Croatia - Spain - 21st June 2016

Discussion in 'Group D - Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia' started by Gilbertsson, Jun 20, 2016.

  1. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Then again, based on how France and England have been playing its more a death quadrant than a death half of the bracket. I mean...
    France - No Ireland; England - Hungary/Iceland

    ... is not so rough.
     
  2. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Is it bad that I really want the death bracket to be even more ridiculous ? :)
     
  3. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    True, but after the 1/8 final you have France vs England, then the winner plays Spain / Germany / Italy.
     
  4. jeanmarc

    jeanmarc Member

    Paris Saint Germain
    France
    Aug 7, 2009
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    You can say what you want about France & Italy but at least we won our group. ******** England, ******** Spain and also ******** Ronaldo, they're responsible for this situation.
     
  5. cromagnum

    cromagnum Member+

    Aug 13, 2007
    Great comeback by Croatia even with the referee being against Croatia. A very good performance from the young guys in Pjaca Jedvaj Rog. Perisic was superb as well.
     
  6. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    #56 Gilbertsson, Jun 22, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2016
    The victory is the best it seems. Croatia avoided Italy. Spain went out with the strongest players, nobody wants to meet Italy obviously. Spain tricked the media by saying that they will play with changed team.
    On the other hand, Croatia played with 5 new players: Jedvaj, Vrsaljko, Rog, Pjaca and Kalinic. Huge risk, but Croatia needed to rest Mandzukic, Modric, Brozovic, Vida and Strinic.

    [​IMG]

    The referee also gifted Spain with one penalty. It's visible that Spanish player pushed Croatian player Vrsaljko and that Vrsaljko wanted to avoid Spanish player with lifted arms. The next problem was with the penalty. Penalty should be repeated, because Croatian goalkeeper needed to be on the line, but he left the goal and took 1 or 2 meters of advantage. Some players entered too early in the 16 meter space. In normal circumstances, penalty should be repeated, but Kuipers knew that he made injustice by giving the penalty, so he didn't had strength to make this decision of repeating the penalty.


    The case with Marko Pjaca and his potential penalty against Croatia. He used diving methods, which was also visible, he fell too late.

    Also, you could see Srna and his whispering to Subasic before the penalty. Luka Modric said to Srna from the bench how Sergio Ramos shoots and Srna went to Subasic. Ramos also saw this, he should change his way of shooting.




    The match was very hard, in some moments Croatia had problems with their possession. Slides, ball taking was not the option.

    During the first 20 minutes, it seemed that Croatia wanted to lose, they thought that Czechs should win against Turkey, so that Croatia ends as third team and plays against Wales. But after they realized that Turkey is winning, so they started to play normally. Not sure have you noticed this, but from my angle, they had some strange unforced errors. If we observe the type of these players, they can't do such mistakes. Even after they started to play normally, defensive confusions were visible. Still, Croatian defence is the main problem, defenders returned some dangerous balls to the Croatian goalkeeper. Dejan Lovren is missing a lot. During the match against Hungary, coach sent him to the warm up area. The custom in English league is that player comes to the coach, if he is ready, but in other European countries, the custom is that player spends in the warm up area until he becomes invited and this period could last 50,60 minutes. Lovren came to the coach with the words: I am ready...and coach saw this as authority breaking. Also Lovren said in the media, that he deserves the first squad.

    Spain is still the EURO 2016 favourite. But they should be in fear of Italy. Especially if Thiago Motta becomes better. With Bonucci, Chiellini, Darmian, Parolo, deRossi Spanish creative players will have problems. Morata is not so much better than Graziano Pelle. Only in Serie A, Pelle is not so popular, that's why he plays abroad.

    Match players: Perisic, Morata, Kalinic, Subasic, Silva, Iniesta.

    Croatian coach said that this team with the 5 new players is the Upcoming Croatia. Those players will replace Corluka, Srna, Strinic, Mandzukic some day.

    Gerard Pique and his middle finger. Potential insult against Spain and Spanish anthem.



    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  7. bywex

    bywex New Member

    Feb 19, 2016
    my predictions for round of 16:

    1. SUI-POL
    2. CRO-ISL
    3. WAL-TUR
    4. POR-BEL

    5. ITA-ESP
    6. GER-SVK
    7. ENG-HUN
    8. FRA-NIR

    SUI -POL 3:0 Poland does not score goals and their matches in group C were boring
    CRO-ISL 4:0
    WAL-TUR 3:0
    POR-BEL 1:1 p. 5:4 Portugal will win because has Ronaldo

    ITA-ESP 1:1 p 4:5 Must see match of this round!
    GER-SVK 4:0
    ENG-HUN 4:0
    FRA-NIR 4:0

    1/4

    1. SUI - CRO 0:4
    2. WAL - POR 1:1 p. 4:5 because Ronaldo is better than Bale

    3. ESP - GER 2:2 p. 5:4 Another ust see match!
    4. ENG - FRA 1:2 Sorry England!

    1/2

    CRO - POR 2:1
    ESP-FRA 1:1 p. 5:4 Must see!

    FINAL

    CRO - ESP 1:1 p. 4:5 Spain takes a revenge!
     
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  8. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Spain will never get past Italy nevermind Germany.
     
  9. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Wishful thinking. They're better than both of them.
     
  10. MadridRojoRowdy

    Jun 14, 2016
    NC
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    They will be great matches, but I wouldn't count the Spanish out yet.
     
  11. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    No, they are not.
     
  12. MadridRojoRowdy

    Jun 14, 2016
    NC
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    I wouldn't say Italy is better than Spain, their playing style has proven to be effective against the Azurri in the last 2 Euros. As for Germany I think that they will defeat Spain by close margin.
     
  13. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Yeah, Germany is formidable (although they seem less fluid as a team since the WC win). Just find the argument "Spain will never get past Italy/Germany" amusing since they've always gotten past them consistently lately. :laugh:
     
  14. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Spain is weaker, Germany and Italy are much stronger than during their previous encounters.

    The last competitive game vs Italy ended in a draw in 2013 (before that 1 draw and 1 win in Euro 2012) and the last competitive game vs Germany was in 2010.

    The last friendlies (since 2010) are 1 win, 2 losses, 3 draws.

    I can see Spain getting past one team, but not both. And must I remind you Italy and Germany won their groups, unlike Spain.
     
  15. bywex

    bywex New Member

    Feb 19, 2016
    Italy loose game against Ireland.
    Germany won their group with only one goal ahead of the weak Poland
     
  16. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Italy lost their game by playing a 100% team B outfit after being sure of winning the group.
    Poland is not a weak team.
     
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  17. bywex

    bywex New Member

    Feb 19, 2016
    Poland IS a weak team.
    Just look at their last two qualifications on the big tournaments: World Cup 2014 and 2010 (EURO 2012 they're co-host).
    qual. WC2010 (wikipedia)
    1. Slovakia
    2. Slovenia
    3. Czech Republic
    4. Northern Ireland
    5. Poland
    6. San Marino
    Despite the fact that was a shite group Poland in their group beat only San Marino! They must be weak
     
  18. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    That was 2010/2011. This is a different team with more highly rated players.
     
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  19. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    Not sure what those results have to do with the current team. Poland has had a very strong cycle since they hired Nawalka following the mediocre WC '14 qualifying campaign. They finished only 1 point behind Germany in their last qualifying group and they beat Germany in Warsaw. And of course they finished their Euro group on 7 points. I expect them to beat Switzerland. Not sure I see the evidence of how this team is so weak.
     

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