FIFA SAYS NO TO CVITANICH

As most of you on CSR are now creating your own individual 'mock squads' for the Romania friendly, it looks like Dario Cvitanich will remain absent from everyone's list- as well as all future Croatian squads all together. INDEX.hr has confirmed that FIFA has banned Argentina-born and current Ajax striker, Dario Cvitanich, from playing for the Croatian national side.

FIFA has said that Cvitanich's grandparents, who are the only direct link to Croatia for Dario, were not in fact born in Croatia- rather Argentina. The HNS will appeal this decision in the next few weeks.

So obviously Bilić and company were ready to cap Dario for the game against Romania. None of this would have occurred if this wasn't the case.

This is how I believe the business portion of the deal has to happen. 1) The HNS tells FIFA that they would like to add an uncapped player to the team. 2) FIFA researches the player and confirms that they have the correct paperwork and/or family line to play for that nation (remember that Dario has a Croatian passport) 3) FIFA then finally makes their decision based on the legitimacy of the player's information etc. In this case, Dario Cvitanich's information was not legitimate as FIFA somehow 'Sherlock Holmes'd' this situation and found out his grandparents were born in Argentina.

BRAVO FIFA, BRAVO!!!! ON A JOB WELL DONE!!!

And shockingly enough, Maradona and his sneaky Argentine compatriots are now saying that they would welcome Cvitanich with open arms to play for Argentina. Deja Vu all over again.

Cvitanich replied that he wants to play for Croatia and only Croatia. Why? Two words: DANIEL BILOŠ!

I firmly believe that Cvitanich wants to play international football. But we all know that Argentina would cap him once and then dump the poor guy just so he couldn't play again for anyone else. Croatia would be receiving a 'sloppy-seconds' player that doesn't speak the language, doesn't know the culture and hilariously enough, as my good friend Denis Svirčić scoffed at, 'probably couldn't point out Croatia on a map.'

HERE YOU GO DARIO. THOUGHT THIS MIGHT HELP OUT.

I don't want 'sloppy-seconds'- whether he learns the anthem, plays with 110% or even cries after games. What a slap in the face that would be to Mate Bilić, Mandžukić, Rukavina and Kalinić. Let me share something with you readers that I wrote as a comment concerning the Dario Cvitanich situation and international football all together:

It's not whether Bilić will make the right decision or if Dario can produce for us. That's not what I'm worried about.

International football is the purest form of sport in the world today. You play for your country and once you step onto that field, you can play for no one else. You play for pride of self and pride of country where money and transfers mean absolutely nothing. You can see a great player play from age 17-35. Watch the same player for almost 2 decades pour his blood, sweat and tears into the same cause you are rooting for.

We all know that the Kovać's, Šimunić's and Rakitić's have no problem for arguement. They were raised Croatian by full Croatian parents, speak it fluently and visit throughout the year.

I want to know where the cut off will be and I think that cutoff is Eduardo. Yes, he was born and raised in Brazil, but he moved to Croatia at age 15; still very young, embraced the culture, learned the language, married a Croatian, has a Croatian kid and loves Croatia. Sure he didn't live in Croatia during the war but he's embraced everything he could in the time he's been there. I think that's the cut off.

Dario does not speak the language, had never stepped foot in Croatia and if he had to choose to play between Argentina and Croatia, he would choose Argentina. We all know that. We're getting sloppy seconds if anything if Dario plays for us. It's not cheating but every Croatian should know that we're not getting the real deal. He will never cry like Srna did after that Turkey game. Never. End of story.

Like I said earlier in the Cvitanich post, international football is sports at its purest form. I don't even support international teams having foreign coaches. What's the point. It shouldn't have anything to do with money. That's what the club level is for. I want our team to be Croatian, our coach, our assistants- even our water boys. And I give Croatia much praise for sticking to that since their inception in 1994.

England hiring an Italian, Ireland hiring an Italian, Serbia with a Spaniard in 2007, Russia with Hiddnik (who has coached on 3 continents) the list goes on and on. Keep it purely international. That's what I would like to see and hopefully FIFA makes that happen one day- that's my dream.

