Joe and Kei (2 English blokes) from United Mates Football Podcast had me on last week to talk all things Croatian football; which included past, present, and future. They asked me about growing up Croatian in Los Angeles, the Crottenham phenomenon, Croatia’s all-time starting XI, and we even played some Croatian footy trivia.
Joe and Kei asked me if I was worried about Croatia’s future moving forward after the 2018 World Cup. My answer was “absolutely not”. I look forward to catching up with them again before Croatia and England square off at EURO 2021.
@Mir
I’ve read that book, it was a very good read!
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In those years, when I first began to teach rhetoric in my native town, I had acquired a very dear friend, from association in our studies, of my own age, and, like myself, just rising up into the flower of youth. He had grown up with me from childhood, and we had been both classmates and playmates. But he was not then my friend, nor, indeed, afterwards, as true friendship is; for true it is not but in such as You bind together, cleaving unto You by that love which is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.” [Romans 5:5]
– Saint Augustine
The Confessions
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Thanks for the Modric shin guards story, I never knew that.
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Bog i Hrvati
ŽAP
=U=
Well said anonymous!
‘Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe so that you may understand.’ St Augustine
For the more intellectual types on here, you should all read St. Augustine’s ‘Confession’.
I get it that this is a sports site and our Faith is probably not overly important to most people on here- but it should be most important!
Just want to point out that all our best players are very visibly faithful Catholics. Did anyone notice that after Rakitic scored his goal vs. Barca he did the sign of the cross? Modric has Holy Catholic images on his shin guards (just google Modric shin guards), Dalic had a Rosary in his pocket for every World cup game, etc. etc.
Just saying, to quote our Lord and Savior ‘without me you can do nothing.’
It is 100% fact.
There’s a reason why a ‘cult’ religion based on a crucified, ‘criminal’ rabbi from a Roman empire backwater became a religion that was persecuted with the worst tortures for 300 years and still went on to become the largest, most influential and longest lasting ‘organizations’ on earth, in spite of ineptitude, traitors, Judases and ongoing persecution and hatred always and everywhere.
That reason is the power of God.
So, if you love yourself, your wives, your children, our Croatian people and nation you should all strive, with all your might, to be good, strong, well formed Catholic men first. After you do that, everything you love will be blessed through you.
‘The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only real tragedy in life is to not become a saint.’ Leon Bloy
And to just bring it back to the sports discussion for a moment, the reason the Serbs suck is because they are all (95%) atheists.
Serbia is one of the most atheistic countries on earth. That’s why they not only suck at sports but also suck at waging war and why their internal affairs are all screwed up and corrupt.
Croatia is beautiful and good because she is faithful (for the most part) and the more faithful her people are the more beautiful and good she will become.
Sorry for the rant. But the Word must be proclaimed to be known.
Bog i Hrvati
@Armada87
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“A LOT of stuff doesn’t make sense, sinko.”
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Psalms 117:2
The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner.
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That’s written in the Old Testament, realized in the New. Just an example of something that wouldn’t makes sense to you, but makes perfect sense to me.
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Catholic teaching says the “stone” is Jesus Christ, “the builders” are the Jews of the Old Testament, and “the corner” is the One Church where both Jew and gentile became one in faith, fan or not, that happened, that’s the truth. A blind Jew that doesn’t believe in Christ can’t understand that Psalm, it would not make sense to them. Believe in Jesus Christ so you can understand/see, you can’t be an unbeliever and understand Catholic teaching, it doesn’t work that way, so of course there is plenty in the scriptures that will not make sense to you.
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On the child abuse scandal, Jesus Christ taught of the cockle in the Church and what we should do when problems spring up from time to time, I’m not surprised by the cockle, lol I’d probably be an unbeliever like you if no problems ever sprung up in the Church when Christ there would.
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There’s sick people in your world to though isn’t there, maybe you can talk about that? Should you leave your world because of sick people? The difference between the Church and your world is that the Church doesn’t teach that sick people are normal, your world has men turning into women and that’s normal lol, I’m not a fan of your world’s teaching?
