Maxim Bilich
Srechko Katanets did not dissemble - his team really tried to take away all three points from Zagreb. Did not work out. At first, the advantage of the Macedonians with a phenomenal free-kick was eliminated by Srna, and then the ten men did not defend a draw: Eduardo Da Silva buried their hopes for a point on the flag. As a result, 2: 1 favor of the "fiery", strengthened leadership in group E.
Their fans should thank Slaven Bilich and all the same Srna for this. When the starting lineup voiced by Bilich did not include the Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder, many shrugged - could there really be no place? However, the trainer once again demonstrated an amazing endurance, remaining true to his own maxim: "Everyone in the application has a chance."
So he put up with the young Croatian helmsman the entire first half, hoping that those whom he entrusted to start the game would cope with the consequences after the shocking goal of Goce Sedloski and turn the tide of the match. It didn’t work out. The hosts went for a break “in the red.”
History twists
This game in Zagreb, by its heat and tournament importance, cannot be called ordinary. As in any fight of yesterday’s neighbors in greater Yugoslavia, too much has been intertwined here.
To begin with, the Croats will remember how, in the rank of bronze medalists of the 1998 World Cup, they lost two crucial points in Skopje as part of the qualifying tournament for Euro 2000. At the finish, the wards of Ciro Blazhevich did not count them and the matches in Belgium and Holland were watched only on TV.
Katanets’s memories are still fresh, as he, five minutes later, the new head coach of the Croatian national team, in the fall of 2004, due to unprecedented pressure from the press and lobby Zlatko Kranjčara at the last moment had to withdraw his candidacy.
Players also have personal scores: the goalkeeper of the Macedonians Jane Nikoloski serves as a rag for the “fiery” bull (aka the restless Eduardo Da Silva). It is difficult to find a goalkeeper in the Croatian championship whom Da Silva did not upset at least once. Nikoloski from the modest provincial club "Slav Belupo" just such - until this Saturday - and was.
And finally, some statistics: the Croats have never lost at home in the qualifying matches for the European and World Championships in their 16-year sovereign football history. This series has 30 games, and interrupting it in the intentions of Bilich and his wards, naturally, was not included.
But this is bad luck: spurred on by the fearless Katanets who craved satisfaction, the Macedonians fought in the first half, and Sedloski struck Spartak Pletikos with a free-kick from the free kick, who was supposed to take this ball. I didn’t take it. Ironically, the player’s gate was opened by a player who played six years ... in Zagreb Dynamo!
Savior Srna
And during the break Bilich replaced Rapaich with Srna. And he turned the second 45 minutes into his own benefit. At first Dario equalized with a tremendous blow. Then he made Sedloski “blush” and feel himself not only a hero, but also an anti-hero of the match. And finally, three minutes before the end, he found a jewelry pass to Da Silva, who first struck Nikoloski.
Say, Bilich is lucky? Hardly. Having met almost every match of this qualifying round with a noticeable shortage of players, this time the Croatian coach could not count on defender Robert Kovacs, who he himself calls the key player of the national team, the great striker of the Swiss “Basel” Mladen Petrich, recovering after a kidney transplant, Ivan Klasnic and continuing fight with ankle injury Igor Tudor. In addition, Niko Kovacs, Rapaich 34, recently recovered from an operation, he is not as fast as before, Babich cannot be called a solid base player, and Pletikosa, although he enjoys Bilic's great trust, has recently turned sour without playing practice.
In his usual manner, calmly and without unnecessary emotions, Bilich outwitted another vis-a-vis. Despite personnel shifts, the team clearly shows the game pattern. The coach operates 22 football players, each of whom, according to his own words, can be a player of the main squad. So personnel losses have become a habit, and on the eve of the next match they’re not scary, but rather motivate and mobilize.
Petrich is absent, but already in the third game in a row Da Silva scores key goals. Klasnich is leaving, but why is Igor Budan regularly scoring for the Italian “Parma” not an adequate replacement for him? In the midfield brute force playmakers? So this is a pleasant headache - not every coach can afford the luxury of putting a Srna caliber player on the bench! The Croats pass first, but for the second time in a cycle they pull out a strong-willed victory (there were 4: 3 in Israel after 0: 1).
Projection for June
The leaders of the group caught courage. And on courage, they are out of competition. Each new victory brings closer to the coveted ticket to Austria and Switzerland. And the recent words of Luka Modric about issuing visas there already on June 6 no longer sound so pretentious - provided that the upcoming matches with the Estonians away and the Russians will win at home.
Before the start of the cycle, hardly anyone could have guessed that the fate of the first place in the group might be determined by the second meeting of the Croats with the Russians. However, given the current standings of the tournament and the permanent inarticulateness of the English, it is the match on June 6 in Zagreb that becomes extremely important. And in it, Guus Hiddink is unlikely to arrange a repeat of Moscow 0-0. After all, then you will have to look for the missing two points in a head-on collision with representatives of foggy Albion.
Boyan SHOCH
CROATIA - MACEDONIA - 2: 1 (0: 1)
Goals: 0: 1 - Saddles (38), 1: 1 - Srna (58), 2: 1 - Eduardo Da Silva (88).
CROATIA: Pletikosa, Šimić, Šimunić, Chorluka, Rapaich (Srna, 46), Babić, Balaban (Budan, 79), N. Kovacs, Modrić, Kranjčar, Eduardo Da Silva.
MACEDONIA: Nikoloski, Noveski, Popov, Sedloski, Lazarevsky, A. Mitreski (Yanchevsky, 77), Shumulikoski, Maznov (Weiss, 71), Naumoski (D. Tasevsky, 60), Pandev, Vasoski.
Warning: Saddles (4), Shumulikoski (47), Naumoski (48), Pandev (67).
Removal: Saddles (68).
March 24. Zagreb Maximir. 22.15.
Judge: Konrad Plautz (Austria).