Croatia’s player to watch at Euro 2008: Luka Modrić
Luka Modrić is a Croatian football midfielder born on September 9, 1985, who plays for Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb.
Modrić was born in Zadar where he started his professional career.Not many people believed he can succeed as a football player,especially not the coaches of Hajduk Split,where he was rejected because he wasn’t strong enough (according to them).In 2003 he came to Dinamo Zagreb,who immediately sent him on loan to Zrinjski Mostar,a club from the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the young age of 18, he became one of their best players and was also their player of the year in 2004. He (and not only him,but many other players who played there) later,on numerous occasions, stated that “someone who can play in the Bosnian league can play anywhere”, referring to the physical nature of the Premier League.In the next season (2004/2005) he went for another loan,to Inter ZapreÅ¡ić (who was holding the first place until Luka left - then finished season in the second place),but returned to Dinamo in mid-season.
Since than, he became the most important player on the team and captain as well. At Dinamo Zagreb he usually plays as playmaker, on the left side of the field. His natural position is central midfielder and he plays as playmaker solely due to his capabilities to cover that role as well and to leave room for designated defensive midfielders in Dinamo’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
He uses both feet to play, and his biggest strength is his swift offensive positioning without the ball. He’s also one of few playmakers able to contribute on the defensive end as well. His lack of physical power contradicts his shooting, which has a surprising amount of power that make his shots on goal mostly effective. However, he has plenty of stamina and is very aggressive in one-on-one battles. His timing is perfect, and his passes are accurate.
He was part of national team from under-16 to the senior team.He made his senior international debut in a friendly match against Argentina on March 1, 2006 which Croatia won 3-2 and Luka was the best player on the field.He participated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, where he made two substitute appearances in the group matches against Japan and Australia. He scored his first international goal in Croatia’s 2-0 victory over Italy in a friendly match played on August 16, 2006 in Livorno.
Since Slaven Bilić became the head coach of Croatian national team,Luka is irreplaceable part of the team and even Bilić himself said that he is one of three the most important players of national squad (together with Niko KovaÄ who is captain and his brother Robert KovaÄ,who is the most important part of defence).In every game he played for Croatia so far,he was one of the best evalueted players, showing the most against the hardest opponents.
In 2008 Euro qualifying campaign he played all 12 matches,scoring once and making two assists.
What to expect from him? Well,he should be ‘The Man of the Match’ in every Croatia game and score at least two goals during the group stage.
Great preview of the player skills, one to watch for sure in Group B
he scores the Croatian opener to the tournament, great start!
Yeah, that’s right. Although I expected Srna to take that shot I’m not complaining…I wish he’ll score against Germany
hes very good player,one of the best in team
how the hell did he miss that damn penalty
I really don’t know what to say, in addition Rakitić did almost the same thing few minutes later
I think right after Croatia’s goal, with just one or two more
minutes to go, they should have slowed down the game
and packed their goalmouth, rather than pressing forward
again.
Also, I think the Parma striker, Igor Budan, would
have been a better choice than Ivica Olic.
This writer is of the opinion that Bilic should have
chosen the more experienced players for the penalties.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2008/06/gabriele-mar-13.html
I’m not sure, but I think Budan was injured.Olić is longer with national team and Bilić obviously trust him more than he trusts Budan.It’s easy to talk what they should do now.
Bilić said that the penalties were taken by the players who wanted to do it.
Concerning this slowing down the game, Bilić wanted to make a substitution but the fourth referee didn’t signal that on time to the first referee, the Turkish goalkeeper shot the ball after the offside was signaled and than the goal came.Unfortunately, Bilić and our players couldn’t do a simple thing
I meant, right after Klasnic’s goal and the restart, with just
virtually seconds to go, everyone should have run back
to their half, stayed there and packed their penalty area,
surrounding their goalkeeper.
Pushing forward again with the game virtually won was a
fatal error.
When Senturk scored, there were just two men, Corluka
and Kovac I think, who stood between him and Pletikosa.
This reminds me of the 2002 World Cup game between
Italy and South Korea in the second round. Italy was
leading 1-0 with two minutes to go in normal time, yet
they made the same mistake and kept attacking. The
South Koreans scored at the 88th minute, and then won
by a golden goal in extra time.
Seems the Turkish had a taste of their own medicine
by losing the semifinal to the Germans at the last minute.
After drawing level with just 4 minutes to go, they too
should have packed their penalty area and hoped to
score in extratime.
I agree with you, but it’s always much easier to look from side and say what is correct. I’m preparing an article of Bilić’s appearance on Croatian national television where he analyzed all games and said what he thinks of everything…