for Belgium…
I just don’t think they are going to be some dominant force moving forward. They have managed to develop two generational talents in Hazard and De Bruyne who happen to be the same age (which is fantastic)…along with a very, very good striker in Lukaku. The rest of their team are okay, but guys like Witsel and Fellaini are no better than guys like Brozovic and Rebic. It’s really about that trio of talent in Hazard, Lukaku and De Bruyne that makes this team special.
But this has happened in the past with many teams throughout history. They develop some duo or trio that takes them to new heights, then disappear for decades. Happened to Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Sweden, Czech Republic…I’m sure there are more.
Belgium have been absolute garbage throughout the 90s and 2000s. Even their fourth place finish in ’86 was funny, where they managed to advance from the group stage as the third placed team in a group of four and ended the tournament with more losses than wins overall.
Lukaku is already their top scorer at age 25. Vertongen their most capped. This team right now is breaking all Belgian records. If their past is any indication of their future, then they will come back down to Earth very quickly.
The theory that a bunch of Africans will make their team amazing for many years to come is completely baseless, simply because what makes this team special is largely due to Hazard and De Bruyne (neither are African descent).
Now, if they can continue to create a bunch of Hazards and De Bruynes…then by all means, they are tier 1. But, they’ve never come close in the past and (judging by their current U21 talent) I don’t see them doing anything in the near future either.
Well do you take issue with Croatia being only a tier 2 European team or me lacing Belgium in tier 1?
I could buy your argument.. Perhaps Belgium will fall back to tier 2… But if still likely give them the edge over Croatia
Croatias “elevated” level of play from a lull in the earliest 2000s might be because of the war. The rise though might also coincide with mamic coming to power in 2003 and the factory of Croatian youth he pumped through Dinamo and into the national team. That pipeline is now in jeopardy
Speaking of longevity Srna with Serie A debut and a assist
@ truth
I hate to burst your bubble but history proves otherwise.
Croats have been the key players to Yugoslavia’s two 4th placed finishes (along with multiple quarterfinal appearances) IN ADDITION TO finishing 2nd and 3rd themselves in a short two decade span. Suker wasn’t even the first Croat to win the Golden Boot. Jerkovic did it in ’66.
Belgium was a semifinalist only once (over 30 years ago) and has produced far less talent overall.
You’re just making assumptions because you are likely in your 20s and haven’t followed the sport long enough to see good teams fall and rise.
You see this Belgium team and now you assume they will be forever amazing, yet you apply a different set of rules for Croatia lol.
Croatia’s lull period (post 1998 to 2006) was as a result of the war, and little kids not playing on mine-riddled football fields. Belgium has no excuse for their lull period.
I don’t know too much about their “infrastructure”, and I doubt you do either. You just assume that they have good infrastructure because they are a Western European country.
I’m sure the Netherlands has an even better infrastructure, yet the Dutch have missed two tournaments in a row now.
As for your African immigration argument…LOL.
No offense to any Africans (or half Africans) on this message board, but players of African descent are notoriously bad at peaking early as a result of a lot of their game being dependent on speed, strength and athleticism.
I like that you brought up Lukaku, because his recent disappearing act cost Belgium a World Cup. Lukaku is still only 25, but I am willing to bet you that he won’t get any better than he is now. Don’t get me wrong, he’s great…but he’s not going to improve. Whereas we have guys like Modric who are somehow better at age 33 than they are at 29 (his last World Cup).
Christian Benteke is another African dude that was a starter for Belgium only a couple years ago…and he was also in his early 20s. What happened to him? Also, this new young striker (Michy Batshuayi) will have a similar career path as well. Early peak, and a plateau once they hit 25.
All of them are good players, but if you are tying Belgium’s success on these players taking the next step over these next four years…well, I hate to be the one to break your heart, but it’s not gonna happen. They are already a finished product.
Also, the Netherlands (who have similar or better infrastructure and even more immigrants) have been missing tournaments lately. Care to explain that one?
This is why I like to use my brain over my cynical emotions like Truth does.
History has shown us that almost all of Croatia’s star players peak very late in their careers (late 20s to early 30s), and we continually produce top end talent, with the only lull period being in direct correlation to the several year period during the war.
Mandzo at 32, Raketa at 30, Modric at 33…are still major pieces to Champions League contending teams. Not many countries can produce players with longevity like that (and those guys all have a lot of mileage too).
Belgium will have a good team for the next World Cup for sure…but I’m still putting my money on Cro for the future.
Lol so what should Croatia do import Africans.
No thank you. Croatia is more
Important than the football team.
I think Belgium will be consistently solid. A good infrastructure and immigration sources particularly from Africa will continue to provide them talent. There’s no lukaku walking through the door for Croatia in the future but there will be for Belgium
@ Truth – this is a one off golden generation from Belgium so we won’t be below them in the future I would guess unless they randomly turn into Brazil. Belgium is historically not in that category, they may arguably be there now but not historically.
@ horvat
The idea that well be better at next euro is highly questionable
Modric, perisic, rakitic, vida will be two years further from their prime
Left back will still be a question. Kalinic in untested. Lovren unlikely to play a tournament without blowing it again
And who knows if vrsaljko, brozovic, rebic, or kramaric will be difference makers
Croatia will likely be what they’ve always been. A slightly above average European team with a punches chance which materialized last tournament
They will contunue to be in a tier below Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, England and possibly Italy..
They’ll be in the next group with Switzerland, Sweden, portugal, Netherlands etc
Dont get me wrong about Kovacic, he can still improve. I just hope one day I can taste his cock in my mouth and feel his cock in my ass.
