Croatia - Portugal, 25th June (Lipanj) 2016

Discussion in 'Euro 2016' started by Gilbertsson, Jun 23, 2016.

  1. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    • After beating Spain to win Group D, Croatia face Portugal
    • Portugal drew all three of their group games to finish third
    • Portugal beat already-qualified Croatia 3-0 in EURO '96 group stage
    Croatia will look to beat Portugal for the first time as the sides meet in Lens, with Fernando Santos's team aiming to halt a run of three draws at UEFA EURO 2016.

    Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens
    Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)

    I hope that his surname isn't Carvalho for real. :)

    Assistant referees:
    Roberto Alonso Fernández (Spain)
    Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez (Spain)
    Fourth official:
    Viktor Kassai (Hungary)
    Additional assistant referees:
    Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)
    Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain)
    Reserve official:
    György Ring (Hungary)



    [​IMG]
    Lucky stadium for Croatian side, because they have won against Jamaica, World Cup 1998 / 3-1.

    Vedran Ćorluka has spoken of Croatia's confidence in their abilities as a a team before and during the tournament.

    “We expected to get past the group stage for sure and we achieved that objective. We also believed that we could compete with Spain, which we proved in that game," he said.

    "We will have to wait and see how far we can go in the upcoming matches. I think it is easier to play in the group stage because you can get a second chance.”

    Defender Vedran Ćorluka became a symbol of team spirit and fight in Croatia after he suffered a bloody head injury in the first match. He played the whole 90 minutes with a bandage and now he is playing with specially designed head protection that looks like a waterpolo cap. "I still have a few stiches, we kept it to hold a wound as it opened during the game against Czech Republic," he explained. "But it seems that it’s bringing luck, so let me keep it on my head for as long as possible…”

    Previous meetings
    • Portugal have won all three previous matches against Croatia without conceding, most notably triumphing 3-0 in their first encounter, in the group stage of EURO '96 – though it was the last group game and Croatia, who had already qualified for the quarter-finals by winning twice, fielded an under-strength line-up.
    • Their most recent meeting was a friendly in Geneva in June 2013, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the only goal after 36 minutes.

     
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  2. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    Everyone is talking about Italy-Spain but I think that will be a boring 0-0 game. This Portugal-Croatia match is really the one that could be the most exciting.

    I hope Croatia wins. They've been the most entertaining team to watch so far. They have created chances and scored in all 3 games. And I hope they play Poland in the next round so we can guarantee at least one Eastern European team in the semifinals. Hopefully against Hungary :D:whistling:
     
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  3. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    ESP - ITA
    CRO - POR

    Both matches are proclaimed as the first derbies.
    If you say to Poles or Hungarians that they are EASTERN Europe, they won't accept this. They belong to Central European civilization circle and the match between Austria and Hungary was Austro - Hungarian derby.:D
    Eastern Europe starts with Ukraine, Belarus, Russia.:whistling:

    Poland has several good players, but also Milik made some crucial mistakes, ball control, he could score against Germany. Poland seems impressed with this EURO.
    Hungarians have a heart, leader in their captain, Dzsudzsák. Good left leg.:D With nice amount of luck during those 2 goals against Portugal.
    Does he have Ukrainian origins by any chance? It sounds like Dzyuba, he has Ukrainian roots.

    I think that there are some Croats in Hungarian team: Lovrencsics, Guzmics by origins.

    I wouldn't like to see Hungary as Croatian opponent. Hungarian defence seems complicated. Portugal was really frustrated and players were literally mad, especially Ronaldo.

    Probably strong euphoria in Hungary, because they weren't at EURO since 1972. What happened with your football. If you could create great generations during the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, early 70's...what happened later?

    Good luck against Belgique.:cool:
     
  4. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    Nobody really knows what happened to Hungarian football. Somewhere along the way the domestic league declined during the end of the communist days. Once the league declined the people maybe stopped respecting the sport as much as some of our neighboring countries where the sport was very successful with Crvena Zvezda and Steaua even winning Champions League titles.

    In Hungarian culture over the years football because somewhat of a joke. Sometimes losing for long period of time creates a culture of acceptance that we're not very good and we shouldn't hope. Football success was something we only read about in history books.

    Keep in mind that Hungary had to pass a playoff against Norway to get to the Euros. This is exactly the kind of country that benefited from the new 24 team format. If the format was still 16 teams we wouldn't be here having this conversation. Maybe just those extra 8 Euro spots gave countries like Hungary, Wales and Iceland that little bit of confidence that was lacking before.
     
