There was an exact moment in time at the 2018 World Cup where everyone Croatian in the world thought to themselves, “OMG, Croatia is going to win the World Cup!” No one shared that thought. No one spoke about it or made it public. But everyone knew.
Although Ante Rebić’s goal against Argentina gave Croatia a 1-0 lead and was the eventual game winner, it was Luka Modrić’s bending shot from outside the box that changed everything for Croatians around the globe. When Luka’s shot hit the back of the net to give the Vatreni a 2-0 lead late against the Argentines, we all knew this Croatian side came to play in Russia.
We knew Croatia would top the group and get the “softer” side of the draw. We knew Croatia would most likely avoid a strong French side in the Round of 16. We knew Croatia had the momentum of the world behind their backs.
Rebić’s goal may have done the same thing, but it was Modrić’s rocket that was the icing on the proverbial cake. It was beautiful. It was surreal. We knew.
What went through your head when Modrić’s shot hit the back of the net against Argentina?
Also – forgot to mention we have a silver and a bronze. Kind of a huge point to miss lol
@Razbijac – Amazing point!
Since 96 (our first tourney as an Independent nation) there have been 12 tournaments – Euros and Worlds combined.
Of those 12, 5 of them we lost to eventual Champions. So 40%.
We never qualified for 2 tournaments if I am not mistaken, 2000 Euro and 2010 world so that number could technically be 50% if we go by tournaments actually played in rather than # of available tournaments.
For a country with our population to have that stat since it’s debut on the world soccer scene 25 years ago is fucking insane.
Uruguay is the only comparable country – 2 championships where if you had a boat or plane you qualified.
They won 1930 (13 teams, Yugo finished 4th – there was no 3rd place match and they also lost to hosts and winners Uruguay. Fun fact. US took 3rd with better goal differential.) 1950 WC – 15 teams, 4 groups and only group winners move on. Yugo finishes 2nd to Brazil in the group behind by 1 point, 1 less goal and 1 more goal against.) Brazil was also the host for that World Cup.
No one and I repeat no one has done what we have done relative to our population, record and infancy in world soccer in 25 years.
While I was in Lockdown…I came to the realization how many times Croatia was knocked out from a Tourney–BY THE EVENTUAL WINNERS!
Euro ’96. Knocked out by Germany. Won by Germany.
WC ’98. Knocked out by France. Won by France.
Euro ’12. Knocked out by Spain. Won by Spain.
Euro ’16. Knocked out by Portugal. Won by Portugal.
WC ’18. Knocked out by France. Won by France.
Surely if we had beaten one of these sides we woulda gone on to win the tournament. The most recent being WC ’18–as we all know.
Now I’m not saying that if we got past all 5 teams, we woulda had 5 Tournament victories. But I feel that if we were able to progress in 2 out of the 5 circumstances….with our teams being that good, if a couple of things went our way, we coulda had 2 WC trophies or a Euro and a WC.
That’s why I think we will win a major tournament in our lifetimes…it’s only a matter of time!
I agree Pog. Its hard to replace an attitude, something we lacked for a long time until 2018, I think Brozovic is tough but I’m not sure he carries a presence that the team can rally behind.
We’re not going on a run like 2018 for a long time even if we have the talent. That run was a perfect combination of a lot of things. The toughness of that generation will be hard to replicate. Guys like Modric and Mandzukic grew up during the war. Watching the English and Argentines trying to get physical with our guys was comical. Our future generations wont be hardened like that though.
Funny how I have been blaming rukomet for putting a drain on our point guard talent over the years.
I never even thought how it also negatively impacts our goal keeper talent pool as well.
We got to be able to produce 196+ cm athletes that can be lead NBA guards and world class goal keepers.
Oblak beat LFC by himself!
Could you imagine rolling up to Euro’21 with an all world keeper?
That would make life easy for our muha bez glava CB’s.
Allison missing for LFC was the difference this year in CL and him being there was the difference last year.
We are too small to indulge in rukomet.
Man when I saw the representazija for rukomet I was blown away.
Average height 2 meters and all strong.
Šteta ..
And I got crap shortly after the World Cup from some people for saying Subasic was not as good as some people say he was. The penalty saves against Spain in Euro 2016 and the two WC shootouts are the only real good things he has done. He was definitely a good, solid keeper, but not a GREAT keeper. He made so many small errors that don’t get noticed as much unless you are really paying attention to the goalkeeper. He got wrong footed quite often and was never aggressive on any set pieces. That is why, AT THE TIME, I was saying I thought Kalinic could be better than he was. He has great reflexes for someone that big and actually goes for the ball when it’s crossed in, but not stupidly. Then his confidence got shot by that Spain game where they just blitzed him and nearly every shot was put in where keepers would not really have a chance at it. Tell me how many of these goals any of our keepers would have saved. I would say MAYBE the one that goes under his legs.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6th5u8
That kind of pummeling absolutely kills a lot of players. Also, after watching those highlights, I can see why Pivaric doesn’t get anywhere near a call up. He was dreadful.
I just hope that there are no issues with our players heading into Euro 2021.
