The Killer Replacements

Opening June 16th!
Seriously though, that was fantastic. I can’t help but feel immense pride for the way our boys played yesterday. Let me try and recap what exactly what went on and why it all ended so beautifully for our team. First of all, a total of NINE players were introduced to our first eleven. That’s nine who have never and in all probability will never again run out to the pitch together. Now that’s impressive. For even though Poland had an outside chance of qualifying for which they should’ve been running all over the place yesterday, they were simply outnumbered and outgunned by a much much more determined side.

Runje kept his cool throughout the match, even though Poland rarely ever threatened. We were put under pressure late in the game but when Runje denied Zahorski it was clear Poland will come out of this one empty handed. Vejic and Knezevic (Corluka since 26. minute) were solid as center backs, disregarding the Zahorski miss mentioned earlier.

Knezevic unfortunately suffered a knee injury (luckily nothing serious) and had to be taken early on, forcing Bilic to bring on the otherwise rest-bound Corluka. Simic (99th cap by the way!) was adequate on the right side of defense, rarely contributing forward but decisive as ever on defensive assignments. Pranjic on the other hand, who along with Rakitic was the only usual first team player out there, again had an excellent night. Practically everything we created last night went through these two players, with Rakitic holding the ball up and providing and Pranjic constantly harassing the Polish defense with clever interlinking and constant running down the left. Jerko Leko was also decent on our right, contributing more defensively due to our mentioned tendency to create from the left.

Duo consisting of Pokrivac and Vukojevic performed flawlessly, breaking up countless Polish attack and providing a solid and continuous contribution to the passing aspect of our play. You could tell this wasn’t the first time these two players had played together, as they formed a respectable midfield backbone for a couple of years back in Dinamo Zagreb.

Last but not the least, our forwards Klasnic and Petric got the job done. Petric had a somewhat quiet night, but you could tell he was itching to do well last night. And Klasnic, well what a story that guy is. I imagine not a lot of people who suffered a kidney transplant would dare to get into sports for even something as recreation, let alone sports on this kind of level. And remember, only a year or so has passed since his operation! And to go on and perform on an event like this, I imagine it takes a mix of everything from guts and determination to utter madness (or what we call it these days anyway - love for football). It’s a triumph of spirit you can only admire and bow your head to.

And finally looking back on our three matches, as much as I was content with our victory over Austria and excited after defeating Germany, I was never as proud of our boys as I was after yesterday’s victory over Poland. It just shows the kind of determination, talent and squad depth rarely anyone possesses these days. And as always, enjoy: