Dalić named his Croatia squad for September Nation League matches vs. Portugal & Poland Monday evening in Zagreb. In the past he has said he “will live and die by the veterans who got him his success.” But this is getting ridiculous.
Croatia’s current “Achilles Heel” are wingers. He has played guys out of position to fill both he left and right wing for well over a year now. So what does he do? Not call up our two best options in Marko Pjaca & Marco Pašalić. Absolutely baffling.
-why is Dalić not bringing on proper wingers to experiment with? (Pjaca & Marco Pašalić)
-Perišić got the call-up without having a club (this is confusing as well)
-Our guess is Matanović is getting called up to cap him ASAP as he was born in Germany and has played 5 games for the German U18 squad
Stanisic out.. Erlic now questionable.. Kovacic? Lots of injuries…any others? thin at the back line makes me think we will be definitely playing with 3 at the back.. he will have to call in Moro Pjaca and Marco Pašalić me 🤔
3-6-1
—————————-Budimir—————————
—————Perisic-—————Kramaric————
—Ivanusec————Majer—————Pašalić—
—————-—Modric———Kovacic—————
——-Gvardiol——Pograncic——-Sutalo——
————————–Livakovic—————————
Ideal subs..
————————–Matanović ————————
—————Baturina————Petkovic————
—-Pjaca—————L.Sucic———MarcoPasa
—(Sosa)—-Moro—————-P.Sucic—————
——-Gvardiol———-DCC————Jakic———
—————————-Kotarski—————————
Yes….I think Majer is out. He started the season playing great against Bayern Munich…..but injured….
Bring Sandro kulenovic in!! Give him a chance!!
I must agree becar! Something about him has a nose for being in the right spot.. he is wirey “Zilav” type of forward just like Mandzukic!
Looks like we will have Luka at helm in midfield with Majer Baturina and Sucic boys maybe all getting a chance here.. Matanović will be interesting to see hopefully too…
We’ll never know unfortunately because his time might be done too, but #7 never showcased his talent and a leader due to the selfishness of #10 and #4. Shameful. A total half of a generation lost due to stubbornness of getting to 300 caps. Unreal.
I’m also disappointed in players like Perisic who accept the call up when it’s obviously not the best decision for Croatia
I wonder what the players really think of it all
I hope they think of #4 as a clown like everyone else except our opponents when they see that number in the lineup they salivate. I certainly would if I was a RB.
Omg lol
What
Is
Dalic
Doing
ludilo
I think we already know, unless players retire Dalic will continue to play them. He basically said it at the close of the Euro.
I am not even surprised to see Perisic on the list. Most of us agree that if he remains injured and can’t play well for club then he shouldn’t be playing for the Croatian team either. Don’t get me wrong I am huge fan of Perisic but I don’t think this is a wise call up, for me it’s a lot like hanging on to Vida at this point. Perisic is injured and it is extremely difficult to fathom a comeback on his part at his age, and with the injury he has.
Even still, at this stage, I want Perisic to be the guy to break Suker’s record of goals, or to atleast surpass Mandzukic. I really think he deserves it, but with this injury I just don’t know.
I don’t really expect to see anything different with Dalic, his tactics I think remain the same, I don’t think the team will be as well off the second time around with Portugal unless Majer has a great game again like he did the first time. I am not expecting much out of this Nations League, but then again I felt the same in the last Nations League when we were missing Raketa and Mandzukic and had no clear striker.
Who knows it could happen.
#21 is a much better player than #4, yet #4 was put in at the 70th to protect a lead. #4 was not playing at all yet #21 was playing 90 every week even this past weekend.
Please explain the logic?
Read a report that Gundogan’s representatives are in England to have talks with Man City. If Gundogan comes back, Kova will most likely lose a lot of playing time, right..?
I forgot and as Great Anonymous Doom pointed out, Jakic has played some RB and is probably the only option to play there at this point.
I’d be shocked if we go to a 3-5-2 because we still don’t have any decent wingbacks to make it work. Sosa isn’t in form and we have no one to play on the right side as a winger. Very interested to see what Dalic cooks up here.
Probably same old 4-3-3 with Krama on the right…Budimir up top and probably Ivanusec on the left. Three mids will be Modric, Kova, Sucic.
If he had alittle balls id call matkovic from osijek why not. And the God Halilovic why not haha.
So here we go again he is cavlling Perisic who is done i have no idea what formation will be played or who plays
Baturina luka sucic have to be in the 11 imo with kova thats my midfield.
What is the 11 4 3 3 or 5 3 2 no clue what he is doing
livi jakic sutalo pongracic gvardiol modric kova sucic pasalic budimir krama?
Or 3 5 2 livi gvardiol sutalo erlic Ivanusec Sosa wing backs Kova Baturina Sucic Krama Budimir?
