Croatian football is in the news again. This time on the club level.
And once again…it’s not good.
Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Arijan Ademi failed a doping test following a 2-1 victory over English Premier League side Arsenal in their Champions League group opener on September 16th. UEFA is currently investigating the claim.
Dinamo executives said they were “surprised” by the test results but will know more in the upcoming weeks.
Between racist chanting, nazi insignias engraved on the Poljud pitch, poor results against Azerbaijan and Norway; and now this, Croatian football isn’t looking too good at the moment. Even on a night where Croatian champions defeat an English club, something still has to come out.
Ademi was capped by Croatia three times but now plays his international ball with Macedonia. Was he the only one in on the doping? Or did Dinamo know?
Thanks for answering my question, if I wanted to read slander about us and our NT Ill read Alexander Holiga.
@jm……..not disagreeing with you, but I really don’t care what Grobar Hezonja does since the next two years will mean Cro national team in hoops is nonexistent.
Soccer is the sport with the most upsets.
Teams can drop 8, 9, 10 guys behind the ball and squeak out 0-0 draws or get lucky and strike on the counter for 1-0 wins.
No results surprise me anymore.
@ ziva
well i’m talking as an nba player in terms of hezonja. and the players that he can become shouldn’t be tarnished by his performance at the euros too much. he’s extremely young. the player he’ll be in 3 years is totally different than the player today. you just hope to see the talent today
Germany gets the benefit of the doubt.
Chile is legit and beating Brazil at in Chile is not an upset. Plus, Brazil isn’t an elite side any more.
Argentina losing at home is an upset, but they are a different side with no Messi and no Aguero.
I didn’t see these games Lovro so I can’t comment but with our team, we looked like we didn’t have a good plan and we totally lost our form as a team. I think even without Mandzukic or Modric we should be able to compete, we need buyin from the players and a system they can all do well with.
No Messi and Aguero got hurt in the 20th minute. Also, Brazil lost 0-2 to Chile and Germany lost to Ireland 0-1.
Argentine, Brazilian and German players not playing with heart for their national sides?
Ecuador beat Argentina 2-0 in Buenos Aires!!!
Better than Petrovic you say?????? Did you watch Eurobasket????? Petrovic never played like that for Cro or Yugo.
Italy know how to get results, we are currently is a mental crisis! I still think we have the potential to do well but we lack in mental toughness and in the “win when we have to” category. We lost to Norway and tied Azerbaijan when we should have done much better. Italy does better with a lesser team.
MelbCro
I can guarantee my left teste that Norway won’t beat in italy in italy. Mark my words. I give you the 100% Iggy guarantee that will not happen.
IT does not matter that italy have been mediocre. They will not lose to Norway at home.
on a positive note, positive looking pre-season from hezonja so far
in 3 games, he’s gotten off 9 3’s in 40 minutes. and made four of them
his long range chucking game is built for today’s modern nba
I think he has a fair chance of being a better player than petrovic…at least at the nba level…but still quite early
” I mean Norway won’t beat Italy in Italy so i think we will be right there. ”
how do you know that? Italy have been terrible in these qualifiers. Also if they beat Azerbaijan, they don’t need anything from the Norway game. So acting as if its impossible is just stupid, really stupid
As long as naked pool parties are allowed!
Judging by the news reports, it seems as though the players are happy with Cacic getting rid of all the Niko Kovac rules for things that don’t matter (i.e. being allowed to wear flip flops in the hotel).
Maybe they will want to play for him, and step up in these two games. But who knows. I would have liked to see some other tweaks in the lineup, but at least Pranjic won’t be starting. Saturday should be interesting.
Hey Australia started WCQ ages ago.
And Aussies lost overnight to the mighty Jordanians 2-0 !
Hoorah !
Oh okies so it sounds like we might still finish 1st or 2nd hey ? I mean Norway won’t beat Italy in Italy so i think we will be right there.
Actually im more worried we could easily lose to the Bugars at home at our current rate of knots downwards.
Yes, it would be a bonus if Italy drop points to Azerbaijan. I should have prefaced my comments with the assumption that Italy and Norway both win on Saturday. I wouldn’t even consider Norway’s game a shoe in vs. Malta. Italy beat Malta 1-0 twice. The Azerbaijans, Maltas and Faroe Islands of the world, once absolute doormats, can spring a surprise or two once in a while as we all know.
@Mile
Don’t forget, Italy is not in the clear just yet.
