Pre-match: Greece - Croatia, Qualifications for EURO 2012 - List of Croatian players

1. PLETIKOSA Stipe - FC Rostov
2. SUBAŠIĆ Danijel - HNK Hajduk Split
3. KELAVA Ivan - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
4. SRNA Darijo - FC Šahtar
5. ĆORLUKA Vedran - Tottenham
6. VRSALJKO Šime - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
7. LOVREN Dejan - Olympique Lyon
8. ŠIMUNIĆ Josip - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
9. STRINIĆ Ivan - FC Dnjpar
10. SCHILDENFELD Gordon - FC Eintracht
11. VIDA Domagoj - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
12. PAMIĆ Manuel - AC Sparta
13 VUKOJEVIĆ Ognjen - FC Dinamo Kijev
14. PRANJIĆ Danijel - FC Bayern
15. RAKITIĆ Ivan - Sevilla FC
16. DUJMOVIĆ Tomislav - FC Dinamo Moskva
17. MODRIĆ Luka - Tottenham
18. BADELJ Milan - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
19. KRANJČAR Niko - Tottenham
20. ILIČEVIĆ Ivo - Hamburger SV
21. JAJALO Mato - 1. FC Köln
22. PERIŠIĆ Ivan - BVB Borussia
23. MANDŽUKIĆ Mario - VfL Wolfsburg
24. DA SILVA Eduardo - FC Šahtar
25. JELAVIĆ Nikica - Rangers FC
26. KALINIĆ Nikola - FC Dnipro
27. KLASNIĆ Ivan - Bolton
28. OLIĆ Ivica - FC Bayern
29. PETRIĆ Mladen - HSV

 

Croatia always plays "historic" matches, we don't like to lose, we try to play good football, but in recent 3 years we have some problems, talented players who don't build actions, attractive style. In Zagreb, Croatia, Greece played very defensive, it finished 0-0. People could think that Greeks are favorites, maybe they are, but they will play very defensive again.

Formation: not sure yet.

Pletikosa; Corluka, Lovren, Simunic, Strinic (maybe Pranjic); Srna, Dujmovic, Vukojevic, Rakitic; Eduardo, Petric maybe. Don't know yet. I will put more information about this match, so you can see more about this match. Croatia will have ball possession, that's for sure. Greeks will play with Karagounis, Samaras, Salpingidis in attack probably, they will try to use some counter attacks. Greece needs to attack, the are one point behind.

 

Bilic is using his players, I would rather put Rakitic or Ilicevic. Dujmovic plays better than Vukojevic on that position. Kranjcar is injured, at least Tottenham said that. We are all disappointed in Croatian football (national league, national team, football camp in Tuhelj, so that we don't need to prepare in Slovenia, we lost the place as hosts of EURO '12 with Hungary.

I found one website in Croatian language, 19 referees are related with ex-referees in Croatian national league, they all support bigger clubs and gave them better chances probably.

http://www.nogometni-magazin.com/ne...i?id=EFpklplAZFvOalVaWD&tmpl=coranto_hrv_news

They are sons of ex-referees and one is a nephew of one ex-referee. How can we have fair matches than? Pure nepotism, like the title said.

I have putted players mostly randomly.

Defense: RB - Corluka, CB - Lovren, CB - Simunic, CB - probably untalented Strinic again.

Midfield: LM - maybe Rakitic, because Kranjcar is injured, he is always on the bench in Tottenham, when he enters in the game, he becomes injured. DM - Vukojevic, DM - Badelj, but maybe Bilic will put Dujmovic and Vukojevic, very defensive and bad for the team. RM - maybe Ilicevic, forgot that Srna has cards.
Attack: Mandzukic, Jelavic probably. Perisic won't play I think, to bad. Bilic uses wrong persons all the time. Vida should play instead of Corluka, who is slow. Pranjic should play as DM player or LM player. But Bilic is forcing that LB position.

