Croatia’s road to gold has begun! The Vatreni are set to face Morocco, Canada, and Belgium in Group F of the 2022 World Cup.
Group F is quite ideal for Croatia. They will kickstart their campaign against Morocco and Canada, two very beatable sides. If the Vatreni can escape those games with six points, the final group stage match against Belgium might not even matter – similar to Croatia’s matchup against Iceland in the 2018 World Cup. Now, let’s take a look at each side in the group and what we should expect:
Morocco – Definitely one of the better African sides. However, star player Hakim Ziyech quit international football not too long ago due to conflicts with the Moroccan manager. PSG’s Archaf Hakimi will play on the right side of the pitch, but shouldn’t be too much trouble for Perišić and Sosa on the Vatreni’s left side. Morocco’s striker Youssef En-Nesyri has been cold this season in La LIga, only scoring three times in 15 matches. Overall, Croatia are the better side by far. As long as Dalić’s men can produce on the offensive end, this match should not be too difficult.
Match prediction: 2-0 Croatia
Canada – Modrić, Kovačić, and Brozović will obliterate Canada’s MLS heavy midfield. The Canadian backline is also very poor, considering the high possibility that star player Alphonso Davies will play the left-wing role. Jonathan David will be a threat at the striker position due to his rapid pace and fantastic weak foot, but nothing too significant for the world’s best young center-back, Joško Gvardiol. Canada will be playing in conditions 70 degrees hotter than what they are used to. I feel that the World Cup will be a rude awakening for this Canadian side after an easy CONCACAF qualification bracket.
Match prediction: 3-1 Croatia
Belgium – Belgium is sooooo 2018. I haven’t seen them as a threat since the last World Cup. Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, and Axel Witsel are not the close to the same players that they once were. Even with Kevin de Bruyne, their midfield is no match for the Vatreni’s. Perišić and Majer should be able to expose their aging, shaky backline down the wings, while Kramarić succeeds down the middle due to his quickness. Croatians have no reason to fear this Belgian side.
Match prediction: 1-1
Group F projection:
- Croatia – 7 points
- Belgium – 5 points
- Morocco – 4 points
- Canada – 0 points
Can’t believe there are Canadians with Croat ancestry considering to root for a Canada. When Croatia trashes them they should not be welcomed back. Their families should have a Z painted on their doors.
Word, striko
3-5-2
————Perisic—Kramaric————–
‐——————————————————
——————-Kovacic———————–
–Sosa—————————–Juranovic
————Modric–Brozovic—————
—-Gvardiol(Pograncic)Stanisic——
———————-DCC————————-
——————-????????———————-
4-3-3(4-2-3-1)
——————-Kramaric———————
——Perisic——————-Majer———
——————-Kovacic———————–
———-Modric——–Brozovic———–
Sosa——————————-Juranovic
————Gvardiol—-DCC——————
—————–??????????——————–
After seeing the 3-5-2 system.. I believe it was well worth the try and can be used during some games or throughout portions of a game but well like most here I must agree the 4-3-3(4-2-3-1) seems to fit our current crop of players the best in terms of depth and positoning… I think Dalic sees this and is just preping our players for different roles say come time or injury God forbid..
Subs=strong bench
———————Budan———————–
——–Orsic——————Pasalic——–
———————Vlasic————————
————-Moro———Jakic—————
Barisic——————————-Vrsajko
———-Pograncic—Stanisic————-
—————–??????????——————–
Now taking that Stanisic is young I’m assuming Lovren or Vida will make the squad
I rate Skoric and Stanisic as currently better options.. does Dalic have the balls to oust either or both these veterans.. tough call..
I’m assuming Livaja will get the nod for the tourney as well…
Although, interesting to see if any young guns get a call.. Simic Sucic or even Musa(to me he deserves the most) during Nations league!
::::::::::::::: of course like this :::::::::::::::::::
……..……………….Budimir………..………………..
…….…….Kramaric……………………………………
Sosa……..Modric……Kovacic….….Perisic
…………………..…Brozovic…………..……………..
……Gvardiol…CaletaCar…BornBarisic…..
……..…………… Ivica Ivucic ..…………………….
Funny they say we are slow well juranovic sosa gvardiol broz perisic even 37 modric not slow at all imo. Even kova has speed so does majer pasalic orsic brekalo is fast if we played vida lovren in back then we are slow in all honesty only slow players are CC in the D. If we need 2 dm you have jakic whos got pace. So this croatia is old is not so true if Dalic puts in right team. Gvardiol was second fastes player at last euros. And we were 3rd fastest team at euro 2021
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.index.hr/amp/sport/clanak/hrvatska-je-bila-treca-najbrza-reprezentacija-na-euru-ima-i-petog-najbrzeg-igraca/2304540.aspx
As a cAnaDiAn cRoAt i beielve u r underestermatering Canadas here. ConCaf is one of the best continents and top class competition. We have 2 young fast black guys who play in a top 5 league in europe who are run fast, and another guy who is 39 years old who is a legend. Hutchingson>modric.
Ante Kvartuc becaus u dissed canada me and my canadian cuck friends disliked ur youtube video.
