A much better performance from the Vatreni today compared to the Sweden match on Saturday. The boys looked determined not to lay up another goose egg, and it showed. Even though this was a friendly match for Portugal, as they could not top the group, they played their ‘Big 4’ of Ronaldo, Fernandes, Jota, and Felix against Croatia in Split.
Mateo Kovačić would score the opener off his own rebound and a wonderful equalizer off the post in the second half before an injury time blunder from goalie Dominik Livaković would gift Portugal a 3-2 victory. Portugal would also score a goal in the second half following a blatant hand ball in the box, however, nothing was called as VAR is not available in Nations League. The scoreline does not represent how close this game was.
NK Osijek defender Mile Škorić – being called up this week – held his own while we finally got to see Domagoj Bradarić play his natural position at left-back. Marko Rog made a mess of his cap for Croatia, picking up a red card in the 50th minute which led to Portugal’s opening goal. But the boys fought hard and deserved better than the 3-2 loss. This match should be considered a huge morale boost as Kovačić finally did something with a Croatian squad that was down a man for half the match.
Croatia will remain in League A of Nations League as Sweden lost to France on the day and will now be relegated.
Post-Match Comments
Here we go! More experimenting from Dalić.
The last international match of the year is upon us and it can’t come soon enough for the Vatreni.
The team is definitely in a slump over the past two months – only beating Sweden in Nations League and Switzerland in a friendly. Other than that, it’s been pretty abysmal.
But you know what? If you’re going to have a 4-5 game slump, there’s no better time to have it. The Vatreni cruised through Euro qualifying before COVID hit, puttered their 8-game 2020 schedule, and will not look towards 2021 once Portugal leaves Split.
This will match will more than likely look like a friendly than anything else. With France beating Portugal on Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo and crew are locked into 2nd place in the group and will not be defending their Nations League crown next year.
Croatia and Sweden are tied on points (3 points each) with Croatia owning the tiebreaker. Third place remains in Nations League A with fourth place being relegated to League B. At the end of the day, not really a big deal either way.
Croatia will stay in the top tier as long as they match or better Sweden’s result on the day. The Swedes will be playing in France.
Zlatko Dalić is sure to experiment with more players with Modrić and Perisic likely to only make cameo appearances to pick up another cap. Modrić is currently only two games behind Darijo Srna (134) for most capped Croatian of all time.
Osijek defender Mile Škorić has been called up for the Portugal match at Poljud, which will be played behind closed doors due to COVID.
I’d like to see Atletico Madrid #2 goalkeeper Ivo Grbić in goal and Domagoj Bradarić at left-back. But if Dalic didn’t play him at LB against Sweden it’s unlikely he does it against Portugal.
It would be nice to see Ante Rebić back in checkers after dislocating his elbow over a month ago. I’m rooting for Mateo Kovačić to turn it around but who knows with him.
The game can be seen on ESPN2 in the States.
Prediction: 2-1 Portugal
Loris was huge for France does give up howler from time to time but makes big saves when needed.
Croatian sensation..finally another guy who sees what’s really going to happen,opposed to the Sanguine group who actually are brain washed believing this team is going far…a refreshing voice of reason!
Um England looked bad. Not to afraid of them.
They need to cheat to beat us so the officials
Are of concern. I wish someone would call
Then out for once.
We were good at 2018 World Cup
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Then, we sucked at 2018/19 Nations League (where we experimented a lot)…
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Then, we were good again in Euro2020 qualifying (where we topped a group with FOUR teams that qualified for the Euros, and two of these teams just won their Nations League groups and were promoted to League A)…
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Then, we sucked at 2020/21 Nations League (where we experimented a lot)…
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I’m beginning to see a pattern here.
Croatian sensation
I take it you are somewhat dissatisfied
Ever since the last two years since the historic World Cup run. I’ve lost interest and hope for our boys in the checkers. It’s been humiliating the performances. Throughout ten nations league matches. They managed to pull off two wins, lost seven and drew one. Goals scored was 13 and conceded was 26. Second most goals allowed in entire nations league behind Iceland. Finished rock bottom in both groups. Sweden deserved to go through. I’m ashamed of the way they’ve played these last two years. It’s pitifully, disgraceful, unpatriotic and frustrating. Say goodbye to any hopes of qualifying out of our group. We’d be lucky to get even third the pace we’re on. England look deadly and vicious. Scotland pulled off considerable wins and have heart. We tied Czech Republic last euros two 2-2. Gave up that two goal lead on second half. Not even bothering watching these chumps come next year. Try seeking a non Croatian coach, replace starting goalie, put all young guns in lineup. Our defence and goalkeeping is horrendous. Never seen it this bad. Wake me up when euros is over because I’m not watching them getting humiliated. My predictions are 3-1 for England, 2-0 vs Scotland and 0-0 draw vs Czech Republic. No national pride anymore associated with this team anymore. We call ourselves too quality? How are they in league a? Should be placed in league c. We lose to Portugal, Spain, Portugal etc. Can’t even beat the big dogs. We’re not even close to the same caliber as those teams. A team like Portugal impressed me. They are young, hungry, better youth, don’t have to win with Ronaldo, discipline. All those qualities we don’t possess. Count me out watching euros next year. You guys will see for yourself the results. Don’t expect anything special.
Thank god Croats are only about 25% Slavic
Russia took a dive today to spare their “brothers” the humiliation of being relegated to League C again, lol.
Rog was playing that destroyer very well. I was really impressed and it reminded me of the Marko Rog that perfectly controlled Iniesta at Euro 2016. Terrible fouls and he does have a tendency to over commit and be over aggressive. At least he’s finally getting minutes and should improve especially since he has Moro breathing down his neck. I think Badelj’s time is done.
