Lionel Messi wins this year’s Best Men’s Player in Paris yesterday as Luka Modrić takes the fourth position at 37 years of age! He was also included in the World’s Best XI. There is just nothing left to say about Luka Modrić’s greatness.
Croatian NT manager Zlatko Dalić had some very interesting thoughts about the award as he outlines why he refused to cast his vote for this year’s “Best Men’s Player”:
“I am disappointed with FIFA’s relationship to the Croatian national team because I believe we have earned greater respect from the World Football Organization for the results we have achieved in recent years. We are the only team that was among the final four at the World Cup last year and among the four best in the Nations League. We shocked the whole world by beating the world’s largest national team, Brazil, and by being the only ones alongside France to have two medals in the last two World Cup’s. We beat France in Paris, Denmark in Copenhagen, and have only lost two times since the 2021 Euros.
Despite this, look at the list of 14 candidates for the best player in the world – apart from the great Modrić, where are the Croats? I wouldn’t push individuals from other countries because I really have a ton of respect towards every player and coach, but there was no room for Mateo Kovačić when he became the Champions League champion and played brilliantly at the World Cup? There was no room for Gvardiol, who was among the top 11 players at the World Cup and the Bundesliga for most elections? Didn’t Livaković even deserve to be among the five candidates for best goalkeeper after everything he did at the World Cup?
Let’s also remember that in numbers and impression, Dominik deserved to be the best goalkeeper at the World Cup, and Joško the best young player of the World Cup. I experience all of this as a lack of respect, and which I have experienced in choosing the terms of our games, as well as the quality of the trial (refereeing) we had during the World Cup, especially in the semi-final game. I believe that our team, both with our games and with our behaviour on and off the field, has earned more respect, the same respect that we show from game to game to our opponents.
If English, Brazilian, Spanish, German or Italian players and coaches were scoring results like us, they would be represented in all elections. I want more respect for us, for our team, for our players, and for ourselves, because we are an absolute world sensation with two medals. FIFA should promote us more because we have shown that one small country can compete with the biggest, which is the most beautiful football commercial in the world.
Because of all of the above, I have decided that I will not participate in the election this year, but I congratulate all the winners from the heart on the well-deserved awards, and especially our Luka in a great fourth place, with it always being number one for me.” – Zlatko Dalić
Wow… what a comment from Dalić. The Croatiansports team stands behind his comments as he is speaking the truth and standing up for Croatian representation, that is somehow still lacking despite our amazing results in our footballing history.
What are your thoughts?
I totally agree with Dalić! I have Croatian blood in me and they are one of my favorite teams! I totally stand with his comments and always will along with the rest of the team’s comments. I watched all Croatia’s games in the world cup and I stand with everything Dalić has just said. Croatia’s unstoppable team will always have a large spot in my heart from the players to the coach and trainers! #croatiastrong
#❤️forcroatia #croatianblood
Good for Dalic. As much as I’ve bashed Livakovic over the past few years, he undoubtedly was one of the best keepers at the World Cup. Gvardiol was easily one of the best defenders. Both were snubbed and that is Dalic’s point. The Kovacic comment made me laugh but he was also very good this past World Cup. This Argentina love fest and fix with the gifts of PKs was a joke.
FIFA is still a joke and the favoritism is still unbelievably blatant.
As for Vuskovic – all is can say is wow. For defenders to be this good this young is crazy. A Gvardiol, Sutalo, Vuskovic 3 back system would likely have us move to a 3-5-2…..I think we could even do that now and have Sosa/Perisic and Juranovic on the wings. Playing two at the top with the talent we have might make more sense.
Poor Orsic. Any of our players that go to England have had a hard time….I think English continue to be bitter ever since Petric broke their Euro qualifying hearts on 2008. 2018 was another reminder of who their daddy is.
Just when you think it can’t get worse for Orsic it did. Shitmampton was upset by Grimsby in FA cup. he was subbed out after 60 mins. Man this guy was on top of the world in December and now this. Such a bad transfer!!!
I think that ref took money.
That was some very weird officiating, and the payout for a Grimsby win was 10/1.
Some mafijasi made some good money there.
We all know what FIFA has done to nasi decki. No surprise there. Good for Dalic to step up. I like him more now. We all know FIFA in french means “suck up”
https://streamin.me/v/8bbe4a12
The header itself isn’t incredible. The tracking of the ball, on the other hand, is extraordinary.
Tudor’s boys down 2-1 in Cup play against a second-division team, at home, after being up 1-0.
Tudor’s boys down 2-1 against in Cup play against a second-division team, at home, after being up 1-0.
How is that Zvonarek kid doing?
Bayern are planning him to loan him out in the summer because they think he can’t develop further more in the 4th league of Germany and he has been training with the first team as of recent, it’s good how they are looking after him and hopefully he goes to the right club for development.
https://youtu.be/jZSH0EqTZLA
The balls on this kid are huge with those long range ones
Let’s hope hajduk doesn’t pull a hajduk on his development
100% agree, from top to bottom of Hajduk Split (fans to the board) they have to back the player as much as they can and not throw him under the bus if he has a bad game.