Sime with a very nice cross and assist for athleti. Think he might get another crack at rb
After watching the Slovenia game, the 3-5-2 wasn’t bad. I’d much prefer a lineup to get Sosa on the field. Flipping Perisic to the other side for Juranovic and inserting Sosa is one idea on the 3-5-2. But he’s one of our true game changers and to play him out of his preferred position isn’t ideal.
I’d rather they stick with the
4-2-3-1or 4-3-3. This way Budimir is the odd man out. Sosa plays LB/LWB and you play Majer on the right side.
How Livakovic keeps getting time is beyond me. He’s cost us a number of goals and his lack of taking charge in the box will kill us.
Literally anyone else is a better option. I didn’t watch the Bulgaria game but I’m assuming Ivusic was much better. Hopefully Grbic can regain his position and get some games in.
People dont know that majer pasalic ivanusec are even when vlasic finds his way even brekalo we have players that can shock other teams ace in pockets.
Maybe petkovic wakes up pjaca finds himself rebic apologies and i am confident we do better than euros i mean all respect to canada morrocco but mi smo hrvatska brate missed 2 tournaments since independence and we should be respected its funny much disrespect for us.
As a Canadian Croat who’s watched almost every game since Independence I will be cheering for our boys over Canada (still hope Canada gets decent results in other group games). The Canadians that watched the draw and breakdown on TSN must have had a laugh at there apparent “expert panel” saying were “aging” ,“past our prime”…they did at least honour Luka agreeing that he’s still playing at a top level but they have no idea about our team or lineup and frankly I like it that way. They said our D is slow and aging LMAO. If that’s the knowledge and mindset they wanna partake in then sure bring it on.
The commentators on the Canadian panel showed how unknowledgeable they are when it comes to International Soccer and club players. Modric and Perisic all they mentioned as dangerous against Canada lol then De Bruyne and lukaku for Belgium. Geez I love Canada but these commentators…I remember when I had my first beer lol
Those guys are brutal. The good one at TSN, Kristian Jack, was let go. I have to mute most Toronto FC games cuz Wileman will. not. shut. up. No dead air allowed. And then don’t get me going on the homer clowns doing the Canada qualifying games. Sramota.
So true Marki- These Canadians are useless soccer media- that is a fact but that being said- Croatia has to figure our striker and goal – I have not seen a WC team for Croatia have holes in key positions like this campaign- we better figure it out- I think this team can be good but not great without a goalie-
Ivusic; juranovic, caleta car, gvadriol, sosa; modric, brozovic, kovacic; majer, kramaric, perisic. Simple
Thats what i like this lineup with orsic budimir pasalic vlasic brekalo ivanusec sucic off bench
Exactly. So many good players it’s a good idea to play with a formation where players can come in and not have to change the formation. Keep it simple and let the players find solutions on the pitch. This 352, I understand the logic but we will end up at some point with brekalo or nordic playing right wing back and sosa on the bench. It’s not worth it. In addition, when we play conservative we suck. Play 433. No need to try to be clever. It’s too late for that now. Trust the boys. We have depth. If a player doesn’t perform just replace him with a hungry player and let luka take care of business
Any formation like a 3-5-2 that would potentially take sosa off the field is a mistake
Since his intro, sosa has made Croatia a different team
It would only be fitting for Croatia to finally get a left back and then move to a formation that doesn’t play one
Can’t we not have Sosa as LWB in 3-5-2 with Perisic up top playing LW/LF
::::::::::::::: of course like this :::::::::::::::::::
……..……………….Budimir………..………………..
…….…….Kramaric……………………………………
Sosa……..Modric……Kovacic….….Perisic
…………………..…Brozovic…………..……………..
……Gvardiol…CaletaCar…BornBarisic…..
……..…………… Ivica Ivucic ..…………………….
A 3-4-3, with a flat front 3 would allow Sosa as left wingback and Perisic as left winger, but then would not be able to play to our strength in midfield with the trio of Modric/Kovacic (Majer)/Brozovic. Anyway you cut it, gotta stick with a back 4 to keep Sosa and Perisic in their natural positions and on field at same time.
I do believe after the NL tournament our Croatia team will be more confident and stronger then ever. Let’s hope Dalic can figure out how to put all this talent together. 🇭🇷🔥💪
This is a video of Canada’s manager talking about him being in Croatia to scout us and learn the Croatian way. Canada surely has improved since he stayed there. Fast forward to about 4:10 of the video. https://youtu.be/mbOSUsKqQ-8
So many comments saying “aging Croatia”. Like are they basing it solely on Modrić? Yeah, he’s getting up there in years but he’s still playing good football.
Great vid Ante!
Dalić’s interviews are brutal lol.
Keeps reiterating that getting past the group stage is the ultimate goal, but tries to keep expectations low by playing up Morroco and Canada (despite not knowing anything about those two teams).
Talks about how Modrić is their everything and how they rely on him.
There’s being humble. Then there’s being weak. That was pretty weak man.
It’s true tho. We need to take care of the group first. Focus on the group, then after we can go game by game, 1 game at a time and refocus for the knockouts.
