Marko NUFC

On 09/09/2023 at 17:44, Mikky said:

Will be interesting too see Croatia in the next 10-15 years - you’ve always had good solid teams since your debut in 96 - one benefit you have is that the natural pathway seems to be across to Italy for a lot of your players - some are picked by the likes of Ajax, Salzburg, Leipzig of this world - hopefully us too in the future 

 

By the way - whatever happened to Croatia Zagreb? Remember that famous CL qualifier

Yeah they changed the name back to Dinamo. It was always Dinamo but switched to Croatia due to political motivations in 90s.

However Dinamo Zagreb is the main source of producing such amazing players from Croatian national team as they built one of the best academies. I wish NUFC would collaborate with them in the future.

17 hours ago, Mikky said:

Always seem to have the same squad -  can’t think of anyone new they’ve produced in a long time -  bar Gvardiol I suppose 

Kind of right, we haven't produced top class bar Gvardiol but there are many upcoming potentials like Majer (just transferred to Bundesliga Wolfsburg) Ivanusec (just got to Feyenoord, Dutch champion), Sučić (RB Salzburg), Šutalo (just transferred to Ajax and promoted to captain) etc. but we will see if they can get to top top clubs.

The problem is for midfielders is how to get into midfield of Modric-Kovacic-Brozovic. It's tough to get in. 

4 hours ago, Paullow said:

6 3rd qualifying 1st leg fixtures this evening, 5 on them on TNT Sports.

Champions Route:
7pm - Copenhagen vs Sparta Prague - Live on TNT Sports 2
7pm - Rakow vs Aris Limassol - Live on TNT Sports 4
7.45pm - Klaksvik vs Molde - Live on TNT Sports 5
8pm - Olimpija Ljubljana vs Galatasaray

League Route:
7.30pm - PSV Eindhoven vs Sturm Graz - Live on TNT Sports 1
8pm - Braga vs Backa Topola - Live on TNT Sports 3

AEK Athens vs Dinamo Zagreb was also meant to be tonight but has been postponed due to overnight fan violence 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12384411/Champions-League-match-postponed-Greek-fan-dies-age-29-overnight-clashes-AEK-Athens-Dinamo-Zagreb-supporters-98-arrested-eight-people-injured.html

Unbelievable ugly scenes from Dinamo Zagreb hooligans in Athens. Embarrassing and disappointing. UEFA should kick them out of the competition 

5 hours ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

Even though it's right there and it's 100% real I still don't believe it 

Literally this.

It's really remarkable story from Joselu

4 hours ago, SteV said:

Zagreb for me like

You're welcome to come to Zagreb any time

8 minutes ago, SteV said:

N-O Zagreb meet up if that happens 🙂

I think it should be regardless of that  

1 hour ago, SteV said:

Following Dinamo Zagreb! It would be a dream come true to get to CL and get paired with Newcastle

Really proud of Croatian performance 

7 minutes ago, Stifler said:

https://twitter.com/massadiohaidara/status/1662578024464744448?s=46&t=VdH0aGHsHSF2_7GgShF1MQ

Wish they played CL anthem at SJP. Incredible scenes at Lens

The Champions League 2023/2024 will be at Saint James' Park! Incredible achievement by the whole team to qualify after insanely long two decades.

Its also the last Champions League with 32-team format so it will be special to feel this magical tournament 

NUFC Group Stage Fixtures

Matchday 1: AC Milan v Newcastle United - 19th September, 17:45 
Matchday 2: Newcastle United v Paris Saint-Germain - 4th October, 20:00 
Matchday 3: Newcastle United v Borussia Dortmund - 25th October, 20:00 
Matchday 4: Borussia Dortmund v Newcastle United - 7th November, 17:45 
Matchday 5: Paris Saint-Germain v Newcastle United - 28th November, 20:00 
Matchday 6: Newcastle United v AC Milan - 13th December, 20:00 

Knockout phase

Round of 16: Draw: 18 December 2023, Games: 13–14 & 20–21 February 2024, 5–6 & 12–13 March 2024

Quarter-finals: Draw: 15 March 2024, Games: 9–10 April 2024, 16–17 April 2024

Semi-finals: 30 April – 1 May 20247–8 May 2024

Final: 1 June 2024 at Wembley Stadium, London

POTS:

Pot 1: Manchester City, Sevilla, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Napoli, Paris SG, Benfica, Feyenoord

Pot 2: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Porto

Pot 3: Arsenal, Crvena Zvezda, Red Bull Salzburg, 

Pot 4: Celtic, Newcastle United, Union Berlin, Lens

Who would you like to have in the group stage?

Personally, PSG, Real Madrid, Dinamo Zagreb and Newcastle United.

This anthem to be played at SJP... 

On 28/02/2023 at 16:52, LFEE said:

For @Marko NUFCto confirm but looking likely his direct flights start on the 1st of April so that would mean a Sunday morning game.

@LFEE flight booked. Landing at Newcastle on 1st April in afternoon hours.

Looking forward seeing you guys and playing this game on 2nd April

For me both dates are okay since I'm flexible with dates for flying to Newcastle.