  5. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    Problems started in qualifications for the World Cup 1990. Hungary was in the group with Spain and Ireland.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_UEFA_Group_6

    Draw with Malta, surprise. Draw against Spain at home and bad defeat with 4-0 away. This is connected with World Cups only, since Hungary showed at 1986, 1982, 1978...

    At EURO's this was very bad. At 1972, Hungary ended 4th. This was in Belgium. At 1976, Yugoslavia was a host, country with Croatia inside also.:confused:

    In those qualifications, Hungary lost against Wales in both matches and this removed Hungary from EURO's until today.:thumbsdown:

    Qualifications for 1980 EURO

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1980_qualifying_Group_6

    Defeats against Finland, Greece. This is a surprise probably in that decade. Hungary was with Soviet Union, maybe Hungary needed to lose away. Hard to say.

    In 1984 qualifications, Hungary was in POT 2.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1984_qualifying

    Portugal was in lower POT, same as Greece, Ireland, Sweden, etc.

    Hungarian group was also bad for Hungary.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1984_qualifying_Group_3

    At least, they ended 2nd, now they ended 4th.

    Defeats against England were expected, POT 1 team. But Greece won also, lower POT. Same as Denmark.

    The problem is that Hungary started to lose in qualifications who were in weaker POTS, shape and reputation. The question is why? Weak roster...maybe some players had connection and better ones were left out.

    In late 60's Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb won Inter Cities Fair 1967 (UEFA Cup in later decades).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966–67_Inter-Cities_Fairs_Cup

    I see Ferencvaros here.

    But it's true. Influence of Yugoslav, Romanian clubs became stronger in the 80's and 90's. Croatian Hajduk Split played quarter finals in the Champions League against Ajax and they have won the title in that year.

    At World Cup scene, Yugoslav national team was also weaker in 60's, 70's at World Cups.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia_national_football_team

    In 1971, Croatian Spring happened, they wanted independence. One of the reasons of turbulent Yugoslav moments.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_Spring

    From 1966 until 1990, Yugoslavia was weak at World Cups.

    If we observe EURO's, Yugoslavia was better but only until 1976, they qualified as hosts. From 1980 until 1992 very weak also, but national league was better and stronger.

    As you can see, similar problems affected other countries also.

    Austria also vanished, same as Poland. Yugoslavia was qualified for the EURO 1992, but they were banned, since Serbs started the war against Croats and Denmark entered instead of them and became the title holders.:D

    Goal scorers for Yugoslavia were some Croats also: Prosinecki, Jarni, Vulic, Boban, Suker.

    I dont't also remember Hungarian results, I was too young. I have only heard about Gabor Kiraly, Pal Dardai, Zoltan Gera, Bela Illes, Barnabas Stipanovics (Croatian origins), Ferenc Puskas...and probably there are a lot of players with surnames Nagy, Kocsis, Kiss...:D There are a lot of players named Horvath. This surname means Croat.:)

    This one seems good:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyula_Grosics

    https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Hungarian_footballers&from=A

    Hard to say, what happened with Hungary. Croatia played against Norway in the group with Italy also. Norway became complicated during the rounds.

    Wales was also unlucky with Craig Bellamy, Gary Speed, Ryan Giggs...same as Iceland with Gudjohnsen. This new format helped indeed. Before we had 16 teams in the group stage.

    Even with this format, some teams played really bad at this EURO: Romania, Albania, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria...some of them needed to show much more, maybe they have thought on some easy way through with the new format.:rolleyes:

    Sweden, Austria were only oriented around Ibrahimovic and Alaba...and Austria won their qualification group.:confused: A lot of bad teams in tactical sense went out already.
     
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  6. JamestheDW1

    JamestheDW1 Member

    Mar 24, 2016
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Hey Gilbertsson! You should create more threads like this for the knock out stage, they are really good. They detail the referee, the other officials' names and the stadium, they detail important facts to know about both teams and the thread feels more like a professional news article than a thread which says a lot. Keep doing more of these please, because even I along with many other football fans forget about some of these details!
     
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  7. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    I was not regular participant of this forum for months. This EURO motivated me for more visits. It's not hard to make semi-pro journalist article. It's important to emphasize on the main event, the main structure are combined with some interesting moments, solid way of personal expression and multimedia, because we are all visual types. Placing the multimedia between the text, so that readers keep their focus on the theme, otherwise they will leave.:D

    It's also important to emphasize some historic facts, football history, team mentality, earlier results, previous results on the same stadium where event happens in contemporary time.
     
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  8. BatatasFritas

    BatatasFritas Member+

    Nov 29, 2004
    Toronto
    Club:
    FC Porto
    There will be drama in this game. I predict red cards, controversial decisions, maybe even a hand of God goal. I expect Portugal to raise their game and make this the game of the tournament. Good luck to Both teams. I got nothing negative to say about the Croats.
    May the best team win.
     
