New Croatian interim manager Niko Kovač was all business Monday afternoon in Switzerland upon finding out who Croatia would challenge for one of four last UEFA World Cup berths….and it was the lowest ranked team in the draw: ICELAND. HNS president Davor Šuker grinned when the two teams were drawn.
Iceland will host on Friday, November 15th, with the return leg in Croatia on November 19th.
In the other three European ties, it will be:
Portugal vs Sweden, Greece vs Romania and Ukraine vs. France.
This is the boost the Croatian national team needed in order to get back on the right track. They have been playing horribly and still shouldn’t take an Iceland team, who has never reached a major tournament, lightly. But as a Croatian fan, you have to be ecstatic today. Not just do you draw Iceland, but you avoid France and Sweden.
@Lovro i forgot. sure that modric need to be 11 initial
@ Iggy
Full respect to you brother from down under. You put your picture on and own what ever pizdarija that you post.
Sad Neznam tko ste vi ?
Mi smo Hrvati tu.
Vas prezime je naj Bitno !
Kovac je pravi Hrvat. Tko ste vi?
Molim te.
Ako to hoces bit tu dai vas ime i prezime.
HVALA :
Dennis Svircic
Ante Kvartuc
Zack
Meni prezime je Matesic!
What I will never understand is why the hell they only call upon Olic when the situacija is due or die or for the most important games. He’s been killer in some of the most recent important games (Cro Turkey 1st leg, Cro Serbia 1st game)… Ok, he doesn’t have the best all around game but he delivers. If Olic and Mandzukic to start both games you can book your ticket to brasil
yeah the youth team hasn’t looked good i agree ziva, and the commentators were saying during the game this cro team hasn’t performed as well as expected
uzbeki will prolly beat us but cos its one of those youth cups u can progress by coming 3rd in the group so we still have a chance to go thru (maybe even with a loss??)
@Al:
We would be super narrow with Kranjcar in that position. I guess it could work with certain opponents.
i don’t know guys. Based on what I have watched from the U-17s, they don’t look good. I see the Uzbeki’s beating us in the next match. They looked better against Morraco than we did and were more impressive against Panama.
the Croatian fisherman from “Deadliest Catch”
Jenna Jameson’s 1st husband
@ivan the red
Well said. Let this idiot Zorro take his yugo crap and fuckoff.
Check out bullhit, niko I brate. If you haven’t heard, it’s hilarious. Spoof off stimacs mare i kate
@ Faux Cro
Mate Loncar.
@Zorro
So according to your claims Greece is a power-house team.
Jenna Elfman? or Charilie Sheen’s ex-wife
Croatia just needs to play with balls and they should have no issue qualifying. I know that was the expert analysis you were all waiting for. That is number one, that’s it
@Lovro
“Can’t believe all this talk about Brazil. I’ve just watched Croatia lose to Scotland’s first and second string without scoring a goal in 180 minutes, and get outplayed by Liechtenstein, who fields 3 professionals and 8 amateurs.
Are a bunch of our players going to all of a sudden start playing better in just 3 weeks?
Kovac has nothing to go on as far as what formations/lineups/tactics have gone well llately”
Very well said!
We need to have that perspective going into this.
@Faux Cro
Weird Al Yankovic maybe?
@Zorro
When have Yugoslavia won a world cup? You said it was in chile 62?
What altered timeline do you live in? Last I knew they finished 4th.
Budala!
How do you guys think this line up would do, its going back to our 2008 strategy somewhat. And kranjcar can be subber off for rakitic for some more energy.
pletikosa
corluka – lovren – simunic – strinic
vida
srna – modric – kranjcar
eduardo
mandzukic
We will lose to them too. Fucking losers.
That would be classic if Ziva was Razov.
Im happy with the draw. I can say this for certain, if we loose to iceland we dont deserve to be in the wc, that will bring me some type of solace if we dont make it.
I figured it out Ziva is either John Malkovich, Bill Rancic, Scott Bakula or Erin Brokovich.
@Mate:
Thanks for the info
For a recap, if anybody cares, team obviously has a lot of quality, some really skillful young players between halilovic, maloku, muric, brodic and roguljic; overall just a lot of skillful players and the scoreline should have been a lot higher than it was and could have been if just for some better finishing and less selfish play…let’s see how they do against some better competition…definitely agree with kovac on that our younger players need better conditioning and physical strength, weren’t horribly strong in duels
On a broader note, I think Croatia is going to have some attacking options in the future, especially at attacking winger, between roguljic, rebic, marko pjaca and handful of other names that may just one day become first team players. Obviously there is a huge divide there from the U17 stage or even 19 or 21, but here’s to hoping
lets please stop talking about rooting for certain teams to lose so that cro get second seed in Brazil. We have not made it to brazil yet. Lets not jinx it.
I know ante razov personally and he has been nothing but positive toward my family, his family, friends and community. pretty ignorant seeing people talking low about someone they only read about and are jealous of. I enjoy reading these articles and threads but it’s super shitty reading all the shit talk people used to watch…
again scratch that, mamic is good
scratch that about petar mamic
They’re forcing play a ton and are very selfish at times, but it’s a step forward from passing the ball around in our own half waiting for God knows what…..so, not like the A reprezentacija
I’m not sure if the lovely boys at CSR (who I am eternally grateful) are going to do an article about the U17 win, but I’m at half time right now and there’s a noticeable improvement from that shit show against Morocco. They are actually hustling and fighting to win the game, and the defense is much more convincing although Panama isn’t on the same level as Morocco (feels funny saying that). It’s good to see and there’s a handful of players that will at least have a chance to make the first team, possibly, in the future. I like Petar Mamic, Halilovic obviously, Roguljic and that little cigan Maloku…he’s probably the most entertaining player to watch on the team
purely speaking for victoria now that the liberals are in power they havent forked out for the sky cranes for a couple seasons now and have been lucky, but i think 09 really showed how unprepared we are down here. As to why they wont just buy the equipment that is beyond me, in the time they have rented them surely they could have bought a fair few of them and spread them over a few states with the proviso that they can be deployed where ever they are needed most.
our favourite sayings are, should be right and she’ll be right, thats the attitude here
Why is that? I always thought Australia had their act together?
like always they will wait for rain, this country has some sort of issue with learning from past experience, its no secret that we are bush fire prone down here and yet they dont think to invest in the right equipment, we rent 2 erickson sky cranes and rely on water baskets. Cro has 6 kanaderi for a land mass quarter the size of victoria. One would think that after ash wednesday and black saturday (177 deaths in 09) that they would learn, but from what i am hearing victoria wont even be renting the skycranes and we are expecting a very hot fire season. Renting 2 skycranes for the better part of 2 decades surely they squandered enough to buy a few of those, fuggedaboutit
Isn’t most of the country uninhabited/uninhabitable?
i think the fires are distinctly OUT of control which is the problem..
but, this does happen every recent year too.. every year is always the worst ever from now on it seems with these sorts of events and in many places around the world
i remember last year there was a google map floating around with icons for all the uncontrolled bushfires on it and it was madness, was such a large portion of the country !
@IggY:
Are the fires under control?
or Mario Galinovic
hasn’t ziva been posting the same time on this site as Goran was commentating on games ??
or Vlatko Markovic, but I guess I was wrong about that one.
My guess is that, Ziva is Goran Vlaovic.
Korean hat trick king.
NICE!
Thanks.
@slavonac
Who said I am Croatian!
Plus a Croatian girl can spell her name anyway she likes to.
He trashes you Faux Cro because you always get it wrong.
Is anyone else starting to feel bad for Ziva?
He has trashed me over the years more than most, and I don’t have such strong feelings against him.
He can be over the top and overly judgmental, but does bring something to the site.
This is an quasi-anonymous website. Guessing who he is, is not the point of this site.
Sorry,meant just cause I jerk off,it doesn’t allow you to talk to me like that.
Last reply all yours.
@Ana-That’s it-you dirty mouthed girl,you are adopted and on the next flight to Sydney.Dont cause I jerk off doesn’t give you a right to speak to me like that. 🙂 🙂 right of reply is all yours and final.You will learn.
Kuku riku!!!
Dobro jutro Svima !
Niko Kovac is a grind it out bad ass.
He will approach Iceland with the full respect of what the occasion is. A ticket to Brazil and you smotani think he is going talk pizdarija like Zivas stric?