I don't like Kranjcar at all as player. Slow, bad dribbling, bad defensive player, no creativity, bad jump, lazy, slow. George Best would said: He is slow, bad dribbler, bad jumper, bad defensive player, bad creative player, he is lazy and slow, but other potentials are excellent. Kranjcar has only that punch from distance, he uses him maybe two times in one match.

Luka Modric plays faraway from the goal. Eduardo came back probably, who knows.

 

Modric needs to play behind two attackers and ahead of defensive midfielders, he can't lose strength in this midfield, having battles there, he needs to pass creative balls, distribution, shot and disturb their defense. Bilic puts him as DM player almost, he needs to run 40 meters, so that he could be in 11m space. That's insane. He isn't strong, he gave up from exercising in the gym (weights).

Croatia could play great: 4-2-3-1 fromation. Modric would be in the center on this number 3. Rakitic and Ilicevic with him. Behind them Dujmovic and Badelj.
I wouldn't put Kranjcar anywhere. Product of Croatian nepotism, his father Zlatko Kranjcar is pushing him.

 

I agree with your post. When Dujmovic entered against Israel, everything looked much better. Hoping to see Rakitic or Ilicevic. Watched the episode from Sevilla about Ivan Rakitic life there, he is in program of recuperation, but he is playing. His mother and sister are visiting him from Switzerland, his Spanish gym trainer learned some Croatian words. Rakitic seems to be happy there. Who wouldn't be happy in Southern Spain.

Vukojevic is good only in defense, in this group he could sit on the bench most of the time. We need him against attacking teams, with him we have little players in attack. Dujmovic played great against Georgia in Split and against Israel in Zagreb. We need to attack in Greece, they will probably play 4-5-1, they can't play offensive, because they would receive 2,3 goals. Imagine, they don't have defeats at all. "Modern football".

Hope that we won't have injuries any more. The match is for two weaks.

 

Announcement of activities in the match Greece - Croatia​

The Battle for Piraeus

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Greece national football team: Ellas is written in their coat of arms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece_national_football_team

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Key Greek players in my opinion are: DF Loukas Vyntra, DF Avraam Papadopoulos, most experienced player, leader, runner Giorgos Karagounis, Kostas Katsouranis, technical great player Giorgos Samaras, he plays very well, Dimitris Salpigidis, Giourkas Seitaridis.

Greece, as you all know won EURO 2004 in Portugal with very defensive style. That team said: "Children that aren't born yet, they will remember us".

Greece still has some players in their team since EURO 2004: Giorgos Karagounis, Giourkas Seitaridis. They played 4-5-1 in every formation, depends on opponent only. Their formation can be more defensive.

Euro 2004 triumph:

Qualification:

Greece started the qualification process for the Euro 2004 in poor fashion losing at home to Spain and away to Ukraine both times with a 2–0 scoreline. Astonishingly, the team went on to win their remaining six games, including a highly decisive 1–0 away win over Spain in their second matchup, securing first place in the group and an appearance in the European Championship finals for the first time in 24 years. Expectations before the tournament were low with memories of a bitter 1994 FIFA World Cup experience still fresh in the minds of many, where Greece lost all three group stage matches, conceding ten goals and scoring none.

Group Stage

In the opening match against hosts Portugal, Greece achieved a surprise 2–1 victory, receiving the nickname "pirate ship" used by Greek sportscasters in reference to the floating ship used in the tournament's opening ceremony. Greece won with a 25-yard strike from Giorgos Karagounis and a penalty from Angelos Basinas. Four days later, Greece stunned Spain in front of a largely Spanish crowd with a 1–1 draw after being down 1–0 at half time. Greece fell behind from a defensive lapse, which allowed Fernando Morientes to score. However, a sublime diagonal pass from playmaker Vasilios Tsiartas allowed Angelos Charisteas to score an equaliser in the second half, giving Greece hope of qualifying. In the last group game, Greece fell behind 2–0 to Russia (who were already eliminated) within the first ten minutes of the game but managed to pull one back through Zisis Vryzas and thus progressed to the next round, at the expense of Spain, on goals scored. Dmitri Kirichenko had the chance to eliminate Greece in the final minutes of this game, but his stretched effort squeezed just wide.

