Croatia has had many superstar strikers in its history, namely Davor Šuker, Eduardo, and Mario Mandžukić, but today, this position is the Vatreni’s most prominent weakness. This World Cup demonstrated that quite clearly, as Croatia truly struggled to score in every one of their games, bar Canada. Imagine what a forward like Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, or even an Olivier Giroud could have done for Dalić’s squad in this tournament. I say we win the World Cup with either one of the three aforementioned players.
On the current squad, Ante Budimir, Marko Livaja, Bruno Petković and Andrej Kramarić are the four available strikers for Zlatko Dalić to utilize. All four have shone in their respective moments, but have ultimately proven inconsistent. This World Cup has shown the Croatian fans that neither of these players deserve to be Croatia’s locked in number 9.
However, a new generation emerges and we’ve certainly got some dangerous forwards coming up the ranks. Going into the Nations League, the best move is to drop three of Croatia’s four current strikers, and call up two new young guns and an additional winger, perhaps Josip Brekalo. Why do we need four strikers if it’s the Vatreni’s weakest position?
I say we drop Budimir, Livaja and Petković and keep Kramarić plus call up Brekalo. Not everyone is a fan of Brekalo, and I certainly have my doubts about him, but we need more wingers and he could, at the very least, offer some dynamism off the bench. Kramarić should stay because he can fill in as a secondary striker, right-winger, or worst case, at striker if the other two don’t perform.
So, who should Dalić call up? To me, there are currently just five options, however if we think ahead in five to ten years time, there are some very exciting U19 attacking options that will also be detailed in this article.
Antonio Čolak, 29, Rangers
Čolak is definitely our best scoring striker in Europe. He currently has 11 goals and 2 assists in 14 appearances in the Scottish Premiership. While not a long term solution, Čolak should definitely have been called up to this World Cup, and he could provide a temporary solution at the center-forward position as he is a true number 9. Should none of Croatia’s younger strikers provide the solution to the problem, Čolak is a good fill-in until the next Euros roll around.
Petar Musa, 24, Benfica
Petar Musa experienced a slow start to this campaign with new club Benfica, and was benched for a while as well, as the Portuguese giants have many experienced and talented strikers in their squad. Lately, however, he’s been getting more minutes and now averages a goal every 113 minutes in the Liga Portugal. Musa is tall, fast, and a true number 9. Although his ceiling is limited and he most likely will not reach Mandžukić levels, Musa is not to be written off as he provides something none of our current strikers do: a combination of speed and height. Who knows, maybe he’ll be a late bloomer and exceed all expectations in his late twenties, but all I know is it’s now long overdue for him to get his first National Team cap. Dalić, bring this guy to the UNL semi-finals.
Marin Ljubičić, 20, LASK
Ljubičić has put up 13 goals and 2 assists in 17 appearances, scoring a goal every 92 minutes. Yes, he wasn’t impressive at Hajduk and often missed big opportunities. However, playing at Poljud is very high pressure and most young and inexperienced players would have difficulty delivering there. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen it. Ljubičić is now doing better than ever in a stronger league. He’s got pace, power and a killer instinct none of our strikers over the age of 20 have. He’s definitely worth a look and we could see him making his National Team debut sooner rather than later.
Roko Šimić, 19, RB Salzburg
Šimić was incredible last season for Liefering. He had 26 goals and 6 assists in just 33 appearances, unreal output. This season, he’s been promoted to Salzburg’s first team, only to be their fourth option in rotation. He’s appeared in 13 matches, mostly off the bench at the end of the game, and has just one goal and one assist to show for it. Definitely the least ready of the four on this list, but he’s also the highest potential of them, in my opinion. He stands at 192cm, and his most impressive asset is his off the ball movement. He finds himself in incredible goal-scoring positions and has proven to be quite clinical when given the minutes. He’s not the fastest, but has an incredible work rate to make up for that (similar to Mario Mandžukić). Expect to see more from this youngster in the future.
Dion Drena Beljo, 20, Osijek
Beljo is the most boom-or-bust player on this list. His playstyle is incredibly similar to Zlatan Ibrahimović’s. He has an impressive frame, standing at 198cm, yet displays incredible dribbling ability and vision. He’s a strong finisher as well, but really lacks in pace. But could you imagine this giant getting five to ten Sosa crosses in a game? Surely one would end up in the back of the net extremely often. Beljo has 9 goals, 2 assists in 18 appearances this season, and 20 goals, 4 assists in 36 appearances last season.
