Saturday’s Higlights

If this was Star Trek, we’d probably be at “Yellow alert” by now. “Shields up” and everything.

As it turns out, a wave of pessimism has spread all throughout Croatia after our Saturday’s poor showing against Hungary. A number of articles seemed to pinpoint our lack of quality upfront and the diminishing influence our creative force has had over these last few friendlies. Bilic himself has stated that if we’re to accomplish anything this month, our key players will have to be at their absolute best.

Now even though that’s a reasonable and by all means correct statement, it just underlines the fact that there’s a significant difference in individual quality on our team. Like it or not, we’ve come to depend on the likes of Modric and Eduardo a whole lot, probably more than we should. Question is, what if these key players DO flop? We’ve lost Eduardo what, 4 games ago? And it’s been a rough ride ever since.

Plan B? We don’t seem to have one yet. I for one would certainly prefer to see more emphasis put on a collective effort, rather than putting extra weights on shoulders of these few “precious” players. Players who WILL, I repeat, end up making the difference (I hope this makes sense). For the sake of team chemistry, when speaking in public I’d just rather see our staff treating our team as a unit, and not point fingers as to who are the individuals we’re depending on most and why.

Reporter: Coach, what can we expect from your team today?
Coach: Well, those two guys we have, well, they have to be at their absolute best. Or else..
Reporter: Else what?
Coach: Else we’re in deep sh…

Hmm, I did name this “Saturday’s Highlights”:

Magyarország Horvátország. Dare pronounce it right.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Despite this little turbulence, I have the utmost confidence in our staff, particularly Bilic, to make the most of this tournament. Quarters, semis, or 0 points, I’ll still look forward to our next qualifiers with Bilic in charge. Rock on. End of rant.