Andrej Kramarić remains on fire! Even for the Vatreni. Krama was originally listed as unavailable for the Sweden match due to a knock he picked up for Hoffenheim before the international break. Apparently that was not true as he came into the match in the 75th and scored the game winner nine minutes later off a Swedish defensive lapse.
The Vatreni controlled the entire first half in the Zagreb rain, controlling ball possession and chances. The Swedes did not have one solid chance on goal. In the 32nd minute, a beautiful Perišić to Brekalo to Vlašić build up led to Croatia’s opener. The Vatreni would go into halftime with the lead but would not start the 2nd half with the same energy as the first. Sweden opened up and applied the pressure, which caused their eventual equalizer to drop. The entire Croatian defense stopped – thinking the play was offside – and the Swedish offense basically walked the ball into the net. Why the Vatreni stopped? No idea. The build up wasn’t close to being offside.
Croatia would regroup – and with the game looking to end 1-1 – Kramarić would score the winner off a Swedish lapse. Perišić tracked down the ball with the defender losing it after the bounce, picked it up deep in the box, and dished it off to Krama for a wide open shot. Krama got to his spot and Croatia win 2-1.
Although Croatia picked up all three points, the second half was ugly and there’s a lot to improve on. However, it’s great to see the younger generation putting their mark on competitive games.
Croatia vs. France from Maksimir on Wednesday.
Match Highlights
Zlatko Dalić is going with an offensively powered lineup vs. Sweden which includes Vlašić, Brekalo, Kovačić alongside Modrić and Perišić in lieu of striker Bruno Petković, who struggled vs. Switzerland last week. Dejan Lovren gets back into the starting XI with Ćaleta-Car getting the start over Vida. Melnjak and Uremović start as defensives backs and Brozović slides in at his defensive midfielder duties. Expect some goals today from this Croatian offense!
Croatia and Sweden kickoff their third match of UEFA Nations League Sunday from Maksimir in Zagreb at Noon (ET). The match can be streamed on ESPN+.
Both sides lost to Portugal and France in September, so whoever comes out with three points on Sunday will have firm control of third place and not being relegated next tournament. In essence, this is a must-win game for Croatia as they are playing the weakest team in the group at home. Although UEFA Nations League is nowhere near as prestigious as the World Cup or Euros – and I mean not even close – Croatia must always be playing in the top league against Europe’s best competition. The Vatreni will need to win this game to keep their momentum going in the right direction heading into the France game Wednesday.
Prediction: 2-1 Croatia
Croatia are -115 favorites to take all three points against Sweden with Luka Modrić returning to the starting lineup after taking September off from international duty. Ivan Perišić, Marcelo Brozović, and Josip Brekalo are expected to join Modrić in the midfield with Ante Rebić out with an elbow injury. Andrej Kramarić has been ruled out for both matches this week as he picked up a small injury in Hoffenheim’s last match before the international break.
Bruno Petković is expected to start up top after a rough game against Switzerland on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see if Dalić throws Domagoj Bradarić in the game as he had a wonderful debut against the Swiss. Vida is expected to start at center-back but will it be alongside Lovren or Ćaleta-Car?
Petkovic is getting better than Srna at diving,it’s getting embarrassing.
Nevjerovatno, Hrvatska agresoru isplatila milijune kuna ratne odštete.
The good thing about Dalic is that he’s been taking advantage of our physical strength.
Guys like Rebic, Perisic, Vlasic, and Petkovic would be unfazed by Scotland’s physical style of play.
Gone are the days of the Dario Srna flop-fest.
I@maminjo – good points and hope ur right as there physical style of play knocking us out of rhythm as they aren’t nearly as technically gifted – has stumped us but definitely hope we turn the tides on results vs them
@Ricard,
Yea, he doesn’t have the height and gangly body type that most goalkeepers possess.
But he does have great reflexes.
The high balls and his clearances are not great though.
I’m kind of hoping some of our other young keepers develop quickly, like Ivo Grbic, Adrian Semper, or that Chelsea U23 kid (Karlo Ziger).
I’m not completely sold on Livakovic as our keeper for the next 5-8 years.
He’s our keeper for these Euros and likely WC2024, but I really would like to see some more depth there since Lovre Kalinic is done and guys like Letica, Sluga and Posavec seem to be frauds.
@Anonymous
You can’t compare the two.
Croatia’s Scotland is definitely not Italy’s Croatia.
