Well, there goes that. Dinamo Zagreb finally lost a game. Granted it was against the reigning Ukrainian champs, Dinamo just could not find the back of the net.
It only took Shakhtar Donetsk 3 minutes to score their first goal. Croatian star, Darijo ‘Beckham of the Balkans’ Srna did what he does best and blasted a free kick from just outside the box past 20 year-old backup keeper, Ivan Kelava. Brazilian born, Brandao, tacked on a 2nd goal for the Ukrainian side in the 31′.
Although a 2-0 loss for Dinamo isn’t impossible to come back from, especially with a home game in 2 weeks time, the fact that they couldn’t muster up the all-important ‘away goal’ is probably going to prevent them from making group stage. The most optimistic, yet realistic, scenario a Dinamo fan can be hoping for is a 2-0 win at Maksimir, which would force extra time. Should Shakhtar score a goal in Zagreb, Dinamo will have to win by 3 goals to go on.
So what’s next for Croatian soccer?…
The UEFA Cup 2nd qualifying round starts tomorrow. Hajduk Split are in Spain to take on Deportivo and Slaven Belupo travel to Greece to face Aris Thessaloniki. Should either Croatian team upset their competition, they will qualify for the UEFA Cup 1st round, where Dinamo will end up unless they come up with a miracle win in Zagreb on the 27th.
Here’s some highlights from the match…
Then let history repeat itself, make 50 million souls suffer once more.. at the expense of seeing your new shirt.
sounds good darijo…yeh i have a perfect mock up of a shirt i want to make…but croatia would have to eliminate england from reaching the world cup…
Cool, I’ll wait for new designs then and the launch date of Feb 22 is really easy to remember.. thanks for telling me.
Btw, I hope to add you and Denis on facebook, please look out for a profile with a penguin in ‘sveti dres’!
Best regards,
darijo
yes we design all the shirts ourselves along with my brother who helps us out with little stuff like that from time to time….more shirts are on the way though so hold tight…..and we launched in january but our first day of having stats for csr is february 22nd….so denis and i call that the official launch of csr….talk to u soon darijo…
You guys have come a long way… I’m thinking of getting myself the ‘Croatian Soccer Hooligan’ t-shirt on the blog’s anniversary.
Are these shirts designed by you and Denis? 😀
yes it was darijo…why do you ask?
Question: was CSR founded in January?
As always, it’s a pleasure to have you on board.
@Ante/Denis: Thanks for your replies.. you guys here are simply fabulous.
Darijo,
Thank you kindly for your contribution and most importantly, thanks for staying with us. We look forward to your future comments.
I just returned from Croatia with some valuable information on what it will take to get the Croatian National team to the states. I won’t say that it will be impossible, however, chances aren’t great.
For Croatia to show up to the states, there has to be a ‘reason’. This is what the president of the Sibenik football club told me this summer.
This reason isn’t money, unless of course, someone is willing to fork out an outrageous $10-20 million dollars for the team.
A reason could be, 500 year anniversary of Croatians in Pittsburgh, or something of that extent. Also, these players are all under contract with clubs. A perfect example was this summer when Barcelona didn’t want to let Messi play for Argentina in the Olympics.
So how is it possible to have Croatia play in the US? A second string, domestic, “B” or “C” team might be possible.
A club team, like Hajduk Split or Dinamo wouldn’t be that difficult of a task. However, Croatia is another story.
Darijo, a pleasure to have you aboard. Ante and I look forward to seeing your name on our site.
Thank you so much Darijo for the kind contribution. You are the first regular reader to make such a donation to the site. It will go towards making improvements to the site where it can become even more enjoyable for readers. I’m glad you are enjoying CSR as much as we do writing it for you. As Denis and I stated before, any contributors of the site get their own ad space. So please email me at croatiansoccerreport@gmail.com so we can speak privately on the matter.
Best,
-Ante
hi Ante, I’ve made a little donation to this blog. All the best in bringing Croatia stateside. =)
darijo, Singapore
The last time Dinamo lost a game was Feb. 23rd 2008 against Varteks. So its been awhile.
thanks darijo…but thats not a real reader…i guess when a website becomes extremely popular like ours, you get spam and bots posting junk all over the place…ive encountered the same type of comments from the spammers for 4 months already….i delete the comments immediately because theyll stall your computer if you click on them….but once again darijo…thanks for the heads up…hope to hear more from you soon -ante
Heads up Ante and Denis, complaint from a reader!