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Croatia 0:0 Japan

June 20th, 2006 | By: Soze | 35 Comments »

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I expected more. Let’s face it, Japan is not the most intimidating opponent and we still could not produce a win. I know, I know, Zico is the coach…but Zico is not on the field. I said just before the start of the WC that I would not criticize the play of the boys….so I will not. What I will do is express my utter distaste in the manner that Cico has been allowed to run rampant with his absurd formations.

1. What the hell is Niko Kranjcar doing on the field?????
He is so far off being match fit that it’s laughable. He is slow, unwilling to run after the ball, incapable of precise passes and overrated. Modric would be a much better choice. He is fast, willing and more than capable of creating a play. The whole nation can see it, why can’t Cico?

2. What the hell is Dado doing covering the fat boy’s position.
A striker is running up and down that field, and doing a mighty fine job of it I must admit, so that Cico can let his son stand in the midfield giving up unchallenged passes to the opposition. Let’s face it, Cico is creating a mockery of his son’s abilities, not raising his transfer price. After these games he will universally be seen as useless, just as Dinamo saw him 2 years ago.

3. Where the $#%@ is the third striker?
We desperately need him. I don’t care who it is…even Olic will do, but for God’s sake put someone in. Prso, Klasnic, Olic, that sound sooooo good right about now. How can 4 million people see that we need a goal, and Cico does not?

Those are my three main points, I got about a dozen more…but lets stick to those. Another thing I am getting so sick of is the “I am very satisfied with our play today” quotes. Is this guy retarded??. “We played just as I expected, but we were unlucky to not produce a goal“. With a quote like that, you gotta believe he is. I met the man about a year ago and he seemed well put together. I didn’t notice any ticks or lapses in conversation, but the way he has been acting over that past month makes me think that I missed something.

The next game is do or die. I love those kind of games because our NT are masters of producing a just in time result, but I know I’m gonna suffer a heart attack….at 35, and I”m not even a lawyer. The clash of the Croats, should be good.

I do wish to retract something I said a few posts ago. I said that Simunic is lacking pace and is on his way to getting a red card in the first two games for his strong arm tactics. Man was I wrong. He has been fantastic on our back line and deserves more credit than I gave him. One more thing, Who is the man in the net and what has he done with Pletikosa? I count 1 mistake in two games..impressive.

Milane, et all…sorry I had not posted right away. Game day I had 14 people at my house. Long day, long night and out like a light!

Euler, thanx for the wishes. No need for me to wish you luck, you’re in and you wrote everything I was thinking about the game in your post. I wish I had pictures like yours….man I miss Brazil!

Tags: Group F

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 35 comments.

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By Coaches Son | June 20th, 2006 at 6:39 am

Whether Niko played well or not is now irrelevant. The fact is because he’s the coaches son and because he plays the number 10 role he needs to be brains on the pitch. 2 games into the tournament and the best scoring chance has been a penalty. Maybe he deserves his place … but he certainly isn’t living up to his supposed reputation. Maybe Niko has issues that Kovac has the no 10 shirt and daddy wouldn’t give it to him ????

Its time to try something or someone different. If we couldnt score against Japan then there’s no chance of scoring against a tougher and more organised Aussie defence.

I’ve been on his back as well (maybe unfairly) and he’s not the only player to underperform, however he does attract the most heat and always will until a new coach is running the show.

This may be the sign that a new coach is needed. Something just isn’t right with this side. I wish someone would pay for me to have the same holiday the Ivan Klasnic has had for 180 minutes.
I hope Kranjcar snr & jnr prove me wrong

Posted from Australia

By Bigone | June 20th, 2006 at 6:52 am

Well said Soze! I support you on the Kranjcar case. It doesn’t matter whether the guy is fat or not, he just can’t play! He is slow, and so far off the pace it isn’t funny any more. His father sees him through rose coloured glasses. In the last four games, Niko Kranjcar has been the invisible man. He has no defensive duties (apart from that miss on Kaka when he scored) and still can’t do anything in attack.
I agree, Dado runs through midfeild and does the work of two players. When was the last time Niko ran with the ball through midfield? Never thats when! He is too slow to get to a challange.
Niko Kranjcar needs to step down for the good of the team, because his father just can’t face the truth. The longer Niko plays, the faster his transfer value declines. Hajduk Split you have purchased a dud!
Thank you.