CVITANICH NETS HAT TRICK FOR AJAX

While Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was waving goodbye to his fans at Amersterdam ArenA on Sunday, as he will be joining Real Madrid after the new year, his new replacement, Dario Cvitanich, made it loud and clear that Huntelaar's goal-scoring presence will not be missed.

Cvitanich secured his hat trick in the 3-0 win over Den Haag inside the first hour of play (6', 17', 55'). He has also scored 6 goals in the last 3 games for Ajax.

After not even being able to step onto the field for the majority of the young season, Cvitanich has definitely made it count in recent games.

So now that Cvitanich is officially on everyone's radar, how can Bilić refuse putting him on the Croatian national squad for the Romania friendly in February if he continues to score in Holland?

And should Cvitanich get a spot on the team for a World Cup qualifier, is it ok with you for Croatia to have 2 South American born players play striker when Eduardo returns?

OLIĆ & PETRIĆ GIVE HAMBURG THE WIN

The Ivan Klasnić 'can't buy a goal for Croatia but owns the BundesLiga' syndrome is back! However, it's not Mr. Klasnić this time as he has moved on over to France to play for Nantes this season. Fellow compatriots, Ivica Olić and Mladen Petrić, who both now play for Hamburg of the German BundesLiga, seem to have been bitten by the bug that turns Croatian strikers into superstars when playing in Germany while turning their international game into garbage.

Hamburg defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 on Saturday. Olić tied the game up in the 51' for Hamburg and Petrić put in the game winner 20 minutes later. As you can see in the video below, neither goal was all that impressive but at least they're putting the ball in the back of the net. So why do Klasnić, Olić and Petrić score with ease in Germany and then falter on the international level?

I thought about it for awhile. I just couldn't comprehend how our strikers were doing so well and scoring game-winners week in and week out. But after watching Luca Toni, who plays for Italy and absolutely tears it up for club team Bayern Munich, struggle to score at Euro 2008; it all made perfect sense to me.

The German BundesLiga is not all that great!

Sure they are considered the 4th best league in Europe, but they are far, far away from the skill level that plays in England, Spain and Italy. I'm sure if our strikers were playing in these leagues they wouldn't be scoring so easily; with the exception of Eduardo of course.

I'm just sick of hearing Olić and Petrić play so well for their club teams. Then, when they get the chance to start for Croatia, they look like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.

Petrić has only scored one relevant goal for Croatia- the one that sent England packing early for their 2008 summer vacation. He has scored 10 goals for Croatia in 30 appearances, but 6 have been against Andorra.

Olić also has 10 goals for Croatia; but in 60 appearances. His goals are a bit more valuable but always easy nonetheless. What I mean by easy is that Olić never scores skillful goals where he is blasting the ball by the keeper or taking on defenders with speed. In recent time, the last goal he scored against Germany at Euro 2008, was an easy tap in where the ball came right to him after hitting the post. Eduardo did all the work for Olić's goal against England last November at Wembley. He just needed to tap it into an empty net, and even then he had to look back to make sure it went in after he started to celebrate pre-maturely.

Bottomline: These two make me nervous. I don't enjoy watching them play striker for Croatia and I can't wait for Eduardo to get back to full form and an official call-up for Cvitanić. We can only pray that these '2 peas in a pod' can play well against Ukraine next month.

CROATIA VICTORIOUS IN SLOVENIA

While one Croatian made his first ever appearance for the 'Vatreni', another made his record 100th. Yes, Dario Šimić finally got his record 100th cap; making him the first ever Croatian to reach the century mark. I think it's a great way for Šimić to go out. I don't see him starting anymore games as World Cup qualifiers start within a month or getting any playing time coming off the bench. Šimić has been with Croatia since 2006; and a 12-year international career is seldom seen on the world level. Only the great can make it to 100. We praise you Dario for making it this far and sticking by your country through the highs of winning 3rd in '98 to the lows of not getting out of group stage in numerous tournaments thereafter.

As Šimić's career winds down, we say hello to a new Croatian defender, Ivica Križanac, who symbolically replaced Šimić at halftime. Križanac is a 29 year-old Split born defenseman who is currently playing for reigning UEFA Cup champions, Zenit St. Petersburg. He will be a good player to have in Croatia's arsenal for the upcoming qualifiers. It's still too early to know if he will have a starting gig with the national team, but you can count on him coming strong off the bench.

