Written by King Bronk (Branko Tomasović)
Croatia were extremely unfortunate to draw Spain and Italy, two traditional footballing powers, as well as minnows Albania, in the Group B Euro 2024 draw. When analyzing this group from a Croatian perspective, the group draw could not have been any worse. From a footballing standpoint, Croatia can compete with any of these nations and should not fear their play on the pitch. The Vatreni proved they can play with Spain in the Nations League Final, where they lost in penalties. Croatia also boast an undefeated 3-0-5 record against Italy, who are the reigning European champions, but their recent form has not been anything to write home about. Albania is also an up-and-coming footballing nation that should not be underestimated. They can trouble any team on any day. So, if Croatia can compete with these countries on the pitch, why is the draw so bad?
The reason Croatia should be concerned is the underlying officiating bias against small nations. We all witnessed what happened to Ukraine a few weeks ago, where a seemingly clear penalty at the end of the game was ignored by both VAR and the on-field official, leading to Italy’s automatic qualification for the Euro 2024 tournament this summer. Despite Croatia’s recent impressive tournament record, they have not been grouped with two traditional footballing powers since 2012. In 2012, Modrić and company were similarly grouped with both Italy and Spain; and controversially eliminated in the group stage finale.
The match against Spain was particularly controversial due to the dubious officiating by German referee Wolfgang Stark, who denied Croatia two clear penalty shots with fouls on Mandžukić by Ramos and another foul by Busquets on Ćorluka late in the game. Croatia was subsequently punished by a controversial “handball-offside” goal by Navas, which eliminated them from the tournament instead of sending the eventual Euro 2012 champions home. Croatia’s manager at the time, Slaven Bilić, complained, “I don’t want to talk about referees, but I have a similar impression as against Italy. When you play world champions, they do not need help from referees.”
The Croatian coach was stating the obvious — that officials tend to favor big, traditional footballing nations. As a result, Croatia should be concerned with their opponents in this group and the innate officiating bias that is always present in these types of matches. Let’s hope for the best. But if history repeats itself, don’t expect any calls to go Croatia’s way against Spain or Italy.
Croatia is a soccer power and they need to show and prove that on the turf…and not underestimate any teams!!! They only have themselves to blame, not the referees.
I’m sure Ukraine thought the same when both the ref and Var simultaneously went to sleep.
I will actually love watching the Slav Sub: Group C. Two pieces of white bread , with Slavic sliced meat, no dressings. Hope Slovenia can get a win from Serbia , and tie England and Denmark, to get 2nd place.
Predictions:
Group B:
Croatia (7), Spain (6), Italy(4), Veliko Kosovo (0)
Group C:
England (9), Slovenia (5), Denmark (4), Serbia (1).
If 2012 grouping, was the famed Catholic group, than this group would be the Holy War Group.
Here is to hoping Italy, Croatia, and Spain tie with 7 points each, and all go through, while Veliko Kosovo gets zero points, and zero goals.
@ B 1912
Young legs needed and hungry players!
Vlašić looked hungry playing the #10 today as Torino bum rushed Atalanta.
Two assists, both with his left foot.
Very impressive.
Leave all the core veterans off the friendly list until June.
Let’s see the rest fight it out for spots.
Mario P needs a new club. He is too good for the minute he gets.
Nice instincts in the box and strong size.
Ya Mario kind of lost his spot
Where would be a good spot for him?
Normally I don’t like the guys to get moved in the winter of a tourney year incase they lose form or playing time
But seems to me a move wouldn’t be a bad idea for him now
He can be a difference maker this year
Thats kinda of like incorrect assessment:
1)You are setting them up for failure, when you blame the referees;
2)Croatia has to show/prove it on the field;
3)I am afraid they must be more fearful of Albania, because of their trackrecord of underestimation of “weak” opponets
You’re denying that they have an influence on the outcome. Ask Ukraine how influential they can be.
“Dalic has to finally focus on youth as the most effective strategy to shape the squad call ups.