We are going to be organized and hungry. This will happen through team selection and game planning. Yes Stimac pissed away the entire qualifying campaign by throwing sranje on the field hoping something will stick. But we still have the quality and the studs will be energized by Kovac/no Stimac and focused on a two legged tie. With our CL pedigree our boys are seasoned.
Plus now we will not leak in some BS goal. Iceland will have to earl it.
Kovac his humble AND ambitious. The best combo for producing team success on any level in any sport. He takes Croatia to Brazil and Euro 2016. He will be coaching in the Bundesliga.
Sweden will beat Portugal. They are well oiled machine with Ibra cadebra still providing the magic. Ronaldo he plays for his 3 buddies : me, my and I. That doesn’t work in team sports.
all this talk about how we better not be arrogant or take it easy
did anyone watch our recent games ???
I seriously do not think that is possible to happen..
the guy who mentioned Iceland’s group is correct tho, no doubt iceland had a piss easy group, they are ranked 46 or something, they lost 3 games and didnt have much to write home about, there’s not a lot to suggest iceland can beat us (from their side of things)..
from our side, yeah, of course.. if we weren’t capable of mentally imploding and self-destructing we wouldn’t be hrvati would we ?? lol
geez Anna, you’ve got quite the edge to you! BTW – Croatian girls spell their name Ana…not Anna!
Leave Razov out of this. A good man.
Anna Razov? Interesting. Don’t be so obvious.
.
Speaking of Ante Razov. We could use another article from him. The boys should work on that.
@Funkky:
Nice to see you back.
@Ante (zivas new step dad)
Your hands are full with jerking off. Give it a break. 🙂
@Ziva-Didnt realise you had a sister called Anna(Ana),sorry ,tell her my hands are full,no more adoptions. 🙂
Ibrahimovic’s mothers is from Prkos and he has always played it diplomatically by saying he is swedish, which is his right and better than guys like Sertic who found his Cro blood after realising France didn’t have him in their plans. As for Portugal v Sweden i dont think they particularly care if Ibrahimovic isnt there, afterall his name ends in ic.
@ Ziva Istina
“daddy’s boy Tomic” nice one there 😀 But he isn’t Croatian just some sorta bosnian mix hence the headbutting, He has never claimed Cro in any way other than to say that the police were harassing him about his car and speeding because he is European, allowed himself to be called Tomik, best not to even waste time on the guy
Ziva Istina is king. He calls it correctly most of the time and it seems so many on this site can’t stand that.
Long live Ziva.
Just looked at Icelands qualifying group! No disrespect towards Iceland but COME ON! Did you see that EASY group?
Ya YA Ya , I know we sucked ass the last few games, but if we cant knock these guys out, ovo ce bit najveca sramota nogometa svi vremena………..No pressure Vatreni!
hahaha…good idea Tony2x!
We should have a thread here to share croatian music. Anyone have any good songs to share? Appreciate it
was looking for the iceland leg
for which leg????
Check the websites of each savez.
anyone know about availability of tickets for the game?
Well, I’ll let the others be the judge of that. Remember, I’m the one who said best case for Cro would be for us to lose to Belgium and be humilaited by Scotland so Stimac would be forced out. Look how things worked out. Also told you and others (more like pleased) for the people of ZG not to tuen out for the Belgium game. i read that one as well while others (not all, but a good number) were shocked and questioning why the people of Cro would no-show for a must-win game.
Speaking of predictable……..I have to get back to the fortified basement.
@rennan brazil – Modric doesn’t make your starting line-up?
Can’t believe all this talk about Brazil. I’ve just watched Croatia lose to Scotland’s first and second string without scoring a goal in 180 minutes, and get outplayed by Liechtenstein, who fields 3 professionals and 8 amateurs.
Are a bunch of our players going to all of a sudden start playing better in just 3 weeks?
Kovac has nothing to go on as far as what formations/lineups/tactics have gone well llately
Stimac fucked up things up for a year now. It wasn’t about Croatia trying to win maches – It was about displaying players to try and sell to make a profit.
This isn’t just a nightmare that you wake up from just becasue we drew Iceland. It takes more than 3 weeks to un-do the damage.
Ante Razov I guess you need to understand when sarcasm stops being funny or sarcastic. I don’t hate you, you’ve just become annoying, predictable and a self serving prick that comes here to grind his ax and be an asshole.
I dunno how else to put it.
.
@Ziva STD Official……..its called sarcasm. But, haters gonna hate me, I guess.
@Zivi Kretan……OK, give me examples. You may not like my opinions and reasoning, but I usually provide a sound arguement. What am I so wrong on?
Ziva doesn’t know everything but he makes good and logical arguements, some I like and some i don’t….at the end of the day he is logical. if you don’t like his arguements then debate them, I see no reason for attacking him personally.
Ziva thinks he knows everything he even argues facts.
Petkovic*
Regardless of who Kovac calls up, Ziva will talk shit about all of them. They eat too much, they bang too much and on and on and on. Fucking haters gotta hate I guess.
.
Looks like Petlovic’s days are numbered in Lazio. Mihajlovic maybe taking over as head coach over there…
http://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/mihajlovic-mijenja-petkovica-na-klupi-lazija-navijaci-ga-vole-a-uprava-kluba-postuje/707350.aspx
Ibrahimovic’s mom is from Skabrnja therefor he’s part Hrvat
bring in Dino Drpic so we can see photos of his wife half naked in a cro jersey!
http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/vatrene-cekaju-metar-snijega-i-polarni-vjetar–islandani-se-smiju—a-sto-ste-vi-mislili–/1134588/
N Kovac interested to see who he calls up and who he will call up in 2014-and on
badelj need to be called up
pletikosa, strinic, lovren, corluka, srna, badelj(or vukojevic,) kranjcar, kovacic, rakitic, mandzukic and olic
@ Ziva
Wenger doesn’t forget players that played their best for him. He brought Flamini back this season and has kept Rosicki for the longest time. Like I said it would be more about symbolism because I truly believe Wenger felt he had a successor to Henry when he brought Eduardo. Your talking about a guy that could score goals any which way: strike, header, volley, deke, chip, reverse backheel, etc. Not only that, he could read the game, pass the ball, and score goals/create chances from nothing. He definitely would not go back as a first team regular but I can see him as a ‘B’ squad guy that teaches some of the younger players and gives them some challenge in scrums. I could see him featuring in first team games against the Cardiff’s, Sunderlands, and Norwiches. Hey if he can score against Wales a team that is basically an amped up Cardiff City, he can score against the bottom of the EPL.
Crystal ball says 35% chance he goes back to Arsenal, pending a Croatia WC qualification.
@ Ziva i meant its funny when Croatia underestimate someone i expect it from Italy germany Spain but who is Croatia
What would have Stimac said if he were still coach,
2 laksa treninga prije Brazila hahaha.
dumb izjave?????/ how so. We already got gusy saying we got the easier possible draw.
I never believed in bulletin board material. And I pay no attention to comments made by players/coaches leading up to the game. They are usually BS. Just once I would love to hear from players and coaches honest reaction and opinion. If I was Niko Kovac, I would have pumped my fists and said a loud “yeah”.
http://www.vecernji.hr/sport/vijesti/srna-imamo-veliku-priliku-zao-mi-je-sto-stimac-nije-nama-clanak-631074
Srna comments
Why are we Talking Ibrahimovic hes a Bosnian Swede god for him.
Do you guys think they will underestimate Iceland, not niko kovac i mean zvjezdice poput Srne Rakitica Modric will they give dumb izjave?
@tony2times
Ibra is Catholic. His dad was a drunk and his parents divorced when he was 2 years old. He was raised by his mom, who was Croatian. For the longest time, Ibra would only wear his first name on the back of his jersey because he hated his dad. But he eventually made up with him.
If you really need proof, Wikipedia has like three links to interviews where he says it.
Ziva – “Ibrahimovic may be catholic, but he isn’t croatian” – I agree, the guy seems to be anti Croatia and has never once in all these years attached his name to Croatians whatsoever….thsats why I think he’s a muzzie!
Ibrahimovic may be catholic, but he isn’t croatian.
There is zero chance Arsenal bring him back. For what?????? he is done playing at that level on a weekly basis. Arsenal have a better chance of signing you for the CB role.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBI41GVpf34
@ CS Niko kovac isnt Interim signed till 2016
Toni – great comments, I never thought of it that way!
