Here are the results for July 29-31…
Dinamo Zagreb [ 2-0 ] Cibalia Vinkovci
NET.HR/ ANOTHER EASY DAY FOR DINAMO
Dinamo easily took care of Cibalia Saturday night with a 2-0 victory in front of their second leg Champions League qualifier with Helsinki on Wednesday at Maksimir. Luis Ibanez got Dinamo on the board in the 27′ with a goal from the sideline as Cibalia keeper Mladen Matković embarrassed himself losing flight of the ball. The fluke goal gave the ‘Modri’ a 1-0 lead going into halftime. Cibalia’s Enor Pulić made life even easier for Dinamo as he was sent off in the 65′. Sammir capped off the victory with a goal in the 85′ to keep Dinamo perfect through the first two games of the season. All eyes are now on Dinamo as they have full control over Helsinki in the return leg. The Finns must score at least two goals to give Dinamo trouble. Is this the year Dinamo finally make the Champions League group stage?
DINAMO-CIBALIA HIGHLIGHTS
NK Zadar [ 1-0 ] Hajduk Split
NET/ Hajduk couldn’t figure it out in Zadar
Hajduk has lost position on the HNL title race in just the second week of the season. Coming off a 1-0 loss at the hands of Premiership’s Stoke City in Europa League action on Thursday, a win against mediocre Zadar would have capped the week off as successful for Hajduk. After a scoreless first half at Stadion Stanovi, Zadar’s Ivan Santini scored the game’s lone goal in the 50′ to shock Hajduk early in the season. The Splićani must have overlooked Zadar as they host Stoke City this Thursday at Poljud in the second leg of the Europa League third qualifying round. How will Torcida treat the Brits when they come into town? It will be another memorable atmosphere.
Inter Zaprešić [ 1-1 ] NK Lokomotiva
Photo: Ranko Šuvar/CROPIX; Inter Zaprešić-NK Lokomotiva
Inter and Lokomotiva split the points in Zaprešić on Friday. The first half was dull and uneventful besides an injury time penalty kick by the hosts. Lokomotiva keeper and Bosnian international, Romeo Mitrović, brought down Albanian under 21 international Arbër Abilaliaj in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Inter captain Tomislav Šarić converted from the spot to give the crowd at Zaprešić something to cheer about going into the half.
Photo: Ranko Šuvar/CROPIX; Inter Zaprešić celebrate opening goal
The second half was pretty much a continuation of the first half with both teams struggling to get anything going. After a couple of half-chances on target, Lokomotiva equalized. From almost an impossible angle, former Dinamo Zagreb midfielder, Domagoj Antolić, left Inter keeper Krševan Santini with egg on his face after putting his shot into the back of the net. The teams kicked the ball around the rest of the half and settled for a draw.
NK Zagreb [ 3-0 ] Karlovac
Photo: Damir Kraja/CROPIX; Karlovac-NK Zagreb
NK Zagreb redeemed themselves after last week’s 1-0 loss to Slaven Belupo with an impressive 3-0 win over Karlovac on Friday. Nikola Frljužec opened up the scoring for The Poets in the 29th minute after connecting on a pass from Besart Abdurahimi.
Photo: Damir Kraja/CROPIX; Besart Abdurahimi(center) in action against Karlovac
NK Zagreb almost doubled the score five minutes from halftime after a good sequence from Hrvoje Štrok and Nikola Frljužec found Lovro Medić, who failed to get a precise shot on goal.
Photo: Damir Kraja/CROPIX; Lovro Medić(center) in action against Karlovac
Karlovac manager Srećko Lušić was disappointed with his team’s first half performance and brought in Stjepan Kokot and Bosnian international Edin Husić, hoping to get something going in the second half. Karlovac started off strong as Adis Stambolija came close to equalizing in the 49th minute with a shot that sailed just wide of the target. Edin Husić would then have two great chances to equalize but his first shot would sail over the goal and his second shot went off the post.
NK Zagreb capitalized on Karlovac’s missed opportunities and doubled the score in the 73rd minute after Nikola Frljužec found Vedran Celišćak with a nice through ball. Zagreb captain, Hrvoje Štrok, sealed the three points in the 82nd minute after receiving a pass from substitute Sven Dedić and putting the ball past Igor Lovrić and into the back of the net. NK Zagreb will take the three points as Karlovac will be kicking themselves for missed opportunities to equalize in the first half.
Rnk Split [ 1-1 ] Slaven Belupo
INDEX/ Slaven Belupo vs. Rnk Split
It looked as if Split would continue their fine early season form against Slaven Belupo Sunday with an early second half goal by Romano Obilinović after a scoreless first half. Split definitely showed up for this match after a near victory over English Premier club Fulham on Thursday in Europa League action. The game ended scoreless with the Splićani headed to Craven Cottage later this week. However, a 76′ Leon Benko goal would equalize the game to chop the points. Split couldn’t take advantage of a Belupo red card late as they take off for London with only one point in their first two Prva Liga matches.
