Belgium Friendly Review

March 5th, 2010 | by: Mario |

I’ll keep this rather short though. God that was awful. The end.

OK you’ll need a bit more info then that. So, against a rather young & promising Belgium side Bilic decided to try and give a go at a 3-5-2 system, a formation most of us really saw as obsolete, and with right reason. Because, and I’m fairly shocked with Bilic here, why try and play with 3 at the back when roughly 90% of the world plays with a back four, not to mention the fact that we’ve been struggling at left back for generations now, and you’d need a class act at both sides if you’d like your 3-5-2 to be remotely useful. So yeah, we disagree, and I’m pretty sure the majority of fans feel like this as well. But on with the game. Our starting lineup featured familiar faces, with only Mate Bilic upfront and Hrvoje Cale at left back as exceptions. We looked pretty disorganized right from the start, and it was our luck the host looked pretty out of shape as well.

repka_belgija There was no real passing game going on, with loads of mistakes coming from our usually dependent passing maestros Modric & Kranjcar. Cale looked impressed by the occasion, and I’m not sure I blame him as the role he was asked to play would have impressed a much better player then him. All in all it was a scrappy game decided by a fortunate goal. The goal, while a good strike, was in all honesty a blunder on Belgium goalie’s behalf. Of the players introduced later in the match, Eduardo looked lively, though at times leaving that impression that he’s more eager to assist rather then score.

Also, lately I’ve seen a lot of negative comments aimed at Srna’s performances. And I have to say it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a decent performance by him, certainly nothing that would compare with his world class reputation he’s made for himself at Shakhtar. Robert Kovac came into the press recently and stated that Croatia lack the leader that Niko Kovac was, and I have to admit I’m in agreement. There’s chemistry missing on the field, and no attempts at some weird formation will cover it up. Bilic needs to bring in fresh blood, ASAP.

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Comments

By cicco | March 5th, 2010 at 1:10 pm

Mmmm…it’s true what you say about a leader. Every successful team has a couple of guys who can marshall the team. spain they have puyol screaming at all defenders. In italy we have canna and buffon who maintain calm at all times, as well as de rossi showing the passion in the centre…who do you think this man can be for croatia…maybe krizanac? very tough, experienced guy…or maybe vukojevic if he keeps on growing as a person and a player…what do you think?
sure, it was a bad match, but as a guy who keeps an eye on croatia (my brothers girlfriend she is croatian), you guys have really a beautiful future – delac, tomecak, lovren, barbaric, oremus, badelj (che calciatore bello!), rakitic, maybe jajalo, kalinic, KRAMARIC, …these boys can all become top footballers i think

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By Mario | March 5th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

That’s a reason good as any to follow Croatia!

On topic, dunno about Krizanac, if you look at him, he does “reek” with self confidence, but I think a lot of that attitude comes with the role he plays. He doesn’t seem to have that spark to rise up and yell and have everyone pay intention. Perhaps he hasn’t established himself as he was what you call a late bloomer, earning his debut in late twenties.

Robert Kovac was probably the closest to possess something of a leadership role, though he was too inconsistent to promote himself as such. Srna, the acting captain, does it for Shakhtar apparently very well, but I don’t think he has the appropriate sporting personality to succeed with the same role in Croatia.

Vukojevic plays the right role, a fighters role, but seems too quiet to fit the bill. Love the guy nevertheless though. I don’t know, maybe Runje? He’s got a few years ahead of him and heaps of experience.

Great shout with all those players btw, and that’s actually exactly what I mean with Bilic needing to bring in fresh blood. Some of these players (Jajalo, Kalinic, Badelj) will surely feature (and shine hopefully) in the upcoming qualifying cycle.

By Gazete Oku | March 5th, 2010 at 6:57 pm

Hi, thank you very much. good job.

By Kevin | March 23rd, 2010 at 10:22 am

Good write up, Mario. I def agree that Croatia needs a leader on the pitch. I feel like Modric could be a leader. He may not be the most vocal footballer of all time, but I feel like he can be one of those guys whose play speaks for itself and can lead by example.

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