ENGLAND
Photo: PA
Nikica Jelavić got the start for Everton on Saturday and opened up his 2012-13 account vs. Aston Villa with a goal in the 44th minute of play. Jelavić cut across the box and one-timed a shot from the penalty spot after a superb Leighton Baines pass from the end line found the Croatian’s left foot. The strike would put Everton in complete control; as they went into halftime up 3-0. In the 58′, Jelavić was pulled down by Villa’s Ciaran Clark, who was red carded for the foul, after a through-ball found Jela on a clear break away.
10-man Aston Villa would later find the back of the net for a consolation goal to make it a 3-1 final. Everton have now won their first two matches off the season (last week over Manchester United) and look to mean business this campaign. Let’s see if Jelavić can show the same form he had for the Toffees in the second half of last year.
Jelavić strike at 0:47, break away 1:02
Photo: Reuters
Mladen Petrić looked to follow his two-goal opening day performance with a good showing at Old Trafford vs. mighty Manchester United on Saturday, but the goal never came. Petrić received the start for Fulham and was active throughout the match. In the third minute of play, the born-again Croatia international was fouled just outside the box which lead to a set-piece goal from Damien Duff. Manchester United would score three unanswered goals thereafter, with Petrić unable to defend Rafael on his header in the second half.
With Fulham down 3-1 in the second half, the ball was deflected out to an open Petrić who had the entire net to shoot at. He shot low and United goalie De Gea got a touch on the ball to see it ricochet off the crossbar. Petrić should have done better to put the ball in the back of the net but his form in England through the first two games of the season has been superb. What plans does Igor Štimac have for Petrić during the September qualifiers vs. Macedonia and belgium?
Petrić open net miss off crossbar @ 6:20
UKRAINE
Strinić with some fine moves @ 1:15, Kalinić goal @ 4:05
Nikola Kalinić and Ivan Strinić both played the full 90 minutes for Dnipro in their 2-1 win over Volyn on Sunday. Kalinić equalized for Dnipro in the 22nd minute after taking a long through-ball from the and placing it past the Volyn keeper. Aliyev fired away the winner in the 47′ to give Dnipro all three points.
Kalinić has been quiet this season in Ukraine and doesn’t look to receive any playing time from the Croatian squad, even though he has been called up. Strinić is a lock for the left back spot. What does Kalinić have to do this season to be considered in the same sentence as Jelavić and Mandžukić?
Kranjčar assist to Ninković @ 2:48
Niko Kranjčar got the start for Dynamo Kyiv in their 2-0 win over Chernomorets on Saturday. Kranjčar was credited an assist on Dynamo’s first goal after playing a simple pass to Ninković, who blasted a shot from 21 yards out into the bottom right corner of the net. Kranjčar was subbed out in the 63′ and should be well-rested for Dynamo’s second leg match vs. Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday for a Champions League berth. Dynamo won the first leg 3-1 in Germany.
Ognjen Vukojević was inserted into the match in the 78′ for defensive support. He has not been part of Dynamo’s first squad this season and with Štimac omitting defensive midfielder Tomislav Dujmović for the September qualifiers, should Vuki still get the nod?
Photo: Shakhtar.com
Darijo Srna played the full 90 minutes for Shakhtar Donetsk in their 3-0 victory over Karpaty Lviv on Sunday. The win keeps Shakhtar perfect to start the season as they have won their first seven games, scoring 26 goals in the process and only conceding three. They currently hold a three-point lead on Ukrainian rivals Dynamo Kiev.
Eduardo was brought into the game in the 61st minute with the game already in Shakhtar’s favor at 3-0. There has been a rumor swirling around Europe that Dudu could make his Premiership return, joining Mladen Petrić at Fulham.
RUSSIA
Dynamo Moscow and Gordon Schildenfeld finally picked up their first points of the season Saturday as they defeated Slaven Bilić’s Lokomotiv Moscow 3-2. After finishing fourth last season and making the qualifying stages of the Europa League, Dynamo lost their first five games of the season putting the club in crisis mode. Schildenfeld started and went the distance in Dynamo’s crucial win. Dynamo remain last in the Russian Premier League with three points.
Vedran Ćorluka (left) and Dario Krešić were on the other side of Dynamo’s win. Both were not at fault for the first goal as a poor pass by Roman Shiskin left them out to dry. Krešić would’ve hoped to do better on the second goal as he was beaten at his near post. Ćorluka picked up an achilles injury with the score at 2-1 and was subbed off in the 63rd minutes and is likely to still be available for Croatia’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Lokomotiv sit in 7th place through six games.
Stipe Pletikosa and Rostov picked up a massive victory against Alaniya 3-1 to secure their first win of the season. Stipe could do nothing about Alaniya’s lone goal and was only called on a couple times in the game to make routine saves.
Tomislav Dujmović played 63 minutes in Mordovia’s 4-2 loss to Anzhi. Tomo was unlucky as he scored an own goal in the 41st minute on a goal line clearance attempt.
Germany
Photo: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Mario Mandžukić celebrates third goal with Arjen Robben of Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich opened up the new Bundesliga season in style by shutting out Greuther Fürth 3-0 in front of 18,000 fans at Trolli Arena. Super Mario Mandžukić made his Bundesliga debut for Bayern Munich and replaced Ivica Olić as the man that is in the right place at the right time for the second goal. In the 59th minute of play, Mario found himself in front of an empty goal and easily headed home a saved Arjen Robben shot. The former Dinamo Zagreb striker started and played 81 minutes in the win.