  9. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
  10. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
  11. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    I will miss this game for work tomorrow, so good luck to Croatia. They are clearly the better team, but sometimes one individual can change everything. If there is one team that can change everything with one or two individual players, it's Portugal.

    The key with Ronaldo is always not to stop him, but to stop the ball before it gets to him. Once you allow the service to get to him in the box it's too late ... Vida and Corluka are going to have a difficult night if the ball gets to Ronaldo in the box.

    The best is just to follow Atletico's tactics. Simeone usually has no problem shutting Ronaldo down. Play a narrow midfield to force the ball wide and then press aggressively. Portugal's wide players are not good enough to escape a trap and will just turn the ball over leaving Ronaldo frustrated with no service. Once the ball turns over release Perisic on the counter attack with speed to give the old Pepe/Carvalho a big headache.
     
  12. nirvaanfc

    nirvaanfc Member

    Juventus
    Italy
    Jan 13, 2004
    Trinidad & Tobago
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Really nice write-up indeed. I'm going for Croatia in this one, but on paper its a tough matchup....
     
  13. The Special One

    The Special One Member+

    Aug 6, 2005
    Alot of trash talk coming from the Croat team, if I was ever to give someone advice on dealing with Ronaldo it's to not give him added motivation ahead of the game, he seems to thrive in these situations.

    Portugal is unbeaten in 10 competitive matches. they have drawn with 2 sides of less quality and an Austria side which was desperately unlucky against Iceland and Hungary, but the point is they are not an easy team to beat even when they are not at their best.

    Croatia are the favourites in this game but I think Portugal will win.
     
  14. BatatasFritas

    BatatasFritas Member+

    Nov 29, 2004
    Toronto
    Club:
    FC Porto
    I'm hoping there will be Messi chants to pump Ronaldo even more.

    Should be a good game. May the best team win.
     
  15. FootballMental

    FootballMental New Member

    May 9, 2016
    Club:
    Gremio Porto Alegre
    Of course there will be spectacle. Both teams will score more then one from ones side, Im sure. Opposite direction of meeting could have a place only if Croatia get Portugal out with something like 4:1 or 3:0. Ronaldo will have a beautiful play but couldnt decide everything. Im sure there will be new leader from Croatia side, who didnt play decisive role earlier. It could be Brozovich or somebody from groupe of defence (both midfielders or defencemen).
     
  16. Takeover73

    Takeover73 Member

    Jun 23, 2016
    Easy win for Croatia. Ronaldo ist too selfish.
    3:0
     
  17. mfw13

    mfw13 Member+

    Jul 19, 2003
    Seattle
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    What an utterly mediocre first half....the quality of the football at the Euros has been a real disappointment...
     
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  18. mfw13

    mfw13 Member+

    Jul 19, 2003
    Seattle
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    Zero shots on goal through 90 minutes....I think I'm going to go outside and watch the grass grow....probably more interesting....
     
  19. ShortyMac

    ShortyMac Member+

    Barcelona
    Apr 10, 2011
    Ohio, USA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    HT of ET: 0-0.
     
  20. ShortyMac

    ShortyMac Member+

    Barcelona
    Apr 10, 2011
    Ohio, USA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    116' goal - Queresma scores a header from close range after a saved Ronaldo chance.

    Looks like it'll be Poland-Portugal.

    EDIT:

    AET: Croatia 0-1 Portugal
     
  21. Sport Billy

    Sport Billy Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 25, 2006
    Croatia were just to lazy to attack when they had the chance and too lazy to defend when they had too.

    Ashame as they out played Portugal.
     
  22. BatatasFritas

    BatatasFritas Member+

    Nov 29, 2004
    Toronto
    Club:
    FC Porto
    Great prediction. What will the score be between Croatia and Poland now?
     
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  23. JoseEmidio

    JoseEmidio Member+

    Dec 6, 2009
    London
    Club:
    SL Benfica
    Nat'l Team:
    Portugal
    Portuguese catenaccio wins with a big slice of luck.

    Like I said after the Hungary game we going to bunker and hope for the best.

    Hard luck Croatia.
     
  24. SCP_16

    SCP_16 Member+

    Aug 8, 2004
    Bay Area
    Club:
    Sporting CP Lisbon
    Nat'l Team:
    Portugal
    Chat sh*t, get banged
     
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  25. Nani_17

    Nani_17 Member+

    Nov 3, 2011
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Brilliant. Did you pick Northern Ireland to win the Euro.
     
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