Dalic should call up Kramarić, Čolak and Musa for the next cycle of games. Give Čolak and Musa the bulk of the minutes, and weed out the weaker of the two. Then the following cycle, Beljo/Ljubičić should earn a call (whichever is more in-form) and be given minutes as well. Imagine one of them hits a stride and performs excellently with the talented players around them, and boom Croatia has found its starting striker in a 20 year old. We’d have him for 15 more years!
Ones to keep an eye out for:
- Zlatan Koščević (17)
- Igor Matanović (19)
- Ante Crnac (19)
- Bartol Barišić (19)
- Antonio Prškalo (18)
- Dominik Babić (16)
Classic 98 announcer…
Suker! Suker…Suuuuuker!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gooooooooooooooaalllllll!!!!!!!!!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dalic stays with the lineup we had against Morocco. We needed to get Orsic some time as he was effective. Bringing Sutalo for Lovren I also think happens. Moving Perisic to RW is an option but makes him less effective as he regularly would cross the ball with his left after getting by a defender and rarely cut inside to shoot with his right foot.
Brozo comes back in the midfield for Majer although Majer is decent at set pieces. RW is still a problem for us as is the obvious striker position.
He will call up either Colak/Musa for sure. He even said we don’t have a striker. Budimir is toast for sure.
Lastly, I don’t think we talked about it but that set piece goal against Morocco was an absolute thing of beauty! Modric isn’t effective at taking set pieces any more. His corners always are short (when they don’t play the short corner ball), and his free kicks are rarely on point anymore.
Perisic header was perfectly redirected for Gvardiol to head it home.
Will sosa/majer take more set pieces? Missing raketa for his skill set there that’s for sure
There were a few of us on here who raised the issue of crosses from corners and free kicks by Modric. They were awful and totally ineffective. Could not understand why they did not use Sosa from the left-hand side to take corners and free kicks as he had a lot more time on the field than Majer. If Majer is on field and playing he should be taking most of our set pieces especially the ones from the left side of the field.
Question as I am still pretty much nogomet retardation
But wouldn’t Perisic run more at Lb then at a second striker type?
I know he is the guy who will always run but I just feel he can offer more at striker or rw
Cause we have orsic, sosa and even gvardiol to fill that left side
With what seems like a developing of an abundance of CBs
I know I sound like a broken record with this as well
But Jakic played central and right cb in a three man defence in recent champions league action with Frankfurt…
We have ways to make the Back line work without perisic
Perisic is one of the only guys who can still take guys head on
Orsic can to
I feel those two next to each other can create a bunch together
Maybe it’s another guy like petko who Could work as the second striker role also taking advantage of the orsic connection
I dunno, it’s probably all dumb but it could work till one of the kids really steps up
As you age and start slowing down the easiest position to play in, is in defence. Good positioning and a well organised midfield in front of you can hide your deficiencies like e.g., lack of speed.
Perisic is still one of our quickest players and I’m sure that Dalic will not use him as our number one option at left fullback. Sosa will still get the nod at LB. However, we all saw how well Perisic and Orsic combined in the match against Morocco and Dalic may opt for this in some matches in the future or as a tactical change in the second half if things are not going well.
Would he run more? The answer is no, providing you have a good attacking left midfielder and especially a good left winger. His primary job would be to concentrate on defensive duties.
Found this site online by accident https://footballtalentscout.net/
Maybe you guys already know about it but thought I’d share for those that don’t.
My first time posting something. Interesting to see the scouting reports on guys like Vlasic from a few years ago and how he turned out this World Cup. Shows how difficult it is to become a superstar in this game. Luka Vuskovic looks like he could be our next superstar in a few years, further strengthing our defence. Future striker superstars doesn’t look great right now.
During Wc2018 I loved Dalic of course
After WC when we avalanched and started playing like crap and losing and he couldn’t figure the formations out etc
I started losing patience…
During Euro 2021 when we couldn’t really score KRAPARIC SUCKED and Rebic WAS A complete disaster I was pissed.