Croatia beat Italy in a World Cup match. Croatia beat Italy (in Italy) in a key qualifier during Italy’s heyday in ’94. The multiple draws that Italy achieved were lucky not to be losses (Euro2012 and Euro2016 qualifiers). Larger sample with higher stakes, and Italy being in peak form.
Scotland beat Croatia twice, when Croatia had their biggest winless streak in their history, with their worst coach in history, with players almost getting into a fistfight on the field.
The two games were in that same qualifying cycle and winless streak (and the second game did not matter anyway, as Croatia was already through to the playoff).
When Scotland beats Croatia when they are not going through their largest turmoil situation in their history (and actually during a high stakes game that matters) then we can talk.
Lots of Croats were saying the exact same thing when we drew Ireland in Euro2012…
Saying things like how Ireland has our number (because of a couple of games)…
We easily beat them 3-1 and everyone shut up after that.
The same thing would happen to Scotland at the upcoming Euros.
Livakovic is 6 1 186 i mean usually but he has reflexes and barthez was 1.78 i think
With Vlašić emerging as our #10 who can explode in the final third and Kramaric finishing everything I see Kovačić able to play his role in peace.
I am more interested in the upgrades from other areas.
Čaleta Car has stepped up.
Bradaric is the goods.
Brekalo is learning how to compete on this level.
Livakovic looked lively but he is small?
Well scots are our crne macke in qualifying and friendly history wc 2002 2 draws 2014 2 losses 2 friendlies 1 draws. Hehe
Vs France i can see Dalic mix it
Livakovic Uremovic Lovren Caleta Car Barisic Badelj Modric Brekalo Vlasic Bradaric Budimir/Petkovic. I
Stimac was obviously one of our worst coaches of all time but that doesn’t excuse the fact we lost twice to em and stimac didn’t play the game and we had superior talent to them individually but as we know it’s a team sport and I remember those games and the scots got lucky but our quality shoulda proved better but still lost regardless of bonehead stimac formation- when it comes down to it they did they’re job and we didn’t 11v11…all I gotta seat about Igor in one of top 5 worst games( maybe 10 ) I seen NT play was that ugly friendly while
In split when he started the GOAT – Mario Maloča lOL
@ maminjo they’ve had our number in the sense we have Italy’s as they Italians haven’t beaten us and we haven’t beaten the scots. So they do have our number the far in the sense we have no wins against them but draws and losses. As sinstated at the end of my paragraph that with a team we’ve had for past 4 years or so i have no doubt we could easily beat them.
Scotland doesn’t have our number.
We lost to them twice during WC2014 qualifying when we were imploding with Štimac and went winless in four games (losing to Belgium and drawing Serbia too).
Štimac lost the team and there were internal issues (and Lovren and Strinić got into a fight during the Scotland game). Either way, we still qualified as we had a huge lead on Serbia and Scotland in points.
The only other time we played Scotland in a competitive match was at 2002 WC qualifying, and we drew them twice (eliminating them from qualifying there too).
If we played Scotland in a tournament, we’d beat them 3-0.
we do have a pitbull on our team, and his name is Marko Rog
@Oluja
Remember that little dance he did with the
Loser symbol on his forehead??
He should have been carded for that totally unacceptable behavior in the World Cup. No he’s the loser the cheating weasel. I wish we had a guy likes Zlatan
Who would have judo chop his throat and a pitch or a super Joe
Who would break his ankle. I wish nothing but the worst for the jerk
Just rewatched the highlights and my first instinct was right Forsburg makes a play for the ball on Sweden’s goal even though he was well offside takes two steps towards the ball be before being called of by an on side player my understanding of off side rule is that should be offside as one does not have too touch the ball only make an attempt too play the ball which he most certainly did Sweden got away with one there.
Mods-** mids- lay off the thanksgiving sjlivovica I should lol – definitely bench player but a strong one which shows our strength in subs other just starting 11. When I went to euro 08 I thought that was such a strong team the way we tore through qualifying and even group and imagine we had Eduardo no doubt we’d be champions but this crop has way better depth – unfortunately many teams have improved in that area also and 07 was a golden chance woulda loved to play Spain – Germany was overrated and had some holes like Swiss cheese
@ Zds lifestyle – lOL agreed but he’s different player then what was expected of him and people need to realize that as what would champ is getting at and a lot of people see. Currently he doesn’t even fit in for cm or even cdm so definitely see ur point – many mods we do have as our ultimate strength but ur form next June is all that matters and who should be playing
Toma Basič will be our new defensive mid moving forward. Dump Kova to the bench for good.
