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Brought to you by the County Court in Osijek. A situation from our sponsor's offices. Front to back: Luka Modrić, retracting / forgetting his earlier statements Zdravko Mamić, arguing with the judge and feigning injury Zoran Mamić, Zdravko's brother and accomplice, resting from managing Al-Ain in UAE Jadranka Sloković and Čedo Prodanović, top lawyers and former married couple, earning money  Modrić and Lovren are on Mamić's trial (as defense witnesses) and Mamić is a flamboyant, dirty mouthed criminal and who runs Dinamo Zagreb. They are former Dinamo players and Mamić used them to launder money. The fact that they are covering Mamić's and their own asses, and that Mamić also pretty much runs (or ran until recently) Croatian FA makes a lot of football fans angry to the point that they are actively rooting against the national team. Probably not as much as on the last Euro when they tried to interrupt games and get the team thrown out of the tournament.  Goalkeepers: Danijel Subašić (Monaco), Lovre Kalinić (Gent), Dominik Livaković (Dinamo) Don't know much about them. Average I guess? Defenders: Vedran Ćorluka (Lokomotiv), Domagoj Vida (Bešiktaš), Ivan Strinić (Milan), Dejan Lovren (Liverpool), Šime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid), Josip Pivarić (Dynamo Kijev), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen), Duje Ćaleta-Car (Red Bull Salzburg) Right back: Vrsaljko, won the EL. Jedvaj. Center backs: Lovren, played CL finals. Ol' blue eyes Ćorluka, once my favorite player, is likely to be in starting 11. He won the Russian league with Lokomotiv but only played 8 games because of injury. In his space we might see Vida too, he's a solid player and a good-natured peasant type. Ćaleta-Car, only 21, got to EL semi-finals with RB Salzburg. Left back: This has been a pain spot for Croatia ever since Jarni retired in 2002. Pivarić and Strinić are second rate players and we even saw Vida there in a friendly against Brazil. As a right footed CB he wasn't of much use going forward and he struggled defensively too. OTOH he had Willian to match. Midfield: Luka Modrić (Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitić (Barcelona), Mateo Kovačić (Real Madrid), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina), Marcelo Brozović (Inter), Filip Bradarić (Rijeka) Top class there, hard to find a place for all the talent. Modrić plays more forward than in Real. It's not certain that's the best spot since he's not used to it and frequently drops back into Rakitić's area. Kovačić tends to replace Modrić. Rakitić and Badelj play back. Brozović is a universal, box to box type with a powerful shot. Don't know about Bradarić, I guess he's the token Croatian league player. Offense: Mario Mandžukić (Juventus), striker, winger Ivan Perišić (Inter), winger Nikola Kalinić (Milan), striker Andrej Kramarić (Hoffenheim), striker Marko Pjaca (Schalke), winger Ante Rebić (Eintracht), winger Plenty options here too, but less stellar. For all his success in Juventus and all his efforts, Mandžukić doesn't fit in with the national team that well. Perišić and Kalinić are not as deadly as a few years ago. Rebić (won the cup with Eintracht) and Kramarić (among top Bundesliga scorers, qualified for CL) had good seasons in Germany so we might see them ahead of bigger names. Manager: Zlatko Dalić. Not much on his CV but he seems like an independent guy who's not afraid to leave the stars on the bench. Well-liked compared to his predecessor, Ante "TV repairman" Čačić. Prediction: I don't think Iceland has enough quality to maintain performance from two years ago. I see a win there and at least one win over Argentina or Nigeria. Croatia can go far. After the group stage they seemed like favorites to win the 2016 Euro, and this team is not much worse. It could be Modrić's last tournament for the national team. He's 32, like Mandžukić and Ćorluka. Subašić, Rakitić and Kalinić are in their 30's too. Everyone's aware that they are at their peak or behind it and will give it their all. Doctor Malaver fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Jun 6, 2018 |
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Jun 5, 2018 10:33
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I'm also gonna plug today's Guardian article because it's decent and the author is an acquaintance of mine. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/05/croatia-world-cup-2018-team-guide-tactics-key-players-luka-modric-zlatko-dalic
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Jun 5, 2018 11:34
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I can't believe Kalinic gets call ups still. I haven't seen someone miss so many sitters since Dzeko's first season at Roma. I know he had plenty of moves at some point t but this past season was abysmal. Also lmao at the legal nightmare.
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Jun 5, 2018 12:01
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it's really weird to see a Croatian team without Srna
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Jun 5, 2018 12:09
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can modric and lovren go to prison for perjury?