After that tournament there was some lame drama Rebic got kicked off and there was a lot of waaa waaa going on. I
Wanted to give dalic the benefit of the doubt because of WC18 but had enough and wanted him gone immediately so we could get a new coach for Wc2022. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen I was disappointed but said there was nothing I could do about it so I said I’ll just buckle my seat belt and go along for the ride. Dalic was successful at Wc2022 and now I’m glad he stayed on as coach.
Thanks Dalic for making it happen. Sorry for talking shit! Lol.. you pulled it off. BUT PLEASE CALL UP SOME NEW TALENT AND GET SOME NEW STRIKERS. If you start KRAPARIC again I’m going to lose my mind. Leave him deep on the bench if you can’t get him off the team. 👍🏻 ok!
Dalic has been excellent and has produced extraordinary results.
Full appreciation and respect.
And ..
I do not feel the attack was maximized until the Morocco match.
Canada is trash.
It is time to develop an attacking game plan.
The vision is to win a major international trophy and become a world footballing power.
We have the attacking talent to compliment our world class midfield.
Oršić gave us insight into his attacking ability.
Deploy Perišić in a second striker role or LWB in a 3-5-2, or RW.
Actually feel the RW is as much a whole as striker is.
You can’t play with 1/3 of the attack against top teams.
You got Luka legend for 18 months.
You have to figure out how to honor is presence.
Also Kovačić and Brozovic are the goods.
You can’t play through Croatia EVER!!
So i think the site should produce an article on the growth curve of top strikers
Show us contribution per 90 minutes by age for guys like messi, Ronaldo, halland, ibrahimovic, mbappe , mandzukic, suker etc etc
Let us see what these curves look like
Cause so far i Look at our striker prospects and i say these guys haven’t produced nearly enough at a young age to think they are really good prospects…but i haven’t done all the data crunching
Maybe a striker doesn’t have to blossom early
Usually I’d put one of my analysts on this as a side project but after an intense year i need to give them a breather
I think this site should provide your tax returns. Agree
Some people on this site need to give Dalic a bit of a break (I have learned to do so myself in the interim). The guy got the team through to two successive World Cup Semifinal tournaments and coach the team through to its first ever final at one point. He also helped Croatia to achieve both a Bronze and Silver medal at the biggest stage and helped them beat the likes of England, Argentina, Brazil…at the UNL also to beat France for the first time. Now the team is also in the semis of the UNL… I think people need to dispense with the Dalic has to go BS.
Yes I do agree, as many here do, that the guy should play and call up the youth more, but to achieve what he has with team is a quite a feat without a true number 9.. I don’t think this is because he is lacking vision per se, I think it is because we do not have a solid choice for that role. There are prospects that may pan out but we don’t have a clear answer for that problem. Personally, I think Dalic is doing the best he can with what he has.
Hopefully he is just willing to take a few more risks as the article above is pointing out.
Dalic is absolute garbage
and you are being fooled }
we have got potential players
for winning the world cup! >
When does Dalic.have to.select the squad for Euro Qualifiers and the UNL?? Does anyone know the final date for the sections??
It is usually 2 weeks before the match. First EURO qualifier against Wales is on 25 March and on 28 March we play Turkey.
For me with some luck and player development to me fuck the experts we are top 5 favorites for euro.
After Germans and if turkey quality we will have home field advantage at that tournament.
Maybe one of these strikers do become quality and boom evo nas.
https://sempremilan.com/corsport-rebic-visits-children-at-the-maria-letizia-verga-centre
Is this his penance? Just kidding.
On a different note.
Hajduk ?!
LASK paid 3 million and is going to sell Ljubičić for 40 million in two years.
Hajduk should cultivate all the talent of Dalmacija. Then sell them for legit fees.
Bringing in random foreigners and washed up bums at the expense of your youth prospects?
Sve znaju ..
Šteta
Dalic has to watch club form and bring in a two strikers and a winger for March.
Wales is trash and Turkey is not your tata’s Turkey.
Playing for a tie in euro qualifiers?!
Time to shift up the tactics and bring in a hot hand.
Budimir – Petković – Livaja
Hvala za sve .. Bog .. pozdravi svi
Kramaric is still an asset as he can finish and create something OFF THE BENCH against a tired D.
