The one with the familiar last name stole the show though, netting two times and setting up Eduardo two times for the Crozillian to tap in. It was nice to see Eduardo back to his scoring habits, especially due to his impending Arsenal trials as his teammate Van Persie seems to have picked up an unfortunate lengthy injury. Back to Lichtenstein, Drago Gabric, the former Hajduk Split prospect, also had a decent game, supplying Bilic with a nice assist for that fast-but-not-quite-Guinness opening goal.

Get your highlights while they’re still fresh (a.k.a. active):

All in all, a decent showing in front of a nicely packed Cibalia stadium in Vinkovci. But speaking of crowd, well apart from confirming that there’s other venues than Maksimir to play in, we’ve also confirmed that the crowd is at least as intolerant (that’s a kind word considering the kind of chants our people cheer to nowadays) as the one that gets to see Bilic Boys on a more regular basis. All we do with this kind of chanting is give credibility to those categorizing us as extreme nationalists. But though it is Sunday, I’m not about to turn this into a sermon, so let’s get back to the footy side of things.

And what exactly have we learned from this friendly?
Well there’s not much you can learn from a friendly, is there? You try a few solutions but it’s not the real deal unless there are points at stake and motives aren’t in question.
That said, it’s nice to see some new faces introduced to the team. While the core of the team will pretty much stay the same for the next qualifying cycle, bringing in fresh motive and competition will do good to enrich the atmosphere around the team. And Bilic might just have a few more faces at disposal after Drazen Ladic’s U 21 selection successfully overcame the 1st of two major obstacles thrown their way in November.

I mentioned in the previous post on how a couple of players had been moved from the senior side to help out the U 21 cause. This paid off at once, as Rakitic immediately made an impact, scoring a winner in a narrow 2:1 victory away at Cyprus. The result is all the more important as the only defeat our youngsters suffered so far was against the same opponent back in June, and it keeps us well within the reach of group leaders Slovakia, whom we incidentally face on Wednesday. Keep at it Ladic Lads*.

*Bilic Boys. Ladic Lads. Hell yeah.

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.

First of all, we all love Slaven. His passionate sideline display, his way of connecting with the players on a more personal level, the fact that in between all these things he has his own freaking band, these are all things which made us proud to have the man leading our troops. And of course, the results, which were fantastic in his first 2 years with us, a little less so in the last two.

So this one leaves me a bit baffled. There’s a natural order in this kind of things I guess. Once it stops working, it’s time to try something new. Fresh blood for a clean start. So why is it that four out of five (poll results) Croats wants to see Bilic prolong his contract? Despite falling behind to England 9:2 over two encounters, failing to beat Ukraine despite having more quality in the team, and ultimately failing to qualify as a top seeded team in what had surely been a decent group draw. If one looks hard enough (only a glance would do here though), excuses can always be found. We’ve had an awful injury spree throughout the campaign, starting with Eduardo’s tragedy and ending with Modric’s absence in the decisive matches of the qualifiers. And the simple truth is, we’ve nowhere near the team depth to cover up the absence of these kind of players. When injury hits, we feel it. And unfortunately, we got KO’d this time around. So OK, it was karma. What else did we do wrong / right?

There’s quite a few wrong things that ache to be recognized. While Bilic’s approach to coaching (as in getting in touch with his players) is his personal choice and has proven to be successful during his first two years with the team, there surely has to be a line of discipline within the team that cannot be crossed. And yet, at the most crucial of times, we crossed that line. Don’t know how many of you are familiar with this incident, but after the Qatar friendly (day before Ukraine-England match), Bilic gave the players a night off, one which they used to add further woes to what has already been a woeful situation. Players, like the human beings they are, got out to have some fun, probably unaware of the camouflaged reporters taking notice of every mischief they were bound to produce. And produce they did, as the next morning photos of players literally carrying each other into the hotel premises took the covers of pretty much every media in the country.