If possible, would like to have this match on different day from Newcastle game

EDIT: Actually, seeing that NUFC game is on Sunday 4:30 pm, then Sunday is also good for our game.

5 minutes ago, duo said:

So what result do we want tonight? Keep Tottenham at bay or keep Man City within our sights?

Of course Man City win. Don't see any sense in any draws or catching City.

Really we shouldn't be bothered with catching City as long as we are in top 4 which is now an amazing opportunity for an incredible achievement.

There will be time to push for bigger things in years to come

5 hours ago, LFEE said:

Usually it’s Gateshead at the Power League in Low Teams not far from Dunston. Good pitch’s with plenty of availability and parking so ideal for arranging at fairly short notice with a bar and viewing balcony for spectators.

 

There has been some talk of trying the new place which name escapes me… Newcastle Academy? Which is a rooftop pitch I believe. Pitch layout not as good and parking limited and at a charge and currently tricky to book at short notice. It is however somewhere different from the norm but I personally don’t know much about it.

 

This probably needs merging with previous thread admins @Rich if possible.

 

@Marko NUFCHows your plans looking for travelling over from Croatia again so we can start locking in some potential dates? Presuming it will be one of the home games Man Utd Southampton Spurs…

 

 

 

 

Yh still not decided but either ManU or Tottenham game. More likely ManU game, it would be great to play with you guys again!

3 minutes ago, Beren said:

Murphy offers nothing. Everyone else is stepping up. He's just a body. Capable of passing backwards 5-10 yards.

 

Maybe a modicum of defensive ability but no aggression or athleticism to make it anything other than mediocre.

 

That's about it.

I think he has some athleticism in himself but no agressiveness and no confidence. He gets outmuscled easily and always makes bad decision, it's quite remarkable to see player like that on this level

1:3 for Newcastle. Our game of the season. Arsenal is due to have a slip result.

80.000 people welcoming Croatian national team in Zagreb 

Where was VAR?

unbelievable 

Amazing set play

Always wondered why there is this game in World Cups but never in EUROs. Even though it may seem pointless, kind of like the idea to play out for the 3rd place to bow out of the tournament. Probably better for smaller countries like Croatia.

Our coach needs to replace half of the team there and go finally offensive.

Interesting to see what how our team will respond to 2:0 deficit 

4 hours ago, ponsaelius said:

Croatia probably has about the same number of people in its diaspora as it does within the bounds of the state itself. Which must be given some weight if you are giving them credit for players like Rakitic, Kovacic, Kovac, Simunic, Petric, Klasnic etc who were the product of other countries' footballing systems.

 

Luka Sucic will probably be the next big star to lead the team after this tournament - and he is another who has been born and developed abroad.

 

 

 

You are actually very correct. We got a lot of talent from diaspora especially Germany with all these players coming through their youth club systems.

Even recently our left right back, Borna Sosa, had an option to choose to play for Germany or Croatia but luckily chose the former.

Guys, come on if we beat Argentina we really owe to win a World Cup after 3 semi finals

4 minutes ago, number37 said:

I totally agree with you, it's one of my many pet peeves, not quite xG or some other made-up irrelevant stat levels of hate but it's close because it's just such a pointless thing to mention - pretty much for the reasons you say. 

 

It's perfectly normal for countries to specialise in a sport that goes against their population count. New Zealand are historically the greatest side in rugby and Hungary having water polo are admittedly the only two examples that come to mind right now but as you say, why haven't China, India or even America cleaned up at Every World Cup? Surely a billion people are automatically better than a few million in a single sport? That's how it works, right? Unless they're all managed by Gareth Southgate and every defeat is because they've bottled it. 

 

The Olympics is different, a multi sport event where it makes sense that a larger population will certainly have an advantage as you have more people to enter more sports and be successful, it's no coincidence that the countries who top the medal table tend to be larger and richer. 

I disagree. Some countries might be specialised for some sport due to their connection with the sport (more likely Mediterranean countries would be good at waterpolo) but also because that particular sport is not popular in bigger countries. 

Best example is futsal. It's the closest thing to football and while England is a powerhouse in football you don't even know what's futsal because it's not popular - it would be interesting to see how many registered players are there in futsal. 

Since football is more global sport it's easier to compare it to sizes of countries or better number of registered players. 

52 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

One for the Daft Questions thread but why is the population of a country stacked against the success of its national team? I don't really see how it has any relevance. Croatia is a developed country where football is massively popular and is also surrounded by countries where it's massively popular there too. How is it astonishing that out of a pool of 4 million they've found 11 who are really good?

Because in my opinion it does show what resources the country has to produce 11+ elite footballers. 

To give you an example Croatia has 125.000 registrated football players (amateur and pro) while England 1.400.000 which is more than 10x more players you have than us.

Now if we take into consideration facilities where we cannot match you and also investments that England puts into football which we can only dream of, we can count ourselves extremely lucky to find 11 elite players that can beat your 11 elite of the elite players. Its not easy to find from our "pool" world class players in comparison to England or other bigger countries.