Yea, I agree. Dalic sounded weak. I believe he was weak saying “Modric is their everything, we rely on him” he is correct, but he shouldn’t have said it publicly.
I don’t blame him for not knowing much on Canada and Morroco.
I know traditionally Perisic and krama don’t always mesh
But is there a way of sliding Perisic in more of a second striker role?
Leaving sosa as more of a wing back and gvardiol covering that left side?
Somehow these three need to be on
That left side altogether was always dangerous with Perisic but it just goes to something really nasty with sosa on
I think juranovic will go down as an unspoken hero at the end of his career
Ya he doesn’t have the height of pongarcic but he has serious hustle and he is not untalented where his hustle is just wasted
I think we need to see a more regular lineup In the back now
Sosa/gvardiol/dcc/juranovic I think could be it
If he has to have lovren on I guess it’s lovren for dcc, but despite the two yellows I think dcc gives that bit of offensive dynamic that can give us another little flair. That pass to krama was rakitic long pass clinical
Speaking of, I still say we throw him on the team as super sub.
Majer needs to be in the mix. Kid has that little extra. I’m not saying he is luka 2.0 but he shows again good hustle and fight but has an above average skill set
Kova broz luka, If they string the midfield as they can… no one except maybe who Spain is stronger in the midfield. Brazil?
We need to see more of grbic and baiscally zero of livakovic. Ivusic gonna be good enough like Ladic 98
In my opinion he played confident with the ball in his possession, confident challenging for balls
Almost made that break away save as well If he made that he is our starter
Somehow dalic needs to see what liva is currently
I think they do but it’s that thing where liva has kind of got his position and no one has really overly stepped up at club level to change it. That psg beating really killed grbic
Pongracic at RB in a back 4 ?
Sosa DCC Gvardiol Pongracic ?
Plays some RB at Dortmund. Would offer greater height.
If I’m Dalic I’m dropping the likes of Vida, Lovren, Livakovic
I’m bringing players that are HUNGRY to perform. He needs to reinvent that hunger for CRO to go deep.
Grbic
Ivusic
Anyone
Gvardiol
DCC
Pongracic
Stanisic
Sosa
JJ
Sutalo
Barisic
Vuskovic
Modric
Kovacic
Brozovic
Majer
Sucic
Perisic
Jakic
Pasalic
Kramaric
Orsic
Marin
Vidovic
Biuk
Simic
Musa
Stat healthy and do well in nations league build confidence. I just dont know what dalic will do the difference is we dont have a set 11 like 2018 2018 we had same lineup only difference was krama and broz would flop in and out for tactics reasoning.
For me 4 3 3 is our formation to go with Ivusic/Grbic Juranovic CC Gvardiol Sosa Modric Kova Broz Majer Krama Perisic. Others Vlasic Budimir Pasalic Ivanusec Orsic Vlasic Sucic Brekalo Maybe Musa maybe Petkovic wakes up Rebic situation turns for better vrsaljko get playing time pongracic sutalo erlic Barisic maybe bradaric shines again. Maybe roko simic makes a jump in summer to stronger league. Pjaca rejuvenates i like being an optimist
I like just slozi kocke i ajmo cant wait league nations and november
We will have more depth this year than ever.
Actually think Dalic is now an asset as his experience of success and failure make him a legit international manager.
3-5-2 adding to our tactical flexibility is a game changer.
Ivusic is an upgrade.
Budimir allows Kramaric to flourish in his second striker role.
Back line is stronger.
Midfield is world class and has even more depth.
Perišić will be ready for big time matches.
Luka legend still has one more run in him. Especially if Dalic can get him strategic rest throughout the group stages.
Morocco and Canada are both good teams, not great. Belgium despite an aging prime is still elite.
They also have to all play each other.
I like our order of group games even more than the level of teams.
We start off strong against Morocco. We find rhythm with Canada.
Then Belgium we are in full knock out stage mode.
We also seem to finally have more men suited to defend set pieces.
So many BS goals over the last 4 years that we let in to make life difficult for us.
Curious to see which of our young studs steps up this June?
Rebić needs an olive branch.
I have watched a few qualifiers from CONCACAF and have not been impressed with the standard. Mexico in particular looked average, they lack pace and agression from previous years, and I would not be surprised if they do not make it out of their group this time around. I think they have a record of always making it out of the group but losing in the round of 16 ?
Belgium will beat Canada easily in the first match, and I also think that they will come last in our group. I do worry about Morocco, they have a good team and experienced coach in Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic who is familiar with our style of play and our players.
Chances of progression: Belgium 90%, Croatia 60%, Morocco 40%, Canada 10%.
I expect Croatia to come second in our group and would prefer us to play against Germany rather than Spain in the round of 16 assuming Japan don’t cause an upset or two .
I think you’re under estimating Canada far too much. They’re very quick, have some real good young players . They also have players playing in Premier League, Belgium and Turkey, Portugal etc. not just MLS. Yes they’re CONCACAF but they did beat Mexico and the USA. Croatia doesn’t want to go into this game thinking it’s easy.
