The Friendly Whine

Wow, waking up just to see all those journalists crying on how Bilic (or Markovic rather) picks his friendlies ain’t the best way to start the morning. But seriously though, the journalism in Croatia is rubbish. Like fast food. It’s all around, lacks the attention & nutrition of a real meal, and in the end will leave you plunging the nearest available restroom. The newest whine came when the Croatian FA announced that our next friendly would be against Lichtenstein.

Though the FA didn’t do themselves any favors with announcing that they’re trying to bring Argentina for a friendly, the tone with which the media have interpreted the fact that it’s Lichtenstein that’s coming over, is bordering childish and unprofessional. One web portal went as far as writing a headline that resembled: Thanks for “Nothingstein”. And that’s just mean. Don’t know about you, but I for one would actually rather see us play someone like Lichtenstein, rather then get depressed after playing Argentina and seeing what exactly have we missed in terms of competitiveness and atmosphere. The wounds are still far too fresh for that. Bring them on in a year’s time, when we’ve got something to hope for and cling on to.

But would you believe it, I actually have some good news to share as well. And it’s the fact that after beating Serbia 3:1 (strong favorites in the match), our U 21’s still have a good shot at making the EURO 2011 competition. And to further boost these chances, Bilic has sent reinforcements to our U 21 coach Drazen Ladic, in the shape of Kalinic, Rakitic and Lovren. Although a part of the senior team in recent times (Rakitic the exception), these players are still eligible to play for the youth team, so it makes sense for them to make this transition as some important matches are coming up. I can’t stress how important it would be for these players to make the best of these qualifiers and hopefully eventually partake in that tournament. It’s been a while (forever to be more exact) since our youngsters have come off with a result of some kind, but looking at some of the names we have on our U 21 roster now, I think we’ve got the talent to pull it through.

If I was to be corny here, I’d write something like: There’s hope at the end of the tunnel still. But I’ve (obviously) decided against it.