They were out partying while the nation trembled in fear on how England would fare against Ukraine the very next day. I’ll admit that a bit of enthusiasm for the team died in me at that moment. The epilogue of the whole incident was the marching home orders for Krizanac and Simunic, the latter of two almost getting into a fist fight with Robert Kovac after a heated discussion. Bilic and his staff called it an effort in team building. Everyone else called it a farce. Later though, the blame was further instilled on players themselves, with Bilic’s only fault apparently the trust he had put in them. Yet, to toss that trust a bit further down the line, you could say it’s our own fault for trusting Bilic to have a firmer grip in the team. It’s a dangerous thing, discipline, and has seen a lot of managerial heads “chopped off” due to the lack of it. And Bilic, well, he clearly isn’t winning this fight.

Moral wise, issue of captaincy remains to be solved as well. It’s clear that we’re yet to find a personality to fill in for the retired Niko Kovac, who was clearly a level above at keeping things at bay then either Srna or Robert Kovac have so far presented themselves to be.

Tactical errors? Ha, well those were always easy enough to spot from the safety and comfort of our living room sofas. Still, most of us sofa strategists found common ground in questions like why again Pranjic in the back four, why Srna on right midfield instead of at right back, why not Vukojevic always partnering Modric in the middle… There will always be these kind of questions though, raising in quantity exponentially in troublesome times like these. Though some lack the obvious answer, the previously mentioned lack of squad depth could be seen as an alibi for some of these issues.

But the bottom line is, and it can be felt everywhere, we still trust him (Bilic). Is that a bad thing? Or does it finally signal we’ve matured as an audience and are willing to cope with the fact that we can’t always be there to play with the big boys? Because no matter how hard we try or how lucky we get with occasional top notch talent draft, we’ll never be there to stay, on the top. We neither have the resources, the manpower, or the sheer population to handpick the talent from. It’s a simple case of you reap what you sow. And we’ve been reaping from the neighboring fields a bit too much for luck to be taking our side. But that problem is deserving of its own thread, and it’d be a downright novel if I went on to rant about that as well. Talk to you soon.

But if we lacked motive, the visitors had it in abundance. Soria scored in 69th minute to even the score and put things back to the beginning. And as the quality ridden half (on our behalf of course) was in its dying minutes, debutant Jelavic scored to (perhaps) spare some blushes ahead of Wednesday’s qualifier against Kazakhstan. We won, hurray and yippie ya yee. And now the grumbling part (my specialty these days). Through the period of last few months, to say that we’ve been plagued with injuries would be an understatement. And as things stand, with Eduardo, Modric, Simunic and Petric already out of the Kazakhstan game, looks like we’ve lost the trio of Kranjcar (apparently the most serious injury among the three), Pranjic and Mandzukic as well.

That’s an awful large amount of players to lose in such a short period of time. And we’ve never been a side known for their squad depth, have we? Either way, the game with Kazakhstan already looks like a nerve wrecking one. But before all those nerves go to waste, there’s still that tiny matter of life and death regarding our qualifying chances, taking shape in tomorrow’s match between Ukraine and England. The latter will, tomorrow and (probably) never again, have an extra 4.5 million fans at their side. Capello we’re watching you.

Quietly and without hassle, they enter the room by forming a line near perfect line, a soldier’s line. And these, now don’t be fooled by their neat outfits and tidy haircuts, these were in fact just that, soldiers. Born and bred to do the right thing at the right time. And here they were. Seated down as per instructions given by one of the senior staff members, ready to face whatever life throws at them.

Bilic took the stage. For a moment it seemed he’d try and say a few words, but then eagerness got the better of him. He pushed the button on the remote and, much to everyone’s delight, the channel showing the Ukraine – England match emerged on the screen. The receiver was a new Sony 42″ plasma, one which secretary Srebric got a hold of under rather amusing (or you could say fishy) circumstances. Aljosa Asanovic, Bilic’s second in command, gave someone at the back a signal to close the room’s shutters, further instilling the mood in which this crucial match was to be watched (played). On the 42″ screen, the man in black gave a whistle to signal the start of what would surely be the single most important game our soldiers would be watching (playing) during their professional careers.