The talent gap between Canada and the other teams in the group is still pretty large.
They’ll likely finish last, but show everyone that they belong.
They did very well in CONCACAF…but the USMNT are the youngest team in the World Cup and Mexico usually only steps up at the tournament itself (they always look mediocre in qualifying).
Unless they play some sort of tactic that surprises Belgium and Croatia… I don’t know. Hard to not see Modrić, Brozović, and Perišić nutmegging players left, right and center in that game as they dominate the midfield.
Premier League? I think you mean championship
Didn’t Canadians slaughter some of our boys during the great independence war? If Dalic was smart he’s okay that video in the locker room.
Yes. After Serbs ethnically cleansed parts of Dalmacija by killing unarmed civilians, the Canadian peacekeepers came in to prevent the Croatian army from taking it back and stood between the advancing Croat army and the lands occupied by the Serbs who murdered those civilians.
The Croatian army was far more heavily equipped and could have steamrolled right through the Canadians, but obviously didn’t want to, as it would cause international headlines.
However, the cowardly Canadian peacekeepers panicked and shot at the Croatian army and killed a few soldiers.
Canadian “soldiers” don’t have a good reputation in Croatia or BiH.
I think that MacKenzie general of theirs was tried in absentia (in a Bosnian court) for war crimes. Apparently, a lot of Canadian soldiers supported and worked closely with Serb war criminals. Lots of fucked up stories with them over there. Canada’s prime minister was married to a Serb, and they did everything they could to support the serbs in that war (even after Vukovar and the concentration camps in BiH).
The British invented concentration camps as the only way they could defeat the Boers was by putting their women and children in concentration camps. The U.S. invaded Iraq on false pretenses, i.e. an ‘unprovoked war’, utterly destroyed that country and left 600,000 dead, not to mention dead, maimed and suicidal U.S. vets. Never mind all this, history started one month ago and only the Anti-Christ Putin can possibly be a “war criminal”. The hybrid Ukrainian/Rainbow flags at the U.S. – Panama game says it all: “this is the latest fashion and anyone who doesn’t conform is a heretic!” <seriously man, you cannot be a more pathetic, a more irrelevant human being than this.
Good group! We’re going far dudes ! : )
I firmly believe Morocco will be our toughest test for several reasons.
-Bosnian head coach and all Bosnian coaching staff. That’s an advantage and perhaps Halilhodzvic has some knowledge on Dalic tactics. Highly experienced at World Cup tournaments. He brought Algeria to the round of 16 against Germany. He’s coached Japan & Ivory Coast and brought them to the World Cup.
-Goalkeeping and that Sevilla goalkeeper has been strong this season. Lots of clean sheets and has contributed to the trans success.
-Hakimi, Saïss, Aguerd, Masina, Ziyech, Mazraoui, Boufal, and others are all notable players at known clubs and leagues.
-Last World Cup they managed to draw Spain and performed well against Portugal. Got unlucky off an own goal against Iran.
Belgium don’t worry me as much. They’re time passed from 2016-2020. Morocco could upset Belgium with a draw.
You sure know a lot about the Moroccan team, maybe more than @LAknat and @Crnkovic lol!
Would @LAknat and @Crnkovic go for Croatia, or root for “the god Morocco”?
What do you Croats think? Not being a smart arse, genuinely interested.
Good comment. As an african croat. (Save the bullshit extremist stuff please). Born in Zambia and loyal to the country that raised me. During the wars of independence. I have a very very strong pan africanist heart. I support every african team with a passion. If Croatia met zambia I would be supporting Zambia. Depending on the situation. I’d rather Croatia go deep in a tournament than get knocked out by zambia who them also get knocked out. But yeah in a one off game I’d want zambia to win. Literally Zambia is my father and Croatia is my mother. Who can you choose? So morocco, I support them and believe me they are much better than you think. I’d much preferred to have got Tunisia, Ghana or Cameroon. Senegal and morocco are both much better than the Nigerian team we played in 2018. But when that whistle sounds my focus and my heart will be solely on the vatreni. U boj!!
If I could choose the results I would have us win all 3 games, and morocco knock out Belgium and the Canucks. And by the way religion doesnt come into it. I’m a Muslim but that doesnt mean I support teams or players who are muslim. Football isnt about religion. And religion becomes poisonous when it becomes about identity. Religion is about connecting to God and living your life in the right way. Only god knows what’s in your heart. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.
If could choose every result in the world cup I’d want a senegal/morocco vs Croatia final. With croatia to win of course
I find your username (crknović aka blacković) offensive to Africans.
Please apologize to all Afro-Croatians and the rest of us progressive Croats who may be offended by your extremism and change your name.
Appropriate replacement names are Croats of Color, Afro Gotovina, or Martin Luther Kraljević.
That’s hilarious maminjo. Made me chuckle. Hope you are well brother
________________________Correction_________________________
You are a Muslim before being African, when Islam and your government collide, you are always at the side of Islam without any strings attached! because you are a Muslim …
All governments do not approve of this!| ahh.. this is extreme | you are an extremist! -they say -> You have to be in a melting pot >> so Muslims Hindus Christian Jews all have to be nationalists -> having their allegiance to the country first then their religion!
