One sad writer analyzes the Croatian Team at the 2016 EURO.
Working as a journalist while being a fan is not easy. The job consists of reasonable analysis, while the heart orders some other mode of conduct. I am not happy to say that in the pre-tournament analysis of the Croatian team we got it right. On June 25, 2016, the Croatian team has lost its final match against Portugal in the last 16, and the weaknesses we pointed out before the tournament surfaced.
Football is a simple game, although some Croatian pundits are trying to display it like science. During the tournament, we heard phrases like “negative transition” even though the event behind it is a simple getting back to the defensive position.
As we mentioned that the simple game has simple rules, and as Croatia is a complicated country, it tends to overcomplicate even the football team. If you have poor management, you will have poor results. And the Croatian Football Federation is poorly managed.
If we had a Kuna for every article we have written about irregularities in the CFF, we would be rich. We’ve written about Dejan Lovren; we’ve written about Alen Halilović, Zdravko Mamić, and Ante Čačić.
In our article published the day before the start of the tournament, we singled out coach Čačić as a weakness of the Croatian team. Yesterday, it surfaced. Not to be generals after the battle, this time, we will point out the reason behind his appointment.
He was chosen by those officials we were writing about when describing the problem of the Croatian football being used for private interests of the few people ruling the Federation.
Their ruling of the Croatian Football Federation is the reason behind Croatian football fans being denied of joy, and Croatian Football Team being denied fulfilling its potential.
Ante Čačić was appointed as a pawn who will enforce the will of the real master of Croatian football: Zdravko Mamić. And it is a real disgrace for Croatia, not those few people that threw flares at the pitch in Saint-Etienne.
Dejan Lovren was not picked to the squad due to his involvement in the Mamić trial, not because of some minor indiscipline at the friendly game against Hungary.
Alen Halilović was not in France for the mere reason of Mamić not having any financial interest in his future transfer, just as he was part of the team while Mamić had the gain of it in the past.
Does anybody remember Brazilian Croat Sammir? And the players are not to be resolved of their guilt in the matter. They are football players, professionals, and it is hard to understand their silence on the matter.
They had the quality to get to the finals of this tournament but were denied their chance by the incompetence of the officials.
One can only hope that Croatian football will be freed of the people using it as a personal playground for their financial gain, and will be brought back to the hands of competent and honest people.
This country and its people have deserved it with the love they showed for the game itself.
