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Game 13: Croatia vs Albania live from the Volksparkstadion. ITV1 2pm

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What will be the result?  

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  1. 1. What will be the result

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  • Poll closed on 19/06/24 at 12:59

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Haguey said:

Looks like after saying Croatia are terrible and finished for the last 4 tournaments Gunman is finally properly right ;)

Finished mostly because of terrible coaching.

2016 was peak if we talk overall strength of the squad and it went downhill since. But this team should have a lot more to offer if not for clueless Dalić in charge.

 

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Rob1981

Rob1981

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

21 minutes ago, SouthCoastRed said:

Group X sees teams AA, BB and CC qualify. Are they then placed in separate quarters of the draw, so if all 3 keep winning knock out games, can we reach the Semi Finals where all 3 are still in, or will two of them clash again before then?

They try and stop the third place teams meeting someone from their group again until the semis.  But it's not quite possible to guarantee it because there are so many different combinations of 3rd place teams that could get through. 

You MIGHT get a situation where

  • Winner of Group A gets to play 3rd in Group A again in the QF
  • Winner of Group D gets to play 3rd in Group D again in the QF

image.png.4d7aa6d076a8316095caa0996e3801b1.png

But there are 15 different combinations in terms of which specific groups provide the third place teams.

ABCD, ABCE, ABCF, ABDE etc.

So each of the QF scenarios above only has a 3/15 chance of happening... if it is any of the other 12/15 combinations of groups providing the third place teams, then those third place teams that are on an early collision course with their group winner would get allocated to another slot.

Whatever happens, group winners and runners-up can't meet again until the final.  And the third place teams from Groups B, C, E and F could only meet someone from their group again in the semi finals and not before.

Edited by Rob1981
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Rob1981

Rob1981

Posted
Posted

Oh, and if gunman wants to have his usual moan about England getting an "easy path" to the final... then we need Albania to finish 2nd in this group.  Otherwise we might get Spain/Italy in the QF.

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SouthCoastRed

SouthCoastRed

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Rob1981 said:

Whatever happens, group winners and runners-up can't meet again until the final.  And the third place teams from Groups B, C, E and F could only meet someone from their group again in the semi finals and not before.

Yeah I knew the winners and runners up couldn’t, but thanks for the detail. I knew you’d know the ins and outs of the ducks arse :thup::D

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Rob1981

Rob1981

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Posted
1 minute ago, SouthCoastRed said:

Yeah I knew the winners and runners up couldn’t, but thanks for the detail. I knew you’d know the ins and outs of the ducks arse :thup::D

Yeah, kudos to @EdBed who gave you the same answer in a lot fewer words :D

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DJ

DJ

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Posted

The ref is being quite nice to Croatia. Several yellows could/should have been dished out already. 

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EdBed

EdBed

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Rob1981 said:

Yeah, kudos to @EdBed who gave you the same answer in a lot fewer words :D

Whereas I appreciate your thoroughness, I got as far as working out that C like B couldn't meet sooner than the semis but gave up when I started to look whether E could meet sooner.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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Against Spain, Dalić though he'd be a smartass and put both Stanišić and Gvardiol on full-backs, just because he saw Pep play with four CBs.
But Pep does it because he has four class CBs. Instead, Dalić put two players who aren't good enough in the middle.
Then for this game he benches Stanišić for some reason and not Šutalo.
Worst of all, three man defense would actually work with Satnišić, Gvardiol and one more.
Instead, mastermind fields 35yo Perišić who barely recovered at traditional LB position in back four.

Brozović was the entire team if we talk defensive cover for many years. He was the only player who could rival Kante's mileage at his peak.
But he's a typical Balkanoid who smokes, drinks, eats garbage and could do it only because of ridiculous genetics.
Inter gets rid of him for fairly cheap, he's 31 now and after a season in Saudi looks like a Sunday league player. No cover for defense that's already pretty bad.
On top of that, there's also Modrić. One of the best midfielders ever, but he's just done in any role that's not about making the decisive pass here and there. His legs are gone.
Poor Kovačić has to play for three of them by himself. Then he's to blame.
Meanwile, Pašalić who had arguably his best season ever at Atalanta and even played some minutes at #6 simply can't get on the pitch.
There are also potential class midfielders for the future, Sučić and Baturina.
Then there's Majer. Technical midfielder with no pace being played in some half-wing role he's useless in.
Petković who had the most embarrassing sequence ever last game and wasn't even supposed to be the penalty taker is in the starting lineup just because.

It's not even about winning or losing, getting eliminated or qualifying, but the fact that in almost seven years of Dalić's reign, every game against weaker opposition was exactly like this.
Unwatchable and without a plan other than hoping one of the class midfielders does something.
With those midfielders being past it, there's no defensive structure and getting opponents to beat themselves doesn't work anymore.
Now I respect Rakitić even more for retiring when it was time.

