As if 2020 wasn’t strange enough with everything going on, Serbia could qualify for Euro 2021 next month, which means they would be grouped with Croatia, England, and Czech Republic next summer. Although Croatia and Serbia have played each other in qualifiers before, the two nations have never faced off at a football tournament.
Norway were favorites to progress to the final playoff match Thursday night in Oslo but ran into a stubborn Serb defense. Wunderkind Erling Haaland didn’t do much as he received little to no service from the Norway midfield. Strikers are only as good as the service they receive and you could tell he would have loved some Borussia Dortmund support on the night.
The match was full of errors and missed chances. If Serbia had 20% of the attacking core the Vatreni possess, it could have easily been 4-0 Serbia. Instead, the game went into extra time at 1-1 with Milinković-Savić scoring his second goal of the game in the 102nd minute with a cheeky chip.
Serbia will now play Scotland – who defeated Israel in a penalty kick shoot-out – on November 12th in Belgrade. Winner goes to Euro 2021. Loser goes home.
There is absolutely nothing special about this Serbia team and no Croatian should fear them. If you think our guys won’t get up for this match, you are mistaken. Serbia will beat Scotland in Belgrade next month and we will see an epic encounter at the European championships! Could beating Serbia on the international stage be the last great thing Luka Modrić does for Croatia?
Stay tuned…
Modrić Talks About Serbia Match In 2012
The wing backs would be Perišić and Vrsaljko.
But I would wait until Pongračić is back and healthy to test out the three CBs. I’d only want to try it with only one of Vida and Lovren in there (I don’t want both starting anymore).
Hopefully Gvardiol develops well over these next couple of years and we can move toward a Ćaleta-Car, Pongračić, Gvardiol trio in the back. It’s nice to have a technically skilled backline.
@Bz- rakitic and Vlašić operate differently and that’s definitely not the biggest decisions of Dalic’s career- D choices are and who to plug in with Krama that can work off him as he can’t play CF like super Mario. Hell Dalic can’t even get the mid right these past few games putting pasalic in a cm/cdm as he’s attacking mid as well as having this overreliant faith in kovacic that’s hasn’t panned out
3-5-2 can be great if utilized properly – wingbacks but need to track back and play D and with our current D that’s a tough ask I think we’d get exposed unless brozo hung back and played almost a sweeper role protecting those 3 – who would be ur 3 on D?
I think they’d work well together actually but petkovic is
has gotta improve – he’s talented yes but we’ve never had a dinamo striker lead our NT or even have goals in a finals tourney – we’re clearly hurting for CF’s
Come on. Petković is not bad.
I wouldn’t mind seeing us try a 3-5-2 with Petković and Kramarić playing together.
Holiga is a douchebag tho with biased articles most of the time but this one he kinda got right (wasn’t too difficult tho, kind of common sense) but perspective and theory is Interesting as I remember watxhin that fin game and that’s the type of exact change we needed at that time as players lost faith in cacic. Stimac coulda been our worst coach of all time tho. Ciro, bilic behind Dalic but Dalic is losing his imaginable invincibility last few results with his line up/formations – yes there friendlies and nations league – a joke – but at least have some sorta game plan instead of sticking meljnak and other idiots in there – he better right the ship soon or we’re gonna need another sliding door moment like the douche holiga article I just posted ! Imagine we had ancelotti or trappatoni as coach lol
We’d win it all- problem is out proximity to Italy – those hardcore whopps wouldn’t want us to Succeed as they’re jealous we’re more technically gifted ! Tactically no though which is where a foreign coach would benefit very much ! Not To mention we wouldn’t open the pocket book for them and couldn’t afford them
– imagine wenger lol no more Otto baric we need foreign coach _diego simeone would be best
What’s the worst english last name of all time – drinkwater is up there lol- I’d change my name ASAP hahaha any ideas/comments on other terrible chirper last names ?!