Quarter-final:

In the quarterfinals Greece faced off with the undefeated and reigning champions France. At 65 minutes, Greece took the lead. Angelos Basinas played a perfect pass to captain Theodoros Zagorakis, who flicked the ball high in the air, passed veteran French defender Bixente Lizarazu, and sent a perfect cross to Angelos Charisteas for the header and goal. Greece held on to win, despite a late French onslaught on goal with close efforts from Thierry Henry, thus knocking France out of Euro 2004 and becoming the first team ever to defeat both the hosts and defending champions in the same tournament.

Semi-final:

Greece reached the semifinals to face the Czech Republic, who were the only team to defeat all of their opponents to that point. The Czech record included a convincing 3–2 win over the Netherlands, a 2–1 win over Germany, and a 3–0 win over Denmark in the quarterfinals. At this stage in the tournament, the Czechs were favourites to take the trophy. The game began nervously for Greece, as the Czech Republic applied much pressure. Tomáš Rosický hit the crossbar in the opening minutes, and Jan Koller had several efforts saved by Antonis Nikopolidis. The Czechs chances were dealt a blow when influential midfielder Pavel Nedvěd left the pitch injured in the first half. After 90 minutes the game ended 0–0, despite the Czechs having most of the game's missed chances. In the last minute of the first half of extra time, a close range silver goal header from Traianos Dellas from a Vassilios Tsiartas corner ended the Czech campaign, putting Greece into the final of Euro 2004 and sending their fans into raptures.

Final:

For the first time in history (a recurring theme in this tournament), the final was a repeat of the opening game, with Greece and hosts Portugal facing off in a rematch. In the 57th minute, Charisteas gave Greece the lead with a header from a corner by Angelos Basinas. Portugal had much of the possession, but the Greek defence was solid and dealt with most attacks. Cristiano Ronaldo had a good chance to equalise in the dying moments, but could not apply a finish. Greece held on to win 1–0, winning the tournament, an achievement considered by many to be one of the greater, if not the greatest, football upset in history. Captain Zagorakis was named the man of the tournament, having led Greece and made the most tackles in the entire tournament.

Stadium:

Historically, Greece have used various stadiums as their home ground, but they have spent most of their history playing their home matches in Athens, while stadiums in other cities around the country, especially Thessaloniki, have occasionally hosted the national team. They played most of their competitive matches at the Karaiskakis Stadium and the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium until the mid-1980s, when the Athens Olympic Stadium opened and hosted the majority of Greece's home matches, before the stadium was closed for renovation in 2002 for the upcoming 2004 Summer Olympics, when Greece moved to the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium for the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying.
After they were crowned European champions in 2004, the newly reconstructed Karaiskakis Stadium became the new home ground of the Greek national team for the qualifyings of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2008 UEFA Euro, when some riots took place during a match against Turkey in the latter competition; the team was forced to play away from Athens for two fixtures and moved to the Pankritio Stadium in Heraklion, Crete, before moving back to Athens and the Olympic Stadium for the remaining matches. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, Greece used all these three stadiums for home games, but the Athens Olympic Stadium has been used more recently for official matches and it is considered the current home ground of the team unless a different decision is made.

Against us they will play in Athens.

Croatia national football team:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia_national_football_team

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Key and the best players in Croatian national team in my opinion are: Stipe Pletikosa, Ivan Kelava, Josip Simunic, Sime Vrsaljko, Vedran Corluka, Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ivo Ilicevic, Tomislav Dujmovic, Ivan Perisic, Milan Badelj, Ivica Olic, Mladen Petric, Ivan Klasnic, Eduardo da Silva, Mario Mandzukic, Nikica Jelavic and Nikola Kalinc. Others can watch the game on TV. Some of them weren't invited, like Marin Tomasov, Mateo Kovacic and Ivan Tomecak. With these players our game would be much better. What do you think?