Islam does not permit this! Islam says “that my life, say that my prayer, my sacrifice, my life, and my death are all for God Almighty who has no partners and by that, I was commanded and I am among the first to embrace and announce my Islam!” <– so this is what your identity is all about | and this is what you live and die ~ preserving your Islam
I need to educate you as well …
like someone called the Truth O{!
what is that _o)?: poisonous!!
Part of living in the west is to have your priorities set correctly
are you dutch or a Muslim?| what comes first?| everybody in Europe or in America, elsewhere … they want you to be nationalist _ before you are a Muslim::
so they say to you -> “No! you have to become British than Muslim”… your allegiance to America should become more important to you than your allegiance to Islam who has no partners …. and by that, I was commanded and I am among the first to embrace and announce my Islam!” <– so this is what your identity is all about | and this is what you live and die ~ preserving your Islam
_______________________Correction___________________________
Part of living in the west is to have your priorities set correctly
are you African or a Muslim?| what comes first?| everybody in Europe or in America, elsewhere… they want you to be nationalist _ before you are a Muslim::
so they say to you -> “No! you have to become British than Muslim” your allegiance to America should become more important to you than your allegiance to Islam <– we say this is No brainer!!
I understand you ofcourse laknat. But for me religion is only a message. My allegiance is to the creator and the creator wants me to love all his creation. Including the Hindus the gays the dogs the cats. I dont behave like a dog but it doesnt mean that I dont love and respect the dog. We all live together and the creator will judge us not you or anybody else. If someone says I am a muslim should I protect him before I protect my catholic mother? Nonsense. We protect and honour those who are just and good wherever they come from. I’m against theft and violence. I dont care if the innocent are hindu or muslim I dont care if the greedy ones say they are muslim I will not support them never. Allah uakbar. God is great. Only God decides. Your actions as a human being are important than what name you give yourself. You think homosexuality is a problem more than corporate greed? Or war? Or wahhabism? This is where you are confused. Just protect your dignity and respect everyone. God will reward you
Religion becomes poisonous when it becomes about identity.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::You just fuck up:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Religion always be your identity! society becomes poisonous!
Your honor is in your Religion | in your connection to your creator – not your connection to a neighborhood or affiliation!
because those people don’t care about you… and they sure as hell can not help you on the day when you stand in front of God Almighty on the day of judgment!!
see this video as your reminder! –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-OmlOb_dFg
Good video Laknat. JazakAllah khair. Stay true. God bless
Canada is a shit country with many LGBT, Alcoholic, and Fornication |]
they went down this route of belittling the teachings of Christianity like they introduce Jesus as a gay man O| and many rainbow decorations in their Church! _ they also do religious pranks so many times |{ absolute disgracefulness }|
Laknat you need stop complaining about others and lay off the rakija jebemti lobtu. Ramadan Mubarak
We need a good WorldCup song like last time. I hope those brothers are working on something.
Canadian Croat here, haven’t watched a single game of Canada’s since the 80’s, at that time in the early 80’s North American soccer was actually pretty good. But since then team Canada has been dismal to me, so much so I dont think I watched a single game in 35 years (mens team anyway, women did OK). Someone mentioned to me last year that they were actually really good, so I gave them a watch…
All I will say is that there is a reason they are the class of CONCACAF, huge speed and confidence, played way better against Mexico than Croatia ever had.
NOT saying they will beat Croatia, but if they can carry this momentum they may raise some eyebrows and do a bit of damage at the world cup.
Never in a million years would I think a Canadian team could win a game at the World Cup, this team having some success would not surprise me
Having said that, I’ve never seen them play an elite European side, how well would they do against top level defense and mid-field… we will see
Who the fcuk does Canada ever even play outside of Concacaf team that suck?
Our UNL league is more strenuous that our WC group.
France is good prep for Belgium
Denmark is good prep for Canada
Austria is a good team
Who is Canada going to be playing in this timeframe? US/Mex/Costa Rica in CONCACAF Nations League? Garbage.
They will probably squeeze in a last minute friendly against a sorry ass Slovenia or BiH in October if they have time. They wont be ready.