BTW is Juranovic our best RB now?? Petkovic slide down behind Budimir in the depth chart??
Overall, Dalic learned A LOT through these Nation League quasi friendlies. Unfortunately, the U21s also qualified for the Euros so I’m not sure if any of them will be included in the senior squad ie Sutalo and Moro. I don’t think there will be too much experimenting come the spring time as Dalic will likely play more players that he intends to rely on in the summer.
Do you think Suba would come back
If we ask him nicely?
Dalic’s insistance on trotting Livakovic out there every time and expecting a different result is literally the definition of insanity. He’s probably actually done him a disservice. A goalie can’t play most games allowing between 2 and 4 goals and not have his confidence destroyed. If you look at Livakovic after conceding, he looks absolutely lost, a deer caught in headlights someone else said here. Starting Grbic against Turkey was a no brainer. What a wasted opportunity.
We give up a lot of goals. A lot of them. I know Dalic is experimenting, I get that.
I miss Vrsaljko. I know Lovren catches a lot of shit. But he still always shows up. I don’t care what our players do for clubs. ( as long as they don’t get hurt ) Good or bad, I got to give credit to Lovren for even wanting to play. Vrsaljko and Lovren are extremely close friends and more importantly Lovren plays better with Sime.
Point is, I miss Vrsaljko.
Lloris is the reason why France got by Belgium in the semis.
And although Lloris botched that play where Mandzo scored a goal back for us (when it was already 4-1)…He had a beautiful save on Rebic just before the half which would have tied up the game 2-2.
Goalkeeping is too boring for us Croatians.
And Lloris was garbage.
One world class keeper in 70 years is as impossible as it is improbable.(Beara) It’s also unexplainable and unacceptable for a team of this caliber and potential.
The worst part of the situation is it could actually keep us from being the best in the world two or even three times.
I ask again because it bears repeating – if we switch goalies in the WC final. We get Lloris and France gets Suba, who wins? If you answered Croatia, you are correct.
Pongracic has covid
Poor bloke can’t get an even break
Thanks vida
Does Sluga miss the old Yuga
I am extremely worried about Livakovic
He’s a shocker
We are only talking about Grbic because of his move to Atletico
Bench of not Dalic should have tried him out
He tried every other wanna be
@ maminjo that all makes sense, very good points
i think now with the uncertainty around Livakovic and the fact he is apart of the national team Grbic should pounce at the opportunity. Ask for a loan this winter to a solid team in a solid league where he will regularly start. by the time the March games come around he’d have played almost 3 months at this loan club and Dalic can give him a chance. Right now there really isnt another option outside of Livakovic. imo giving minutes to Sluga is a waste of everyone’s time, if he have to consider Sluga over Livakovic we might as well not even show up to Euros
Miloš
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Well Grbić was largely a nobody before he went to Lokomotiva. I’m not sure he had any idea if any foreign clubs were even scouting him…Then one of the best teams in the world offers you a contract? Can’t turn that down. He is probably set for life with this contract, and get a chance to develop under Oblak.
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If he was our #1 National Team keeper, was getting a lot of exposure, and was doing well for us… Then he could afford to be picky.
But we didn’t even have this guy on standby.
This is how lazy our goalkeeper coaching has become.
Ya you wonder who was telling grbic to take the transfer?
Why not go somewhere decent and play
Sure he is learning behind Oblak. Speaking of why can’t we produce a keeper like him!!
Baby steps with the transfers boys
You got to give to Kramarić. Maybe other teams truly haven’t called but he seems happy nuff tearing it up at hoffenheim
I’d rather he just keeps lighting up there then get a transfer to epl and get wasted there
Either way, you need to anticipate these things.
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Just raise your arms up higher when you’re landing near a teammate. Gotta protect that ball at all times.
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This may have been a blessing. We have options at every position, and we should be able to field a good team at the Euros… However, goalkeeper is the position we have no idea it’s gonna go. We need to test a couple of others if we can (in our next friendlies).
If you watch the replay in slow motion of the Portuguese winning goal, the ball was falling out of Livakovic’s hands before he made contact with Lovren.
Worse than I thought. Time for Grbic.
Do you think Grbic will come to regret going to Atletico? He’s just going to be sitting on the bench. If he was still getting regular playing time he’d have a shot to take over for Livakovic since he’s been so shaky. Now he almost has 0 chance unless they loan him out in the winter
I’ve always hated the destroyer CDMs like Ogjnen Vukojevic.
It’s probably the reason why I hate on Marko Rog.
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Once we get our big boys back, we’ll do better. Having Rebic, Vlasic, Perisic, and Petkovic out there at the same time adds that awesome physical element (on top of a highly technical one).
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I’m not sure about all the Petkovic lifestyle talk. It’s all speculation. I’m sure some of it is true though, but it hasn’t affected his play for the NT. He’s still an important asset for us.
yeah Milos, I agree but its up to a team thats willing to buy him and make an offer. if he continues like this, he will regret not focusing on his career and making the best of the opportunity he has.
@slavonac ive been saying exactly that about Petkovic since the beginning of this season. He needed to be sold. He’s 26 coming off the best couple years of his career. He’s accomplished everything there is with Dinamo. They had a good run in Europa a couple years back and a strong showing in last years group stage. That is essentially the peak of what Dinamo can do in Europe and that has dried up with a far weaker team now. He’s sitting there like “wtf am i doing here”. Sure you’d like him to be more mentally focused but it’s a very normal response. When we know it’s time for us to change jobs we get mentally checked out at the end. He needs to go in winter transfer window
BZ – apparently Petkovic doesn’t live the lifestyle of a professional…thats whats being said about him in ZG. he’s out late, sex/women and alcohol and this has caused issues with his coaches. also, he was very upset he didn’t get bought in the off season and feels he belongs at a bigger club.
with regards to Rog…I understand what you mean about him being off balanced and somewhat clumsy BUT, his role is only to break up the play and pass the ball to his teammates. a destroyer role…re-gain possession…so I wouldn’t worry too much about his skill set.
