EDUARDO made the best of his 66th minute substitution as he threaded a ball right to Robin van Persie in front of the goal for the first score of the game in the 78′. Olympiakos had Arsenal and their supporters pulling their hair out Tuesday night at the Emirates Stadium playing stubborn defense and not letting the Gunners get that pesky first goal. Arsenal now have two wins in their first two group stage matches and look promising to win the group outright.
Remember that Eduardo was supposed to sit out the first two games of Champions League do to the alleged simulation episode he had against Celtic in the playoff round. So what has he done in these two games? Eduardo gave Standard Liege a 2′ lead with a horrible clearance attempt; then gathered himself to score the game-winning goal in the 81′ for a 3-2 Arsenal win and then comes off the bench today to assist van Persie in the 78′ for the win against the Greek champions.
Not bad for not even supposed to be playing huh?
EDUARDO SETS UP ARSENAL’S FIRST GOAL
Andrei Arshavin added an important insurance goal in the 86′ to lock things up in London. He appeared to be well offsides before the little circus touch he had on the ball for the game’s second goal. Nonetheless, another good win for Arsenal as they should lock up a knockout round birth which would let them concentrate and stay fit for their Premiership season.
ARSHAVIN TRICK TO PUT ARSENAL UP 2-0. OFFSIDES?
IVICA OLIĆ and DANIJEL PRANJIĆ did not start for Bayern Munich in their Champions League group match against fellow European giants Juventus Wednesday night in Bavaria. The match ended in a goalless 0-0 draw. Olić came in for Arjen Robben at halftime but couldn’t do much against Gianluigi Buffon and company while Pranjić rode the bench the entire match.
“I would be concerned if Pranjić doesn’t start on the weekend.” -Denis Svirčić
All that drama in the summer about getting Pranjić to Bayern and having to give Heerenveen cash back himself and now he’s not playing any minutes in Munich. He’s definitely healthy so what’s the real reason here? Schweinsteiger plays that left wing position for Bayern and is hard to move out of there and they have played Pranjić at left back a few times, but for him to sit on the bench at Bayern is a waste. Let’s see if he gets some time at the weekend.
Ognjen Vukojević and Dynamo Kyiv took on the European champions in Barcelona Tuesday night. Kyiv did all they could do producing many legitimate chances on goal only to be stopped or shoot wide. What else can you expect playing a high caliber team like Barcelona in their own house. However, Dynamo should keep their heads high as they kept up with Barca and only lost 2-0. Vukojević had a nice look at goal after a lazy Barcelona clearance but had it go out on a deflection. Goran Sablić was not featured for Dynamo on the day.
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Lovren is yes better off in full back positions. He can be a bit wild in central defence especially when alongside Biscan and Carlos. Kovac seems to reign him in a little and helps him concentrate when they play together. He's only 20 so has a lot to learn. For enthusiasm Lovren is 10 and 10.
I just hope in the friendly bilic tries many formations and trys out most players, especially sharbini, and lovren, Lovren had a great game and even played LB for a bit, maybe try him out there for the Qatar game, and that could be a solution for that position
To be honest Michael its not just about beating Kazak but we all were hoping for a good performance as well. This squad is not as good as it should be cos Bilic called too many duds. He could have used these matches to show Croatia fans they do have promising young players and to bulk up his squad. I'm not worried about Rakitic cos he's very young. There is no way his lack of games in a few weeks should affect him. Rakitic prob will be the matchwinner when it comes down to it.
Well i can confirm as a Dinamo fan that Mandzo is tired. I'd prefer if Mandzo was rested by Croatia and Dinamo. Jelavic's career so far is this. He did nothing at Hajduk, went to Belgium and managed only 3 goals, went to Rapid and scored only 7 goals last season and this season has only 2 goals. Yes his goals in Europe is good news for him, but that just compensates for his bad career to date. The guy should have to score 12-15 goals in Austria before he gets a look. Mario Bazina and Mate Bilic scored for Rapid as well but it was not considered good enough for Croatia. Bilic himself was not feeling the competition was good enough for him so switched to Gijon.
I am pretty certain Jelavic is related to Bilic. I think a relative of Jelavic is connected to Bilic and we all know it just takes a few words. I think its hilarious how Bilic couldn't get enough of Kalinic for about a whole year and then decides oh i don't like this player anymore. Also when Gabric is at Hajduk he's selecting him and then he moves and still playing well but not interested anymore.
Croatia's win depends on Olic and Petric. Fortunately Kazak are not a good team. Even Jelavic possibly could get a good this game. However his call up is a slap in the face to so many other players who deserve it more. Lots of players who wouldn't even think at playing with Rapid Vienna.