Dario Cvitanić was no where to be seen, but don't worry as that was in Bilić's plans from the beginning. Bilić has said that Cvitanić is not yet in the form he would like him to be as he now has to convert to a European style of football. Bilić has also been heard saying that Cvitanić will not be used for the Kazakhstan and England qualifiers in September. We'll see what happens as Bilić is known to be a cunning coach who knows how to play psychological games on his opponents.

With all that news, Croatia still had a friendly in Maribor, Slovenia today. It is their only friendly before qualifying starts against Kazakhstan on September 6th in Zagreb.

Here's a list of all the starters with the subs that replaced them:

HRVATSKA: Pletikosa (45' Runje), Ćorluka, Šimić (45' Križanac), R.Kovač, Pranjić, Srna (81' Pokrivač), Leko, Kranjčar (19' Vukojević), Rakitić, Petrić (45' Klasnić), Olić (85' Vejić)

It's all pretty basic stuff for our team except for the fact that Runje replaced Pletikosa at halftime. Sure it was only a friendly and Pletikosa had a fine Euro 2008 campaign, but the way he's been playing for his club team, Spartak Moscow, has been embarrassing as of late. If he continues this; and remember that he's never played bad for Croatia, I good see a changing of the guard in goal for the 'Vatreni' soon. Runje was lights out in the Poland match at Euro 2008 and showed he is also deserving of the job.

Off to the game!

Croatia was down to Slovenia at 2 different points in the game. Slovenia scored a quick goal out of the gates in the 4th minute only to be leveled by Ivan Rakitić in the 37'. Slovenia then scored again in the 59th minute just to have Darijo Srna convert a penalty one minute later. With another poor friendly result looming for Croatia, Ivan Rakitić put the game away in the 64th minute with his second goal of the game. Let's hope he can keep that going. Croatia ultimately won the game 3-2 and saw a new face in the making. (I apologize for the quick analysis as the game was unable to be seen in the States.)

Qualifiers coming up!!! Should be another fun one against the Brits!!!

THE STRONG GET STRONGER

Slaven Bilić has called upon Ivica Križanac for duty. Križanac is a 29 year-old defender born and raised in Split. He started his career in the Croatian Prva Liga with HNK Sibenik before moving to Slaven Belupo and Varteks. In 2005, Križanac signed with Zenit St. Petersburg of the Russian Premier League. Last season, Zenit not only won the Russian league title but defeated Rangers to take the UEFA Cup championship.

Bilić has said that Križanac will be called up for the Slovenia friendly on August 20th in Maribor. The Zenit defender could be seen as taking over Robert Kovač's spot as his international career is slowly winding down. Križanac has said that he has been waiting his entire life for this opportunity and that he will make the most out of it.

Dario Cvitanić will also be in Slovenia to show off his skills in checkers for the first time. The Slovenia friendly, however, is not an official FIFA sanctioned game so we will have to wait for the World Cup qualifier vs. Kazakhstan to call these players 'ours' forever.

The addition of Cvitanić and Križanac with the leadership of the Kovač brothers with Eduardo on the way and the state of the team in their professional prime after Euro- that's one hell of a winning equation for a World Cup if you ask me. I can't wait to see all the guys together again on the pitch.

Please ring in and let us know what you think about this new addition to the Vatreni.

CROATIA JUMPS SOUTH AMERICANS

FIFA released its world rankings for the month of August today, and to my surprise, Croatia is now ranked 5th! They have jumped South American powerhouses Brazil and Argentina who respectfully fell to 6th and 7th.

But I don't want you to think that my head's getting big. FIFA rankings are like a good looking married woman; they're fun to look at but there's not much you can do with them. The real fans know where teams should be ranked and FIFA usually gets that right within 5 spots or so. But in this edition there are definitely some abnormalities.

Scotland at #16. Sure they beat a (poor) France team twice in qualifying but the only thing they've qualified for lately is the annual Scotchtoberfest (Simpsons reference) festival. Sweden is getting snubbed at #26 as they are now the new Spain- great qualifying campaigns but never go deep in tournaments. Northern Ireland at 32. What a joke. England should just let the 6 counties free so the North can be horrible alongside Ireland in one big 'Emerald Isle' qualifying campaign.

