Germany
Photo: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer
Chances are that Mario Mandžukić will only miss one match at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as a result of a red card against Iceland in November. As Mario awaits FIFA’s final decision, the former Dinamo Zagreb striker went to work against Werder Bremen on Saturday. Mario played the full 90 minutes and scored his ninth goal of the season in a 7-0 rout of Werder Bremen. With the Bavarian Giants holding a 3-0 lead, Mario was on the board at the hour mark as Franck Ribery found the #1 Croatian striker with a cross from the right side. It wasn’t a “typical-Ivica Olić-goal” as Mario had to hook the ball in with his trailing leg as the ball was behind him.
Mario Mandžukić scores his ninth goal of the season
Photo: AP/Patrick Seeger
Before the World Cup draw, Ivica Olić, made it clear that he wants to avoid Brazil, Mexico and Ivory Coast. Luckily for him, Croatia managed to avoid Ivory Coast. The last time Croatia faced Mexico was at World Cup 2002 where Ivica looked on from the bench as Mexico cruised to a 1-0 win. The former Dinamo Zagreb striker looks to be up for the challenge after scoring his seventh Bundesliga goal of the season for Wolfsburg in a 3-0 route of Frieburg on Sunday. Ivica started the match and played 85 minutes in the win. Take a look at how Ivica places himself in the right place in front of the goal and points to Luiz Gustavo exactly where he wants the ball.
Ivica Olić scores his seventh goal of the season
PHOTO:kicker.de
Ivan Perišić started and went the distance for Wolfsburg. The Croatian international played well as a left wing and bending in multiple crosses that Wolfsburg strikers weren’t able to put into the back of the net. Ivan finished the match with four shots. Wolfsburg jump Schalke 04 to fifth on the Bundesliga table with 26 points.
PHOTO: European cy
Hamburger SV lost for the third time in five games after registering a disappointing 1-0 home loss to Augsburg on Saturday. Former Dinamo Zagreb captain, Milan Badelj, started and played the full 90 minutes in the win. The Croatian international played well and wasn’t at fault for the lone goal. Milan finished the match without a shot and committed only one foul. Ivo Iličević came off the bench at the hour mark in search of an equalizer but couldn’t get anything going in the loss. The German born midfielder finished the match without a shot.
ENGLAND
Photo: Southampton FC
Dejan Lovren played the full match Saturday as Southampton held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw after losing their last three Premiership games. SkySports.com said of Lovren after the City match: he was a “A tower of strength in defence.” The man has completely turned around his career after a harsh falling out at Lyon last season. Lovren has been very disciplined in the back line as he has yet to receive a red card in the Premiership after being sent off multiple times in France. If he keeps this up for the next six months, not only should he expect to be in Croatia’s starting XI at the World Cup, but he should also expect some pretty enticing offers from big European clubs when the summer transfer window opens.
Niko Kranjčar had a light week as he remained on the bench in QPR’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth on Tuesday and only played the last half hour in a scoreless draw versus Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. Kranjčar add two shots off the bench, none on goal, in the draw as he has quieted down in the past few weeks. With the four points from the week, QPR sit tied atop the Championship table with Burnley for automatic promotion back into the Premiership next season.
UKRAINE
The Ukrainian Premier League will be on winter break until early March, however, Darijo Srna and leaders Shakhtar Donetsk have one very important game this week as they travel to England to take on a slumping Manchester United in a Group A Champions League finale. Manchester United is already through to the knockout round and Shakhtar would do the same with a win at Old Trafford. The Ukrainian champions can still go through without a point if Real Sociedad could defeat Bayer Leverkusen.
Italy
PHOTO: inter
Mateo Kovačić started for Inter for the first time since October as Parma held the Italian Giants to a 3-3 draw. The former Dinamo Zagreb midfielder played well and finished the match with two shots before picking up a yellow card late in the game. Inter missed a chance to pick up points on Napoli and remain fourth on the Serie A table. Hopefully, Mateo will continue to start after impressing against Parma.
PHOTO: Genoa
Šime Vrsaljko continues to impress at Genoa after starting and going the distance in a 2-1 loss to Cagliari on Sunday. The former Dinamo Zagreb prospect is the only Croatian international that continues to start in Serie A. Genoa was unfortunate to pick up a red card just before halftime. It took Cagliari 30 minutes to capitalize on the one man advantage and in the 93rd minute of play, Cagliari would get the game winner.