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Jun 5, 2018 12:12
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Cool Dude Dejan Lovren means Croatia are good Somebody make a gif of the Lovren dance so we can put it all over this thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzkWybytaWA
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Jun 5, 2018 12:46
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I went to Croatia last week and I saw some cool racist football murals, also I saw a wedding where they broke out flares and it started doing football chants. In conclusion, Croatia is a land of contrasts.
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Jun 5, 2018 13:59
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Jose posted:can modric and lovren go to prison for perjury? You really don't know how the justice system works in Eastern Europe, do you.
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Jun 5, 2018 16:07
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i said can not will
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Jun 5, 2018 16:19
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Gigi Galli posted:I can't believe Kalinic gets call ups still. I haven't seen someone miss so many sitters since Dzeko's first season at Roma. I know he had plenty of moves at some point t but this past season was abysmal. Shamefully, I know nothing about his season in Milan. Care to provide more information? curried lamb of God posted:it's really weird to see a Croatian team without Srna Srna was a good captain, even though his offensive tactics were in later years reduced to throwing himself into an opposing player who isn't moving, falling down, and angrily requesting a foul. He is soon ending his doping suspension and will supposedly join Cagliari. That's a remarkable persistence for a 36 year old player. I expected him to end his career when he was hit with the doping charge. Jose posted:can modric and lovren go to prison for perjury? Good question! I'm not sure if perjury carries a prison sentence but Modrić and his mother in law (lol) were formally accused of perjury last year. I don't think Lovren was too but I don't follow the subject closely. It's a mess. Mamić has more than one trial running against him. Highlights include firing his lawyers in the middle of the court session, allegedly surviving an assassination attempt, dancing on a wedding while allegedly injured...
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Jun 5, 2018 16:20
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Doctor Malaver posted:Shamefully, I know nothing about his season in Milan. Care to provide more information? Montella made management bring him in even though we had Andre Silva, Cutrone, Borini, Calhanoglu and Suso all ready to go in the forward position. Cutrone had a really great break out season, scoring 18 goals total to Kalinic's 6 yet management persisted on starting him in must win games. After Montella got sacked he got less time on the pitch but when he came on he was awful every time. Missing open nets from 5 meters out, shooting at nothing, making everything look more difficult than it was. Gattuso even left him out of the team sheet one time because he was being lazy in training. All that said, when Gattuso left him out apparently it woke him up in training, but he didn't improve in any real way, he must've just been really lazy or something and shaped up. Now he wont leave and we're stuck with him for another year. Ideally he scores a lot in this tournament and some Chinese team takes him off our hands.
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Jun 5, 2018 16:40
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Gigi Galli posted:Montella made management bring him in even though we had Andre Silva, Cutrone, Borini, Calhanoglu and Suso all ready to go in the forward position. Cutrone had a really great break out season, scoring 18 goals total to Kalinic's 6 yet management persisted on starting him in must win games. After Montella got sacked he got less time on the pitch but when he came on he was awful every time. Missing open nets from 5 meters out, shooting at nothing, making everything look more difficult than it was. Gattuso even left him out of the team sheet one time because he was being lazy in training. Strinić signed for Milan last week! What's the LB situation there, what's his competition?
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Jun 6, 2018 14:00
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Doctor Malaver posted:Strinić signed for Milan last week! What's the LB situation there, what's his competition? I saw that; his competition is Ricardo Rodriguez and Luca Antonelli. I imagine Antonelli will be sold, and Strinic will have to fight for his place with Rodriguez. If Milan don't get tossed out of the Europa League by UEFA I'm sure he'll get plenty of playing time. That said I wasn't particularly impressed with him at Sampdoria. I honestly think this was just to allow Calabria to stay at right back rather than have him deputize for Rodriguez when necessary.
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Jun 6, 2018 15:23
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RE: your keepers. I watched Lovre Kalinic the last ~2 seasons and he's really good. Everybody at the club expects him to leave for the premier league this transfer window.
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Jun 6, 2018 16:51
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Mamić got convicted! This being Croatia and all, who knows if he'll ever actually serve but good news never the less. One of his earlier histrionics was that if he's convicted he'll drink poison just like the "hero" general Praljak so now people on social media are posting DRINK THE POISON, oval office  Gigi Galli posted:I saw that; his competition is Ricardo Rodriguez and Luca Antonelli. I imagine Antonelli will be sold, and Strinic will have to fight for his place with Rodriguez. If Milan don't get tossed out of the Europa League by UEFA I'm sure he'll get plenty of playing time. That said I wasn't particularly impressed with him at Sampdoria. I honestly think this was just to allow Calabria to stay at right back rather than have him deputize for Rodriguez when necessary. Why would Milan get tossed out? shut up blegum posted:RE: your keepers. I watched Lovre Kalinic the last ~2 seasons and he's really good. Everybody at the club expects him to leave for the premier league this transfer window. That's good to hear. I believe he was voted last season the best keeper in the Belgian league.
