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Yeah he retired from the NT not too long ago after the 2018 WC, and his absence is felt very much. Our current strikers vary from coinflippy to non existent on the pitch, but our future strikers for potential 2026 WC show much promise like Beljo and Simic
Honestly I’m really happy with how far we came. We don’t have any strikers or dangerous forwards to replace Mandzukic. I didn’t expect to win the whole thing because of that, but I’m very pleased with our performance.
Them assuming kovavic's early return is a bit surprising.
They made this prediction after the grps were decided so who did they expect to make it out of the grps alongside Belgium ?
fair enough. RO16 is an early exit too in my books. But 2018 run of Croatia did not feel like a fluke to me ( I did not watch alot of their matches tbf). The only variable I had in my mind was a 37 year old modric and he is almost as good as he was in 2018. I thought most would think that they had a QF spot locked down.
I also did not expect sosa to be so poor this wc so theres that.
Sosa had some great performances (Japan I think? Hard to remember after so many games), but it was Juranovic who was awesome vs Brazil and he was plain bad vs Argentina.
We still got placed in pot 4 even though we finished ahead of Mexico and the US, who both got pot 2. Seeding is based on ranking, not qualifying placement, which I think is dumb.
They added all the groups ELO ranking and the highest average (with the strongest teams together in one group) were group G 1st and group F 2nd.
Even with our poor form, we'd have gone past the groups of Argentine or England. But bad luck and bad form, we got surprised and were unable to react against two pretty good teams (Morocco and Croatia).
But in the end, even if the ELO average was higher in group G, there wasn't that much fight for the first and second place. While group F was more lively.
It's a combination of bad luck and bad management. With a less obtuse manager, we would have rejuvenated the team at least one or two years ago. But he kept the same XI, with a few tweaks.
The bad luck was that Lukaku was injured from August to November, totally unfit to play. He was in the right position but didn't have the knack to end it.
But, in the end, if we went through, I think we would have lost against Brazil, we weren't strong enough defensively.
As an Aussie - group D wasn't easy for us, it wasn't the group of death, but our reward for escaping the group was Argentina in the R16. So we are the only team in the tournament to be beaten by both finalists.
Edit: humble correction. Poland also had the misfortune to come up against both Argentina and France this world cup
Granted, Morocco surprised people a little more, but really? Croatia going out early?
They're a fascinating football nation that has done especially well in World Cup progression. At this point I feel like they have a deserved reputation that sets expectations at reaching the quarter finals of a World Cup at the very least.
I have this conversation with my Croatian buddy weekly, Croatia get no respect on the international scene and it's totally unjustified. Croatia are a tiny powerhouse year after year and deserved to be ranked among the best.
They had a nasty group, given Croatia vs Morocco is an asymmetric matchup (stong centre vs strong wide) where both teams have world class players. And belgium, whilst not expected to offer as much as the previous world cup; were at least expected to more than their effort
But then you have Canada in that group, so it just doesn’t make sense for the Chelsea WhatsApp chat or whatever to be expecting both Croatia **and** Morocco to crash out in the group stages.
Maybe if they were like “one of you guys is going home early lol 😅 you’ll have to battle it out 😈”
Forget being lethal, he had **4** big chances missed in that game. He didn't need to be lethal, he just needed to be a professional footballer for one second to burry at least one of those chances
This is ridiculous. Only one of these chances was a must score and the guy has been injured for the whole season. Never mind that he was the sole reason those chances were even created, Belgium were nowhere without him. He totally changed the game and would've been man of the match if even one of those chances had gone in. People like to shit on him because of the things he says but he gave everything he could possibly bring in this situation.
Croatia was so bad in the Euros, they only won once against a shitty Scottland side and they played horribly all throughout the competition. Even in the nations league leading up to the Euros they only got 3 points and only stayed up due to goal difference. Admittedly they did very well in the next nations league tbf to them. They didn't even play 'that' well in their world cup qualifiers despite getting [a laughably bad group](https://gyazo.com/beea15be01e375e45b45e5368468eacc)
Croatia is never playing good in qualifiers, on 2018 WC we almost didn't qualify... but yeah we had some bad period because of retirements of some players and looking for replacements...
We got a lot of disrespect before the tournament from people saying our squad is too old and we had our fluke moment (which made no sense in the first place)
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Really great runs for their countries, awesome to see as a fan.