Our biggest weakness is still Dalic. The guy who always blames bad luck and thinks God influences the game
The one similarity these three teams share is a skill we lack..goalkeeping. Canada’s goalkeeper Borjan is solid considering he is starting in the Serbian league. However, he’s more confident, experienced and comes out if his box more. Morocco has Bounou and he’s been a key factor to Sevilla’s success in the standings. He has 12 clean sheets for a team that has no names that stand out at the world stage. Speaking of clean sheets and consistency, Courtois still is a top shape. His performance has declined a bit though but still one of the best. We are definitely out skilled in the goaltending department. Unless Dalic starts Grbic who’s had a decent season with Lille. I know that Livachokevic will mess everything up. He’s too jittery and too deep in the net. Our defence has certainly been improving but still young. Without the likes of Corluka, Strinic and others who’ve retired. Gvardiol and Sosa are my picks to start but still adjusting to NT level. Vrsaljko, Lovren and Vida should never cap for Croatia again. Belgium’s weakness will be the back four. Besides Meuiner and Vertonghen are the remaining defensive figures that are from that 2018 squad. The rest are aging and have retired. For Canada, Davies & Vitoria are the only two on professional clubs above MLS level. They don’t heavily rely on David to score all the goals. Larin & Hutchinson step up too. The midfield is lacking. I’m convinced that Belgium and our mids can dominate Canada. De Bruyne, Tielemans, Carrasco can all still matchup against us. Besides Lukaku, no one else on Belgium that has been on the scoring sheet in top leagues. The formation with 4-2-1 would fit better than a 3-4-3 for us. Lukaku, Mertens and Carrasco they all play upfront. Mertens actually has been good this season despite injuries like Lukaku. It’s actually ridiculous when you realize we have the lowest ranked goalkeeping in the group yet we still manage to convince ourselves that we can clinch first place. North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia currently have better goalkeeping than us. Our midfield are still one of the best in World Cup and you can’t convince me otherwise. Scoring wise does concern me with nobody’s that stands out. I still think Pasalic as a striker would work. Good for headers, tall and finds the place in open play. It worked in the equalizer against Spain and some reason he was on the bench. This group won’t be a breeze but it is far from the best. Serbia got the toughest draw. The first match is a must win. A draw wouldn’t worry me considering Belgium is our last match. Who else is exhausted from hearing about Canada being depicted this up and coming force? They plan in a easy division. USA, Mexico and Costa Rica are the only teams to ever qualify out of the group in a World Cup. USA didn’t even qualify in 2018, Costa Rica might not even make it either. Canada has never played a South American, European or African. Give them real competition for once. Besides third world country’s.
This is not an ideal group for us. Yes Belgium is actually ageing. It’s funny Canadian media calling us aging because of 1 player. But it’s also funny how people here judge Canada. They are not run and chase and they’re midfield isn’t from MLS (Lareya, Hutchinson, Eustaquio, Buchanan).
Morocco has decent players playing in Europe with a coach that knows us too well. Tunisia would’ve been a much easier opponent.
Our two weaker opponents have decent strikers and can catch us on the counter. This is a challenging group but we have the quality to be 1st or 2nd. The only good thing is that our last game is against Belgium.
Can I also add that only 1 starter for Canada plays in the MLS.
Lareya is on the bench at some second divison english team..a joke…persisic will eat him up. Hutchinson is some journeyman 39 year old defender in turkey…eustaquio is a bench guy in portugal…buchanon can run fast but like a chicken with his head cut off and is in the crappy belgian league….Luka, Broz and Kova and Perisic are actaully all world class and will toy with these clowns…
How does Canada play? I’m curious.
If they’re not just “run and chase”…then that is probably good news for us.
They absolutely cannot hang with our midfield, and would have zero possession to do whatever they want to do.
However, if they are a “run and chase” team, it probably gives them a better chance due to Davies’ speed and the fact that they have a competent striker up top.
A mistake can always happen in our back four, and if the Canadians constantly run and pressure, they may get a lucky bounce.
Otherwise, they don’t have the tools to even stand up to Croatia.
Also, regarding Morocco…
Yes, I consider them much more of a concern than Canada due to having better players overall (specifically in midfield).
But Hakim Ziyech is no longer on the team after having a fallout with Vahid.
That weakens them a lot. He’s their #10. This will really hurt their creativity.
I still think Morocco will give us and Belgium fits. They may even sneak out a draw…but at the same time, they probably will struggle to score on Canada too.
I can’t really see Morocco or Canada getting anything more than three points.
Got to admit, spilled my drink at work when you made the comment about Canada and it being only good for curling and hockey…lol
As for the cetnik Canadian goalie, f him.
They aren’t even good at Hockey anymore
Canada’s goalie plays for Crvena Zvezda – should be some good trash talking on the field.
Have to believe there’s a good chance that Croatia will schedule a friendly against USA to help prepare for Canada.
Is there even a window to schedule new Friendly’s with Nations League taking place ..?
Croatia plays four games in June (twice against France), two in September, which leaves October open for friendlies.
Because of the 5 week shutdown of major leagues around the world, I doubt there is gonna be a FIFA window in October. Also from what I understand, National teams normally gather a full month before the start of a major tournament, but this time, will only get a week before the tournament starts because it falls right in the middle of the seasons. From what I understand, LaLiga, the Premiership, Seria A, and others are furious with the 5 week pause. Everything about this tournament is odd.
I haven’t been on this site for a few years. Belgium is old?? Modric is 37….who have we beat in the last two year? I hope your correct with your break-down.
Modric is Wolverine.
The guy is a mutant who just ages slower and seems to recover from injuries in record time.
In terms of who we beat…
We didn’t beat anyone notable other than Sweden in UNL.
To our credit though, we haven’t fielded a team with Gvardiol, Sosa, Majer and a few of these other quality younger players (alongside our vets) until recently.
This isn’t some Melnjak-caliber lineup we are fielding at the World Cup.