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Do you know how many commies have infiltrated the Catholic Church also, former commie Bella Dodd claimed to have put thousands into Catholic seminaries.
In fact Croatia has commie Cardinal Bozanic. “By their fruits you shall know them.” [Matthew 7:16]
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That’ll be it for me, because this is a sports site after all, but just don’t say shit like “drinking the Catholic Kool-aid” again, because that is mocking the majority Catholic people of Croatia and our history, you know that.
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Bog i Hrvati
Armada, I’m not against you, I just want all people of goodwill to know the Truth most especially those who share my blood and traditions- the most illustrious Hrvatski narod.
Satan definitely does exist as evidenced by traitor priests and the actions of all bad Christians.
When you say a lot of stuff doesn’t make sense about the beginnings of Christianity, I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
The beginnings of the Church are very well documented and pretty much indisputable unless you buy into Davinci Code conspiracy theory type stuff.
To be honest, I was much like you are for much of my life. Very skeptical when it came to any philosophy or theory that I couldn’t verify for myself.
Somehow, through the grace of God I had a major conversion back to the Faith of our Fathers about 7 years ago.
I am also a firm believer that only the Holy Spirit can convert someone and God works on His own timetable. On that note,
I will say an Oće naš for you but the zelje and žganci are all for me.
Mir stobom bratko
Neka Bog blagoslovi tebe i tvoju celu rodbinu
Napred Hrvati
🙏🇭🇷🙏
@ Stari
I didn’t have the choice as a child, if I wanted to be Catholic or not. And yes, with my children, since both sides of my family and in keeping with tradition, I did baptize them, but that’s just more due to tradition vs. anything else. Didn’t feel like fighting multiple family members and ruining relationships due to baptisms.
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Sure, I renounce satan (if he exists) and the Catholic Church does provide some good ‘life direction’ like don’t steal, don’t kill, do unto others and all that good stuff. But absolutely not a fan of believe the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and her teachings.
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For starters, read about the origins of the Catholic Church. I’m not talking commie shit, I’m talking about it’s start 2000+ years ago. A LOT of stuff doesn’t make sense, sinko. Be a critical thinker. Don’t be a sheep. Also, not sure if you keep up with the news, but how many thousands of priests have been convicted and imprisoned for fucking around with children? Is that part of the believe in the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and her teachings? Where can I read about fondling children? Is that in the book of Matthew? Or Luke? I forget… Sorry, would rather an old man doesn’t fondle my two kids.
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If you have some extra kiselo zelje and zgance, send some this way. I’ll one our father and two hail marys and we can call it even, deal? 😉
Fyi- moja mama is making me kiselo zelje and žgance. Ajvar and ćevapi is for summertime
Hahahaha
Armada, so you baptized your children Catholic, swore before God and your family and the wider Catholic community that you renounce Satan and all his works, you believe in the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and her teachings…but you’re just not a fan of her teachings.
You do realize that this either makes you totally confused or a huge hypocrite.
Incoherent much
Btw- I’m wasn’t making any claims, just stating historical facts.
Oh, and nice job resorting to personal attacks when someone points out where you are in error. Classic lefty, atheist, tactic to try and discredit someone without a valid argument.
Mir stobom braco
Bog i Hrvati
@ Anon
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Not mocking anyone. I have plenty ot friends, Croats and non-Croats that are Catholic. Have no issue with it. I was born and raised in a Catholic church, received all my sacraments, was married in a Catholic church and both my children are baptized Catholic. I’m just not a fan of its beliefs or any other religion for that matter.
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Love for my country and its people, whether they’re Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox or Jehovah’s Witness. So yes, I do mean people.
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Need clarity on anything else?
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@ Stari
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Ha, you must be some diaspora in mama’s basement making claims like that. Does mama still make your avjar fresh every night when she brings you down some cevape while you surf the internet?