Posted from Australia

By Bigone | June 20th, 2006 at 7:05 am

Frankopan…….”Where the hell do you get off. Kranjcar played very well, there were players much worse than him on the pitch.”

How can you honestly say that Kranjcar played very well? What game were you watching for the first 78 minutes?
Sorry I must have missunderstood you, you must have meant that Niko played well from the 78th minute………………………………………….. from which point he sat on the bench we he belongs?

I hope he plays that well from the start against Australia and we might score a goal or two!

Posted from Australia

By Milan | June 20th, 2006 at 8:49 am

Its cool Soze, I think I just wanted to express my disgust about the team wile I was still fuming.

The boys in the NT have argued with Cico and they are right about Niko Kranjcar he maybe a talent but his attitude costs your team too much. What Modric did for the 10 minutes he played is more then Niko has done over the two games. Just pathetic, if Croatia plays like this against Australia expect a thrashing. Next game I will pray Modric starts and Tudor is push into defence for Robert Kovac who is out due to suspension. Bring Balaban into the game as a third striker in the second half but not Olic, all he does is run and if Croatia’s passing game is off key he is useless.
Pletikosa is playing fantastically and so is our backline. If it wasn’t for them we would have probably lost to Japan and suffered a big defeat from Brazil. I just hope we step up and win it against Australia.
Zivili Hrvati

Posted from Australia

By Johnny Threaf | June 20th, 2006 at 10:40 am

SOCCEROOS=WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS 2006
CROATIA WILL LOSE 3-0 CAHILL WILL DO IT YOU SHALL ALL SEE 3 DAYS FROM NOW HISTORY WILL BE MADE.

Posted from Australia

By Gianni | June 20th, 2006 at 11:21 am

Kranjčar played a great game against Japan, one fo his best so far and people who wathed thw game with me noticed it too…
Several oustanding passes, but unfortunately we failed to score. I don`t really like Niko but this was a great performance by him and there`s no denying that. By the way, we will surely beat Australia…

Posted from Croatia

By MR | June 20th, 2006 at 11:59 am

I agree with the majority view here. Kranjcar was not a presence in midfield. We also don’t seem to be able to put even some basic passes together. Our defense men are so timid with the ball (when on offense) that they never advance the play forward effectively.
I agree Modric looked good, he had pace and this is the big problem: Croatia seems to have no pace. We are totally static, no one runs without the ball. The result is that players recive the ball (react to begin with slowly in passing) then pass to another payer who is just standing there and quickly surrounded. No movement is forced from the opposing side. Poor Prso, working his but off to compensate.
The sadest news is that the coach is replacing Kovac with Stijepan Thomas. This is a disaster and we will not score a single goal in this game.
We hanging on the glory of 98, afraid to win or lose, afraid of humiliation and of taking chances, so we play a static go nowhere game. We have to take chances and commit ourselves to develop a midfield, and have someone on defense who can make a forward pass with confidence.

Posted from Netherlands

By Ballzic | June 20th, 2006 at 5:18 pm

I think Balaban should be put on. It is frustrating watching our guys not play well. They seem to be very casual in their play. Someone needs to light a fire under them. I was thinking that maybe it’s time for a foreign coach to take over as well. Why do we always make jackass statements in the media such as “We will win against Japan for sure” and then don’t? We should under-promise and over deliver, not the other way around.

Posted from Canada

By BALABAN | June 20th, 2006 at 6:01 pm

BALABAN IS A GOOD PLAYER Y CROATIA NOT PUTTING PUT HIM

FUCK KLANSIC AND KRANCJAC

Posted from Canada

By stevera | June 20th, 2006 at 6:17 pm

The team is playing solid and unspectacular football. This is my views on each of the players thus far:

Pletikosa : 6.5 : No major mistakes, no spectacular saves. No real chance against the Kaka goal.