HNK Šibenik [ 1-0 ] NK Varaždin
INDEX/ HNK Šibenik vs. NK Varaždin
A depleted Varaždin side showed on Sunday as the Europa League third-rounders couldn’t find the back of the net vs. Šibenik in a 1-0 loss. Only three days after an amazing two-goal comeback in Romania against Dinamo Bucharest, Varaždin surely have their eyes on the return leg in Croatia this Thursday; instead of allocating energy towards the HNL season. A 24′ goal from Dario Krišto is all Šibenik needed for the 1-0 win over Varaždin. Can the Croatian boys take care of business come this Thursday and force a Europa League playoff?
NK Istra 1961 [ 0-1 ] NK Osijek
All Osijek needed on Saturday was a 37′ goal from Ivan Miličević to take care of a winless Istra side in their new Aldo Drosina Stadium. With the win, Osijek have compiled a good start to the young season with four points through two games while Istra sit on a goose egg; just as they did last season. Remember, Istra was supposed to be relegated but because other clubs could not obtain first league licensing. they remained in the Croatian top flight.
NK Rijeka [ 1-0 ] Lučko
NK Rijeka squeaked out a 1-0 win over newly-promoted side Lučko on Saturday from the Kantrida Stadion in Rijeka. A 9′ Damir Kreilach is all Rijeka needed for their first win of the season, which also brings them to four points for the season. Lučko could have a long season in front of them which could mimic what Istra and Hrvatski Dragovoljac did last year- not much.
HNL TABLE THROUGH 2 MATCHES
@JerseyCro
Who's expecting 10,000+ crowds?
My four team league idea is all sarcasm. Still, that league will never be much better than it is now.
UEFA doesn't allow any league to have less than 8 clubs, even countries like Andorra, Malta, San Marino don't have 4 club leagues which is ridiculous to begin with
8-10 team league is ideal…clubs would fight for a European spot but at the same time fight against relegation (those in midtable). Games would mean more at the end of the season
And people expecting 10,000+ crowds in the HNL are delusional
What was the average attendance last year by the way, 1,800/2,000?
I think I read that Hajduk's average a year or so ago was just under 9,500 with Dinamo getting slightly more. Could be talking rubbish mind.
The reckon around 23,000 for Stoke on Thursday.
4 clubs or 16 clubs….either way the league is crap. individual talent will always be there, just not good teams.
the attendance #s dont lie.
Oh, they've got talent through the team. I'm not saying it's as good as Dinamo but there's enough there to really have a good go……..or so I thought.
There's always a game that's the one where you think "that's it, over" and for me Zadar was it. Beating Stoke will really give the players confidence. In my eyes, Stoke are far better than what people give them credit for.
For me, it's a massive opportunity for Balakov and the players.
4 teams, 32 rounds? 2 great clubs, 2 regional franchises. Surely we should leave all that to rugby.
One game does not answer the question if there is talent or if there is no talent. I think they have a chance against Stoke, but that does not answer the question about talent.
We'll see what they do in league play. if they can stay close to dinamo throughout the season, then I can buy the argument they have talent. But, i think dinamo will end up winning the league by 15-20 points again.
4 team league……easy……the teams are : dinamo, hajduk, all star team of players from the nothern half of the country (All the ZG teams outside of dinamo, Varazdin and the Slavonia teams, all star team from southern half of country (rijeka, ZD, Sibenik, Split)…..4 teams play 32 rounds.
Ahhh, Stimac. Great player (on his day).
This is why I use the term 'envy' when it comes to Dinamo. In terms of infrastructure, players, coaching they are head and shoulders above Hajduk (even with the current boycott by the BBB).
Hajduk need a complete overhaul from top to bottom and I agree with you that it's becoming somewhat of a circus. Back in the 90's when they were in the CL and with quality players rather than talented it was, for me, the beginning of the end. Fast forward to this year, anniversary year, and I was quite excited. Decent signings, expectation levels increase, feel good factor and a lovely 1-0 defeat to Zadar.
Something has to change and I'll be eagerly watching the Stoke game to see what happens next. If they beat Stoke, I'll stand by my talent is there comment.
How would a 4 team league work?
Fulham was mising their best player…..Dempsey.
Winning 3 league titles and 3 cup titles in Croatia is nothing. And what has Hajduk done in europe in the last 15 years. A lot of nothing. Look at what they have done after winning the league crown, they get smoked in CL qualifying with the lone exception when they played Mallorca (and Stimac is to blame for the loss when he was red carded at the end of the first leg).
It's been the same song and dance with them for the last 15 years. I'll be shocked if Balakov is still the coach by December. If this talk coming from poljud is to be believed, then Balakov should remain the coach all season regardless of performance on the field. But, that never happens at Hajduk because their is no leadership at the top of the club.