@tony2times
Then giddy up brother, google, yahoo, etc.
Fill your boots.
@ tony
http://www.dagen.se/nyheter/troende-zlatan-sjalvkritisk-over-maltorka/
interview with a Swedish paper. Says he’s catholic and believes in God.
Here I am guys…
http://cheezburger.com/6362702592
Muslims claim he’s Muslim, I need proof that he said it. Its all speculation
Croatian Iceland 2005
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaAAx1E9DAs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXyilVSiixQ
@Slavonac from Canada
He says he is a practicing Catholic…..half/half refers to his ethnicity.
@ Slavonac from Canada
Damn right about Dudu. In an alternate universe where his leg does not get destroyed by Taylor and your looking at a top 20 in the world striker (barring injury of course). I have friends in Cro that watched him in training and warm-ups for Dinamo and he was on another level. His play for Arsenal was becoming absolutely retarded and I believe it was Fabregas who stated that the game they lost Eduardo was the end of Arsenal’s title challenge. I agreed. he was scoring at will in a tough qualifying group for EURO 2008 and had pace enough to score in the EPL. The injury took away his pace thus relegating him to a bench player for Shakhtar.
I will say that if Arsenal continue their early season dominance I can see Wenger bringing him in this January as a sort of talisman/bit player. The London fans loved the guy. It would be a reason for Arsenal fans to dust off their Eduardo shirts, I used to see a few in Toronto during that infamous season.
Tony 2x – half/half
@tony2times
Ibra je Katolik, procitaj ispod….took me virtually 5 seconds to google it….
http://hollowverse.com/zlatan-ibrahimovic/
I wonder what Stimac was thinking after the draw? Has he made any comments about it? Does he pull for Croatia to advance or does he pull a Ziva and hopes Hrvatska falls flat on their faces? Just think, a 0-0 draw in Glasgow and Stimac is still most likely the coach and the doom and gloom would still exist. Almost feels like the 3 out of 4 losses never happened now that Niko is in and Iceland was drawn.
Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic Muslim or Catholic???
@ Ziva Istina
Portugal vs. Sweden, what of it?
No one cares about Sweden, they have one star. While Portugal has many stars, and it’s in FIFA’s interest that it goes to Brazil. FIFA did them a favor by giving them Sweden instead of France.
While the draw is not perfect, it is set up in such a way that France, Portugal, Croatia, and Greece–which all have the cache of stars and/or recent success–can qualify for next year’s event.
And IF Croatia improves it’s play, and its a BIG IF, I would love to see Croatia in a prime-time TV slot in the World Cup (assuming they qualify). I’m tired of this under-card, in the morning time slot BS.
Here’s a yahoo story about Icelandic football:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/football-icelands-success-laughing-matter-163312457–sow.html
Being a practically all white northern European country, their standard of living is extremely high despite the fact their population is tiny. So they had the resources to build domes over all their soccer stadiums and facilities so that kids could play soccer year round.
I hear the MLS is considering changing to the European season schedule. Would be great if No. America, Russia, Ukraine, etc, could do this. Perhaps they could build removable Geodesic glass domes around stadiums in winter time to simply protect from wind and precipitation?
I was looking at the World Cup schedule and they a couple of games scheduled at night in Brazil. Not sure if they are reserved for Brazil or other S. American teams, but I hope the US or Cro get drawn in a group that will have a night game. Primetime World Cup games in the US/Canada on TV would be great.
I could care less…Balotelli isn’t Sicilian, Miroslav Klose was born in Poland…so was Podolski and many many other players.
Dudu came to Croatia at 15 with no guaranteed future, whatever opportunities he got they were while he was still a kid.
During that qualifying campaign…Dudu was actually the leading goal scorer in the tournament at one point.
Then again…if you think about it…it wouldnt look as good to say your highest scoring player on your team is not even Croatian born.
I’m sure that’s all we would hear.
Ziva – I might be wearing those homer glasses you often mention but I believe Dudu was an incredible class before he got that terrible injury and therefore believe if they didnt know him they would have eventually, he was incredible before that fucker Taylor brutalized him!
@Ziva I have already defeated your seeding argument with the example of the most recent EURO 2012. Our performances against Italy and Spain were strong, had we been seeded higher and met those teams in the knockout stages instead of a group stage we would’ve taken them to extra-time where anything can happen. As it happened, we were low seeds and had to settle for a point instead (I still refuse to accept Spain beat us!) and thus met our early exit.
Toronto Croatia – hahahaha…uffff…brazilian booty, I can imagine how fun that was?
my sister and neice live in Slavonski Brod and couldn’t name 3 National Team players outside of Mandzukic and Olic…maybe answers your question? On the other hand the rest of my family members know tons of Croatians that play within and outside of Croatia!
Hoestly, who really cares about what seed we get. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…..the fans of nations that worry about WC seeding are the fans who think we need help to advance.
Although to be fair……one of the main reasons we did go as far as we did in the 98 WC was due to being in possible the easiest World Cup group of all time. We played two first-timers in Jamaica and Japan. You couldn’t get an easier group than that.
I fancy Sweden against Portugal. Hopefully Romania can break the Greek wall that they will build in both games.
Assuming Croatia go through, we need two teams above us in the world rankings to not make it through the play-offs in order for Croatia to be second seeds at the World Cup finals.
Therefore, two of Portugal, Greece, Uruguay and Ivory Coast need to be eliminated.
Uruguay should make light work of Jordan. Ivory Coast already hold a 3-1 advantage over Senegal in the first leg. We should be rooting for Romania and Sweden to upset the odds in the play-offs and Croatia can enjoy second seed status.
ChachaTvoj…. no homo
There’s a Trini girl at my work though who would come around sometimes when I was watching highlights of Croatia games……and she was all over Lovren and Kranjcar.
#the gay moment you have when you see corluka on tv playing for the national team and you like, ” damnnnnn he’s one handsome son a bitch”……anyone?
lol sorry, when I said “neither of them knew Eduardo”…I was referring to her and her brother. I wasnt dating 2 Brazilian chicks….Im not that good.
@Ante Razov so are you going to stop being a cunt?
.
No one is fishing for fan support in Brazil. We’ll definitely be outnumbered by CONCACAF and COMEBOL support, but that’s going to happen. It’s the same for S. American teams playing in Europe.
No one wants Brazilians to support Cro at the games. People are just curious how Dudu will be received (granted, if he plays), I’m sure there will be a passing interest in how he plays, and a few mentions by TV announcers of the Brazilian born player on the repka “coming home” to play in the WC. But I think in the grand scheme of things, Eduardo playing in Brazil will be the equivalent of a fart in a hurricane.
Slavonac from Canada….in answer to your question…yes I do hear Slavic names and wonder where the person is from.
But I remember quite a few years back I had a Brazilian girlfriend….and of course they loved soccer but neither of them knew Eduardo…and this was back when he was actually better.
At the very least…if we make it to Brazil…at least Eduardo would be able to take the players to the hottest strip clubs in Rio.
@Slavonac from Canada..true, but I’m not going out of my to watch someone like Bogut play hoops or daddy’s boy Tomic play tennis because they have cro blood. I think same with the brazlians. They may be aware of who he is, but dude doesn’t play for Brazil.
@ nepoznat
Yea Lovren botched a 1 v 1 defensive header but that is why he should play in the opponents box too. He scored outnumbered against Liverpool and again against Man U this past weekend. His goal against Wales in qualifying and the shots I’ve seen from him for Southhampton all tell me this guy is an offensive defender. You are correct though he does get beaten in the air quite often as he did against Greece during Euro 2012 qualifiers.
To me this tie will come down to the ‘superstars’ proving their club status and showing it on the world stage. Modric Rakitic and Mandzukic are the three guys that get us to the World Cup. Any of them score or assist a goal in Iceland and it’s a good omen. If they play like chumps their rep takes a huge hit: you think Guardiola, Ancelloti and the coach of Sevilla won’t be watching how those three do?
Mandzukic won a job at Bayern on the back of his EURO 2012 performance… a lame duck display against Iceland could give another reason to sell Mandzukic come January. Modric and Rakitic are definitely not on the chop block but soccer pundits the world would crap all over those two if they failed to beat Iceland.