We didn't have Eduardo and Kranjcar for the first Kazakhstan game and we beat them 3-0. Replace Kranjcar w/ Modric and throw in the loss of Simunic, Krizanac and Rakitic not playing in a few weeks, Runje having an off game…….and yeah.
They took the fight to England in their match and regardless of the score kept on attacking as best as they could. They nearly scored an opening minute goal and nearly beat Ukraine.
And there's a Slovenian ref for the Ukraine/England game 😉
To anonymous:
You may be better off trying to find:
1) Your local soccer shop to see if they can order some in for you?
2) Ebay 🙂
Otherwise you may be SOL.
You can also check out
http://www.websport.hr
@Matt,
Thanks for the link. Keep them coming.
@ziva istina
"Suddenly, the Kazak game does not look so easy for us."
We can field three teams that should beat the kazaks. Also, it would be a shame to go out against the kazaks if Ukraine fail to beat England. I'm not worried.
What, did Jelavic's uncle send a dead fish to Bilic' doorstep or are they really related? Either way, this disgusts me. I completely agree with Dinamofan- Bilic makes me sick. Jelavic is crap, but what sickens me most is the blatant nepotism. His domestic form is poor in a poor league. Whats more, He has never had good form. So the question is, why call him up? There is no legitimate reason to call up Jelavic. Bilic has turned the NT a farce….
Ziva, if Croatia has more points than Ukraine at the end of qualification then Croatia deserves to go to the play-offs- it's that simple. We may have been poor, but Ukraine may very well be even worse…
Thank you.
I didn't realize it cost 78 dollars to ship.
http://shop.sportnet.hr/popis_proizvoda.asp?idKategorije=22
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here you go 🙂
Try Sportnet.hr as well. They apparently have an Online shop through that website.
http://www.subsidesports.com/uk/store/product_list.jsp?id=364
If I come across anything else i will post it.
Where can i get a Dinamo jersey?
Regardless of who plays for England, they will play with Hunger. They know that under Capello nobody is guaranteed a spot on the team for the World Cup. Capello will not tolerate lazy or slack performances. Considering Ukraine gave England a serious run for their money in London. Beating England in Kiev should not be followed with cries of collusion. Ukraine is definitely capable of beating England.
We didn't need Eduardo to beat the Kazakhs the first time.
I'm not worried about that match at all, just worried about England/Ukraine in Kyiv.
Jelavic – that's more corruption. Yes your right Ziva. Basically now i'm worried. Slaven Bilic is terrible. Jelavic has scored 2 goals in the Austrian league. Big deal! He scored 7 all season last year and he flopped in Belgium and flopped at Hajduk. The guy stinks. I hate Slaven Bilic. The guy is corrupt. Jelavic is his relative.
Apparently Bilic called up Jelavic. A bit of a surprise, I guess. Did not think he was next on our dept chart. Would've figured this was the scenario where Mate Bilic would get his chance. Lets hope there are no more injuries to our forwards, or anyone else on the team for that matter.
This gets more and more interesting every day. Suddenly, the Kazak game does not look so easy for us.
http://www.vecernji.hr/sport/nogomet/eduardo-otpao-kazahstan-clanak-28120
Eduardo is most likely out for the kazakstan game
Denis, ziva's comments are hit and miss. I just can't stand his misses, particularly this whole "deserve" arguement. Soccer isn't about entitlement.
I didn't ge the shirt yet. It's really slow shipping from the US.
I'm gonna write this before the Dinamo match tonight so i don't come across as reactionary, but once the sale of Mandzo and Vrdoljak go through Dinamo fans have to start getting on Mamic's back about signings. I expect both Vrdoljak and Mandzo to go for a total of £10m either in winter or summer. This must make Dinamo one of the most profitable clubs – definitely in Croatian history and also one of the most profitable in Europe amongst sides of similar size. Dinamo has to start turning this money into success in Europe soon. We seem to be sitting on a goldmine here. Not only do we have money, we have a good youth system and power to get any good Croatian player in the domestic league. This season i'll take 3rd place in our group and a Croatian league and cup double. But next season we have to show progress.
Zach,
thanks for the link. Might be the goal of the month. Not easy to do off a corner.
Zurich goal was crazy!!!'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUHPPNcF1WE
@Ziva istina
I don't think Ukraine has done anything more than Croatia in these qualifiers. Croatia clearly outplayed them both times home and away. Ukraine struggled against Belarus both times and needed a 90th minute penalty to win in Ukraine. A draw here and Croatia is through no matter what happens for Ukraine vs. England.
