PORTUGAL BEAT CROATIA U21 IN KARLOVAC -

In the eighth round of qualification for the European Championship in 2025, Croatia was defeated by Portugal with a score of 2:0.

CROATIA U21 – PORTUGAL U21 0:2 (Bernardo 50′, Borges 89′)
Croatia: Čavlina, Hrgović, Živković, Vušković, Cvijanović (83′ Šotiček), Soldo, Hodža, Vidović (58′ Zvonarek), Matković (66′ Belcar), Kačavenda (66′ Crnac), Ljubičić (58′ Ivanović). Selectman: I. Olic
Portugal: Soares, Rodrigues, Bras, Quaresma, Gomes, Sousa, Bernardo, Mateus (70′ Folha), Sa (74′ Araujo), Tomas (70′ Mora), Silva (80′ Borges). Selectman: R. Jorge

After the victory against the Faroe Islands, the young Vatreni concluded the September national team campaign by hosting the leading Portugal in Karlovac, who took home all three points.

Bernardo took care of the lead at the beginning of the second half, and Borges sealed the victory in the final minutes of the duel.

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OLIĆ: IT MAKES ME HAPPY TO SEE COMMUNITY AND DESIRE, THAT’S THE PATH I WANT US TO TAKE

The coach of the National team U-21, Ivica Olić, despite the defeat against Portugal in the qualifiers for the European Championship, claims that he is happy with the fact that he saw togetherness and desire in the match, which is the path he wants the national team to take.

Ivica Olić emphasized that Portugal is at the top of European and world football, but he also noted the fact that the young Croatian national team has shown a desire.

Portugal is a team that has been at the top for years in all categories of European and world football. They always have something to hope for, and I don’t even have to talk about continuity. You can see that they are really well-coordinated and if you allow them even a little space, they punish it. We have seen that in the A national team, also now in the U-21, they play fantastically. When there is no pressure and when they feel that they can enter that space. What makes me happy compared to the first game, I am very pleased with how the boys played the first half, especially. We are here had some opportunities of our own, but unfortunately we failed to score a goal. I would like to see what the game would be like and how they would react, and the space for counters and semi-counters would be even bigger for us. I am happy that compared to the first match, I saw togetherness and desire, and that is the path I want this national team to follow. We have two more games and everything is in our hands and feet. After this gathering, I hope that something will remain of these demands that we set before them. I would like to u these three, four weeks Cvijanović, Hrgović, and Gabi, who has just changed clubs, and Lovro. We have a lot of players who are not in the rhythm of the matches, and I would like them to get more minutes, and that is very important when you come to these kinds of matches and when you have a rhythm, said Olić.

They know where they stand at all times, they don’t lose their heads and minds, but I also have to admit, especially in the first half, we managed to play them two or three passes, we created half chances, half chances and chances. I think it is very important that after that match she lost there, today she took a step forward and that’s the way for us – nothing happens overnight. Sport is a little longer story, in which it takes longer for them to understand it. We had two games and took three points. The first maybe undeserved three points, but in the second game you have a chance to give them a goal. What makes me happy the most is that I saw the team, that I saw the team, they are there for each other and that’s what I want to watch. I knew Portugal was good, we know that Spain is top, but I want us to be better and for a new player to join the A national team today and tomorrow, Olić stressed.

We took a bigger risk and got up, we were also the ones who wanted to get an equaliser. It’s a shame about the second goal, and we saw chances from Franja, Crnec, Matković with headers, it all ended at 1:0. we had our chances. I am very satisfied considering that we were practically in the game until the 90th minute, Olić concluded.

Qualifications for European U-21, Group G: