Hajduk vs Varaždin (5-0)
Hajduk hosted Varaždin at the Poljud for an important redemption match against the same Varaždin side they drew 1-1 against earlier in the week. This time a draw would not settle it as both times entered Tuesday vying for a spot in the semi-finals of the Croatian Cup. However, unlike Hajduk’s lackluster draw earlier in the week with Varaždin, there was hardly any competition to be seen. What started as a manageable 2-0 deficit against Varaždin going into the second half, thanks to late goals in the first half from Krovinović and Diallo, quickly turned into a routing in the second half. Hajduk scored three goals in the span of less than 10 minutes, seeing a total collapse defensively from Varaždin. Hajduk will head into the semi-finals keen on keeping their trophy from last season’s cup, putting them two wins away from keeping the trophy in Split. On the other hand, Varaždin now sees their last chance of European play slip away from as they exit the Croatian Cup.
Dinamo vs Gorica (4-0)
Dinamo looks to show their dominance in the Cup as they try to make up for their lackluster HNL start by their standards. Their 4-0 win marks an important one as they near closer to a possible match up with fellow title contenders Rijeka and Hajduk or a cross-city derby against Lokomotiva. Dinamo’s win is also significant as it seems them have got over the hump of playing Gorica so far this season, a club who has been able to get the better of them on numerous occasions. Wednesday, however, was not one of those matches. Dinamo saw their new signing Fran Brodić from Varaždin prove his worth by scoring in his first competitive match with Dinamo since his initial spell with the club in 2013. Dinamo comfortably won 4-0 against Gorica splitting their four goals with two in the first half and two in the second. Gorica who went from being contenders to a European spot in 4th place in the HNL have fallen off dramatically in 2024, sitting 6th in the league now and eliminated from the Cup.
Osijek vs Lokomotiva (0-1)
Osijek has not won against Lokomotiva in Zagreb since 2021, a draw earlier in the week saw them extend that stretch into 2024. The Bijelo-Plavi certainly hoped that streak would have ended on Tuesday as their fate in Europe and possibly the success of their season was in the air that night. Osijek could not handle the pressure of such a big match and fell to Lokomotiva 1-0 in Zagreb. Robert Mudražija, a former Osijek player himself, scored the only goal of the match off a freekick sent into the box that he eventually tapped in. Osijek were seemingly thrown two lifelines in the match giving them some hope of a comeback. Just 10 minutes after the first goal Lokomotiva defender Jon Mersinaj got a double yellow card and was sent off. Osijek mounted the pressure from there and tested the Lokosi backline for the rest of the match. Osijek almost were back into the match with a penalty in the 86′ minute. This penalty was saved by Lokomotiva’s star of the match, Svonomir Šubarić, a backup goalkeeper. Šubarić had numerous saves on the night including his penalty. His performance kept the Bijelo-Plavi at bay and extended Lokomotiva’s hope for European competition. Osijek who has had a rough go this season in the HNL saw their last chance to control their fate of getting European football slip away. The Bijelo-Plavi will now have to rely on anyone other than Lokomotiva to win the Cup this season and hold onto their 4th place spot. Meanwhile, the Lokosi who may have started to fall away from a potential 4th place spot have a huge oppurtunity to surprise all of Croatia and win the Cup and secure European play for themselves. This would bring a European match back to the Lokosi for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.
Rijeka vs Rudeš (1-0)
Rijeka scraped by into the semi-finals, ending the last hope of a fairy tale run from Rudeš. Last season saw Šibenik make a run all the way to the final despite finishing dead last in the HNL. Rudeš hoped to do the same as their tenure in the HNL this season has been less than stellar. While not making it pretty Rijeka’s lone goal from Niko Galešić late in the match was enough to send Rijeka through into the semi-finals. While Rijeka has their mind focused on winning the HNL as they currently sit 1st, they are also now two matches away from seeing themselves crowned as HNK champions as well. Winning the double, if they could manage to hold onto their HNL spot would be a massive achievement for the club. As for Rudeš there is very little to be surprised about. They have been the punching dummy of the HNL and nearly needed extra time to even make the Round of 16 in the Cup after scraping by against Croatia Zmijavci from the 1.NL.
