New head coach to be announced on September 22nd
Surprise, surprise, Niko Kovač is no longer he head coach of the Croatian national football team. At the rate we’re going, we’ll soon be changing team managers as often as Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk! Even though the heads of the Croatian Football Association made the decision right after the debacle against Norway, the official decision was confirmed today during the long meeting of the Executive committee. So, who will be next in line? So far, it’s anyone’s guess. As the President of the Croatian National Football Federation commented “This was not the scenario we were expecting before we arrived in Baku, but since the result is the only thing that matters, we have what we have. The executive committee has given a mandate to our technical director Romeo Jozak and myself and we have until September 22nd to come up with suitable replacements. We haven’t discussed any names yet, we have time. This is not the same situation we faced when we fired Igor Štimac, when we had to name the new head coach virtually overnight”. Journalists wanted to know if foreign coaches will be considered this time around and Šuker answered: ” We don’t really have money to burn. Foreign coaches don’t guarantee that we will qualify for the Euro 2016. I am putting my name and reputation on the line, but I will be pushing for a Croatian coach”. I guess we will all have to wait until September 22nd to see who will take over the national team and whether the names we are hearing in the media these days (especially Ante Čačić) will indeed coincide with HNS? Shortlist, which would once again prove the real influence of Zdravko Mamić within our national football association.
