BBC commentator makes live shout on Rangers star Antonio Colak from what he saw at World Cup
BBC commentator Guy Mowbray feels that Rangers striker Antonio Colak should have been included in the Croatia World Cup squad.
The summer signing has scored 14 times so far this season and is joint-top of the SPFL charts with 11, yet was surprisingly left-out of his international squad for the tournament in Qatar.
But as his side headed towards extra-time in their last-16 meeting with Japan while struggling to break down their opponents, Mowbray suggested that the action in front of him made the decision to overlook the Ibrox forward an oversight.
Speaking live during the second half of the BBC match broadcast of Japan vs Croatia from Qatar on Monday afternoon (5 December, 4.36pm) Mowbray said: “Looking at Croatia up front I can’t help but think Rangers’ Antonio Colak is unlucky not to have been called up for the World Cup.
“He’s been scoring the goals for the Ibrox side this season. Not in the 26.”
Rough treatment
It hasn’t been a great few weeks for the 29-year-old, having missed out on the chance to go to the World Cup, then seen his place in the Rangers side called into question.
Despite doing a strong job up front for the Light Blues throughout the increasingly miserable final months of the Giovanni van Bronckhorst era, the arrival of Michael Beale might not be a great development for his long-term prospects.
Whether the return of the former assistant to Steven Gerrard necessarily means that the dwindling time on Alfredo Morelos’ contract sees an extension or not is debatable, but the new man in charge has been tipped to go shopping for a goalscorer in the January transfer window.
With the Croatian equaliser coming from wing-back Ivan Perisic, and the team producing two 0-0 group stage results, there is certainly a strong argument to suggest they could have done with Colak to find the net for them.
His international future may even be at risk if he was left out when in strong scoring form, and now has a battle on his hands to get sufficient time in Glasgow to add to that.
He has been impressive since he arrived, even if his style of play isn’t as game-changing as Morelos’ when on form, and he now has a new stumbling block to contend with and can feel pretty hard done by with how things have gone of late.
In other Rangers news, the new boss at Ibrox has been torn apart by a Sky Sports pundit for what he did to his predecessor.