Ivan Kelava, Igor Bubnjić, Frano Mlinar and Josip Radošević all looked on from the bench as Napoli split the points with Udinese in an entertaining 3-3 draw. Tin Jedvaj and Ante Rebić looked on from the bench as Roma beat Fiorentina 2-1. Manuel Pamić failed to come off the bench as Chievo registered a 1-0 win over Sassuolo. Marko Livaja came off the bench in the 80th minute as Atalanta fell to Hellas Verona 2-1.
SPAIN
Luka Modrić was subbed on in the 74th minute of Real Madrid’s 0-0 Copa Del Rey draw with 3rd division side Olimpic. Luka picked up a yellow card in the 81st minute. Real will be at home for the second leg on December 18th.
Ivan Rakitić served a one game suspension for yellow card accumulation as Sevilla beat Racing Santader 1-0 in the first leg of their Copa Del Rey round of 32 matchup.
FRANCE
Danjiel Subašić kept a clean sheet as Monaco defeated AC Ajaccio 1-0 on Sunday. Subašić made three saves to ensure the shutout. With four wins in a row, Monaco sit 2nd in Ligue 1 through 17 matches.
Save: 1:00
RUSSIA
Vedran Ćorluka started at the back on Saturday as Lokomotiv Moscow were held by Rubin Kazan in a scoreless affair. The draw allowed Zenit St. Petersburg to pull level with Lokomotiv at the top of the Russian Premier League.
Stipe Pletikosa was in net for FC Rostov as they conceded a late goal in a 1-0 loss to 3rd placed Spartak Moscow on Sunday. Rostov dominated the match but failed to score and were stunned by Abdul Waris’s 89th minute goal off a corner. Rostov sits 8th in the Russian Premier League through 19 matches.
Save: 0:30, Goal: 2:37
Next Matches:
Tuesday, 12/10
Manchester City at Bayern München(Champions League), Real Madrid at København(Champions League), Shakhtar Donetsk at Manchester United(Champions League)
Saturday, 12/14
Southampton at Newcastle, Fulham at Everton, Hamburger SV at Bayern München, Stuttgart at Wolfsburg, Real Madrid at Osasuna, Monaco at Guingamp,
Sunday, 12/15
Internazionale at Napoli, Atalanta at Genoa, Torino at Udinese, Athletic Club at Sevilla,
~Ante Kvartuč and Denis Svirčić reporting from sunny Southern California, Zach Gilfix reporting from Minneapolis, MN
True.
yeah and why would adidas and nike do a press conference together, that was Real showing off how many different countries they have represented at WC
Not the new kit, the players are all holding the current kits. Portugal’s new kit has been out for awhile.
http://www.tsmplug.com/football/kits/croatia-jersey-2014-world-cup/
new kits? look the same to me.
@ dannyj
thanks for the link. I mentioned Sertic yesterday. I can sense the hesitation on many, but i am ok with him playing and think he can help. especially b/c he seems to play a position that we’ve had a lot of question marks over. it’s always good to build our depth also
we’ve been very fortunate this qualifying campaign not to have any serious injuries ( i can’t think of one). it is difficult to predict if that will continue to be the case going into the world cup
Rebic off to serie b ???
http://www.vecernji.hr/nogomet/fiorentina-salje-rebica-na-posudbu-u-drugoligasa-novaru-908350
i think its most important we show the world we are not some little pushover and that most importantly we are warriors that go out there and on any given day we can beat anyone in the world…
and im not saying im for the guy, just passing this on… i always said id rather lose with “plumbers” like olic and simunic who leave everything out there then douche bags with all the talent in the world
im going to play the role of HAET for this one… at least he is white lolol better then sammir
and apparently kovac is going to fifa with him to get him cleared for playing for us…??
saw this over at xtra time… and didn’t see it posted… very interesting… sertic is rated 2nd behind zlatan in french league, if this is legit and he really does want to play… maybe we got something there
http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/74/Tournaments/22/Seasons/3836/Stages/7771/PlayerStatistics/France-Ligue-1-2013-2014
Croatia to play Kosovo in a friendly?! What a waste!
big thankx to you americans for helping the mexicanos qualify, NOT!
Usa cant stop helping their southen neighbors and what do the usa get in return?// sipak!
Now croatia have to contend with CONMEBOL’s giant and concacafs giant.
i dont like chances.
Panama would’ve been good.