My early prediction: 2-1 away win and 2-0 at home.
@Croatia vs. Antwerp……then explain Portugal-Sweden
Toronto Croatia – let me ask you a question?
if you watch soccer and notice a Slavic last name…do you wonder where the person is from? Before you knew Ivica Vastic, Rakitic, Simunic, Bilos, Klasnic and so on….did you wonder if they were Croatians? when you heard those names didn’t you think if there is a connection? Well, Brazilians are fanatics that have tv’s….have news and watch international soccer…with that said, they know of the Brazilians in Russia, Ukraine and all over Europe…they arent any different than we are! Mu Italian friends know the Italians that play in Belgium, Italy and everywhere else…I think we all try to identify with our own!
I think you guys are fishing for fan support in Brazil. Only ways Brazilians get behind Da Silva and Cro is if he is playing and scoring goals. He is not a big name. If we somehow make it and advance to the knockout round, then there will be some additional media intetest in him. And then actual hrvati around the world have to answer questions how a brazilian is on our repka from those following the WC
We wont have much fan support in brazil (assuming we make it). We will be outnumbered in terms of fan support against any S. American or CONCACAF team.
majstore…or maybe whoever got them to throw the 2 games against Scotland and made the huge payout said…
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re taken care of in the playoffs….everybody wins”
Iceland was indeed THE first country to recognize Croatia, FOUR FULL DAYS before Germany.
We will always have a bond with our Nordic brothers!
Or maybe they are repaying us because we were jobbed at the euros v Spain lol
Playing down to our level is an issue…
And yes, arrogance is one thing…
But lets be realistic here….EVERYONE (including the players) know they have been handed a gift in order to play on the biggest world stage next year.
This is not only just to win 2 games….
This is for their carreers….
This is for the tournament that every young boy dreams of playing in growing up….
This is for Niko’s pride as a coach….
This is for the pride of a Nation.
It would be ABSOLUTELY INEXCUSEABLE for Croatia to lose to Iceland. Plain and simple.
Remember Croatia getting an easy draw could be a FIFA conspiracy. Because fans and Fifa want to see players like Modric and Mandzukic in the World Cup.
I believe Iceland was on of the first countries to recognize Croatian in 1991. Thanks guys! In regards to the upcoming game, I believe that Croatia’s arrogance will hurt them this game, like it has in almost every game in the past few years. I just hope that Kovac can fix our problem of playing to the level of our opponent.
p.s. Take a look at the HNL table, who’s in first?
HAJDUK ZIVI VJECNO!
Yea Slavonac from Canada….but the Eduardo of the Arsenal days has long been forgotten by most.
I doubt most non-Croatians even know where Eduardo plays now.
And with that being said, there are MORE talented Brazilians playing for Shakhtar than him now.
I’m sure Dudu will be received warmly in Brazil. I don’t think he was ever called up for the full national squad anyway (so I could be mistaken).
If there was a Croatian guy playing for…I don’t know…Japan…who was never called up for the repka, and became a star after he began playing for Japan, I’d still show the guy some support. It’s kind of a novelty.
As Ante says, we should be ecstatic today. A couple of things:
1. We played really badly of late, but not bad enough to fall way down in the rankings to become an unseeded side. Thus avoiding Greece, Portugal, and Ukraine.
2. We were seeded and managed to avoid France and Sweden. This is Huge! We actually got the weakest team in the playoffs, Iceland.
3. We must not underestimate Iceland. And take nothing for granted. And if we play our best we will beat them.
So let’s not book our tickets to Brazil yet, and just keep the Champagne on Ice for now.
Cold is good, provides extra motivation to keep running!
Perfect draw, Niko will have the boys ready, and if we’re fortunate enough to get through, i can’t wait to see what he does in the intervening period running up to the WC!
they know him….Arsenal???? Hello???/ before he broke his leg he was very promising and well on his way to be a star….I guarantee you Brazilians know him!
TWO things could play out….Croatia COULD even get some home-nation love just because of the fact that they have a Brazilian on their team.
On the other hand, Brazilians are probably the most passionate nation about soccer….so anyone not playing on their team could be considered a traitor lol
Or….they might not even know who Eduardo is and thus not care at all.
This is all hypothecial here people!
@majstore
Agreed.
We get it, Charlie likes to bang chicks.
Ziva, would you feel better if he was banging guys? Shit.
Toronto Croatia – Eduardo is and has always been spoken about in a very positive way so I think they’ll love him and respect him in Brazil!
Doubt anyone would care that much as he’s not good enough to play for brazil anyways, nor do I think he ever was.
But who knows.
Yea I know I’m getting ahead of myself ….so I’ll say HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING….IF Croatia beats Iceland and advances…
How do you think Eduardo would be received in Brazil playing for Croatia?
Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic Catholic or Muslim? Proof?
* Repeating
Yeah seriously Ziva, I know you are trying to be funny.
And admittedly, sometimes you are. But relegating the same one liners ad nauseam is tiring and wholly unfunny.
And the guys in Germany too.
Weather should be a non factor for the team. Iceland in mid November isn’t much worse (if at all) to England or Italy in January. Nevermind our guys that play in Ukraine + Russia.
Ziva or should I call you Ante Razov, you definitely have an axe to grind against a huge percentage of the players.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not going to look at the NT with unrealistic expectations, but beating them up non-stop serves no purpose.
Did Corluka bang your wife?
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Cold is a state of mind…..coming from someone who lives in the great white north, what are you boys picke?!?! LOL
If Croatia can’t beat Iceland then they are hopeless.
It’s going to be cold as balls in Iceland. Average high temp in November is fucking 38 Degrees (F), plus they are playing at night so its going to be fucking like, 28 degrees (F).
That’s cold enough to freeze the crabs off of Corluka’s ballsack.
@tony2times
You mean like Turkey in our last 2 leg playoff?
there is almost no easy team in Europe, if they aren’t technically talented they are surely physically challenging to their opponents. Going back to several of my previous comments I’ve said, coaching does make a difference! You can have a great coach with an average team and get a result over a big team….I wouldn’t pack my bags for Brazil just yet…there are 2 games to play!
Croatia always play to the level of their opponents, this will be no different.
Any predictions on the line up/formation first leg?
Imagine the damage Corluka can do in Iceland with all this efair skinned, blondes. Dude has to be drooling as we speak.
Curious to see who Niko Kovac will call up. I don’t expect there to be many changes in the name, but he did say he would only call up those players who deserve to be there. So, does that mean players like Sammir, Jelavic, Halilovic wont be called up and we shouldn’t expect Radosevic and Rebic to receive any call ups.
The best part about Niko being in charge….no chance we see Livaja on the repka. That is a win/win situation.
What’s the weather going to be like in Iceland for the game?
Talent is great but snow can even things out. .
My gut feeling was saying we were going to draw Romania but Iceland is even better. This is the break that we needed now all the players have to do is get their heads out of their asses and play 180+ mins of nogomet!
We can still screw this up
I meant to say that I hope they WERE’NT laughing too hard.
Best of luck Croatia. Modric, Mandzukic, and Lovern, you boys need to lead this team to the World Cup!
Iceland have a young striker from Ajax plus they have a few other players from the Dutch league in their squad. Slovenia scored 4 away goals against them but lost at home to them. God is on our side with him giving us Iceland he wants us Croatian catholics to go to Roman Catholic Brazil!
i was in iceland a few months ago. awesome time. anyone going over there to watch the game. what would the best way to get tickets be?
What more can I say? This is the dream draw for Croatia.
No wonder Suker couldnt contain himself.
Its never good to get over-confident or downplay our competition…but still
We all may disagree on things on this website from time to time but one statement that ALL OF US can agree on is…
If Croatia can’t beat Iceland then we really had no business being in the World Cup anyway.
I hope the Croat players and management were laughing too hard with this draw. Please Hrvati, take this playoff seriously!
I think Ukraine has a decent chance of throwing out France too. But I def would not be surprised to see one of Portugal / France go home. Hopefully neither of them make it to brazil.
Poor Sweden.
They were in the only group harder than ours, barely finish 2nd, only to get Portugal in the playoff.
It would be absolutely crazy if Sweden knocks Ronaldo out of the World Cup.
I still can’t believe the World Cup will not feature Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic. From a neutral point of view, a World Cup is better when all the star players are there.
