Cybereagles

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

Cally wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

cic old boy wrote:

this guy was available during the same transfer window and at the same price as Welbeck....Arsenal chose Welbeck!

Can you imagine Mandzukic and Alexis Sanchez pressing opponents all over the pitch?

You have this same story for every player that shines these days. Its getting old, and Wenger has left the building.

Cally, shine your eyes and re-read. I didnt mention Wenger in my post. Rather, it is about the one that got away from ARSENAL. He has been, and is still performing at top level, for Juve and Croatia, so the story isn't old.

In that transfer window, three strikers were available for approximately the same price....Welbeck, Mandzukic and Balotelli. I recall AW was on vacation in France, probably with no intent to sign anyone at the deadline, but someone pulled the trigger and signed Welbeck.

cic old boy wrote:

Goldleaf wrote:Mario Mandzukic - What a player!

He left Bayern Munich as soon as Pep Guardiola arrived there and started some rotation policy. At 32, he remains as deadly as ever. He reminds me of another amazing Croat striking legend, Alen Boksic. Only God knows the depth of talent in that tiny country that produced Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban and Goran Vlaovic. It remains a puzzle that Yugoslavia never won the World Cup, but tiny Croatia are now at the cusp.

He is only similar to Boksic in size. Boksic had pace, was very skillful and elegant. Mario is more of a bruiser and workhorse.

wiseone wrote:Exactly. On what planet is Mandzukic (a slow but workaholic target man with aerial threat) similar to Boksic (a slick speedster with Ferrari pace)?!

I daresay: if Yugoslavia had not broken up they would probably have won 1-2 World Cups (at least) by now. Probably the best team to have never won the WC:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=256596&hilit=yugoslavia
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=174830&hilit=yugoslavia
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101504&hilit=yugoslavia

cic old boy wrote:

Goldleaf wrote:Mario Mandzukic - What a player!

He left Bayern Munich as soon as Pep Guardiola arrived there and started some rotation policy. At 32, he remains as deadly as ever. He reminds me of another amazing Croat striking legend, Alen Boksic. Only God knows the depth of talent in that tiny country that produced Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban and Goran Vlaovic. It remains a puzzle that Yugoslavia never won the World Cup, but tiny Croatia are now at the cusp.

He is only similar to Boksic in size. Boksic had pace, was very skillful and elegant. Mario is more of a bruiser and workhorse.

He's a bit of everything. Ruthlessly opportunistic, skilled, intelligent, and more than willing to dish out and take physical punishment. Every team can use a guy like him.

Yugoslavia never won because, believe it or not, selections were made on ethnic bias. I know some will accuse me of bias, but Serbian players were picked over better Croatian players. Proof is in performance after our break up, as Croatia easily outperforms Serbia, in spite of them having 2x our population.

Intelligently done, Yugoslavia would have won a few WCs. Imagine Croatia now with Dzeko, Kolarovic, and Xaxa, and Shaqiri? Pretty fearsome.

Well, I dearly hope we can pull it off Sunday. It would mean so much to our people and nation. And give us a boost in staying alive in this world. My sons are being fully immersed in our Croatian heritage...and wearing all red, white, and blue and checkers.

mate wrote:Bouncer, I also apologized that I meant no reference to Nigeria. And that we broke up in blood, which isn't something to envy. And here we are talking about sharing Yugoslav players among the new republics.

I was ultimately giving my answer to a question on why Yugoslavia never won. Nothing more than that.

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

mcal wrote:..he's a lucky murthafkr for that goal because defender went to sleep.

fortune favors the brave. He was also lucky that Etebo deflected his ball for the first goal agains Nigeria, lucky that Ekong wrestled him for a PK, lucky that he was able to provide that cross for the goal vs Russia...

mcal wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

mcal wrote:..he's a lucky murthafkr for that goal because defender went to sleep.

fortune favors the brave. He was also lucky that Etebo deflected his ball for the first goal agains Nigeria, lucky that Ekong wrestled him for a PK, lucky that he was able to provide that cross for the goal vs Russia...

...slice and dice, still damn lucky, but France go match-am, those Africans go stand him up

mate wrote:

mcal wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

mcal wrote:..he's a lucky murthafkr for that goal because defender went to sleep.

fortune favors the brave. He was also lucky that Etebo deflected his ball for the first goal agains Nigeria, lucky that Ekong wrestled him for a PK, lucky that he was able to provide that cross for the goal vs Russia...

...slice and dice, still damn lucky, but France go match-am, those Africans go stand him up

Tongue in cheek, the last African teams Croatia played have been Cameroon, Senegal, and Nigeria. A trend?



Jokes aside, France is good. With superb players of African heritage, among others. It should be a point of pride. Finally, it’s about the individuals on the pitch. All warriors.

It will be a battle.

mcal wrote:..he's a lucky murthafkr for that goal because defender went to sleep.

ohsee wrote:

mcal wrote:..he's a lucky murthafkr for that goal because defender went to sleep.

My friend, great strikers pounce on half-chances, and know where the net is open. Players like Mandzukic will never dribble the whole opposition before putting the ball in the net. But if you give him half a chance in front of goal, he will bury it. And even the best defenses will, at least once a game, give you that half chance.

wiseone wrote:Exactly. On what planet is Mandzukic (a slow but workaholic target man with aerial threat) similar to Boksic (a slick speedster with Ferrari pace)?!

The YeyeMan wrote:

ohsee wrote:

mcal wrote:..he's a lucky murthafkr for that goal because defender went to sleep.

My friend, great strikers pounce on half-chances, and know where the net is open. Players like Mandzukic will never dribble the whole opposition before putting the ball in the net. But if you give him half a chance in front of goal, he will bury it. And even the best defenses will, at least once a game, give you that half chance.

If we had Mandzukic rather than Ighalo we'd have qualified from the group.

Aswani wrote: I saw Allen Boskic play live once for Middlesbrough against Chelsea. The things he did off the ball as well as his footballing brain was simply unbelievable. His team mates were too many levels below and I struggled to understand how he coped, he really should never have gone to Middlesbrough.

I have never seen Mandzukic live but he has a fair way to go to be talked about in the same breath as Boskic.