Susak here is what Suker said a couple of weeks ago
“‘Vidjeli ste da smo dogovorili utakmice s Japanom, Meksikom, Kanadom. Razgovarao sam s Nikom, imamo opcije s Nizozemskom i Švicarskom tako da nećemo imati problema s utakmicama. Niko bi volio da igramo u Europi, a mi ćemo sve napraviti da što bolje organiziramo pripreme za SP.”?
and here is what he said yesterday
“blizu bio dogovor o prijateljskoj utakmici Meksiko – Hrvatska koja se trebala igrati u Los Angelesu, ali od toga sada neće biti ništa…”
Now, none of this means that they will end up playing here. BUT, if they were ready to play Mexico in LA, who is to say they wouldn’t play Canada in Toronto (whom he said they have match setup with) or now the United States somewhere in America.
That’s what I’m hoping for, as I stated earlier today, I’ve got my homer glasses on and have a HUGE amount of hope we can get back to our responsible type of play, where it was tough to steal a point from Croatia! I hope we incorporate some of our younger kids and balance the lineup, if we can do this I have no doubt in my mind we will be a good team that, with patience and the proper strategy, can compete with anyone!
Argentina in Buenos Aires in May?
Nigeria in Europe?
They would love to play us as tune up for BiH.
NYC for USA v Croatia.
Yankee stadium
Metlife
Citifield
20k Hrvati would be out rocking the Grb !
Obitelj Matesic would roll up 3 generations deep.
@ Slavonac
Uvijek Vjerni.
Kovac will line up all the young studs within our system of organised togetherness.
I may be wrong, but isnt there a rule that two teams that are involved in a major tournament (world or euro cup), cannot play each other in a friendly a certain time leading up to the start of that tournament? For example, lets say the deadline is May 15th, Croatia would not be able to play Ecuador or the U.S. in their last friendly. I could be wrong, but thought it was an old rule.
I highly doubt that Croatia will be coming to North America, right before a tournament. I can see a a friendly being played in like Geneva against a south american side or in Brazil. Kovac will have this team in Brazil getting acclamaited to climate and life a good 10 to 14 days before that first game.
Mishko- true and fucking disgusting, when Canada played in Mexico City they were greeted with piss, shit and vomit…. Nicely bagged and thrown at them when they had a throw in or corner kick! Disgusting animals!
A couple of years ago I was driving in Monterrey Mexico during rush hour morning traffic, as I turned onto the ramp to get on a bridge there were 3 bodies hanging from the side of the bridge, one guy had half his leg cut off! I hate the violence and disgusting shit holes that live in Mexico, trust me, there are many!
Their culture is very extreme and diverse, you should never underestimate anything from there, anything is possible….from extreme acts of kindness to the most repulsive douche bags on the planet! I know this and have spent a lot of time in Mexico on business and with my wife’s family!
I hope Croatia never has to play there, it would most likely be their worst ever experience!
@Deniis, Mexican fans are a vile bunch. Pure filth. Playing a friendly in Canada or the U.S. would be nice.
When the U.S. played Mexico in Mexico a few years ago it was the same b.s., throwing beer, bags of piss etc.
When we play Brazil. If we’re one up come the half there better be a shit load of police there. Because the mulatos will burn the place down. I venture we don’t get one decent call.
.
After visiting Vancouver and Toronto, I’ve always said that Croatians in Canada are on a different level then us Americans. The ideal location would be Toronto.
I remember watching(on TV) a Serbia-Mexico game in Phoenix four years ago or so. Serbs were running to the tunnel as they were sprayed with beer and piss balloons from the stands.
HNS doesnt know what they are getting themselves into if they face Mexico anywhere in the southern US.
Also, we will be outnumbered 500-1.
I wouldnt mind facing the US anywhere in the states.
.
I agree majstore, my team once played in the small town of London, ON and the Croatians were very hospitable to us, when we played in the North American tourney in Hamilton I couldn’t believe how many Croatians there were, it was pretty amazing!
Interesting.
That being said i’d be the first to book a flight out to see them anywhere in North America, but in terms of creating a spectacle, and bringing everyone together to have a killer time and create a killer vibe … The best option would be Toronto.
SoCal would have sucked COMPARED to Chicago or NYC. And Toronto would be better then both Chicago or NYC. I don’t think that can honestly even be debated.
There are a greater number of Croatians in Southern Ontario and on the whole through out all of my experiences both in America and Canada, and i’m not saying that this is always the case, of course there can be exceptions to this rule BUT we in Canada are more hardcore then you guys south of the border. My family and friends down South always say this as well.
So yeah, that’s why.
Majstore I’m curious as to why you think the support wouldn’t be good.
Doesn’t the Mexican league end much earlier than Europe?
As things stand right now, there is a better chance of a USA-Cro friendly taking place in Europe during the March window than there is of a USA-Cro game taking place in the US.
The US is going to play England in a friendly in May (probably Florida) and will probably play Canada up in Toronto also in May. That leaves room for maybe one more game in May for the US. Not sure if Cro could fit into that window.
