The 2011 Croatian Independence Day Small Goals Tournament from San Pedro, Ca was a great success! San Jose won their first ever ‘A-League’ title with a 2-1 golden goal win over three-time champions Adriatic FC in the Final. San Jose couldn’t have done it without Prva Generacija member, Danijel Dukić, who ripped a low left-footed laser from 17 yards out to give San Jose a 1-0 lead in the second half. Adriatic’s Peter Hazdovac leveled the game up five minutes from time with a blistering free kick from 15 yards out. San Jose took the title with a golden goal winner from Ante Jozinović four minutes into extra time from close range.
NK Škabrnja, led by ex-MLS star Ante Ražov, won the ‘B-League’ title easily over Zadar. CSR is in negotiations with Ražov’s manager to bring the striker over to TEAM CSR next year.
Team CroatianSports.com B, captained by Denis Svirčić, had an exceptional showing at this year’s tournament, taking 3rd place after a hard fought 3-2 penalty kick loss to Zadar in the semifinals. Ante Kvartuč’s CroatianSports ‘A squad’ missed the semifinals due to Las Vegas having a +1 better goal differential. CroatianSports A ultimately finished in last place.
To anonymous –San Pedro Croat started in San Pedro and they kept the name, I think that shows alot of respect for San Pedro . Everywhere they play San Pedro is more known and recognized threw there championships.he's doing a great job keeping the team alive which takes alot of love,time and dedication.I think it's a disgrace the way your bad mouthing the team and turning Croatians against Croatians.another thing I think it's cowardly to hide behind anonymous.go do your dirty politics somewhere else!–Nikola Rudela
@ brian,
You should be celebrating up in Vancouver with Patron tequila after that game 2 win last night! No more of the cheap stuff, ok?
@ all,
The goals have to be smaller. Lots of guys were ripping the ball from 20 yards out and scoring. Also, TEAM CSR scored a go ahead goal against Vegas off a corner kick and it was waved off because everything is indirect. Don't like that rule.
SP Croat played one year in 09 and won it easily. Now they think there too good for the tournament.
Some of there players played for NK Skabrnja Since Stanko Bilaver runs SP CRoat. There going to play in a tournament in Split this summer and they didnt even ask any players from the Pedro area to play. Yet they call themselves San Pedro Croat! Croatia LA hasnt played in a few years and since the West Coast Croatian Tournament no longer exist niether does the team. I think only San Pedro Croat still plays in a league, but nobody is from Pedro and not too many Croatians play there anyways.
What about the teams that play in the 11v11 West Croatian tournament. Why dont they play? I was there for Cro street party in 2006 and there was a tournament and some of the teams were solid squads which could compete with some of the best at our Canadian – North American soccer tournament.
I watched the final with LA Croat vs. San Pedro Croat and the quality was there, but I didnt see them on this years schedule? Do those teams not exist anymore ?
@Boris,
I agree with you on the "bourne supremecy-like shaky-cam"…. way too fast.
Seljak guys were cool. A mixture of older guys and a couple of young kids.
Dukic does look a little like Slaven….haha…
I also agree with you on the goal size. I mean they were scoring from center-field.
Come down next year, Team CSR will take care of you and your Chicahhhhhgo boys.
@Allen19
I appreciate the credit 🙂
@Anonymous
"The Level of play, the teams and the players were at a all time low this year."
For some reason, I thought that my team and I matured this year. 🙂
You are right, the teams are at an all-time low this year comparing to the previous three of four years. Hopefully, this trend will change. Outside of Las Vegas, which is just across the boarder, we didnt have one out of state team.
game live here
http://darquosport.t35.com/
The Level of play, the teams and the players were at a all time low this year. Hopefully some of the big name teams from Chicago, Cleveland or Cali will participate in next years tournament. I remember a team from Cleveland few years ago and LA Croatia and San Pedro Croats, why dont they come anymore? The teams and players looked hella bad this tournament compared to tournaments ive watched in the past. Just my opinion.
emmmm ayyyee ragjt!
One last note is that Denis is right, Harry Redknapp went America on us.
@ ziva
i also noticed that the goals looked big for a 'small goals' tourney. they looked like U8 or U10 goals. not to be picky, but i think proper small goals tournaments are played on a field the size of a team handball court, with team handball sized goals…5 + a goalie.
in any case, looks like you guys had a good time. congrats on putting on a fine tourney, and on the video report.
maybe next year i'll put together a team of milw/chicago guys and make the road trip.
i like the video, except for the bourne supremecy-like shaky-cam on-filed segment in the beginning, which made my a little dizzy.
i love the 'seljak' shirts.
dukic looks a little like slaven bilic, no?
@Ziva istina
small goals like in the title. 🙂
6 vs 6… keeper can use hands. 30 minute games.
looking at the video what kind of rules is this "tourney". Is it small goals or full field, did not look like a full field.