Vlasic played a very good game yesterday. he’s very hard to knock off the ball and I felt he was a lot more lively than he was vs Sweden!
Oh no, it looks like Oblak recovered.
https://www.football-espana.net/2020/11/16/atletico-madrid-handed-major-injury-news-boost-ahead-of-barcelona-clash
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I guess no Grbic against Barca. Too bad.
Will Ivo Grbic be making his Atletico debut against Barcelona?
LOL.
Talk about baptism by fire.
Well, this is an interesting turn of events. Livakovic loses the game for us against Portugal, and now Grbic may start against Barcelona in three days?
No doubt Dalic would be watching that match.
Rog played well until red card he was running and covering the space. Thats why kovacic played well because he didnt need to defend as much because he is not a 6 player.
Livakovic is 25 goalkeepers dont become top until late in career even de gea was critizied. But with the obrana falling apart not even Jan Oblak can save us when the d is užas.
All in all thank god 2020 season over lets see what 2021 happens.
All you saying fire dalic are idiots we top euro 2021 group where almosr evertone qualitied.
Its not dalics fault Mamic came back to dinamo and since bjelica left dinamo we lost a good striker in petkovic.
Stay healthy and we are a solid team iznad svi vatreni hrvatska
I’m glad this happened to Livakovic. High balls are his weakness and this spotlights it. I think he’s a great shot stopper and our best keeper. Dude can only get better. Grbic gets no playing time so I don’t get why he even gets called up. That said, is Oblak injured and Grbic finally getting a chance to play this weekend?
Petkovic really missed his opportunity these last couple games.
Also is Skoric the new Matej Mitrovic? Seems like a viable national team player to me.
Was kind of growed azz men worry bout a nother mans bald spot? I headed more ballz clear than that monchichi Duje has in 3jahre. Now jutarnji list is blaming me for da goalz cauze the monoxidal may have made the ball 2 slippery for Livakovac to hold
If no one takes Livakovic out
I WILL
I will invade the pitch and break his fuckin hands and legs and rip his fuckin eyes out
Livakovic is not on the level.
And he is small.
I realize rukamet not only robs of us košarkaši but vratari as well!!
We can’t produce an NBA point guard or a world class goal keeper?
All the best 196 cm athletes are playing team handball?!
Team handball where you can someday make $40,000/year if you are pro.
Soccer players make that in a week.
Bogdanović makes that in a day!
And he hasn’t played an NBA minute since February.
We don’t have a 196 cm agile beast mode sportaš that can dominate the box?
HNS is a joke.
That pitch yesterday was a joke.
Kovačić 2 goals were NO JOKE!!
Regarding the Portugal game:
Like I’ve said for the past 2 years, Rog is one clumsy, unbalanced player, and I’ll add, with no composure on the ball (so i call bs on anyone who likes him at cdm because he is “tough”.)
Like I said, before anyone knew Vlasic was going to play wing today, Vlasic is 3x the wing that Brekalo is. Glad Dalic reads my posts. Rebic and Perisic also 3x better. I think today solidified that we can easily start all three up top rotating each at CF as they tire tracking back on D. If only we had Rakitic and Modric playing directly behind them.
Hats off to a stellar performance by Vlasic today.
Liva weak clearance of Ronaldo’s free kick, but not helped by Bradaric falling asleep on his mark. Hey Bradaric, If you’re trying to win a coveted starting spot, you better hustle your ass off. Guy like Vrsaljko would be there, or helping on the goal line.
Liva was bobbling the ball even before it hit dopey Lovren. Liva’s hands are weak.
Deep grudge Dalic fucking over Petkovic, is the least loyal shit I’ve ever seen. I can care less what Petko does at Dinamo, he bailed Dalic out in qualifiers…and Petko has been our best CF in the minimal minutes he has played during the unl.
Ref was shitty today, handballs and Modric getting decimated with no yellow…but the biggest disturbing trend I an seeing…
2 Croatian extended injuries, several Ronaldo fake injuries, 3 goals, 10 subs and only 3 mins extra time.
If England is ever down at home, with similar circumstances they’d get 7 mins. Seriously, refs always give bigger market team’s way more extra time. It probably helped us this time, but it’s something that really irks me. Can we get some of Truth’s interns to do some extratime discrepancy analysis between Croatia and big market teams?
In the memory of his predecessor Suba
Livakovic must be dropped before it is too late
Even pletikosa was not this bad
Dinamo’s academy is always talked about as being the best in Europe, however, they need to fire whoever coaches the forwards. Where are they? Croatia looked better with Hajduk players Perisic, Vlasic and Pasalic starting up front today.
“YOUR people are horrible, they are the cause of all the worlds problems, your children are born with evil privilege, now let’s unite as Americans.” -Yea okay. Go FUCK YOURSELF.
Shortly after the riots broke out, Oprah Winfrey went on TV to do a show that was on like 8 different cable channels at the same time and she asked “What are OUR demands?”
Now if THAT doesn’t tell you that the BLM crowd are establishment toadies as opposed to the “revolutionaries” the ESTABLISHMENT wants you to believe they are, I don’t know what will.
So apparently some antiWhite faggots from the USMNT on “team Oprah” did some BLM “protest” before their last game. Never mind the obvious TRUTH that blacks have a much higher standard of living in White countries than in black countries so ALL of their problems are entirely THEIR fault.