This is where many youth players hit the plateau because of the unrealistic expectation that Hajduk have on them because they look for the short-term solution to try win the HNL or get into Europe in which in reality, they are very behind in.
If the club utilise players such as Vuskovic, Capan, Brajkovic, Prpic and many more over some of the players not good enough, overtime we will see that the gap between both Dinamo and Hajduk not in just competing for the title but utilising their youth academy will get smaller and if they stick to it from now, they can get into Europe and could potentially overtake Dinamo Zagreb.
If young Luka turns out how is potential could be
Can you imagine a gvardi and him pairing??? That could be scary good
Fingers crossed
He is so incredibly talented it’s out of this world. He is MILES better than Gvardiol was at 16 years old so hopefully he fulfills his potential because if he does… that will be so so scary. And not for us ;).
We could potentially have the two best Center backs in the world be Croatian, wouldn’t that be a sight to see!
Gvardiol is an old man compared to Vuskovic. Five years older lol. Sutalo (who is a young prospect himself) is 7 years older.
That’s insane, when you draw that comparison.
Livaković with some big time saves Lokomotiv in the Super Kup, preventing them from taking 2-0 and 2-1 leads.
Dinamo wound up winning 3-1 in ET.
No article of Dinamo beating Hajduk. Damn if it was the other way around it would be 24/7 news. Lol
Has anyone been watching this Luka Vuskovic kid? Is he only 16 and playing for Hajduk senior?? There has been a lot of hype around this kid so I am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on him??
Yes.
My thoughts are nice header on Hajduk’s first goal today vs Osijek. 👍
He has a better scoring ratio than the forwards on the Senior Team.
With his goal today, he’s officially the youngest ever scorer…assuming you include Cup games.
Vuskovic: 16 years and 5 days
Zvonarek: 16 years and 14 days
Halilovic: 16 years and 112 days
Kovacic: 16 years and 198 days
Hopefully he is the real deal
Has a build on him that’s for sure
He did that bomb from Centre line goal a little while back In the youths, u18 or something
So looks like he’s got some goods
Hopefully him and his brother turn out
No idea how long the suspension for the juice is for?
Have I not been saying this forever?
This is why we always get screwed by the refs. I am glad he is verbalizing it.
Like I’ve always said; FIFA is nothing but an “old boy’s club” where they gather around and pat each others’ backs, hand one another a trophy, check their purses, all along not seeing the forest from the trees for the greater good of the game. Croatia is the wunder of the 21st century as far as football is concerned. Bravo Zlatko!
I am also starting to think that Broz should move to Barcelona. His time away from the position on midfield at Inter had forced them to find an alternative in that position. I don’t think right to discount the guy but that is the position the guy is in right now. He needs to make a move, be it Barcelona, Real Madrid or somebody who is looking at him. I think he has accomplished all he can with Inter, I don’t see them winning a Champions League.
I also think it’s unfortunate but Josko should be rated higher, I think it’s only because of his age and lack of accomplishments at this stage that are being counted against him. Of course this is not my perspective but I believe it’s the perspective of those who are casting the votes.
Nonetheless it is amazing to have both a midfielder and defender rated as highly as they are.
This does call into question tho, what about Broz. I think he should be higher on the rating scale. Best midfielder in Serie A as well as two medals to show for it I dunno.
I agree. He has been very important in limiting scoring opportunities and possession for Croatia’s opponents, and Inter was relying heavily on him for results at both ends of the field.
Maybe they should consider the degree of difficulty for a small nation like Croatia to medal in the last two world cups! Dalic is right on the money here. There is something special here with what Dalic has created and it really does deserve to be recognised as pound for pound the greatest thing we’ve ever seen in world sport hisrory! … In my opinion in 2018 we had a good forward and very good midfield with defense a weak point, this past world cup we had a great midfield a great defense but a weak, perhaps not in form, forward set up. So that’s two medals with teams that weren’t strong on every line, this speaks to the spirit of this Dalic led team, look out if we can get a very good forward up and going. Man I think Dalic is great, and any “Croat” that has a problem with him really should go f*** himself! ….
Bit of sour grapes though
Let our football do the talking I say
It is getting pretty annoying that Modric is being credited for everything and he’s the ‘representative’ for all things Croatia. I think this is where Dalic’s frustration comes from.
Modric was given all the accolades in WC2018…but he did no more than Rakitic, Perisic and Mandzo in that tournament.
Honestly, what did Modric do that was more than what either of those three did?
FIFA pretty much gave every tournament and MOTM award to Modric, despite those other three doing just as much (if not more) than he did.
In this recent 2022 tournament, yes, Modric had more of an impact than the others…except for Gvardiol, who I would argue was just as high of an impact as Modric. You could even argue that Gvardiol was more impactful because he had poor defensive support in his area of the field in Lovren, Sosa, and Juranovic (who all had a few gaffes here and there, with him cleaning up a lot of other people’s messes).