Let’s go for the jugular on these Coon all star frogs !! I want a win no matter how pointless being nations league against them – I believe Scotland and Brazil, Portugal and France only decent big nation teams we haven’t beat (Scotland surprising but those haggis fuckers have had our number strangely enough) although I’d love to play them now with a great quality in numbers of our current crop
Kova is the GOAT at one time pass backs. That is all he really does. He is way too small and weak to be a good defensive mid. Use him as a late minute sub……that’s it.
He ain’t vlasic and Brekalo and people need to understand that – like years ago everyone (especially early Tottenham days when Luka was really breaking out ) ((why wouldn’t he score and such those chirpers and press would say, only a few goals blah blah blah – fuckin English so ignorant )) now u see the refugee turn ballon d’or winner you meat pie eating chirper fucks !!
Za Dom Spremni
@sould champ – agreed and point well proven – his lack of offensive shooting and attacking has been like a scapegoat on em- per page that Iceland slalom run that set up srna WC 14 qualifying set a standard that everyone thought he shoulda carry from years on in but we need him in more of cm role helping out brozo and such – Madrid when they did use him, he played well and in similar position as u mention
@ Oluja – lOL couldn’t put it better – I’d Kobra Kai that piece of shit if I ever seen him in real life – Fuxkin overrated we need a Martin Taylor chirper cunt tackle like he did on Du du
I am calling BS on all the extra Kovačić bashing.
He subbed out and Forsberg dominated.
Kovačić has not been in sync for us offensively yes, but defensively he provides a lot of ball hawking and man marking.
And he can at least bring the ball through the middle of the pitch.
Final third takes next level confidence which he has lost years ago and yet to recapture.
With Brozovic out next match, we will need him for depth.
Also Luka Modrić Is STILL our best player AND Kovačić compliments him well.
So he is not the next Luka but he keeps our current one going forward.
I noticed Modrić manning the back once Forsberg took over in the space that Kovačić left when he subbed off.
Classic Croatian complex focusing on everything Kovačić is not.
Yes he is not Luka legend nor world class Brozovic.
But he is a quality #8 that provides depth in the middle.
We will need him against France.
As we build out other areas of our squad we need to continue to dominate the middle with all the players we have available.
Kovačić needs to let go expectations and compete and play his game and he will he added value to us.
Someone, anyone PLEASE break Greizzman’s leg. His dive leading to the first goal against us in the WC final…and gayye dance after the ridiculous penalty deserves a bone crunching tackle. Wait until later in the game and depending on the score…if we are winning/losing big, then go for it in the 60th minute. Hate that pos.
I’m close to bailing on Kovacic.Him at right back might not be a bad idea.
Gives him more space to operate as long as he’s solid defensivel.honestly where else can he play.
Mats time is running out.
Well Dalić never really relied on Kovačić before.
He didn’t play him much at the World Cup or in our Euro qualifiers. Vlašić played a bigger role than Kova in the qualifiers.
It might be true that he’s giving him every opportunity now, just so he can justify benching him for the Euros.
When Rebić comes back, it’s going to be hard to justify benching Brekalo, Petković and other more effective players while having Kovačić out there.
What is it about Kovacic that keeps him in the starting line up no matter how ineffective he plays? He looks timid when playing out there, like he’s scared to try making anything happen. There’s no creativity in what he does any more, if there ever was in the first place.
It reminds me of how Danijel Pranjic kept getting starts for us 10 years back, no matter how badly he played. Is the Kova thing actually due to something else, as I can’t believe Dalic would still keep starting him after his performance in the last few matches?
Luka is very close to Kovacic, and Dalic has always turned to the senior senator players for their views when trying out strategy and line ups. Is this actually down to Luka wanting his pal Kova to start so he gets every chance to take over when Modric finally retires?
Kova was dreadful. At this point, even he knows he doesn’t mesh, and the pressure is making his performances progressively worse.
Dalic is one stubborn Croat:
a)Trying to disgrace Petko AFTER Petko saved his ass in qualifying.
b) trying to fit Kovacic, when it is clear he doesn’t produce good results. Dalic even had Modric play back, and pushed Kova up at one point. At some point stubborn turns into stupid, and I think we already reached that point.