Our team is probably a bit better than our World Cup team, assuming guys like Modrić and Perišić (along with our CBs) don’t lose a step in the next 12 months.
Also, re: Dalić…
I hope he doesn’t bail unless we are certain we have a good replacement (like Bjelica).
Dinamo’s management are really scaring me with these games they are playing with Bjelica.
If he has a falling out with them, then he will likely never be coach for our NT.
I can’t go back to the whole “inexperienced player turned coach” thing we did with Bilić/Štimac/Kovač.
Too much learning on the job.
You KNOW guys like Srna, Olić and Vukojević are working that angle to get in with the National Team and try to use the Repka to kickstart their coaching careers.
I’d give them all one big “F U” and tell them to compile at least 10 years of successful club coaching experience first.
Guys like Tudor and Žuti are out there coaching in shitty club situations, but learning on the job. Not sure if I’d give them a shot but they’re miles ahead of guys like Srna/Olić/Ogi.
I will never forget it. I was in my Argentinain friend’s wedding party that weekend. My message in his card was simple, 3-0 is all I wrote.
Say it ain’t so Maminjo ..
But you are spot on!!
Subasic in the final with France was one leg walking and made Pletikosa at 2014 look agile.
Our squad was tired all around.
Goalie has to be fresh with legs.
Second half we were dead.
Needed more legs.
Having said all that:
Phantom foul free kick and BS hand ball penalty in a fucken final.
We are the people’s champ.
2021 our young studs will be in their prime.
One or two young phenoms will emerge.
Modric if with fresh legs will have a bit of magic left.
Dalic will be wiser.
😉
Subašić never gets a pass from me.
No Croatian goalkeepers do.
He’s sadly been our best, and we never even used him in his prime.
If Livaković makes three good saves in the next Euros, he will be officially crowned all time greatest keeper in Croatian history.
hahaha….Maminjo really drilling down on Subasic. I am honest and will say that I usually don’t comment much on goalies because I really can’t identify a whole lot of their techniques, skills and qualities. Sure, I can make general observations but you really drilled down Maminjo, nice work!
I thought finally you fuck , a shot on net and with some pace on it
=U=
Za Dom
Subasic definitely f’d us in that Final.
He, along with that ref, are the only reason France won.
It’s sad that people who think they watched that game, actually believe France scored 4 legitimate goals.
Subasic only gets a pass from everyone because of his performance against the penalty shootout wins against the Danes and Russians…but he was very poor in those games too.
Both the Danish and Russian opening goals were his fault.
Slipped the Danish goal under his armpit, and (for some reason) was way off his line on that Russian goal.
If you watch the Russia game, Subasic was off his line almost the entire match, and in a slouched stance. His knees never bent, even on free kicks and corner kicks.
This tells me that he was very out of form since the beginning of the World Cup. It was made worse by the hamstring injury during the Russia game, and he should have been subbed out for a very in-form Lovre Kalinic.
People have completely forgotten how comical Subasic was in that Argentina first half. It was horrible, and I thought Subasic was gonna lose the game for us with the way he was fumbling the ball, kicking the ball out of bounds in panic, and unsure with the backpasses. Very scary stuff. Rebic made us quickly forget how easily it could have gone the other way in that first half.
We outshot ALL four teams in the knockout phase of this World Cup (74 to 45). Suba had very little work to do during game play.
He couldn’t bend his knees to even jump properly for the Trippier goal (very overrated free kick goal btw), and was completely flat footed for the Fernandes goal (that goal wasn’t his fault, but he didn’t even have a proper stance anyway). His effort in those two second half France goals was the cherry on top.
Lumbering from side to side on each goal, no bend or jump in his legs…could have easily saved at least one of them if he was in form.
I think he knew how out of form and limited his movements were, so he was trying to overcompensate for it by guessing where the shot was going to go, and trying to stumble over to that position before the player even shot the ball. You can see it on the instant replay. He was already running to the spot where he though they were going to shoot.
He knew that he wasn’t physically capable of being able to jump and react fast enough, despite the shots coming from waaay out of the box and bouncing toward goal.
He was that done.
He deserves some blame for this, because he likely wanted to experience playing at the World Cup and put himself ahead of the team and country. Dalic probably had some loyalty to him, so he let Subasic make the call, and it cost everyone.
I loved Subasic in 2014 and he should have started for us then, but he’s been a benchwarmer for Monaco since that World Cup, which is very telling.
Oh well. Dalic got a lot right at this World Cup.
His only real misses were…
1. Experimenting with that apparently “more offensive” lineup with Kramaric in the midfield instead of just sticking with Brozovic (allowing for Modric to venture forward instead of covering for Krama). Krama is good, but he should be up top or nothing. Don’t mess up a good midfield for nothing. It actually made us less offensive.
2. Always looking to sub out Perisic in the 60th minute of the game (which he did in the Denmark and Russia games, despite Perisic hitting the woodwork in both games). Not subbing him out against England, resulted in the game-tying goal from him at exactly the time when Dalic liked to sub him out.
