Mislio sam da u UAE trenira Zoran, ali dobro. Ne daj Bože njega na našoj klupi. Ali jedna stvar mi nije jasna. Ako pritisak javnosti dovede do otkaza trenerima kod nas, kako se ne može isti takav protisak i na HNS izvršiti? Bilić je sam otišao od reprezentacije- nije li mu Zdravko dojadio?
Sada je u UAE, vrhunski ugovori, prije toga je bio u Arabiji, takoder vrhunski. Kada se izvrsi pritisak na HNS, oni se idu zaliti UEFI, kako se politika mijesa u nogomet i onda UEFA, FIFA njih obrane. I opet se vracamo na zupanijske saveze, koji su dobri sa Dinamom. Svi znaju da je Slavonija uz Dinamo Zagreb. Pogledaj kako je sada Osijek uspjesan. Sjeti se kada je trener Istre Pamic u superlativima govorio o Dinamu, da je sretan sto nije izgubio 6-0, vec samo 4-0. Onda kada neki klub koji izbori Prvu Ligu, ne dobije licencu za Prvu Ligu, jer nema dovoljno reflektora?? Rijeka isto uredno dobiva igrace na posudbu iz Dinama. Jedini protivnik Dinama je sada Hajduk u Prvoj Ligi. U Rudes dosao spanjolski klub Alaves. Svima ostalima lijepo ide. Naravno, kada je glasovanje, svi izglasaju potporu. Nije mu dojadio, nego je sredeno bilo sve sa Lokomotivom Moskva, tamo je Corluku doveo, takoder dobrog prijatelja Dinama. Potom je otisao u Besiktas, od zime ce tamo igrati Vida. Mislis da je slucajno? Junior Fernandes odmah prodan, kada se igrala utakmica sa Turskom. U Besiktasu vec igra Mitrovic, takoder reprezentativac, trener vratara je Marijan Mrmic, jedan od clanova Bilicevog stozera. Znas da je tesko biti trener vratara u vrhunskom klubu, a Besiktas je dobar klub. Bilic je bio izbornik 6 godina, nema niti potrebe niti smisla vise. Htio je klupsku karijeru. Previse je poveznica i uspjesnih karijera onih koji su bili i ostali dobri sa Dinamom. Kranjcar nije nista losiji od Nike Kovaca, ali mu ne ide, kako bi on htio.
Bokte. Ovo je hobotnica sa sto krakova. Iako, kad sam mislio na pritisak, onda sam mislio na pritisak javnosti, ne nužno izravni politički. Ne može UEFA štititi lopove ako ih narod i neki okuraženi novinari počnu razapinjati i non-stop kinjiti.
Pritisak javnosti urodi plodom, kada je samo trener u pitanju. On snosi taj teret uspjeha ili neuspjeha. Ovako vjerojatno i drugi svjetski klubovi rade. Sto drugo mozes, osim sklapati odnose sa drugim europskim klubovima. Uvijek se nametnu pitanja, zasto su Pasalic, Kalinic u drugom planu? Uvijek iza Mandzukica. Mandzukic nije vec neko vrijeme u formi. Onda se postavlja pitanje, je li Kovacic bas materijal za Real Madrid? Bas i nije, ali je tamo. Ivan Santini, kao igrac Zadra je imao puno tezi put. Hajdukovi solidni igraci Fran Tudor, Mate Males, Franko Andrijasevic igraju u puno losijim klubovima. Dok Ivan Vargic, igrac prijateljskog Osijeka, Rijeke, danas igra u Laziu. Je li bas puno bolji od Lovre Kalinica? UEFA i FIFA isto imaju svoja pravila. Sjeti se njihovih poteskoca. Prividno sole pamet nacionalnim savezima, a rade po svome. Kada sam spomenuo Besiktas, tamo je igrao i Schildenfeld, takoder prijateljski igrac. Igrao je i u Eintrachtu, bas gdje su i braca Kovac. Pa je igrao u PAOKU, gdje je Ciro Blazevic bio trener 1991. Tu mozes dodati i Ljupka Petrovica, koji je bio trener Lokomotive Zagreb, zatim PAOKA, Igor Tudor trener PAOKA, sada trenira Galatasaray, zar je bas toliko dobar? Sada kada krenu igraci u Galatasaray. Lijepo se suraduje sa Grckom, Turskom, UAE, Arabijom, klubovima po Njemackoj, Italiji, Spanjolskoj, Engleskoj, malo