There are big contract transfers on the line for our young guns.
They go at Spain and there will major interest for these young men.”
I echo what Soul Champ said above in an earlier post. We do well against Spain or Italy and there will be interest in our players. It would be awesome if the young ones who are still playing in their local leagues like Sucic, Baturina and Marco P are able to draw attention to themselves. However in reality, out of the 3 of them, I think only Marco P is likely to get meaningful playing time next summer as he plays in a position of need.
A semi-young player like Sosa would do well to play himself into the shop window, as his move to Ajax is starting to look like a bust.
I’m hoping that Perisic will be fit and ready to play as our Left Back ?
Highly unlikely? but I would not use Sosa in defence against strong opposition like Spain and Italy. If we are losing and chasing the game than bring him on in the second half.
His recovery is apparently going good.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he was back.
Would be an insane boost to our left side if Perisic could play LB and Orsic comes back to play backup LW behind Ivanusec (giving us some width).
Can’t wait to hear from that guy who always compares us to Bunker Greece 🇬🇷 Euro 2006 as a possible counter to match fixing.
😂
I hear we have a secret weapon, Boban is offering every referee 200 Kuna to fix the match in our favour.
Rotflmao 🤣
Watching the man city game this morning and with randos in the chat, lot of comments about gvardiol being a fraud or a terrible signing, not encouraging to see
Yes, I read some comments in the media that some Man City fans are not happy with Gvardiol and are being critical on the social media.
Who is to blame for this ? It’s the coach, he pays 90 million for him and then plays him mostly at left back. Gvardiol is not a left back, I’m mean he can play there but he is not a LB.
People bitching on social media. You don’t say. Opinions/internet ——-> Man City ratings vs Tottenham as Josko Gvardiol impresses ——-> https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-city-player-ratings-vs-28221500
Josko had a great game this weekend…whoever is bitching about him didn’t watch the game, or doesn’t understand the sport. He looked solid and composed on the ball in a very high pressure, high tempo game. A few minutes after he got subbed off, his replacement completely screwed up his defensive marking, allowing Spurs to tie up the game in the closing seconds.
I think gvardiol is dealing with a lot
Culture shock
Super young
The pressure of being worth what he is
New system
Pressure of pep and England
Playing In not his ideal spot
How would luka playing as a bust Modrić faired at 21 or whatever gvardiol is
I’m not saying he is playing lights out
He has shown he is still a young man and defender learning the ropes
But he has a really good head on his shoulders
And I think the shoulders to carry us on for years in the back end
Let’s give him the length of leash he deserves
If he was bombing games and is clearly out classed sure
But whoever posted his rating or 8 against Tottenham….
We really should go back and look at luka, rakitic, Perisic, mandzo at 21 and we will see they were pretty far off from gvardi currently and his actual roof of career
I’m a fan. He is not perfect currently but he is literally a kid trapped in a Roman gladiators body;)
Crying about bad referee calls 7 months before Euros start is strange. For all bad calls or 50-50 calls that go against Cro, the same number have come in favor of Croatia
It’s stating the obvious -Croatia will have to win out which isn’t easy to do. On the other hand it’s easier to win when a ref gives you a soft penalty every game just ask Argentina. Unfortunately for Croatia they never get those call because of their small population.
I’m sure the Italian and Spanish media will underestimate, and undervalue us during the build-up to these games. This always gives our boys that extra motivation at gametime. Just ask Canada. On the flip side…we cannot dismiss Albania. We must give 100% and make a statement that game…don’t take the foot off the gas if we are winning. With regard to the refs…as many have pointed out, they will always side with the traditional powerhouses. This has become painfully obvious. We cannot play for a draw, we must go for the win, and not let up if we are up a goal. I haven’t looked too far into the bracket, but I like our pairing for the first round after the group stage. If we get first or second, the next round should be too difficult.
**shouldn’t be too difficult**
I doubt it.