I’m white, why in God’s name would I root for that team? The coach is a walking antiWhite billboard. He’s a TRAITOR, I couldn’t punish him enough.
If he goes with Barišić over Bradarić at LB, then I am comfortable with his firing lol
I agree that Vrsaljko would make a huge difference at RB compared to what we’ve been running out there. But being healthy is a skill and similar to Pjaca, I’m not sure he has it.
At LB, I’d like to see more of Bradaric. Though come tournament time I’m expecting Dalić to disappoint us and go with Barasic.
In the past calendar year, 9 matches have been played. Bradaric started once as a winger and came off the bench twice as a winger. He started only once a LB, today. No substitute appearances. He’s the starting LB of the 2nd place team in France. He regularly plays Europa League matches. It’s things like this that fuel my fire for Dalic’s head.
-and Kovacic was born in Austria.
Dalic’s love of experimenting, unusual amount of yellow cards, injuries and Covid-19 have led to this wild difference in his starting lineups.
Giving up 3 goals a game every time out is a result of us not capable of competing with the best any longer.
It’s a natural cycle with most small populated nations, with this particular one having a good chance of really hurting.
We don’t have enough players in the age range that gives you stability on the field.
25-29.
The years 1991-1995 where our birth rate collapsed.
Sure, you can have players outside this age range contribute, but, they can no longer lead – or aren’t ready to.
Brozovic and Kovacic – that’s about it.
We will still have a better side than most of our neighbors for the next 5 years, but, far from what we just had in the last 5.
Might have been better to drop to the B group for Nations League.
Next up? World Cup qualifying draw, December 7th.
Croatia plays better with 10 men. Let’s play with two goalies.
We basically tied Portugal today. Sure Livakovic gifted the win to the portuguese however I feel this mistake will force him to realize his game isn’t complete. He needs to bulk up considerably. He is too lean. Decent goalie but no back up keeper is pushing him and he has no major pressure @ Dinamo. Reality check is good for him in a non Euro Cup game.
Dalic deserves one more turnir. Judging Dalic off of these nations leagues games isn’t fair given the covid world of sports.
Kovacic has his faults but if he can get into the box more he will score. Potential to be world class if he gets into or closer to the box.
How can you say that
We conceded 3 goals again
It’s becoming shambolic
It’s school boy soccer status
If Dalic thinks we are the next holland he’s gravely mistaken
This is unacceptable
It’s never been this bad
Ever
@ Maminjo lol at the Kova joke. Everyone remember when Jedvaj scored 2 goals a few years ago against Spain?
Good to see but he’s got to prove it.
@ Mr Black…spot on with your comments.
The Dalic haters are clueless. Everyone is an expert behind a keyboard. Your comment about the 4-4-2 I completely agree with. We looked more lively, compact and aside from some atrocious reffing and the Livakovic blunder we looked decent.
Skoric played great but again it’s one game.
I really hope this jumpstarts Kova – we need someone else to step up. Nice second goal.
Bradaric should definitely be handed the LB job. They went after Juranovic all game…imagine Vrsaljko there?
CBs are a bit of an issue. I guess Dalic will go with the hot hand.
Rog played tough but fouls way too much and is that kind of play will bite you in the ass like today.
I like Nenad Bjelica a lot and I would be furious if he’s not our next coach, but no way should we fire Dalić.
He’s an idiot with his experiments, but he would never play half these guys in a real tournament.
Today wasn’t a bad game. Now imagine this team today, but with Vrsaljko, Ćaleta-Car, Brozović, Rebić and/or Kramarić back in the lineup.
Nenad Bjelica would be more accomplished
Another start for Skoric!
We’ve had some solid balding cb’s in the past.
Dalic was hired before a playoff for World Cup entry.
We had an historic run in the summer of 2018.
We have looked like trash ever since.
New coach comes in at the start of ‘21 and brings all the talent under the flag.
I call BS on all the Kovačić haters.
He is the goods.
If Chelsea doesn’t realize that then he should transfer.
Were the Portuguese playing soccer or fucking handball today?
Where were the yellow cards for them? Every little infraction was one for us.
I’ve seen enough of Livakovic and Rog – get them off the field.
Skoric deserves another start.
I saw the entire game and I liked how they played.
The 4-4-2 which we played today did work. I wouldn’t too surprised if Dalic would use this system at Euro 21.
The combo Rog-Kovacic-Modric-Pasalic will probably be replaced by the combo Brozovic-Kovacic-Modric-Vlasic.
With Vlasic back as midfielder, Ante Rebic will probably be our forward alongside Perisic unless Petkovic or Kramaric impress in the next months.
I was impressed by Skoric as central defender: strong and smart, our Croatian Chielini. Lovren does make some faults but I consider him as our best Croatian defender.
The flanks looked fine to me. Mamimjo’s boy did great as LB and Juranovic offers more than Uremovic and Jedvaj as RB. Juranovic’s passing isn’t always okay but at least he’s a real right back. He missed a golden opportunity to score in the first half but at least he came in front of the goal on a counter.
I find it ridiculous that some of you want Dalic gone. The guy deserves a statue after what he did for us in Russia. Not everything he does, works out fine. But the guy is smart. I personally even think that Dalic has build up such great relationship with someone like Modric (who realizes how important Dalic was to win his Goldon Ball) that Modric just would finish his international career fi the Savez would fire Dalic.
Sa vrh marijana se vidila ruka.
Im one of the 4 plus million crpatian coachs
Goalkeeper i dont trust Livi but non of our keepers player every week football Grbic reseeve Sluga championship Kalinic ne hvala. Letica gone missing Pandur verona reserve posavec rupa Khalina plays for gorica so its livis job to.lose
D when healthy i really dont know what works Juranovic has heart and is a rb people hating on him but he played well in these 2 games.
