{"id":15196,"date":"2017-08-14T15:30:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T14:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?p=15196"},"modified":"2017-08-15T17:00:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T16:00:30","slug":"tempo-tactics-5-3-2-ciros-croatia-part-2-russia-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/08\/tempo-tactics-5-3-2-ciros-croatia-part-2-russia-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Tempo Tactics: 5-3-2 \u0106iro\u2019s Croatia Part 2 Russia 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to part two of my reinvention of the golden generation of Croatia circa 1996-98. In part one, Davor \u0160uker took over the Croatian national team and successfully applied Ciro Blazevic\u2019s 5-3-2 to secure qualification to World Cup 2018 in Russia as Group winners. In this part, we look at how the World Cup Finals tournament goes and identify the pretenders to the crown that were once worn so magnificently by Boban, Bilic, Prosine\u010dki and \u0160uker himself.<\/p>\n

World Cup Fever<\/h3>\n

What is success? In our case, I am aiming to get Croatia back to the Golden Generation\u2019s level so the objective is better than 3rd at a World Cup. But would less than this be a failure? Let\u2019s look at Croatia\u2019s recent international competition record:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
1996 European Championship<\/td>\nQuarter Final<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1998 World Cup<\/td>\n3rd Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000 Euros<\/td>\nDid Not Qualify<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002 WC<\/td>\nGroup Stage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004 Euros<\/td>\nGroup Stage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2006 WC<\/td>\nGroup Stage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008 Euros<\/td>\nQuarter Final<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010 WC<\/td>\nDid not Qualify<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012 Euros<\/td>\nGroup Stage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014 WC<\/td>\nGroup Stage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016 Euros<\/td>\nRound of 16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018 WC<\/td>\n??????<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

As World Cups go, if we get out of the group we can call that an improvement. The top two go through from the 8 groups as was the case in Brazil 2014 where 4 points were enough for many teams to qualify in 2nd place. Two wins should do the trick but a lot depends on the draw.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re drawn in Group F with South Korea, Paraguay and, favourites to progress, France.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Here\u2019s a confession. I might have fucked this up. In my time with the national team, friendlies have never been a fertile ground. When I first started this save – my first FM international stint – I found it horrendous. I thought it was because I was tinkering with the tactic to get it set up correctly. Now, it just seems that the team are just not interested in friendlies! I got fed up of the defeats in the first batch of friendlies that I cancelled all others before the WC for fear of ruining morale. This was my first mistake because in the run up to the finals key men started getting injuries including Kovacic, Pjaca, \u0106orluka and Modri\u0107. Also, my stars like Mand\u017euki\u0107 and Peri\u0161i\u0107 were not getting playing time at club level so come the tournament start we\u2019d a lot of first team regulars lacking in match fitness. Baws!<\/p>\n

First Group Game vs France<\/h3>\n

Ooft – to leave with a point was a great relief here. We took the lead with a well-taken goal from Mand\u017euki\u0107 and then we flew by the seat of our pants to half time. A calming but positive half time team talk was in order. One minute later and France were level. We were played off the park for the next ten minutes with Griezemann adding a second to his equalizer on 53 minutes before missing a highly dubious penalty on 55. Against the run of play, Peri\u0161i\u0107 popped up on the 63 minute with a second for us to draw level. The full backs were dropped back, the mentality dropped to counter and we played out for the draw.
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