Mexico would have been a better possibility, because the Mexicans plan to play a minimum of five matches leading up to the World Cup with all but one of them taking place in the US.
Yeah Suker came out yesterday and said a game would have taken place in LA vs Mexico had they not drawn each other. If that were to be their only game in North America it would have sucked in terms of atmosphere.
Last month Suker also mentioned a match with Canada as well. A game in Toronto would be mental then a game in the states in terms of vibe. If that does not come to fruition though I would take a game in Chicago or NYC, but doubt the support would be as good.
Brazil will definitely underestimate us.
Ziva,do you believe Cro can stun Brazil and win?
Antwerp – very true and I agree, right now Mexicans think they’re already through!
Ziva,
What percentage of you thinks Cro might be playing a friendly in the US or Canada before the World Cup? I can’t take off my homer glasses as I already see my name in lights thinking about the possible encounter. News flash: just went from 6 to midnight.
@ Slavonac
Let Brazil and Mexico underestimate us. We have them right where we want them. We’ll take’em by surprise. And we wear the underdog tag a whole lot better.
While we won’t reach the Final, opening the World Cup against the host nation Brazil gives us a chance to gain some major spotlight. This is like our final.
1 Billion people will be watching. And it will give our players a chance to represent Croatia, and show them who we are and how hard we fight.
I would love for us to upset the host nation in the opening match. It would send a message to the world of seismic proportions. Everyone will recognize the Grb.
yeah…but don’t they normally play local teams?
could also mean the game takes place in Brazil. That is not uncommon either for the team to arrive in the host country early enough and play a friendly.
US Memorial Day weekend?! Holy shit this only gets better and better!
First friendly can be played on March 5. After that date you have to wit until the domestic seasons are completed in Europe and throughout the world. Then you can schedule a friendly between May 26 and June 10. Since we open up the WC on June 12, I assume Kovac will want to have the team in Brazil about a week before everything kicks off. So, if a friednly would take place it would be between May 26 and June 4.
JM – I absolutely agree with you, but to my point…the issued we had were not necessarily because we don’t have the right players….its already been proven from 18 months ago that the very same players can perform, right?
I’m just hopeful that Kovac organizes and re-establishes the team to play with a good system, less errors and build on their small successes!
Sertic: I think he’s only a 1/4 croatian. his grandfather. in which case, i can’t really blame him for not having cro as his first option. he is .75 french and lives in france. speaks french etc. that being said, in the end if he wants to play for cro and shows sincerity in that (even if it is second choice), i don’t mind having him on the team, especially if he can help.
@ slavonac
I think more so than the results, you have to look at the perforamnce in the games. cro was down to macedonia twice, wales, liechtenstein etc. somethinga truly top ranked side should never do. to me it seemed they lacked organizaiton, system etc. the way cro played against iceland in round 2 should be the way cro looks against those types of opponents.
@ Ante really that be nice where you read that
Potential talks for a Cro US friendly in either Chicago or NY. Was supposed to be Mexico vs Cro in LA if we didn’t draw them.
Chicago would be the best setting. Right in the middle of East and West. May God have mercy on our souls if that comes to fruition.
REST IN PEACE TO CROATIAN BORN TORONTO POLICE CONSTABLE JOHN ZIVCIC WHO DIED IN THE LINE OF DUTY.
TODAY WAS THE POLICE FUNERAL OF 7000 STRONG.
http://www.cp24.com/
Well my pov on choosing National teams is if lets say you were born in Germany Spain etc big boys and they reject you and then you go to your second choice country i have problem with that dont like.
As for Sertic he saw france dont need him maybe hed get call up to B france games but a 23 main stay no.
Also, Fifa change rules all the time and are corrupt thats how football works,
Regarding the WC 2014 STO BUDE BUDE>
WERE GONNA FUCKN SMASH BRAZIL – CANT WAIT !!! AWWWWW YEAHHHH BISHES
@Slavonac, great stuff brother.
yeah but the flaws weren’t necessarily with the player selection as much as they were with his poor decisions and lack of strategy, he made mistakes…many…and to make matters worse he started to call players out and the team started to fall apart, no unity!
regarding underdog and favorite. we were underdogs at the last Euro’s, but I don’t think we behaved like that as a team! when you play with discipline it means you normally get the result more often than not! Playing your opponents with the respect that they are dangerous and we have to first defend with 10 behind the ball is demonstrating discipline. Playing any team with 3 attackers that don’t know their role (which is what both Mandzukic and Olic said) along with other questionable decisions doesn’t mean your overall team is less quality than your opponent, it just mean the decision on the lineup and formation/strategy was poor. And, even so, Belgium were gifted one of their goals and the second wasn’t much better.
