croatia euro thread

croatia euro thread

rush forward oh ye faithful of croatia how many of thee are you?

Thgought they started very well but seemed content to sit on one goal (thought only England did that in the first half of a match) and then the Austrians realised they were a chance with 20 to go and caused some real problems for the Croatian backline

Man those Croats roll around crying on the ground every time they get tackled. Srna was the worst of them. Yes most were fouls but do they need to go on so much?? I was getting annoyed with it.

We didn't play wel at all. We looked decent in the first 30 minutes or so and got the goal, but we were way too nervous and got things wrong tactically. I didn't like the constant efforts to get in behind their wide defenders, it worked in the first half insofar as both Olic and Srna did it regularly, but we just didn't get the numbers in the box then to create dangerous situations. This also meant that Modric got a bit lost at times, which is the last thing we want. We also started sitting on the lead way too early in the second half, and at times I was reminded of the game against Australia 2 years ago when we did the same thing and it came to bite us on the arse.
Petric had a pretty bad game, Kranjcar was anonymous while on, and Pranjic was a liability at left back. Suspect Pranjic may be dropped for the Germany game to shore up the defence, but Kranjcar and Petric will probably keep their places.
However, we won a game where we didn't play all that well in, and that's a good sign given that in the last few tournaments performance like this could well have been a 0-0 draw (like against Switzerland in 2004 and Japan in 2006). So we'll take the points, and bring on the Germans...

The "diving award" is the only thing they have a chance of winning this tournament

Bilic (mildly) criticised the players for this, saying they dropped deep way too early in the game, but also said that we'd learn from it.
I guess the other good news for Croatian fans was that players seemed to realise they hadn't played that well, apparently the dressing room after the game was very quiet, and it was Bilic who turned on the stereo and told them to cheer up, they'd just won a European Championship game...

Srna's the kind of player who loves to dish it out, but can't take it. Good player though.

The worst divers are Italians, so even there we're screwed. The Portuguese are worse than us too.

I wont argue with that one haha.
valeo2008-06-10 19:17:16

I didn't watch the match so I can't make a call on how much the Croat team dive, but I agree, the Italians and Portugeuse are horrendous in this respect (respect isn't really the right word actually is it?). loyalgunner2008-06-10 20:23:49

hey el grap do you have the latest of klasnic ive kind of lost track of him after all the problems he had to you know whats been happening with him?

He's in the squad at EURO, he's been playing for Werder Bremen since December 2007. Scored 7 in 16 games for them in Bundesliga.
Played in a friendly against Moldova couple of weeks ago, but apparently didn't impress. Seems to be the fourth choice striker at EURO, behind Petric, Olic and Budan.

El grap!!!

Mene je vise strah od Poljaka nego Njemaca...ali dobro je, jos smo tu...

Damn foreigners...

You don't want to know...

2-1 against a German side i thought you would struggle against. Well done

Son of a Bilic- how did they pull that one off. Germany are good to watch - great technicians. Couldnt say that Croatia didnt deserve it though. Not sure yet why Shweinsteiger isnt starting - though he didnt even finish this one.

I had the following bets on that game:

Awesome result this morning, nice work.

That's sooo unfair...

I thought we played superbly this morning. Pleyed exceptionally well without the ball, pressed the Germans hard, and looked dangerous pretty much every time we went forward. Bringing Rakitic in for Petric was an excellent call (something I would have been preparing the team for as soon as Eduardo got injured), and watching him and Modric play together in the middle made me giddy with excitement...didn't appreciate Ballack hacking him down every opportunity he had, but the young un stood tall.

We've won the group, avoided Portugal in the quarters, it's not raining, life is awesome....

Modric is a master of the midfield,shame to all those people who said he was crap and worth nothing,when there was transfer speculation.

The line-up for tomorrow's game against Poland will mainly include reserve players in order to rest the first-teamers and protect the players with yellow cards.

Probable/possible line-up:

GK: Runje
RB: Simic
CB: Vejic
CB: Knezevic
LB: Pranjic
RM: Leko
CM: Vukojevic
CM: Pokrivac
LM: Rakitic
CF: Petric
CF: Klasnic

wow thats a very understrength team when portugal played there other one at least they still had some regulars oh well at least the others get a rest as long as we still come first in the group

It also looks very defensive, although I hope that Pranjic and Rakitic could link up well down the left and provide some good service for Petric and Klasnic. Otherwise it could be a ver dour game.
But like you said, who cares, as long as we have everyone fresh and ready for the Turkey game.

In Klagenburg where the game is at the mo. Being trying to blag a ride with someone to Croatia after the match but I am royaly screwed at the moment. Give your cuz a call El Grap!

Been trying to call him since this morning but he's not picking up. Probably lying drunk in a gutter somewhere. All I know is that he's supposed to go back to Zagreb on a 5.25am train, see if you can get onto that and then catch a bus to Rijeka from there.

How's the quality of my source? Knew the starting line-up before any journos did...

Looked pretty decent today, should have put the Poles away by half-time but lack of clinical finishing could come to haunt us in the knockout rounds. The second-half we looked fairly pedestrian, especially since getting the goal, but still held together OK.Very pleased for Klasnic, he was excellent for the first 60 minutes, and got a very good goal, and if anyone deserves a goal in these Championships it's him. I wonder if he's now pipped Petric as the second-choice striker. Also was impressed with Pokrivac in the first half, though he too faded in the second like most of the team. Runje looked surprisingly safe in goal.

Bring on the Turks....

I was happy with Pranjic,attacking down the left. He had a couple goes and 1 was good and the rest were so so,but atleast hes putting in the effort.

nkcroatia_nz2008-06-17 14:09:23

Oh, yeah, Pranjic was very good, especially when attacking down the left flank, I was commenting more on the reserves who may have put their hand up to be seriously considered, if not for the starting line-up, at least to be among the top substitutes in the next stage.

yeh hopefully klasnic can get a go vs the turks

Dario Knezevic picked up a knee ligament injury in a collision with keeper Vedran Runje which rules him out of the Championships. Knezevic played in all three group games, coming on as a substitute in the first two (both times replacing Robert Kovac) to give fresh legs to the backline, and he started the game against Poland before being substituted by Vedran Corluka due to the injury.

This probably means that Hrvoje Vejic will be the first option to provide central defensive cover for the rest of the tournament. I thought Vejic looked pretty good today for most part.

Well, I do have world-wide renown...

Igor Budan's out of the tournament as well with a knee injury. Bad news for him personally, but not necessarily for the team, his one substitute appearance in EURO against Austria was very unimpressive.

thoughts on klasnics possible move to wigan