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Jun 7, 2018 21:32
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Doctor Malaver posted:Why would Milan get tossed out? FFP, our owner is a mystery man that has no money.
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Jun 7, 2018 21:38
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Croatia - Senegal 2:1 First half was fruitless possession. It was hot and we barely moved, let alone attempted to score goals. It was painful to watch. Senegal had a few elegant and dangerous counters. Sarr scored a very nice two touch goal at the beginning of the second half but then our subs started actually playing. Perišić scored first from a deflected set piece and Kramarić scored second. At some point Senegalese got half a dozen yellow cards for... arguing with the ref? He even threatened to red card their manager. Takeaways: - Kramarić should start all Croatian games. He's second only to Modrić - Rebić is dangerous but for opposing defenders more than for their goal - Koulibaly is a monster
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Jun 9, 2018 08:07
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Croatia - Nigeria 2 : 0 Sorry (not sorry) for the poo poo game yesterday. It wasn't nice to watch but we got everything we needed. Our defense, which is often perceived as the weakest link, allowed a total of one shot at the goal. And we could've scored 1-2 more. I see us scoring against Argentina and keeping a clean sheet against Iceland. I like Dalić even more. He solved the Mandžukić or Kramarić dilemma by putting them both. His replacements were timely and made sense. He reacts to criticism normally. Other than some over-the-top patriotism, I can hardly find a fault with him. Of course I might eat my words after one of the next few games...
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Jun 17, 2018 10:16
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Gigi Galli posted:Ideally he scores a lot in this tournament and some Chinese team takes him off our hands. I've got some bad news
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Jun 18, 2018 15:42
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Vando posted:I've got some bad news This fucker is doing this to retain his cushy salary and not get sold. I hope Croatia wins the whole goddamn thing without him, the oval office.
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Jun 18, 2018 15:43
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I know it's early days but he's made a real strong play for Binman of the Tournament here
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Jun 18, 2018 15:46
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Vando posted:I know it's early days but he's made a real strong play for Binman of the Tournament here He's #1 binman in my heart until the end of time. It's taken a long time to replace Cristian Zaccardo but here we are.
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Jun 18, 2018 15:46
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https://twitter.com/MilanOutLoud/status/1008743258451673088
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Jun 18, 2018 17:16
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Gigi Galli posted:This fucker is doing this to retain his cushy salary and not get sold. How is getting thrown out from the national team going to help with that? To others who haven't heard the news, Nikola Kalinić (not to be confused with Lovre Kalinić, reserve keeper) was sent home after he refused to enter as a substitute for Mandžukić in the Nigeria game. We learned that he did the same in the friendly with Brasil. His excuse was back pains. The problem is that we don't have a good replacement for him. Kramarić is a similar type of striker, but if he plays attacking midfield behind Mandžukić then all we have left on the bench are wingers. 
Doctor Malaver fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Jun 18, 2018 |
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Jun 18, 2018 22:59
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Doctor Malaver posted:How is getting thrown out from the national team going to help with that? He has a few years left in his bloated contract and has already rejected offers that Milan agreed to, which were already at cost or at a loss. This is going to lower his value even further so unless someone agrees to overpay for a striker in his 30s then he's gonna collect a paycheck and wait. Good for him, I guess. I just wish he played for another club team.
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Jun 18, 2018 23:08
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Gigi Galli posted:He's #1 binman in my heart until the end of time. It's taken a long time to replace Cristian Zaccardo but here we are. What about Bonera
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Jun 18, 2018 23:13
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Wengy posted:What about Bonera Zaccardo was worse because he also got my hometown team relegated to Serie C. Kalinic has surpassed both of these clown men. It is surprising that there appears to be only one target striker left in Mandzukic. It's funny because he plays like a winger at Juve so while he's capable as both, it appears he'll have to stay in one role for the rest of the tournament.
