We talked about Zlatko Dalić’s triumphs, trials, and tribulations yesterday.
Will he always be known for taking Croatia to the World Cup Final? Yes.
Should he ever have to pay for a beer while standing on Croatian soil. Absolutely not!
Whether you think Dalić is the best Croatian football coach of all time or not, we must pay close attention to what he has been doing since the EURO 2020 exit. Over the past five months, Dalić has been evolving. He’s learning. And most importantly, he’s putting his foot down. The results are there, no matter how ugly some games have been to watch.
In a Sportske Novosti article this week, Dalić shared his side of the story in what was a turbulent 2021 and how he lost control of the locker room following EURO 2020. Although he was happy with the team’s effort and drive against Russia this past Sunday in Split, Dalić wondered how EURO 2020 and the Spain match could have ended if the team played with the same spirit they possessed versus Russia at Poljud.
So here’s how the story goes:
Dalić admitted that he gave too many privileges to too many national team players during his tenure. He promised himself a new set of rules for players heading into September’s qualifiers – which means some would be omitted. Some players wouldn’t make the cut due to their fitness. Other wouldn’t make it because of their attitude.
But let’s rewind back to the summer for a second. Dalić told Sportske Novosti that he and his coaching staff met with Modrić and Kovačić in Zagreb immediately following the team’s EURO exit. Dalić asked Modrić if he had his trust. If he didn’t, Dalić would have quit right there on the spot. Modrić told Dalić that he did have trust in him, but Dalić had to change to make the relationship work. (It is unknown what Modrić fully meant by “change”)
For the time being, things were ironed out between manager and captain. All was well.
However, the very next day, Ante Rebić publicly criticized the team and Dalić on his Instagram saying, “the team has been shit for over two years!” That absolutely crushed Dalić’s spirit as he helped Rebić transfer to AC Milan and invited him back to the Croatia side for EURO 2020 when he originally leaned against it.
Since that day, Dalić has not called Rebić to the national team and the two remain on non-speaking terms.
For September’s qualifiers, Ante Rebić was an obvious omission purely based on attitude and being non-apologetic. However, Dalić also made it a point not to call ‘out of shape’ players or guys that weren’t putting in the effort when he had to name the team in Fall. Josip Brekalo, Šime Vrsaljko, Lovre Kalinić, Milan Badelj, and Domagoj Bradarić weren’t called up for those reasons and Bruno Petković was left off the team in September because he was measured to only be training at 22% efficiency during a practice session. And that pissed Dalić off.
It seems Dalić changed his tune and wanted fighters on the team moving forward as opposed to privileged players thinking they didn’t have to put in effort to make the team.
Dalić went on record saying his relationship with Kramarić was rocky as he did not want to select him for World Cup qualifiers after EURO. Dalić also told Kramarić to no longer speak to the media following his outburst earlier in the year stating that Dalić doesn’t know his natural position on the field. Is that why Kramarić has looked so uninspired on the pitch for Croatia in 2021?
The HNS and President Kustić sat patiently as Croatia did well in September qualifying – grabbing seven points out of nine. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a backup plan in case Dalić failed. The HNS was prepared to hire former Croatia international, Robert Prosinečki, as head coach in September if Dalić couldn’t get the job done. We now know that he did.
Dalić was never given a dull moment from his players in 2021. If it wasn’t Rebić, it was Kramarić. If it wasn’t Krama it was Lovren.
Dalić nearly kicked Lovren off the team following the 0-0 draw with Russia for a public outburst in front of the team. However, Dalić couldn’t pull the trigger because Ćaleta-Car and Gvardiol were hurt at the time and he desperately needed Lovren on the pitch.
Dalić was slowly becoming more authoritative with the team as Croatia and Russia stayed tied atop the World Cup qualifying table. Dalić began making big moves when he brought Borna Sosa to play for the senior side (after he publicly chose to play for Germany earlier in 2021), met with Bayern Munich defender Josip Stanišić in October to get him capped, cemented Joško Gvardiol’s role in defense, and later added Lovro Majer and Ivo Grbić to the team as well. Dalić even brought back Petković and Brekalo once he was happy with their training and overall attitude.