@Maminjo-I guess Kovacic is not a mudder. Kova plays in relatively rainy England, you’d think he’d know how to stand up on a slick surface. It’s not like he plays in bone dry LA or San Jose in the summer.
It was hard to gauge Kovacic. He was on the ground half the time, lol.
It’s funny because you can’t blame Kovacic and Lovren for falling around on the ground at critical times (due to the rain)…but why wasn’t anyone else falling down?
Somehow I am not surprised that it’s these two that couldn’t figure out how to run and stop in terrible conditions without wiping out.
One thing is Modric is so sickly good it’s unreal. Engine is running perfectly!
Stream**
UEFA dream worked fine in Canada
The UEFA app doesnt work without paying in every country, does it?
Nice win against a tough defensive team Kovacic was not nearly as bad you guys are saying. Hand ball by lovren yes penalty no he is falling on the ground and almost deflected it into his own net. The goal we gave up was a shame pass was to a player offside but once he did not play it and our players turned off they where able too walk it in one of the flaws of the new offside rule is you can pass too offside player as long as he does not make a play on it many teams get fooled by that type of play and give up a goal.
Every single goal scored by the Vatreni this tournament looked like a goal scored against a beer league club.
Is the defence that bad? Or are more defensive midfielders needed? Or both? Wtf?
Barisic, Lovren, Vida, Jedvaj
has now become…
Bradaric, Caleta-Car, Vida, Uremovic
hopefully by the next tournament we can get it closer to…
Bradaric, Caleta-Car, Pongracic, Vrsaljko
When Krama took his first shot (that one that missed the net) he looked over at Perisic and was like “What?”.
Perisic was open on the wing and probably said something to him, lol.
But Krama was right to take that shot. It was a good chance. No need to pass it off to the wing when you have a chance like that.
What we learned today is what many have already said.
Bradaric starts at LB. His speed and attacking ability will be a nice addition.
Kovacic needs to sit. I think Dalic is trying to give him
every opportunity in the world but we just won’t make use of them.
Krama and Perisic are best friends. Said no one ever…loved the look on Perisic when Krama came over after the goal….he better get used to it though because Dalic tinkered with the lineup for Krama’s benefit to fit his game. Would have been nice to see him play from the start but being hurt probably forced Dalic to amend this formation to play with no striker.
Any way you cut it a win is a win. The game against France will be interesting with no Brozo…that will hurt us considerably.
I think we beat France …out of the box thinking KOVA at right back…we have depth and talent at the midfield position. Mateo is too talented to rot on the bench even though he’s shit the bed at midfield for us.
His defense has improved dramatically at Chelsea and I don’t see many forwards blowing by him like they did Melnjak today.
Throw in his over lapping runs taking on defenders and I think it would work.
His crosses are the only thing that would worry me but I really think this would work because it’s obvious by now he’s just not meshing at mid for us.
It would have been nice to have called up some more defensive minded midfielders like Toma Basic, Nikola Moro or Kristijan Bistrovic.
Now that Brozo got that yellow, we only have Modric and Badelj capable of playing back there.
I’m kinda sick of Badelj, and I definitely do not want to see more Kovacic in the pivot. I’m intrigued by the fact that Basic has been on the French League ‘team of the week’ for two rounds now. We probably should have called him up and tested him in the Swiss game. I’d bet he would have played well against France. Oh well, missed opportunity.
We can beat France if we take out the obvious weak links.
France and Portugal tie at zeros. Honestly those guys still need to travel to Zagreb! Don’t count us out yet. Let’s how Wednesday goes!
Anyway Karl Marx was a racist.
Anthofer is actually fighting for the right race
You envision a system where whites are on top and a night races Toil for their benefit. Good luck with that you just cannot convince enough white people to go along with the system many of them have them with friends or even family members and you’re asking them to basically enslaved them that’s not going to happen your best bet is to destroy the system capitalism remember the eastern bloc remember when the Wolfel was all white people streaming across nobody wanted to migrate to those countries because of communism thus it kept those countries white. Western Europe was built and low income or slave just like America, However in America it wasn’t the blacks who built America who is the millions of eastern and southern Europeans who came they are the ones who built America.
The pussy answer to “When will Croatia be ready for immigration” is: “Duhh, croatia economy no good, why would blackie want to immigrate there?”
The REAL answer is: Why SHOULD Croatia be ready for immigration? Do you ask that of ANY non-white country?
Croatia is for White people. Now stick that down your fucking throat antiWhite.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh look, retard decided to chime in. Look at what he said, however incoherently, in plain English: “Whites must become third world to exist in the future”.