Results and standings in Group F:
http://soccerstats.com/leagueview.asp?league=euroqual

2-9-2010 Israel 3 - 1 Malta
3-9-2010 Latvia 0 - 3 Croatia
3-9-2010 Greece 1 - 1 Georgia
7-9-2010 Georgia 0 - 0 Israel
7-9-2010 Malta 0 - 2 Latvia
7-9-2010 Croatia 0 - 0 Greece
8-10-2010 Georgia 1 - 0 Malta
8-10-2010 Greece 1 - 0 Latvia
9-10-2010 Israel 1 - 2 Croatia
12-10-2010 Latvia 1 - 1 Georgia
12-10-2010 Greece 2 - 1 Israel
17-11-2010 Croatia 3 - 0 Malta
26-3-2011 Malta 0 - 1 Greece
26-3-2011 Israel 2 - 1 Latvia
26-3-2011 Georgia 1 - 0 Croatia
29-3-2011 Israel 1 - 0 Georgia
4-6-2011 Croatia 2 - 1 Georgia
4-6-2011 Greece 3 - 1 Malta
4-6-2011 Latvia 1 - 2 Israel
2-9-2011 Israel 0 - 1 Greece
2-9-2011 Georgia 0 - 1 Latvia
2-9-2011 Malta 1 - 3 Croatia
6-9-2011 Croatia 3 - 1 Israel
6-9-2011 Latvia 1 - 1 Greece
6-9-2011 Malta 1 - 1 Georgia
7-10-2011 Greece - Croatia
7-10-2011 Latvia - Malta
11-10-2011 Malta - Israel
11-10-2011 Croatia - Latvia
11-10-2011 Georgia - Greece​

P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Croatia 8 6 1 1 16 5 11 19
2 Greece 8 5 3 0 10 4 6 18
3 Israel 9 4 1 4 11 11 0 13
4 Georgia 9 2 4 3 6 7 -1 10
5 Latvia 8 2 2 4 7 10 -3 8
6 Malta 8 0 1 7 4 17 -13 1 ​

Croatia scored more goals. Greece has better defense than we do.

Greece: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece
Croatia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia

Their motto is Freedom or Death. Will they lock their goal with 7,8 defensive players, will Croatia break the chain and run in freedom?

 

On the right side, Bilic will probably invent something silly, he won't have his solution with Ilicevic. He was injured also recently. Seems to me that he doesn't like Perisic to much. He will probably put there attacker, like Mandzukic, with maybe one pure attacker. Rakitic is more on the left side. He could maybe put Corluka there, and in defense could play: Pranjic, Simunic, Lovren, Vida. Experiments of Bilic I don't like at all, always some unnatural positions, players aren't happy. When he suspended Danijel Pranjic because he didn't want to shake his hand, I read: "In team there are more players who aren't happy, not just Pranjic". In this group we could always play with three attackers, with two defensive midfielders and three defensive players. Nobody of our opponents didn't play with two pure attackers. We could use this and pressure more their last line, who had five members. With our two attacker, we didn't had chance against five defensive players, who did fouls most of the time.

On that right side I would invite Ilicevic and Tomasov from Hajduk Split. Dinamo Zagreb wanted Tomasov very much, but he choosed Hajduk. Srna would be my third option, he is s far from his shape. He plays only to receive fouls and they are useless when they happen around the centre. He and Kranjcar became observers in our matches, Modric is destroying himself in defensive assignments and people say: "Modric is out of the shape, he can't score from distance". He is just losing his strength in that war zone of midfield. Vukojevic can't do anyhing creative, he doesn't need to play against these teams, nobody is coming to him with so much creativity.

