Croatia manager Zlatko Dalić has named the 25-man squad for Croatia’s Euro 2020 qualifier vs. Wales on June 8th in Osijek and friendly vs. Tunisia on June 11th in Varaždin. There’s not much change from March where Croatia squeaked by Azerbaijan 2-1 and lost to Hungary 2-1.
For the Vatreni match vs. Wales, the usual suspects are expected to start: Vida, Lovren, Modrić, Rakitić, Perišić, Kramarić, Rebić. However, it will be interesting to see if fringe players Tin Jedvaj, Borna Barišić, Mateo Kovačić, Nikola Vlašić and Josip Brekalo get into the squad.
After a horrendous match vs. Hungary where he let in two “soft” goals, will Lovre Kalinić get the start in front of Dominik Livaković after not playing for Aston Villa in three months?
Wales star player Gareth Bale is in shambles after a fall out with Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane. He has not featured in a match since April 28th and should be a bit rusty by the time the Croatia match roles around.
Chetnik Kurwa
Glory to Ukraine
WTF is that video? Is that miss Croatia again?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy3dQ0t8eT8
The Olympics are after Euro2020 so i doubt anyone from that squad will go on to the olympics
It would be entertaining to see Croatia play in the Olympics. Something different. And it would be fun to see which 3 veterans they chose. Would be cool as a final modric swan song to join the youngsters and pick apart some 21 year olds.
I would probably pick modric, kramaric, and maybe vida/perisic/vrsaljko in that final spot. … Maybe rakitic.. Fun game
Living in NYC I can say I have had enough
Of the African Dispora.
I assume the England u21 players mentioned above will probably be a part of the senior nations league finals and will miss out
Brozovic is our future midfield general he’s key to our success
Forget about Kovacic he’s a lost cause
I would love to see Moro take the next step up too
I think Brozovic is still very useful.
6 goals in 42 matches, a nice shot from distance and endless running is a much better return than that bum Kovacic will get you.
I guess playing well as a defensive midfielder means you’re a ‘tourist on the pitch?’ Actually, Brozovic has been one of Inter’s better players this season, especially earlier on in the season. He played pretty well in the World Cup. You aren’t supposed to notice a defensive midfielder, it usually means they’ve messed up if you do. And when he was a “rookie” on the national team he played a completely different role. Played as a more attacking mid as well as out wide while we waited for one of our wings to develop to play with Perisic.
Brozovic is a tourist on the pitch. He has done nothing. He was decent when he was a rookie on the national team. Now he’s totally useless. I hope he doesn’t play any serious games. Badelj is the same.
@DannyJ
Do you reckon that the Croatian NT should be able to select misplaced Croats, if yes, why?
I know Olympics generally not a huge deal but to have some more quality pressure soccer for the young kids to play In together only can help us down the line
Let’s get a senior win squad so we don’t have to stress all summer
And then we can just little bit stress over the young guns
These boys will be hungry
I know they dream about being in a World Cup final just like the big boys one day
France and England they just misplaced Africans
I’m not trying to be racist with that
It’s just that well we know what it means to be from Croatia and it’s just a bit diff then I think these other big boy countries
Imagine if France played Mbappé…we’d be screwed…he’s also available right? I know they won’t play him though, probably not Dembelé and Pavard too. France probably will play Guenduozi (Arsenal midfielder) that’s 19 I think, he will be a threat. Hopefully Ćorić and Halilović can step it up alongside our other young guys. I hope I can find a way to watch the games.
@ DannyJ
How the Vatreni start the party against Romania, in their opening fixture, will set the tempo for the remaining matches.
Ideally, they need to grab all 3 pts, and hope France and England draw. This will put them in a good position to top the group.
We need all our young guns firing, as England has some good players eligible to play (Marcus Rashford, Loftus-Creek, Harry Winks). And France too: (Dembele – Barca, Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard).
Champions League winner Igor Biscan! Might have to dust off my old Liverpool Biscan shirt for next Saturday.
Congratulations to Igor Biscan for being the first Igor Biscan to win the Croatian Cup
NK River beats Dynamo Zagreb 3-1 in Cup Final
Lovre got replaced after 8 games at Aston after terrible performances. He then boofed it for us in 2 awful performances in March. In April he got knee surgery that was supposed to leave him out a month. I don’t see how Zlatko could justify playing him. Livakovic had a great year and is in form while Lovre the past 5 months has been the opposite
Wasn’t Kalinic riding the pine last part of season?