po Rusiji. Puno nasih igraca je igralo u istim klubovima: Inter, Wolfsburg, Atletico Madrid, Bayern. Zanimljivo je da sa nasim igracima u istim klubovima vidimo igrace iz ostalih drzava u regiji. Tako je posljednjih 30 godina (Boban - Savicevic, Suker - Mijatovic), Danas Vrsaljko - Savic, bivsi treneri Atletica Radomir Antic, Tomislav Ivic. Potom Mandzukic, Pjaca, Pjanic. Mario Pasalic, Nikola Kalinic, Andrej Modic (AC Milan). Mozes misliti kako trener Montella obozava te igrace? Radi sto mu kazu. Fiorentina (Badelj, prije Kalinic, Milenkovic, posudbe Tomovic, Ante Rebic, koji je sada kod Nike Kovaca u Eintrachtu. Bivsi trener Fiorentine Mihajlovic. Oni svi lijepo suraduju. Hajdukov doseg je Brescia, tamo igra Franjo Prce i jedan iz Rijeke Ricardo Bagadur. Serie B. Oni ocito nemaju veze sa Dinamom. Moze igrac igrati u Hajduku, ali ako prihvati uvjete Dinama, opet mu je odlicno (Pasalic, Vlasic, Lovre Kalinic). Nije nista posebno, ali je uspjesno. Mario Pasalic bio na posudbi u Monacu kod Subasica. Sada je Pasalic u Spartaku, a tamo igra Marko Petkovic, nekada su igrali tamo Vukojevic, Pletikosa (prosjecni igraci), Nemanja Vidic. Vukojevic je iz Bjelovara, odakle i Mamic rodenjem. Previse poveznica, kada bi se islo dublje, rijec bi bila o puno vise klubova. Bayer Leverkusen uvijek imao puno igraca iz Hrvatske (Zivkovic, Babic, Jedvaj, ponovno braca Kovac, Jurica Vranjes, njemacki Hrvat Thomas Brdaric, americki Hrvat Frankie Hejduk. Iz BiH su tamo igrali Barbarez, Berberovic, Spahic (bivsi igrac Zagreba, potom Lokomotive Moskva - Corluka Bilic). Sve se vrti u krug. Rijec je uglavnom o igracima prosjecne kvalitete. Dok su se Ivica Krizanac, Dado Prso mukotrpno probijali kroz anonimne klubove. Wolfsburg: Josip Brekalo, Edin Dzeko, Tomislav Maric, Ivica Olic, Mandzukic, Perisic. Bivsi igraci Dinama, regionalna suradnja. I svima dobro ide ili je islo. Odes na HSV igrace, tamo vidis Simunica, Olica, Hasana Salihamidzica, osovine iz Bayerna i Bayera, ako odes u Hoffenheim, opet Simunic, Kramaric, Bicakcic, Zulj, Skenderovic, Antonio Colak, Marko Maric sve isto, nepoznati i prosjecni igraci. Sada im je Everton hit: Vlasic, Besic. Tako mozes unedogled pratiti poveznice posljednjih 25 godina. Lazio - Prce, Vargic, Lulic postao kapetan cak, Dordevic, Basta, Boksic, Mihajlovic, Stankovic, Petkovic (bivsi trener), Duje Jarvocic, Josip Elez, Dejan Sarac, Goran Pandev. Puno igraca sa tih prostora. Rog, Strinic, Maksimovic, Aljosa Asanovic, Mario Cvitanovic, Josip Radosevic igrali u Napoliju. Kada se ide u Italiju igrati, ide se u Napoli, Milano, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentinu, najbolje klubove. Za dosta njih nismo niti culi, niti cemo ih vidati.
Izbornik Čačić has called up the squad for qualifiers at Home against Finland(Oct 06) and then away against Ukraine(Oct 09). New name on the squad sheet is Antonio Milic(KV Oostende). Milic has played both LB and CB for his club team this season and the past few seasons. Players that out injured and are not called up are Mateo Kovacic, Marko Pjaca and Vedran Corluka. We'll see what the standings say after October 9th.
....at the end 1-1. Not good. Croatia will avoid Portugal, Italy if all three end in Pot 1 as carriers. But Croatia has very negative history with results against Scotland. In general, bad performance against England, Rep. of Ireland. Northern Ireland seems as good desire, same as Denmark, Sweden.