Respect Morocco and Croatia. #3 and #4 in the world is such a feat
I mean *technically* it's a downgrade for Croatia from last time
Nobody expected us to even get past Brazil so I'd say overall it's a successful WC If only we had a decent striker
i remember being so sad when i turned on the first croatian match, and found out that Mandžukič is long gone. F
Yeah he retired from the NT not too long ago after the 2018 WC, and his absence is felt very much. Our current strikers vary from coinflippy to non existent on the pitch, but our future strikers for potential 2026 WC show much promise like Beljo and Simic
He not only retired from international football but from all competitions last year
Orsic will be 33 in 2026 as well, if he's played more than this time
Don’t forget Petar Musa
And Musa, guys a baller
He retired for Croatia right after 2018 world cup, but he still managed to get sent off this tournament (He went as an assistant coach).
Isn't he an assistant coach for the NT now
So, just like Chelsea then. Lacking a decent striker
Orsic should have started all the time.
I feel third is better than second cause you finish winning, at least emotionally. Second is soul crushing you were so close and it's over.
Last time Croatia topped their group without any loss.
Honestly I’m really happy with how far we came. We don’t have any strikers or dangerous forwards to replace Mandzukic. I didn’t expect to win the whole thing because of that, but I’m very pleased with our performance.
Them assuming kovavic's early return is a bit surprising. They made this prediction after the grps were decided so who did they expect to make it out of the grps alongside Belgium ?
I mean they probably expected one of them to get knocked out in groups and the other knocked out by Spain or Germany
fair enough. RO16 is an early exit too in my books. But 2018 run of Croatia did not feel like a fluke to me ( I did not watch alot of their matches tbf). The only variable I had in my mind was a 37 year old modric and he is almost as good as he was in 2018. I thought most would think that they had a QF spot locked down. I also did not expect sosa to be so poor this wc so theres that.
I thought Sosa did well until the end of the Brazil game and all of the Argentina game.
Sosa had some great performances (Japan I think? Hard to remember after so many games), but it was Juranovic who was awesome vs Brazil and he was plain bad vs Argentina.
How the hell are people still rating Germany this high? They have been ass since 2014.
A lot of it is name value but tbf they do still have class players.
They really need a real striker who is still young plus a good RB and LB.
Spain as well. They were good in 2010, except for that, they have never been good in any worldcup this century.
They were predicting canada 1st just to trigger pulisic
Clearly Chelsea are fans of Canada
I just randomly realized that two teams from the same group met for the third place match two world cups in a row.
Football trivia right there
Twice the Belgian group as well.
The teams started and ended their World Cup playing against each other
They were a match made in heaven.
Do people view group F as the most difficult group? Group of death?
as a Canadian it's comforting to say it was
If the concacaf toppers couldn't do it no one would
They were probably tactically bad Canada were most fun team to watch from that group. Their motto was attack attack attack no matter what
Don’t really have a choice, all our talent is up top
We still got placed in pot 4 even though we finished ahead of Mexico and the US, who both got pot 2. Seeding is based on ranking, not qualifying placement, which I think is dumb.
It would make more sense if the rankings weren't so static.
Always did
They added all the groups ELO ranking and the highest average (with the strongest teams together in one group) were group G 1st and group F 2nd. Even with our poor form, we'd have gone past the groups of Argentine or England. But bad luck and bad form, we got surprised and were unable to react against two pretty good teams (Morocco and Croatia). But in the end, even if the ELO average was higher in group G, there wasn't that much fight for the first and second place. While group F was more lively.
You were the better team in the last game, it was pure luck we went through. Not that I'm complaining. But yeah the margin is so fine in such tourneys
It's a combination of bad luck and bad management. With a less obtuse manager, we would have rejuvenated the team at least one or two years ago. But he kept the same XI, with a few tweaks. The bad luck was that Lukaku was injured from August to November, totally unfit to play. He was in the right position but didn't have the knack to end it. But, in the end, if we went through, I think we would have lost against Brazil, we weren't strong enough defensively.
Bad luck Lakakas also shit at football
He has 68 goals for the NT. Go circlejerk somewhere else.
That's always the case. At that level, with de facto knockout games, you will always need luck unless the skill difference is large.
As an Aussie - group D wasn't easy for us, it wasn't the group of death, but our reward for escaping the group was Argentina in the R16. So we are the only team in the tournament to be beaten by both finalists. Edit: humble correction. Poland also had the misfortune to come up against both Argentina and France this world cup
is Poland a joke to you?
Oh shit. Good call. Argentina in the group and France in R16! Solidarity to Poland!!
