s All Folks

And what a heartbreak it was. I can’t even begin to describe the contrast of emotions I think every Croat went through within those two dying minutes. Absolute, close to perfect joy followed by the shattering disbelief and sadness. Some would say this is football, other would reply no, this is life. Either way, it’s the end of the road for us.

A quick glance back to our matches:
Well we didn’t exactly set the world alight on our first match did we? Much of the reason for this lies with the stubborn co-host side Austria, who despite picking up only a point proved to be one of the more pleasant tournament surprises. Despite not impressing, we held on to the early lead and grabbed the vital 3 points. With these 3 points in our pockets, we had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain in our second group match, one against EURO contenders Germany. We again proved to be the thorn in German’s back, as our side outwitted and outplayed theirs throughout the 90 minutes. Bilic was hailed as the mastermind, as the changes he had made to our side brought instant result. We gambled but it payed off, and the prize was a trip to quarterfinals in Vienna. On our last group match, we introduced a completely new outfit, and despite that still managed to grab all three points, outplaying the uninspired Poland in the process. Yesterday’s match against Turkey was a dull affair to the neutral I imagine, except the eventual plot twist at the end of course.

You could see we had more quality all throughout, but perhaps the lack of experience in some of our players proved to be a breeding ground for fear and doubt as to whether fully control the match or not. There were oscillations in our play throughout the for quarters of the match, and with them both sides eventually appeared to be running the show. But given all this, we were the ones creating and squandering chances. Speaking of creating and squandering, a lot of people questioned exactly how much of an impact Eduardo’s absence will have on Croatia in this tournament.

Well, I imagine we got our answer served like cold dishes yesterday. Olic, for all his heroics throughout this tournament, was never to be our new Eduardo.

Ups and downs: I’d like to name a few players here. Rakitic was fantastic, especially given his age and inexperience in our NT. Always smooth and confident in possession, he was a constant performer down our left side in all the matches he featured in. He also linked well with Pranjic, who despite lacking in defense against Austria managed to pull out some great performances in the remaining matches. We’ve been lacking a real flesh&bone fullback ever since Robert Jarni retired back in 2002, and it seems we’ve finally found his natural successor. Full of energy, clever when linking with his teammates, and a great deliverer of the ball. With these 2 around, our left side looks set for years to come. Our centreback duo, Kovac & Simunic, also deserves a handsome praise. Their consistency was only matched by their experience and confidence when handling their assignments. Flawless in air, both of them.

Well now that I think of it, I should probably heap praise on each of our players. They were all dedicated and provided in equal measure to this quarterfinal reaching result. Credit to all of you.

And a tribute to our “cool” coach of course. A football expert, lawyer, musician, and above all a passionate and caring individual who’s presence alone makes you care. Though it’s wishful thinking that he’ll be around our NT forever, I do hope he stays on board for at least another qualifying cycle.

Summary
Well it’s been a hell of ride, that’s for sure. Looking in retrospective, this was a good tournament from our behalf, and we’ve done absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, quite contrary. The only thing that’s left though, beside the figures and numbers written down in UEFA’s diaries, is that agonizing mix of emotions which preceded our elimination. It would’ve been so much easier if we hadn’t scored lived through all that joy just seconds prior to conceding. I guess fate had one last card up it’s sleeve, and it proved to be one devoid of Croatian joy and happiness. I just hope that whichever nation fails to go all the way in this tournament, is denied the kind of twister of emotions we went through yesterday, be it exciting for the neutral or not.

Tomorrow?
Well there’s always the next qualifying cycle to look forward to, and we’re kicking off as early as this September. A perfect time to make a fresh start and leave behind what’s certain to be a summer full of “What If”s and “Why”s. This is still a generation in making, and if we’re to believe what we’ve seen through these last couple of weeks, these players have what it takes to be at the very top of the football food chain. Time, as well as healing all wounds, will yield the necessary experience to make the best of them, and we may yet see a repeat (or an improvement) of our Bronze 98′ generation.

As for me, well I’m off to “find Jesus” or however you call one’s personal goal to reinstate his belief and find out what the big picture is all about. Or on a more serious note, due to some circumstances I cannot devote enough time to make & maintain this blog on a sufficient quality level I’d like. Therefore I’d like to ask those enthusiasts among you with a passion for Croatian to step up in my modest shoes and make this blog worthy of the title “Fiery”. I’m sure there’s plenty of you out there who fit the bill perfectly. And if you have any questions regarding this, please do contact Daryl through: daryl[at]theoffside.com.

That’s all folks!

Match Preview: Turkey

I always seem to struggle in finding the right opening words so I’m just gonna say: Howdy. There, now that that’s out of the way, let’s focus on what could be a breathtaking encounter between Croatia and Turkey. Or let’s focus on Croatia.