Two advantages for Iceland, our recent form and they have Lars Lagerback as their coach. So, they will be prepapred for the game. Everything else favors Cro.
@ dalmo
“Thats a good sign given that our last few coaches have had a penchant for celebrating goals by riding assistant coaches like horses.”
this is one of my favorite comments in some time.
– Its funny that both Croatia and Iceland were probably celebrating today
-Halilovic: still young. I didn’t watch today, but he definitley created some opportunities in game 1. And started the motion for the first goal with some kind of two footed backwards flip pass. he’s got talent but he’s young so i wouldn’t expect him to be consistent. is he the next messi… no
Isn’t Uzbekistan considered the favorite in the group?
@slavonac…..no,but will be there for that week and makes most sense for departure from that localtion.
You guys should remember that Halilovic is only 17 years old, not even age of majority yet….give the kid a break he’ll learn. He didn’t ask for Stimac/Mamic to call him up to the repka….
Good job for the U17’s to even up their record. Big third game vs. Uzbekistan…..ajde momci!
http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/matches/round=259263/match=300253576/summary.html
Right guys, so many negative, nervous comments at the start of this thread…then you get a dream draw!!!! You not only get Iceland, you get the away game first…it couldn’t be any better!! With all respect to Iceland who have played well recently, you should be sure to score in the first game, maybe even win it by a couple of goals, but still have the security of the return match in Croatia..you’re going to Brazil guys!!!!! Can’t wait to see Croatia play the way they can. Good luck guys.
@Iggy the u17 goalie, Marko Maric, is indeed a good player
BTW Ziva,
Iceland +333
Croatia -500
You were close, but as I suspected we’d be favoured by a bit more.
Opening line on first match has Cro to win at +100.
Back to the draw, we def got a favourable draw but by no means do I think Iceland will be a pushover. They have a decent quality attacking squad.
I still think we progress however.
is that why ppl cheered when hailovic got the ball ????
yeah his, especially his last 10 mins were poor.. couple of golden chances to lay it off and ice the game but no, no..
actually he’s one of the guys who u love to play against in indoor, u just mark them 100% of the time and u can leave everyone else free as a bird because u know there’s no way he passes, even when the free guy is thru on goal
@Toni Lovren can’t get a header in the open field 1v1 situation and you want him to get a piece of the ball in a crowded box while being outnumbered like 8v6???
@ Iggy
Come on mate give the kid a break.
Haliliovic is all Arjen Robben. Little man does not like to pass the rock.
The boys look good, be great to see them beat Uzbekistan and get out pool.
Nice morning for Croatia .
@ Dalmo
Lol!
Thankfully it is CHI that is flowing freely !
@ Zorro
Don’t get your skinny foil bent out of shape. We are just a few Croats shooting the breeze over our beloved national team.
@ Davor
No one in their right mind is taking Iceland lightly, least of which will be Kovac.
He was their for Bilic riding the donkey like Muha bez glava just before we pissed away a euro semi final berth.
Can’t wait to see the line up for the first away leg?
Mali cevap halilovic was bad today h thinks hes messi ronaldo man long way from playing A international level
One thing that’s really annoying is that since this is in the UAE, the fans only cheer for the muzzy teams.
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knezevic cocked it up royally, absolute soda of a chance
Ignore Zorro, he’ll go away eventually as all trolls do when they can’t get their rocks off….
how bad was that miss from knezevic?? i mean.. how??????
Ziva – you from NYC?
@ Mishko
yeah that was poor form, could have laid it off a few times and chose to go it alone and do SFA with it
unconvincing win
our keeper (forgot his name sorry) looked good, made some really good saves when needed
Halilovic is a fricken ball hog.
Halilovic made a right picka of himself there
Good thing that Aron Jóhannsson kid chose to play for the US and not Iceand. One less talented kid Croatia has to worry about.
I love the cock. 🙂
When did they move Panama to Africa?
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@ Ziva
Iceland LMFAO!!!
It’s so funny because I was checking prices from NYC to Iceland a couple of days ago–hoping we would get Iceland.
You can get nonstop flights for under $800 and it takes less than 6 hours to get there.
OMG, should have been 2 – 0
Who wants tO kick this guy zorros ass!! I do, anybody else? He must be a četnik serb! You obviously know nothing, and what are you doing on a Croatian site????
The game is also on ESPN3
i havent watched much either ziva, he’s made a couple of mistakes but also shown some good play but it’s really patchy
@ Iggy, thanks for the link
I’d love to go if I could watch some Formula off road. Those Icelanders are crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvKNcY-Frc
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@ zorro learn to speak english you shitbird and one bought world cup can blow me, yeah a real superpower
I watched extended portions of the the U17 game on Friday and I watched the first 20 minutes today, so I can’t say i have watched every minute….but, little Halilovic has not done much from what I have watched. Which makes me laugh even more for calling him up to the repka.
We’ll be okay as long as the players don’t underestimate iceland and play with not passion…
Flights from NYC to Iceland, round trip, going for under $800…..
for any of u cunts who wants to watch the cro panama u17wc game.. currently 1-0 to us just over 50 mins in
http://firstrownow.eu/watch/215899/1/watch-croatia-vs-panama,-u17.html
Dalmo Ante, yes England is a super power what did Croatia win during its existance nothing, England at least once won the world cup , donr tell me that you won the world cup in Chile oopss that was Yugoslavia with 2 craots and the rest were serbians right , but since you were the one that answer me telling me that, tell me what makes you thing that you’re superior to Iceland some of your country men think cause they said cames from a weak group ,but in that group was switzerland and slovenia one is a little higher that croatia and slovenia is just a veryvery tiny lower that croatia meaning like a thread so how can Iceland be inferior to you they leave out of the play of a team that is almost the same level than you’re country out of the play off slovenia thats why i say to some of you to get off your cloud, but if Iceland beat you and leave you out of the world cupbe sure that i will come to make fun of you and laugh of you 🙂
@ivica………………
1. Does Niko get fired, and the HNS is stuck paying him the two-year contract they just decided to sign him to?…………….. no, I doubt they would fire him. if you did, you would then be paying three coaches until July 2014. Niko is safe unless we get humiliated against Iceland (fat chance).
2. Does Šuker get fired, even though he wanted an outside coach?…………I wish, but no. As long as Mamic wasnts him around, Puppet Suker is safe. Remember, Puppet Suker’s ultimate goal is to find his way on the FIFA executive committee. That is why he is the head of the savez.
3. Does Mamić get tossed, since Niko was his pick?…………No, just who would toss out Mamic? Strucnjak Stimac came close a few years ago, but Mamic got the better of him.
4. Is Živa so intrigued by this scenario, that a part of him kinda wants this to occur just to see which one of the above happens? hmmmmmmmmmmmm?????????????
I think we should use Niko in similar fashion the way QPR are using him. He does play in a middle left position but floats around a lot. He’s got great vision and has been even tracking back to help the defense.
From this weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leUNGAeBQ7c
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Eh boys, great draw for Cro today! Here’s some WC 2014 qualifying background info on Iceland:
SUI 10 17 6 24
ISL 10 17 15 17
SVN 10 14 11 15
NOR 10 10 13 12
ALB 10 9 11 11
CYP 10 4 15 5
They allowed 15 goals in a group with Switzerland, Slovenia. Norway, Albania, and Cyprus. They have a leaky ‘D’, although there offense looks potent with 17 goals for.
15/10/13 20:00 Oslo Norway 1:1 (1:1) Iceland
11/10/13 18:45 Reykjavik Iceland 2:0 (0:0) Cyprus
10/09/13 19:00 Reykjavik Iceland 2:1 (1:1) Albania
06/09/13 20:30 Berne Switzerland 4:4 (3:1) Iceland
07/06/13 19:00 Reykjavik Iceland 2:4 (2:2) Slovenia
22/03/13 18:00 Ljubliana Slovenia 1:2 (1:0) Iceland
16/10/12 18:30 Reykjavik Iceland 0:2 (0:0) Switzerland
12/10/12 19:00 Tirana Albania 1:2 (1:1) Iceland
11/09/12 20:00 Larnaca Cyprus 1:0 (0:0) Iceland
07/09/12 18:45 Reykjavik Iceland 2:0 (1:0) Norway
A 4-4 result in Switzerland is the one that tells me they are a team not to be taken lightly. As most of you are aware we lost 4-2 to the Swiss at home in Stmac’s first game in charge. The Icelanders fought back from 3-1 down at half time to tie 4-4. They are definitely dangerous. That being said they then folowed up with a 4-2 loss at home to Slovenia. Their last few results give the most reason for optimism, a 2-0 home loss to Switzerland, and a 1-0 loss away to Cyprus. No disrespect to Iceland but if Croatia can’t negotiate their way past Iceland across two legs they can retire the checkered shirt.