Unless proven otherwise and recent history says I am correct, hajduk does not have enough talent on that roster to challenge dinamo. The league should be shut down after two rounds, its over. A four team league is the solution, would bring more competition.
@Ziva,
You can't consider a team garbage over a 10 year period, sorry 15 years, if they've won the league 3 times and Cup (3?). Or can you?
Hajduk's problem is insessant change, you're only ever two defeats away from a crisis there and what they need is to let Balakov do what he can this season and then see what happens next year.
They have talent, maybe not as much as Dinamo's but it's still enough to challenge.
RNK draw with Fulham I think you're doing an injustice. OK, they may get battered at Craven Cottage but the Fulham side you mention started with 11 regular EPL players so which stars were rested?
@MC…..actually, you are right, hajduk has not been garbage for a decade, they have been garbage for over a decade, much closer to 15 years of ineptitude.
dinamo have the ability to win ugly because they have the most talent in the league and every other team stinks. Forget this winning mentality/attitude you mention. It's all about talent on the field. hajduk lacks talent, that is why dinamo will win the league by 15-20 points again. I always hear people complain about lack of effort….the effort is not the problem, its the talent. the effort was their against Zadar, just not the talent. I have looked at the hajduk squad "on paper" and there is no way they can compete with dinamo. Hell, Dinamo already wrapped up the league.
RNK SPlit's performance was a fluke and against a team playing their first game of the season and still resting players. If Split can repeat that type of play in England then I'll come back here and say I was wrong. For now, it was noting more than a fluke.
As for Katalinic as their coach…..good coach, always has been. But, he is nothing more than a journeyman coach throughout Croatia, Hercegovina and the Arab world.
@Ziva,
I'd hardly say they've been garbage for a decade but it certainly feels like it!
My issue with Hajduk is that no matter who coaches them they can't instill a winning mentality/attitude. It's all very well playing one touch passing on the smooth Poljud turf on a warm Split evening……but what about a wet, windy night at NK Zagreb? No chance, I've seen players coming off cleaner than when they've gone on!!
Looking at their squad on paper they've got a real chance of challenging but defeats at Zadar aren't going to win you championships.
Dinamo have that winning mentality, they also have the ability to win ugly (which Hajduk don't).
RNK Split's performance against Fulham was excellent considering their entire squad probably cost less than a week's wage to one Fulham player. Oh, who are they coached by……..
Rant over!
@MC,
I wouldnt be too worried about one game, especially if hajduk show up against Stoke City on Thursday.
Also, like some of you said on this post, Hajduk have a bunch of new faces and will need some time to jell.
MC you must be new here. Hajduk has been garbage for a decade now. Garbage in what they have done on the filed and garbage in the way they have been led.
Dinamo is good compared to hajduk, but the lack of quality in the HNL utlimately also hurts dinamo as they only play two tough matches per season and that does not prepare them for europe.
The best solution is to reduce the # of teams in the league to 4.
RNK Split is one of the better footballing sides in the league, they got a good mix of young players and experienced players. I think Slaven Belupo also will finish top 5 this season, they made solid HNL signings. Even Rijeka have some young players on their squad, they are putting more faith in their youth school which is only beneficial for Croatia on the whole
My top 5 prediction
1. Dinamo
2. Hajduk
3. RNK Split
4. Slaven
5. Osijek
I envy them in the way they've got the job done over the past few years. Dinamo's football at times has been excellent given the overal quality of the league and is something Hajduk should be doing.
It might be early days but Hajduk's domestic failure (their bread & butter) over the past few seasons is a real cause for concern and the gap between us and Dinamo is getting bigger and bigger. Hell, even RNK Split look better.
No disrespect to Zadar but if Hajduk have any aspirations to win the Prva Liga then that should be an easy win. Dinamo would have done.
*sob*
Season just started gentleman. Look at every league in Europe. Teams drop league points all the time to focus on Europa/champs league. I'm confident Hajduk will give it their best shot against Stoke. Win, they move on. Lose, they will focus on the hnl.
"envy Dinamo"…. interesting. hat do you envy about them?
I really hope Varazdin and Split come through. Although, I dont see either team advancing.
Being a Hajduk fan it pains me to say it but I really envy Dinamo at the moment.
I hope the Zadar defeat is cancelled out by beating Stoke.
Dinamo I think will drop more points than usual, especially if they do make the CL, but Hajduk really have too many new players to gel already.
Well, that's Hajduk's championship challenge over.
Dinamo must feel the pressure lift already.
@Colin,
Oh well every keeper has an off day, let's just hope Mamic, err I mean Matkovic bounces back!
Wow. just watching that Cibalia keeper give up that first goal FILLS me with confidence in my own goalkeeping. One of the reasons I actually pay attention to this league. I'd love the chance to take his place lol.