Croatian NT Thread (8 Viewers)

Marc

Softcore Juventino
Jul 14, 2006
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vlatko said:
they mainly drank Ožujsko, though i personally prefer Karlovačko from our domestic range.

Of course now that Karlovacko is practically Heineken. :D

I like that new beer - Fressh! :D Its quite cool, although I tried it from Q-Pack! :yuck:
 
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    mark83 said:
    Of course now that Karlovacko is practically Heineken. :D

    I like that new beer - Fressh! :D Its quite cool, although I tried it from Q-Pack! :yuck:
    heineken is definetly my favourite beer, but the imported one, i don't trust these guys here. and karlovacko i always prefered over ozujsko.

    as for fressssssssh i think it sucks, it's like you're drinking a soda not beer. strong is way better.
     

    Jun-hide

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    Dec 16, 2002
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    Just to point out on the lack of England's ability to conjure up some creative passing from midfield, the contrast could not have been sharper than old dog Milan Rapaijc marshalling the play down the flanks for Croatia. Oh boy didn't he give Ashley Cole some tough time with his clever movement, and technique.
    IMO, Rapaijc is a player who never fulfilled his full potential, and we saw glimpses of what he could have been. Lets not forget he was once courted by Juve, Barca and Milan of all teams. Only god knows how he ended up in Perugia.:D.

    With regards to Modric - I am loving this kid more and more. He reminds me of Juan Carlos Valeron. No fancy unecessary tricks, but excellent control of the ball, and simply superb and give and gos. Laymen will probably not appreciate such contributions compared to step-overs, but with so much disguise in their passes, vision, they are more effective at the end of play.

    While I was sceptical about Slaven Bilic prior to this match, it is clear he knows what he is doing. As he correctly said, system is nothing - It is just a game of numbers. What matters is having a right balance in the side, and how each players complement each other on the pitch.

    Nonetheless, I do not like traditional convention whereby you put two prototype wingers down the flanks. Combined with a lone striker system,I feel that teams do not put enough bodies inside the box in order to score goals. Obviously playing across in the midfield allows teams to dictate the tempo of the match, and players these days are so much better in terms of long-range shots, free-kicks than before, but you can't rely on those to win the match. Ultimately, teams will struggle to score goals bar set-pieces and penalty kicks. Portugal was a prime example of the limitation of the way teams set up in the international matches. They looked like never scoring a goal throughout the whole tournament. One winger with a freedom to move around is enough.
     

    Marc

    Softcore Juventino
    Jul 14, 2006
    21,649
    Jun-hide said:
    Just to point out on the lack of England's ability to conjure up some creative passing from midfield, the contrast could not have been sharper than old dog Milan Rapaijc marshalling the play down the flanks for Croatia. Oh boy didn't he give Ashley Cole some tough time with his clever movement, and technique.
    IMO, Rapaijc is a player who never fulfilled his full potential, and we saw glimpses of what he could have been. Lets not forget he was once courted by Juve, Barca and Milan of all teams. Only god knows how he ended up in Perugia.:D.

    With regards to Modric - I am loving this kid more and more. He reminds me of Juan Carlos Valeron. No fancy unecessary tricks, but excellent control of the ball, and simply superb and give and gos. Laymen will probably not appreciate such contributions compared to step-overs, but with so much disguise in their passes, vision, they are more effective at the end of play.

    While I was sceptical about Slaven Bilic prior to this match, it is clear he knows what he is doing. As he correctly said, system is nothing - It is just a game of numbers. What matters is having a right balance in the side, and how each players complement each other on the pitch.

    Nonetheless, I do not like traditional convention whereby you put two prototype wingers down the flanks. Combined with a lone striker system,I feel that teams do not put enough bodies inside the box in order to score goals. Obviously playing across in the midfield allows teams to dictate the tempo of the match, and players these days are so much better in terms of long-range shots, free-kicks than before, but you can't rely on those to win the match. Ultimately, teams will struggle to score goals bar set-pieces and penalty kicks. Portugal was a prime example of the limitation of the way teams set up in the international matches. They looked like never scoring a goal throughout the whole tournament. One winger with a freedom to move around is enough.

    Do you realize that you and Turk_Bianconero have the same avatar?
     
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    yeah good old rapaic, even at such a old age it's nice to see him playig like this and getting the recognition he deserves. imo it's exactly bilic's tactics that made him play the way he is playing now. him on the right side, opposed to his natural left, is way more dangerous. rapaic is a extremelly techincally gifted player, i dare to say on par with his retired contemporaries from the croatian nt. and with kranjcar on the right side, we have 2 great flanks that can cut inside the middle and fire from range. they are both skilled with the ball and creative, combined with modric in the middle you get the core of bilic's effort with this young and new nt.

    i see where you're getting with portugal but they play a different system than we do. they deploy a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 with pauleta as the lone striker and c.ronaldo and figo on the flanks. we play a classical 4-4-2, with the main difference of using prototype wingers, as you put it. we have 2 strikers up front instead of portugal's one lone striker. this is a system that i am tremendously pleased with, bilic has found the correct formula and that is a equal balance of young and experienced players. we play fast and attacking football which i have rarely, read never, seen croatia play.
     