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One can atheist leaning and not a Nazi, communist, etc. etc. That’s like saying all Istrijanci are Italian sympthizers, all Dalmatinci are lazy and all Hercegovici are criminals. Let me know if I’m missing any other good stereotypes here…
Hey armada, it’s not cool aid Catholics drink it’s the body and blood of or Lord Jesus Christ!!! This is the Truth and it is only the Catholic faith that has saved Croatia and Croatians to this day! An atheist can call himself Croatian all he wants and he can think he loves Croatia, but any undertaking that is not centred on Christ is doomed to failure. Prime examples, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Atheist Yugoslavia the list goes on…soon the decadent, secular west will fail too. It’s happening before your very eyes.
Bog i Hrvati
@Armada87
But to say things like “drinking the Catholic Kool-aid,” we can both agree is mocking the majority Catholic people of Croatia and our history, we can both agree on that?
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What do you mean by love your country, by country you don’t mean people?
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@ Anon
One can be athiest or non-Catholic, depise communism but be a proud Croat and love his country.
@ Stipe,
It’s good to venture out. They were totally cool and just started this podcast. I remember how hard it was to get the original CSR off the ground 13 years ago.
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But at the end of the day, you do it for love of the game. And on top of that, I have you guys. Couldn’t do anything without you guys. -Ante
@Ante
You got them dudes to give a Huge Plug on this cite. Business is business. Fuck what anyone got to say. “It’s all in the game” You played it well.
@ante
First thing I wanna say is that you held your own on that podcast. Good for you. You represented well.
I
’m from North NJ. I’m First Generation Croatian American.
I had NO IDEA that our bad ass Australian Croatians brothers Oni ne razumiju???????
Sramotan……
@ Anon,
Thank you. Just trying to carry there flag for us. Attacks. No problem.
@Ante
I’m from North NJ. I just sprarked an L and watched the whole podcast.
I give you a lot of props for that interview. You handled yourself extremely well.
You avoided those sneak attacks they threw in like an grown up.
Much respect.
Rijecanin
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Serbs hustle. They just couldn’t do anything with the ball. They’re simply not as skilled as we are, at every position.
Rakitic would pass off to another in that situation 99% of the time, he’s unselfish to a fault …but he probably thought I’ll never get a chance like this to stick it to those pricks who disrespected me at Barca…stick it he did.. top corner to boot!
Peculiar –
Peculiar comes from the Latin peculiaris, meaning one’s own, or personal. In English, it originally meant belonging to one person, private. It also had the meaning of something unlike others, special, or remarkable. Eventually we mostly stopped using it for belongings, instead using peculiar to mean unusual or odd.
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Are Croats a peculiar people, the majority do belong to Christ, and we’re unlike Serbs or atheistic communists?
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A atheistic communist would consider the majority Catholic Croats as unusual or odd, and do you really think he considers Croats his “own kind”?
The Serbs dont win because they lack hustle, their stars are to good to run and just wait to be serviced. A guy like Modric does not stop running. Running hard has always been a part of the Croatian game.
@Armada87
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What about those that drink the atheistic communist/globalist kool-aid? Why should they even be considered “our own,” weren’t they killing Croats (their own?) for an agenda? Surely they would be EU first and not Croatia first?
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Croats are 84% Catholic.
Communists/antichrists hate Catholics. An atheistic communist does not consider Catholics as his own, he only counts party members as his own. I find it strange when a commie calls a majority Catholic people his “own,” why would he do that when it’s not true?
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To me atheistic communism is the worst thing to happen to the Croats.
Be sweet if thats the goal that buries em.
Rakitic goal against farca
https://streamye.com/v6fw2
Atta boy Ivane!!
Love seeing Suarez tearing it up for Atleti too. Totally suits El Cholo’s team.
Rakitić scores against Barca in Copa Del Rey Semi-Final:
https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1359619435116589056?s=20
https://www.goalstube.online/2021/02/red-bull-salzburg-austria-wien.html?m=m1
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Here is the Sucic goal.
Oooops, that was me above ^
@Markus
It was a league game!! LETS FUCKEN GOOOOOOOO SUČIĆ!
it’s the #sucicshow
@Pog
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And ask them why he never wanted to go to Serbia, why he only hung out with Croats in New York, and why Beograd won’t release his journal for the public to read.
