Why Croatia couldn’t line up a stronger opponent in a friendly before their Italy match on Friday, who knows? But the Vatreni took on Europe’s newest team, Gibraltar, Sunday evening in Varaždin nonetheless.
Croatia was without Modrić (injury) and Ivan Rakitić (Champions League Final) in a match that saw a starting XI of Subašić, Vrsaljko, Jedvaj, Lešković, Leovac, Badelj, Pjaca, Brozović, Kovačić, Sharbini, Mandžukić see a few new faces.
Sharbini and Kovačić would both score inside 15 minutes with Mandžukić converting a penalty in the 52nd and Kramarić adding a fourth in the 77th minute.
Next up: Italy on Friday in an empty Poljud in Split.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Miminjo…its confirmed now, Bilic is the new boss of West Ham!
I don’t know about that. I think a coach is more concerned about winning than giving a fellow countryman playing time. It also depends on no the agent is of the player. If the agent is friends with Bilic, then you could be on to something.
Exactly why I said that it It would be great to see West Ham get a young Croat, as Bilic will be biased and probably give him regular minutes and develop him.
Exactly Ziva!!
If Bilic gets the job, good for him. Getting and EPL gigs means you will be hired, fired and then hired by another club.
Coaching a club side is much different than coaching a national team. I always hear and read items from the uniformed on how national team coach needs to develop a player or certain position. It always makes me laugh when I do read or hear such things, but a national team coach can’t do that with the limited amount of game time and practice time he has. The development angle takes place at the club level.
Sranjić is our lb deal with it N.K likes him he doesnt like Strina thats that and also Olic is his boy Lw all the way thats why i dont care about repka anymore imo Jedvaj Vrsaljko Are starting 11 material. Lineup v italy is predictable Suba Srna Vida Sifo Sranjić Brozovic Rakitic Perisic Kovacic Olic Mandzukic. My lineup would not include olic pranjic srna in same time in 11 too much deadweight that dead weight cost us at 2014.
Hmmmm….earlier today I read he negotiated the deal and now I’m reading it’s not done yet!
@Slavonac
Is it 100 percent?
Tough situation to be in, as expectations will be high. But good for him. Hopefully Bilic is smart this time and doesn’t do what caused his downfall on the Cro national team and gets too buddy buddy with his players. I’m already hearing talk about him bringing his pal Corluka to the squad.
If management are giving him money to spend, I hope he uses it wisely and not on a player like Corluka who is not built for EPL. It would be great however to see West Ham get a speedy young Croat, as Bilic will be biased and probably give him regular minutes. Buy a player like Pjaca, or get one of Pasalic or Halilovic on loan or something.
Vrsaljko held down the LB against Mexico and when subbed off all hell broke loose.
He is stud. Yes he is natural rb but played LB great in Brazil.
Strinic is our best player at LB.
I don’t like this manager dog house.
Žuti should came on for an injured Boban in the second half. We beat France and shock the world against Brazil on European soil.
@ Svima
Is Perišić getting better with the ball? He looks real fluid with both feet and playing with poise and purpose.
Bilic got the West Ham job!
and lets not forget what Adriatic city he is from…
Splicani aren’t known for having the best ‘equipment’ between the ears….
@maminjo…………..good points, but not the case for Strinic. His agent told him that he would be risking it by playing if not 100%. It all worked out for Strinic.
Not every guy has the same passion for the national team that we fans do. For some of them, this is a business and they need to maximize their years. Strinic going to Brazil could have resulted in a bigger pay day for him, but it also could have resulted with a more serious injury.
🙂
Kovac needs to make peace with Strinic, and bring him back into the fold. Just like Jon Snow in GoT made peace with the Wildlings for the greater good.
Agree with Ziva on this.
Spot duty is one thing. But I’d want someone who regularly plays LB to be our starting LB.
I know some people think Olic at LW, Lovren at DMF or Jedvaj at LB sounds great – but you want players in a position they play day in and day out, no?
Juventus defender Andrea Barzagli and US Sassuolo Calcio striker Simone Zaza, both suffering from unspecified injuries, have left the Italy squad gearing up for their Group H qualifier in Croatia on Friday.
Ziva, I doubt that’s true.
Playing against Brazil on the World stage would have upped his value. Much more than what a potential injury would do for his long term health.
Lots of club teams actually do not do any due diligence and simply buy players who play on successful national teams. Look at how we have been selling players very shortly after they play for our national team. Playing on the World Stage against Brazil multiplies this by a hundred. Even Brozovic’s name started surfacing more often after he featured in that Brazil game (despite not even playing well).
