Friendly Preview: Hungary

May 31st, 2008 | By: Mario | 7 Comments »

Things to know:

Why Hungary?
Bilic has said a few times that Hungary’s play style resembles those of our Group “B” opponents.
They’re described as a solid side with lots of international experience. Though they’re apparently lacking some important players like Halmosi, Tozser and Rajczi. One thing’s for sure, it’s a definite step up in quality compared to Moldova last week.

Atmosphere:
According to Rakitic, the locker room atmosphere is perfect. Even the fact that during practice yesterday, Simunic accidentally elbowed him (even a medical assistance was needed) didn’t dampen his spirits. Now that’s something. There was a bit of bad news to moan about though, as Manuel Pamic (one of 2 youngsters Bilic decided to take to EURO) was recalled by his club Red Bull Salzburg this weekend, meaning he’s set to miss out on a chance to practice with the big boys and be a part of Croatia’s EURO setup. Shame, as this kind of experience can only be beneficial to a player.

Approach:
Bilic stressed out a number of times that he’s taking tonight’s friendly as serious as possible. Or to quote his words: “EURO begins in Budapest”. Whether he’ll stick to this plan or bring in some fresh blood, we’ll see in a couple of hours. I imagine he’ll put up a slightly different first eleven than on last week’s friendly and then have the same approach in second half (lots and lots of substitutes).

Eduardo :
Following up on a recent Eduardo recovery post, here’s the latest stuff coming in from Brazil (click here for an alternate source). Pure magic.

Tags: Croatia, Eduardo, Friendly game

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Comments

By CROATIAFAN | May 31st, 2008 at 3:37 pm

N KOVAC SCORED BOTH WAYS LOL

GOTTA STEP UP

PETRIC OLIC JUST SLEPPERS

By jero | May 31st, 2008 at 7:34 pm

I’m sorry but I think our beloved Croatia has no chance of getting out of the group stages unless the other teams are worse.We have steadily gotten worse since we qualified and the last 4 friendlies have been terrible.
Modric had his worst match ever and looks tired and we don’t have a striker who can score consistently so the faith in our forwards has gone I think, and it shows.I think they’re all worried where the goals will come from???
Thank God Eduardo’s back this year.Personally i would start playing Kalinic now to prepare him for the next qualifying tournament because Olic and Klasnic have no chance of playing if we want to qualify.
I’m very concerned about the team after the last 2 weeks.

By Milan | June 1st, 2008 at 5:30 am

Let’s just calm down and look at this in a larger perspective. Croatia yes did play bad but it was a friendly and we were unlucky the hungarian goal stood plus we weren’t awarded a penalty. If it ended 2-0 we would be singing there praises.
The game was a good thing now at least we know what wont work.

By jero | June 1st, 2008 at 6:05 am

No, it wasn’t the score which would have mattered.It was the performance of the players a week out from the tournament which has been ripped apart back in Croatia.They should be close to their best at this stage yet Bilic today changed the formation because he had to after a poor first half.It got worse.I admit the players in midfield had an off day but they now go into the competition uncertain.The strikers haven’t scored for months.Defensive midfielder Kovac having to bail the team out twice with the strikers not even looking close to scoring.That’s a real problem.Like I said, they will struggle to make it out of the group becaus ethey have no striking depth,until Eduardo comes back.He did win us half the matches.

By Mario | June 1st, 2008 at 7:08 am

@jero: I agree, our form has been deteriorating ever since the England game.
Eduardo was a key 3x player in our qualifiers and there’s no way for any of our current strikers to fill that gap. They probably bring other things to table but it’s nowhere near as important to this team as Eduardo’s end product was.

@Milan: You’re right when you say it’s a good thing, meaning Bilic will sit down and analyze what went wrong and how to correct it. The only trouble is they have just a couple of days now to do it. The way I see it, friendlies are a way to either experiment or simply further “oil the machine”. I’m just not sure which approach Bilic had yesterday.

By jero | June 1st, 2008 at 7:05 pm

I’ve read many new articles today and Bilic sounds very concerned about the strikers.It’s making the news everywhere that he thinks the team from the midfield forward is out of form and now there are wispers of not getting out of the group unless they step up.Do you guys truly have faith in Klasnic , Olic and Budan to get us out of trouble??? I don’t.I honestly believe Kalinic should get a look in.At 20 he wouldn’t have the fear and he’s a genuine striker.He was also out of form the last part of the season but he’s no worse than the others.Maybe not against Germany but I’d give him a run against the others at some point.We know what the other guys bring, they’re all 27 plus, but he might bring something else.It won’t happen though and we’ll be gone early I think.

By Milan | June 2nd, 2008 at 1:50 am

I have no doubt the Bilic is worried about the last few performances but im shore he is capable in rectify it. Petric has shown he is more then capable and Im am certain he will step up when it is needed. Olic has shown in the past that he can score important goals. Our midfield was the main problem over the weekend. The strikers received no service so we can’t expect them to do much without the ball being placed in areas where they can capitalize.

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