I know we are far off, but Eduardo Da Silvia’s son Matheus is playing for CR flamengo in Brazil under 12s. Looks promising and either scoring or assisting almost every game. Could end up like his father when he played his best.
Why is he at Flamengo?
Dudu is trying to pull a Sead Halilović to get his Croatian born kid to play for someone else.
Not on Maminjo’s watch.
Another da Silva would certainly be welcome and if he scores more than his father did for the republic which is 29 is certainly more than welcome. Come on board son, you already have citizenship.
Was he born in cro?
I thought he married a hrvatica??
Can’t imagine it’s easy making anything remotely close to Brazil’s first team
Second generation Dudu!!
In 8 years, he could be a regular starter for us instead of being an occasional call-up for meaningless games for Brazil. They have a plethora of talent while we have such a small pool of people to work with.
It’s obvious to everyone except for Dalic that changes are required up front. Musa and Ljubicic should be called up but Dalic won’t do it. He’s stubbornly loyal, which admittedly sometimes works, to the old guard.
On a side note, LASK officially bought Ljubicic for €3,000,000.
One other player we discussed before, but hasn’t made it into this article, was Gabriel Vidovic?? I am curious as to how he is doing I think in he is the Dutch league I believe.
Does anyone have insight on how he is doing??
He’s not really a striker so I didn’t add him. He’s more of a shadow striker, attacking midfielder or inverted winger type profile. He was CLINICAL last season with Bayern’s second team and even featured in their first team a few times (impressed many people). Bayern fans consider him a top 3 talent of theirs (alongside Wanner and Ibrahimovic from the academy). However, since transferring to the dutch league, he has just 1 goal in 10 games. I didn’t want him to get transferred out of the Bundesliga so I was very skeptical about this move. He only just turned 19 and sending a young kid out like that to a completely different country to adapt and perform at the same time is a difficult task for 99% of teenagers. He’s also been deployed a lot at left-wing which is probably his least comfortable of the three positions he plays. He’s really more of a central player.
Marin Ljubicic to me seems to be an interesting prospect to be bagging these kinds numbers at this age. I think it counts for something.
We have all been saying Colak should have got the call, no surprise as he has the highest numbers this season.
I wonder if Musa moving to Benfica was the right decision for him, I don’t think it was a good move on his part and I think he should transfer somewhere else to get more minutes. Unless there is some other movement in the squad and he starts to get more playing time.
I haven’t really followed the other guys much, so thank you for posting this Markus.
Definitely gives some insight into these names.
We would have had a much better shot at winning the WC IF WE BROUGHT SOME XTRA STRIKERS!!!!
We all said this was going to be a problem at the WC
If you can’t score you can’t win!!!
We all said bring some strikers in case !!!
Dalic did what Dalic does
Nothing???
He started KRAPARIC!!!!!! Remember euro 21…Unbelievable
remember Wc 2022 WTF
I still can’t believe it. No petkovic, no budimir, no livaja no KRAPARIC no thanks!! Not on team anymore.
All new fresh young blood
New strikers
New look
Better team
Those other guys couldn’t score shit!!
Enough is enough THEY HAVE HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH MINUTES AND CHANCES!!
Bring on
COLAK
MUSA
Ljubicic
Beljo
And Simic
Right now All of them on the team and figure it out
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK FOR CHRISTS SAKE
THE POINT OF FOOTBALL IS TO SCORE AND WIN… no more pussy footing
It’s time
OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW
The longer you wait the worse it will be for us.
Please DALIC! I don’t want to watch anymore games where we can’t score?
I don’t think that Dalic will make too many changes up front for the matches in March against Wales and Turkey. These are crucial qualifying matches against our toughest opponents in the group for EURO 2024, and he is going to stick to tried and tested players and there won’t be any experiments with debutants.
The same goes for UEFA NL matches in June. That is the way he operates; however, I agree with comments on here that he needs to pick at least one if not two new forwards and start including them in the squad.
We have a full attacking third issue.
Perišić and Oršić have to coexist.
The same way Kovačić and Modrić have figured it out in the middle.
Oršić has to start at LW.
Perišić needs to play either second striker or RW.
Dalic has to shift it up for March.
