If they still had Vida at CB I would have fancied Argentina. But Gvardiol seems to be as good as any other CB in this World Cup.
Croatia national team thread - The kings of extra time.
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Well done to them for getting to the semi's.
Can't say im looking forward to watching them though, I find them incredibly dull.
Can't say im looking forward to watching them though, I find them incredibly dull.
It dawned on me last night that since 1998 Croatia have reached the same number of World Cup semifinals as England, Italy and Spain combined. No matter how you put it this kind of sustained excellence by such a small country is unprecedented in the modern game. Post-Modric they will find it difficult and a fall into obscurity is a distinct possibility, but if 2018 and this World Cup have taught us is that rule them out at your own peril.
That is not correct, Croatia has 3 semifinals. Spain has at least two, Italy one and England one. But yeah, it's still a great success.
Yeah fantastic achievement. I think their manager and “old guard” are all well set up for tournament football. Being hard working and extremely hard to break down is more than half the job done. They also have a knack of somehow finding an equaliser or goal when it seems unlikely. Not great to watch at times (though I thought they moved the ball exceptionally well in the first 30 mins last night) but they lack serious quality up front.
I stand corrected but the only time Spain reached a World Cup semifinal 1998 onward, and as a matter of fact their entire World Cup history, was when they won it in 2010.
You are right, all three of these countries have only reached one SF each since 1998.
Oh, yes, sorry, I was mistaken, Spain won two Euros not two World cups. I was mistaken and thank you for correcting me. I'm getting old and my memory is not what it used to be
.You cant find a player like Modrić, one of the best midfielders ever imo, so in that regard there will be a downfall but not so big like some think. Majer is a tad different player bud he'll do a job, Kovačić and Brozović will play 4, 5 more years and then you have young Sučić who is a main player at RB Salzburg. Also there are some exciting young strikers out there like Šimić and Beljo. In CB we're set for the future with Gvardiol, Šutalo and Erlić.
We still lack wingers though and I dont know if there's a gem or 2 waiting to come to the scene.
Anyway whatever happens on Saturday its been an another big success. Too bad about Argentina game, we shot ourselves in the foot somewhat and lack of threat upfront finally cost us but nevertheless we're proving to be an expert team in knock out stages of world cup. For a such a small country with ton of problems its really fantastic, our national football team is a nation's trademark.
Dalić, for all his mistakes, and he should have maybe done some things differently, has a 2nd place and semifinal in 2 world cups, last 16 of Euros and Nations league final four. Our best coach by far and he'll go till the Euros at least, deserved.
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I think their midfield goes down as one of the best ever in international football. It's perhaps only France/Brazil early 80s and Spain 08-12 that I'd rank above.
Coach of a legendary 1998 generation which was 3rd in its 1st World Cup in France, Ćiro Blažević, has died, age 88.
Another win in extra time.
Its time for a trophy.
Its time for a trophy.
We concede a goal 30 seconds before the end of regular time. Then we go on and completely outplay the Dutch in OT like there's nothing to it, Brozović played with more energy in OT than from the 1st minute, Modrić is playing like a kid while his peers are running away to Saudi league, Perišić plays a LB like he plays there every week, Pašalić is a midfielder who plays like a poacher, Petković comes in and plays like its Sunday afternoon football and torments poor VVD and co.
What.
A.
Team.
What.
A.
Team.
Great stuff by Croatia. I’ll firmly be rooting for them in the final whoever they play. I’d love to see them winning a trophy.
France 2000 -2002
Veira, Makele, Zidane
We already have a new batch who'll jump right in, Majer, Baturina, Sučić.
What a team, deserved the win, the way they keep the ball and pass, they've just put the dutch to shame.
They deserve a trophy.
Reminded me of England game in 2018. As the game went on we just became better and better and midfield completely ran the show. Wiped the flor with the Dutch in OT.
Special mention to our fans too. It was like we were a home team most of the game. Electric atmosphere.
Kudos to Koeman and Netherland players for classy comments after the game.
How can you not love your national team and support them everywhere when they play like that and have the results that they achieved. Especially a small country like Croatia.
You must be really proud. You are croatian right ?
Yup.
We're extremely proud. National team is kind of sacred here, been like that from day one. It really puts you on the map, for such a small country with ton of problems (football infrastructure in the country among other things) and to be so good at football and at the top is quite something.
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You have every right to be proud. My main question to you would be how is it possible to develop that many talents year after year after year. It's almost 2 decades during which Croatia always had quality players and 2 fantastic teams. Is it something regarding the Croatian league clubs? It can't be only natural talent, it must be something else.Yup.
We're extremely proud. National team is kind of sacred here, been like that from day one. It really puts you on the map, for such a small country with ton of problems (football infrastructure in the country among other things) and to be so good at football and at the top is quite something.
A ton of problems? What problems?
I was on holidays in Croatia 2 times in recent years and I only saw nice people, good food, very good roads and nice places to visit.
Dont know what to say other than talent, cause infrastructure leaves a lot to desire for. Good youth coaches too I guess. Cause its not just talent, you must make a player out of a talent too.