The first 45 minutes flew in a breeze. The two sides cancelled each other out, leaving fans (neutral ones at least) with much to be desired for. And a thousand miles away, in a dimly lit room of Hotel Sheraton, everyone was glued to their seats. Well everyone bar Ivica Olic, whose love for the occasional snack kept him circling the room (much to the dismay of those seated around him) like a vulture for a good portion of the first half. Soon enough the second half was on its way.
Ukraine started more positively, with crowd urging them to pile on the pressure and go for the kill. And as the clocked ticked on and the hosts pushed forward, it was in that period, at the pinnacle of Ukraine’s dominance, that this game would get an opener. The home side had a set piece delivery stubbornly defended, only to be caught off guard at the other end of the pitch.

Somewhere, a nation rejoiced in delight. Gerrard was the executioner, Capello the mastermind, and England the saviour. Surely it was over now? And indeed it was, as the home side’s dying efforts lacked the predatory instinct their opponents had displayed on the night. As so many times before, a single goal had decided the outcome. In (deceivingly) quiet anticipation the final whistle came. And with it, halfway across the continent, that one particular Sheraton room burst to life with random (and rather unspectacular) acts of celebration and decibels of laughter and joy.

They lived to fight another day.

I won’t delve much into detail, though I will give out my expert opinion with saying that we sucked, big time. First and foremost, Bilic had a night off, as his experiments on left back proved to be hazardous to say the least. He started with Pokrivac there (who I might add, hasn’t played in that position since his Varteks days, and that was like 3 or 4 years ago), only to reinstate Pranjic (who had started in a left midfield position) once it was obvious Pokrivac couldn’t handle Aaron Lennon down that side (not that Pranjic did a better job, mind you). It was a miracle we were just 2:0 down at halftime, as Runje had to be in form to produce some excellent saves from the never ending English onslaught. But, as if to make sure the night had no Croatian heroes, Runje went on to miss kick a return pass from Krizanac, basically handing the ball for Rooney to tap in for 5:1, the scoreline with which the match finished. No one associated with the Croatian F.A. in any way (be it players or staff) had the slightest notion of excuse to walk out of Wembley with heads held high that night. A collective failure, and one from which we now must find a way to bounce out off.

And how ironic is it, that the same team we spurned from the last big competition, now hold the threads of fate of our own qualifying chances. Fate, so often predictable in its unpredictability. We face Kazakhstan on the 14th and Ukraine play England on the 10th of October, so there’s a chance our last qualifying match will be nothing more than a sad formality. But we can’t think like that, we can only hope Capello and his England perform their last task of the qualifiers with the same approach they had in the prior matches. And if in the end of this mess we do indeed manage to qualify, we’ll have a long list of names of people we’ll have to give our thanks to. But for now, though probably undeserving of it, we’ve been given a lifeline. Thank you Belarus.

With Charlie out, it’s obvious Srna will take his place at right back, which leaves a few options as to who’ll fill in for Srna at the right side of midfield. Rakitic or Kranjcar? But speaking of Kranjcar (I’ll finish the previous thought in a bit), what’s clear as day is we need another runner to partner Vukojevic in the middle, as we struggled to hold our ground in that department against Belarus on Saturday (and I need not compare the difference in class between the Belarus and England midfield). The only players who fit the description are Pokrivac and Leko. But the downside is both of them have hardly seen any action lately (I should probably add: in footballing terms), as Pokrivac has just made a switch to Red Bull while Leko has been somewhat of a reject in Monaco for quite some time. Yet I can see Bilic starting with one of them, and my gut tells me it’s gonna be Leko. Why? Well for one he’s a bit more experienced and possesses more “bite”, whereas Pokrivac is little more of a passing type (though his experience at playing at left back early in his career could be of help tonight, that’s if we suffer on our left side, which is pretty much the card Capello played the last time we met). Which leaves us with the flanks. And I can’t see past Kranjcar and Rakitic on this one. They’ve got the brain to pass the ball around and the artillery to cut in and try one against the opposition’s goalie. Downside is, well, with the expected duo of Johnson and Lennon bombarding our left, either Kranjcar (presumably) or Rakitic will have to work extra hard to track back and help out Pranjic when the need arises. Up forward we have a no-brainer, a running type in Olic and a finisher in Eduardo. So the team could end up looking something like this:

Ideally, what this offers is experience on defense and aggression in the middle of the park, alongside some spark on the flanks to hopefully keep busy our strike force in front. Less ideally, we’ll have trouble defending the flanks with rather attacking minded side backs and not the most mobile and hard working of wingers. Discipline will never be as vital as in tonight’s clash. Saying that, something like the inclusion of Cale on left back and Pranjic further ahead in midfield (with Rakitic probably benched), wouldn’t come as that much of a surprise. Particularly after hearing Bilic say he’s got a few surprises in store for tonight. Look out for Mandzukic somewhere in there as well.

