The Croatian Cup quarter finals are nearly wrapped up after some mid-week action on Tuesday and Wednesday for the return legs featuring the remaining eight teams.
Dinamo easily took care of Istra on Tuesday with a score of 3-0 to take the cup tie aggregate score to 4-0 after a 1-0 victory in Pula on Feb 2.
Tuesday’s game came as a struggle for Istra after Henrique Dinis was sent off in the 38th minute, leaving the match wide open for Dinamo to take over.
Taking over is exactly what they did and started it with Junior Fernades’s goal in the 42nd minute. Armin Hodzic scored soon after in the 55th minute, and Ante Coric capped off the night with a penalty in the 69th minute to round out the 3-0 victory.
Dinamo fielded a team of youngsters in the match on Tuesday with six of the starting 11 players under the age of 21. The average age of players on the field wearing blue was 22.6 years old.
Hajduk Split hosted the only remaining non-Prva HNL club on Wednedsay, beating NK Vinogradar 3-0, leaving the aggregate score 6-0 over the two matches.
Vinogradar started last season playing the the Druga Liga but withdrew midway through the season and are now forced to compete in the 1. ŽNL, the fifth level in the Croatian soccer pyramid.
Hajduk scored quickly in the match with the first goal coming from Goran Jozinovic in the 12th minute.
The Bili continued to dominated and Andrija Balic scored two more for the home team to end the match 3-0.
Rijeka took two big wins over NK Lokomotiva to gain a 8-1 aggregate victory, winning 4-1 at home in February, then 4-0 on Wednesday on a cold rainy night in Zagreb.
Anas Sharbini, Marko Vescovic, Marin Tomasov, and Josip Ivancic all scored in the big win for Rijeka.
A passionate and dedicated group of Armada attended the match to support their team, despite unfavorable weather conditions.
RNK Split and NK Zadar were scheduled to play their return leg after Split won 1-0 at Youth Park in February, but heavy rain and abysmal field condition has postponed that match until Friday, March 18.
Despite the postponed match, the cup draw went on as scheduled. Dinamo will face Rijeka while Hajduk will face the winner of the Split-Zadar match. The semifinal matches will take place on April 8 and 22. The final will take place on May 20 at a yet-to-be-determined location.
“Youth Park” LOL
Doubtful. Only point I would have seen us winning is Cilic against Troicki.
Yes, the Serbs would have won 3-2 with both teams at full strength and Djoković playing three matches.
Serbs were going to win it no matter who we had playing for us. But, you are correct this didn’t really make a blimp on the curiosity factor with the cro public.
Nobody cared about that Davis Cup tie.
Croatia really just came out with some youngsters to give them experience and that’s that. The Serbs and their fans knew this, and that’s why there was such a positive vibe at the stadium (with the Serbian fans even cheering the Cro national anthem).
If Croatia showed up with an in-form Cilic, and brought in Karlovic, as well as our doubles-star in Dodig…the vibe would have been much more hostile (as one upset loss by Djokovic would probably lose them the tie).
There wouldn’t be any after party if the tie was taken seriously by Croatia. But unfortunately Croatia’s main man was out, their other vets weren’t on the squad, and their future star is simply too young at this point (despite pulling the occasional major upset here and there).
I know some of you had issues with he photo back in January of Ivanisevic with a face-painting jock sniffer………so, I can only imagine what the reaction will be with these…….appears are boys were partying with the Serbs after getting their ass kicked by the Serbs…….
http://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/ovo-su-slike-koje-zelimo-gledati-coric-i-ekipa-slavili-sa-srpskim-tenisacima-/806038.aspx
I think most kids want to be a MF when they are growing up. The MFer is the one with the ball most of the time and when you are a kid you want the ball. I know his is oversimplifying it, but I think there is something to it.
Cro will always have great individuals. They key is hoping the individual talent can lead to team success.
Today’s Hajduk is certainly not your Tata’s Hajduk from the 70s. It’s fallen on hard times–But not if Andrija Balic can help it!
The kid rescued the club against Zadar and did it again against Osijek. They also have the talented Nikola Vlasic, who will soon be jumping into success like his older sister Blanka. Plus they got the creative Tino Susic, nephew of the iconic Safet Susic.
I would like to see them stay at the club longer to help revive the club’s fortunes. Also, if they held on to them longer, they can sell them for a hefty sum, bringing in badly needed “Keš.”
And Coric is playing well of late, setting up a goal in Dinamo’s latest win. Da’kid idolizes Ronaldhino and has plenty of artistry.
Which begs the question, why is Croatia producing so many talented midfielders these days??
-I think it has to do with an emphasis of developing midfielders in the youth ranks.
-Part of it is cultural, as midfielders are held in high regard in Croatia. I remember watching footballing documentaries on Hrvatska Radiotelevizija about midfield number 10s.
-And growing up, when I honed my footballing skills on the “Beton” playing Mali-Nogomet. We all talked about skill of Prosniecki and the class of Zizou. We all wanted to be midfielders…
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2388831-luka-modric-return-will-give-real-madrid-the-fluency-missing-in-athletic-defeat
@ Svima
Luka “the straw that stirs the drink” Modrić.
I pray he is 100% this Tuesday.
Winter ending, Modric returning, best March ever.
Classico and Norway.
U boj
ZDS
Rijeka is smart with their buys and loans.
Bringing in Alex and Radošević were good moves. Jugović is another solid one they stole from Osijek. So was Vargić.
These aren’t Dinamo rejects. The ex-Dinamo players are becoming less important on this squad with only Tomečak still playing a key role.
Taking on rejects from Napoli and Real Madrid isn’t a bad way to go. Add in the fact that they’re developing some youth prospects (Finally) and they could easily catch Dinamo (especially if Dinamo is serious about cutting big contracts at the club).
if Rijeka continue to invest in their youth and build more through that than just bringing on one mercenary or reject after another … Rijeka will give Dinamo a true run for their money. Kek is heads and shoulders above the rest of the coaches in the HNL. Rijeka will soon have the best stadium in the country. Good ultras group and Volpi just prints money it seems.
Althoug, I think all of us would welcome a change at the top.
I can’t. Rijeka is playing with rejects and other clubs garbage and leftovers. They will be competitive because of their experienced players, but they won’t win the league title unless Dinamo drops in form. It would be more a result of Dinamo shitting themselves than Rijeka.
I can see Rijeka winning it in a season or two from now.
and you can rinse and repeat for next year as well.
really sucks that Dinamo and Rijeka weren’t drawn apart… would of been a nice consolation prize to beat them in a kup again for finishing 2nd (again…)
if Rijeka advance, really don’t give a shit to see them play either hajduk/Zadar/RNK Split – next thing to look forward to would be the European draws.
Dinamo will get their ‘decima’ by a 5-10 point margin. Rijeka will finish 10 points ahead of RNK Split/Hajduk and there you have it, the 2014-15 Prva Liga!
I never understood the allure of two legs for cup ties. The early rounds is one game and later rounds are two games. Part of what makes cup competitions compelling is the belief that a smaller club can advance and you reduce that when playing over two legs.
I know Cro isn’t the only country that does it and there are money reason why (both teams get a home match), but from a competition standpoint, it blows.
Rijeka vs Zadar final, nice!