Croatia trying to convince another argentine to play fo croatia since bilos rejected a while back, here is an english translation of the article. Croatia will try to convince al Argentine-croatian Darío Cvitanich, forward of the Banfield, that view the zamarra of the Slav country, and wait that the move leave him better than with Daniel Bilos. "I intend to speak with my contacts in Argentina and to converse with the player in the next days. Then we will know more about our options", affirmed today the Secretary general of the Croatian Confederacy, Zorislav Srebric. Cvitanich, whose surname equals to Flowers in Spaniard, has attracted the interest of the executives of the Croatian Confederacy by its good path in the Banfield, where bilos also played , who finished for rejecting the offering of playing in the Croatian national team. Born May 16, 1984, Cvitanich marked 21 goals in 66 games with the Banfield, included a "hat-trick" before the Newell' s in the space of 14 minutes yesterday. Croatia has the custom to test the international market in search of players with croatian origins. In this way has recruited various Croatians of Australia and right now is fighting to snatch the Swiss star midfielder Iván Rakitic, of the Basel.
Cvitanich would be honored to play for Croatia, here is a translation of the article The Argentine of croatian decent Darío Cvitanich was excited of the possibility to be called by the Crotaia national team and affirmed that with him it will not be the same as what happened with Daniel Bilos, another player that was tempted without success by the croatian team.. "I hadnt imagined tha i could have the possibility to play with Croatia, although I know that my great-grandfather was a Croatian. It would be honored if they called me. It would be a great opportunity for me", said Cvitanich al daily croatian Vecernji List. Executive last week of the Croatian Confederacy announced that they were going to see Cvitanich and speak with him about his possible nationalization in order to play for the croatia national team. The player of 23 years admits that he does not know much about Croatia. "I know absolutely nothing. Alone I know that my surname has to do with flowers or something seemed. For the time being I would not be able to say neither good morning", confessed. The tip of Banfield recalls that its former-companion of team, Bilos, rejected the call of the Croatian national team who instead opted to play for Argentina. "I know what happened with Bilos. His situation was different, He was close to being called up by the Argentine national team, while in my case my name has only been brought up in the Croatia national team. I am conscious that for the Argentina national team my name is not mentioned. I am very realistic and I have the feet on the ground. The coach of Argentina Alfio Basile has too many forwards of class", admits, emphasizing that its family will support him with whatever decision he makes.
I like to watch a GolTV show 45/45 and they had some laughs on our account - they wondered if we were going to chase after every player whose last name ends in -ić...what are we doing? It is somewhat sad, if not pathetic - at least da Silva lived here for a period of time.
They have the right to laugh at us. Those bastards in HNS should be violently removed from thier positions
A zakaj nebi igro za hrv pa pogledaj kolko imamo interacionalaca u repki jedan vise manje svejedno je
ljudi kenjaju po dudu-u jer igra za repku, pa ovakve stvari su pravi problemi, stvarno je jadno kad trazimo igrace iz svijeta koji maju kap 'hrvatske krvi' i zicamo ih da igraju za repku, ljudi koji igraju za repku trebaju zeljeti igrati za repku i znati jebeni jezik, jebes takve igrace kad trebamo babu rozu da zica unucica da igra za njezinu zemlju i ustase pusite kurac, pola repke su bosanci i hercegovci, pustite eduarda na miru
Get all the players we can get. Who cares whether there born in Argentina, Australia, Switzerland etc most of them have Croat heritage and are passionate to play for us anyway. In the case of Eduardo he is a superstar in the making. I give Markovic & co my approval to go after any player who's good enough to play for us and to further the success of the NT.
Is that really the attitude to have? With a population of 4.5 million, surely you could develop your own juniors, without having to rely on other countries youth systems developing players and then poaching them? Its a different case if they regularly play in the Croatian League, then I can understand that there is a connection, but if they were born overseas, have played overseas their entire life, why should they be allowed to play for Croatia?
Typical Aussie eehh? Can't get over the fact that Johnston, Vieri and Simunic chose not to play for you? Don't worry mate, I feel for you
Actually - I'm not a typical Aussie- in fact I have a strong connection to Croatia, and have probably been there more than you ever have. I just wanted to see what other people other than Australian based Croatians thought about it. I'm surprised you didnt add Seric, Didiluca, Ilic & Ergic to your list though Although now we seem to have a professional setup and a realistic chance of major honours down here I dont see that happening at all now. So back on topic- what do others think of this policy of poaching other countries players?