Our qualifying campaign has been the worst since EURO 2000, however, remember World Cup 98 qualifying? Croatia was a final day Greek win over Denmark away from missing out on an eventual 3rd place.
This team has talent as shown at Euro 2008 without Eduardo I might add. We "deserve" to be in the playoff. More importantly, its a two leg battle where only the result is in the equation.
If Ukraine beats England, I will take my hat off to them and congratulate them for battling till the end. In my eyes, Ukraine doesn't deserve anything until they beat England. A tie would be impressive as well, however, Ukraine would still be out of the running.
@Slaven
easy easy my friend. Everyone has been really quick to jump on an opinion lately. I agree with you, however,
"I could say ziva istina doesn't deserve to write any more stupid comments on CSR."
… is a little harsh. Ziva istina has written numerous masterpiece comments in the past. Most of the time I agree and rarely do I disagree.
We are all bring something good to the table every time we participate, and most importantly everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Did you receive your shirt?
good stuff Slaven!
@Anonymous
Who are you? I need a name. You bring good stuff.
@Everyone
Please sign up as a member of Croatian Soccer Report under our poll. Its freeeeeeeeeee. Also, more importantly, Ante and I are getting in contact with Hajduk, Dinamo, HNS, and other teams around the world in hopes of getting credentials, hosting Dinamo/Hajduk/Croatia, and other wonderful things.
We have only 24 followers! That and 25 cents will buy you a cup of warm coffee!
We need to get this up to at least 100 before we can move on. Imagine Mamic going on CSR and looking right "24 members"….
Sign up your friends, sign up your little brother, sign up your die hard dinamo supporting baba! Lets go! Lets go!
danke!
Ronaldo has gone from a great yet hated player to "wow". How can you hate or talk bad about this guy. I had no idea he had this much more to offer. It's amazing watching him.
He'll win every award again this year.
I said shut up with the "deserve" idiocy.
Ronaldo is sure finding his element in the Spanish league. The EPL was keeping him down.
Umm, we beat Belarus home and away. They squeaked out a win on a dubious last minute penalty and were held to a 0-0 tie in a must win game. I think we are more "worthy."
Like was said above, Ukraine deserves it if they beat England at home. It is as simple as that.
As things stand right now, Ukraine deserves 2nd place more than we do. They hung with Engalnd when they played at Wembley. We folded and shit our Nike shorts.
to ziva istina:
why wouldn't we deserve 2nd place? are you saying that Ukraine deserve it more than we do? if they beat England (and if England shows up to play) then yes, they are more worthy. otherwise, we are more worthy.
in any event, finishing second only means we stay alive to fight again. plus, our record will be on par with most of the other second place finishers. we are just as worthy as any other second place finisher. plus, wc2010 is a year from now, so alot of things can happen until then — injuries to key players on other teams, some of the youngsters currently not on team step up play and contribute to NT team.
i do worry about the England/Ukraine game. I have a feeling it will end in a draw, with the Ukes missing some golden opportunities for the win. because of this, there is no way i am going to watch this game — way too much stress.
at least going into the Borat game, we'll know where we stand.
pranjic and olic both starting on the bench today
As I said before; England barely beat Ukraine last game. So why would they risk losing this time around? They want to win every game, regardless of if it is meaningless. Every team does the same.
Also, who's bringing up the whole "deserve" this or "deserve" that? That's the dumbest thing I've ever read here. I could say ziva istina doesn't deserve to write any more stupid comments on CSR. It's may the best team win. It's not may the team win that deserves to win. Idiot.
I'd love to see us make it, but based on the results and if you look at this from a neutral perspective, we do not deserve a playoff spot. Its obvious that at this point we will only get in by default. We'll all take the lifeline at that point.
we may not deserve it, but i think we do deserve a playoff, and if we win that then we deserve to be in the world cup
Still does not gaurentee a win….England will not play with the same hunger now. I expect them to be professional, but you just don't play with the same hunger as they did against us to clinch first place. The game is a 50/50 toss up. I smaintain we do not deserve 2nd place because of our 4 games against Ukraine and England. Goal differential of -8 and 2 points from 4 matches.
FYI Fabio Capello says he will play the best squad possible for England vs. Ukraine so as not to face FIFA sanctions for competition ethics. I felt pretty comfortable with England's B squad against Ukraine they way that team is playing… but now with the A team we should make the playoffs for sure. Get well soon Luka, we will need you come Novemeber!