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No matter what happens today or in the future, Kalinic will remain the greatest loser and joke in Croatia's sports history.

Nah, they were great so far. What we are missing is an attacking superstar who can win matches on his own. Much love for Rebic, Perisic and Mandzukic, but none of them is a Neymar, Hazard, Mbappe, Dybala.

I was more nervous before England tbh. Or before Juve-Barcelona. I feel like before Juve-Real in 2017 and we know how that ended :scared:

@Badass Dybala You have a prediction to make in this thread. France will win, right?

There will be few unknowns between the two teams today. Way too many "spies" in France and Croatia to help their coaches. Varane knows Modric and Kovacic, and they know him well. Mandzukic knows Pogba and Matuidi and vice versa. Umtiti and Dembele play with Rakitic. Vrsaljko plays with...

Yes. Guivarch for France in 1998. Amazing coincidence :scared:

I'm super prepared to lose another big final. It would be #6 for me. I'm not sure how I will react if for a change my team wins a final. For years I imagined that I'll celebrate a win in a big final with you guys. Now I'll kinda be alone in my celebrations :D But logic suggests that Croatia...

It was reported (after the match) that he had 40 C earlier that day, but I don't buy it.

Juventus and Juve players playing for their NTs have been a real nightmare for Tottenham and the Spurs players. Starting from that CL clash when Higuain and Dybala eliminated you, via Mandzukic's goal against Eriksen's Denmark and the Mandzukic winner against a Spurs dominated England the other...

Nonsense! We gave them enough sea access. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neum

If Italy made it instead of Sweden and found itself in the easier part of the draw, as Sweden has, I wouldn't have excluded a WC final :D Ventura or not, they aren't worse than Russia, Sweden, Switzerland or England, and with a strong defensive display, of which they are well capable, they could...

When Cameroon made an impression at the 1990 WC, someone (I think Pele or Joao Havelange) predicted that by the end of the century an African team will win a World Cup. It seemed like a plausible prediction. Those Western Africans looked faster and stronger than the rest, and all they seemed to...

At the very least, the draw and the group results made it sure that an outsider will make the semifinals. The winner of Sweden-Switzerland will play the quarters against Belgium/England-Colombia/Japan/Senegal. England are no small team indeed, but nobody expected this England team to reach the...

I wish, but not a chance. To win the WC you need players who are used to winning. Players who win strong championships, players who win or play CL finals year after year. Players who are used to going far with their NTs. That was Germany in 2014, Spain in 2010, Italy in 2006, Brasil in 2002...

I've seen two "first time" winners in my lifetime - France in 1998 and Spain in 2010. Those teams were really strong and heavy favorites, so it wasn't a surprise when they won it. This time I don't see such a team, so I can predict a previous winner winning this thing. Most probably not Uruguay...

I wonder who's gonna make the surprise in the knockouts. No outcome will be surprising in Portugal-Uruguay, France-Argentina, Sweden-Switzerland and (in case Colombia makes it) in Colombia-England/Belgium. This leaves us with 4 matches where an upset can happen. Russia-Spain, Denmark-Croatia...

Yup. Except maybe France in 2002. That team (at least on paper) was great enough to win it again, or at least make the semis.

Only one change is expected in Croatia's starting XI compared to round 1 - a DM Badelj to replace an attacking player (Kramaric) - with an obvious intention to pay more attention to Messi. 3-4 changes are expected in Argentina's XI, but it looks like Dybala and Higuain won't start again...

Indeed. Except when you play Germany, you really disappoint at World Cups :D Actually, ever since those great generations in late 1990's, all ex-Yu teams failed badly at the WC. In 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, the ex-YU teams had 8 appearances in WCs (Croatia 3, Serbia-Montenegro 2, Slovenia 2...