Also, Livakovic probably didn’t deserve to be outright excluded from the list of goalkeepers for consideration. He didn’t have to win it, but at least have him in the list. Same goes for Dalic himself.
This tournament had more of a reliance on Modric than the last one, but I think this is just a bit of pent up frustration from Dalic because there are a lot of guys who deserved to be considered for these lists over the years (like Rakitic, Mandzo, Perisic, Gvardiol, etc.) and FIFA is just being lazy and just defaulting to Modric, Modric, Modric.
It paints the picture that Croatia is not so much a footballing power, rather, just a country that lucked out in having one World Class star that has been carrying them.
I agree there were many unsung heroes in the world cup. Broz at tunes, Gvardiol playing the way he did, Livakovic having the tournament of his life.
Not mentioned nearly enough.
Canada coach John Turdman had Messi at one, Mbappe at two and Luka at three. This made me smile.
Livakovic best goalie in the world……..lol. He isn’t even the best player in Lika.
Sit down Dalič.
If not best goalie in the world, that may be fine ZDS. But best goalie of the world cup, there is definitely a legitimate argument there for Livakovic being recognised. I think. I don’t think Zlatko is saying he is the best but where was he ranked….? 48, that seems kinda low in my opinion. I would say he is top 30 atleast, especially if his form keeps up.
Plus I don’t see why Martinez is better than the other goalies listed personally. Unless we are only counting that they brought home a World Cup, I think that is a major reason for why he won the award anyways. I personally think Neuer is the best goalie and that he is ranked really low on the list.
Martínez isn’t even good enough for Unai Emery to want him on his team. Livaković and Bono were the two best goalies of the world cup. But because Argentina won, they get the awards. It isn’t fair, and Dalić is right to distance himself from the awards. He is looking at the game, not the fame.
Going one step farther, from my own Croatian perspective, Romelu Lukaku deserves the Ballon d’Or Award for the next 4 consecutive years, representing one for every for sure goal he missed in the world cup.
yeah ..
he is totally a govno
and makes Lovren looks like a hero! ~
Dalic is truly a lucky manager {so be it}
Im fine with most of the comments… I guess. But Kovacic ?? C’mon dude. I love the guy but he doesn’t deserve to be among any “best player” list.
Bro even said Champions league winner hahaha, I bet he still thinks he’s on the Real Madrid bench.
LOLOL!!!
Yeah I may disagree with Dalic’s comments regarding Kova but unlike ZDS’ comment I do think Livakovic should have been recognized for his accomplishments in the World Cup. He won player of the match award twice and had the best had registered more saves in the World Cup than any other goalie. That has to be measured when handing out the award the fact that Argentina made.it to the final and won doesn’t justify the award being handed to the Argentine goalie in my view
Im fine with most of the comments… I guess. But Kovacic ?? C’mon dude. I love th guy but he doesn’t deserve to be among any “best player” list.
I like that Dalic did this.
I’ve always been vocal about that stupid “we are a small country” mentality that plagues Croatia, where many believe that we should be happy for simply competing with the bigger nations.
Too many Croats (especially the older generation, who were farmed under Communism) have this mental handicap where they put a ceiling on themselves to remain below less-talented Western countries like Italy, England and Germany.
As an example, Belgium is also a small country (who hasn’t done jack $hit in football), and yet they seemed upset that they finished with a bronze medal at the World Cup 2018. That’s a GOOD thing. They SHOULD feel upset that they didn’t win it at.
We, too, should be proud of our achievements, but we should also feel disappointment when we don’t win it all.
This World Cup was the first time I’ve noticed this change in Croats. Croats were generally disappointed that we didn’t take out Messi in the semis to win the whole thing. If this was 1998, we’d be dancing in the street celebrating that we even played in the presence of Messi…but now it’s different.
I’m glad that Croats still party in the streets for their medals, but that disappointment in not winning it all is a GOOD thing, and I thought I’d never see a beta-male like Dalic grow some balls like he just did.
I hope that his approach to coaching keeps bringing results. He’s a great representative of Croatia.
Watch FIFA VAR the hell out of us in the next tournament, ha ha
My concerns exactly.
I fully agree with his comments, and part of me wonders if indeed Livakovic should have won the golden glove in the world cup, or the best keeper in another words. I feel like that didn’t happen mostly because we didn’t get through to the finals, and because of our heavy defeat to Argentina.
But I do feel as there is very little money in having a team like Croatia win anything that this is part of the reason why there is a lack of appreciation or show of appreciation for what Croatia has achieved in the last four years.
I really hope that Croatia can win the Nations League, just to bury this mentality towards their success.
And we have accused him as being soft before
Love it
He has a right to say what we did
It’s not only standing up for us
He’s standing up for the little guy
But now we have to do it again of course;) let’s start by taking nations league
Bravo zlatko 👏🏻