There is a different mentality when playing the underdog role and playing the favorite role.
The Euro grouping was a good fit for us because he had the approach of not playing scared and nothing to lose.
When the WC draws came out, many had us as the favorites to win the group. Stimac coming in ruined everything. He got the results he needed the first four games, but upon closer look there was not much in the way we played the game. The early results under Stimac covered up our flaws – and there were flaws.
Today I’m in some kinda strange homer mood so I want to throw in my two bits about our team! Many people here (ie…Ziva) have claimed they knew Belgium were going to win our qualifying group and with that said, many say they are better than Croatia…well, here’s my theory!
When Croatia finished the Euro’s they were perceived as everyone in the world as a respectful soccer nation, we basically left the Euro’s and left behind the Bilic era and went into qualifying for this world cup! In 2012 we first lost to Switzerland in a friendly then for the remainder of 2012 went on to win 5 game and tied Belgium in Belgium…nobody was overly concerned. During that same time period Belgium was bust tying Greece, Montenegro….losing to France and England and then going on a consistency run…absolutely no difference from how we were doing…the only was they were scoring more goals.
The major difference between us and Belgium started in the beginning of 2013 and its where the wheels fell off! here is a question to you guys. What changed (in your mind) between 2012 and 2013? We had the same players, if not…even better, we had the same system…same opponents and to be honest, Belgium wasn’t tearing it up…they just played like we did under Bilic!
If Bilic was coach today, do any of you think we’d lose to Mexico? My point in these comments I’m making is I have looked at several stats from the past 18 months, if anything, our team personnel is better than before 2 years ago so why are we so fucking generous to our opponents? I like our team, really…I think if we get some good training sessions together, consistency and understand the system…I believe this team can be successful at this world cup!
I remember an old coach once told me…its never good to be overly confident and disrespect the game and your opponents “ali jebiga…moramo bit bezobrazni”…as if to say, “we should be feared as well”! who the fuck are Mexico, really? when I played, I never ever thought we would lose, I always thought we could win every game, I am floored at how many have lost faith in Croatian soccer, if anything we are a dangerous Nation to fuck with.
Am I crazy to think like this?
Yes, I think we have to analyze other things as well, for one…Cameroon won’t want to lose their first match and just may park the bus in front of the Mexican team while Mexico will definitely attack….could they open themselves up for a counter? Croatia have a lot to gain in the first game…as much as I realize that Brazil will have the power of the fans behind them (which they won’t really need), there is always that possibility of nerves working against them, also, just a possibility, if we all pray to Virgin Mary for a quick goal for our boys that will take the crowd right out of the game!
I would have loved for Bilic to have been our coach when he was at his best. In many cases he over analyzed but for the majority I thought he did well. I think he would have had a plan for each team and would get the result he was looking for. In the last Euro’s I thought we did very well…against Italy, where in the second half we came out and played…we managed Ireland cautiously and (I’ll say this wearing my homer glasses) I also think we could have had more luck against Spain. 1) I still think their goal was offside and 2) Rakitic …never mind…I wont go down that road again!
if Kovac approaches our 3 games with a strategy that will be suited for our opponents then I think we will get momentum and surprise many…yes, I’m wearing those “homer” glasses Ziva!
Right, its all up the refs.
Here is why so many think Mexico can go through. Their young talent (lookk at showing at youth cups), their recent results at the WC and they remember how Mexico was playing before the start of qualifying for the World Cup.
Now, I have no idea if they can pull things together. But, I don’t see them being an east team for us to knock out.
I think we can all agree Cameroon is the weakest team in our group. After the first set of games I expect Mexico and Brazil to each have three points.
After the second set of games I expect Brazil to have 6 points, mexico to have 3 and hopefully we have 3 as well. If we tie against Cameroon (unlikely), but if we do, that would mean we have 1 point going into the last game against Mexico and all Mexico would have to do is tie. If we beat Cameroon then things are wide open.
Playing Brazil the first game will put us in a whole and means we will have two win the next two games.
@ Slavonac we’ll make it through, but if the refs don’t call blatant hand balls in the box i.e. Iceland in the last game it’s going to be tough. If the refs make honest and fair calls I don’t seeing us have a problem, but as WE all know, they’ve fucked us in the past, i.e. Spain.
So we’ll see.
.
Slavonac perhaps because Mexico is a bigger country and has qualified for Round of 16 in like the last 5 straight World Cups, something only Brazil and Germany have also done. I doubt it has to do with the current roster.