It never occurs to these retards that Whites have a right to exist. PERIOD.
The only way to save the white racist is the destroy capitalism capitalism is what is driving all of this with communism everything will go to shit and we won’t have any more migration into white countries think about it
@Oluja, there’s a painting by Nicolas Trudgian portraying a picturesque little German rural town in the 1940s, paved roads, clean, quite, safe, “soft” – not “hard”, ie. poor, dirty, ugly, crime-ridden.
But there’s one problem with the “soft” moniker, above flies Me262 jets, the FIRST jets on earth. When Whites do something, it’s never “the first White”, it’s the first HUMAN.
@Oluja, there’s white french dipsticks waiving the french flag cheering on their colonial knee grows. Their loyalty is to a flag. If you can see more than two feet in front of your face, you can see that that is a dying world.
People who use the word “love” to justify destroying ONE particular race REALLY REALLY REALLY deserve a severe beating.
Bradarić has the same body Perišić (same height and athleticism)… as well as the speed and technique.
He should be able to deal with Mbappe.
They both play in the French league, so I’m sure he has experience with Mbappe already.
If Melnjak starts, we’ll concede at least two goals on that left side.
Kovacic useless again. Looked like he was wearing ice skates today.
Id like to see Perisic playing deeper against France. He’s got the speed strength and guile to hang with MmmBop.
I just really question Dalic. His constant change in starting lineups and formations seem questionable. When we got the second goal he should have put Badelj in and not Petkovic.
Perisic and Kramaric are going to become best pals pretty soon, it looks like, once the ball starts hitting the back of the net.
New formation, new players, a lot of change happening. It’s a good sign that Dalic’s substitutions led to a win. Say what you want about him, but he has recovered winning form after embarrassing losses in Nations League twice now. I hope he’s only giving Kovacic an extra long look so that he has every argument to justify benching his Premier League ego going forward. Pasalic, Vlasic, and Rog are clearly more effective in the same position. Maybe Badelj got solid playing time against Switzerland just to prep for the inevitable need to slot in. It’s going to be him or Rog for Brozovic.
Melnjak got used and abused on the left second half. And Uremovic can’t cross to save his life. Brekalo also was very quiet. Luke was pure class (as usual). And Perisic class as well and a beauty run to set up the winning goal.
As for Kova, garbage yellow by the ref right away…f’ing Scot shouldn’t be reffing. BUt after that Kova was crap (again).
Bottom line will take the win and lets just see what happens vs “France”. Mbappe is going to run wild vs Bradaric/Melnjak. But no matter what, I hope someone snaps that POS Greizzmann in two. Such a cheating, diving ;litle k.unt.
Nice win. Swedes are a b.itch to play against. Important 3 points so we don’t finish last in group and stay in group A. Now onto “France” with their like 2 “real” French players…
Vida reached his peak he should still get called but as staring 11 need to start building for 2022 world cup.
I like the prospects coming up too just need to put it all together.
Marin Pongracic looks good. You still have Benkovic Katic Gvardiol is a good cb for ball control. Sutalo peric. We are pretty ok at the back
Need to steal Raguz for striker Replacing Boban i remember thr talk when he retired nikad necemo novog Bobana naci well 6 y years later modric took the field.
So one day someone will replace Modric
Marin Pongracic is supposed to be an equally good longball passer.
I’m very interested in seeing a Caleta-Car/Pongracic partnership.
Imagine both those guys sending forward longballs, with Bradaric and Vrsaljko running up the flanks. Amazing back four.
We could have had that established by now had Marin not caught that stupid virus.
Nice prediction Ante.
Whats the score gonna be Wednesday? 😉
Caleta-Car’s passing is nice.
Haven’t seen quality range like that since Charlie. Lovren has moments (insert joke) with long balls too.
Good win considering the terrible weather and the few kind of obvious mistakes Dalic made in the starting eleven.
Kovacic can’t start anymore. He made a lot of mistakes this game and it took way too long to sub him out.
He’s been mediocre to poor for four straight games now. Can’t keep hoping for different results.
I hate picking on Melnjak, but the dude cannot start.
The moment Bradaric came on, you saw the difference. Kulusevski could not get past Bradaric, and he could not take the ball off Bradaric. Bradaric is better both on offense and defense.
Also, we need to start moving away from Lovren.
Too many mistakes.
