In the first minutes of Sunday, at half an hour past midnight, the “fiery ones” arrived in Zagreb. While they didn’t get enough sleep, it was nothing new for them. After all, they’ve had plenty of sleepless nights in their careers.
Just 30 minutes before training began, a rookie joined Dion Drena Beljo by car. However, Dragan Skočić, the youth coach, bypassed him and included him in the call-up. Beljo scored three goals for a third division team in a friendly match against Augsburg and was disappointed when he wasn’t invited by any coach. So he went on vacation in Vinkovci. On Saturday evening, however, Dalić’s call came in. “We need another striker because we are left with only Budimir.”
The other players arrived by bus and Mandžukić and Ćorluka were looking for a suitable field to train on. They didn’t want to go to the main field since the assistant Hitrec-Kacian was in bad condition, so Luka Modrić’s field was chosen instead. The boys from Lokomotiva jumped on Mandža and Čarli for a photo while the children from Dinamo’s open school lined up along the fence to greet Livaković and Modrić with loud cheers as they got off the bus.
By default, the Slavonians raised the atmosphere as usual when Ivica Olić announced that Vida missed the field and went to Hitrec! “Can you punish yourself anyway?” continued Ola with laughter. Dalić has to work hard to reach the quality of our players but will not change the lineup. Everyone did a good job in Riga – no one got a yellow card or injured – and even kept Kramarić on the field for 80 minutes after recovering from injury.
Therefore, Livaković-Stanišić-Šutalo-Erlić-Gvardiol-Modrić-Brozović-Majer-Kramarić-Ivanušec should start on Tuesday while Pašalić and Baturina are on standby as match winners give Dalić and fans confidence alike.