So, injury wise, our main players seem to be in shape. Latest stuff coming in from our camp indicate that Srna is also fit enough and should join the recently recovered Rakitic in the first eleven. Though we’ve suffered a couple of injuries, one positive is that our “core players” are still left intact (no disrespect to the likes of Knezevic or Budan of course, as everyone’s contribution is invaluable).

We’ve basically seen two versions of Croatia on this tournament: the shiny one (newly introduced 4-4-1-1) and the not-so-shiny one (or our usual 4-4-2). The shiny one was of course the direct result of attempting to patch up obvious emerging flaws of our usual 4-4-2 formation. And despite the fact we’ve won all 3 of our group matches (we’re now actually 1 of 7 sides that managed to pull this out), we’ve left completely different impressions throughout these victories. Or to be more specific, we’ve kicked some ass after applying the single striker 4-4-1-1 formation. And if we’re to believe the stuff that’s been circulating our NT for the last couple of days, there’s no obvious reason not to go into tonight’s match with the same formation and lineup that faced Germany eight days ago.

Or to be even more specific: Pletikosa, Pranjic, Simunic, Kovac, Corluka, Rakitic, Modric, N. Kovac, Srna, Kranjcar and Olic. Note that each one of these players except Rakitic and Pranjic (Kranjcar was introduced late in the game) sat through the match against Poland, so there should be some fresh legs out there tonight.

Pressure? To be honest, this is a two-sided coin case. I imagine every side that qualified for EURO had a subtle goal of reaching the quarters, and well, we are no different. And considering the fact we’ve qualified with maximum points, some might go and say we did what was asked of us, and everything else that comes after this is just icing on the cake. This is true, but what’s true also is the fact that just these kind of opportunities are so rare and precious it’s simply impossible to avoid the (un) necessary pressure. It’s all to play for, and I firmly believe that the sole unpredictability of this tournament grants all the quarterfinalists a solid chance to go all the way. “Favorites” or not.

And speaking of favorites, it’s a known fact we tend to do well when we’re the underdogs, so I can’t say I’m thrilled that with the word on the street saying we’re to ease past Turkey today. OK maybe not ease, but practically 9 out of 10 people out there hold us for favorites and that’s saying something. Let’s not do what Portugal did yesterday. Anyway, pulling off good results will eventually rid us of our underdog status so we’ll have to start coping with it sooner or later.

We have actually met Turkey in EURO’s before, and that was 12 years ago in England. It was our first game in a major tournament and we came out as winners due to a Vlaovic goal late in the game. You can catch a mention of this game back in this post. Here’s to history repeating itself.

One thing I have to admit bugs me is the amount of mind-games leading up to these matches, and I’m not solely about our match here. There are a bunch of players coming up with all kinds of silly interviews and statements. Sometimes I get the feeling a little more professionalism should be practiced when one publicly states his opinions. Verbal punches are too often hit “below the belt”. But I guess this is what teases both players and fans and therefore makes everything all the more interesting. Or not. Beats me.

Oh and the number 200.000 I mentioned yesterday, of course you guessed what it meant. The word on the street (I’ll start abusing this line, at this pace anyway) is that 200.000 Croatians will be present in Vienna today, and please note that only 6.000 actually have the tickets for the match! Now if that’s not enough of a reason for us to get your affection, well I don’t what is. There’s bound to be some wonderful photos and videos coming in from Vienna as well, so I’ll make sure I post some of these up for everyone to enjoy.

Just a couple of more hours to go.

Follow the Croatia vs Turkey LiveBlog here.

Match Preview: Preview

That’s right: right. Ok I’ll stop. Now before I write a decent introduction to tomorrow’s spectacle, I’ll just bring you the latest update coming in from our camp in Austria. And this update is particularly positive, as according to our staff, Ivan Rakitic is completely fit and will start the match tomorrow. Though we’re still waiting for good news on our other question mark, Darijo Srna, I’m sure he’ll make the starting eleven tomorrow as well. No way a simple human injury could sideline his kind of mentality. And after losing both Knezevic and Budan through injuries already, maybe, just maybe we’ve already filled our injury quota with the ever elusive Lady Luck *knocks on wood*.

On another note, I’ll just mention the number 200.000. I’ll give you half a day to figure out what it implies to. Here’s a hint though:

I’ll put up a more in-depth preview tomorrow, so stay tuned. That’s if you like beer, weird kits and beautiful women. Go Croatia! Ajmo Hrvatska!

