I would agree with most of that - all I would say is that even though Portugal have better players (mostly on paper) than Spain, Spain still play more cohesive football and if they meet then I would expect Spain to dominate the ball and Portugal to try to hit counter-attacks.I would love spain to won it, but they have no good subs in certain positions that could hurt them. Also, physically they might be overrun by the big ones (Germany, France, England) and technically they are on par with Portugal but with less quality overall.
Croatia were too easy to play through. The midfield and the attack provided zero defensive cover or pressing cover to the back 4.Conceding in 98th minute was tough. Ref leaned towards Italy with fouls/cards and that stoppage time but Italians maybe deserved it too.
We have to be real and admit we should have been better against Spain and won against Albania.
Road over for us and for few senators in the team. It was a splendid one with those 2 World Cup medals.
The Albania game was the problem really. That last minute equaliser put so much pressure on you for the Italian match. Italy beat Albania and you didn't, and that is what has cost you ultimately.Conceding in 98th minute was tough. Ref leaned towards Italy with fouls/cards and that stoppage time but Italians maybe deserved it too.
We have to be real and admit we should have been better against Spain and won against Albania.
Road over for us and for few senators in the team. It was a splendid one with those 2 World Cup medals.
Most likely
Fair post except Pasalic isn't a winger/wide forward at all. He's an attacking midfielder or a number 8 primarily who can fill in as a false/floating "winger" if needed. He started yesterday.Croatia was extremely bad tactically the whole tournament. Spain was the one to forget, but Albania and Italy were games where they actually had the game in their hands, after the initial shitshow.
Yesterday`s tactical setup from the start for Croatia was a joke. They needed to score and win the game and Dalic played 5 midfielders and Kramaric, who is not a true centre-forward. In the defensive part, there were 4 centrebacks, as neither Gvardiol nor Stanisic are true wingbacks. He completely suffocated and dulled Croatia`s attack, which was already very limited.
The question that needs to be asked is why didn`t he try with classic wide forwards/wingers like Pjaca or Pasalic. Also, Budimir deserved to start the game, as he was basically the igniter against Albania and again proved to be the one yesterday, as it was his chance that led to the goal.
Brozovic is also another point to talk about. I can`t understand that a guy that is 31 years old and was one of the main players of a CL finalist goes directly to Arabia to farmers league. You can see that he is a moron, as he has a bomb tattoo on his neck, but this decision was one of the stupidest I have seen from a footballer in recent years.
All in all a tournament to forget for Croatia.
I`m talking about Marco Pasalic, not Mario. Marco Pasalic was on the bench for Croatia the whole tournament, same as Pjaca. Both are wide forwards/wingers.Fair post except Pasalic isn't a winger/wide forward at all. He's an attacking midfielder or a number 8 primarily who can fill in as a false/floating "winger" if needed. He started yesterday.
Imagine if it was Austria? An Austria win and a France non-win does it. Unlikely but never know.After all the hype France got, would be great if the Netherlands finish in the top of the group.