Well enough of me on foreign policy and overrated soccer teams.

The only thing I pull away from the latest rankings concerning Croatia is that we're back on the map as a global threat. Sure Croatians have known this about this particular team for quite some time, but now I believe the whole world will know it. The England encounters will have a different mindset for both teams. With the addition of Dario Cvitanić and the comeback of Eduardo, Croatia will be a scary team to face- especially after that loss to Turkey in Euro. This is one hungry team that I would not want to face in their prime.

DARIO CVITANIĆ: WELCOME!!!

Yes!...it's finally true, HNS met with Dario Cvitanić on Thursday extending an open invitation for him to join the Croatian national team; and he gladly accepted! So what does this mean? Well nothing as of yet. It only means that the Federation wants him to play and that Dario is on the same page as them.

The date we should all now mark on our calendars is August 20th, which is the next match Croatia will play- a friendly versus neighbors, Slovenia. The way international football works, as my good friend Agent Argentina has explained to me, is that their is no contract or signing or anything like that. The team calls you up and should you accept, join the team for a match for the very first time. Once you put on that jersey and step onto the field, even if it's only for one second, that is the only country you can play for the rest of your life. It's a bunch of 'legal-eagle' talk which won't even matter in this situation because Cvitanić looks like he can't wait to get on the field for the Vatreni. Unlike his good friend, Daniel Biloš, who was in this exact situation 3 years ago, but decided to holdout for Argentina to call his name instead, Cvitanić said he would not make the same mistake.

Net.hr has confirmed all of this and the only thing we now have to wait for is Dario suiting up vs. Slovenia to make it absolutely official. Slaven Bilić and company will be in Amsterdam to watch Cvitanić play for his new club, Ajax, while they play in a pre-season friendly tournament with Arsenal, Sevilla, and Inter on August 8th and 9th. This will be his first shot at impressing the Croatian bosses.

Cvitanić has said that he wants to wear #20 for Croatia which is currently Igor Budan's number, so we'll see where that puts Budan in regards to the team as well as other number exchanging scenarios.

When Bilić and Co. were asked what they thought about Cvitanić's inability to speak Croatian well, they said, "He doesn't have to speak Croatian well, he just has to play Croatian soccer!"

I just hope England has a plan for this 'inferior'* country this time around after being embarrassed at home by the Croatians.

*- English press called Croatia and the rest of Euro qualifying Group E inferior countries and predicted that England would cruise through group stage back in 2006. They got what they deserved.

SO WHO IS DARIO CVITANIĆ???

If you don't know the name now, don't worry, you will very soon. In the next couple weeks, Mr. Cvitanić will make great coffee table conversation amongst us Croatian soccer fans. So let me tell you a bit about him before we delve further in.

Dario Cvitanich (we're going to drop that pesky 'H' for sake of being correct in Croatian) is a 24-year old striker who was born and raised in Argentina. Everything he knows and loves is in Argentina. He has played for Banfield of the Argentina Primera Division (1st Division) since 2003; scoring 41 goals in 100 matches. Cvitanić was just bought by Dutch club, Ajax. He will finally be playing in Europe and will now have the opportunity to wow us all and prove that he his for real.

So why should you care?

Cvitanić is eligible to be called upon from the Croatian Football Federation to join the national team since he has a full-blooded Croatian grandfather and holds a Croatian passport. He has been said to be the missing piece of the puzzle in Croatia's road to a World Cup championship.

With Cvitanić running up top with Eduardo and Modrić, Kranjčar, Rakitić and Srna controlling the midfield, Croatia could easily become one of the most feared teams in the world. Dario said he would gladly play for the country of his grandfather if he was given the chance.

Fans and I alike have waited for that special day when the front of the sports page would read, "Bilić calls on Cvitanić." But wait! In recent interviews with coach Slaven Bilić, he has said that Cvitanić is no 'Killer' or Dudu aka Klasnić and Eduardo. Bilić has said that he will be scouting Dario when the Dutch season starts up in August. Could this just be Bilić playing psychological games or is he not yet sure about this kid? Klasnić looked good at Euro 2008, Olić should get the boot back to the bench and we all know that Eduardo will be back in the starting 11 once healthy.

What would you do if you were Bilić?

Source: Net.hr