New coach Zlatko Dalic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlatko_Dalić Livno, Tomislavgrad...all key people in football are from there: Davor Suker, Zdravko Mamic, Branko Ivankovic, Nikola Jurcevic, Niko and Robert Kovac through birth and origins.
So we drew 1-1 with Finland. Here are the highlights: We have for some stupid reason decided to change coaches and replace Ante Cacic with Zlatko Dalic. This Savez is so out of it. This is the 4th coach since Bilic's tenure ended after EURO 2012. We need to fire Suker, Mamic, Vrbanovic and everyone associated, related to them or in cahoots. The people running our FA have no idea what they are doing. They are running the NT like a club team. Sramota. This generation (85-89) has been coached terribly since Bilic left. (even though I did like Niko Kovac as a coach). But this Dalic appointment at this time is horrendous. I expect a loss at this point against Ukraine.
So we beat Ukraine and looked quite good in the 2nd half. The 1st half was shaky. But the team has now qualified for the playoffs with a nice 0-2 win in Ukraine. Kramaric scored both of the goals.
So we are seeded in the draw tomorrow. So we will be playing one of Northern Ireland(23), Sweden(25), Republic of Ireland(26) and Greece(47). Results against each team in the playoffs: We are 1-0 against Northern Ireland. We have only ever played Northern Ireland once. that was Nov 12, 2016 in Belfast where we played against them in a friendly. that game was 0-3 win for us. Mandzukic , Cop and Kramaric scored in that game. We are 2-0-1 against Sweden. Beat Sweden in a Qualifier on September 8, 2004. 0-1 away win. Goal Scorer in that game was Darijo Srna Beat Sweden in a qualifier on Oct 18, 2005. 1-0 was the scoreline. goal scorer was Darijo Srna from the penalty spot. Played in a friendly against them on February 29. 2012 @ Home. The scoreline was 1-3 loss. Our scorer was OG by Jonas Olsson. While Ibrahimovic and then 2 x Sebastein Larson goals. We are 2-1-1 against Republic of Ireland. They beat us Sept 5, 1998 in Dublin 2-0. The goal scorers were Roy Keane and Denis Irwin. Beat them in the return leg on Sept 04, 1999. 1-0 , on the last play of the game. Goal was scored by Davor Suker. Friendly in Aviva stadium we drew 0-0 with them Beat them in Euro 2012 in Poznan, Poland 3-1. Goal scorers for us in that game were 2 x Mario Mandzukic and Nikica Jelavic. Sean St. Ledger scored for Ireland. We are 1-3-2 against Greece. We drew 1-1 WC qualifier @ Home on Nov 10, 1996.Suker scored for us, while Demis Nikolaidis scored for them. April 30, 1997. We beat them in 0-1 in Thessaloniki. Goal scorer was Suker. Friendly in Athens, March 10, 1999. They beat us 3-2. Goal scorers were 2 x Stelios Giannakopoulos and Demis Nikolaidis. while Goran Vlaovic and Suker each scored a goal. Friendly August 15, 2001 @ Home. We drew 2-2 with Greece. Goal scorers were Milan Rapaic and Goran Vlaovic. While Alexis Alexandris scored twice for them Euro Qualifying September 7, 2010. we drew 0-0 at home against. Return leg Oct 7, 2011 saw them beat us 2-0 . With the scorers being Georgios Samaras and Theofanis Gekas. I have no preference as to who we draw tomorrow. But this qualifying group that we went through was difficult overall and I have no doubt whomever we draw tomorrow will be equally tough
So we drew Greece. Which is who I thought we would draw. Except for Iceland all our previous opponents the playoff rounds were from the Eastern part of Europe. So the home game will be played November 9-11, while the game away will be play November 12-14.
Negative history against Greece, with turbulent relations among fans, based on Olympiakos and PAOK fans. I predict two draws. First match is in Croatia, if they play 1-1, Greece will just play defensive at home, 0-0. I would rather see Northern Ireland or Sweden. Republic of Ireland and Greece are much harder opponents.