Vida Lovren Pongracic Caleta Car Uremovic Juranovic Vrsaljko Bradaric Barisic
M Modric Vlasic Pasalic Kovacic Brozovic for me are only safe need new blood Basic should have got more playing time but sto je tu je maybe krovinovic sunjic get calls
Wings Rebic Perisic Brekalo maybe pjaca if he has good season or from hnl lovric orisic bockaj
F Kramaric Budimir Petkovic is all we have so vridi
These players are roughly 2021 players
@The Great Doom
ref had a huge bias in favor for portugal. also the ref was english so that explains it even more
There should have been a yellow when Portuguese defender grabbed Perisic during his awesome breakaway… But Perisic was given the yellow for shaking off his defender a second time! Hey we all know the refs hate Croatia. Gotta live with it now… But honestly, this team is awesome when it runs full steam
@Cigan
I’m not calling for Dalic’s head because of today. I’m calling for his head because of the last year. To me, he’s shown that he’s not the right choice for a transitioning team.
The refereeing was atrocious. Rog’s second yellow was definitely a yellow. His first “usually” is as well. Except when a Portuguese player does the same thing, then it isn’t.
There should have been a yellow when Modric was body checked.
Ronaldo plays the ball to himself with his hand and the Ref looks at it and emphatically yells to play on.
The second Portugal goal, same thing. The Portuguese player plays the ball off his hand to himself and no call. The English commentators that called the game tried their best to defend the English Ref saying that he couldn’t see it. They also mentioned that the linesman couldn’t see it. What? Two Refs couldn’t see it? There were at least 2 corners awarded to Portugal that should have been goal kicks as well. You can’t win when that kind of shit happens to you.
The state of that pitch is a disgrace.
A consistent top 10, 20 team for the last 25 years and this is what world class teams and players have to play on.
If any of you have been to Portugal, you’ll know it is 3rd world. But look at their stadiums.
The savez should be ashamed of themselves.
@maminjo
Kovacic scored, twice, in one game.
That’s like catching COVID twice, while driving in your car all by yourself, wearing a mask
Lmfaooo – line of the day no doubt
@Becar march 2021 to march 2022
So we play qualifiers and build for euro 2021 man korona cudno thank God 2020 is done
I dont care much for dalic but blaming him for this is idiotic. we were dominating the game until the 50th minute. ref didnt give rog a warning before the first yellow card, so it was two fouls and two yellow cards. bit harsh but understandable considering ref is asshole. then you get the handball incident where portuguese player traps the ball with his hand in our penalty box that leads to a goal. a few minutes later ronaldo does the exact same thing in midfield to start a counter and ref still doesnt call handball! wtf?!? despite playing with only 10 men, our passing and desire is still good and we get another great goal to tie it 2-2. Then gypsie luck strikes again. Livakovic jumps up to claim an easy ball but then falls on lovren and fumbles it, there are 5 black shirts plus livakovic in the area but like a magnet the ball falls to the one single portuguese player. haha livakovic huge mistake, need to have stronger hands.
Please explain how you can blame the coach for all this stupidity. if anything dalic proved 99% of ppl wrong with skoric. Also half the squad it out injured; kramaric, rebic, brozovic, etc. And dalic is left with a bunch of kids and inexperienced players with 3 caps each lol.
@becar 24 march to 29 march 2021 2002 respectively
Sorry, an absolute shit 2 years!
That was me above.
@great anonymous doom
Its been an absolute shit year but yeah that game was entertaining and we did play fairly well for most of it. Shitty conditions and a bit of anger helped. We turned it up after we were hard done by their 2nd goal. Did we not can our last coach in the middle of 2018’s qualifying?
When does World Cup qualifying start?
Livakovic needs to leave dinamo his reflects are good but man catch the dam ball stop boxing it ajmeeeeee.
Not a bad game good play without a striker cant put it on dalic. Bradaric should be left back permanently they dont attack his side at all. Say what we want about juranovic he has heart i like that sould have scored boze moj.
So with our under 21 going to euro no Majer Gvardiol Moro Sutalo as A under 21s. Its time to call a true dm basic sunjic and krovinovic a look and get rebic back kramaric healthy petkovic needs to fix his head maybe leave dinamo at winter.
Grbic basic orsic should have seen more playing time.
All in all wcq draw in a few weeks see you in march lets stay healthy iznad svi hrvatska!
Some of the people posting on this site are either nuts or drunk… Everyone knows that firing a coach midway through a cycle of preparation for an international tournament is a bad idea. It’s an even worse idea when that coach has gotten the team to play neck and neck with a definite contender such as Portugal! Could it have been better? Of course! But this was an excellent game. Honestly, who didn’t enjoy watching that? And if you didn’t watch the whole thing, you don’t count. The Repka leaves 2020 on a good note. Was all of the rotating and experimentation worth it? It will be if we come out firing in 2021, which is entirely what I expect following this match
Yoooo .. Mateooooooo Kovačić !!
Di si Majstore!!!!
I thank Dalic for three great years.
All the best with your future endeavors.
Time for a new Coach.
This team is way too good for all this mediocrity.
Poljud turf ..
Lmfao!!
Yeah that field was a joke. So many balls over the top just died when they hit the ground.
If not for Vlasic our supposed treasure trove of young talent would be barren.
Brekalo needs to do something he isn’t going to be young and “Promising”forever.
Sure hope that Luka kid in Austria pans out.
Don’t panic my ass!!
Our D is terrible but thankfully we have a great midfield. Played quite well with 10 men. Whatever CB pairing we go with in June might be our worst ever. Actually whatever backline we go with will probably be our worst ever.. Wish we could play with a lone striker but that doesn’t suit Kramaric.