@Allen19
You can say all you want about Dukic' knowledge of the game, but the kid has game. San Jose came out to play and finished as deserving champions. Hell of a final I might add, extra time golden goal winner.
"Denis may I ask what's with the headband? Is it needed and was that a Bayern Munich logo?"
its a Deutschland headband. Those thin Vedran Corluka headbands dont cut it for me. German engineering baby.
Hope to see you there next year.
@Brian
Who is AK47?
@Dukic
Congrats to you and San Jose. Well deserved. Appreciate the "that was for croatian soccer report" to the fans after scoring the opening goal in the final.
Yes, we should start now about organizing a better and bigger tournament next year. Looking forward to the San Jose tourney. Croatian singer would be dificult. We tried in the past and we ran into Visa problems. Mate Bulic had to cancel LA concert due to Visa problems. Canada doesnt have those problems, having concerts up there every weekend it seems like.
Most of these singers are looking for a 2-5 city tour. San Pedro, San Jose and 1 more Cro city and we can make something happen.
@Franjo Tudjman
Razov's team beat us 6-1 in the opening game. However, we held Razov scoreless. Yes!
@Allen19
Friedel is just about official to Spurs…
http://www.hornseyjournal.co.uk/tottenham-hotspur/tottenham-hotspur/spurs_set_to_announce_first_signing_before_end_of_the_week_1_908645
@anonymous,
"What was up with the festival this year? I thought there were something like 30000 croatians in san pedro, felt like there was about 200 people there."
I dont think that number is accurate. More like 30,000 Croatians in California. Now it depends on how far you would go to call someone a Croatian. I wont get into that.
I thought we had a great turnout this year. However, every year there is less and less of a crowd. 1) Economy 2) gas prices.
Great turnout from Las Vegas. 20 or so made the trip. San Jose came down in big numbers.
In the end it comes down to the local Croatian community. Like some of you have posted in the past, outside of Toronto, the cro communities of North America are not what they used to be.
CSR is still pushing for Toronto trip for a September or October qualifier. I really want to get a taste of the cro community up north.
i think it would be nice to start organizing it right now and to start inviting teams asap. so cal croats do not know how much potential there is for a tourney. i will probably be organizing a tourney next year for labor day and invite a whole bunch of teams. also we need to have better festivities. maybe bring a singer from cro that would attract people. it is possible. we cant lose more croatians because we are too lazy to make something.
just wanna know if csr have my back if i organize a tourney. haha
@ koji ti je kurac,
Working on it. I should be good to go summer 2012. I'll keep you updated.
@ Dukic,
I think the tournament could be huge. Would you change anything else? What other cities could manufacture competitive teams?
next year for the tourney we need to invite more teams!
Diego pulled a Scottie Pippen, and once again it was a Croat who bailed him out.
Pletikosa was always going to leave Spurs, he was only there on loan and because Cudicini recovered from his accident quicker than expected, it essentially was a case of Plete never going to play. My guess is he will return to Hajduk, only chance abroad is maybe some club in Turkey, Greece
is there a chance of ante ever growing facial hair?
Here is how you will get those guys in the line up….forget about how the back four lines up….
this will be the top of the formation.
Mandzukic Modric Perisic
Jelavic and Eduardo
Pranjic is out of Georgia match. That is a big blow because there is nobody in the squad who plays like Pranjic…
Corluka at LB? I guess but once again I don't see anyone but Srna at RB now as I think he will play a 442 or 4231 and no wide players?…
It may be just me but I really don't see how you can field Jelavic, Mandzukic, Perisic, and Eduardo in the starting lineup. I hope I am wrong…but I just don't see how that will work…
I don't really care as long as we get all three I will be satisfied as we just have to get set pieces and take advantage of everyone of them. This is going to be a 90+ minute bunker unless we score early. We have to spread them out wide as the field is and keep the ball in there end and keep them under constant pressure. I can understand not scoring in Georgia(hard to accept but understandable)…I wont understand or accept 180+ minutes of scoreless soccer vs a team like Georgia…
I haven't heard a thing about Friedel other than interest. There has been no official signing yet Denis, so calm down with that news. I don't see Friedel has much of an upgrade but whatever. Anyone is better than Gomes nowadays.
As for Kranjcar, he should stay away from Germany. Everyone is at Germany, be different Niko. I would be pretty excited to see him on Inter that is the move I am hoping for since Liverpool has other things in mind such as getting Ashley Young. Wolfsburg would be a major step down for him. Other than that, Runje shouldn't be relied upon anymore and Stipe should really get that starting role by getting quality club minutes soon.
Wow, I always had wondered what happened to Razov.
Great report guys!
Ante, Zagreb
gonna be back next year.
