Srđan MRKUŠIĆ | 1946-1951 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)

MRKUŠIĆ PES STATS | 1946-1951

Plava Čigra Stats by Plava Čigra Name: Srđan ''Mrka'' Mrkušić Srđan MRKUŠIĆ | 1946-1951 Club: Red Star Belgrade Number: 1 Position: *GK, CF (optional) Nationality: Croatian Age: 31-36 (26/05/1915) Era: 1946/1951 Foot: R Side: B Height: 189 cm Weight: 85 kg Attack: 55 Defence: 87 Balance: 91 Stamina: 73 Top Speed: 73 Acceleration: 73 Response: 91 Agility: 80 Dribble Accuracy: 68 Dribble Speed: 65 Short Pass Accuracy: 62 Short Pass Speed: 65 Long Pass Accuracy: 65 Long Pass Speed: 75 Shot Accuracy: 60 Shot Power: 90 Shot Technique: 63 Free Kick Accuracy: 55 Curling: 55 Header: 68 Jump: 85 Technique: 70 Aggression: 79 Mentality/Tenacity: 82 Goalkeeper Skills: 86 Team Work: 82 Injury Tolerance: A Form/Condition/Fitness: 7 Weak Foot Accuracy: 5 Weak Foot Frequency: 5 Consistency: 7 Growth type: Late/Lasting CARDS: S12: 1-on-1 Keeper SPECIAL ABILITIES: *1-On-1 Stopper Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Balanced INFO: Srđan Mrkušić (born May 26, 1915 in Sinj, died October 30, 2007 in Belgrade) former Yugoslav football goalkeeper and forest engineer. With a long professional football career that spanned more than two decades, he's known for representing FPR Yugoslavia at the 1950 World Cup as well as for being one of only seven footballers who represented both the pre and post World War II Yugoslavia. He also went down in history as one of the founders of Red Star Belgrade football club in early March 1945. Simultaneous to his football career, Mrkušić managed to earn a university degree in forestry. Following the end of his football playing days, he began working as an engineer. Football Career Born in a small Dalmatian town of Sinj, today's Croatia, Mrkušić started playing football in the city of Split where he moved to for gymnasium studies. Initially, his parents, especially mother, vehemently objected, feeling that football isn't socially suitable and proper activity for their son. His first club was AŠK Split, where at age 18 he got spotted by coach Luka Kaliterna who persuaded Mrkušić to join Hajduk Split's youth ranks in 1934. In 1935 he made his first team debut for Hajduk. Only a year later, after graduating high school, having played the total of 35 matches for Hajduk, Mrkušić moved to Belgrade where he started playing for powerhouse BSK, a team for which he ended up appearing in more than 350 competitive matches over the next decade, and attend the University of Belgrade. His career would soon be put on hold due to World War II. He formally stayed on BSK's roster despite the fact the team didn't compete in any league. Mrkušić saw virtually no football action over the next four years. Mrkušić played in the first post-WW2 league championship in the new communist Yugoslavia. He represented the People's Republic of Serbia team that ended up winning the national title that year. Simultaneous to that league championship, Yugoslav communist authorities were busy voiding existing pre-war football clubs and founding new ones. In reality this mostly meant that players and infrastructure from old clubs were reassigned and reassembled under a new name and new leadership. Mrkušić got assigned to a new club that was in the process of being formed by the state security. The club would eventually be named Red Star, and Mrkušić ended up becoming one of its founders. Over the next decade, he grew into a dependable keeper, helping Red Star to three Yugoslav Cup titles. Mrkušić was almost 40 years old when he finally retired as member of Red Star in 1955. National team On March 23, 1941, some two weeks before the Nazi Germany invasion, Mrkušić made his debut for Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team in a game versus Hungary. Following the end of war, he appeared 10 more times in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia national team jersey (three of those caps came at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil). He contributed greatly to Yugoslavia's 1950 World Cup qualifying campaign, putting in a particularly glowing performance on December 11, 1949 in Florence versus France at a deciding qualifying playoff game that Yugoslavia won 3-2. Mrkušić's very last national team appearance took place on October 8, 1950 in a friendly versus Austria. Already 35 years old at this point, he stepped aside, making way for up-and-coming 22-year-old Vladimir Beara. Post-football After retirement from football, Mrkušić continued living in Belgrade. Since he graduated from University of Belgrade in 1946 with a forestry degree, he decided to seek employment in that field after his football career ended in 1955. He worked in his second profession for decades afterwards, during which among other things he was involved in construction and long-term maintenance of football pitches. He was also, and continues to be actively involved with Red Star Belgrade veterans' organization. Mrkušić died in Belgrade, after a short illness, on October 30, 2007. ********** Srđan Mrkušić was the first keeper in Yugoslavia, who introduced modern style of play in goalkeeper's position. While he was still in BSK, he saw (together with his coaches) one game in England where goalkeeper acted as being one of the defenders. After returning to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, one of the coaches encouraged him to practice that style of playing (that was before WWII started). In first, team received a few goals, due to his leaving of the goal line, but coach and Mrkušić insisted that this style of playing is good. After some time, Mrkušić became very good at this, and started to develop this style of playing (as well as his skills) rapidly (he even debuted for A selection of the national team). Than the war came... After the war, he joined Red Star Belgrade and continued to use his experience and great keeper skills, in order to help the team. Many great players and coaches saw Mrkušić as an enigma, something that is unknown to their vision of football. Bobek said that Mrkušić was the hardest opponent in his career, somebody who is almost unbeatable for him. In 1950, when Partizan played against Red Star, Mrkušić was that good, that all reporters gave him the highest grade, and Bobek said that it's a pity nobody recorded that game, because Mrkušić played a perfect game that showed how one modern goalkeeper should play. Later, during his coaching career, Bobek always insisted, that his goalkeepers should play like Mrkušić. Mrka was respected by many, because of his innovating style of play. He could predict where the ball will go next so well, that sometimes he would come to the center of the field, in order to stop opponents counter attacks. He even played as an center forward (but only briefly, because it was more one of his experiments, in order to understand the game better). Srdan MRKUSIC | 1946-1951 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)