The Killer Replacements

Opening June 16th!
Seriously though, that was fantastic. I can’t help but feel immense pride for the way our boys played yesterday. Let me try and recap what exactly what went on and why it all ended so beautifully for our team. First of all, a total of NINE players were introduced to our first eleven. That’s nine who have never and in all probability will never again run out to the pitch together. Now that’s impressive. For even though Poland had an outside chance of qualifying for which they should’ve been running all over the place yesterday, they were simply outnumbered and outgunned by a much much more determined side.

Runje kept his cool throughout the match, even though Poland rarely ever threatened. We were put under pressure late in the game but when Runje denied Zahorski it was clear Poland will come out of this one empty handed. Vejic and Knezevic (Corluka since 26. minute) were solid as center backs, disregarding the Zahorski miss mentioned earlier.

Knezevic unfortunately suffered a knee injury (luckily nothing serious) and had to be taken early on, forcing Bilic to bring on the otherwise rest-bound Corluka. Simic (99th cap by the way!) was adequate on the right side of defense, rarely contributing forward but decisive as ever on defensive assignments. Pranjic on the other hand, who along with Rakitic was the only usual first team player out there, again had an excellent night. Practically everything we created last night went through these two players, with Rakitic holding the ball up and providing and Pranjic constantly harassing the Polish defense with clever interlinking and constant running down the left. Jerko Leko was also decent on our right, contributing more defensively due to our mentioned tendency to create from the left.

Duo consisting of Pokrivac and Vukojevic performed flawlessly, breaking up countless Polish attack and providing a solid and continuous contribution to the passing aspect of our play. You could tell this wasn’t the first time these two players had played together, as they formed a respectable midfield backbone for a couple of years back in Dinamo Zagreb.

Last but not the least, our forwards Klasnic and Petric got the job done. Petric had a somewhat quiet night, but you could tell he was itching to do well last night. And Klasnic, well what a story that guy is. I imagine not a lot of people who suffered a kidney transplant would dare to get into sports for even something as recreation, let alone sports on this kind of level. And remember, only a year or so has passed since his operation! And to go on and perform on an event like this, I imagine it takes a mix of everything from guts and determination to utter madness (or what we call it these days anyway - love for football). It’s a triumph of spirit you can only admire and bow your head to.

And finally looking back on our three matches, as much as I was content with our victory over Austria and excited after defeating Germany, I was never as proud of our boys as I was after yesterday’s victory over Poland. It just shows the kind of determination, talent and squad depth rarely anyone possesses these days. And as always, enjoy:

Meet Your Croat: Luka Modric

Let’s meet some of our midfielders in Meet Your Croat, volume VI:

Name: Luka Modric

Born: 9. 9. 1985 (age 22)

Position: Midfielder

Club: Dinamo Zagreb (future Tottenham Hotspur)

National Caps: 28 (4)

Biography:
Started his career in Dinamo Zagreb despite being born in Croatia’s south (Hajduk Split a popular choice). At 18 years of age he was sent on a loan to Bosnian side NK Zrinjski. There, despite his youth and somewhat fragile stature, he went on to become the league’s best overall player, scoring 8 times in 22 appearances. Often in his interviews Modric recalls back on his year spent at Zrinjski as a big experience which helped him both mature as a player and gain an invaluable amount of physical endurance, as Bosnian league has a reputation of being extremely hardy.

After impressing at Zrinjski, Modric was recalled to Dinamo but almost instantly sent on another loan, this time to a Zagreb suburb side, Inter Zapresic. There he excelled again, leading the usually modest side to the top of league at the season’s winter break. His performances were impressive enough for Dinamo to recall him to their side instantly.

After finally breaking through to Dinamo’s eleven, Modric has become one of the most influential players ever to grace the fields of both Dinamo and Croatian league. Soon after imposing himself at Dinamo and Croatia’s u21, Modric was called up by Bilic to the senior side. There, like perhaps everywhere before, he made an instant impact and became an invaluable asset to the team.

After 3 seasons and three league titles won with Dinamo, Modric was one of the talking points in last winter’s transfer gossip, with the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal being linked with him almost on a daily basis. However, after months and months of speculation, Tottenham Hotspur proved to be most decisive as they landed Modric with a record breaking €21m transfer fee.

On The Pitch:
Alpha and Omega. And Kappa. You rarely see anyone impose himself on a pitch the way Modric does. He’s your perfect modern playmaker: high work rate on defense and impeccable creativity on offense. Loves to dictate tempo. He’s often regarded as fragile due to his small stature, but his agility, acceleration and plain football wits are usually more than enough to compensate for this potential flaw.

Off The Pitch:
Described by everyone as modest and down to earth. He even captained Dinamo through the last season. Perhaps he doesn’t have that usual leadership charisma (my impression), but his play style gives him all the authority he needs when on the pitch. A genuinely loveable guy, except if you’re on the opposing team of course.