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I love egging them about Tesla lol.
Sucic subbed on for a cup game today, scored at the 90’+3.
Next time a Serb mentions Tesla please remind them of the Yugo car 😅
I say bring back the Yugo car…the peak of serbian engineering.
I think Yugo is a word you can’t ban
It’s such a great word to use
I think there are people who want to ban the word Yugo altogether
I wonder why
While we are it let’s not say another bad word with Serbs and forgive them and start a third Yugoslav state
Bilic would be all for it too
Even Mamic by the sounds of it
So all wannabe Ustashi wannabes are Yugos now
Now you can’t a Yugo a Yugo and then if you your are more Yugo than that Yugo
Right I got it now
So it’s only unity only if power is controlled by the left
What a wonderful world we live
Hajduk is not back LOL. They suck. Šibenik was ahead of them before this match
Dinamo, Osijek, Gorica, and Rijeka daddy them almost everytime they meet. Hajduk got lucky today
What he did to Blanc?!
You mean let his face get hit by him? Yeah what a loser.
Hajduk is back baby hahaha
Maybe for just one week though
Good to see everyone is following tudmans mantra
I’m really proud of the next generations of hrvati coming through
Only unity will save us
Stop the presses, Hajduk won the Jadranski derbi. Caktas winner literally with seconds left.
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Rijeka won the last 4 meetings, so we can gift Hajduk with 1. 😉
Speaking of Yugos, we just beat them 1-0. lol!!!!!!!!
Šutalo in the starting lineup today for Atalanta’s match vs. Napoli
Anyone have a good stream for the Hajduk-Rijeka game? Mine just crapped out.
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Also, is anyone aware of ArenaSport providing online only packages, so you can pay to watch HNL games?
We have a hunger to play for the Croatian National Team. Responsablilty and love. We don’t leave the team, we play as long as we can walk, and as long as they call us.
And that responsibility, that it is your country and that you represent it, that you have to and want to. You represent your parents, children, friends, people who without them you couldn’t wear that jersey.
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That’s a general translation of his words for those of you having trouble with them. . Anyone who can call that “Yugo”, wow, just wow.
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One could argue that someone calling Bilic a “Yugo” is actually more “Yugo-ish”. Classic tactic of trying to divide us.
we have to remember that Bilic has spent many years in England and he’s a professional so I don’t see why anyone would complain if he makes a positive remark about a Serbian player…he’s talking about sport and not politics. everything he says is in the public…he doesn’t want to come across as if he’s against anyone, any nationality or any race!
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As far as his coaching career goes, I feel he over analyzes and over thinks far too many situations. he’s really a brilliant guy but he has his limitations.
Yeah, the Serbia thing is just odd. Like Jugo, they usually have an above average team on paper, with players playing at big name clubs, they just seem like they could never put it together. Like others mentioned with the Scotland qualifier, I was laughing to myself watching that game. Scotland was owning them and they have players from the SPL and mid table EPL teams, meanwhile Serbia has ‘big names’ from RM, Inter, Ajax, ManU, Lazio, etc. and aside from 2-3 half chances, Scotland was comfortably in control the entire game.
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I can see how other neighbors of ours aren’t good due to lack of talent, bad infrastructure, screwly politics around the respective FA. But Serbia has a decent league, they produce players, these players get snatched up by big teams and players get burn at said teams… just odd.
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Bilic isn’t a Yugo. There isn’t a definitive checklist to ‘being Croatian’ i.e. you need to drink the Roman Catholicism kool-aid or you have to hate every Serb who’s ever lived… Straight up hilarious re: people who view our own like that…
There was also a good interview with Darijo Srna, once again with a serb reporter:
Srna: Mandžukić je mojoj djeci prije šest godina obećao Nutellu i još je nije kupio, a boli me kad gledam Hajduk
https://youtu.be/hOcgiN1UAXA
Bilic is just being diplomatic. He’s a smart guy, and with his future coaching ambitions, he will likely have a serb on his team in the future. Is he a “yugo”?…depends on who you ask. I don’t think so, but my father would say yes (he thinks anyone who’s not hardcore is a jugo).