As for Croatia, when you're here for few weeks you dont notice that, but we have big economic problems, corruption is rife and depopulation, we lost about 900.000 of population since 1990 due to people moving abroad for work or to live and greater death than birth rate. But we're trucking along.
Country is beautiful and we have good roads, that's true.
Incredible mate. Be great to see youse win a trophy.
Buzzing mate. Absolutely buzzing.
My kid went to kindergarten all dressed in checkers today (thanks to me
). He said: "I'm Croatia."
Depopulation is an issue in all eastern european countries, other countries lost millions who went to the west.Dont know what to say other than talent, cause infrastructure leaves a lot to desire for. Good youth coaches too I guess. Cause its not just talent, you must make a player out of a talent too.
As for Croatia, when you're here for few weeks you dont notice that, but we have big economic problems, corruption is rife and depopulation, we lost about 900.000 of population since 1990 due to people moving abroad for work or to live and greater death than birth rate. But we're trucking along.
Country is beautiful and we have good roads, that's true.
Croatia and to some extent Serbia have incredible talented footballers, more than all the other eastern european countries put together and you can put other central european countries into account as well. It is really remarkable.
Other than talent it must be a mentality thing also, because many other players from the region fail miserably when going abroad, whereas croatians always up their level.
Yeah, that's true, from the first day there has been a certain national team **** so to say, in the sense of mentality and proudness of every player who dons a Croatian shirt. That's what makes our NT different to other eastern European ones. National team is just something special to us ordinary fans. That's what Serbia always lacked, they always had a good number of great players but would fail at big tournaments and would have problems even qualifying for them.
Buzzing mate. Absolutely buzzing.
My kid went to kindergarten all dressed in checkers today (thanks to me
He said: "I'm Croatia."
quality mate.They barely played together until 2004. And they got knocked out to Greece in the first game after the group. In 2002 they were all in the squad and had one game together, a 2-0 loss against Denmark. France finished last in their group in that WC. In 2006 they did well though, getting to the final in the WC. But France has had a lot more success with Petit, Decshampes and Zidane
It's absolutely incredible what you are able to produce, and I find it particularly crazy that in 1998 you had such an incredible team (that would have been worthy winners back then too), being at the time such a young nation.Dont know what to say other than talent, cause infrastructure leaves a lot to desire for. Good youth coaches too I guess. Cause its not just talent, you must make a player out of a talent too.
As for Croatia, when you're here for few weeks you dont notice that, but we have big economic problems, corruption is rife and depopulation, we lost about 900.000 of population since 1990 due to people moving abroad for work or to live and greater death than birth rate. But we're trucking along.
Country is beautiful and we have good roads, that's true.
Oh that team was something special. If only we didnt concede right after we took a lead against France. Thuram went on to score 2 fekin goals, he didnt score a single goal prior to that and of course after that. I think we would have gone all the way given the state Brazil was in.
I think so too. Suker was unplayable that tournament, but then just out of the blue Thuram scores 2. It was ridiculous.
Football eh, bloody hell.
Šuker was out of the world, pure striker if I ever saw one and an incredible eye for a goal. As a person a complete dick and a bit dim but as a player just immense.
Croatia and Serbia always had quality players, but Croatia always plays like a team even when they have super stars in their squad, wheres Serbia, like you said, lacks the team spirit.
I always wondered why there is so many talented players specificaly in that region.
If you look at Romania or Bulgaria for example, who also HAD at some point world class players, now they struggle badly and you hardly see 1 decent player who plays at a high level.
Our team is mentally so strong, absolute monsters. This team faced several issues in the preparation of this game: Marko Livaja left NT after a conflict with a fan at the very start, a planned visit to Pope was canceled because of his operation, then we faced injury to one of our most important players Gvardiol, to the finally rearranging flight due to bad weather (from Zagreb, not Krk Airport as was originally planned). I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it hampers planned preparation for teams.
Then we concede a goal 30 seconds before the end of the match. And again, we managed to stay calm and play our game despite all difficulties we faced. To outplay hosts and score four (possibly five) goals in a ground where they didn't lose for decades is just phenomenal.
Bulgaria, Romania and also Hungary used to produce a lot of world-class athletes in general between the 60's and the 90's when they were communist states. It was a completely different world back then. They gradually went downhill after 1989-1990.
Croatia is a younger country with a different history and has been on the way up since its independence, as is the case for the other countries from Yugoslavia.
Yes, compare that to 2008 team which, although they played some great stuff, totally collapsed when Senturk scored that goal. They still had a chance through penalties but they were devastated.
This team though concedes half a minute till the end and then plays the OT like they just began the game and is like - ok lets go from the start. Mentality monsters indeed.
Yeah, all that late defeats that knocked us out of tournaments previously (Senturk & Turkey 2008., Navas & Spain 2012., Quaresma & Portugal 2016.) were heartbreaking but maybe they made our NT mentally stronger later. It still amazes me that Modrić played all games mentioned. Crazy.
Unlucky once more.
How many extra times have they played? Most be some sort of world record.
How many extra times have they played? Most be some sort of world record.
4 penalty shootouts in a row we were successful. It had to stop somewhere. Unfortunately it happened last night.