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Jun 18, 2018 23:16
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Gigi Galli posted:He has a few years left in his bloated contract and has already rejected offers that Milan agreed to, which were already at cost or at a loss. This is going to lower his value even further so unless someone agrees to overpay for a striker in his 30s then he's gonna collect a paycheck and wait. I'm not saying you're wrong because I can't know, but that doesn't make much sense. Who in the world would give up on the opportunity to crown his career with a World Cup (and Croatia can go far), to be despised and ridiculed by his country and much of the rest of the football world? So that he can say hee hee I'm now worth even less, you can't sell me!? Gigi Galli posted:Kalinic has surpassed both of these clown men. It is surprising that there appears to be only one target striker left in Mandzukic. It's funny because he plays like a winger at Juve so while he's capable as both, it appears he'll have to stay in one role for the rest of the tournament. It's unlikely Mandžukić would be used as a winger anyway because we have plenty of them (Perišić, Rebić, Pjaca, if necessary Brozović too). I'm more worried that he'll have to play without rest. It's been a long season and he's 32. I guess we can play with Kramarić in front and Kovačić or Modrić behind him. BTW I wasn't even aware that Kalinić is a tall guy (1.87). Never struck me as a powerful forward.
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Jun 18, 2018 23:42
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Doctor Malaver posted:I'm not saying you're wrong because I can't know, but that doesn't make much sense. Who in the world would give up on the opportunity to crown his career with a World Cup (and Croatia can go far), to be despised and ridiculed by his country and much of the rest of the football world? So that he can say hee hee I'm now worth even less, you can't sell me!? I'm overreacting because I obviously don't like him, and if I implied that this is the only reason he's doing this then I've definitely expressed myself poorly. There must be something else going on if he got sent home entirely though; I don't think he wants to be there or he doesn't get along with anyone or something. You don't send your guys home because their back hurts. Like you said, there is every chance that Croatia can go far so I'm trying to figure out what his deal is. That's the first thing that came to mind. He is very much a target striker though, at least for his club teams. He's there to put it in the net and hold it up. If he's got some other aspect to his play then I've never seen it.
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Jun 18, 2018 23:57
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A year or two ago he was frustrated with the lack of play time. He was killing it for the club and looked great for the country too (on the rare opportunities when he'd play) but Mandžukić was always the first choice even though he was in poor form. It's possible that frustration carried over to this tournament where he's again the second or third choice. That's what Croatian journalists claim. However that too would be poor reasoning because it was the previous manager who did him injustice, not this one. And in 2018 he doesn't deserve to be in the starting 11.
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Jun 19, 2018 00:14
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Mandzukic owns
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Jun 19, 2018 01:08
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Gigi Galli posted:He has a few years left in his bloated contract and has already rejected offers that Milan agreed to, which were already at cost or at a loss. This is going to lower his value even further so unless someone agrees to overpay for a striker in his 30s then he's gonna collect a paycheck and wait. When was the last time a player went full Winston Bogarde?
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Jun 19, 2018 10:40
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Very good.
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Jun 21, 2018 20:56
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how do you say "it's coming home" in croatian pls
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Jun 21, 2018 21:49
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Vando posted:how do you say "it's coming home" in croatian pls Dolazi kući e: i tried KomodoWagon fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jun 21, 2018 |
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Jun 21, 2018 21:51
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Vando posted:how do you say "it's coming home" in croatian pls za dom spremni
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Jun 21, 2018 22:14
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Ahhh that was nice... I gotta admit, I was angry a bit with Dalić for not subbing earlier (Rebić looked like a liability before his goal, and Mandžukić was walking rather than running into counterattacks) but after 3:0 all is forgotten. I said it a few times already, but I really believe Dalić is a good guy. Post-match he responded to "How far can Croatia go in this tournament" with "Nowhere. If we get cocky now, if we lose focus, if we don't carry on humbly, we will get nowhere..." Otamendi should get suspended. I believe there is precedence for that in club football... A player hit another one on purpose, ref didn't see it during the match, and the player was later suspended for a game or few. I mean he kicked Rakitić in the shoulder while Rakitić was lying down. So yeah, write 10000 articles about Messi this and Argentina that, but don't let Otamendi off the hook. That's not bad news for them, though. Our B side will be more dangerous than A side would. Reminder that our B side, no Modrić, defeated Spain on Euro 2 years ago.
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Jun 22, 2018 12:02
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We can post again
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Jun 22, 2018 12:05
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Turns out putting the playmakers of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the same eleven makes for quite a killer team
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Jun 22, 2018 12:56
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Vegetable posted:Turns out putting the playmakers of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the same eleven makes for quite a killer team That's not enough, though. We've had Modrić + Rakitić for years. On the last World Cup our manager Niko Kovač was in a better situation than Dalić. He had more time to train the team, better results in the qualifiers, and he was a former respected Croatian captain. Today he is preparing to take over Bayern Munich. And yet despite Modrić and Rakitić, Kovač got us out at the group stage.
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Jun 22, 2018 14:03
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