That clip from the Serb goalie will
be played as motivation for sure. Budala…he’s so overrated in Canada. I hope we put a bunch past him.
double that Mali Ante- first shot in the corner , second shot between the eyes
right leg, hospital….left leg, cemetery
Belgium’s coach was interviewed about Canada and was very respectful and knowledgeable. He named a number of the Canadian players, identified where they play their club football and even discussed what clubs they played for before their current club.
Dalic was also interviewed about Canada and had nothing to comment on. He was asked what he knew about them and actually said that they’ll start their scouting/preparations now. He must have said that he knows that we’re favourites, along with Belgium, at least 5 times and that every match will be tough. No shit Sherlock. My favourite comment, also repeated numerous times, was that our goal is to get out of the group stages. I really hate that.
Dalic is an average coach, and he’s pretty fucking lazy.
He did nothing in two UNL tournaments and planned to simply copy & paste his World Cup 2018 lineup for the Euros…until he panicked at the last minute and started experimenting and capping players for the first time (like Gvardiol, Juranovic, Ivanusec, etc.) DURING the actual tournament.
He is entirely focused on relationships and surrounded himself with former players like Corluka, Mandzo and Olic.
Guys who cannot crack it in the real world as coaches. I highly doubt anyone from this coaching team will be scouting anything.
He’s so lucky that Russia scored in their own net, because his hometown lineups and substitution patterns (where he actually played Vlasic and subbed in Livaja….leaving a red-hot Lovro Majer on the bench in Split) was his play to try and get the winning goal to get us into the World Cup.
The good news is that we at least have a good young backline, and we still have our core star players for this tournament and all of them are in pretty good form (and Dalic won’t feel obliged to pander to any local crowds in Qatar with specific lineups).
Hope the Kosovars do the eagle on you cetniks again.
As for Croatia, don’t worry about us, we will deliver again.
Not for nothing, but why in Gods name, before today, does Dalic or anyone in our camp need to know anything about Canada?
So we think about bringing Rakitic back in case we face Spain in knockout. He could be useful
If his wife lets him hahahah
Why?
So he can purposely head the ball at the keeper?
Sorry but I don’t trust Raketa against Spain.
@Maminjo
Do you trust that @LAknat and @Crnkovic will be going for Croatia or rooting for “the god of Morocco”?
We are indeed old and we probably should have gone with youth and built up experience for the future. You know why we won those penalty shootouts last World Cup? Because a younger version of the side lost to Turkey in penalties years before and learnt from it. Perisic, Modric, no matter how much I like them, are too old, let’s face it. Brozovic and kovacic and kramaric are not young either and I wonder if they will all find the motivation. Canada will hustle and be hungry. Will we be?
Are you saying we will not hustle and be hungry in a world cup? lol what insight you provided…
That was last line of a long text . Are you trying to be clever? It failed.
Who’s old?
Modrić and Perišić are the only guys who are over 29.
Our starting eleven is probably younger than Canada’s.
Canada starts some washed up hack from the turkish league, hutchinson who is 39.
Can’t wait to see Modric, Broz and Kova toy with hacks like osorio…lol
Modric 36, Perisic 34, Kramaric 30 , Budimir 30, brozovic 29. Our defense in younger, sure, but the core remains pretty old.
Modric and Perisic are the only old ones.
But age doesn’t apply to them as their fitness level puts any of the Canadian players to shame.
Motivation to try and win a World Cup?
for all of the “croatian” canadians on this site who are cheering for canada:
https://twitter.com/zadar90/status/1509950563718352898?s=20&t=9MTdRfuabdRfSqU-fqJWtg
I hope the troops get motivated and bomb the shit out of him with goals.
That’s why “croatian-canadians” shouldn’t root for Canada, b/c their goalie is “serbian-canadian” and not b/c the entire canadian team is nonwhite? Please explain why your position is morally superior to the other:
You should learn the language (and understand what was said in the interview that was posted) before commenting
The Canadian media (TSN) is also disrespecting Croatia calling them old and slow. They focus on both Modric and Perisic who are obviously older but still playing at an extremely high level.
I hope our momci are listening to this crap to fire them up.
Morocco and Canada will be tricky games but we should have enough quality to move on. Belgium are definitely beatable.
There really isn’t a group of death this time around…..
Canadian media wouldn’t know a soccer ball if it hit them in the head-it’s full of really bad soccer players who are Scottish-Canadian and Irish-Canadian who hate Croatian soccer because they can’t understand how they built such a winning record- ironically , Canadian coach Herdman went to Croatia with a few other Canadians after 2018 to see Croatian team training – he also sent his kid there for soccer training- I thought that was interesting
How about the Turbo Serbo group…
I predict:
Brazil 2-0 Serbia
Switzerland 1-1 Serbia
Cameroon 1-2 Serbia
I could see them advancing in 2nd, but i think Swiss will take a point from Brazil and beat Cameroon, so think Serbos finish 3rd in group.
Its funny how the american english media never respect croatia 5 world cups this the 6th world cup 2 medals and all of a sudden canada morroco better than us. Man o man croatia are old and slow thats what media are saying its funny to me. We have done more than england belgium argentina even portugal last 8 world cups and we didnt even go to 1990 or 94.