A little "Croatians Around Europe" after a great Croatian weekend in San Pedro…..
Vedran Runje officially ended his contract with RC Lens to look for a starting job elsewhere. Rumors are that he will return to Standard Liège where the 35 year old played in 1998-2001 and 2004-2006. I'm not sure that Runje is the answer, but like many of you have said here on CSR, we dont have anything better.
Stipe Pletikosa might be on his way out of Tottenham as the Spurs have signed Brad Friedel to a 2 year deal from Aston Villa. Last week the Spurs signed Carlo Cudicini to a 1 year deal. Stipe needs to get out now or he will ride the pine once again as a third keeper.
Zdravko Mamic is on his way to Split to sign Joe Simunic and Mate Bilic away from Hajduk. It will be interesting to see where these two end up. I would really be surprised to see Split born Mate sign with Dinamo.
Olympique Lyonnais clinched third in Ligue 1 on Sunday with a 2-0 win at Monaco. The win secured Lyon a place in the Champions league next year. Dejan Lovren served out the final game of his three game suspension.
Our very own Ziva Istina has just reported that Hajduk is "trying to sign Simunic, Mate Bilic and Stipe Pletikosa."
Ivica Olic is back in training for Bayern Munich, hoping to be fit in time for next season.
“This is my programme, and I’m happy to be on it,” the Croat told fcbayern.de, focusing not on vacation but his career – as has been the case for the last seven months. “I’ve trained every day so I’ll be ft for next season.” The first steps were to come off crutches, then start walking, and then climbing stairs. “I set a target for every week. Every time I made progress, I was more motivated,” he explained, “I’m enjoying it now. I can run, and I’ll soon be back on the ball. This is football training now.”
Ivica Olic back in training for Bayern Munich
ManU are preparing a £20million bid for Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric. How many of you tottenham guys would jump on the ManU bandwaggon?
Tottenham might bring in Dinamo Zagreb midfielder, Milan Badelj as a replacement for Luka Modric.(Crottenham will not die!)
Milan Badelj to Tottenham for £8.5m
Niko Kranjcar third Croat at Wolfsburg?
Niko to Wolfsburg for £7m
next year ill play too, and san jose will win it again.
AK47, that sucked!! You didn't mention me in any of the interviews. Go have a tequila!!
Crushing year for CSR A squad.
Las Vegas squad- Came out with some heart and a potential young star in the making. He played well and had a hell of a strike on the ball.
Apologies to the old man that thought I fouled him and swung at me. There is a reason why there is an A and B division.
OC squad- Had some quality talent out there. Brought in a ringer. Crushing defeat to the San Jose squad, who pulled it together in the end to shock the small goals tournament with a huge victory over Adriatic.
Mladi San Pedro- Young squad with some potential talent. They were matched in a very tough division, against two teams who made the final. Hopefully better luck next year.
Adriatic- Another year in the finals, with another solid team and some new additions. The champs had to falter at some point.
Team San Jose- Winners. Enough said.
Notes for next year's tourney.
1. Come to play
2. We need more teams
3. If you meg me, but then miss a goal at point blank range. Don't get mad at me for giving you a lil tug on the jersey. Be happy I wasn't some crazy old man that put you on the ground b/c you put the ball through my legs.
4. No more interviews pregame for team CSR A.
Wow that was awesome. It was well documented and really great stuff altogether. I am happy to notice the guy who was the huge player in the tournament in Dukic. I seen Dukic around posting with the photo of him and Modric. He looks like a great talent, happy to see him win it. Sorry for rooting for such a crappy team though man with the Niners lost right now.
Fisto made the video for me. Great interview and I love the way he walks away from things. For a guy who is very critical of Kranjcar, you walk away like him in the game. Also the fist pump part, another thing that Kranjcar does. I look forward one day after Niko does something really special that you confess your love for him.
Ante Razov in B? I don't care how old he is, the guy is A material. He is a legend, come on Ante!!! Denis may I ask what's with the headband? Is it needed and was that a Bayern Munich logo? You need to go to Corluka for proper headbands.
Loved the different jerseys, the refs were funny although I have beef with Italian refs after that ref calling zero penalties in that Tottenham Madrid game. Overall really well put classic water shower in the end for the winning coach. I really need to come down next year, hopefully my brother is back from his honeymoon by then cause he's getting married the 12th. It looked so epic and well put together.
A few more shoutouts to the guy that came from working at a bar. It must have been tough but love the spirit. To the Man Utd fan, I respect that you played and you didn't miss anything good from the UCL final. To the guy that was hungover, that was me before my three regular season football games (shaking my head). Yet I still laid a few guys out and did my thing, sometimes it's not bad. Other than that thanks for everyone for playing and I hope to be there next year.
What was up with the festival this year? I thought there were something like 30000 croatians in san pedro, felt like there was about 200 people there.
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