Caleta-Car, Bradaric and Uremovic are VERY good defensively. Lovren still makes his mistakes, and Melnjak isn’t a defender (I see him more as a winger).
The good news about this game is that I think it pretty much guarantees that we have Caleta-Car and Bradaric start moving forward.
The Lovren/Vida partnership should be over.
Also, it ensures that Uremovic can be that stop-gap at RB for us instead of experimenting there some more (until Vrsaljko can come back).
Trying this different formation was a good sign too. It shows that Dalic is trying to do something different than the usual 4-2-3-1 formation. The fact that Krama scored will probably have him try this two forward lineup some more.
The bad news is that it seems as though Dalic is really trying to get Kovacic going or something. Not sure, but he seems to have a lot of faith in him despite the poor results. He’ll probably start (and stink it up) in our remaining UNL games.
I think we go 4-2-2-2 in the game against France.
Modric will slot back where Brozovic was (who is suspended) and be joined by someone like Badelj (but Dalic might play Kovacic there).
I think Bradaric will start at LB, and Krama will be up top with his best pal Perisic. The other two are probably Vlasic and maybe Brekalo.
That’s 2 games in a row Duje has been sending those dangerous, pop up long balls. They are hard to defend. That is something Lovren and Vida have never provided. That is the good news…
The bad news…Dalic’s experiments are confusing and don’t seem to be leading to any resolution. Just some weird random shit, is he the Jackson Pollock of soccer coaches?
The lineup that scored the goal should be the starting lineup going forward. So much talent, strong physically, the ability to keep the ball, and the ability for any player to strike.
I hope dalic learns from this
BRADARIC IS LB
Never play without a striker again.
Kovacic isnt a starter.
Uremovic gets job done better than Jedvaj.
Lovren is a kikser love saying that hahah
Bradaric completely neutralized Kulusevski the second he came into the game.
We need to start this kid at LB and have him play 90 minutes every game.
This is why we need to favor our skilled CBs over our unskilled ones.
We didn’t deserve to score, but that beautiful longball pass by Caleta-Car (or was it Bradaric) is exactly what we’ve been missing these past few years.
Release the Kraken !!
This game is all Sweden now
Pasalic in for Kovacic. Bradaric in for Melnjak. Krama in for Brekalo.
Commentators even talking about how Kulusevski is too much for Melnjak.
Looks like we get to see Bradaric at LB now.
Kovacic out. Good sub.
Guy looks like he’s wearing tennis shoes out there.
Fell like 10 times this game.
If any country is in goal drought just schedule friendly with Croatia
Gotta make a sub here. It’s been 20 minutes of this now.
Not sure what’s taking so long.
Croatia cannot defend
That was terrible defending everyone
Why does Dalic have a surprised look on his face after that Swedish goal? lol
It was going to happen.
He should have made a change.
I can’t believe how terrible we have become from the World Cup final to nothing but shitty Matches. I understand it’s the nation league but come on
Lose lose Dalicu
Bradaric budimir deserve a chance
Kulusevski (Sweden’s best player) woke up this half and has been going at Melnjak.
Melnjak isn’t doing too bad, but he’s out of his league against a player like this.
We should sub in Bradaric there.
@Maminjo-but that would require Dalic to perform a good experiment, but until then we will have to settle for Bradaric at LW (literally our deepest position) type experiments.
Sweden has woke up second half change needed
That was a Lovren handball. Should have been a Swedish penalty.
Kulusevski is too big and strong for Melnjak. Just waltzed by him no problem.
The Great Anonymous Doom
He’s just so bad in the opponent’s third. Zero threat offensively.
Meljnak pliva no pun intended
This is why I don’t like Melnjak and Lovren.
Sweden should have equalized there.
Kovacic gets a chip near goal, tries to take it down. He’ll score the day he gets to dribble across the goal line.
The ref is terrible for bith sides
@BZ
Then just change the formation to accommodate.
We have too many filler players like Kovacic, Melnjak and Uremovic in this lineup to win against elite competition.
We need to incorporate players like Brekalo, Bradaric into the starting lineup in some formations.
Love the red socks
Yup, with Broz out vs France, it didn’t take long for Rakitic’s retirement to bite us in the ass (although Rakitic instead of Kova today would have been great too.)
Just to be clear, I like Brekalo, just not ahead of Rebic. Playing behind Rebic is no insult to ANYONE. There is a reason Milan was brilliant last half of last year, and in first place this year (they win even when Ibra injured.)