Dinamo 3 – 0 over Qarabag in an amazing match full of chances. Not sure how Qarabag did not score they had some great chances particular in the first half and should have leading by a couple of goals. At the end of the match Dinamo had a couple of chances to make it 4 – 0.
Baturina had a great match and so did Kulenovic who came on in the second half and scored two good goals. Kulenovic has improved a lot and should be on the radar for Dalic and a callup for the national team.
Merino still not at Arsenal
Gundogan could return to Man City
Not good news for Luka Sucic nor Kovacic
They should have sacked Dalic and gave Igor Tudor the job
Yeah or Terzic. He’s lurking too
Outside of Da Silva, I really don’t remember so many players dealing with so many knee injuries in the past. Quite possibly it was the lack of me not following the sport on a regular basis.
It gets depressing watching Croatia de-moralized year after year from our talent being devastated by the perils of the sport. Wonder if rules will every change to reduce the injuries somehow. In American football, you can sack a QB but can’t put your full weight to bear on them. These Primadonna get paid a mint, and the clubs can’t afford to lose them.
Stanisic out huge blow..Moro/Ljubicic callup? Dalic have balls to call up Duo wingers Pjaca/Pasalic..rather see that.. but in essence he can call up 3 more players anyways..
3-5-2(3-2-3-2) maybe in the works more then ever now..
——————Budimir——-Kramaric—————
———Ivanusec——Majer———L.Sucic———
————-—Modric———Kovacic——————
——Gvardiol—-——Erlic——-—Sutalo————
——————Matanovic—Pasalic——————
———Perisic-——Petkovic——Baturina——
—(Sosa)——P.Sucic———Jakic——————
———Pograncic—Gvardiol———DCC———
Looking at U21 fixtures / group standings for Euro 2025
We still have 4 games left
We play Faroe Islands than Portugal in September
A win vs Faroe takes us 2nd in group (above Greece – still w/ a game in hand) – 2nd gets to qualify via play-offs
Than vs. Portugal for 1st place in the group (i.e. if we won’t we’d have 19 points vs. 18 Portugal – same # of games)
Last time we played Portugal we got smoked 5-1 (Portugal has a +22 goal differential after 8 games – they smoking everyone)
So I’m okay prioritizing U21 Euro qualifications vs. Senior nations league – for September [even though U21 “means nothing” – it would still be good to qualify for a 2025 tournament – as good exposure / performance in the tournament – could lead to transfers next summer – which than sets up the senior team better for WC 2026 i.e. younger players playing for better clubs, more likely to get called up to senior team]
We should all watch the game vs. Portugal U21 – will be a great test to see how Luka Vuskovic does vs. top-notch opponents (hopefully the rest of the back-line is at least decent – so it’s not Luka vs. Portugal – we don’t need him to be made to look bad for Tottenham staff following his progress)
We may have to see a 3-5-2 or Jakić playing as a right back (he did it before in a similar emergency situation when he was at Eintracht Frankfurt). Hopefully this isn’t like the start to Nations League 2018…
Dalic had the horses in 2018 and 2022 and now he has to coach. He can’t. Put in the real player -manager in Modric and let him do what he has been doing all along and coaching the team. Dalic is a cover for HNS. That’s it.
Dalic goes to Euros w/ only 1 DM Broz
Now he calls up Jakic and P Sucic – so we know have 2 DM
But f-ing Nikola Moro and his 1 cap still make the standby list
Instead of another over U21 “winger”
lol
Maybe (hopefully) the plan is to announce Perisic on the list but he “gets injured” (or whatever) b/w now and September and either Marco and Pjaca get called up in place
If Dalic didn’t call Perisic he’s basically condoning Gattuso and his public spat with Perisic – this way allows Perisic gets to save face – which I have sympathy for (i.e. it should not be Gattuso after a month deciding whether Perisic plays anymore for the National Team – it should be Perisic and Dalic)
Apparently Sigur started following Canadian soccer accounts on social media this week ?
Talk about importance of timing in life – now that JJ and Stanisic injured – there is a wide open slot at RB
He must have told them he’s changing as he’s also not in the U21s either
I like the U21 calls-up better that senior squad – might as just well watch those games in September vs. the senior team – to see the next generation (at this rate after WC 2026)
Mali nije hrvat. klinci iz amerike i kanade ne znaju hrvatski. ima velika razlika s djeca iz njemačke ili austrije.
Ima velika razlika s djecom iz Njemačke ili Austrije.
That reads better in my opinion.
‘’Mladi’’ Hrvat iz Montreala ovdje – vjerujem da je ovo Hrvatski jezik ali možda griješim 😉
Bang on Anon. That’s what I’ll be watching next month. U21’s are the real Reprezentacija A.