With Perišić at second striker or RW, you can have a speedy Ljubičić up top.
Perišić had 3 assists at the WC!
He would flourish in this role if you have a legit forward up top stretching the D.
Musa plays at Benfica and looks the part at 6’3” and hungry.
Let’s see how club form shakes out these two months.
I am sure these will be motivated to represent for their clubs to force a Dalic call up.
Rebić is banished for life?
No Catholic forgiveness here?
He is in his Croatian prime for the next 3 years.
Dalic is established now.
He can extend an olive branch to Rebić.
Give him a second chance to make good.
Perisic is not a striker and won’t play there. Agree that Orsic deserves more play on the LW, so the only option is Perisic at Left Back replacing Sosa. Perisic will be 34 soon so playing at LB may be the way to go.
This was the case against Morocco, and it looked good.
Either that or honestly, even putting him RW is not a bad option. He can cover JJ’s tracks defensively and he’s ambidextrous so he’ll be fine in terms of attack. Anyway, as we’ve seen, he doesn’t provide the same attacking output he used to, so even if he scores less on the right it’s really fine, because Orsic is more of a scoring threat then he is on the left side as of right now.
I’m not so quick to write off Perisic’s offensive prowess. He didn’t score at the WC, but he did flash some dangerous shots just wide, win balls in the air, and provide several assists. We played a few highly defensive games, and the ball didn’t hit the goal. It happens. He’s certainly lost a gear, which made it a terrible time to move to the direct style of the Prem, but he’s far from washed up. That said, it’s probably Orsic’s time, which makes Ivan a nice flexible cog that you can move between the wings and LB/RB as required.
You forgot !!
Perisic had the most amazing header vs Japan!!! Kept us alive. Gooooooallll!!! Persic is a big game player. Also had a WC header assist again (#1 MANDZUKIC / England)
vs Morocco to josko!!
Soul Champ,
A like a lot of your ideas. However, when it comes to Rebić, he likely pissed off the entire coaching staff and numerous players with his actions and by calling the team shit.
It was wrong of me to act the way I did /say the nasty things I said. I hope you can forgive me.
If Rebić can say something like that, then the Catholic forgiveness will take place, and there is a place for him. He will need to accept the role he is given without complaining.
His silence is his response:
I won’t do that.
Therefore, his attitude has not changed, he will do the same again, and he is done as the result.
Dalic is absolutely no quality as the manager
serious lame and full of hesitation in his decision
look how he still pushes the useless player to be on the pitch >
on the other hand… look at how the Argentinian manager decided
subbing out Di Maria even though how good he is on the pitch…
Dalic will never do this to Perisic _ no matter how badly he plays
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q9EQnD4phs
(this is one of key Argentina won the world cup)}
Čolak has already made 3 appearances for the National Team and did not look like he belonged. He looked like as nimble as Petković. In fact, he got subbed out in one of the games earlier this year.
My Portuguese friends are very high on Musa. Problem is that he’s not a regular starter with Benefica, playing behind the guy who replaced Ronaldo in the WC who had a hat trick. I know there were COVID issues that prevented him from playing in the Nations League in June, but I’m still not clear why he wasn’t selected for the 2 NL games in September.
Dalic always relies on his —> Luck (9)
and always be number 9 in his reign }
so forget about our bright future…
Seniority is a common thing here!!
The more I think about it the more I say none of the above.
It will be someone we haven’t heard of yet who shoots up the totem pole. It will be fun tho
I think we need to take a risk on a young gun. Simic should be integrated into the national team soon. We need to give guys like Sucic, Simic, Sutalo and Majer more time so we can be ready for the euro’s and 2026.
Looking at this list, it’s clear striker is likely to remain a major issue for Croatia going forward
None of these young guys are really top level prospects
Go home
I think you’re right, if any of them had big potential you would’ve thrown one of them into the squad in Qatar, just like they did Gvardiol at the Euros. These coaches know who is a top prospect and throw them in right away if they see them as a long term solution to a problem area.
This might be true but if it is as you say then we have bigger problems.
We’re not gonna have Gvardiol-like talents rolling around the corner every year bro. They don’t have to look incredibly promising just yet for them to potentially become world-class. No one thought Modric or Mandzukic would become the players they have when they were 18-19 years old…
Adriano Tomas U16 will be someone to look at in the future as well😁
Never heard of him and can’t find anything online either. Where does he play?