Kramarić needs support and can’t play solo CF like MandZo and petkovic is beer league material not taking us anywhere or he’d be playing for at least grasshopper or some douche team that’s better then dinamo. Would be funny and nice and great pipe dream if dinamo (mamic) opened his pocket boom one season and signed luka, rakitic and mandZo, (need a quality defender-Lovren/Vida) ((all in twilight -end of there careers lol)) – dinamo would make a run aha – perhaps in another world but would be good like dinamo late 90s making the surge before they started selling there players off and becoming recognized as a youth producing power
All Scandinavian teams park the bus – Sweden, Denmark- Finland A tad more offensive cause they suck and have no other option or cohesion ….good read for us as it changed our history thanks to the fins…
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/13/croatia-pyry-soiri-finland-world-cup
@Maminjo- Yup. Let’s hope Dalic gets it right. In fact, Dalic is getting lucky for tomorrow’s game.
Before the UNL we all knew the 2 biggest decisions of Dalic’s career:
1) Rakitic or Vlasic. Rakitic made that decision easy for Dalic
2) Kramaric or Petkovic. Kramaric’s injury makes the decision easy tomorrow. If Brekalo hustles tomorrow, then the Petko-Brekalo-Perisic-Vlasic combo should look good, even though Sweden will park the bus.
Polish chicks love it in the guzica
Let’s let Lloyd break it down for u
https://youtu.be/1NNx26bkI9I
Hey anonymous- I was anonymous on previous posts (forgot to sign in) but this is croatia sports.com not that I don’t love history but were talking kick here and sometimes Croatia politics as it pertains but who gives a fuck about chirper Churchill and there meat pies as well as block head Germans and dumb stump perogie eating pollocks – take it to the street dude – we don’t care !!!
A Governor of a U.S. State almost got executed on live television.
Before we play England, Churchill was a complete moron who always liked to say “the sun doesn’t set on the British Empire” and then he set the sun on the British Empire declaring war Germany and NOT the Soviet Union for invading Poland.
As forwards obviously Im speaking – petkovic will not take us to promise land – yes he scored against chops when he was brought right on but it wasn’t an individual Brekalo type goal but nice pass he slotted – again – reason he plays for dinamo and not some other crap mid table euro team who makes champions league or does better in Europe then dinamo. I love dinamo – ubi tovara to those splitscki LoL but we suck in Europe and that’s fine with me as we have one of the best youth programs in Europe and sell our players early cause mamic that fuck lol as long as out NT does well I’m fine with it tho
Vlašić, Pasalic, Rog – Brekalo, Rebic and many more options those to state a few in mid – our D needs to get a hold of itself and Petković ain’t the answer but either is Krama by himself as he’s a selfish hog and doesn’t contribute half to want mandZo did regardless if he can finish better we can’t use him like Hoffenheim
Sorry maminjo u right and I fucked up stating that – no chance either should be benched and 4-2-2-2 or 4-2-3-1 but our current striker position as Krama being solo up top is terrible – need height and fight like mandZo brang- brozo needs to be cdm and luka I like partnering him pulling strings from back- we have plenty of new talent up front and on wings we don’t need luka in advanced role. He does just as well if not better from cm/cdm
MandZo will always be our best striker we had (best regards to sell ur semi 98 France tickets suker) but his aerial presence/hold up play and D is huge when u wanna make a deep run in a major tourney. Yes we can go far without him but we need talented strikers like Krama (WHO CAN Track back and PLAY D at times) and he’s selfish enough to not pass not to mention track back – he just doesn’t fit our system and has to play off another striker as someone mentioned earlier and he’s out only talented striker. Guys let’s be honest, petkovic lol he plays at dinamo for a reason and budimir- these guys ain’t taking us to promise land – we’d have to rely on midfield goals from Brekalo, pasalic (last game) vlasic, perisic, Modric and perhaps only other forward that can play as winger – Rebić. Kramarić and rebic up top Together wouldn’t work unfortunately although I wish I were wrong but our striker problem Almost just as bad as our D
The next two games should be a better reflection of where we stand now that Dalić is getting nervous after humiliating himself in those first two UNL games.
He’ll put forward a proper lineup this time with no experiments.
If we lose both these games, he will get called out for sure (Ćiro will be the first one to do it, lol)
4-1-3-2…and bench one of Modrić or Brozović?
Or move Modrić further up and bench Vlašić?
Not sure if that’s a good idea until we get our CBs sorted out.