Dalić currently has momentum on his side with Croatia directly qualifying for the World Cup in 2022. From everything he told Sportske Novosti this week, it seems as if he has a solid grasp on the team regarding expectations, behavior, and the selection process.
At the end of the day, if Dalić is just now learning how to successfully manage the egos in his locker room with the talent he has at his finger tips, the sky is the limit for the Vatreni in 2022.
Dalic wore the team down in Russia and is doing it again in Quatar, it was only the superhuman effort of the players that made Dalic look good in Russia, only 2 changes against Morocco and 2 against Belgium, pure luck Belgium didn’t win, Croatian midfield will again run out of legs against Japan.
Please do not forget chain smoking Robert Prosinečki, the best out of shape midfielder ever, Paul Gasgoigne couldn’t fill his cleats.
As well, Alen Boksic who was regarded as one of the best foreign players in the history of Serie A. If it wasn’t for his knee issues, what would a healthy Boksic in his prime had looked like.
Dare to dream
Greatest players of all time. Non ranked
1.Modric
2.Suker
3.Rakitic
4.Mandzukic
5.Olic
6.Prosinceki
7.Da Silva
8.Corluka
9.Srna
10.Simunic
Any top 10 list without Perisic is incomplete. He’s been a warrior for us always showing up for the NT…and scoring huge goals along the way.
Your list also is missing our (after Modric) best of all time, our captain, Boban. Come on dude,.
For me its:
1) Luka
2) Boban
3) Suker
4) Perisic
5) Mandzo
6) Rakitic
then its a toss up of guys
Krunchie and Asanovic
LOL. Simunic. Gimme a break. He was a likeable Aussie, but he had a ‘kiks’ factor almost as bad as Lovren.
Corluka was decent, but not some sort of all-time player for us.
Many of the younger guys in our back four today will surpass him.
Also, Srna was a tad overrated.
Amazing for us in his first 7-8 years with us (and was regularly our leading goalscorer in qualifying)…but in the latter 6-7 years with us, he no longer scored for us, couldn’t send in a cross higher than 3 feet, and was a huge defensive liability.
He finished strong though, with an unexpectedly good showing at Euro2016.
Ranking is based off him being one of the likeable players. Simunic stood by ZDS and tackled that Serb player. Gotta give Srna a spot. Idk how I forgot Perisic. Corluka played a key role in the WC. He also played the rest of the Turkey game in 2016 after getting a bad head injury. Popped in a goal vs Turkey in playoffs too.
Wow. You have the Brazilian born Hrvat on the list. Surprised there wasn’t more chatter on his inclusion!
Mirko Jozic. Might have a case.
Made the 2002 WC with about the crappiest squad we ever posted.
Sure, Dario Simic was in his prime, that’s it.
FFS Milan Rapaic was the player.
Jozic gets my vote
While he is doing an excellent job, he does not have a pure scorer on the team (the likes of Mandžukić) nor does he have a natural right winger.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2021/11/17/croatia-defender-josip-stanisic-tests-positive-for-virus.html
In other news, Vida got an upset stomach from eating some bad kulen.
Watch in now. That’s my boy
Great insight boys, this team is well positioned going into next year, plenty of time to tinker and see what we have with certain players. Nations League is in June and it will be a great barometer and litmus test to evaluate
Watched the whole england croatia game final match day euro 08 qualifying the other day to revisit past memories and I must say wow has football evolved and changed lol. So many sloppy plays from both teams. Our 2nd goal on the counter attack when niko Kovacic chested it and backward kicked it to head of eduardo to head of olic back to Eduardo has to go down as one of our greatest counter attacking goals ever right up there with spain euro 16 and 21 in ET. Eduardo had 4 english players cornering him in and sent the sweetest ball through sol campbell or micah richards legs was pure world beauty/world class. its on you tube the whole match and funny thing going down memory lane as the BBC commentators talk about everyone in our line up at the beginning except modric and olic lol. 5 mins in the commentators say Modric is one to look out for and rumoured to be linked/transferred to Chelsea as he was still at DZ. Ya look out alright Ballon D’or winner disrupting the 2 greatest players of all time and one of best midfielders in history. Funny game in many ways…Kranjcar was in his prime before he starting pounding the Big Mac’s and Srna was a beast that game. Kovacic brothers played great too..Simic as well, slow Joe got burned a few times but he is legend for cetnik hit 5 years later.