I hope that this match against Greece will be planned, I don't like the usual Croatian way of thinking, underrating, improvisation, opinions before the match "We are better than they are, they don't know how to play, we play in better clubs". Our tactics is so bad, our tactics is: "We will pass the ball, someone will do something and the ball will enter in the goal". Nice job, contemporary football strikes again. This opinion we have since ever, we never had sure tactics, in France 1998 we relied on our talent, creativity, possession, our corners looked always bad. In modern football corner is half of goal, we always punch the ball hard, nobody strikes soft from that corner spot. We could have 20 corners and nothing would come out. We always search our place on Euros or World Cups in the last round, except qualifications for Euro 2008. We always had drama, time won't pass, very disturbing to watch. And we are playing against Latvia in Rijeka. These fans are silent. Istra and Kvarner space are so calm people. I remember Davis Cup match (Tennis). We played against Czech Republic in Pula. They had maybe 50 fans and I could hear them very easy. "Who doesn't jump, isn't Czech".

Probably they thought that we would have our safe place on Euro way before Greece and Latvia. Again we underrated whole group. But if we lose against Greece we could enter on Euro as best team from second place, others have less, with three points against Latvia, we could have 22 points.

Only this group can collect 22 points if something changes:

P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 France 8 5 2 1 11 3 8 17
2 Bosnia-Herzegov 8 5 1 2 11 7 4 16
3 Romania 8 3 3 2 10 6 4 12
4 Belarus 9 3 3 3 6 5 1 12
5 Albania 8 2 2 4 6 10 -4 8
6 Luxembourg 9 1 1 7 3 16 -13 4
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Bosnia and Herzegovina could collect victories against Luxembourg and France in Paris. Everything is possible. So BiH could have 22 points at the end like we.

P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Netherlands 8 8 0 0 34 5 29 24
2 Sweden 8 6 0 2 26 8 18 18
3 Hungary 9 6 0 3 22 14 8 18
4 Finland 8 3 0 5 15 14 1 9
5 Moldova 8 2 0 6 8 15 -7 6
6 San Marino 9 0 0 9 0 49 -49 0 ​

Sweden could collect two victories against Finland and Netherlands at home and collect 24 points. Others are worse than us. Hungary played nine matches. With one more victory they would have 21 point. With our victory against Latvia, we could have 22 points.
Countries that aren't very bad can't get second place at all: Austria, Slovenia, Belarus, probably Romania, probably Hungary, Israel, probably Switzerland, probably Norway, probably Scotland.

Some interesting groups:

Germany, Turkey, Belgium - battle for the second place. Germany is the first team.
Russia, Ireland, Armenia, Slovakia - they all have two matches to play, distance between Russia and Slovakia on the fourth place is only two points.
http://soccerstats.com/leagueview.asp?league=euroqual

Italy, Serbia, Estonia, Slovenia - battle for the second place. Serbia has two matches, Estonia and Slovenia has only one match. Italy is the first team.
http://soccerstats.com/leagueview.asp?league=euroqual

France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania - battle for the first and second place.
http://soccerstats.com/leagueview.asp?league=euroqual

Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary - battle for the second place, Netherlands is the first team.
Croatia, Greece - battle for the first place.
Montenegro and Switzerland - battle for the second place, England is the first team.
Portugal, Denmark, Norway - battle for the first and the second place. They all have 13 points, only Norway has one more match.
http://soccerstats.com/leagueview.asp?league=euroqual
Spain, Czech, Scotland - battle for the second place. Spain is the first team.
http://soccerstats.com/leagueview.asp?league=euroqual

 

These players in bold are "danger", if they can create this danger, but with their fanatical fans everything is possible.

From 26.-28. September, you can buy tickets for Greece.
http://www.hns-cff.hr/?ln=hr&w=vijesti

Number of places is limited, because Greece will try to give very little tickets.

History against Greece:

10.11.1996., Zagreb, World Cup 1998 Qualifications, Croatia - Greece, 1:1 (1:1), Šuker (45').

30.04.1997., Thessaloniki, World Cup 1998 Qualifications, Greece - Croatia, 0:1, (0:0), Suker (74').