Dalic just needs to get thing straight call right players and figure it out.
I know we have weaknesses we had them at 98 and 18 world cups for me goalkeeper cb partnership and number 9 are problems A motivated Modric ill put my money on him
yup. You’re gonna hear it all over the media and on this site. How good Canada is and we are going to struggle. It’s laughable.
Canada has some decent players.
I think they can get a point off of Morocco.
I agree- they should get a point or beat Morocco- Canada is a soccer track and field team- kick far and run for your life – Morocco is the same. I say you’ll see a few 4.0 40 yard dashes in that game
This is where we need mandzo
He would mess with these young inexperienced guys so much with physical and head games
I say with all respect to my canadian croats that borjan cetnik if im croatia saying hes from dalmacija srbija ufff 5 komada ajmo nasi.
Also spain germany are in rebuild not as strong as they were early 2010s so anything is possible if both croatia belgija get 6 points and go into last game looking at easier draw in knickout fase england did in 2018 we all know it didnt come home.
Also how lucky are england i hope they underestimate everyone and fall out of group stage
I’ve seen some people call this the “group of death”, which is hilarious to me. There’s no way a group with Morocco and Canada in it should ever have that title.
As a Canadian, I want those who are praising Canada to take a good look at their recent matches and the quality of the teams they’re playing against. You should never go into a match thinking that it’s an easy win, but to specifically be afraid of this Canadian team is overdoing it.
Yes, Canada does have a few great players. And as average as Croatia has been recently, you can’t even compare Canada’s team to Croatia’s.
Nobody is calling our group the Group of Death.
We were in the Group of Death in the last World Cup though.
This time, it seems like we are on the “Knockout Phase path of Death”.
We play one of Spain or Germany in the first knockout phase…and probably one of Brazil or Portugal in the quarters. Geez.
I’m a Croatian Canadian- Canada plays like an African country against Mexico, US – run and chase game and they can get away with it against lower level quality teams- counter their giveaways and make them pay- Serb goalie so our guys will be blistering shots and I’m sure there will be trash talking – I say 1-0 Croatia on the low side 4-1 on the high side
Overall, we are the best team in our group.
With all do respect to Belgium, they are still a good team but I think they best years are behind them. While we have the experience plus youth to bolster our ranks.
Morrocco and Canada are obviously not on the same level as Croatia. But I also think Croatia’s experience in big tourneys will prove decisive over Canada and Morocco.
But yeah knock out phase looks dangerous. If Croatia can get on a roll, anything can happen.
Maybe if one of Spain or Germany choke we can play Japan in the next round
The knockout stage looks hard where ever any team finishes if you look at break down if we win the group either spain germany then depends where we finish brazil or portugal in quarters maybe a show down with serbia is possible
The bias english media predict following quarterfinals
Holland Argentina
Spain Brazil
England France
Germany Portugal
If depends where we finish sub us in germany or spain thats a hard road to finals lets say that.
I follow Croatia and Canada religiously and can confidently say this will not be a walk in the park. Check out Davies and David’s Transfermarkt values if you need proof. Also google all the teams interested in David this summer. Larin and Buchanan are also surging in value.
Canada was clearly the best team in CONCACAF and I believe scored the most goals out of ANY nation in qualifying. And that is their strength. I agree their D will face challenges but even there they at least have the athletes and physicality to compete.
Let them hang around and suffer the consequences. I’ll admit that this game will be difficult for me to watch.
Very fair points. Davies and David are in my top 5 favorite footballers outside Croatians.
They just didn’t face a defense even close to ours in qualifying. The talents there, but I don’t think they are quite ready for the biggest stage. We shall see though…
LOL. Canada will be lucky to get a point from the group. Stop it.
Lol. Said like a pravi Amerikanac.
Living in Canada, I can assure you we don’t all live in igloos in snowy weather year round.
Underestimating teams is the worst thing anyone can do.
None of these teams are a walk in the park. Canada is dangerous on the counter and have enough talent and pace to surprise.
That’s being said we should advance but it’s not a gimme.
Yup. Mentioned the pace. But here’s the thing…
Our backline can handle it. Gvardiol, Sosa, Juranović, etc…they have the pace for it.
We take away their biggest strength and – boom. Game over. We destroy their midfield and counter their weak backline with our offensive strength at the wingback, midfield, wing, and striker roles.
Canada is my #2 team, and I’m from America. I was really happy to see them qualify. But they just aren’t quite there yet.
They do have danger on speed and counter
But they will have a hard time with midfield
Perisic will be beast mode
And that Serb keeper talking shit is like pummeling the Serbs
I am Canadian and want them to do well but these idiots just look at rankings
Croatia besides being weak in keeper and striker, we arguably the most depth stacked ever for us??
What sort of formation would be best to line up against Canada
I think we do need to wear them down with our possession play
They aren’t used to the technical game we can play
Nobody thinks Canadians live in igloos or has snowing weather year round.
That’s just Canadians playing victimhood.