France game je nebitan Dalic knows france is better than us so he will play for a lucky win or x. If he knew broz was on a card why play him!?
Blessed art thou my brother, for joining the Church of Brekalo
Brekalo’s the truth!
Brekalo and Vlasic are gonna be the leaders of the new generation.
Kovacic fell like 5 times this half, lol.
I get that it’s raining and slippery, but WTF. Nobody else is falling like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5t939c7EY
Badelj should slot in for Brozovic. They play the same position and alternated in the Swiss friendly. Also, Badelj keeps things under control. Kovacic is not nearly the stabilizing force we need…
Ya shite about Broz
Wasn’t necessary at all
I just started watching the game
If anyone has a link to the goal would be great
@BZ
It was all part of the plan 😉
Brozovic out for the France game because of that yellow.
We really needed him for France.
I guess it’s Modric/Badelj or Modric/Kovacic in the pivot against France…or we go with just Modric (but I don’t know if that’s a good idea).
Maminjo-Lmao, true…But to be fair, you forget 3 people..and I was still mad Brekalo let the Swedes waltz upfield just before Modric’s brilliant play to spark the goal.
The UEFA app is awesome dudes.
Free, quick to download, great stream.
Kovacic is not having a great game here
You’re forgetting someone BZ 😉
Ahh, Modric with a brilliant pass to himself to start the break.
Perisic with the skill to get the cross off whenever he wants.
and Vlasic can tuck away that shot 100% of the time.
Brekalo again of course
How he managed to get that pass between several Swedes is great.
Vlasic!
Great build up….on a side note..is it me or is this ref horrible?
The conditions are nasty, we need to take advantage of the wind at our backs this first half.
Sunday funnies: Kova not having a good day. An early Yellow and an epic fail of a cross in a dangerous position.
Did you see that cross attempt? Uzas!
Appears the uefa.tv app will have the game live.
Keys to the game if this is the formation:
Perisic only target man for Livakovic’s pathetic long balls. Can Perisic get us possession, or can Liva finally make the proper passes to Brozo, Kova, and our backline, so we don’t need to send long balls all day.
Only good thing about Kova starting, is that Modric can play further up the field, in his WC 18 role as opposed to his role he played in our beatdowns of Hungary and Slovakia.
Hopefully Kova clicks, finally
Espn+ In the US.
@lika joey i agree with you i was reading his position as the 8misa is wrong he is a sestica 6 position so i dont know what dalic is doing we will see.
Kovacic should not be playing.
Livi uremovic lovren car melnjak kovacic modric broz vlasic brekalp perisic 11
Dalic is trying a 2012 spain formation lazna 9
Vlasic is playing as a striker?? 4 3 3.
Nova tv
how are people watching this match?
@ Maminjo
I saw that sastav, it makes me think he’s resting Caleta-Car and Bradaric for the France match. Given that the play in Ligue 1, it’s giving France a taste of their own medicine!
Anyway I think a subpar back line of Umerovic, Lovren, Vida, Meljnak is good enough to do the trick against Sweden.
So I guess Dalić is not ready to have Ćaleta-Car as the full time starter yet, lol.
Bradarić is not going to be playing his LB position with us either. Melnjak is actually our starting LB for now.
And Kovačić still gets to start despite showing us nothing.
I assume this is a diamond 4-4-2 with Kovačić on the right MF side, and Vlašić moves to the left side with Brozović in the pivot.
Would have been nice to see what Kramarić could have done in this two forward lineup.
We should still win this game with this lineup, but I don’t like a lot of these starters. I don’t think this works against better competition like France.
Sastav (according to Sportske)…
Livaković – Uremović, Lovren, Vida, Melnjak – Brozović – Kovačić, Vlašić – Modrić – Brekalo, Perišić
petkovic all the way. he’s the man
The way Dalic is putting players out of there natural position he might as well put perisic as striker as that wouldnt be the worst decision he’s made – we need a CF who can hold up play and wait for the calvery to arrive. Perisic is like Ronaldo in the air (not exactly that level) but I’d like to think his vertical is quite outstanding and he can finish – even Vlašić if we got the support – how about Vlašić slightly behind Kramarić in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2
It would be nice to win.
@Maminjo-contrary to your report, apparently Kramaric still might play. It seems Dalic left it up to Kramaric to decide if his injury (monthly cramps, I presume) is bad enough to sit v Sweden & France.