With Stanisic now out, I’ll be interested to see what Dalic does. We all know his loyalty to the old guard so it’s not really a surprise that he called up Perisic.
My guess is he will stay conservative and slot Jakic in the Broz role. Sucic maybe starts as a winger like he did against Italy.
Sadly, I think we get killed against Portugal. Since we now have no true RBs on the roster, Leao will have a field day vs whoever we slot in at RB.
Bad news about Stanisic with the torn lateral ligament, probably out till new year if all goes OK ?
Maybe we can all hope our defensive line does amazingly this year.
Not so enthusiastic about the call ups. No true Wingers. Maybe things were horrible on training ground during Euros since Dalic didn’t play either Pjaca or Marco Pasalic… we will never know… seems like he has another vision and attacking wingers are not a part of it.. but he didn’t call up any more forwards/strikers which dazzles me as he could have… If I am correct 2 more spots were open? Interested in this Matanovic figure hope the boy shines and can somewhat mirror the great Mandzukic!
Anyways I think we may line up like this..
3-4-2-1(3-6-1)(5-2-3)
—————————-Budimir—————————
———-—Kramaric—————Pasalic————
———————————————————————
—Gvardiol—Modric—-Kovacic—-Stanisic—
———————————————————————
———Pograncic—-Erlic——Sutalo—————
———————————————————————
————————–Livakovic—————————
OR
4-3-2-1(4-3-3)
————————–Matanovic————————
———Petkovic————————Majer————
———————-—(^Ivanusec)————————
——-Baturina——–P.Sucic——–L.Sucic——
—(Perisic)————(Jakic>)—————————
—Sosa——-Gvardiol-—-DCC——-Stanisic—
———————————————————————
—————————Kotarski—————————
I want Kovačić and Luka Sučić to start in central midfield.
The third midfielder can be Modrić, Baturina or Petar Sučić (ideally we would sub this position to try at least two of them this game).
Curious to see how each of these three work with Kova/L.Sučić since those two are pretty much our guaranteed starters for 2026.
Has Merino been sold to Arsenal yet ?
Only 10 days remaining to get the deal done (after going on for months now – hopefully they don’t have “deal fatigue” at this point)….
“Black swan” for Luka Sucic (and National Team) if Merino doesn’t get sold in next 10 days
With the players that Dalic has called up (no wingers apart struggling Perisic) I’m hoping that he will experiment with the formations and drop his 4 – 3 – 3 and opt for 3 – 5 – 2 or 4 – 4 – 2. He needs to stop using midfielders as wingers, it is not effective.
Luka Vuskovic and Anton Matkovic have been called up by Olic for our U21 side. This is great because both can still play for our U19’s. Ante Crnac is also on the list, looking forward to seeing him play for the first time. The U21 is loaded with talented midfielders and forwards however defensively we have been leaking goals like a sieve. Hopefully Olic can fix this tactically and with new defenders like Vuskovic ?
Hopefully Olić turns out to be some genius tactician.
I don’t like what I’m seeing from Dalić since these Euros and Olić becoming his successor could be a significant step down.
I just hope Dalić plays something that makes sense and that we would use in a tournament.
I am afraid he might pull his random signature “give everyone a go” substitution, where he just throws in a bunch of players that would never play together, and we can’t even evaluate them properly.
Also Noa Mikic making the jump from U17 to U21
He was stand-out in the U17 game vs. Denmark in May where he scored a great goal – I remember watching him and saying wow (the following game vs. Wales not so much)
Is it true Kranjcar made the step up from assistant coach from U19 to U21 to now work with Olic ?
So these selections are a result of both Olic and Kranjcar ?
Our most in-form winger options all play on the right side now: Pašalić, Halilović, and now Pjaca, but it makes no sense to snub all of them, especially with Juranović injured.
On the left, Borna Barišić is in better form than Perišić at the moment and is playing regularly for a competitive club… It just isn’t fair to the players who are in form.
Jakić and Petar Sučić are good callups to see how the team can adjust to Brozović’s retirement.
I think we will see one of the following lineups:
Livaković; Gvardiol, Pongračić, Šutalo, Stanišić; Kovačić, Sučić, Modrić; Baturina, Budimir, Kramarić
or the same thing but with Sučić at RW and Kramarić LW and Jakić in the lineup instead of Baturina
At least he called up Jakic who should’ve been brought to the Euro’s to give us an extra defensive presence in the midfield… something we could’ve used in both the Albania and Italy games.
But that Perisic call-up is baffling. At the time I was already annoyed with how much he played during Euros, but calling him up now with his lackluster form is outrageous and if he sees meaningful minutes Dalic’s position should really be questioned.