It’s a tricky spot but surely livakovic has better form right now
I still don’t see how we can’t make a world class keeper
Genetics are there. Is it just the allure of being a keeper is not strong nuff or is the training not up to say the standards of an Italy
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/filip-benkovic-face-leicester-city-2887357
So maybe the others will do the same
I agree let’s hope halilovic goes beast mode
Maybe he can turn into a Prosinecki junior without the partying;)
If anyone sees the u21 player list when it comes out please share. I will do the same.
@Razbijac
Yeah, you’re right. I missed that it said 2019-21. I definitely hope the young guys play in both matches. We are for sure have a good chance of qualifying for the Olympics, if not winning it all with our best youngsters. Maybe Halilovic steps it up and turns into the beast he was always supposed to be. That would be amazing and oddly funny at the same time.
Vuki, I think the PDF you provided is for the upcoming 2019-21 Qualifying cycle.
I’m providing a link for the current qualifying cycle 2017-2019, which correct me if I’m wrong, encompasses this upcoming tourney in June–the culmination of the 2017-2019 qualifying cycle.
https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Regulations/02/41/38/49/2413849_DOWNLOAD.pdf
On pg 31, 42.03: “Players are eligible to play in the competition if they were born on or after 1 January 1996.”
So all those players should be eligible.
They play Wales on June 8th, and open up the Euro party against Romania on June 18th. I see no reason why eligible players can’t be involved in both affairs.
It sure as hell would be somthin’ for the Vatreni to make it to the Olympics, and go where no Hrvati footballer has ever gone before!!!!
https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Regulations/02/57/87/64/2578764_DOWNLOAD.pdf
“Players are eligible to play in the competition if they were born on or after 1 January 1998.”
So I guess the only one who would be able to play is Brekalo as Benkovic and Vlasic are both born in 1997. If this is true, more than half of the players that got the U21 tournament can’t play.
@Milos Hvar
That’s something I was wondering too. Benkovic as well. I would like to see us really go for that tournament and try to get into the Olympics for the first time ever. Maybe they can play both? Seems somewhat unlikely that they will.
Will Brekalo and vlasic not be playing in UEFA u21 tourney?
Also, this is a good article about who Dario Melnjak is.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.24sata.hr/amp/sport/tko-je-melnjak-bratic-marka-roga-zabio-dva-fenerbahceu-630349
I wonder if they picked him over Borna Sosa because they felt he is better at this period in time or because they want Sosa with the u21s. My friend mentioned that he has to play in the relegation playoffs so maybe that could also have something to do with it?
Simunovic committed to BiH but has never played for them as far as I know so I think he’d still be able to play for us. Not that I really want him to honestly. We have Benkovic, Caleta-Car, Katic, Mario Vuskovic and a few others. Don’t really need someone that isn’t committed.
As for the lineup for the next match. I would like if we played three at the back, but as much as I love Vlasic, I would say Modric attacking mid and Brozovic in CM. With three at the back, I think our slow CBs could really use more cover. Modric and Rakitic CAN do that, it’s just a matter of how much they are willing to run.
Simunovic ????B.H. Property now
Who’s dario melnjak
I would now try to move on from the vida and Lovren combination and try out Benkovic and the other Croatian Scottish player katic they both looked decent to me during the season and so did simunovic
And please let’s drop Kalinic before it becomes a joke
Livakovic should be the keeper.
I feel that with this lineup, we can have a lot of sideline play (something that helped our success in the WC) with Perišić and Brekalo and occasionally Kramarić or Rebić when the ball is being played in their side. Modrić and Rakitić may have to do a little more running up and down the field with this formation, but we have subs like Kova, Pašalić, and Brozo that can come on in the second half. Let’s hope for no injuries in this upcoming game. I’m expecting a big comeback from our last game against Hungary.
This is a must win game
…Kramarić……Rebić…
Perišić…Vlašić…Brekalo
…Modrić…Rakitić…
Benković…Vida…Lovren
…..Livaković……
Some of you may disagree with this lineup but I like it.
As subs (this could change based on performance): Brozović for Rakitić, Jedvaj for Benković, and Pašalić for Vlašić or Brekalo
Tunisia?