Spain and Italy know our players well and definitely fear us. Every game with Spain is a nailbiter, and Italy still hasn’t beaten us. Their fans and media are knowledgeable and show alot of respect to Croatia.
Canada is different because their media and fanbase are immature.
They don’t understand the sport and actually thought they would go deep in the World Cup just because they had a good qualifying run.
Poor sports knowledge coupled with a weird arrogance coming from some inferiority complex they have with the States led to them showing very little respect to us.
Yes. We have played Italy and Spain enough where the normal fan or media members knows we can compete and beat them.
It’s worse than that. Canada is just an underling of the British (who hate us) and are complicit in covertly fighting against Croatia during the war of Independence and supporting the Serbs while proclaiming there were neutral (along with France too). Just look up General Lewis MacKenzie on the internet. I’m Canadian and lived through this shit while it was going on. It’s no coincidence that Herdman is English. The media here for a time were pushing that Canada and Croatia would be soccer rivals going forward. Delusional.
“they were neutral”. I don’t know why I don’t proof read this shit before I send it out…
Hear hear.
Lol an American calling Canadians arrogant that’s rather Hilarious Maminjo.
I’ve never in my life heard of a Canuck thinking they are inferior to an American?All I have to do is watch the Philadelphia eagle fans to see filth on full display which you won’t see anywhere in Canada to that extent.. not even close?
You’ve made multiple posts over the years with snide derogatory comments about Canucks.I’m starting to think a guy from Toronto might have shagged your wife or maybe Hamilton Croatia knocked out your team in the annual labour day tournament,which left you bitter!
Give it a rest,us We are all the same whether we drink Bud or molson?
Let’s hopefully keep it out of officials hands which I know is very unlikely
But you know something I was thinking as a positive
We will be thrown in a bit as underdogs again
That old Croatian chip on the shoulder will come out to prove we belong is what I’m hoping for
That’s an X factor we have that is special
Why dont we just beat Spain and Albania and quit typing like little bitches, ajmo!!!!!!!
It’s hard to win when the Zebras are against you just as Ukraine 🇺🇦
Ustani Bane!
Euro 2016 against Portugal was another terrible referee performance. Every Croatia build up was stopped with a bad foul, none of which the referee gave a yellow for (should have been a few)
Painful reminder. That Sanchez intentional stomp on Modric should have been a straight red. Fucker.
Brennan Johnson right around Gvardiol in 22 minute (as mentioned before – Wales were missing Johnson when they played us)
Compare speed of Johnson vs. who we have on the wings (save now Marco Pasalic – thank god)
Night vs. day
Feel free to watch Spurs vs. Man City today
Gvardiol vs. Udogie
Keep in mind Spurs missing both CBs (Romaro and Van Den Van) – so their back 4 is currently 4 full-backs
Would guess weakest link for Italy is Donnarumma
Just search for his bloopers / mistakes – there are many (as part of our scouting Italy we should have a compilation of all his mistakes) – see below as e.g. (just one wk ago) – he’s had some doozies in CL
Vicario who plays for Spurs is really good
But “inertia” keeps Donnarumma as their #1
We will be “lucky” if this remains the case in 2024
http://www.tycsports.com/video/deportes/el-increible-blooper-de-gianluigi-donnarumma-en-psg-id649564.html
Marco Pasalic vs. Destiny Udogie will be a electric match-up / battle
Udogie is an incredible left-back (one of the best in the Premier League – some say the best) – he loves to get up the pitch (aggressively) and is very fast and good w/ the ball (sometimes for Spurs all the way up to “striker” position and take crosses in the box from the right-wing/back on a break forward) – he can fly past men on his wing w/ the ball
Equally he is v good defensively
Similar mould to Gvardiol really – but more offensive minded/license and less on defensive side
At times he can be subject to lack of concentration (if he gets worked up) leading to odd rash challenges (he got a silly 2nd yellow vs. Chelsea a month ago – which led to him being sent off)
But don’t be shocked if Udogie ends up being one of the best players for Italy @ Euro 2024 – he’s really that good
Donna got a straight red in the game this morning. Add to list lol.