Some of you have stated that Croatia should play bunker against Iceland which to me sounds insane. I say play the all out attack style we did against the Turks in our last play-off qualifiers. Try to rattle them at home as you don’t want to go back to Cro with a draw or even a loss. You have to come back after bagging a few goals and then the second game tactics become obvious. It will be harder than we expect but if Croatia raises its game, Mandzukic gets utilized properly, Modric moves up in more of an attack role, there is no reason why we can’t score 2 or more goals. Our ‘D’ has to improve a lot and hold out against an Iceland attack that can be dangerous. I’d like to see Lovren get into the box on corners and set pieces and even have the freedom to move up and take a few pot shots. It should be an entertaining match on the 15th of November. U boj!
Zorro is this you?
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTkyNzk5NjExN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjYwODcyMQ@@._V1_.jpg
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Goni se u tri pm
@Dalmo
I agree. It will be nice to have a coach that doesn’t act in juvenile and unprofessional behavior or make arrogant comments like that ‘wanting to draw France’ comment or using the media to resign, but not submitting anything after.
Šuker disrespectfully grinning like a fool after we drew Iceland, also shows that he is just a seljak. Good to see Niko takes everything seriously and he’ll probably whip our team into shape.
@zorro england superpower? you’re out of your tree
Dejan M is not your business what language i speak i can tell you i speak better english than you cause your not english speaking ppl you’re croats but thats not the point and if you reffer that i dont put periods or comas is because i dont care about grammar and if i write with mistakes is because i made that on purpose but i know some of you are arrogant like the english or irish thinking you are supirior to others come down of your cloud some of you’re country man said that scotland was inferior to you and look what happen scotland beat you twice and that makes me lagh of some of you i dont have nothing against you’re country but thats the reality look iceland you said comes from a weak group but you even couldnt beat switzerland in a friendly and they came from behind to draw switzerland in a world cup qualifier so grow up you’re not france, spain,germany, italy, or england those are super power you’re not and never will
Croatia U17 beating Panama 1-0 currently on 35 mins, goal courtesy Rogulji….
The worst thing we can do is believe the game is already won- a tough thing for Hrvati to do. Hopefully Niko puts us right mentally and kills any arrogance. My best draw would of been Romania. Playing against big, fit players in Iceland in winter with their tails up trying to make history won’t be a walk in the park.
Still, we should win this , if we don’t then we don’t deserve a spot in Rio anyway.
Ajmo Niko!!
@ Matesic Method
I agree i think niko will structure up well defensively and push for goals, from what ive heard he has been very specific with the U21 as to how he wants things to be done, even after they scored he gave them a bit of a bake because he was not happy with how they pressed up leaving them open to copping a goal on the counter. Thats a good sign given that our last few coaches have had a penchant for celebrating goals by riding assistant coaches like horses.
The draw is ok for us but its no time to get complacent this is the same team that laid egg against scotland twice and lost matches to georgia and greece in the euro campaign. I think niko wont discount them and will have our momci playing with structure, discipline and a whole lotta SRCE
really a free flowing kurac? maybe you wanna get that looked at 😀
Safe to say both teams are happy to draw one another
Maybe iceland is happy to get croatia
Iceland is a physical team. They have a few guys who play in Italy and England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_national_football_team#Current_squad
Sigurosson (Tottenham) is one of their best players and was their co-leader in scoring in qualifying. He is their creative force in the midfield.
Should be a tough two legged playoff but we have more talent than them and should win out.
FYI, we have played them in qualifying before and did well (WC 2006) grabbing 3-1 & 4-0 wins. Niko Kovac grabbed a pair in the 4-0 in Zagreb, March 2005.
HVALA BOGU!!!!!
NIko looked great whiie suki loses his poker face.
Niko will put the clamps on and keep a clean sheet.
Free flowing moj kurac!
That does not win in the play-offs and we haven’t free flowed in a decade.
Lock down and contra.
Come back to Croatia with positive momentum that the people can get behind.
I would still hire Trapattoni as a consultant, Italian football coaches dream in tactical formations. Trapatonni is play-off consiglieri. He got the shaft by Henry and les pederi. Plus he knows how these folks like to play. They run hard and create crosses. Need to stifle them like we did to ireland.
Leave all the pederi at home as the vatreni go to iceland. Only focused hard core hrvati need apply.
4-2-3-1 in Iceland to secure 2-0 win.
Mi Smo srecki.
Opet hvala bogu to je najbolje situacija za Kovac.
Ajmo Hrvatska!
Here’s a question…. What happens if we get eliminated by Iceland?
1. Does Niko get fired, and the HNS is stuck paying him the two-year contract they just decided to sign him to?
2. Does Šuker get fired, even though he wanted an outside coach?
3. Does Mamić get tossed, since Niko was his pick?
4. Is Živa so intrigued by this scenario, that a part of him kinda wants this to occur just to see which one of the above happens?
😉
@ Ziva
dobro cuti da ces izaci iz podruma, ali volio bi znati oces li ti za Hrvatsku najvijat, ili za iceland, ili za onoga koj vodi na kraj utakmice? Da znamo unaprid koja je situacija 😀
Rather fly to Zagreb for the 2nd leg or Rio!
Time to look at flights to iceland……….The trip to Ice from the east coast (Boston, NYC, Philly) is almost the same as flying from the east coast to LA.
Bunker against Iceland? Dear god, that would be an embarrassment. This isn’t France, c’mon now. Croatia will play a free flowing style.
Who the fuck is zorro? And what language is he speaking?
Romania would of been best team to draw
Nece bit lako
zorro is here to reykjavik
blame tony soprano for that line
We should make it to Brazil now. Everything is in our favor. New coach, worst team to draw. The team cant let this opportunity pass them.
I hope Iceland surprise you is time you get down of you’re cloud your team is nothing in europe is like Ireland other country that thing has to qualify to everything but is the laughing stack of europe like your belove it Croatia ahahahahahahahahahhah
Oh and hot blonds for Charlie
Attacking prowess perhaps Stipe?
IMHO We should bunker and play the counter game during the first leg and we can likely get a draw if not a full result. Then we will be in position to win qualification at home in front of our fans!!!
What is iceland’s biggest strength ?
And drawing the home game as the return leg was key too! I would have preferred Romania but Iceland will do nicely! 😀
Alphine Village (might be spelling it wrong) I’M COMING THIS SUMMER!!!!!!
Dream draw, a World Cup bid is on a silver platter right now.
@ Iggy come on mate, i dug that link up especially for you and you didnt watch, sram te bilo 😀
oh FUCKING PHEW.. i didnt watch it live but TERRIFIC NEWS..
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what a relief that is !!!
(^__^) happy day s!
Now all we need to do is win. Still won’t be easy. But better than playing france.
Perfect draw…
Nico off to a great start- karma…
Iceland hosts first and the return leg in Hrvatska
HRVATSKA v iceland
ukraine v france
portugal v sweden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zxpXVw7fUM#t=1679
live draw
well urbandictionary all have diff means, i mean
‘The American Slang word for something that is very metal.
Taken by other scenes such as “Hardcore”, and “Scene”‘
^^ that suggests it is a compliment ??
i’ve heard a few times here lately, “so and so is playing brutal, that was a brutal performance”
i seriously do not even know if that means good or bad given it’s american slang, have never heard that used in this country before.. or maybe i am just showing my age !???
@Iggy:
I think most people use the word brutal as it was intended.
ie. That tackle on Eduardo was brutal.
@Iggy:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=brutal
@The Sarge:
LOL
@Ziva’s Dad:
Thanks.
I have heard the adjective of “brutal” used on this site many times in the past few months, as someone who is not down with american lingo can someone explain to me what something being “brutal” is ?? Is that good as in sick is, or what does it actually mean ?
as a long time reader and maybe 2nd time poster, i had a great laugh at ’11pm iggy time’ living in Australia, it makes it so much easier.