That being said I’ll back up my kurac by saying we go 4-1-3-2 and if we had Mandzo (unfortunately we don’t ) I’d go 4-1-4-1- but we have a long way to go before next summers Finals and we’ll see how injuries and form go from here on in !
Lol nice sum up BZ- love to maminjo ((he has excellent points)) but (no offense) seems to know everything always and pobody’s nerfect as we’re all wrong from time to time even ziva istina lol but high hopes and individual stats on players only get us so far (were a long way from our form of 18’ WC and no I don’t believe we can turn it on and off like a faucet or light switch) – only time will tell though – but we need a more serious lineup/focus/formation/strategy/game plan as most/all
Haven’t worked based on our current crop and what we’ve shown. We all know kramaric can’t play up top alone and we have no aerial hold Up presence like mandzo and our D is highly Questionable – our mid is always good/great ok fine and wingers also but D and Forwards are suspect! I hope we at least make quarters of euro But anything can happen as whoever is in form at the moment as we know will progress but I don’t count on making a big run. I seriously hope I’m wrong though !
@Maminjo-I’ll try to quantify how bad that team was.
1) In Switzerland’s must win game today they only started 4 of the players that started against us.
4/11=~36%
If I recall from my grade school days 36% was failing. Like a grade “e”, but I called them their “C” team to be kind.
2) In Switzerland’s must win game vs Spain, only 2 of their 5 subs were players that started against us. So we wern’t exactly playing their 2nd best options either.
Bottomline: We weren’t playing their A or B team, and they pretty much beat us up in the first half. Thanks to some good saves by Livakovic, and a left footed full volley to their goalie’s near side; we were able to conjure up a tie in that first half.
This is not good soccer.
Gotta love Modric. When he came on for those last few meaningless minutes, he showed EVERYBODY how to hustle and press.
https://www.pornhub.com/video/search?search=swedish+blonde+big+tits
Budimir breakthrough tomorrow??
His game meshes better with our pressing strategy.
He also seems to be strong in the air which we could use to both defend and attack set pieces.
Let him go at Sweden from the start and get in Petković when he tires.
With no Rebić we need to fill in that physicality.
Was it such a terrible Swiss lineup?
The had more of their ‘A’ players in their lineup than we did, no?
Granit, Mehmedi, Sow, Rodriguez all started, and Gavranovic regularly plays for them too. Seferovic and Shaqiri would be the only ones who didn’t play that could make an impact.
BZ I agree with you 100% on Krama and pretty much stated the same thing a while back but a certain man or was it a mam…Injo said I was wrong.
If an impartial soccer fan watched the last dozen games of Krama in the national team vs Hoffenheim it’s rather obvious he’s not giving the same effort for us as he is for Hoffenheim it’s painfully obvious for anyone to see…for most of us anyhow ?
Now you have these Supposed injuries which are following a Rakitić trend ….healthy for club …sudden injuries popping up out of nowhere for country when it’s not a World Cup or euro game.
TUSO-I agree, Petko wasn’t bad. In fact, I think he played better than Budimir.
He started the Brekalo goal with great link up play. His forte.
He did a great job in the air to try to help us gain possession, something Kramaric can’t do (huge liability.)
Wasn’t Petko’s best performance, and it was vs a terrible Swiss team. However, when he plays with talented players like Rebic, Perisic, and Vlasic, all his good qualities are exemplified.
Krama starting a disturbing trend of not showing up for our NT due to minor injuries. If this were Rakitic etc, guys on this forum would be questioning his desire. Sooooo I’ll do it…
I question Kramaric’s desire. Guy is in his prime of his career, and has a chance to avenge his pathetic performances vs Portugal and France…this injury better be serious.
@ Pero Pizdolizac
I’m really puzzled by Vrsajko’s medical treatment. I have to think who his surgeons are…Stoko and Magarac??
He had another arthroscopic procedure to remove scar tissue induced from TWO previous arthroscopic operations. Just sounds a little fishy to me…well in other words they F%&k’d up and to do a surgical revision. Jeez couldn’t they get it right the first time????
@ GAD
I think the CF position really comes down to Budimir or Petkovic. And both bring different attributes: Petko being more creative and better in link up. While Budimir being more gritty and works harder. Two different styles of play but both can score!