Simic : 7.5 : Lives up to his nickname of Pitbull (or is it Bulldog

Simunic : 7.0 : Solid, smart, comes up for offensive headers but no luck there.

Kovac : 7.0 : Igor Stimac said it best in the Brazil commentary ‘Gospodar’ !

Babic : 6.5 : Super against Brazil, had nothing against Japan. Had that beautiful dribble against Japan which he selfishly chose to shoot instead of pass over to an open Prso on the left flank.

Srna : 7.5 : The entire play, especially in the Japan game, goes through Srna. Tireless, probably best player thus far.

Kranjcar : 5.0 : Not fat, just slow. Responsible for the Kaka goal. Had 2 reasonable scoring chances (shot off crossbar and the missed loping header). Very little of Croatia’s game goes through him, and as a #10, this is a problem.

Tudor : 5.5 : Slow, not in the game. Will be better against Australia where his lack of pace will not be exposed as often.

N. Kovac : 6.5 : Not skillful, but hard worker. Good defensively, not offensively creative thus far.

I. Klasnic : 6.0 : No real scoring chances, had a few nice turns against Japan. Needs more pace.

Prso : 7.0 : No goals, but is everywhere (intelligently) on the field. Strongest player on the squad, with reasonable pace. Most likely to score against Australia.

Olic : 5.5 : Fast, but head down all the time. Sometimes forgets that he is playing soccer and not chasing rabbits in the field.

Posted from Canada

By BALABAN | June 20th, 2006 at 6:54 pm

about balaban u think his good to play

Posted from Canada

By Sukeroo | June 20th, 2006 at 7:05 pm

Niko Kranjcar is a good player. One of the few really talented technical players we have. That being said he does not look as fit as he should be. I wouldn’t exactly call him fat but a few less pounds might help him improve his pace and endurance. I thought he played a decent first half against Japan but I agree he should have been subbed about 20 minutes earlier. He also has a great shot. He hit a cracker that went off the cross-bar which had it gone in we would all be singing his praises. Personally I would like to see Kranjcar and Modric play together.

Posted from Canada

By Marty | June 20th, 2006 at 7:17 pm

I say you start Kranjcar and Modric together. Kranjcar, other than our defense has been one of our best players up till now. People talk bad about him because of the whole dinamo/hajduk fiasco and what the people in Zagreb were brainwashed with.

Posted from United States

By CrnoGorac | June 20th, 2006 at 7:34 pm

Try Prso and Balaban together.

Posted from Australia

By FIFAworldcup.com - Passionate Fan on Fifa World Cup 2006 | June 20th, 2006 at 7:47 pm

World Cup Diary: Croatia

Below is a diary of all games played by Croatia in FIFA World Cup 2006.

Last Updated: June 19, 2006

Date Played: June 13, 2006 (Group Stage)
Opponent: Brazil
Scorer/s: Kaka (44’)
Budweiser Man of the Match: Kaka

Croatia gave the Brazilian…

Posted from United States

By Miles | June 20th, 2006 at 8:34 pm

Listen,

Including friendlies, we have not won a game in 5/6 attempts. The law of averages is in our favour. Read that Srna and Kranjcar are sharing a room and they both promised to play the game of their lives against Australia. Great to hear that the younger players give a damn about the results. Now is not the time to criticize anyone, now is the time to pray to Sveti Ante. We will win on Thursday!
PS. Does anyone know who’s sharing a room with Stjepan Tomas???(aka Mr.Massage)

Posted from Canada

By Marty | June 20th, 2006 at 11:29 pm

I agree, where has Balaban been. If that score is 0-0 at halftime, Id start the second half with Balaban, Klasnic and Prso.

Posted from United States

By Matko | June 21st, 2006 at 12:02 am

Croatia played like $#!^ !!!
I can’t believe that after 4 years of waiting for another world cup, they still havent even scored a goal!
Its discraceful!