My guess is that Strinic was going to be benched in favor of Pranjic, and he was probably pissed about it. Not a good reaction, but I would be pissed too if I were him and some bum who walked off the team during qualifying got to come back and take my spot for the World Cup.
Long tern solution at LB is someone who plays it constantly and consistently at the club level. Jedvaj or Vrsaljko are not full time solutions in that spot. They’ll have a few good games and then a few iffy games.
As for Strinic….he was slightly injured, but more concerned about his next contract. He is finally making decent money and didn’t want to risk being injured last summer and screwing up his health.
Maminjo, If you’ve read my posts over the course of the last 3 years then you would know that I am and have always been a huge supporter of Strinic, I really felt he was one of the best players at the Euro’s in 2012, we 100% agree on this…BUT…I think I mentioned this as well. A few weeks ago I read an article about why Strinic didn’t end up going to the World Cup and in the article it stated that when Strinic was at the camp and was injured but receiving physiotherapy, he walked into the camp one day and to the disbelief of the physio and doctor team, he announced he wasn’t able to go to the World Cup. I have no idea how much of this story is true but it contradicts what I thought before.
I’m just ok with Vrsaljko at left back but I’d prefer him at right back…its his natural position and he plays it well.
as per Jedvaj…I want him in the centre and I think if we suggest he plays at left back, we are grasping at anybody to play there, which shouldn’t be the case.
Several years ago when Pranjic left Heerenveen to go to Bayern, I was actually with his playing the left back position because he was very active and created a ton….now, he is so hesitant and lacks heavily defensively…he has done little to nothing to prove he is worthy of being on the team, forget playing!
@Slavonac
Credible solutions for LB include Strinic and Jedvaj. Both have played these positions more regularly and on better teams than Pranjic this season. They are also both much younger, which only adds to the rationale of playing them over a soon-to-be-retired Pranjic.
Pranjic hasn’t sniffed LB for Panathinaikos this season, and Strinic has been playing it this season for both Dnipro and Napoli. Even Jedvaj has played it a few times for Bayer Leverkusen.
I agree there are not many options, but that still doesn’t justify playing someone out of position who has struggled in the role. If we’re playing people out of position at LB, then why not give Vrsaljko another shot there, since he played there during the World Cup.
I just don’t understand the undisputed 90 minutes per game that Pranjic gets there. Not even trying to put someone like Strinic or Jedvaj in there for the last 15 minutes. Or even Leovac. It’s an obvious weak spot for us. Norway scored their lone goal from a play that came from the left side (with Pranjic falling asleep on the guy who started the play). But all is forgiven because we score 5 goals to make up for his mistake.
Same goes for Srna. I’ll bet that there would be zero dropoff in performance if Vrsaljko were to be played there. Actually, it would force Rakitic to take all of our deadball plays (since Srna wouldn’t be there to fan on any of them). If Rakitic is good enough to take them for Barcelona, he should be the first, second and third option on our squad.
I just don’t get how they both must play 90 full minutes per game AND take pretty much all of our free kicks and corners (with friggin’ Modric and Rakitic deferring to them, lol).
In terms of FIFA standings and getting pot 1 for WC qualifiers…its a good thing we played Gibraltar. Since they are not a FIFA member. Playing a weak team actually brings your ranking down.
You must earn a run
Didn’t see Alen Halilovic get a run strange.
Yeah me too Antwerp….we have to find another solution
@ Slavonac
we’ll likely play a 5 man midfield, with Perisic, Raketa, Brozovic, and Modric a lock on 4 of the spots. Now if Olic gets that 5th spot ahead of Kovacic and Badelj, I’ll shoot myself.
Don’t get me wrong, Olic has plenty to offer, I just think he is more useful as a sub.
Maminjo, I kinda agree with you. I am not sure what the situation has been with Strinic, I always liked him but recently the papers have said he wasn’t really committed. With regards to Vrsaljko, I also like the kid a lot and am not sure why he isn’t getting minutes….with Olic, I’d love for him to be a sub…15-20 minutes and a great older guy for the younger behind the scene….the problem is I just don’t see a real solid solution for him where I do for Pranjic and Srna…any really credible suggestions….someone that plays consistently and has potential…and is not playing out of his regular position?
it’s Ziva istina!
Oh, never mind. I thought you said who’s that in the Serbia jersey at the Djokovic match..
Who’s that at the golden state game behind the bench in a Croatia jersey
@Soul Champ
Sorry for sounding cynical, but you’ve gotta see where I’m coming from.