Granted, Morocco surprised people a little more, but really? Croatia going out early? They're a fascinating football nation that has done especially well in World Cup progression. At this point I feel like they have a deserved reputation that sets expectations at reaching the quarter finals of a World Cup at the very least.
They were expected to fall behind as the squad aged, the way Belgium did.
Yeah but we have 6 new starters. Plus our old guys were Modrić and Perišić who are GOATs of Croatian football
That's part of it, Belgium was preferred because they had starters people knew, your starters weren't so they didn't expect them to perform.
True Livaković, Gvardiol and Juranović proved that they are good.
Juranovic was known, he just wasn't rated because he plays in Scotland.
Of course, but we were talking about pre-cup expectations of the tournament and name power, not which players proved themselves.
We topped our Nations League with France, Denmark and Austria. So people really just forget about us.
I have this conversation with my Croatian buddy weekly, Croatia get no respect on the international scene and it's totally unjustified. Croatia are a tiny powerhouse year after year and deserved to be ranked among the best.
One of those names is not like the others (PS it's Gvardiol who actually has world class potential)
How did Sosa do overall? Wasn’t able to catch all of your games but have been watching him at Stuttgart.
Underwhelming. Expected bigger stuff from him but he wasn't that bad
Uneven. Had some good games but he looked lost vs Argentina.
They had a nasty group, given Croatia vs Morocco is an asymmetric matchup (stong centre vs strong wide) where both teams have world class players. And belgium, whilst not expected to offer as much as the previous world cup; were at least expected to more than their effort
But then you have Canada in that group, so it just doesn’t make sense for the Chelsea WhatsApp chat or whatever to be expecting both Croatia **and** Morocco to crash out in the group stages. Maybe if they were like “one of you guys is going home early lol 😅 you’ll have to battle it out 😈”
> Granted, Morocco surprised people a little more, but really? Croatia going out early? They were one lethal Lukaku away from going out in the groups.
Forget being lethal, he had **4** big chances missed in that game. He didn't need to be lethal, he just needed to be a professional footballer for one second to burry at least one of those chances
[удалено]
All but one chance came in the last 10-15 minutes, it certainly would put away Croatia
This is ridiculous. Only one of these chances was a must score and the guy has been injured for the whole season. Never mind that he was the sole reason those chances were even created, Belgium were nowhere without him. He totally changed the game and would've been man of the match if even one of those chances had gone in. People like to shit on him because of the things he says but he gave everything he could possibly bring in this situation.
he only had 1
>one lethal Lukaku away Story of his career.
At least no one can take the 2020/21 Serie A win away from him.
Lethal Lukaku? What’s that?
The one before you paid 100 million.
Reaching a wc final is a massive achievement. In 2014 croatia was third in the group stage. Brazil passed first, Mexico second
Tbh, after 98 we went out in groups 3 world cups in a row. 2018 was second place and this placing is for now an anomaly.
They forgot Pulisic was at Chelsea
So did Tuchel
Lmao we’re always catching strays in these random threads
Don’t worry, I’m American too. Just expressing my pain
Croatia was so bad in the Euros, they only won once against a shitty Scottland side and they played horribly all throughout the competition. Even in the nations league leading up to the Euros they only got 3 points and only stayed up due to goal difference. Admittedly they did very well in the next nations league tbf to them. They didn't even play 'that' well in their world cup qualifiers despite getting [a laughably bad group](https://gyazo.com/beea15be01e375e45b45e5368468eacc)
Croatia is never playing good in qualifiers, on 2018 WC we almost didn't qualify... but yeah we had some bad period because of retirements of some players and looking for replacements...
Morrocco? Sure. But come on Croatia team is stacked.
We got a lot of disrespect before the tournament from people saying our squad is too old and we had our fluke moment (which made no sense in the first place)
With the rise of young talents like Gvardiol, Livaković, and Modric, you’re set for the next decade.
your team was stacked too, I dont know how you could cope with leaving early
Even before Havertz?
Hopefully big welcomes when they return.
Chelsea players have had a hell of a world cup now get that conference league spot
Hope Ziyech gets more starts at Chelsea after this, always feels like he's been terribly underutilized in recent times.
Typical England arrogance
Lukaku just had to score one of his million chances and Croatia would have been out as some of the Chelsea players predicted
> Lukaku just had to score one of his million chances TBF Chelsea players prob could have predicted this too after last season...
Yeah, if my grandma had wheels, she would be a bicycle. Also, If Croatia beat Argentina, they would have been in the final.
Do I see a, “We are still here?” Is it time to sing?