Za Dom Spremni
I take acknowledgement in coining the term “Rebic is like a bull in a china shop”. His aggressive press and constant stature is like a having an enforcer on an NHL team.
He has the goods but with so much talent growing and arising over the past year I fear that hinders his chance of being in the starting 11. We all know he aint Dalic’s favourite also. I hope he lights it up for Milan over next half/end of season and has a kiss and make up with Dalic because he is truly an X factor.
If not a starter then a sub but we have more depth now then ever before. I just pray the majority of players stay healthy. Couldn’t care less if Lovren or Vida get injured as our back seems secure for once in our history we have depth and multiple talents. Please no Barisic and Bradaric also. They might have sufficed years ago when we were weak with depth and options in the back but now with juranovic, pongracic, gvardiol, DCC, stanisic they are dropped in the pecking order.
If only we had a top notch keeper and as I said before a hybrid of dudu, olic, mandzukic type striker we would be unstoppable.
This brings me to a great question for you all as id like to know my brate opinions…
Who is our most complete striker of all time ?- there’s only 3 candidates in my opinion.
Suker, Eduardo and Mandzukic (I don’t include Boksic as he was great but unfortunate injury kept him out of his prime in 98′ WC)
Obviously everyone’s opinions will vary accordingly but for me it’s Du Du as our most fully complete striker. My ranking would be 1. Eduardo 2. Suker
3. Mandzukic.
However, so many variables exist and everyone can build strong cases for each.
Mandzukic earned/got us the most important goal in our nations history and had one of it not the best heading goal ratios In the world at his peak. Not to mention his tireless work effort , defending and off the ball work pressing. he forced himself into a position at Juventus out of his regular position cause he works that hard, holds the ball up and does almost everything a coach would want.
Davor was great all around and too many he may be regarded as our best striker ever.
However, I think just my opinion) Eduardo was our best all around striker for the repka. If it wasn’t due to that Birmingham chirper Martin Taylor breaking his leg in horrific fashion, we woulda no doubt took won euro 08. Without him we still dominated group play only to be undone by that freak (still haunts me to this day) goal. I was right outside the stadium as keepers long ball hit corluka shoulder/arm and senturk one time it top shelf. As i said, still painful but our constant progression in talent has somewhat eased the pain (or so i tell myself lol) Rakitic not dribbling to corner flag, Italian ref giving extra time in extra time ….all taken into account as one of many times we’ve been screwed/possibly our own doin this time.
Watch the you tube video on du du’s 29 goals for the Repka. That’s why I vote him number 1.
https://youtu.be/OkUUFgHa4S0
He had it all skill wise and turned many nothing scenarios into something multiple times. Yes he’s Brazilian by nature but we all know his story and he bled the Repka. Fuckin kovac not starting him against Brazil was big mistake and I don’t care how Niko German attitude did for youth level where he had success he’ fucked that tourney up for us big time especially formation against Mexico in that do or die match. As one of our best CDM’s his coaching is equivalent to Wayne Gretzky for hockey- terrible !
As soon as that chirper broke Eduardo’s leg, Arsenal fell off the lead and still 14 years later to this day have never recovered a position they had when he was on fire leading the line. No doubt we woulda taken that tourney by storm or at least to the final.
Opinions/Suggestions as greatest all around striker for Repka ?
Dudu was the shit!
If his name was Da Silvavic we wouldn’t shut up about him. He was like our Romario. Surprisingly great in the air. Used to be fearless but I bet he lost some of that when that cunt snapped his leg.
I’m a big Arsenal fan and I remember sitting atop the table that February.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TT-aL–07TA
One of the best Arsenal goals ever! Unreal touch
Having said all that it’s still Suker for me. But what could’ve been with Dudu…
Dudu is probably the only non Croat I could accept as a naturalized Croatian brother. I still remember the day that fucker broke his leg in half, I cried and still feel pain for him.
Suker, in my opinion was very talented and really had a special talent for scoring goals. I watched him at Sevilla and at Real Madrid and let me tell you, Suker was the real deal and it was hard to stop him.