We have three starters who will be in their MID-to-LATE THIRTIES next year when the Euros begin (Pranjic, Srna, and Olic). All three have regressed these past couple of years, and will likely continue to regress right up to the Euros (due to their age). Yet they continue to play BIG minutes in all of our qualifiers. I don’t think Pranjic or Srna have even been substituted. Even if our backups indisputably surpass them at club level, they will not have played enough with our National Team core players to justify starting them for the Euros. So, we’ll continue to stick with the ‘experience’ in favor of the better players who will lack chemistry with our core players.
Problem is, Niko Kovac is afraid of losing first place to a rebuilding Italy, as it would be a highlight of his career to top a qualifying group against such a big name. Anything that happens at the Euros, is seen as a bonus. That’s the problematic mentality of a peasant (which is a disease that many of our footballers and coaches have).
I think Mandzo is out of his scoring form at the moment but his presence and physical contributions are always an important part of the game for us.
Seedlings, I am not the right person to discuss this with as I am limited in my knowledge of the system….all I do know is that Bilic played the seeding system relatively well.
I wouldn’t consider us a typical Balkan styled, undisciplined team as far as playing well or poorly depending on our opponents, we have been getting out of the shit form we were in leading up to the World Cup and during it but since then I think we are finding our identity….I’m satisfied with our play and results so far even though I felt our performance vs Norway was actually poor until the 2nd half!!!
First place in the group would be a boon. Yes the NT plays well against quality teams (ex: Spain and Italy, 2012 Euro), but I rather play their likes in the knockout stages.
Anyone know the starting line up and subs. I expected it to be all Croatian league players.
There’s going to be a corner kick and either someone will score with a header or there’s going to be a cluster around the goalkeeper until someone gets a chance to kick it in.
Gunna predict Croatia 1-0 Italy for Friday.
I’m sure you guys saw the cro jersey at the Warriors-Cleveland game.
I made a comment about mandzo, and about the seeding, and about how we play well agInst good teams. What’s your point? Do you agree or disagree with me?
Every team you play in the euros is good and a tough game, plus we always play better against the tougher teams, especially Germany and Italy , u redu?
Anonymous, what’s your point? You make comments of criticism and yet haven’t said anything worth discussing!
First place and seeding also means shit, za majku bozju, ja neznam koga kurca vi gledate vise!
It doesn’t mean a thing who the friendly was against, they mean shit don’t you know that by now. The bigger question is how mandzukic can’t even score against these clowns, and penalties don’t count in my book. And I don’t want to hear about how he gets no service either, how about doing something on your own!
Say it ain’t so … Maminjo!
Sounding a bit cynical Brate. I hope you have not been hanging out with the self hating hrvati crew?
After this Friday we will turn the page and really integrate all the young phenoms.
1st place and being a seeded team is important to our process of finally getting out of the group stage since 2008.
Juve players will turn the page and be ready, I guarantee it! Italians always find emotions to bring up their level and even though this isn’t an Italian team like we’ve witnessed in the past, they are professionals and know how to get results. I do believe we are currently stronger but the game is played on the field, not on paper!
Sounds right
I expect the Juve players to be too ‘istrošen’ for the game against Cro. Italy will probably sit back and play for the draw. It’s all they really need, and I don’t think they care if they finish first or second in the group. Unfortunately, we care a bit too much about finishing first.
The Italians have their priorities right. Focus on Euro 2016, today. Italy has been testing out different lineups with youngsters like Veratti, Zaza, DeSciglio, Florenzi…all getting some starts in place of many of their veterans.
Unlike us, where I fully expect us to trot out a full strength, veteran lineup that includes Olic, Pranjic, Srna, Corluka, etc…and then come Euro2016, be forced last-minute to try and integrate guys like Jedvaj or Vrsaljko into the lineup if (and when) these veterans drop off.
We should win this game with ease against a rebuilding Italy. At the very worst, it will be a draw like the last game (where we dominated them but couldn’t pull it off). Then we’ll all be excited as to how great our team is..,and when the Euros roll around, Italy will place ahead of us (as per usual).
😉
Gibraltar was a payback to their federation. Nothing more. Honestly, no game should have been played
You have top tier opponent in Italy, and you play Gibraltar in a friendly? I guess the Argentina friendly was just a one off.
If you want to see improvement, you need to play against stronger opponents. 4-0 against Gibraltar isn’t going to help the NT.
With our squad, we should take care of Italy without any dramas. Even without Luka
I’m curious to see how Italy approaches this game with the Juve players and if they will be up to playing.
What happened? Was San Marino not available.
I hope the cost of these tickets to the game were dramatically reduced. You couldn’t pay me to watch that.
Main thing here is nobody of consequence got hurt. Result didn’t matter here.
nevermind got one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veGLL1Kqc-Y
anyone have a video link for this game?