3. Sticking with Subasic, come hell or high water.
He really should have seen how out of form he was prior to this World Cup, and Kalinic was having a fantastic year that year.
Dalic fixed the first two issues during the tournament, but it was just that one miss with Subasic that cost us the trophy.
Fuck Messi and Barca.
How many trophies would he have won without Xavi and Iniesta controlling the game and owning the ball?
Messi’s like Pele if Pele never won a WC and just stayed at Santos collecting trophies.
The way I felt during the World Cup was very strange for me. I was optimistic before every game but I would say the only game I went into with a confident mindset was the final against France. Maybe it’s because they lost to Portugal two years earlier and I knew we at least at Portugal’s level. And maybe because I knew that we already far exceeded what everyone thought was going to happen. But I was always a little worried we were going to see too much of the Croatia of old where we let our opponents dictate how we will play, and we did see some of that, with our typical terrible set piece defending.
Denmark’s goal was quite fortunate, but our defense seemed to just be all over the place. After we scored almost instantly after I knew we were going to win that game. I went into the Russia game nervous because we know how FIFA likes to help the hosts, and it was just obvious that some of their players were on some serious drugs. Like how is Dzyuba, a 6’5 slow target man, outrunning Ivan Perisic? But after we tied that game up I had the feeling that we were going to win. Although I was annoyed at Vida for celebrating by taking his shirt off with 10 minutes left to possibly get another boneheaded yellow.
I thought for sure Subasic and Vrsaljko were going to be out for the England game and we were going to have to use a slow Vedran Corluka against an England team that just constantly plays long balls to their fast players. That was a game I desperately wanted us to win, because of course we would be in the final, but mainly because how snobby all the English fans were being on social media when the only half decent team they played was Belgium and they got their asses handed to them. That win was particularly sweet because of that.
Then came the final, I just had a good feeling in the days before the match. France was good, but was squeaking by with their defensive tactics. I felt our high pressing was going to be very difficult for them to handle, and it was. But those two first half refereeing mistakes were too much. We still had a good chance to come back, but I just felt like we came out with less energy in the 2nd half. Then our counter attack was stopped by fans on the field, then Pogba gets a shot blocked, only for it to fall right back to him. Mbappe rocketed one low where an injured Subasic was never going to be able to react. When Mandzukic stole a goal, it felt like we had a chance again, but France just put everyone behind the ball and we couldn’t really do anything. That was also the only game I’ve seen Pjaca play lively off the bench since the original injury.
I was super excited for the Euros this summer as I had tickets to both of the matches in Scotland and was going to see my first matches live, but of course with the virus they were postponed and I’m probably going to refund the tickets as I don’t know what’s going to be going on in my life at that time and if I’d even be able to go. But I had a feeling we had another good run in us. Hopefully our older guys will be extremely hungry for a result for the next two years and put on another show for us. Who knows, maybe they’ll just win them both and establish Croatia as a real contender and not just a perennial dark horse.
I never looked at Modric’s goal as the turning point. I felt nervous right up until Rakitic’s goal to be honest. Not because i felt Argentina would win but moreso because I know anything can happen with some referee’s these days.
What I saw in Modric at this World Cup was something I don’t think we have seen in the past. He seemed to take ownership in many ways. He ran miles and fought for every single challenge. I saw him more vocal and his body language was far more positive and assertive. He didn’t crumble when he missed the penalty shot in against Denmark (many people would have).
your comment here Ante “OMG, Croatia is going to win the World Cup!”
I honestly felt we would win the finals…even at half time. We played a lot better than France and we definitely had them nervous.
As much as I like Suba, I felt he was horrible in that finals…actually, even more than horrible. France were definitely fortunate that day. The win for them was against the Gods of soccer and anyone that really watches the game will tell you they were helped by the ref and by circumstances that forced us to somewhat open up. Two of their goals we from distance and I highly doubt they’d score from that distance in the same scenario again.
I still can’t watch that game again. I honestly get anxiety and feel we were terribly robbed in front of the entire world. I never really liked Griezmanm before that game but I hate the motherfuc*** more than ever….he’s such an arrogant weasel.
On the other hand, Croatia and being Croatian makes me very proud! I get chills when I see videos of the welcome home celebration after the finals.I loved the way the team rallied together after the Kalinic incident. Things could have easily gone the other way but thankfully we had a good culture within the team and they built on their momentum.
I found myself appreciating players like Pivaric, who are not really that calibre but did relatively well. My opinion of the fighting spirit grew as I saw players like Rakitic, Modric, Mandzukic, Vida, Lovren and many others display a “fuck off” attitude to their opponents. Sometimes thats what you gotta do to gain the respect from your peers.
I was confident we would beat Denmark, even though we went down a goal early. I somehow believed we would conquer Russia, we just didn’t quit. I was flustered for the first 25 minutes vs England but for some reason I just felt we were going to overcome them….I just wasn’t prepared for the France game and the incidents that took control over our outcome. We weren’t going to win that game. I’ve read about conspiracies all my life and I never believed in them….that game changed the way I now think!
Fuck you Otamendi was the first thought that went through my head when Modric hit that pearler!