Also the weather/humidity may be less of a factor for them. And they have very little travel to do in Brasil while we will log some serious air mileage (we have 2nd worst travel distances, they have 2nd best travel distances)
after the draw I saw literally 10’s of write ups on the groups, ours in particular. I’m kinda shocked at how we are perceived by the world…most web sites have us not making it out of the first round. When I start to look at our team and think realistically, I see us going through…that is of course if we can get to a level of consistent decent results and the majority of the players are in form and healthy. why does the majority of the world see Mexico as the team to go through to the second round with Brazil, am I missing something?
then I’d have to say he can play with France, au revoir! I can’t imagine he’d show “heart’ playing for his second best choice!
No, he admitted a few years back France was his first choice. Didn’t turn his attention to Cro until it was clear he was not in France’s plans.
Ziva – its an issues to me too…the second choice thing pisses me off, I’d pass on them 100% for sure. My question is moreso regarding the diaspora like Simunic or Rakitic…guys that have always had the dream to play for Croatia even though they were born outside they still have the dream to do so. I have no idea on the Sertich kid…was Croatia his first choice?
@Slavonac………valid questions. I guess I wouldn’t pass on a someone who can’t speak 9although, it is a big issue to me). I assume he would learn the language. But, id o have an issue with picking someone because we are their garbage (their second choice).
You don’t have to worry about a diaspora hrvat from N. America ever reaching the level where he would be considered for the repka. There haven’t been any so far and noone has come close. Only two hrvati i can think of are Ante Razov and Ante Jazic and both those guys were quality MLS players.
Then again, I’m sure the 91ers see nothing wrong with any of this.
Ziva – I kinda agree with you, I was shocked at the previous rumours of Bilos and a couple of Croatians from abroad but I have to ask you…does it matter? I’m not asking you sarcastically, I really am asking you to look at the future. Think about it like this, in 15 more years there may be some good Croatian diaspora in the US (hahaha…maybe) or more from Germany, Italy or even some south American nation. Most countries around the world wouldn’t hesitate, if the player is good enough and their parents are former residents then why not? How different is it than Joe Simunic or Ivan Rakitic? Just because they speak Croatian doesn’t make them any more so than some Hrvat from Argentina that doesn’t. Both my brother and I speak, read and write Croatian very well but one of my cousins doesn’t, what if he was such a great soccer player from Sweden and was playing his club soccer at Chelsea and had the opportunity to choose, imagine…first generation diaspora…world class player that can’t speak…you would pass on him because he doesn’t speak Croatian?
One negative point for not knowing the language but there’s an even more pressing issue: we were never his first choice. No to Second Choice Sertich for me.
Are you guys OK with Sertich playing for the repka? I just have a hard time accepting a guy who cant speak the language and this was not his first choice.
great job as always but two important misses in the report
SERTIC: you gotta start reporting on him. I think he has a very good chance at being in our starting 11 in brazil as ridiculous as that sounds. Had another assist today, this time for his team to win over Lille who hasn’t given up a goal in like 1000 minutes or something stupid like that.
Pranjic : scored two goals. even after iceland, i don’t think he’s a starter in brazil. maybe as a left mid fielder against brazil to put on a very defensive team like he played against spain in euro 2012. wild ride for him! went from never playing on the repka again to starting two playoffs matches and participating in the winning qualifying game in zagreb. bet he didn’t see that coming!
@Mishko………..comical that you confuse me for a liberal. Far from it, but either way carry on.
In other news Croatia votes to ban gay marriage. So the question remains does that mean that Ziva will not move back home now? 🙂
http://c-fam.org/en/issues/marriage-and-family/7635-croatia-upholds-marriage-despite-government-threats
problem is there is nobody who can replace Srna.
Vrsaljko playing regularly the full 90 for Genoa has to be down with first 11 for Brazil.
Play him at right wing protect Srna.
Then bring in a young winger for Srna and drop Vrsaljko to RB,
Friends, if you ever dreamed about having the chance to consume jadan i mali hajduk dairy products, well here you go: http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/predstavljeni–hajducki–mlijecni-proizvodi—marin-brbic—nadam-se-milijunskim-iznosima-/1145505/
Now is your chance.
So basically what i got from this report is that DEJAN LOVREN is the most brilliant thing since sliced bread and he will carry us to impressive WC2014 performances !
Thanks CSR !
Illicevic scored a goal mid week.
Pranjic scored two goals over the weekend while Schildenfeld also played 90 mins.