Don't get me wrong, every team has embarrassing tournaments and Croatia is definitely not above it, especially if we look at what was happening with Italy and Germany as of late, but a lot of this could've been avoided with a capable coach that has some authority.

Btw, I wrote all this because I'm infuriated with casual followers who don't watch football, just the NT and still think Luka will make things work and win the game with a couple of superb moves.
For all I care, everything I was talking about for years is finally happening. :D

Btw, Croatia never lost second game and with me trying to be a smartass, you can put some money on sh*thousing comeback. :lol:

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Rob1981

Rob1981

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, SouthCoastRed said:

Awww look my ignorance has created an OTF love in @Rob1981 and @EdBed :D

International permutations is the main reason they let me stay around.  Don't think I don't have a massive colour coded spreadsheet ready to go.

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kpain16

kpain16

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Posted

Everything we've ever done, good or bad, was because of our midfield. That's our thing, always has been. And they are finished as a trio.

Brozović became shockingly bad, absolutely awful. He's not even that old but he's gone. 

Modrić is done. Deserves all the accolades as one of the best midfielders ever, but he's definitely finished. Not surprising.

Perišić is also finished. He lost a lot of pace, looks predictable and completely out of form. Not surprising as well as most players wouldn't even recover yet from that injury. He's Croatian league level now so not sure how much more he can give.

Dalić being Dalić, he loves his senators as trusts them more than he should and it's backfiring badly for him.

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EdBed

EdBed

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10 minutes ago, kpain16 said:

Everything we've ever done, good or bad, was because of our midfield. That's our thing, always has been. And they are finished as a trio.

Brozović became shockingly bad, absolutely awful. He's not even that old but he's gone. 

Modrić is done. Deserves all the accolades as one of the best midfielders ever, but he's definitely finished. Not surprising.

Perišić is also finished. He lost a lot of pace, looks predictable and completely out of form. Not surprising as well as most players wouldn't even recover yet from that injury. He's Croatian league level now so not sure how much more he can give.

Dalić being Dalić, he loves his senators as trusts them more than he should and it's backfiring badly for him.

Are there still the same political divisions within Croatian football that sparked the protests seen during Euro 2016?

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kpain16

kpain16

Posted
Posted

 

2 minutes ago, EdBed said:

Are there still the same political divisions within Croatian football that sparked the protests seen during Euro 2016?

Nope. They have a "family" mantra now.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, EdBed said:

Are there still the same political divisions within Croatian football that sparked the protests seen during Euro 2016?

A decent number of people still doesn't care. After all, Modrić was their pawn among others.

People who were in charge back then got convicted and most fled the country.

3 minutes ago, Haguey said:

Admittedly I don't see much of Kramaric but I don't think I've ever seen him do anything special for the NT

He's a second striker who never got to play his proper role for NT.

He's had some good games, mainly Dalić's first game in charge.

Dalić came as an emergency hire, just before 2018 WC play-off in Kyiv.

Kramarić scored both goals in 0-2 win, you get the point.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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1 minute ago, CFuller said:

Vedran Corluka booked at Euro 2024.

I did say Croatia hardly ever change much. :p

Another thing I forgot to mention.

Pletikosa, Olić, Ćorluka, Mandžukić, Subašić all in coaching staff, with no previous coaching experience whatsoever.

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TM

TM

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Posted
23 minutes ago, kpain16 said:

Brozović became shockingly bad, absolutely awful. He's not even that old but he's gone. 

I would say it's because he's in Saudi but Kante looked great for France the other night :D

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CFuller

CFuller

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Another thing I forgot to mention.

Pletikosa, Olić, Ćorluka, Mandžukić, Subašić all in coaching staff, with no previous coaching experience whatsoever.

Old boys' club, eh? That always works out well at major tournaments. :D

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Freakiie

Freakiie

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Another thing I forgot to mention.

Pletikosa, Olić, Ćorluka, Mandžukić, Subašić all in coaching staff, with no previous coaching experience whatsoever.

I mean how can you lose when your bench is filled with legends? :lol:

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

Posted
Posted
Just now, The Amazing Dale Watkins said:

Isn't Mandzukic younger than Modric? They could use him in this tournament,

Ćorluka is also younger. :D

 

Here we go, Dalić about to make me look like an idiot.

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CFuller

CFuller

Posted
Posted

Kramaric equalises. :(

1 minute ago, The Amazing Dale Watkins said:

Isn't Mandzukic younger than Modric? They could use him in this tournament,

Yep. Mandzukic born in '86, Modric in '85.

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DJ

DJ

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, Freakiie said:

How is that not a back pass? :eek:

I was sitting here thinking the same. And of course they score from the ensuing attack. VAR?

 

Maybe this is part of the recently invented 'obvious school boy error so it doesn't count'-rule :rolleyes: 

Edited by DJ
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Bliss Seeker

Bliss Seeker

Posted
Posted

Albania only have themselves to blame, everytime they counter there's no movement so whoever is in space is just taking shots from a distance. 

Well deserved from Croatia. 

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