You are assuming that they beat Azerbaijan (a team they barely beat in Italy) on Saturday.
If Zuti can snag a point from that Italy game in Baku, then Italy could find themselves only one point clear of third place and potentially needing to win their final game against Norway to secure qualification.
The results are coming in for the watered down Euro qualifying – Northern Ireland is in. Is George Best playing for them again?
Believe it or not, South America opens their World Cup qualifying today – a full year ahead of Europe.
If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.
There are no easy opponents for us because at the moment we are playing shambolic soccer.
Well, now that best third place is out of reach (it will be Hungary, unless Ukraine beats Spain then it is Ukraine), at least we know what Croatia need to do. Just beat Bulgaria and Malta. With those results, only an Italy loss to Norway at home would push Croatia into a playoff. Italy’s under 21 team should be able to avoid a loss at home to Norway, even in a meaningless match.
Just another (g)nk GOV Cheating member ! SLABO !!
Idk why you guys are worried about playoffs
we will be seeded anyway and it is the Hrvatska way to do it the hard way ! So we _should_ be right to qualify via playoff… right guys? RIGHT????
Our Irish brothers beat Germany!
Serbs with two late goals beat the Albanians, who now need to beat Armenia on Monday to qualify.
Hungary win……was expecting world war 3 in Albania
Hungary losing at the half!
Kids, its time to start looking at the potential playoff opponents. Can dragi Bog intervene again and give us an easy opponent like Iceland?
Idemo, this is what needs to happen for Croatia to get third:
if Hungary beats the Faroe Islands at home today, Croatia has no chance for the best third place record. The only way Croatia gets the best third place record is: Croatia beats Bulgaria, Hungary doesn’t beat Faroe Islands, Ukraine doesn’t beat Spain on Monday and Denmark doesn’t beat Portugal (or Albania loses one of their last two games). If all of the above happen, Croatia is the best third place team and qualify, and it won’t even matter if they lose to Malta in the last game.
@anonymous,
“have a backbone”
Come on man, you are posting anonymous and telling others to have a backbone. I expect more from Canada.
What racist chanting is this article referring too? What “race” is offended by ZDS? Please don’t just regurgitate the same tired argument, this is a croatian website is it not? Have a backbone.
Albania – Serbia on ESPN3 at 2:45pm – definitely watching, crowd should be nuts.
they took us off espn3 LOL
@idemo………..we could, but still need help.
This is setting up for a repeat of WC qualifying. New coach coming late that will help jump start our mental midgets. We’ll probably luck out again with the playoff draw because we will be seeded.
I’ve been to bust to even check, but is the Albania-Serbia game airing on US TV.
Jbt is anybody going to watch the Alb-Serb game?! That atmosphere looks insane.
if we win out can we get best 3rd?
gotta calculate the last teams in ukraine group and Hungary group, serbia beating albania would ease the pressure hopefully Lewa hits 5 on ireland
Hopefully, this prevents Platini from getting the FIFA presidency……..and that would be good news because Puppet Suker is a backer of Platini. So, what is bad for Platini is bad for Puppet Suker.
I had no idea Messi was related to Mamic:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34478784
@Iggy
Croatia’s not alone fellas in having cunts in charge of its federation.
I’ve been saying this for two years since I read Declan Hill’s book “The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime.”
Everyone who loves the game should have a read and then you will understand a lot about why for example instant replay has not become standard, amongst other mysterious things that go on. Croatia and what we know is a little pimple on the backside of an elephant’s ass in terms of scale of the corruption.
blood money????? how so?
Interesting news coverage on ABC with an interview with a former FIFA insider. She’s saying basically all of the executive are corrupt and the heads of national football associations are at the least complicit and in many cases just as bad as FIFA. Croatia’s not alone fellas in having cunts in charge of its federation
SEPTIC BLADDER !
DAmn !! i said it wrong i said it wron g! I meant SEPTIC BLADDERMAN !!
in breaking news.. 90 days suspension is not just for Septic Blatter as i said in other thread, it’s actually now also for Platini and that Jerome Valcke wanker who is a wanker.
The nominations for the FIFA presidency must be completed in this time, that means that none of the suspended cunts can be president.
@Lovro hahaha good on em
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpyu2eitG3Q
Serbians getting a proper welcome in Tirana for today’s match against Albania.
Ziva, you must be salivating at the odds Bulgaria are getting for a draw or a win.
Blood money I tell ya, blood money!
Mamic got the good dope!