@Nk Susak…….hey man, the fortified basement is paradise, plus Mama Istina does all cooking and cleaning. So, can’t complain.
I’m just trying to help out. When I read the club has ambitions to be in the NPSL and then I see the players on the team and the bad grammar on the website, I have to wonder if this is really a “professional” outfit. Listen, if someone is going to provide the link to their own website, or post photos or provide other personal items on the message board, then they deserve any criticism that comes with it. They open themselves up for it.
@ Garden State ………plz run spell check on your “articles”
@Nk Susak @ Ziva…….he’s completely right…….i have looked at that teams roster and some of them look blatantly out of shape so their touch and if any skill they poses will be useless, coming from someone who’s played d1 college soccer here, USL and druga hnl, i can tell you that my 17 year old brothers club team will beat them 10-0
They love soccer and enjoy it, but they don’t play at a high level, most of them are old.
“Don’t know if I should applaud you for dreaming so high or shake my head laughing.”
This coming from someone that is gonna spend the rest of his life living in his mothers basement. Ziva, you keep shooting for the stars buddy. Everyone elses dreams and ambitions are a joke, but you, you are the greatest.
NPSL ambitions????? Don’t know if I should applaud you for dreaming so high or shake my head laughing.
Here is our update:)
http://gscroatiafc.com/first-half-13-14-summary
To all of you we wish Sretan i Blagslovljen Bozic (Merry Christmas) and all the best in New Year
GS Croatia FC
5-4-1 v Brazil Pletikosa Lovren Carli Sifo Srna Pranjic- Kovacic Rakitic Modric Olic -Eduardo.
V Kamerun 4-2-3-1 Pletikosa Srna Lovren Carli Pranjic-Modric Rakitic-Kovacic Perisic Rebic-Mandzukic
V Meksiko- 4-3-3 Pletikosa Srna Lovren Carli Pranjic Modric Rakitic Kovacic Rebic Olic Mandzukic.
Kovacic played well nice game he is only 19!
What interesting is the announcers think Kovacic should be more selfish because he’s got so much talent. Their words not mine, but I agree.
Watching the Inter game. Kovacic starting and looking very good almost scoring.
Lovren is down in the first 11 at CB.
We need to focus on these young studs to see who will break through in the next 6 months.
Srna needs all the young legs around him to ensure that it does not get exposed on an island.
Forgive the redundancy but this will be the first World Cup since ’98 when our best players were in their prime and we had young legs off the bench. If Ciro plays Prosinecki for an injured Boban then we beat France !
Za duh !
@Mishko,
some Brit that writes for Yahoo. I like his predictions. However, he doesnt have a dark horse.
Very comfortable with the ball at his feet. What other EPL CBs do you see doing Cruyffs deep in their own box?
He is made for the EPL. He could easily play at Man U or Barcelona.
Puyol is ancient and Mashcerano isn’t a CB.
@Faux well I think they paid 8.5 million for him so Southampton would need to get an offer of 15 or more to make that happen.
The problem I see is that the fans love him and he’s become a center stone for the team. With his current form he’s become a 20 million dollar player.
So we’ll see. But I think he’s really progressing in their program.
@ Denis who the hell is the writer. Looks like a nobody.
@Mishko:
Call me crazy, but I see Lovren at ManU or Barcelona.
interesting wc prediction:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/soccer–group-by-group-predictions-for-2014-world-cup-214645429.html
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Theres no doubt: Lovren is playing with HEART and seems like hes READY to play before every game.
Lovren i hope can clean some musice in his head and not make bad pass and keep focus. Lovren Carli cb partnership i hope works out if Joe is a no go,
Check out the present Lovren got today. BTW the fans love him. If you missed the game today you really missed out. He played as a defender then a wing then a midfielder and provided crosses, passes etc etc. Not jock sniffing, but he really played phenomenal today, and this was against Man City. I’ll bet by summer a bigger club tries to steal him away, my guess he’ll stay because he seems to be having fun and Southampton have potential. They really do play like a team.
https://twitter.com/DejanLovren05/status/409427342990520322/photo/1
Mandzo can go to any club beacuse he is a team player and can score not a true 9 but good. wonder what Niko Kovac 11 will look like, it should be fun we have 6 months to go. Friendly build ups id go with since Spain and Japan is listed on HNS site dont know if it will change those games, my build up would be Argentina Ghana Costa rica maybe even USA.
I think Mandzukic and Gotze going the full 90 in a 7-0 thrashing is promising for SMM’s position on that team.
Niko Kovac needs to prepare team for Wc Draw v Brazil beat Cameroon and Mexico round of 16 is a achievement for me.