Who should play really depends on what tactics Dalic is trying to implement. And Kramaric said so himself he is not a CF–and never will be! So IF Krama plays the formation has to suit him.
Krama injured.
He’s out for our Nations League games now.
Looks like it’s Petkovic and Budimir.
People shit on Petkovic but he scored vs portugal as soon as he came in
Vs swiss he got fouled like 6 times hard. He played good and hes not 100 percent fit. Budimir guys 30 years old late bloomer but remeber prso also late bloomer msybe he can stay eam we need cfs.
Livakovic is terrbile with the ball needs to practice alot on that psrt of his game
Anyway, Dalić will decide what to do for tomorrow, and we hope for a more impressive win. The Swiss team that started wasn’t so bad, but the one we came back against was pretty weak, I agree.
Petkovic played great last year, I agree. He’s a great finisher, but he loses the ball a lot and doesn’t track back to recover it. Regardless of what team Budimir plays FOR, he plays AGAINST arguably the best competition in Europe. That’s my point. He was scoring goals for a terrible team playing against some of the best defenses in Europe. Petkovic played on a decent team competing against a majority of weak opponents.
@TGAD- Budimir jumps Petkovic?
Petko got us to the dance in spectacular fashion last year.
Budimir played ok vs a shitty version of the Swiss team, with the benefit of having Brozo, and later Modric and Perisic. Not exactly a performance worthy of supplanting anybody
Can you really say Budimir still plays in LaLiga? He actually led his team into relegation last year. Luckily for him, he got loaned out to Osasuna the other day. We’ll see if he can get any meaningful minutes in LaLiga this year.
Petkovic’s Dinamo would have destroyed Budimir’s Mallorca, and may even be better than Osasuna.
Just watched the Swiss match. Our B- team vs the Swiss C team.
Overall, until Modric and Perisic came on, I think we looked like shit vs such crappy competition.
a) Agree w Maminjo, a missed opportunity to play Bradaric at LB. Sure he had an assist, but have no idea why the announcer was smitten with Bradaric at LW (the bromance was comical.) Bradaric’s best contributions were two solid crosses coming from positions he would be sending them in from LB, so that was a good sign (I know Maminjo was happy.)
b) Agree with Slavonac and others, Melnjak had a good game. His passes, were abnormally good this game. He also stepped up and intercepted the ball well. That said, IMO, he is nothing more than a stop gap, at best.
c) Overall, we won, but it was ugly against the Swiss C team. Livakovic made some decent saves, that saved us from another NT embarassment.
The swiss found holes and vs any decent team (including the Swiss’ normal first team) we would have gotten trounced.
d) Soul, no Robo Rog is not back. Guy is still not anywhere near starting material, if we expect to compete at a high level.
e) Maminjo, I can see how you rate Pasalic MOTM, as he did contribute to both goals. My MOTM was Livakovic, even though his dismal passing was on full display. Just a bad game to evaluate anybody, cause the competition was so weak.
@Razbijač – Budimir slotted in perfectly. He plays club football in what I think is the best league. He jumps Petković in the order, if you ask me. Kramarić still should start, with Budimir as his direct sub.
@Stipe
Sorry but your Serbs will lose to Croatia if you bums can get past Scotland the brave. William Wallace once killed 50 men, 50!
Scotland is who the Croats don’t want none of.
We don’t have Super Joe this time……Legenda
I said this in the previous post.
I don’t want Serbia to qualify. We shouldn’t minimize their players. Idk what’s going on in Serbia but they have players.
Their man focus will be playing against us. If they take away points against England or Czech Republic?
We don’t play well as the favorites. In their point of view, if they cockblock us from advancing into the next round. They win and we lose.
In my opinion they have one up on us. They took care of business in Maksimir in 2000. Coming back to tie it after a Boksic goal, with the same set up. They played better with 10 men. That was a meaningful game. Yea we won 2013 and tied them in Belgrade. But they got the one on us. I know we didn’t take advantage of Macedonia in 2000. But they knocked us out of getting into euros.
Anyone who thinks we are going to “walk over Serbia” I don’ understand. They don’t have bums.
Whatever you guys want to say about me that’s fine. But we have way more to lose then they do.