Of the 3 strikers listed on this list, Mario Mandzukic had the least amount of talent, but the biggest heart and highest level of work rate. His career was successful because he refused to be outworked and he learned how to position himself very well. All around, Mandzukic could perform the same tasks better players than him did and he was just as successful and even better than them because he was a two way player.
Da Silva, in my opinion, was the best of these 3 guys. We don’t know where his career would have gone if he didn’t get injured but we do know he was doing extremely well at Arsenal before his injury. I’ve always loved the guy and he will always be considered a great Croatian player to me!
Suker won the Golden Ball at France 98 scoring in a remarkable 6 different games the tourney. Sukerman!
Dudu was excellent, and I’ll never forget his goals in particular vs England in both games….
And Super Mario, what more can be said, a complete warrior. Scoring in 2 CL finals, and also a WC semi and WC final. How many players can say they scored in CL final AND a WC final? I can think of off the top of my head only Zidane. And don’t forget scoring in both games vs the Chetniks…including silencing them with the “I can’t hear you” when he scored in the middle of belgrade.
I love them all.
PS don’t forget Boksic, was a beast, just always injured. He plays in France 98, we win it all.
Šuker, hands down.
Eduardo was awesome in 2007 and we would have won Euro 2008 with him…
But there is still too much shoulda woulda coulda with him.
Yea, he looked like he was about to take that next step… But we don’t know for sure what his ceiling was, and we just assume that he would have been elite.
Šuker did more than him for club and country… and who knows, maybe Eduardo’s slender build wouldn’t have worked out too well for him in his England career. Maybe he would have plateaued early in his career (like many Brazilians tend to do). We’ll never know.
He looked solid for Arsenal, but he wasn’t exactly filling the scoresheet even before the injury. However, it was still early and he looked good.
I think Šuker in La Liga was great, and Eduardo didn’t have anything like that, nor did he do for us what Šuker did.
Just an excellent qualifying campaign for Euro 2008.
Great little striker, but still largely a “what if” striker.
Ive seen more than a few Arsenal fans call him the best finisher they’d ever seen. Technically he was awesome
Probably would’ve broken Suker’s goal record with us too
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2019/12/09/eduardo-da-silva-and-the-broken-dreams-of-a-spectacular-finisher/
It’s also rebics technical abilities that is keeping him off the team
You don’t quite pick up on it at first but after a while you do
He coffs up the far to often and kills momentum and possession
I am convinced just like Dalic is now that we can now move forward without rebic
I personally like rebic he’s handsome rooster, rugged and a imocan but his only way back is after the World Cup and Dalic is gone should the campaign be a complete flop because there will be blame placed there too
Coffs up the ball…
Yea Rebić is a situational player.
If we’re picking a style of play that requires a high degree of technical ability re: dribbling and passing, then he cannot play.
But there are those games where you need that bull in a China shop to create chaos, where Rebić would be useful.
He’s good to have, but he has to accept a role where he may not be playing every game.
Since Dalić used him at the worst time at the Euros (in a technical battle against Spain), then it might be better for us if Rebić is not available for Dalić to (mis) use.
I fully agree maminjo
Horses for courses
I would only throw rebic in the last 15 to 20 minutes to go if you are chasing the game or deep into extra time situations
he seems to start almost every single game in Milan. if he was a “situational” player, he’d play depending on the opponents.
He doesn’t start, but he has had a few recent starts.
But, he plays up top for Milan…or he plays at LW with a target man up top (either Giroud or Ibra).
I don’t watch enough Milan, but maybe that works for them.
Against Spain, he couldn’t make a decent pass in any tight space. Even in our most recent qualifiers, I enjoyed watching the good passing and dribbling that our players are capable of.
Rebic messes that up…but I do love his pressing, his strength, and he does have a go-to move here and there when he’s in the opponent’s third.
I’d prefer to have him on the team, and give him the occasional start (like Milan do) but watching how they use him, may not be the best way to judge since we are a completely different team.
I think most of you guys and me do NOT see things the same way with regards to Rebic…thats fine…but I think you’re wrong.