Musa, Ljubicic, Simic, and Vidovic need to be capped
Why? Who would cap them and why.?
We still need to give LIVAJA chance before young guns come available.
Livaja is 29. Even if he has a rockstar finish to the HNL season…we need to look to the future. Livaja won’t be on the team for WC 2026.
I will second what Ante said. I was one of the people who really argued to put Livaja on and start him but his performance, along with Petko, and Krama have shown that neither will get the job done when difficult opponents come around. Atleast not consistently.
We have to look to the youth here. These guys are not a solution, unfortunately regardless of the success at club level.
What’s the deal with Kulenovic? He seems to have decent stats with a combo of goals and assists. He was also being targeted by Nottingham Forrest earlier in the year (I know they suck now but at the time it looked like they were on an upward trend). He’s only 23 so I feel like age-wise he’s in a good range.
I am curious about him too, haven’t seen his name mentioned much
Nice article Markus. As someone to add to add to your ‘ones to keep an eye out for’ list; have a look at Leonardo Vonic.
He was #9 on the German U19 in May and then switched over to the good side in September.
I’ve got my eyes on him for sure. 14 goals in 18 matches is pretty impressive, but it is just the German 4th league. I’d like to see him on Nurnberg’s first squad soon as I definitely think he’s earned the call up!
Cool, I had a feeling that you were on it. Kicker said that he’s gaining some interest from some Bundesliga teams. Doesn’t hurt to have more irons in the fire.
We’ll see which of all these that you mention actually develop enough to be national team caliber. For the moment, we’re stuck with the strikers we’ve got. Strikers aside, one player who stood out in the WC as the weak link on defense was Sosa. I would not like to see him back. Luckily, we have several other options.
Sosa had a bad World Cup, plain and simple. He’s good and only going to get better. He’ll be fine.
I agree, we have to keep in mind these players are young they need to time to adjust and it’s his first real tournament with the squad.
Well we can only judge if given them a chance or two
That’s my only real gripe with Dalic
We have to see a bit more of the young guys
Like others have said don’t throw random C squad out there
Let’s see our top 6-7 guys with different young pieces
Not Mate nonameovic from nk baba selo
Couldn’t agree with you more. Play the different strikers with the A-squad…
NK Baba Selo…hahaha you got me with that one
Nonameovic lol!! What does that even mean lol?!!😄
Eh, what if angreat player rises up from the Nonameovic selo with nickname Nonameovac!! Should we not pick him if he is the right choice?? Why hold a boas just because he happens to be from a selo with the name Nonameovic?? Lol😄
Why hold bias****
All jokes aside… Dannyj I think you actually stumbled onto something here… If we get guy from somewhere in the globe who is able to score and give him the last name of Nonameovac, give him a Croatian passport and citizenship than this would solve our problems…
Nonameovac is the way to go!😄
You had a solution and just weren’t aware of it..
No name ovic
Random dude from NK babas selo to keep the locals happy
You know what keeps the locals happy? Winning
Honestly it’s mostly the hajduk die Hards that get bent out of shape when they don’t feel like enough of their guys are on their squad
Hate on mamic all you want but he knows what he was doing and wouldn’t blow a load on the first dirty girl who would let him
Soon Dinamo will be able to ask for 20-40-50 mill from a gvardiol type talent straight off the bat
Croatia has that kind of rep now and course Dinamo love em or hate em are masters at cultivating talent
Imagine if we had prime Suker and Boban up front lol
Err sorry meant to say Suker and BOKSIC
Bwaaaaahhhh…my head would explode…that’s all we’re missing right now. We got 3rd at the WC without a real striker….wrap your head around that…outside of Canada we only scored 2 goals through the semis….2 goals!!
Simic or ljubicic but not for a while. We are screwed there for a bit yet.
we will not see them in the near future for Euro 2024 competition
because the likes of Petkovic, Livaja, and especially Kramaric
are the standard players that Idiot Dalic wants to pick up. –
we will not see them in the near future for Euro 2024 competition
because the likes of Petkovic, Livaja, and especially Kramaric
are the standard players that Idiot Dalic wants to pick up. –