Croatia

[BBZ8800]

Mandzukic is back in starting 11. Maybe Kalinic's performance against Spain will motivate him to step up.

Coach will play the same team which played against Turkey and Czech.
Even Miroslav Blazevic said the other day that it would be counterproductive to change starting 11 now.

On the other hand, Cf Kalinic and Amr Pjaca will jump in right away if something goes wrong, someone gets injured and similar.

 

[Stric]

Mandzukic is back in starting 11. Maybe Kalinic's performance against Spain will motivate him to step up.

It would motivate him more if he wasn't back in the starting 11 by default.

I'm not a big fan of neither of them, but so far Mandžukić has been very underwhelming. You'd expect more of your main center forward, and rightly so.

 

[Topolino]

I've not watched much of Fiorentina but the times I did, Kalinic was pretty good. And on the counter I've watched a bit more of Juve and Mandzu rarely looked good.

 

[BBZ8800]

I've not watched much of Fiorentina but the times I did, Kalinic was pretty good. And on the counter I've watched a bit more of Juve and Mandzu rarely looked good.

Mandzukic is a kind of hard-working Cf, he works a lot for the team.
And true, sometimes he has periods when he scores too low amount of goals.
Imo, Mandzo was on his peak before he came to Bayern and during Bayern's era.

In Atletico he was weaker already, and in Juve also.

Also, he can score both with feet and head (Pep said that Mandzukic is the best scorer with headers in the world), and since Croatia crosses a lot (Srna and Perisic), Mandzo fits to that style.
Mandzukic from Bayern:

Kalinic is more of a lethal striker, probably more lethal than Mandzukic.
But Kalinic is slower, weaker in air, and he works less for the team.

 

[Barcaman]

Happy Statehood Day! Hope it gives that extra motivation to our boys

 

[Trickykid]

Tonight we're all Croats.

 

[Gaudi]

Everyone for Croatia, we play good, Portugal struggling...hm, don't like where that is heading

 

[dakt]

Happy Statehood Day! Hope it gives that extra motivation to our boys

Just when I was wondering how you say "Dan drzavnosti" in eng...

For homeland!

 

[Barcaman]

Perišić is ready

 

[Total-Football]

i have been a fan of this side since 1998 especially players like Soker, Boban , Jarni .. i wont forget their trashing of germany i was rooting for the germans back then lol .. best of luck today .. if Croitia wins it's a double bingo , the diva is out + a good footballing side progress which means exciting football in the quarters

 

[Stric]

The whole team played badly compared to their previous performances, so it's not fair to single anyone out, but truth be told - Mandžukić is worthless. We might as well have played with 10.

 

[KiX7777]

Portugal coach outsmarted ours. Their coach is very good, with Greece he also played effectively against us.

 

[Stric]

Even with our exit, I'm still very proud and happy with our NT as a whole this Euro. With the exception of yesterday's match, I don't remember us playing this well technically, with so much heart, discipline, and in phenomenal physical shape. We looked like one of the powerhouses. Much to be proud of.

About an hour ago I was cleaning out some shelves and found a newspaper from June 2014 with the headline saying something along the lines of "PACK YOUR BAGS, SISSIES: Our team embarrassed themselves against Mexico, lost 3-1 and deservedly dropped out of the tournament during group stages". That pretty much says everything about how people's perception and feelings towards the NT are completely different than only two years ago. Now we're praising them and supporting them even after their exit.

 

[Gaudi]

After couple of days I still think we could've been in finals...I have a feeling we felt on mental preparation. We started great against Turkey, like we have somethinig to prove, like we'll show everyone how strong we are. Then, after beating Spain even without couple of first 11 players It's like we even got scared of how strong we are, and that actualy scared us. Like, fuck, we CAN'T lose now, we need to be in the finals...that's why the same team that attacked Turkey hard, made so many runs from midfield played static and controled football without any risk. We still managed to control the game, Portugal couldn't do anything but we also lacked any real chances and then of course, as it oftens happens, lucky punch and you're out.

 

[JerseyAddict]

Well to make story short... same shit all over again. Always on the edge of something big and then some shit happends. Will we ever again se "1998. revival".