Straight Ball Sight | Farewell to Croatia, by the way, retort to the voice that "they can't do it".

Yingxian said

2024-06-26 16:32Former reporter of the International Department of Sports Weekly and senior sports creator

This article could probably be the last one to be written for Croatia and Luka Modric at this European Championship.

In fact, Croatia's state and performance before the game should be unpredictable for everyone. In the last warm-up game, Modric also scored a penalty, Croatia beat Portugal, and Ronaldo deliberately said to the Magic Flute after the game, "You are too strong".

It can be said that they and we are both standing on the German field with great confidence - friends who have read my Croatia preview should have the impression that this season Boogie Mirkra Marić and Petkovic have improved and improved a lot in their club performances (and at the same time reached their personal peak stats, which is definitely not accidental), so Croatia's "lack of strikers" in the World Cup last year should have a turnaround.

However, the defeat to Spain and the draws of Albania and Italy in two stoppage time respectively, I don't think we can just blame the "aging of Modric" or "the lack of strength of his teammates", which are the only reasons that can only be given by single-celled animals.

Although the facts are also clear, the forward line has not improved, and the midfield and backfield have become worse.

Here I also agree with Mr. @王大定's judgment - Modric is clearly not 90 points, but 70 points he is still the best in this team. The point is that his teammates have also regressed from 80-85 points to 60-65 points, so everyone really doesn't blame anyone, and no one blames anyone.

The answer I'm more inclined to answer is "everything doesn't go well."

In terms of fundamental analysis, I still feel that Croatia at least has the strength to qualify from the group. That's why I kind of annoy the saying "it's not going to work", which is a typical way of thinking about the cause of regression in the outcome.

It can also be attributed to luck, why are they good at games such as beating Brazil and beating Japan on penalties, and when it comes to drawing by Italy, it becomes "they can't do it"?

There could be a lot of similar logic, such as "if Petkovic scores a penalty" or "Luka Modric insists on playing the whole game against Italy" or simply "the referee didn't give that much stoppage time", which I think could change the outcome of this game.

I would even go so far as to say that in a parallel world, Modric and his team-mates made it to the round of 16 entirely on the basis of their performances. And their way to win is still a somewhat slow and complicated way of controlling the game, as well as a more passive winning strategy that relies on individual technical superiority to "trap the opponent".

But there's no point in discussing that now. Truly.

In the years of fond and rich memories that Luka Modric and his Croatian team have brought us, it is not the first time that there has been a break and despair like this one. It's not so much that I'm suffering because of Croatia's elimination, but that it's something that can be chewed on and savored – and that's what football is all about.

I think Mbappe said some time ago that "the European Championship is a more difficult battlefield", and now it should be recognized by Modric. Indeed, with a more similar ethnicity and ethnicity, a closer professional environment and a more cultural background, I think Croatia's "comparative advantage" is not as much and obvious as it did at the World Cup.

So, it's not hard for me to accept the result instead of cursing at the referee or finding someone to take the blame.

Having said all this, it feels like I'm clinging to Croatia's "royal dream", so I'll just say a few more words of contradiction-

I feel that regardless of whether Modric retires from the national team or even retires, the team will have to complete a rebuild that "could lead to a significant decline in performance". For example, Susic, another Pasalic and Baturina, and Gvardiol, who is "disappointing but clearly responsible for the future of Croatia", are about to start a new Croatian era anyway.

This does not include Piatsa, who is excessively premature, Majer and Pasalic, who have proven to be extremely embarrassing, and Mesozoic such as Sosa and Juranovich, who have not really been reused this time.

In short, in the past Croatian national team, the environment in which young people lived was too good - they usually had food and drink, and they could hide on the side and rely on their eldest brother at critical moments - the stupid son of the landlord's family was nothing more than that. The rest of the story obviously needs to be written differently.

In addition, maybe as this team ages, Dalic, whose tactical thinking and winning methods have gradually become conservative and sleek, can also rest? He had the decision to oust Jorluca and the discerning eye for reforming Brozovic, but now he prefers to stay in his comfort zone. And we are all human beings, isn't the "comfort zone" essentially something we have obtained through our past struggles and struggles?

It's been 7 years, everything can be explained, no regrets, no chilling.

There are no exceptions, and I don't want to criticize anyone.

This should not be the time to say goodbye to "Luka Modric's Croatian team", and I don't want to conclude with more sentimentality. Suffice it to say now that the voice of the subjective shouting "let's rebuild" is not fundamentally different from that of a "royalist" like me. Everyone is just "listening to the heavens and trying to find a big man to administer justice".

However, football has its own objective law of development, and the so-called justice is only "the right way in the world is the vicissitudes of life". Essentially, my feelings for Croatia and Luka Modric will not change, they may just be in the corner of my memory for the time being.

Everything will be good in the end, and if it is not good now, it is not the end.

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