Awful field. Embarrassing.
@Maminjo
I hope so. He’s in over his head. He did great in Russia. He took a dysfunctional bunch of egos and with one move (the Kalinic banishment) brought the team together. It was largely motivational coaching and it worked. Now, in a transition phase, he’s lost. I don’t have any good suggestions for a replacement, but now is the time.
It infuriates me that he deprived the U21’s of Bradaric. It almost cost them qualification. If you seemingly recognize that you’ve got a future star on your hands, call him up to the NT, then barely play him (until today), it tells me that you’re an idiot.
To me, he also missed a great opportunity to give Grbic a try. He should have started against Turkey. If he does well, you know that you can go back to him. If you go back to him and does well again, maybe Atletico give him a chance as well.
A few hours ago every one of you were mocking skoric now he’s the second coming of Van dijk after one good showing.
Nothing has changed!
Our defense is a mess our keeper situation is chaotic and we aren’t going anywhere in the EURO’s book it!
Throw in a very good chance one of our very key cogs gets hurt before then and getting out of our group might not even happen.
Bring back Bilic or give Nenad Bjelica a shot. If not let’s look outside of Croatia for a coach.
@Horvat
I don’t think anyone is seriously advocating for Skoric to start.
He was a very nice surprise today. So, people are happy and want to see more. Nobody actually believes he is gonna start lol.
Also, most people on this board thinks Bradaric should start simply by his resume. He was excellent in his debut, and he looked good today too (from the few minutes that I watched).
He has the least competition to snag a starting spot at LB, and has the most club experience, playing for the best club & league out of all our LBs…so yea, it’s a pretty easy call.
BEĆAR
You think Dalic gets canned?
I dunno, but Croats are emotional and think with their hearts over their heads. If he did dare them to do it, it’s always a possibility, lol.
I’m glad you love my boi Bradaric.
There were actually some positives in this game…
Bradaric playing at LB is a good sign. He may start there now moving forward, which makes us infinitely better on the flank.
Skoric actually looks very solid. He probably realizes why he was picked for the team and that he is the least deserving based on his resume…so he made up for it by working the hardest and being the most disciplined.
I wanna see more of him now.
Livakovic is going to force our coaching staff to re-evaluate our goalkeeping, which is good.
Livakovic got the job too easy. All our goalkeepers do. It simply always just goes to one of the Hajduk or Dinamo keepers. Maybe this gets Dalic (or his replacement, lol) to assess our keeper situation.
Kovacic scored, twice, in one game.
That’s like catching COVID twice, while driving in your car all by yourself, wearing a mask.
It’s like we have Kepa in net.
I’m with Becar- this coach has to go – let’s finally pay some money and get a first class coach from anywhere- time for Dalic to go – the defense did ok and skoric might be an asset but as a team – there is nothing there including the goal keeper- he is lost- especially when were giving up 16 shots- Portugal had more shots than most NHL teams get in a game – that’s crazy- I see a change coming very quickly
So, yeah, great news, we stay in League A! Yay! Now in a few years’ time we get to be grouped with superior squads and get smashed all over again, yippee!!
A player has a good game, they should always be starters.
If they have a bad game, they never belong in the starting lineup.
Make your comments, lineups and predictions BEFORE the game.
Hindsight is 20/20
Everyone’s an expert after the game. Everyone knows what should have and shouldn’t have been done after the game.
Now Skoric is good after only one game.
All of a sudden Bradaric shouldn’t have been tested in these games, etc… etc… etc…
Didn’t watch most of the game, but I am surprised at how good Skoric looked.
Good to see Kovacic score two goals in the least important competitive game we’ll ever play, lol.
Hopefully it signals something for him, but who knows. Still can’t start over Broz, Vlasic, or Modric.
Livakovic might be a problem for us at the Euros.
Dalic looked very upset on the sidelines at the end of the game. I assume he was pissed at the ref, but who knows.
If Ivo Grbic gets a look next game, then we’ll know why lol.
considering we played 35 mins with a man less, they got a handball goal and our keeper gave them one for free, we actually did okay lol… certainly positives to take with Kova stepping up (finally)
We choked before 2 half times and 2 extra time games in out of 6 nations league games that’s 4 injury time goals allowed whether its before half or end of regulation that’s a joke. We’re just as bad choir artists as the cetniks considering our talent is far more superior then there’s. We had that draw but again livakovic, Kalinic, Subasic, even Ladic and his costly blunders. Our goalkeeper position is a fuckin joke. Perhaps we should recruit our handball and/or water polo keepers and start training them as at this point I’d stick a pylon in net. Livakovic ain’t bad but that was horrendous keeping in injury time as we played better with 10 then 11 and deserved the win. Changes must be made – coughing up goals like no tomorrow – arguably our worst year for results ever including stimac coaching era and transitions in early 2000’s.
I like the 433 for our team. It’s very flexible with our midfielders and forwards. We have a number of competent false 9 in Pasalić, Kramarić, and Rebić. We have a number of competent outside forwards, and a central midfield of three makes team defense and transition much easier
Dalic has made countless mistakes with his idiotic experiments.
Skoric, however, worked out.
Not giving Bradaric more opportunities to gain experience in these International breaks was a tremendous mistake.
Giving that same opportunity to Juranovic is head scratching.
Brekalo has incredible raw talent. He’ll be a bust though if somebody doesn’t get through to him.
Grbic HAD to play this International break.
I’d fire Dalic right now.
How do we gaf at the last minute? That has been our modus opeandi for some time. Happy to see Kova find the back of the net today.
Livakovic with a drop, but what the fuck is Lovren doing. Get out of the GK’s way dude. Smotan to the max.
Livakovic didn’t want the Hajduci to have any rejoice! ( jk idk WTF!) How does this happen?!!
ciganska sreca
Wow ok not terrible
We need a keeper
Ya he makes some great saves but need someone reliable
Maybe he will get it
Skoric=schildenfeld 2.0
He did very well
Kova wtf dude. Grab the bull man!
Livakovic might be our worst goalie EVER.
Somebody lmk when were actually good again. How do you gaf it last minute
I swear. Close to extra time or in extra time some bizzare shit happens with us. Giving up goals in those situations is like sarma for Christmas. Count on it.
LOL.
Livakovic is trying to get Dalic fired.
I’ve never seen a keeper drop the ball off of their own defender’s back like that.
Looks like Sweden and us both lose 3-2 so i guess we dont get relegated.. Spain beat Germany 6-0 like they did to us a couple years ago.. yikes
I hate france with a passion but (recency bias) watching portugal…. they are a close second.
So… I guess we’re looking at a Ćaleta-Car and Škorić CB pairing for the Euros.
He has to shave his head though.
Škorić is better than Lovren lol
This referee should be shot.
no card for the Moor tackle on Modric?
Obvious handball used to trap the ball, and this commentator says VAR would not have reversed it. Holy shit, who are these guys?
Referee has been an embarrassment
This referee is a piece of shit
how many times does portugal have to use their hands before corrupt ref calls handball
Soul Champ is gonna blow his load lol
The God of Kovacic. Up the Chels!!!
Kovacic doing this game what we’d always hoped of him for so many years
Bye bye Dalic
And being fucked by refs again ont hat handball goal for Portugal
I just turned the game on…
All I see is KIKS Lovren missing a clearance and Portugal scores, lol.
How is everyone else doing?
^^^^
Me again.
And thr ref strikes again.
This English ref just failed to give Portugal a yellow for the exact same thing he gave Rog a yellow for.
^^^^
That was me.
Livakovic is trash.
Rog is a mental midget
Well, we’re fucked yet again, red card and a goal conceded, definite loss coming up
I’m surprised that the pitch is so terrible. I assumed it would be better than maksimir.
How about that Hajduk Split forward line of Perisic, Vlasic and Pasalic?
Six Players from Hajduk started the match, no wonder we look good.
I hope we don’t just sit back and try to defend the rest of the game. We need to continue attacking to keep the chops off their game.
first half skoric had ronaldo in his pocket, reincarnation of Schildenfeld
Interesting that Skorić is marking Ronaldo on the set plays. Makes me wonder what kind of “No wimps will be tolerated” locker room talk there may have been after the last game
@cigan – Are you kidding? Skoric has looked better than anybody whose played in the middle defense this whole tournament
Half time thoughts…….
Skoric is holding his own.
Rog is also playing well defensively.
Juranovic is absolute all around trash.
Bradaric looks very promising, remember he’s only 20.
Pasalic’s pass to Kovacic for the goal was world class. It had to perfect and it was.
Lovren is without question our best all around defender.
Vlasic is a beast.
Having someone back there doing the dirty work frees up the rest of the midfield to focus on moving the ball around
Skoric looks impressive
I’ve been saying it all along: Rog gets into the dirty action whenever he’s on the field
Much better performance when you play current/former Hajduk players
Mile Skoric is doing an excellent job – twice the player of Pongracic
All you Kovačić haters… soon you’ll be loving him as much as super Mario
ZDS
“It may not have been the most well oiled goal celebration cause he hasn’t scored enough to practice it” lol
shit Kovacic scores just his second goal for us
Sweden beating France already lol
stream im watching:
http://liveonscore.tv/soccer-streams/uefa-nations-league/croatia-vs-portugal/
any link? uefa tv doesnt work here i guess
Insignificant game or not I believe Vukovar will inspire our boys today. Ajmo momci!
Or Benkovic
why didnt dalic call up jedvaj instead of skoric
UEFA. tv app works great in Canada.
Mini Vatreni in The Euros! That’s the news of the day. They finished qualifying with an outstanding Goal Differential of +30–the 2nd best of all the teams!
OMG talk about being confused…this central defender pairing is confusing!
any link guys?
BiH just upset Belgium to send our U21’s to the Euros. Wow…..
Chicro
Is that based on the number of points picking the best 5 teams out of nine
Thanks
Suba
Danny J
Ha hah ha
I am always on the search for a sexy woman
Never give up on that search like Borat
By the way Dalic has lost the plot
If you won’t take no crap ???? you in essence take crap
Skoric is starting, lol.
Feel the rhythm, feel the ride, come on Vatreni it’s bobsled time ! Cooooool runnnings
Out of all Dalics experiments I like the firepower of this one and interesting to see rog at cdm how that will play out – I still think we’ll lose but definitely hope not (at least lose with pride) tell me what u see when u look in the mirror junior baby !? I see pride, l see power, I see a bad mother fucker who won’t take no crap from nobody !!!
Za Dom Spremni
interesting…looks like Rog is starting in place of Brozovic, Vlasic up top with Perisic….this is a bit strange the way they show it on sofa score
I don’t see Portugal losing 2 in a row…pork chops 3-1 they are vastly superior to us in terms of talent,and throw in our patch work defense and it doesn’t look good today.
I have them winning the Euro’s.
JB – re U21 euros, i read only the 5 best 2nd place teams advance (out of 9 groups). Looking at the standings (and assuming you don’t count the points against the last place team in your group), it’s going to be tight. Will depend on the results from other groups coming in today and tomorrow.