10.03.1999. , Athens, Friendly match, Greece - Croatia 3:2, (1:0), Vlaovic (58'), Suker (81').

25.04.2001., Varaždin, Friendly match, Croatia - Greece 2:2, (0:1), Vlaovic (67'), Rapaic (88').

07.09.2010., Zagreb, Zagreb, Euro 2012 Qualifications, Croatia - Greece, 0:0.

Not very good, we always played difficult against Greece.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZdowNY--ko"]66. HR vs GRE 1-1, 1-1 Davor ?uker (45') 10.11.1996 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnySZLfIexk"]85. GRE vs HR 0-1, 0-1 Davor ?uker (74') 30.04.1997 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmctUM5UbBA"]1997 Greece vs Croatia 1/5 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjqvYqO1Go"]1997 Greece vs Croatia 2/5 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj-4epc3xGk"]1997 Greece vs Croatia 3/5 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Aj377T-t0"]1997 Greece vs Croatia 4/5 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0I_YDogWs8"]1997 Greece vs Croatia 5/5 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGMlS_5kKgs"]Utakmica 84: Hrvatska - Gr?ka 2:2 (Prijateljska - 25.04.2001) - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZD3hn3_MXA"]132. GRE vs HR 3-2, 2-1 Goran Vlaovi? (68') 10.03.1999 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fFk6-Hoqjk"]EURO 2012 Qualifier - Croatia vs. Greece - YouTube[/ame]

 

I calculated very quickly, probably sleepy. Sorry guys. Holland can send B team against Sweden and Sweden could win. Finland is very weak.

 

Pranjić, Olić, Petrić and Iličević won't play against Greece. Coach Bilic decided this. Bad decision if you ask me.

Bilic explained that Olic is still injured, he can't play in two matches (Greece, Latvia).
Petric also can't make through upcoming two matches.
Pranjic doesn't play at all in Bayern Munchen since the start of season. He was suspended in two Croatian matches. There is five players that are better than Petric.
Ilicevic also can't play two matches in a row.

Croatia is planning to win in Greece and finish the case of entering on EURO 2012.

Players that will participate in the match against Greece are:

1. PLETIKOSA Stipe - FC Rostov
2. SUBAŠIĆ Danijel - HNK Hajduk Split
3. KELAVA Ivan - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
4. SRNA Darijo - FC Šahtar
5. ĆORLUKA Vedran - Tottenham
6. VRSALJKO Šime - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
7. LOVREN Dejan - Olympique Lyon
8. ŠIMUNIĆ Josip - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
9. STRINIĆ Ivan - FC Dnjpar
10. SCHILDENFELD Gordon - FC Eintracht
11. VIDA Domagoj - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
12. PAMIĆ Manuel - AC Sparta
13 VUKOJEVIĆ Ognjen - FC Dinamo Kijev
15. RAKITIĆ Ivan - Sevilla FC
16. DUJMOVIĆ Tomislav - FC Dinamo Moskva
17. MODRIĆ Luka - Tottenham
18. BADELJ Milan - GNK Dinamo Zagreb
19. KRANJČAR Niko - Tottenham
21. JAJALO Mato - 1. FC Köln
22. PERIŠIĆ Ivan - BVB Borussia
23. MANDŽUKIĆ Mario - VfL Wolfsburg
24. DA SILVA Eduardo - FC Šahtar
25. JELAVIĆ Nikica - Rangers FC
26. KALINIĆ Nikola - FC Dnipro
27. KLASNIĆ Ivan - Bolton

 

He won't play to much with Simunic, he knows him from Bundesliga probably very well. Don't know much about Sifakis.

 

Recent shape of our goal scorers in European competitions worries me. Nobody scored I think. Luka Modric said that he only sees this match against Greece in his eyes, he isn't worried to much for Tottenham.

 

Interesting Croatian Soccer Report: http://www.croatiansoccerreport.com/

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