I agree with Dennis…..FIFA would definately prefer to have Portugal & France in the tournament.
Any of the other teams might come down to who has a better mafia.
This is where Mamic comes in, so we might have a chance :p
We shall see what the draw looks like in a few hours. 1% chance Portugal draws France.
Sweden and Ibra are not Ronalo, Portugal and France but FifA would still prefer to see them over Croatia-Romania-Iceland. Yes, Ukraine does have a few bucks and could have put a few bucks down to get a favorable draw.
@Zach,
You are fine with that. So many idiots out there. Women need to chill out.
@Zach
the article was fine, be wary of the big lesbian’s they know how to groynd and pound!
Dr. Colin , Disi ? Time 4 a New HNL Report !! LOOK WHO IS IN 1st My Friend !!
@ zach
you should’t be surprised. you should’ve known that comment was going to rub some people the wrong way many female athletes and their coaching staffs/families/supporters devote incredible amount of time/effort/energy/sacrifice into their sports. to call their version of the game “lesser quality” will obviously be very offensive to many of them
that being said, of course it’s lesser quality! for the overwhelming amount of sports that require things like strength, speed, stamina, women cannot compete. they do not have testerone levels like men. nothing to feel bad about, we’re on steroids compared to them.
i remember playing pick up hoops once when teresa witherspoon who used to be a “famous” player for the liberty showed up and played. half the guys on the court were better than her. it’s tough to say a sport is not “lesser quality” when average weekend warrior joe schmo is just as good as your leagues allstars
Najobolje reci toj curi daj picke znan da imas ne budi skrata kriza je parampam
@Faux Cro-“Women are better than men at a lot of things.Pure athleticism is not one of them.Saying otherwise would be intellectually dihonest”
That is totally true and well worded.
@Zach-considering what I just said,maybe you can use this in your rebuttal to the rebuttal.Stay away from the “L”word though,that will cause pure controversy.
People are looking to be offended.
It is the new American sport.
I thought it was a NY/NJ thing, but I guess I was wrong.
Women are better than men at a lot of things.
Pure athleticism is not one of those things. Saying otherwise would be intellectually dishonest.
hahaha thanks for the input. They are very upset about the lesser quality comment. The captains of the women’s sports teams are writing a rebuttal so that will be interesting. Only at a college this liberal can you write an article promoting women’s sports and be labeled a sexist
@Zach:
The lovely Mrs. Faux Cro read it and was not offended.
Are they upset about the lesser quality comment or the fact that your article states that the WNBA needs help.
Your follow up article should include quotes from Ziva Istina regarding the WNBA.
@Ivica-Re your question about Ivica Osims ethnicity,he may have a nice Croatian first name,but I am pretty sure he describes himself as Bosnian,so I think that fairly much answers the question.Years ago I worked in a job where I dealt with a lot of them when they were first settling here during and just after the war.I had never met many before.I don’t really have any major issues with them,I just don’t quite get them and realised that they are a bit like a box of chocolates.
@Zach:
It seemed well thought out and constructed to me.
Maybe they aren’t objective and don’t want to admit that the female versions of sports are of lesser quality.
Feminists love that whole Billy Jean King BS, which was probably fixed anyway.
I’m not worried about Sweden or France. I rather play them than Romania or Iceland. Croatia usually punches above their weight
So I wrote this for my school newspaper and somehow it managed to upset all of the feminists (there are A LOT) and everyone is pissed about it. What do yall think?
http://themacweekly.com/2013/10/minnesota-lynx-win-again-while-wnba-loses/
Igor Tudor is a good coach and might be future HRV izbornik. I like what he is doing in Hajduk. Kovacs stozer looks good finally a foreign coach hahahah niko niko
Stimac was Bahat just like his tactics and he was a bad cach and arogantan could not stand him never had a clue went with weird lineups and stipe and simunic saved his ass in most games and ima boga hes gone i hope along with sammir. HAJDUK IS FIRST TODAY
No sure if anyone else mentioned it,
Our qualifing campaign went to crap after Igor Tudor left the coaching staff. It might be coincedence but it is also statistically proven.
He seems to be doing very well with a young Hajduk squad.
Correct, we didn’t dominate the serbs. We scored two goals thanks to serb errors, plus the blow call by the ref that set up the free kick goal on the 2nd goal. Once we scored the 2 goals against the serbs the rest of the game was played to protect the lead. The serbs actually had a couple of chances.
The 2-0 game vs Serbia was a game that I don’t believe we dominated. I was at that game and we were lucky with both our goals, 1st goal a complete blunder on Serb free kick right to Mando, and 2nd goal bouncing off Ola’s shoulder. Why didn’t we dominate the Serbs like they dominated us in Bg?
I think we were all blinded after the Wales game where we barely came out with points and got ranked 4th in the world.
Are both of Ivica Osim’s parents ethic Croats?
I always assumed they were, but I don’t recall there ever being a mention of it anywhere officially (just in some wikipedia pages).
In terms of the draw, I only really want to avoid France. They’re hot right now and I don’t think we’re really mentally to win against them.
As for Sweden, they boast one of the best in the world in Ibrahimovic, but they have been inconsistent and very lucky in their campaign just like us. Ibra has bailed them out in like 5 games of that campaign with late goals. They’ve had no problems scoring, but then again, everyone seems to score on them as well.
I think a ‘Croatia vs Sweden’ match would be very entertaining and close, but obviously I would rather we face off against Iceland and Romania.
Ivica Osim is a big yugo-lover. But, his commets about the repka are correct.
@The Anonymous1
“I think it’s safe to say that from the time we drew with Belgium to the end of group stage qualifiers, our game went south as there game got better and better.”
Well, that’s not entirely true. I think our game was always south.
We were outplayed in Belgium, and the only real games where we were truly head-and-shoulders better than the opposition was the 2-0 home win against Wales and the 2-0 home win against the Serbs.
Macedonia was very, very unlucky to not at least get a point against us in our two games with them. In Zagreb, they outchanced us, yet we won. In Skopje, they were actually ahead of us until we made that comeback. The Wales game in Cardiff was brutal to watch, but we also just barely came away with the messy victory. The first loss against Scotland should not have come as a surprise as we had problems with both creating chances and scoring throughout the campaign from start to finish.
I, myself, was blinded by hope after that 2-0 Wales win and 2-0 Serbia win where we had almost maximum points (with the only loss in points being the draw in Belgium)…but we went back to our ways in the final four matches and this time it caught up with us and we only got a point. That winless streak to close out the group was our luck just running out and things balancing out.
Make no mistake, I’m glad Stimac is gone. Most of the blame I direct towards him with how our team played. But nobody here has once blamed our players. Players have to step up, they’re the ones who play the game.
@Faux Cro, I think it’s safe to say that from the time we drew with Belgium to the end of group stage qualifiers, our game went south as there game got better and better.
Is Belgium as good as the top teams in the world (Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil) No! But they are slowly creeping up there. I just think they got a good young talented side there. Better then ours right now that’s for sure
Do you really thin Belgium plays the same caliber football as top sides like Germany or Argentina?
Honestly, I think they will lose to organized and technically/tactically sound well coached teams.
Beating/tying a Stimac led Croatia does not mean much.
@Anonymous 1:
We played like shit, I don’t think anyone would dispute that.
Where were the 4-5 goals in the 1-1 draw in Belgium?
@Faux Cro & Ivica,
All Belgium needed was a tie in ZG and they clinch 1st. If they needed the win instead of a tie they could of pumped 4,5 goals on us if they wanted.
As for them not having a Modric type player? Who cares they are playing some impressive football without a Modric, as for us we are playing like shit and have a Modric. Mr Modric needs to elevate his game like superstars do and make everyone around him better these next 2 playoff games if we have any hope for Brazil. As Modric goes so will the NT
Santini played in bundesliga and never got a good run and then came to belgium i think ivica osim said it best go to inde.hr abd read his interview about croatia. He said dont call player who need to be sold or are high paid but players who deserve and earn spots for national team.
Its a step or two above the HNL. Better run league and stadiums w/ less corruption and better more consistent pay.
Klestjan from the USMNT plays there. I think his dad is from Bosnia.