As far as Mandzukic not replicating his performances for Croatia, let’s not forget he scored 3 vital goals for Repka in the qualifying cycle. The 2 against Serbia and the 1 against Iceland. He was crucial in those matches.
@ Lika Joey and Ziva
While I do agree that Mandzu benefits from Bayern’s system. Don’t overlook all the things he brings to the table. These services are highly valued.
If they weren’t, Bayern would have sold him for 23 million EUR and then replaced him with someone cheaper (and turned a nice profit) since anyone can score goals in that system.
In addition, we are in need of a forward that can create on his own. Davor Suker was once this Talisman, and to some extent Eduardo prior to injury.
We just need “The Return of the Talisman.” Stay tuned to see who assumes this mantle.
HVALA as always Ante! great explanation and I am looking forward to our run even if I feel the draw and locations were not so favorable. I would LOVE to play even one of those teams as one of the friendlies. Do you know how many friendlies to expect from Jan through Jun 12? 2 or 3?
I saw the last kit came out Feb 27 2012 (right before another early March friendly?) so perhaps the next one will be around the same date. That gives my mom plenty of time to sew up one for my Luka hehe
I’d like to play Argentina and Nigeria before the World Cup, but we’d just be giving the Brazilians, Mexicans, and Cameroonians more video and scouting reports to play against us better.
I say we play NO more friendlies and let them use Stimac’s qualifiers for their research.
😉
@ nepoznat,
That may be the only official FIFA day during the season that FIFA will allow club teams to let go off their players. What usually happens when the European season ends, teams schedule games in late May/early June for their friendlies and don’t need them to be played on FIFA days as seasons are over anyways.
If you’re going to be a part of the World Cup team, you’re going to want to be with the team here anyways.
I don’t see how we cannot play Argentina in a friendly as we have Brazil and they have Bosna in their group. I’d like that to be played in Buesnos Aires one week before the World Cup.
I would also welsome a game against Uruguay in South America. If we can get a taste of Suarez and co before the Cup starts, we should be well prepared for Mexico. Uruguay has Italy and England in their group.
I would also welcome a friendly with a very speedy Ghana side. They have Germany and Portugal to play with. All these scenarios work out for all sides as all the teams are on oppositie sides of the draw and can’t meet until the quarterfinals anyways.
@nepoznat,
Thats weird but I think you are right. The US has a friendly on feb 1st against Korea and that isnt a FIFA international day so they wont have all of their European players for this one.
btw can there really only be 1 friendly match prior to the World Cup? according to this FIFA Calendar link there is only 1 friendly listed and it’s in March
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/calendar/events.html
I agree to a certain extent Ziva. But in Brasil, against a much shorter Mexican team we can use his height and leaping as an advantage if we can get some nice crosses in. Perhaps Pranjic will be needed in this match (I would not play him vs Brasil however, not at LB anyways) to help send in quality balls
@lika Joey……….he is in a perfect system with Bayern. What he brings is ideal for the way Bayern runs things and the players they have. A prefect marriage. Mandza will be one of those guys who will never replicate his performances with Bayern to the repka because we dont have the same amount of talent on the repka to surround him. That is why it is vital we have a second forward who can create on his own. Maybe Rebic is the answer one day. We all know the likes of Kalinic and Jelavic are not.
@Miško
Crazy goal by Osvaldo.
My guess is that Southampton won’t be loaning him out this January after all.
He still needs to step up and start scoring. They spent too much money on him.
He was a top 10 in Germany with Wolfsburg!
Ziva,admit it….Mandzo is class!
Was it an Olic-style tap in goal?
Mandzukic scores in Bayern’s 7-0 demolition of Bremen. It’s nice to know a Hrvat spearheads the attack for the best team in the World.
Don’t you guys love watching Man U lose?!
OK he’s fine. Whew.
Fucking GREAT, Lovren injured but playing. In obvious pain. This is not what we need.
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@IvicaA did you see this goal by Osvaldo? Finally the guy does something good.
http://giant.gfycat.com/PertinentHugeAmericanriverotter.gif
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We need to call up and play some other CBs not named Ćorluka and Šimunić in these next few friendlies.
We need to try out Renato Kelić and a few others. They’re younger, faster and could surprise you.
Lovren is the key to how well our back line plays this summer.
Brazil, Mexico & Cameroon are too fast to not include Lovren as our starting CB. Kovač needs to find a good partnership with Lovren in these next few friendlies.
Lovren is playing awesome today. They are 1 down, but he’s all over the place doing everything right and much more.
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Go Dynamo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1z81KcKBjo