Agreed Croatianperson85!
Agreed @ Vlad – Rog, Balic also (does his father not represent him, I heard he’s a head case?) too much talent moving too early and not playing.
Also the sport has become more of a business than ever. Chelsea has/had Delac for years and nothing. Pasalic plays in a new country every year. Clubs with deep pockets buy players and even if they don’t crack you’re lineup you can flip them in a few years time for profit as long as they don’t totally shit the bed and inflation (middle eastern oil money – Man City, PSG pushing the price up etc) .It’s a win win for the club to a certain degree.
Buy a talented kid when he’s young, either he develops and you got in early OR hopefully he’s decent and you can still sell him for more that what you paid.
Chelsea has been doing this since Abramovich took charge.
Kovacic was part of the first goal on the counter attack. New castle played 11 behind the ball all game pretty boring game.
Sosa came on late in the game thought he looked comfortable on the ball and seemed like he can be a player with a future.
Disappointing to see rog again on the bench guy needs a new agent.
Brekalo had a solid game the guy no doubt is national team ready.
The Truth/Turkey,
So sorry you have to watch this golden generation of Croatian football!
If everyone stays healthy, this team is going to be significantly stronger next Euros.
We have never had so many talented young players.
Looks like a toothless performance from kovacic and Chelsea with the two goals only coming once kovacic was off
Kpvacic often represents the worst of tiki taka
Great possession and awesome completion percentages
But toothless and leading to nothing
I think it was the Iceland wc game where he had 100 percent completion rate but only like 3 forward passes
@Slavonac – agreed but size will play a role in how fast/slow you are, if you use it to our advantage (duels won/lost) some guys are big and soft, others are small and punch above their weight (Gattuso). I think it’s more than just defence and heading. Modric is small but strong, every coach he’s had says he’s deceptively strong.
Brekalo is young and has time to develop but again it’s not always the size of the dog in the fight but the fight that’s in the dog. Mind you the more technically gifted you are and If you have speed, usually those players aren’t the grittiest.
My old coach used to say some guys carry the piano and others play it. If you can do both you’re a professional.
I do agree though we’re talking like this is preseason hockey and he needs to bulk up 15 pounds.
Size? Is this really a topic? Come on!!!!
It all depends on a players effective play and how involved they can be in the game, size matters only for head balls and defending set plays.
Goal Perisic
Perisic Brozovic and Vrsaljko all starting for inter today let’s gooooooo
Also re: Brekalo…
He’s only 20, so whatever strength or bulking that needs to happen will happen naturally as he ages and gets stronger.
I’m sure Perišić wasn’t jacked at age 20.
Brekalo is almost 6 feet tall. We’re not talking about some David Silva type winger here. He’ll be fine.
People forget that Srna couldn’t put in a cross higher than two feet from the ground for almost 8 years.
It was only at Euro 2016 where he suddenly stepped up and played a good tournament.
But just prior to that tournament, he had a very mediocre spell of providing any crosses to our strikers for many many years. On top of that, he would have the occasional defensive gaffe that would cost us dearly.
@BZ agreed, he needs to bulk up a bit to be on par with our other wingers
Vrsaljko still has a lot of offensive flaws to me. I don’t think he has the same ability that srna had to be able to create space with a man on him and put in a threatening cross
Manzda climaxed with NT WITH silver
Reasons why players retire after winning it even with a gaunteeed tournament left in their legs
@Maminjo-best RB at World Cup? Does that make him World Class? Scary thing is, I don’t even think he was 100%, more like 85-90.
@Andrej-Brekalo is an awesome passer, and not just crosses from the wing. Even during his time at Stuttgart playing RW, you can see he has great vision in tight spaces. He is great on the ball too.
Downside:Too small, and doesn’t have ability to trackback and knock opponents off the ball like Rebic and Perisic are ready and WILLING to do.
Does anybody know anything about Rebic’s injury. He’s not even on the bench today either.
Brekalo putting together some nice passes right now which I didn’t see last season.
There were people calling for Srna to come back, but a much better player in Vrsaljko got back to 100% health and pretty much became the best RB in the tournament.
@ Andrej
Awesome, thanks for the info! Hope he gets better soon.
Re Kramaric
Looks like he’s knee has been bothering him. Dalic knows about it but still called him up. The doctors haven’t found anything through imaging (MRI?) I’m guessing. So hopefully it’s just a minor ligament sprain and he seems to think it’s getting better.
https://www.tportal.hr/sport/clanak/javio-nam-se-andrej-kramaric-evo-sto-kaze-o-ozljedi-i-povratku-na-teren-foto-20180819
Kramarić not even on bench for Hoffenheim yesterday. Anybody know why?
@Goku – my bad, good call. I had a few too many earlier and actually thought for a second Srna did in fact retire then come back.
when did srna retire then return?
Nah.
I don’t think anyone cares for Nations League yet…so even if we finish last, it won’t really matter to Mandžo and probably half the fans out there.
Shitting the bed would be NOT qualifying for the Euros, but it would take a lot for that to happen,especially since it’s top two who advance and we will be seeded.
@Maminjo – Could you see him return like Srna if the NT starts to shit the bed?
Mandžo is no longer a reprezentacija player.
Not concerned with him anymore. He will do well with Ronaldo though.
http://www.sportingnews.com/ca/soccer/news/who-is-ronaldos-perfect-partner-at-juventus—mandzukic-or-dybala/1t5p0z5xosoyp1qgy1pqphgsys
I know it was one game but last week Mandza made the difference once he came on and Ronaldo was immediately more dangerous. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.