Portugal looked certainly impressive yesterday, will be interesting to see how they do vs good opponents.
Where did that Quaresma come from? In top shape for the EURO. always a talent that vanished for several years
Croatia ---------------Subašić--------------- ------------------------------------- --Srna----Ćorluka----Vida----Strinić-- ----------------------------(Vrsaljko) ---------Brozović----Modrić---------- ------------------------------------- --Pjaca-------Rakitić--------Perišić--- (Kovačić)---------------------------- -------------Mandžukić-------------- Vrsaljko is a better player than Strinić, but his natural position is at right-back, where Srna is irreplaceable. Kovačić is also better than Pjaca, but he's primarily an attacking mid, not a winger. Other useful bench players: Schildenfeld (CB, Dinamo Zagreb), Badelj (CM, Fiorentina), N. Kalinić (CF, Fiorentina), Kramarić (LW or CF, Hoffenheim) This team is ready to make a big result on the Euros, all the key players are in their best years and the midfield line is one of the best in the world. There are two major problems, though: no Lovren and the head coach, Ante Čačić. 1. Lovren is known for his mental lapses, but he is currently our best centre-back and a natural leader. He got into a verbal altercation with Čačić after coach deliberately didn't play him in two friendly matches in March and was subsequently ousted from the national team. The real reason why he's no longer with the team is because he testified on the court against Zdravko Mamić, the most powerful person in Croatian football, regarding tax fraud. Mamić is the person pulling the strings from behind the scenes in the football federation, a polarizing figure that transformed Dinamo Zagreb into one of the best producers of young talent in the world, but he also requires that all of his players sign deals with a fake Russian agency that essentially makes Mamić's son the players' agent. Eduardo da Silva had a clause in his contract that required him to give 50% of his earnings each month to Mamić. The Croatian court voided that contract, after which Mamić cried to the media that he was backstabbed by his "son" Eduardo. 2. Ante Čačić is a former TV repairman, a person with 30 years of headcoaching experience in Croatia, and a guy that has never won anything in his life, besides one title with Dinamo Zagreb in 2012 (Dinamo's budget is 10x bigger than every other team in Croatia + they bribe the refs when needed), where he was installed as Mamić's puppet. Kissing his ass got him to this position, as well, and everyone is very skeptical whether he is the right man for the job. All in all, the time is now for this team to make a stand and finally break through on the big stage. Everyone in Croatia is hopeful they either make us proud and go to at least the quarterfinals, or crash and burn in the group stage, because Mamić will then be standing on very shaky ground.
Besides Lovren, Čačić also made one other glaring omission from his final 23-man squad: He called up Rog and Ćorić, two young Dinamo Zagreb players, in front of Alen Halilović, a FC Barcelona starlet and, besides Pjaca, our only true right winger. Čačić, or rather Mamić, did this because Rog and Ćorić's market value grew by making the final squad, and Halilović already made a 12 million euro switch to Valencia earlier this spring (Dinamo Zagreb earn a percentage from every sale of Halilović, he was sold to Barcelona when he was only 17 because his parents pushed for deal as they didn't want to be Mamić's pawns). A few days later, the proposed deal fell through and Halilović's agent fumed to the Croatian media about corruption in the football federation and called out Mamić for his shady influence. I hope this mistake doesn't come to bite the team in the ass. Rakitić already told the Spanish media that he's disappointed that Halilović isn't with them in France.
Holy crap. Just checked and Corluka is only 30. I thought he was already 30 when he was playing for the Spurs
Update Spain, Germany, France Second tier: Belgium, England, Portugal, Croatia Third tier: Italy, Turkey, Switzerland Dark horses: Austria, Sweden, Slovakia Good newcomers: Ireland, Wales, Iceland
http://eurofantasy.uefa.com/en/fantasy16/ Can still sign-up and create your team til 21:00 (CET), already 12 brehs in the league.
Holy ****! Spain's keeper De Gea has been sent home for apparentely being involved in an underage rape case. Isco and Munian accused, too.
Ok made my UEFA fantasy team. I don't even know the rules. Just hoping it is similar to the EPL fantasy. I just picked 15 players within the budget. As long as LCAhmed and RedRed are playing, I should be safe from relegation :grin:
The incident happened 2012, funny to see the accusation happening exactly now with the Euro starting.
Yes, the timing is really strange. He's still with the team, will hold a press conference soon. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">De Gea has not been sent home. He is in the hotel with the national team. There is a court case on the way. Innocent till proven guilty</p>— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) <a href="https://twitter.com/GuillemBalague/status/741276134491467776">10. Juni 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