How will brozovic’s move to the sand dunes affect his play ?
Will there be a noticeable drop off or will he actually perhaps be better rested in a league not as intense as say the prem?
We need him in top form if we have any chance of moving on,considering Luka’s slight decline Ivan’s injury and kova being kova!
I just don’t see the soccer gods IE REFS doing us any favors this time around, we have been rather fortunate the last few tournaments admit it or not?
Avoiding a loss to the loudmouth pizza 🍕 makers is paramount!
Brozovic has been on a noticeable drop for years. Nothing new here.
He should be benched but never will be.
If that’s a Drop let’s hope all of our players drop like king Broz.
Morocco may not be one of the big ones and many won’t care to bring it up because Croatia won the game anyway, but the ‘no call’ when Gvardiol was tripped in the box in the bronze medal match last year was disgusting.
What was worse was when Hakimi tried to flop in our box a few minutes later and the entire Morrocan team ran at the ref like cigani, putting their hands on him and trying to intimidate him into calling for an undeserved PK.
They were such classless sports that game and harassed that poor ref even after the game ended.
They probably thought that because the ref was Arabic that he was going to somehow hook them up with a free medal at the World Cup and they had their hopes dashed when they found out they had to earn it.
That game should have been a 4-1 win for us. If anything, the ref kept it close for them. Lost a lot of respect for that team after that game.
“They probably thought that because the ref was Arabic that he was going to somehow hook them up with a free medal at the World Cup and they had their hopes dashed when they found out they had to earn it.”
This made me chuckle😄
On another note, there’s something I find really weird, that we had gotten an Italian ref for the Argentina match and later an Arabic ref against Morocco. Sheesh, couldn’t FIFA have picked more “neutral” officials for these games I wonder.
I think we are better than italy thats just me maybe.
Dalic is a tournament coach 5 points maybe 4 we make it out of group need to beat albania what happens happens challenge excepted idemo vatreni i applied for tickets hopefully i win the lottery draw
There is no doubt that some referees favor the big boys at the World Cups and Euros or for that matter during qualifying matches as was the case in the match between Ukraine and Italy. I do not expect anything to change next year.
The organising committee be it FIFA or in this case UEFA favor the big boys when it comes to scheduling of the matches as well. I knew when the draw was done that our match v Albania was going to be played in the middle of the day when it is the hottest and guess what? we are kicking off at 3pm. Spain and Italy are playing all their matches in the evening which is a big advantage.
Hamburg is further up north and I’m hoping that it won’t be very hot? nobody likes playing in hot conditions but historically speaking we struggle big time in hot conditions.
We need 4 points to progress, I’m confident that we will beat Albania no matter what and get a point or two against Spain or Italy. Getting out of the group is the hardest and if we do that anything is possible in the knockout matches.
Success will also depend on the fitness and health of all our players but in particular key players like Modric, Kovacic, Brozovic, Livakovic, Gvardiol and Kramaric. If we could add Perisic to this list it would be great, however it will be difficult for him to be match fit and in any form? you just do not know with Perisic he might surprise us all?
Kova a key player. 😆
Scrolling bait 😅
If anyone could surprise us, it would be Perišić.
Hopefully he’s on roids for his recovery and takes the appropriate masking agents to cover it up.
I still want Perisic to take the mantle of most international goals scored for Croatia, although that may be difficult now.
Plenty of time to be out of the system but ya during this time it wouldn’t hurt and done right it’s not as harmful as some think and ya he’s the kind of guy who would do it to get back
No harm no foul imo
Get healthy Ivan, go down as a football legend helping us win the cup after a tragic injury!
Yeah you’re right. Just checked the schedule, all the big boys play in the evening, except for Netherlands whose first game is played at 3pm.
Not sure if I’m remembering things correctly, didn’t Dalic complain about the scheduling at WC2022? During group stage, we played Morocco in the midday sun!