Someone needs to provide Vrsaljko with some better medical advice than what he seems to be getting from carpenters, er, surgeons. Removing scar tissue surgically= more scar tissue. The man needs to stop going under the knife and rehabilitate correctly.
Could Budimir replace Petkovic
And how about Ante Budimir??? He brought some much needed grit in attack. He had an excellent work rate, won his duels, and set up a goal.
IF ANYONE is gonna rekindle the spirit of Mario Mandzukic–it’s that man Budimir!
Really unfortunate with what is going on with Vrsajko. He had surgery in 2019, then another in Spring 2020, and NOW another in Fall 2020!
He’s been in injury HELL. The latest procedure was an arthroscopic one. We are missing out on seeing Vrsajko in his prime years. We caught a glimpse of his prime in WC 2018.
The question now is..will he ever be the same????
Majer looks to be the goods
Hope he continues to improve
Maminjo, I haven’t been on the site in some time. I was having fun with the thought of the scott. Lol
Anyone catch that U21 beat down of San Marino. Majer had a sick laser from like 25 yards out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCuN8XAx29I&ab_channel=HrvatskaNogometnaTelevizija
Re Vrsaljko surgery, removing scar tissue isn’t so bad so hopefully he is able to rehab himself back to playing in a couple of months.
Really bad news since Sutalo is not even on the Champions League list for Atalanta.
Uremovic and Jedvaj are decent players but not great attacking players. Imo Melnjak is more of a threat at this point.
Tough decisions ahead for Dalic. I think you give Uremovic a couple more chances and hope Vrsaljko comes back. Otherwise, maybe switch to a back 3 and put Perisic as RWB. Could be a blessing in disguise.
@Dannyj
Yea, he’s out for 4 months!
He may not be fit for the Euros. Damn.
You don’t eat Dogs man. Only Undermench do.
Dogs are part of our European culture and
Are our beloved friends. Fuck anyone who does
That to them. ZDS!
Apparently Vrsaljko out with another surgery on knee?
His career has to be coming to an end
Terrible news for him and us
Any quality young talent that could take over that right side?
Perisic to retire as rb;)
I dont know how anyone can be into that Turbo Serbo shit. Listen to Thompson or learn some Ganga.
If you need to listen to gay dance music, the rest of Europe offers an abundance of that crap.
Guys, the dude is not a Scot.
It’s just that same troll posing as Scottish Man this time, lol.
Frenchman, Scottish Man, German, etc.
Medo, lets be fair they play in womens clothes.
Slavonac, I agree brother!
This fucker thinks he is going to watch brave heart.
Scottish man, lol…you guys are genetically weaker people. Don’t get your mini dress creased…fucking physically strong Scotsman….they excel at combat sports lol. Get the fuck out of here you homo. The Irish are tough!
Come on, Slavonac!
Get with the times. Bratstvo i Jedinstvo, bro!
I have no clue why this article was posted? Why the focus on Serbia at all????
I prefer that we are the only country from the region to qualify and do well on the world stage. That being said, if we get our shit together for the Euros, we should destroy either Scotland or serbs.
Why does this Serb waiter keep
Coming here. No Serbs No problems
Davno bila 91a! This is new era all in croatiantunes of serbs come and party and in belgrade. CAJKE are number one choice of music by croats. So its not as the diaspora think of anymore blood rivalry justva game thats how Young Croats look at it here. A little more personal for Bojna Minchen. War kids and war vets. In the end its just a game
https://www.bjpenn.com/mma-news/ufc/ben-rothwell-says-he-was-ripped-to-shreds-for-his-support-of-black-lives-matter/
I find it hard to believe a Scotsman would be that foolish to try and come here and compare athletes?
I mean I googled Scotland’s most prestigious athlete and Sean Connery Popped up!
Croats love rodent.
I luvva da pussy
Choosing between pussy and a mouse
I know what I would go got
Is this the same Anonymous here who has a constant hard-on for white Croatian men? Just wanna make sure I got the right guy.
https://www.dalmatia.hr/blog/dalmatias-unusual-festival-puhijada-edible-dormouse/
Only the communists in Dalmatia eat rodents. Real Croats would never eat rats.
Dalmatia=China, very soon Dalmatinci will start eating dog, maybe even balut.