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    anyone outside of croatia watched the izrael game? some fantastic performances by croatia's young guns; kranjcar, da silva, modric and srna.

    too bad we conceded 2 silly goals though.
     

    Marc

    Softcore Juventino
    Jul 14, 2006
    21,649
    vlatko said:
    anyone outside of croatia watched the izrael game? some fantastic performances by croatia's young guns; kranjcar, da silva, modric and srna.

    too bad we conceded 2 silly goals though.
    Yeah quite a game was it, huh?

    Some goals were a joke, especially Eduardo´s second.
     
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    mark83 said:
    Yeah quite a game was it, huh?

    Some goals were a joke, especially Eduardo´s second.
    why? it was a good efort but the keeper was on the right place. if anything you should give eduardo credit for scoring in the end, not every striker would have managed to put that in.

    eduardo's first goal was great, fantastic pass by kranjcar. also it's a shame modric didn't score in the first 5 minutes when he cruised through their defense.
     

    Marc

    Softcore Juventino
    Jul 14, 2006
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    vlatko said:
    why? it was a good efort but the keeper was on the right place. if anything you should give eduardo credit for scoring in the end, not every striker would have managed to put that in.

    eduardo's first goal was great, fantastic pass by kranjcar. also it's a shame modric didn't score in the first 5 minutes when he cruised through their defense.
    Eduardo is great, I´m glad he´s showing that, maybe our best striker, but that goal was pure luck, nice effort though, I agree.

    We are showing a great deal of potential, my friend, future is bright.
     
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    indeed, bilic has made something great. for the first time in a while i am enjoying watching our team play, not only that but getting results as well.

    oh when i think about england and russia saying they were favourites for the first two places, before the games started. :howler: eat that hiddink.
     

    Marc

    Softcore Juventino
    Jul 14, 2006
    21,649
    vlatko said:
    indeed, bilic has made something great. for the first time in a while i am enjoying watching our team play, not only that but getting results as well.

    oh when i think about england and russia saying they were favourites for the first two places, before the games started. :howler: eat that hiddink.
    :agree:

    How does our group table look now?:smoke:
     
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    like a dream:

    Total Won Draw Lost Goals Points
    1.Croatia 4 3 1 0 13 - 3 10
    2.Russia 4 2 2 0 5 - 1 8
    3.England 4 2 1 1 6 - 2 7
    4.Israel 4 2 1 1 9 - 6 7
    5.Macedonia FYR 5 2 1 24 - 3 7
    6.Estonia 3 0 0 3 0 - 4 0
    7.Andorra 4 0 0 4 1 - 19 0
     

    AzzurriGirl

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    Jul 23, 2006
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    Congratulations to Croatia for the win! I didn't see the game but it sounds like Croatia has a new exciting team. So now they are leading their division! Good for them. I think we will be hearing a lot about some of these players in the future. Hopefully I will catch a game on TV one of these days.
     
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    Game of the day: Forward saves penalty

    Mladen Petric was the hero of the day when he set up Basel's UEFA Cup Group E equaliser against Nancy before saving an injury-time penalty. Basel came from behind twice in a topsy-turvy 2-2 draw that saw the host's keeper sent-off in injury time and forward Petric save the spot-kick on Thursday.

    Nancy went ahead on 31 minutes through a Kim header when Franco Costanzo could only parry Moncef Zerka's shot, but Australia international Scott Chipperfield equalised with his head a minute later.

    In a frantic three minute period the visitors re-took the lead through a deflected Pascal Berenguer effort and were 2-1 up at the break, before another Australian - Mile Sterjovksi - pulled the game to 2-2 three minutes before the hour when Petric bamboozled Oliver Sorin in the Nancy goal with a header.

    Nancy could have won it after goalkeeper Costanzo was dismissed for pulling down Issiar Diah in stoppage-time. Basel had used all three substitutes so Croatia forward Petric donned the gloves and amazingly saved Michael Chretien's penalty.

    The result keeps Nancy in second on four points, while Basel are still fourth behind Feyenoord on goal difference.

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    don't know if you guys saw this, it's not so new. our striker mladen petric saving a penalty for basel. the keeper was off and petric took the gloves and saved the penalty. look at how he jinxed himself a little to the right, to fool the opponent, then he threw himself to the left and caught the ball with this hands. i'm telling you no keeper in the world would be ashamed of that save. :D

     

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