An in form Rebic can play against any opponent and there not a single attacker we have at tis very moment, other than Perisic, that I would trust more than him…NOT ONE! Rebic can completely destroy defenders with his aggression and speed, skills are not required.
I’ve watched almost every game Rebic has played for Milan since his arrival. Italian defenders are tough and Italian coaches are tacticians…when he is on, trust me, he either scores or assists almost every single game!
His touch is horrendous. It’s easily the worst on the team if you ask me.
“Dalić nearly kicked Lovren off the team following the 0-0 draw with Russia for a public outburst in front of the team. However, Dalić couldn’t pull the trigger because Ćaleta-Car and Gvardiol were hurt at the time and he desperately needed Lovren on the pitch”
… Aaaaargh! Whyyyy!?! We were so close!
Bwahahahahaaha!!!! E moj Maminjo… 😉
I am glad we are dealing with Dalic and he has this team on the right track. Good mix of youth and veterans.
I was impressed how he handled the Kalinic team. I’m looking forward to the World Cup and glad we don’t have to hear or read another ridiculous article on this site about Bilic coaching this team.
Looking back, the dismantling of Argentina in WC 2018 group stage was the best team performance, then the England semifinal was Dalic at his best as tactician (he truly outclassed Southgate). The win against Russia in the drenched qualifier, along with the 10 minutes or so in comeback against Spain, was the most inspirational. Most of everything else in between has been forgettable. Can we bring it all together for Qatar? Team play, tactics, and inspiration? I can’t wait to find out!
“Can we bring it all together for Qatar?”
after watching the EXTREMELY good effort and work rate we have vs Russia, I think the answer to your question is yes!
Now more than ever, I see the opportunity for Dalic to “raise the bar”, create competition at all positions and make the atmosphere healthy but also competitive…nobody gets a free pass!
Fully agreed. Am excited with the young guys who will only get better in one year’s time.
In my opinion, this is relatively simple to understand. From the time Dalic took over the team until after the Euro’s, Dalic was really concerned about his “relationships” and in particular with his “senators”…thinking, as long as they are good/happy/satisfied, he will be good.
Where did Dalic go wrong? In my opinion, he went wrong thinking if he had the backing of his senior and most relevant members, he could sell them on his philosophy and strategy.
The best thing that ever happened in this entire scenario is the fact Dalic went to Modric and company… and the best thing Luka Modric and company did was respond to him with a good message…for the greater interest of Croatian soccer and not their personal interests.
After the World Cup in 2018, Dalic spent far too much time being a politician. He’s very fortunate that he had the quality players to select from in the 2018 World Cup and he’s also fortunate he didn’t have a lot of time to mess around with experiments. He was fresh eyes and there were very “obvious” decisions he had to make, most people with common sense could have been successful, as long as they didn’t play favourites and they made decisions based on the sport. Dalic used his ‘relationship” skills and did a good job bringing the team together and uniting all…thankfully he dealt with the Kalinic issue quickly.
This is where things get tricky for me and its where I find myself in a bit of confliction. Soo many of us that have criticized Dalic for this past Euro’s have made several comments about his “player selection”. We all selected the lineup thousands of times and aside from some very debatable decisions…ie Sosa being called or not, we were extremely limited in our options… especially up top! I won’t blame Zlatko Dalic for playing Rebic at striker and to this very day, I keep seeing people doing that very thing. We were limited…PERIOD!!! You can try to make shit up but at the end of the day, Dalic utilized Petkovic, Krama, Vlasic and there was absolutely no reason in my mind to keep fantasizing that Livaja, Budimir, Colak or anyone else that was “AVAILABLE” to us would have done anything at all. The fact that Rebic played soo horribly is on Rebic, not Dalic…and trust me, I’m a massive Rebic fan…so when I see people on this site and other sites saying they never wanna see Rebic again, my head starts to spin. I am reminded by the comments I read and I think about the hateful comments we used to see about Olic…he didn’t have skill, he scored tap-ins, he was shit… Rebic is a VERY VERY VERY good player, when he’s in form and he’s probably still our top 3 best options up top.
Dalic must look more towards results, even in exhibition games. This team must get used to playing for the result and not coasting through a game. The better teams always find a way…they always compete and they always ensure that whoever they bring into their squad will give 100% and make it difficult for their coach to not play them.
