|
Spiller posted:“With fire in our hearts, for Croatia all as one!” Nobody ever heard or used this slogan outside of the Croatian FA's marketing department. Spiller posted:Croatian legend Davor Šuker won the Golden Boot in the same tournament. Here are all his goals in video with horrible quality and music, from the 90s. The man who turned from legend to a greedy, sleazy oval office remarkably fast. Spiller posted:They haven't really impressed as much as their opening tournaments (also reaching the quater-finals of the Euros in 96 and 08) but have always been a proud nation with some big names in most of their squads. Croatia has been performing steadily though, missing only two major tournaments between 1996 and 2014. Only seven European countries have better tournament attendance. Spiller posted:
"Relatively untested" is a massive understatement. He will be leading the team with only two competitive senior games under his belt - both against Iceland. Spiller posted:
Voted the Worst Player 2012/13 by Lyon's fans! He seems to have found his game in PL, though. Spiller posted:Mario Mandžukić is the subject of transfer speculation and might be let go by Guardiola, but not for any real failing on his part. He gets some German trophies this year as well. He will be leading the line for Croatia. It's a certainty that he will leave Bayern. He wasn't even in Munich to celebrate the trophy and instead he went to Croatia to visit the flooded area where his family is from. He won't be available for the first game against Brazil because of prior red card.  Might as well mention Croatian greatest liability, Danijel Pranjić.  Here as Midget with a Mohawk. He can be a decent left wing and defensive midfielder but he plays left wing-back for the national team. He's abysmal at that position, always uselessly advancing only to leave his position wide open. Croatia has very few options there, especially now that Strinić is injured.  (yeah we hate Yugoslavia but Tito was an ethnic Croat so there)
|
#
¿
May 27, 2014 03:07
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 16:50 |
|
|
oliwan posted:are there people in croatia who are not fascist? Actually compared to stuff that's going on pretty much throughout Europe, Croatia is remarkably non-fascist. 
|
|
#
¿
May 27, 2014 03:15
|
|
|
Robbie Fowler posted:Ah Croatia, so much talent and so little heart, just like their brothers Serbia. This was true for a good portion of the last decade, Slaven Bilic overstayed his welcome and Igor Stimac had fans booing the national team for the first time in (short) history. It has hopefully changed now, the new manager is inexperienced but has great character and enjoys unanimous support. I think that holds true more for Serbia. They had a very strong side in 2010 yet ended last in the group.
|
|
#
¿
May 27, 2014 10:22
|
|
|
Croatia played a friendly with Mali, who were supposed to emulate Cameroon. I didn't watch it but I hear it was an easy 2-1 win and not much to see. Wolfsburg's Ivan Periić scored twice. The good news are that the manager apparently reads this thread so to respond to my concerns he successfully tested Dinamo Kiev's Domagoj Vida as the left wing-back. I like Vida, it would be great to see him in starting XI. He said that Genoa's ime Vrsaljko is another option for the same position. Sweet! In not so good news, HSV's defensive mid Milan Badelj is upset over not being invited to Brazil - he claims his injury isn't that bad. We lack players of that profile. Also Cameroon drew with Germany and Mexico defeated Israel so our direct competitors are doing better than we'd like.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2014 19:21
|
|
|
Not the current team, maybe an earlier squad but I don't remember. The current team was recently blessed by our cardinal so that's gotta count for something too.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2014 23:15
|
|
|
We played our Australian brothers yesterday. The first half didn't offer much. Lot of aggression from Australian side but no goal attempts, Jelavic's goal (possibly from offside), and Pranjic's injury (tackled by Franjic, lol). That's the second left wing-back injured, and we didn't have any to begin with. I fell asleep during the second half but it was supposedly better. The press reactions range from "Kovac wisely conserves players' strength and doesn't reveal tactics to Brasil", to "a difficult win and overall lukewarm show".
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2014 17:00
|
|
|
The manager teared the ref apart after the game, the pundits weren't that extreme but they all agreed it wasn't a penalty. What surprises me more is that nobody says anything about the final goal that IMO came after a blatant foul in the middle of the pitch. Also everybody agrees that we played well and that we should be happy with everything except the score. Well we shouldn't be happy with both our center backs getting carded either. Srna (RWB) wasn't good going forward, too bad that the captain is obviously way past his prime. Vrsaljko (LWB) was surprisingly good, he even managed to pass with his left leg. The entire mid played well, but Olić (LW) had ups and downs. He apparently decided to show the whole world in what was his last opportunity to do so, that he knows tricks just like the smart guys. You see, for most of his career he was known for nothing else except running fast in a straight line. Now we lost a couple of important balls through his failed midfield magic. It was good to see young guys (Rebić = 20, Kovačić = 20, Brozović = 21, Vrsaljko = 22) perform reasonably well in such a big game, although subs (Rebić and Brozović) didn't bring much of an edge. All in all, mixed feelings... Would like to hear some neutral goon comments cause I don't feel like going through 100+ pages of the match day thread. Doctor Malaver fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Jun 13, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2014 00:18
|
|
|
Thanks... I don't know if this makes me feel better or worse, though.vivisectvnv posted:Pletikosa was real bad and unsure of himself, outside of that great save in the 1st. I'm surprised you say that. The first goal was a masterpiece shot and he was on the ball on the penalty. Not sure about the third goal but all in all he didn't seem unsure to me. He was even voted MOTM by Croatian TV viewers - not that it matters much.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2014 00:58
|
|
|
Yeah, we haven't had a first class keeper since the 90's. Most of our talent has always been in the middle of the field. Strikers and defenders - depending on the generation, but keepers very rarely. Too bad that if we progress as second we'll probably run into Spain. Not much luck with the draw lately - last Euro we had both Spain and Italy in the group, and they ended up as finalists.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2014 01:11
|
|
|
strangemusic posted:I love that there's a Croatian fans thread. Happy to be here. HNK Rijeka fist-bump.  I'm from Zagreb but I favor NK Rijeka over Dinamo Zagreb and their dirty money and disgusting director.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2014 02:11
|
|
|
Filthee Fingas posted:As both my mother and father are from the Islands (Brac/Hvar), Hajduk Split have always had a place in my heart. At 30 Subaić is younger but not that much unfortunately. While Pletikosa is approaching retirement in a mid-tier Russian club, Subaić is Monaco's first choice. I don't know what's Pletikosa's secret. He has been Croatia's first goal keeper since forever, surviving all managerial changes. He's not a very good keeper, or good looking, or smart or anything - but you never see the public or pundits question his position. It's hard to break the circle for Subaić. The managers probably believe that his quality would be offset by his lack of games with the national team. He doesn't know the defenders. _Dav posted:What do you guys think of the disallowed goal? I'm kinda on the fence, I'm not sure where my thoughts would land if I was neutral. I too think that was a good call although who knows what would this ref rule if it were Brazil's attack.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2014 12:15
|
|
|
After seeing Brazil-Mexico, I don't see us progressing to the next group. We'll defeat Cameroon, draw with Mexico.  Brazil is eliminated in the next round. Modrić is injured but is supposed to recover in time for tomorrow's game. Unlike Eto'o!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2014 22:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 16:50 |
|
|
Agreed. You couldn't see much of them, but it wasn't their role anyway. They had Sammir and Mandzukic forward, and Olic and Perisic on the sides to supply them with passes. Still, I believe Mexico is better and they can also afford to draw while we can't. I'd say our chances are around 30%.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 19, 2014 10:34
|
|