As for previous encounters, we’ve met each other before obviously, the latest match ending in a 1:4 home defeat which saw them ending our 14 year long unbeaten-at-home record in a rather embarrassing fashion. But while painful, it’s nowhere near the pain and embarrassment the Gordi Albion had to endure when we beat them 3:2 at Wembley on the final day of Euro 2008 qualifiers. That victory had of course ensured England’s absence and consequentially Russia’s participation in the competition. So you could say things are a bit personal tonight. And the mind games (part of it covered by Daryl over at the English side of things) played by both sides might as well serve as an overture for tonight, which we hope will be as dramatic and fulfilling as that night in November ‘07 was, for us anyway.

Oh and a tiny bit of completely irrelevant information. The game tonight kicks off at 21:00 (or 9 in the evening if in Croatia), the date of course being 09/09/2009, and this being our 9th game of the cycle. One has to wonder, what are the odds of a number 9 deciding the outcome tonight? Yep, I thought so.

Ajmo Hrvatska!

To say we expected a smoother ride would be an understatement, particularly when taking into account the ease with which we strolled to a victory in Minsk just three weeks ago. But that victory (3:1), oh boy did it have us fooled. With Modric out, Bilic opted for a solution everyone had anticipated, to bring in Kranjcar as a direct replacement. But as Bilic himself explained, you can’t replace Modric with just one player, and it took a team effort to successfully (?) fill in for the little guy. With the rest of the team pretty much intact (Vukojevic starting again after impressing in Minsk), the general idea was to press hard early on, nick a goal, and then build on that advantage later on in the match.

But Belarus knew better (credit to their German in charge, Stange, to whom I’d also like to apologize for laughing at his pre-match statement in which he claimed his team came to Zagreb to grab all 3 points: sorry mate), and with an extremely disciplined, mobile and determined performance, they had us sweating from the second the first wave of Belarus counterattacks started pouring in. All in all, a strong performance from the visitors, with only the lack of concentration in front of goal & some brave goalkeeping keeping them away from grabbing a point (or rather all three, if we’re to be perfectly honest) on the evening. But not to go into deeper analysis, some points were made painfully evident after these ninety minutes:

a) Modric *is* our midfield. Despite a strong performance from Kranjcar (and his midfield partner Vukojevic while we’re at it), the lack of mobility in our midfield was obvious, and there lacked a persona who could receive, hold up, and then pass the ball to the right person at the right time. Niko, nor anyone else in the roster for that matter, has the profile that guarantees that kind of performance.

b) We can’t underestimate anyone. We keep on doing it and it keeps bouncing back and slapping us right in the face. And while we’re at it, we mustn’t underestimate ourselves either, the game on Wednesday is what I’m having in mind.

c) This one’s a bit more positive. After having won the game with what you could basically call an own goal (Rakitic had his shot deflected), we can now officially proclaim that we indeed have the capacity to win ugly. Some say only big teams can pull it off, others call it blind luck. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

d) And another positive one (I’m on a roll here). We do have a goalkeeper in Runje. The man who’s arguably the most accomplished Croatian goalkeeper today (at club level obviously), has always had bad luck with being called upon only to take part in the most freakish of games (4:3 win over Israel comes to mind).
Basically, whenever we had him in the lineup, you could almost sense we’d concede at least one goal in the game at hand. But the funny thing is, arguably none of the goals we ended up conceding were his fault. Karma I guess. But with the saves he pulled off on Saturday, particularly after we went down to ten men (Corluka got a second yellow for stalling), he’s injected a whole new dose of belief both in fans and more importantly, himself.