The Good: Vision & passing ability, technical, work rate, versatility, 2 footed, dictates the tempo
The Bad: Rarely ever a presence in air, not the strongest or most accurate shot in the house
The Random:
- played with Vedran Corluka back in Inter Zapresic as well
- childhood dream: Barcelona
- resembles Johan Cruyff in a couple of ways (not the image below mind you)

- cause that’s his reaction after signing for Spurs

And here are a couple of videos if you still haven’t seen him in action:

As always, enjoy.

Turkey On Menu

So I guess it’s Turkey on our menu on Friday. To be honest, when asked which one I preferred, Czech Republic or Turkey, I always thought of the Czech first.

Why? First answer that pops up is they’re actually a stronger side, and we tend to do better when facing tougher opposition. Though these 2 sides played a cracker of a match yesterday (1st half aside), I can’t say I’ve been impressed with either of them, if not mildly disappointed with their performances on this tournament. Though I salute the effort to come back from a goal down twice in one week, I can’t help but feel Turkey have been riding their luck all throughout their group matches (including the Portugal match). I hope it stops on Friday anyway. As it stands, it’ll be a tight affair, and here’s to hoping our talented players and passionate fans each make a difference.

But it’s a long way till Friday, and we do have a match to play in the meantime.

“Second String Won’t Embarrass Us”
And that’s according to Bilic’s interview on Goal.com. I’m thinking the word “embarrassment” isn’t quite the word to be using when talking about your players, but I guess the point is brought up well enough. These players certainly won’t be lacking in motive department, as their coach, teammates, fans and only the rest of the world will be watching. This might even be a once in a lifetime chance for some of these players to step up and shine on the big stage. Poland beware. Oh and don’t forget to drop a visit to the game’s live blog as well.

Black Armbands But No Silence
And as expected, the UEFA committee has rejected our request (they’re just doing it “by the books”) to grant a one minute silence in honor of the young Croatian fan that tragically passed away in Klagenfurt last Thursday. I guess rules & regulations are there for a reason. But God help me if there’s a reason to abide them in a time like this.

Our players will be wearing black armbands to honor the life of young Marin Zubcic (age 22).

Mixing It Against Poland

And that’s probably an understatement. As things stand (that’s according to the latest reports coming in from our camp), we will introduce no less than 8 new players against Poland on Monday.

There’s no doubt these stand-in players are quality and will be 100% motivated to do well in this match, but the fact there’s as many as 8 of them signals that we have little or no ambition to get a result on this particular occasion. Fair play? What’s that again? Again, as we’ve theoretically sealed the 1st place, there’s absolutely no need to risk second yellows (Srna, Modric, Kovac, Simunic) or of course further challenge lady luck with potential injuries to these players. This “day off” will do a world of good to our players by helping them to recuperate fitness amid this match-packed and exhausting tournament.

Starting lineup should therefore look something like this: Pletikosa – Šimić, Vejić, Knežević, Pranjić – J. Leko, Vukojević, Pokrivač, Rakitić – Petrić, Klasnić. This is of course still a subject of discussion as there’s almost 48 hours till the match kicks off.

One thing that’s interesting here, is that we had almost the exact situation back on EURO 1996 in England. We had won our first 2 matches and then fielded a reserve squad in our last match, which we lost by a margin of 3 goals (0:3).

Despite qualifying, not much sympathy was shown to our coach (Miroslav “Ciro” Blazevic, pictured) as a lot of criticism was directed at him for taking this approach. But more importantly, and that’s the difference between then and today, by “forfeiting” our last match we gave away the group’s top spot and qualified only as runners up. This time around, there’s absolutely nothing to lose or gain except perhaps the affection of our group rivals Germany and Austria.

But fair play aside, I’m sure everyone would agree that in these kind of conditions, it’s every man, or rather every nation for itself.

And as always, you can follow the game’s live blog right here.

At Loss For Words

Well what a night. As if defeating Germany wasn’t good enough, but a late late penalty converted by Ivica Vastic (karma anyone?) saw us not only qualify for quarterfinals, but qualify as group winners regardless of how our match with Poland plays out (head to head is the first criteria).

First of all, a big bow to Bilic and his staff for having the guts to go on and change things when a lot of people would falter and simply sit back and take what’s coming to them. Our people saw, analyzed and intervened. And that’s a winner’s virtue right there. Thank you for this victory and for bringing out the absolute best in our players. Also, I think it would be unfair to single anyone among our players, as this was above all else a collective effort. And what an effort it was. Every single soul out there was fantastic: players, staff and fans alike.

That said, I guess there isn’t much left for me to write about, so I’ll just dig around a little and see what kind of bits and pieces of yesterday’s triumph I stumble across. Enjoy:

Atmosphere in Zagreb:

Some memorable photos:

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