He is?
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Like full blown atheist?
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Or is he just one of those agnostic Catholic types, who will always identify as Catholic, defend Catholicism…but never goes to church, lol.
Bilic is an atheist so that suggests he’s a Yugoslav/communist.
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Do you guys remember what he did to Blanc in ’98?
Bilic in my opinion is the biggest loser the world game has ever seen.
I can see him trying to negotiate with his kids, rather than just yelling at them or hitting them. Neznalica.
Just like the Pranjić thing.
Nah. Just one of those proud Croats who does un-Croatian things like voting SDP or not sticking it out in a bad marriage.
Does anyone get the sneaking suspicion that bilic is a Yugo
Bravo Maminjo Bravo!!
BEĆAR
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Bilic is a bit a of a bitch though too.
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He’s not going to give an honest opinion, and he’s very diplomatic.
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It’s insulting to think a team that starts guys like Nemanja Gudelj and Luka Jovic could be as good as us if they only played with more passion, lol.
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That question they asked about “the most memorable sporting event and most iconic moment in all Croatian sports”…
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This had to be ’92 Barcelona, where we took on Dream Team.
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Fresh off independence, nobody knows who we are, and we take silver.
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Then we we beat the defending World Cup runners up (Italy) two years later in their own home…Euro ’96, France ’98 (and all the little sports that took place in between).
With all due respect Maminjo, Bilic’s history as both a member AND coach of the NT qualifies his opinion immensely. The time he’s spent on the pitch, training grounds, media and the locker room with the team, over different generations no less, give him an insight to the mental and emotional attitudes of Croatian footballers that few have experienced.
BEĆAR
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I don’t agree with Bilic at all.
I’ve heard this from some others too about the Serbia and Croatia comparison (where they keep making some excuse for poor quality players and claim that the difference is that Croatia has some ‘hunger’ to play for the NT and Serbia does not).
Serbs seem to have that hunger just fine for basketball. Why not football?
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The difference is that they suck.
That’s it. No need to pretend like there is supposed to be some small gap between us because we are neighbors.
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Serbia sucks, just like their neighbors Romania and Bulgaria suck. Bilic bringing up names like Jovic and Tadic says it all, lol. I watched Scotland outplay Serbia in that qualifier in Beograd. Like…outplay them with actual technical skills lol. It wasn’t some Scottish grit and Braveheart toughness that won them that game. They played just as good (if not better) than Serbia with their dribbling and passing, and they were much more skilled when taking those penalties. Serbia is just not that technically gifted. They are average, like Scotland-level in that regard….and their players are largely just ‘role’ players on decent teams in Europe.
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These countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc…all had ‘golden generations’. Many countries do…but very few nations in the World (like Croatia) can perpetually be good.
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We missed two tournaments, and both were by a single point.
In the Yugo years, all of the best players were Croats.
Both Partizan and Crvena Zvezda’s all time greatest players were Croats, lol, and you could count on your fingers how many Croats played for those two teams. These are hard facts.
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The reason there is a gap between Croatia and Serbia is the same reason that there is a gap between Croatia and Hungary, or Croatia and Slovenia. These other countries suck, and will have to rely on a fluke chance where several good players born around the same year can become their occasional golden generation for them.
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Bilic, Ciro, and these other Croatia coaches need to grow a pair and tell it like it is (and stop being diplomatic).
The next time some Serbian news outlet asks about how Croatia is so much better than Serbia, just tell them that their players are crap and it’s been like that for a century, lol.
Mi imamo glad igranja za reprezentaciju. Odgovornost i ljubav. Mi se ne ostavljamo, mi igramo dok možemo da hodamo, i dok nas zovu.
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I tu odgovornost, da je to tvoja zemlja i da je predstavljaš, da to i moraš i želiš. Da predstavljaš svoje roditelje, decu, prijatelje, ljude bez kojih ne bi bilo tebe u tom dresu.”