@Poglavnik
You seem like the type that would eat snake not pussy, you should try that rodent as well you’ll love it.
I ate some pussy on the island of Brac.
I don’t think the Serbs have changed anything
Why would they
They have gotten away with things since princip shot the archduke and have been rewarded ever since
As starcevic said there will come a time when debts will be settled and not only from the Croatian end of the table
@Poglavnik
Have you ever eaten a dormouse on the island of Brac?
Scotland and athletics?! Sure buddy..
Stick to haggis, scotch and ugly women.
Serbia don’t know what to do at tournaments. They either don’t qualify or when they do get outright embarrassed with a lopsided victory and just collapse. Would love to get another shot at them!
If your Serbian “friends” want to give you shit about beating your team in Sport you just got tell ’em, “why you trying to give me shit about the result, give shit to the Croatian players, I wasn’t playing, if I was I would’ve did a Billy Cole minus the shooting myself, because I’d want to admire my handiwork.”
Lol, Croats scared of getting the Serbs when you should prefer them to Scotland.
I’d love to play the physically weak Croats because I always find that you can’t match the physicality of the Scot, for that reason you guys should prefer the Serbs.
Is that Serbian flag the same one the cetniks fought under during wwii?
I know that Croats have been subjected to communist power and were forced to change theirs, but I’m not sure if that Serb flag is the same one that cetniks fought under during wwii, anyone know?
The sooner we try out a back line of Bradarić, Ćaleta-Car, Pongrag, Vrsaljko the better.
Bradarić is essentially a Vrsaljko clone on that left side. We’d have two quality fullbacks playing at the same time for the first time in 100 years.
Ćaleta-Car is skilled and a threat offensively with his headers and his long passes. Pongračić is supposed to be similar player, but faster.
It looks as though we’ll have at least three out of four starting after Bradarić’s display this last game. Just gotta hope Pongračić recovers from mono and get to full fitness asap.
We go to major tournaments to win them these days.
Serbia will get our consistent best with an extra Oluja.
Scotland needs a reckoning as well.
Serbia has quality but they are predictable in the middle.
Norway has more scrubs then I can count.
England will need another lesson with a fresh and deep squad.
Czech is a scrimmage.
This version of our beloved Vatreni has legs.
Modrić and Perišić are athletic professionals who will be ready.
Brekalo – Vlašić – Bradaric all want to make a name for themselves.
We just need set piece defensive training.
The only way Serbia and England can score on us is via set pieces.
This is where I like a bigger more dominate goal keeper.
Čaleta Car has to start going forward.
You need at least one CB with good size.
The other one can be Vida or Lovren or Pongracic.
Smaller and more athletic.
If Serbia can’t beat Scotland in Belgrade than they should just stick to Basketball.
Croatia at their absolute worst would draw against Serbia lol.
You guys need to relax.
Yeah im the same as Aussie Croat, obviously it would be great to beat them (again) but imagine if we lose. And you know what they are like, remember the 2013 game in belgrade and how they strangled and stifled us the whole game despite us being a much better team? They will play absolutely psychotically and above themselves just cos its us and be dangerous. It definitely wouldnt be a cakewalk, so i think overall i would prefer them to lose to Scots (as we have so often done lol)
But our record against the scots are terrible too so the arguments don’t stack up
Just scared that’s all
So we either get the Serbs, or we play Scotland in their home stadium (not to mention England in theirs). Historical parallels – 1998 Croatia gets third place in the World Cup and two years later, the Serbs beat them out of qualification for Euro 2000. 2018 Croatia gets second in the World Cup and two years later (three really) they play Serbia (not in the last qualifier but in the last Euro group game). Obviously Croatia is much better, but we all know they play worse against lesser teams (even in the 2018 World Cup, their worst games were against Denmark and Russia – I don’t count the Iceland game due to backups playing). Hopefully, Croatia get at least a point against England and beat the Czechs. Then they would be pretty much assured of a second round match going into the last game.
Who wants chetniks in the firing line
I do bring it on like donkey kong
Would be a shame to have no fans for that one.
Part of me wants them in our group so we can pulverise them and part of me don’t want to deal with the shit that would go down IF we were to lose to them.
We are better. MUCH better. But on our day, we can stink it up too.