Closing the Belarus chapter and looking ahead to Wednesday with problems both old (replacing Modric) and new (Charlie suspended), Bilic will have just a few days to reorganize and revitalize his troops, because what’s coming up, well it’s a monster game. And with a review coming up for that match, I’ll light the fuse with a couple of lines from The Clash’s “London Calling” track (how fitting, both track and artist names):

Now get this
London calling, yeah, I was there, too
An’ you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won’t you give me a smile?

But before I “Yarrrr” away everyone reading this thing, yes, Tottenham Hotspur have signed yet another Croat, this time in the shape and voice of Niko Kranjcar. For a reported sum of £2.5m, Niko will join his NT teammates & already established London folk, Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka. And with Modric out with injury, Kranjcar junior will surely have his hands full once the international break comes to a close. Not that his hands (or legs rather) will be any less busy this weekend and next week when we visit Wembley. It’ll be interesting to see how Niko fills in for Luka, as most pundits are suggesting that’s what both Bilic and Redknapp have in store for the former Dinamo & Hajduk man.

Conquering Britain
Ivan Klasnic also joins our colony in the Premiership, having made the loan switch from Nantes to Bolton Wanderers. Not a bad move that, hopping from the French second to arguably world’s most competitive football league. Best of luck to you Ivan, a well deserved chance to go and prove yourself at the highest level.
…And justice for all
Eduardo is suspended for 2 European games after having been found guilty of a dive which saw Arsenal take the crucial lead against Celtic in a terribly even encounter played 2 weeks ago. And thank God for that, this kind of ill deed should never go unpunished. UEFA has shown that they care about football and with another 1.178 players banned on this weekend alone (UEFA officials have been working over time, checking videos and having a word with anyone who felt their opposition might have cheated them in one way or another), things have finally started making sense in the world of football. Also, the gesture made by the two sporting icons Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo, which saw them both, in what can only be called a moment of true sincerity, admitting they may have used this ill tactic once or twice throughout their career but were now done with it for good, was tear shattering. They have seen the light. Finally we have it, justice, Unyielding & Equal For All.

World’s Shortest Match Preview in the History of Short Match Previews
Go Croatia! Ajmo Hrvatska!

It looked bad right there at the spot, and it certainly didn’t look better some few hours later, when news started circulating that Modric has indeed fractured his fibula and was facing a lengthy 8-12 weeks recovery period. While the exact info on his recovery is yet to be revealed, as Modric is about to undergo further examination, this awful news means Croatia will have to go through the upcoming qualifiers climax without it’s classiest player.

Conspiracy theory:
But it’s just that, theory, though I’ll still give it couple of lines. We know we lost Eduardo to an awful injury some 18 months ago, and now yet again a Birmingham player managed to hospitalize another one of our most prized assets, this time in the shape of Luka Modric. That’s two, arguably most important players of our national team, mauled down mercilessly in an year and a half period. Though the magnitude of injury is, thankfully on Luka’s behalf, incomparable, the timing on this one left us all disappointed and angry. If not a little paranoid, all things considered. Yet putting aside everything, all we can do is wish our little man a swift road to recovery. Get well soon. Oh and a word of advice for Corluka and Kranjcar: call in sick for the Birmingham fixture.

Witch hunt:
I can’t explain how mad I got while watching the Man Utd vs. Arsenal game yesterday, when the home crowd did its best “Justice League” impersonation and booed every time Eduardo came in contact with the ball. The same crowd, which sees it’s own heroes do what Eduardo did against Celtic, yet their heroes aren’t singled out and persecuted like Eduardo is/was, but instead sung praises every time they nick the goal for their beloved club. Hypocritical boos sprung forth by double standards the responsible body has put forth. Either ban absolutely everyone who tries to “cheat”, or do absolutely nothing and let the nature of the game take its course. This way, the only injustice done is to those who are actually caught diving. How? Well they have been trialed, found guilty and punished while their “diving” colleagues somehow escape the witch hunt, while still performing under the spotlight of the world’s brightest footballing theater, the Premiership. There’s no “setting an example” here. Just have the common curtosy to treat everyone the same. At least then you’ll have something to feel righteous about.