Mandžukić open-net header at 0:40
Ivica Olić returns for Wolfsburg
Ivica Olić made his Bundesliga debut with Wolfsburg in a 1-0 road win against Stuttgart. The 32-year-old Croatian international came close to scoring late in the first half after his header sailed just wide. Ivica harassed the Stuttgart defense and committed five fouls in the process. Wolfsburg are fortunate to leave the Mercedes Benz Arena with a win as Vedad Ibišević missed an 88th minute penalty kick. Srđjan Lakić failed to get off the bench in the win.
Croatian international, Ivo Iličević, watched from the bench as Hamburg lost their home opener to Nurnberg 1-0. Ivan Perišić came off the bench in the 82nd minute for Borussia Dortmund in the 82nd minute of play in a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen.
SPAIN
Ivan Rakitić (11) and Sevilla stole a point on the road against Granada despite playing a man down for nearly an hour, drawing 1-1. Sevilla’s keeper, Diego Lopez, took out Antonio Flores in the 34th minute and was shown a straight red. Rakitić could not influence the game as much as he did in their opener last week against Getafe, as Sevilla were forced to sit back and soak up the pressure. Ivan played 89 minutes before being subbed for the defensive minded Cala. With four points through two matches, Sevilla sit in a tie for third. They play away to Rayo Vallecano next Sunday.
“Last season was frankly not good. We’ll try to do better this season. We will do everything we can to get better results. The goal is to take the matches one at a time, to chain victories together and at the end of the season, we hope to be well placed.
–Ivan Rakitić
PORTUGAL
Danijel Pranjić (above) missed the season opener for Sporting Lisbon as well as this week’s Europa League tie as he recovers from an injury. Lisbon take on Rio Ave on Monday and Pranjić is questionable.
@ARMADA87
Well I guess he will be able to add the heliport to his Villa near Zadar.
@ARMADA87
Sorry, it does show the stamp date and time when posted but did not show up until this morning.
@ARMADA87
It was attempt to answer your Croatian transfer fees question which you found later.
For some reason it did not appear on this site until this morning and hrt changed html paths so the page does not appear.
The path has since changed.
http://is.gd/5R8LxK
@ Annonymous
Link doesn’t work
@Elvis
posted this link in the other thread, but here ya go in case you didn’t see it:
http://www.politikaplus.com/novost/62935/Modricev-transfer-sesti-u-povijesti-Reala-najveci-medu-HR-nogometasima-
Modric to RM and Modric to Spurs is 1 and 2,3rd Dudu from Dinamo to Arsenal, 4th believe or not is Robi Prosinecki from CZ to Real and 5th is Corluka from Dinamo to Man City
good read all in all, can’t believe Prosinecki is still 4th lol what a fuckin legend
Elvis: @Mutumbo
I agree. What this means is that we will have a number of second tier third world players trying to get residence and tryouts. Overtime maybe 5-10 years we won’t even have Croatians on the NT.
———————————————————————
You can’t say that Elvis, it’s “socially unacceptable” to be against Die-versity b/c diversity ALWAYS and ONLY means less white; it NEVER applies to non-whites. If this isn’t true, give me just ONE example where a non-white group was pressured to become more “diverse”?
@Mate Cleveland
No need to be sorry my friend as I did not have any ill will or intent in my statement. Just making an observation.
You and I both want Hrvatska to beat Macedonia and Belgium and go to World Cup 2014!
Živjeli!
@ Anonymous
Sorry, I didn’t click on any of the other links, I try to resist while at work….a picture with him at RM’s stadium wearing a jersey would definitely be proof enough
@ARMADA87
http://www.hrt.hr/index.php?id=37&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=177782&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=34&cHash=05c01921c9
@Allen Steven
Why? It’s a done deal and official.
Not that it matters but all CS.com has to do is merge this thread/topic with their own article on the story if they wanted to. Whether they do that or not is immaterial.
Either way it is worth discussing and can we discuss freely if need be.
Very happy for Modric but let’s wait on the writeup that somebody does before making full comments about it.
@Mate Cleveland
The first post with Luka on the field at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with a Real Madrid uniform on pretty much made it official for me but I hear ya!
🙂
@Armada
Even higher than what the mighty Boksic got years ago?
is his transfer fee the highest for a Croatian ever? 5 years, $52m USD, if I’m not mistaken?
Bravo Luka!!! Hope to see more of your excellent football in Madrid!
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=1851265.html#modric+completes+move+madrid
The most official website!
Nova transfer-bomba: Celtic želi hrvatskog napadača!
http://sportski.net.hr/nogomet/nasi-u-svijetu/celtic-u-lovu-na-hrvatskog-napadaca
UŽIVO: Modrić istrčao na Santiago Bernabeu s brojem 19!
http://sportski.net.hr/nogomet/nasi-u-svijetu/luka-modric-postao-novi-clan-real-madrida
@Mutumbo
I agree. What this means is that we will have a number of second tier third world players trying to get residence and tryouts. Overtime maybe 5-10 years we won’t even have Croatians on the NT.
http://www.marca.com/2012/08/27/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1346052661.html
Say Goodbye to your beloved national team
http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Sports/2012-08-27/29253/Croatian_football_league_even_followed_in_Gambia
Modric ya es del Madrid
http://www.marca.com/2012/08/27/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1346052661.html
Luka Modric – Real Madrid!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luka_Modri%C4%87
Luka Modric to have Real Madrid medical as Spurs reach agreement with Spanish giants for sale of midfielder
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/9501532/Luka-Modric-to-have-Real-Madrid-medical-as-Spurs-reach-agreement-with-Spanish-giants-for-sale-of-midfielder.html
Luka Modric: Real Madrid to buy midfielder from Tottenham
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19389191
Modrić čeka predstavljanje na Santiago Bernebeu, na treningu je već u 18h!
http://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/svjetski_nogomet/modric-stize-u-madrid-danas-napokon-potpisuje-s-real-madridom.html