Marked for Eric Krivičić
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jul 2033
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Istra 1961, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jul 2033
18 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rocco Vata is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Advan Kadušić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
7 new boys at the Istra 1961 academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout4 Jul 2033
When it matters, Rocco Vata plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market4 Jul 2033
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kimiss Zavala has his answer from Istra 1961; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market4 Jul 2033
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Istra 1961 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match4 Jul 2033
Continental football is in reach for Istra 1961
24 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Mar 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Mar 2033
A row about effort at Istra 1961
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Vankerkhoven was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aleks Stojaković is on it.
Market28 Mar 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Silvio Goričan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad28 Mar 2033
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Istra 1961 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2032
Tromso come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Istra 1961 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Elisandro Kožina is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Aleks Stojaković and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Eric Krivičić has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Lucas Vankerkhoven falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market19 Jul 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lucas Vankerkhoven has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Istra 1961.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
When it matters, Rocco Vata plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market19 Jul 2032
The name of Mohamed Nasraoui keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Istra 1961 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
Toni Ruso knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Toni Ruso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2032
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Istra 1961 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Advan Kadušić breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Raul Kumar in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2032
55 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
Aleks Stojaković has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Istra 1961 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Florent Shehu, and the manager let it.
Market15 Mar 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Silvio Goričan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
Eric Krivičić knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Istra 1961, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom15 Mar 2032
59 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2032
Advan Kadušić breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Aleks Stojaković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Rocco Vata falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Rocco Vata has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Istra 1961 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Krivičić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jan 2032
85 days out for Advan Kadušić after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Istra 1961 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Aleks Stojaković was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rocco Vata is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Aleks Stojaković has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Istra 1961 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Krivičić, and the manager let it.
Market19 Jan 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Silvio Goričan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.