By Bigone | June 21st, 2006 at 1:55 am

I can’t believe that Tomas is replacing R.Kovac. We need to score goals and Cico replaces a defender with a defender?
Why not just switch Tudor to the back 3, and put Modric on in his place? Shit we haven’t scored a goal yet, doesn’t he see that something needs to change?
By the way, I think that we retain Klasnic for the Aus game. Klasnic is just getting poor service from midfield, because everything is going through Prso.
Once again, Niko Kranjcar needs to be dropped. A player in his position needs to be in the action all the time. He is invisible during games - please dump him to the bench.
This game is make or break, if the only change we make for the Aus game is Tomas in for R.Kovac, then goodbye to the world cup for Croatia!

Posted from Australia

By Bigone | June 21st, 2006 at 2:02 am

Our coach is a moron! There, I said what most of you are thinking. He comes out with stupid comments to the media all the time. Before games he always says that we are better than everyone and he is SURE of victory. What a load of crap!
After every game he says that we dominated, great, we dominate but haven’t scored a goal in our last four games. Hey, lets dominate against the Aussies for a 0-0 draw and go home on the next plane and then dominate on the plane. This guy lives in a fairy land, he is blind, and can’t see that his son is the major problem. Shit, even I could play in his position and we wouldn’t have gone any worse. Niko is absent on the field and his father is absent off it!

Posted from Australia

By richard | June 21st, 2006 at 5:43 am

Firstly, very sad performance
against japan.I’m tired of the
3-4-1-2 formation, it’s not
producing.Babic and Srna spent more time in our goal mouth so of course they’ll struggle in
that heat to be defending and then be relied upon to also create magic.Klasnic crossing to
an empty net summed that up, Dado was out back somewhere
mopping up instead of being in the middle. I thought Kranjcar
was alright, there were worse.
Babic did zero attacking almost,
he was pinned back mostly.I think we should go back to 4-4-2
with Tudor back in defence and
maybe Srna at right back giving
Modric or Ivan Leko a start alongside Kranjcar in the middle.Olic doesn’t do anything
but run 100 mph , with or without the ball.Balaban’s not my favourite but we’re past
bagging people, we need goals.

Posted from New Zealand

By red | June 21st, 2006 at 2:47 pm

if cico wanna play 3-5-2 put prso and balaban from scratch!!
ivica olic is not in good shape and
klasnic is doing nothing
please cico read this shit:)))

Posted from Croatia

By Tome | June 22nd, 2006 at 6:03 am

Bigone> I agree with your last two postings.They were on the mark.
The best we could hope for regarding Kranjcar is that Cico has his son playing with Modric.

I’m also concerned that Srna is not providing the service that we expect out of him. He’s not capable of putting the ball in play for Klasnic up front and he is not able to penetrate and made a run or pass to Klasnic or Prso when he comes from the flank into the middle of the pitch. I thought he wasn’t that effective in either of the two games we’ve played so far.

We have not scored a goal the last four games(the own goal against Spain included), what the hell makes us think were gonna score a goal now? We need need more support through the middle, not just 1 player being supported by a left or right back but more men up the middle. If you watch good teams play, support is there continuously(in numbers) in the middle and on the flanks. Creative passes and speed in the middle is what it will take to create chances within 15 yards of the goalie. These long shots that we’ve been taking are not doing us any good. There coming from outside the goal box and there either hitting them right at the goalie or were hitting them well wide. Make the goalie work to make a save.

Bog

Posted from Canada

By FIFAworldcup.com - Passionate Fan on Fifa World Cup 2006 | June 22nd, 2006 at 9:36 pm

End Game Tactics

The group stage has come to an end and teams specifically Australia and Brazil had made changes to help boost their chances in the Finals. Coach Hiddink of Australia has put Liverpool winger Harry Kewell alongside Tim Cahill to form the fiercest attac…

Posted from United States

By Micho | June 23rd, 2006 at 4:30 pm

Man you were right about Simunic all along. He spent all last night trying to give away penalty or get sent off. Which he achieved twice.

Posted from United Kingdom