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LEGENDA!!!
Here’s an interview Slaven Bilic gave to Serbian media explaining why we have success and they don’t.
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Hrvatski trener Slaven Bilić, novi menadžer Vest Bromvič Albiona, dao je veliki intervju za Sport Klub u kojem je, između ostalog, pričao i o srpskoj reprezentaciji i njihovim čestim neuspesima.
“To je već dugo godina tako. Malo nešto bljesnu, na papiru su dobri… Dugo su bili čvrsti nazad, u sredini terena imali su okej igrače, ne baš Modrića, Bobana, Prosinečkog, ali falio im je neko napred. Oni nisu imali raspoložene napadače. Međutim, sada imaju Jovića koji je fantastičan, to je strašno kako igra. Imaju i Mitrovića, pa Tadića koji nije špic, ali je jedan od igrača koji je obeležio Ligu šampiona, posebno načinom na koji igra, baletanski ležerno, kao da igra mali fudbal.”
Imaju, dakle, sve, ali im fali “nešto”. Šta?
“Odgovornost i zajedništvo. To Srbija nije nikad imala, kao što smo imali mi. To je do selektora 10-20 odsto. Mi imamo glad igranja za reprezentaciju. Odgovornost i ljubav. Mi se ne ostavljamo, mi igramo dok možemo da hodamo, i dok nas zovu. Košarkaši ostave, NBA im je bitniji, Srbi to imaju, imaju i klanove…”
Onda je do igrača?
“Pa nego do koga drugog. Ne znam detalje, ali znam preko nekih igrača srpskih s kojima sam dobar, primetio sam kroz taj razgovor, kao, napokon imamo atmosferu i reprezentaciju. Pa to napokon je početak. Bez atmosfere nema, a mi to imamo od početka. I tu odgovornost, da je to tvoja zemlja i da je predstavljaš, da to i moraš i želiš. Da predstavljaš svoje roditelje, decu, prijatelje, ljude bez kojih ne bi bilo tebe u tom dresu.”
’96 set up the foundation for ’98. Just how 2016 set us up for 2018. 96 along with 08 were perfect examples of ‘what if’. Two tournaments where we absolutely had the ability to go further.
Ok Ante great stuff keep it up but I have a personal question.
You live in LA ..80 and sunny 🌞 and most of us are battling the cold and snow ,yet you have the tan lines of an Eskimo…what gives ?
Forgot to mention that Sydney Croatians are pretty good hrvati
Just cite the sacrifice of the Croatian six February 1979
Za dom
We bleed and would die for Hrvatska
Well said slavonac
Well done!
I dont know if I agree with the notion that “the war” inspires our team today and is part of the difference maker. Croatia has always produced great players, even back when we had to play under the Yugo flag! as far as I can remember, our people have always been fanatics for Croatia…I remember it as a kid when my Italian friends had no clue what Croatia was and my Croatian friends and I used to vigorously present our Nation as Croatia!
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Several years ago I went to Australia for a Futsal World Cup and ended up in Melbourne at the end of the tournament….WOW…my friend and I were soo impressed and shocked at the amount of Croatians there and more importantly…they were HARD CORE HRVATI!!! We were used to our community in Vancouver which is also pretty amazing BUT Melbourne was full throttle HRVATSKA!
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I think the Modric war story is one that many experienced during that time but to be honest, I don’t see it as a reason or an example as to why our National Team had some success….the truth is, we had a mixture of experience, quality and a little luck and we took the opportunity to make the best of it!
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Croatians are always the MOST passionate about who we are…its always been that way. We’ve been telling our friends and school teacher and neighbors who we are and demonstrating how passionate we are since as long as I can remember…and I’d say its been this way throughout history!
Shouldve mentioned ’96.
Entertaining podcast, Ante.
Tricky question. I would have answered Eduardo also. Viduka lives in Zagreb and I am sure that he would identify as Croatian. Plus, he never actually played for Dinamo, as they were called Croatia Zagreb during his playing spell in ZG.
Great podcast Ante!