This guy gives a really good video analysis of how the Greeks will play. Video is from their games up to the June of 2017(just before the game against BIH in june). So it shows qualifiers and friendlies. This is all under the manager Michale Skibbe. The speaker is a Bosanac , so that is the language he speaks in but even if you don't know the language you get the pictures and you see the Greeks take up specific positions in that final third. He call it automatism(automatic) and he says it is not by chance this take these positions in the final third of the field and it is not by chance how they attack on the counter or when there is a free ball to be won. http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x5oq71p
Zlatko Dalic announced his first of callups for the games against Greece today.Mateo Kovacic(Real Madrid) and Vedran Corluka(Lokomotiv Moscow)are out injured and will not be availabIe for selection. I will talk about what formation we may play and who will start in the next few days or week ahead, but since this is a new Izornik with only 1 game under his belt, I am still not sure what formation he will play. He did call up 3 Left backs for this game, so we'll see on game day which one he prefers the most, because I guarantee that if we qualify not all 3 will be on the WC squad next summer. Keepers: Danijel Subašić (Monaco), Lovre Kalinić (Gent), Dominik Livaković (Dinamo) Defenders Domagoj Vida (Dynamo Kijev), Ivan Strinić (Sampdoria), Dejan Lovren (Liverpool), Šime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid), Josip Pivarić (Dynamo Kijev), Matej Mitrović (Bešiktaš), Marin Leovac (PAOK), Zoran Nižić (Hajduk) Midfielders: Luka Modrić (Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitić (Barcelona), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina), Marko Rog (Napoli), Mario Pašalić (Spartak Moskva), Filip Bradarić (Rijeka), Nikola Vlašić (Everton), Ante Rebić (Eintracht), Ivan Perišić (Inter) Strikers: Mario Mandžukić (Juventus), Nikola Kalinić (Milan), Andrej Kramarić (Hoffenheim) Players on standby are: Marcelo Brozović (Inter), Marko Pjaca (Juventus), Duje Čop (Standard Liege), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen), Antonio Milić (Oostende) http://hns-cff.hr/news/17051/izbornik-dalic-objavio-kandidate-za-utakmice-s-grckom/
So who will Zlatko Dalic start and which formation will he play on Nov 9th against Greece(I will get to the Greek squad when they announce their squad).? I predict he will continue with 4-2-3-1 formation and start a lot of the same players that started for us against Ukraine. So I predict he starts: Subasic; Vrsaljko - Vida - Lovren - Strinic; Rakitic -Badelj; Perisic - Modric - Kramaric; Kalinic I think the only 2 real pieces of speculation are who starts LB and who starts as CF. I think Strinic will beat out Pivaric and Leovac and start this game at LB. this will allow Vrsaljko to move back to his natural RB position. Strinic has had a run of games now for Sampdoria and I think this has allowed him to get into game shape and to be ready for this game. And IMO Strinic is better defensively then both Leovac and Pivaric. Vrsaljko looks like he is back in healthy and in form as he was seen on Athletico Madrids bench today in the Championships League, and we will need him to be up for this game. Vida is the leader of that backline, and frankly I don't expect he will have much to do in the first game, because the Greeks will look to nic a goal and that is it. They have little offensive capability. They are there to get goals either on dead ball situations or on some counter. Build of play is not what to expect in this game(s) from them. The video I posted in a previous post illustrates this. As for the CF position I think Kalinic is better at holding the ball up and should start up front for us. Mandzukic just does not do that effectively enough anymore. And I think Kalinic is probably the better finished now(but scoring for us problematic this qualifying campaign, so we will see what tactics, if any , will help us break down this greek defense) Pushing Modric forward absolves him of bringing up the ball. And allows both Rakitic and Badelj to play in there natural positions. Everyone of the starters have played a lot this season and should be ready for this 2 game playoff. bench is solid with attack minded players like Vlasic, Rebic, Mandzukic and Rog all available to provide something should they be called up. Again it will come down to scoring and can we score against Greece? As they are back to being very stingy, but when you play 3 defensive mids that is what you get. Can we create chances that lead to goals? I liked how we played in the second half against Ukraine, and hopefully that carries over to this game. With a new coach your never sure what your going to get.