So if u 21 go to euros you can forget about some of them going to big boys euro but for 2022 wc guys like gvardiol sutalo sosa majer moro ivanusec bistorovic kulenovic musa colina vuskovic erlic all top prospects who are projected to have good careers and A team level.
Livakovic needs to leave dinamo and go to prove himself he has out grown HNL
From 2000 to 2006 we had good d no scoring.
2008 to 2018 we had great midfield solid d and finally wingers and Mandzo.
Now we will need a great keeper after modric retires we will be middle of pack always a dark horse and hard team to play against just we wont be world class 2016 to 2018 we were world class imo. Id say we were even strong at euro 2016 if we had inform mandzo and a coach not a tv repair mamic puppet.
Lets see what happens
If I’m not mistaken all of our euro qualifier group made it??
I agree we shouldn’t panic but there is that feeling how they say back home “muha bez glava”
I agree sometimes we look for this sexy woman but you have a good woman down the block in the selo that can fill that roll
Maybe we can’t play like Italy but with a hard work rate and a system we can tighten up our overall defense
We are letting in goals at an astonishing rate
The sad thing about Moro is that he blew his ACL a few years ago.
He would have been so much better… But he’s recovered enough that he’s still a very solid player.
@Vuk
Lol. Yea. Livaković always does have that deer in the headlights look.
Our coaches are too conservative hell it took Dalic so long to name livakovic as goalkeeper if Kalinic played in some club because of stare zasluge Kalinic would be number one keeper.
Im watching under 21s Moro is pretty good player under bjelica bjelica turned him into a box to box cm dm. I keep saying we need B croatia friendlys like usa mexico do. Why not cacic and kovac did that. Thats hiw you find and reward player example vs turkey imo starting 11 should have been Grbic Juranovic Mestrovic Borekovic Meljnjak Sunjic Basic Krovinovic Orisic Lovric Colak.
Livakovic always looks like a nervous wreck in the games I’ve seen. Good point about being the Dinamo keeper. He’s probably used to taking a nap on the pitch against half these HNL teams.
Greece up on Scotland 1-0, U21. Top two go through?
I just googled Andrija Vukovic out of curiosity, and the guys is still playing.
What’s funny is that he’s actually a starting keeper in the Turkish League since 2014!
Why was he never called up?
A starting keeper, for that long, in a league that is better than the HNL. He’s done more than almost any keeper we’ve had since 2014 (when he was first transferred to the Turkish League). Really, only Subasic should have been ahead of him.
He’s probably better than Livakovic today, although he’s very old at 37.
Shame that we keep overlooking decent goalkeepers in our own backyard like this that probably could have made a difference for us.
Mudrac
I agree with the weird automated goalkeeper selection process that each Croatian NT coach has.
Why does it have to be from Dinamo or Hajduk?
Is the assumption that the two historically best teams in the HNL must have the best keepers?
Ivo Grbic played for Lokosi last year, and apparently he was good enough for Atletico Madrid to drop 6 million Euro on him…and he never even got a third-string callup to our NT before this (even for our junior teams)?
It’s funny you mention Kahlina, because about a couple months ago I was wondering why Gorica was so good and I wanted to scan their team for young prospects (specifically goalkeeper) and I wondered about him.
Sure, he’s 28, but who cares. If he’s been playing first team football for a decent HNL club for several years, he’s achieved just as much as someone like Livakovic has (maybe more, since Dinamo provides more defensive cover for their keeper than most HNL clubs could).
We always have some decent veteran keepers here and there over the years in the HNL (for example, the one from RNK Split was good many years ago, Andrija Vukovic) but they never get a callup because our coaches are simply too lazy to scout this position.
What bugs me most is Dalics selections as of late its as he has his set of players in mind i to je to. You play sluga vs turkey why not reward grbic for a good transfer to big club. Also why Kalinic he needs to go to hnl for players. Kahilna top 3 keeper in croatia last 2 seasons. Also why mile skoric dosnt make sense the guy is 30 and in hnl still coukd have called his partner majstorovic then. Toni Borekovic standard player in portugal. Ivan Sunjic dm i dont know why give up on him after he left dinamo. Krovinovic desereves a shot to in friendlys.
Also his starting 11 is also sometimes puzzling cant play kovacic at no 6 no 8 position i really dont know whats left for kovacic early retirement hahah. Modric kovacic vlasic middle is terrible.
Maybe today based on what im reading
Livakovic Bradaric Lovren Skoric Juranovic Modric Rog Kovacic Pasalic Vlasic Perisic. Looks like perisic as cf and vlasic ss
Great news from the HNS. Croatia’s game against Sweden will be the last time the Vatreni play there. Finally.
Finally had a chance to watch the Swedish 2nd half unencumbered.
Just want to say,
If ANY other players hustled half as much as Modric and Perisic, we would have looked ok.
How do two old fucks like Modric and Perisic half twice the heart as these young legs, including young legs coming off the bench? I can’t wait for Rebic and Perisic to show these young goofs how to play hard.
Does Brekalo know he is playing the wing? Why does he never go wide? Guy not getting any crosses off, and trying to play as a 2nd #10. This is a huge liability vs a parked bus Swedish defense.
Trust me, it is no accident we scored almost immediately after Brekalo was subbed off and Vlasic played the wing. Reminder:Vlasic got off a great cross and found Perisic in a dangerous spot, for the goal.
Vlasic’s great performance at wing after Brekalo’s departure made me miss Rakitic even more. I did advocate for Vlasic at wing prior to World Cup ’18, but forget how good he was out there. Rebic – Vlasic- Perisic can easily rotate up top.
Brekalo at RB at best for now.
Perisic Budimir
Modric
Vlasic Basic Brekalo
Bradaric Lovren Pongragic Juranovic
Grbic