I'll have to correct you mate, I was actually born in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina and fled when the war began. Seric, Didulica, Ergic etc weren't big losses for Australia anyway so there was no need to mention them. Do you mean Sasa Ilic? He wasn't born in Australia
Guys like Šimunić ok, because we know they are not mercenaries and they wish to play for no one else but Croatia. They were born in Australia but there's no doubt they still have strong ties to home so I don't see a real problem. Some of them, like Šerić, even started their professional career in Croatian clubs. At the moment we have 4-5 out of twenty players who were born outside Croatia (Bosnia excluded of course) and if it stays that way that's not too much. But as for those guys like Cvitanich who can't find Croatia on the map and have no shame in saying that the main reason for playing for Croatia is because it's "not easy to get on the Argentine team"... Well, I have no words. For both him and those who beg him to play for us.
Thats good to hear. Apparently you missed out on this kid too, but from what he says, you wonder why the Croatian Football Federation even tried to approach him? Rising Socceroos star Matthew Spiranovic has pledged his international football allegiance to Australia, saying he never seriously considered Croatian attempts to lure him away from his country of birth. "Ever since I was little I always wanted to play for Australia and that's how I felt in my heart," he said. "Definitely it's Australia, so at the end of the day it wasn't a hard decisions. "They (Croatia) came up with offers, but for me it just wasn't a hard decision at all, I always wanted to play for Australia." article
Well, I wonder a lot of things regarding our Football Federation. Like when will they leave for example. As for Croatian Aussies it's really simple. If they're Croatian in their heart they are welcome, if not it's better for everyone including Croatia that they play for Australia. But I wouldn't like to see more than 4-5 players from diaspora on our team, we have enough talent here. But it's easier for the Federation to steal a kid from abroad than to invest in youth programs at home.
Thats a shame, do Dinamo and Hajduk have youth academies, or anything for the juniors? Or as the two big clubs-do they just nick the good juniors from other clubs when they come through?
Dinamo has hired Mirko Jozić to manage some sort of youth academy. He was our coach at Japan/Korea and he led Yugoslavia to the world youth throne in 1987 (Boban, Prosinečki, Šuker, Mijatović...). That's a step forward I guess, and Hajduk is trying to do sth similar. But habits don't change over night (ambitious fathers paying for their kids to break through, etc.). The fact remains that Dinamo has at the moment three of its own players in the national team's starting eleven. Eduardo (24), Modrić (22) and Ćorluka (21). We'll see if that remains an exception.
The thing is that most croatian teams are constantly on the verge of being broke and they get-by by selling the players they develop through their youth systems, so obviously there are some sort of decent systems in place. On the other hand, why these players coming from the youth systems dont play for the national team? That is related to our league, it is crappy and no player has a chance of being called up to the squad unless they are playing abroad in a better league of for Dinamo (and less often Hajduk)
Guys nothing sad about it, really. many many countries do this, in fact all of them do. Lets not get all high and mighty and critical. This is a great way for the disapora of our previous generations to retie themselves to our homeland. I was born in Chicago IL, and am of croatian decent. i would play for croatia in a heart beat if I had the chance. I dont understand this nonsense, considering that Poland israel USA and Germany all have guys that are naturalized or born in other countries of decent of the mother land. There is nothing wrong with it and in fact is a welcomed siatuation. Considering we havent been a free country for so long, its nice tyo see Croatia looking to the diaspora as a extension of the motherland. Just the way it is. Ciao Steve
Give me a break!! Point a finger and show me a country that doesnt do this! Go ahead I dare you. 4.5 million is not a large country. The majority of the population is of retirement age, so you are talking about 2-2.5 million in the chil bearing age of their lives. USA, Germany, Poland, France, Argentina... Many countries with larger populations then ours call on their diapora to give them an opportunity to play for the country of their homeland. i think this provides individuals of Croatian decent to retie themseleves to the homeland. Those od you who are of croatian decent and dont have an attachment to your ancestry, now that is a sad thing.
Dont be such a narrowminded Croatian. Our country has been ravaged by war for a major part of its history and the search for individuals that probably been a Croatian citizen if not for poltical bullshit is a bad thing? Every country in Europe EVERY SINGLE ONE has had individuals of the heritage born in another country to come back and play for the national team of their ancestors. Its a good thing to reconnect us to our heritage. I am a Croatian born in Chicago IL, and I speak fluent Croatian. I am a USA citizen, but if I was pro and croatia asked me to play you would be upset why? I dont understand this train of thought, and it is a bad sign for us as a country. It is important to do these things and try to reconnect ourselves with individuals of our ancestrial blood to come back and reconnect with Croatia, our homeland.
Its fine to respect your heritage- no-one's questioning that, but you are NOT Croatian. You are an American, with a Croatian background. Hence, you should not play for Croatia- you should play for the USA- if you were a pro soccer player! Unless you had lived and played in Croatia for more than 4 years, then thats a different story. The only way a player should be allowed to play for a country is through birth or residency. The fact that Croatia has a small population is not an excuse to try and pick players that other countries have developed. Other small countries are stuck with this disadvantage but they live with it.