Leading the Belgium league in scoring is about as impressive as leading the Cro league. Have to look at it on case-by-case basis.
@Ivica:
Perisic tore Belgium up too.
I hope Santini does well, but success in that league doesn’t always translate into success @ better leagues.
@Faux Cro
I also was not that impressed with Belgium. They deservedly topped the group, as they were more consistent. But we’ll see how they do against quality. We were at our worst, and they almost lost to us in Belgium and squeezed by us in a game they were outplayed in. The World up will yield better competition than what we provided to them.
Speaking of Belgium….Ivan Santini scored a hat trick today against Brugges. Last week he had the winner against Anderlecht as well. He leads the Belgian league in scoring with 11 in 11 games. Good to see a relatively young striker find his form.
Who we get we get. I did call wed get turkey 2011 i was right so ill go with Sweden this time.
If these draws are fixed, I bet this will be the outcome:
Portugal and Iceland
Greece and France
Cro and Sweden
Ukraine and Romania
I hope I’m wrong!
@Horvat/Denis:
I have similar suspicions.
I am not overly impressed by Belgium.
Their players are strong, fast and good on the ball, but they don’t have a Modric.
WIth better coaching and the team giving a shit for the whole qualification we could have topped the group(or come closer)
This is all conjecture, but you will see Belgium struggle against top technical/tactical sides. They tied us @ home.
Fellani is the most overrated of them all. Awful as a playmaker. He is a large physical goon.
Man U made a mistake bringing him there instead of a Modric/Scholes/Pirlo type of player.
Portugal will vs Romania or Sweden France will vs Greece or Hrvatska The rest will fall in place
I was going to post a similar comment to Svircic.
I agree that FIFA wants France, Portugal and Sweden to go through. However, I’m not sure any of those teams would rather play Ukraine than Cro.
Also, the Ukrainians have money. You never know who gets bribed to have them draw a weaker team.
@ Ziva i know Belgium hae this team but still lets say if they had a competant coach and didnt lose to scots at home sammir debut home lol. they would have played in that zg game with first place on the line and who knows. whatever im glad Kovac is coach because as puppet Suker put it we have no good coaches. hey Ziva watched Suker Iterview today he said he wanted a Spanish Strucnjak but the OI said no
@Matesic-The hood school is a good option.I will find one with plenty of Serbs.Thing is,they will like him for what he does.
In case you missed it the other day-
Q-WHY DID ZIVA ISTINA CROSS THE ROAD??
A-BECAUSE THE CETNIKS ON THE OTHER SIDE WANTED TO ROAST HIM A LAMB ON THE SPIT FOR HIS SERVICES TO THEM.
@Jure…….even if we had a great coach we still would have finished in 2nd. Belgium is better team with better players and better coach.
Sami smo Krivi. If we put a competant coach from the start we would not be in playoffs or wed be here but in a good team spirit.
Put him the hood high school.
Sink or swim.
Just like when moj Stari through me in the Adriatic.
Otherwise he drown in his own basement.
Uvijek Vjerni .
@Ziva-I meant “Schtick”My Yiddish spelling was slightly off in the above post.Sorry son
@Matesic-Can he handle them?No,but that’s why I am here.He will learn.
They say parenting is the toughest job.Boy is it.Do you know what happened??
I enrolled him at a good Catholic High School with Croatian kids around.They hate him!One got called up to the Principal for calling him names.
Principal-Did you call Ziva names?
Student-Yes
Principal-Did you say he was a jerk?
Student-Yes
Principal-Did you say he was arrogant,over opinionated and attention seeking and purely provocative with the styling of many of his comments??
Student-No,but could you write that down so I remember it!
ohh well,looks like I need to try a Public School away from Croatian kids. 🙁
@ Ziva’s step dad.
Are you sure Ziva can handle these next two games?
Maybe you two can be together tomorrow just in case he becomes mala po sranca!
Uvijek Vjerni !
@Ziva-Your comments so far are all ok.The one about the possible meltdown coming up and people trying to convince themselves we advance no matter who is a little knobbish,but its ok.You are Ziva Istina,its who you need to be.You need to maintain your shtick and stay a little edgy without being a total dooley.Keep it up son.
RATING-8.5.
France can pusi moja Kurac !
@ Ziva
Time to stay in the basement and be safe and let the muski take care of business.
I say let’s draw France have Kovac retain trapatoni as his consigliere and devise the plan to stifle their players that run around like Muha bez glava!
Bring it on.
180 minutes of blood, sweat tears.
Ajmo Vatreni !
Portugal vs Iceland
France vs Romania
Sweden vs Croatia
Greece vs Ukraine
Ziva bre, ovo je za tebe.
http://youtu.be/FB2RhleuJ64
Tbh I think the lines with Iceland and Romania are a little off too, I think we’d be slightly higher favs in both scenarios. Or perhaps my homer glasses are on too high.
Could FIFA perhaps draw those 2 together just to prove to everybody once and for all that they are not in on “The Fix”?
LOL
@Denis
I agree that FIFA for sure wants Portugal and France in the WC2014…but I don’t think they care much about Sweden. I don’t really think they are a fan of Ibrahimovic’s, as he can be controversial and is no longer a rising star that needs to be marketed. Sweden also doesn’t really have some massive money-spending fan base either, nor is Sweden the country an untapped market that is in dire need of a boost in football with a World Cup appearance.
I probably won’t be surprised to see any pairings in this draw, but I would be stunned if I saw Portugal versus France. I would never question FIFA’s draw again if that were to happen.
@Denis-The fix is in! I predict that King Bronk (Pretty sure that’s who he is) will re-grace these pages within the next 24hrs.
@Igor Rukovic-You need to keep the faith a little more.Why” a snowballs chance in Hell”if we draw Sweden or France?Sure,they are the tougher 2.If our form stays as it has been recently,sure,thats pretty correct.
I am not just trying to be the eternal optimist here,but I will be excited with whoever we get.I have never feared any opposition when we play properly and there is no true reason why things cant turn around for this playoff.ITS JUST SOME FORM THAT WE NEED,THIS CAN COME THROUGH A PROPER FORMATION AND SOME COHESION AND SPIRIT THAT WE HAVE LACKED FOR A FEW GAMES.You are ok,but don’t be a Negative Nellie.You don’t need my adoption,maybe just a few hours of mentoring down at the Pub and I am confident you will be fine.Keep some faith,if some faith was not kept in the early 90s,there would be Cyrilic signs in Zagreb today!
true, maybe a bit lower, closer to the numbers in the Cro/Romania line….but I think Sweden will be the slight favorite.
I think the line with Sweden is off, prob closer to a pick ’em
IMO.
how we would fare against the four teams with the odds/money line:
against France………. – 280 France
against Sweden……..- 210 Sweden
against Romania……. +180 Romania
against Iceland……….+300 Iceland
I’m just waiting for Monday to see board meltdown if we get France. And then for people to post trying to convince themselves we advance no matter who the opponent is.
Iceland would in my opinion be a problem..seems to easy we hang back lose.
Sweeds are ok but ibrahimovic plays inspired football vs croatia
Would be tough
Romania poses same threat as Iceland we would over look them
And finally France the best team we could draw. Why!? They are quiters and all selfish players not to mention if we can’t beat France we don’t deserve wc birth. The only games we look world class are the important games Italy Spain Germany why not against France.
With this in mind my prediction is we draw France and win home 3. 2 And away win 1. 0
UEFA or FIFA will rig this of course. It actually might be good that Ukraine was a seed. UEFA-FIFA will protect Sweden, Portugal, and France. They want ronaldo, ibra Ribery and friends in the wc.
with that said Portugal will get either Romania or Iceland. Sweden and France will get either Ukraine or Greece. That leaves Croatia with Iceland or Romania.
I hope I’m right.
Hrvatska will draw France or Sweden and the Greeks will draw Romania or Iceland.
That is all.
Iggy time? Is that Australian eastern standard time?
And on the draw it’s a 50/50 shot. We either get a beatable but not guarnateed match up. Or we get a snowballs chance in hell match up and watch the world cup without chequerd flags flying.
I hope we get Iceland but I’m thinking Sweden.
I have the worst ever feeling we get France and with current form I’m worried but still have faith Lets go to wc 2014!!!!
Croatia vs Romania
France vs Greece
Portugal vs Sweden
Ukraine vs Iceland