If we observe technical - coaching staff: Zlatko Dalic, Ivica Olic, Marijan Mrmic, Josip Simunic and few other unknown subjects, we can't expect anything, unless if players alone create great atmosphere together and win in overall sense just like in Ukraine. I doubt that clapping hands and "come on" words could make a difference. Croatia needs to evolve in coaching business. Croatian key players have problems with their club positions in the Champions League: Monaco, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Napoli. With Carlo Ancelotti, Croatia could make much important results. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/foot...tti-world-cup-bayern-munich-greece-play-offs/
The Greek Coach (Michael Skibbe) has called up his team for this playoff fixture; Keepers: Orestis Karnezis(FC Watford), Stefano Kapino(Olympiacos), Giannia Anestis(AEK Athens) Defenders: Kostas Manolas(Roma), Kyriakos Papadopulous(Hamburger SV), Vasilis Torosidis(Bologna), Giorgos Tzavellas(Alanyaspor), Sokratis Papastathopoulos(Borussia Dortmund), Kostas Stafylidis(Augsburg), Panagiotis Retsos(Bayer Leverkusen), Babis Lykogiannis(Sturm Graz) Midfielders: Andreas Samaris(Benfica), Giannis Maniatis(Alanyapsor), Alexandros Tziolios(Al-Fayha), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos(AEK Athens), Dimitris Pelkas(PAOK), Zeca(Copenhagen), Kostas Fortounis(Olympiacos), Dimitris Kourbelis(Panathinaikos), Panagiotis Tachtsidis(Olympiacos) Strikers: Apostos Vellios(Nottingham Forest), Kostas Mitroglou(Marseille), Tasos Bakasetas(AEK Athens), Dimitris Diamantokas(VfL Bochum), Giannis Gianniotas(Real Vallodolid) Kostas Manolas(Roma) will not be available for the first game due to a suspension. Michael Skibbe will play either a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-2-3-1 formation. And the most likely starters for game 1 will be (in a 4411 formation) : Karnezis; Torosidis, Sokratis, Papadopoulos, Tzavellas; Zeca , Samaris, Tziolis, Stafylidis; Fortounis; Mitroglu Minus injuries I expect this starting 11(minus Papadopoulos who will be replaced in the 2nd game by Manolas) will be the same in the return leg in Greece. The Greeks will play defensively and hope to either counter or win the game on set pieces. So this first game will be one of defending from their perspective.
No Badelj as he's injured. I expect Rog or Brozovic to start now. I like Rog better only he mostly comes off the bench for Napoli.
Its hard to be in the first squad with players like Jorginho, Giaccherini, Allan, Hamsik the captain, also Ounas came in Napoli, fast Diawara is there.
Croatia beat the Greeks in the first leg 4-1. Goals were scored by Modric(penalty), Kalinic, Perisic and Kramaric. Greece goal was scored by Sokratis. Not too much to say other than it is a deserved win. As Greece are an average side right now. I don't want to say it is over but I can't see us not going through at this point. Congratulations to the boys, lets go to Greece and finish this off.
I predicted 0-0 very well in Greece. Missed few goals in the first match. Greece is without real talent, maybe they have well organized individuals, prepared mentally and physically, but the have many problems. 2nd leg match was not interesting at all. With much more talent, Croatia could not dominate...and that worries.
First off congratulations to the boys on qualifying. the better team moved on and that is something that, as a fan of football, you always want to see. The tie was won on Thursday where we played the best game by us that I have seen in a while. Where as yesterdays game was a much more pragmatic affair. We did not press or impose ourselves on the game. Reminds me of the Turkey playoffs for Euro 2012 where we did the same thing. I think short term that age is an issue. If you replace Brozovic with Badelj, then every starter who started yesterday, with the exception of Vrsaljko will be 29 years of age or older next summer. And I can't think of think any squads that have done much at WC's when the average age of its starters is around 30 years of age. So that is something to think about. The other thing is we have too few young quality strikers coming through right now. If we disregard the strikers called up for this playoff , the other strikers we currently have playing in decent European leagues now are Ivan Santini(28) SC Caen, Duje Cop(27) Standard Liege, Ante Budimir(26) Crotone,Mark Livaja(24) AEK Athens, Bruno Petkovic(23) Bologna, Stipe Perica(22) Udinese and Marko Kolar(22) Wisla Krakow. Currently now of these players is an NT player, but I hope that by the beginning of 2019 Stipe Perica has made the transition and gets called up to the NT. Because by 2019 we will need to find replacements for players that are getting older. And I think the LB position will be Ivan Strinic's until someone younger steps up and shows they can hold their own defensively and offer something going forward at the same time. I don't expect either Pivaric or Leovac to be on the plane for Russia next summer. As some point here I will list my squad of 23 for Russia next summer