Slavonac….very nice said.
Only issue is Rebic….he decided to do the idiotic shoe change in the middle of the game and it ended up costing us vs Spain…and his idiotic comments after the tourney were worthy of being dumped from the team even if he was/is our best option.
We don’t need a team cancer like him on the team and good riddance to him. He’s had ample time to apologize to Dalic and his teammates but he refuses…and especially when we really needed him in these qualifiers…he didn’t make amends. I under no circumstances now would allow him to waltz back into the team and go to the WC.
You know the saying, fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you…so no more chances with Rebic.
A few people have referenced the desire and urgency of the team in that Russia game and it was certainly nice to see. I would say it’s about time! For the past 5-6 years or longer, one of the trends in world football has seen all the best teams work extremely hard to get the ball back as soon as possible after its lost.
For the first time in that Russia game I actually witnessed our team deploying that tactic. Not just one guy (Mandzo) but ALL of them. This needs to continue in all of the games for the team to experience success again.
The World Cup should be interesting. We actually have a better (deeper)side than we did in 18′ and at last year’s Euro, but we’re gonna need a lot of luck to get all the way to the final again.
It’s official. FIFA rankings are out and Croatia is up to #15, so they will be in pot 2 for the WC draw. Denmark and the Netherlands, at #9 and 10, are now pulling for Italy and Portugal to miss the WC, and thereby move to pot 1.
yup, but the results in the March games count too (the WC playoffs, as well as the friendly matches we play then). The ranking on March 31 2022 will be the final one which determine what pot we will be in.
For me the biggest success has been the transition in playing style. After 2018 and the retirement of mandzo we have lacked the target man required for our style of play. We used to control midfield but our only attacking threat was with crosses. With players like vlasic (when he was on form), kramaric, kovacic, ivanusec, brekalo, Sosa and now majer it was clear that we had the tools the play a more modern style of play with short passes, fluid movement and quick transitions through the field. This started right after the world cup and as we can all see it was not easy, the players were still hesitant and more often than not we ended putting in a cross to no one, so we were toothless in attack and constantly vulnerable to the counter attack. Slowly the players have learned to trust each other more and move the ball quicker. That hesitancy in our play has been painful to watch over the years, finally we play with rhythm and penetration. Only Malta but still, the type of goals we were scoring are the result of a big change in our philosophy and a lot if work on the training pitch. Now we press well, counter attack quickly and can score goals through fluid one touch team play. Dalic has finally unlocked the potential of our football by changing our footballing style from our old school yugo style dribble, dribble pass dribble cross style to something which can hang with today’s fast paced tactically fluid modern game. At the same time as integrating the players to do it. That is exceptional
thanks for the report – Hopefully he has learned a lot and gets a good committed team playing for Croatia and him next year.
It is stupid to even speak about that. If Dalic finds himself facing a concept or ability that he has not seen or been able to use, it takes a massive exposure before he “understands” … see what I mean ->
…………………..Ivucic…………………….
Jurav….Pogracic….Gvardiol….Sosa
………………..Brozovic…………………..
…….Kovacic…………..Modric……….
Majer……..A Kramaric………Perisic
this regular formation | with the right starting11 can beat Brazil 2-0
even with this change, we still have the same result:
@ Budimir – for Kramaric
@ Orsic – for Perisic
but Dalic will bring this on ->
………………..Livakovic………………….
Juravc…..Lovren….Gvardiol….Sosa
…………………Brozovic…………………..
…….Kovacic……………Modric……….
Vlasic……..A Kramaric………Perisic
this shit starting11 will be back to face Brazil | 0-2 from the beginning
then he will make this substitution and the score will get worse 0-4
@ Perkovic – for A Kramaric
@ Vlasic – for Livaja
LAknat always right
{| remember that |}
Who is Pogračić & what are his credentials ?
Marin Pongračić
He plays for Borussia Dortmund.
Very solid player.
Quite possibly our second best CB next to Gvardiol, but was injured almost all of last year and is still establishing his place in the Dortmund first team. But he’s had quite a few starts already.
Always interesting to read about behind-the-scenes type stuff