LOVRO ZVONAREK on the bench for Bayern today.
He’s been on the Bayern first team since early January.
He actually came on late against Augsburg about a month ago.
@MART
https://croatiansports.com/can-dinamo-hold-off-betis-1245pm-et/#comments/504119
Hmm.. personally I would consider this a weakened Betis just off that list of injuries alone… Isco, Marc Batra, Guido Rodriguez, Abner and Ayoze Perez. And they even had to plug Marc Roca into central defense in the 2nd leg because of Pezzella’s suspension. Maybe a bit of luck there… but the best part for me is (along with Baturina’s solid performance) that our clubs have finally ended a long, horrible streak against Spanish sides.
And yeap I agree, it’s time for our record to improve against Greek clubs. Just hoping Kotarski won’t be at fault for any goal Dinamo will soon score against PAOK😜
***
HUGE relief knowing that Sucic didn’t suffer a 2nd ligament tear… it’s been like losing something precious then getting it back again. God bless and keep this dude. Bog i Hrvati!
Curious what the actual injury to his knee was.
He’s out for a few weeks, but none of the articles I found say anything about what happened.
https://onefootball.com/en/news/luka-sucic-relief-with-knee-injury-39117639
https://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/rubrika/nogomet/luka-sucic-nece-igrati-na-prijateljskom-turniru-u-emiratima—830927.html
I read somewhere that Susic felt a little niggle in the knee during the match. Being out for 4 weeks is a precautionary step, let’s hope that when he returns the knee is, OK? if the niggle persists it could mean that corrective surgery is required to fix the problem, we can only hope that this does not eventuate.
Apologies, I meant Sucic
Yeah exactly, his situation still seems a bit touch and go.
100% agree with what kromiza said earlier, i.e. moving forward Sucic should try to find ways to pro-actively protect and strengthen his knees.
Yah I’ve been wondering too.. what did they see in the scans? Is it just an over-stretching of the ligament so all he needs is just rest and physio?🤷♂️
https://sportske.jutarnji.hr/sn/nogomet/reprezentacija/nova-glavobolja-za-dalica-vatreni-ostali-bez-dragulja-u-izvrsnoj-formi-za-turnir-u-emiratima-15432846
As a Hajduk fan I’m very disappointed in how Hajduk is putting pressure on the HNL referees and leaking VAR communications to the media. Instead of admitting that they are not playing well at the moment they are trying to shift the blame for the poor results on to the referees and VAR. There are issues with VAR in every country and it is far from perfect, and this is also the case in HNL. I follow HNL closely and as usual when things start going badly for Hajduk on the field, they start blaming everyone else including the referees for their poor results. Watched the match against Varteks and I thought the ref was good as was the use of VAR.
I’m a Hajduk fan too, and the 1-1 draw had nothing to do with VAR. Not that Varazdin is a weak team, but with Livaja, Brekalo and Sahiti in the attack there’s no excuse to be drawing 1-1 in a game with so much importance
Ja navijam za DZ i rekao sam vam prije da DZ ima kontrolu nad sucima. Ali ove snimke vam dokazuju koliko je suđenje u HRV loše. zamislite oni nisu prikazali video za koji su tvrdili da imaju. Gdje ovo ima?
Korupcija postoji u ovoj jebenoj zemlji. Evo ja na primjer morao sam potrošiti više od 300.000€ samo u posljednjih nekoliko godina s političarima tako da firma može poslovati. ali na kraju meni je dobro i znam da je to dio života ovdje.
Jebo vas HDZ
Korupcija is everywhere.
HRV is just a smaller economy where 20% of their GDP is dependent on tourism, so there is less margin for error especially for a country whose average income is lower than most Western European countries.
This corruption is the same or worse in Western countries too, but the economies are larger and more dynamic, with more money flowing around…but this also comes at a cost. Not a financial one, but a societal one (which is why many people seem to love Croatia regardless of its follies).
Davor too much negativity in Croatia. Things are getting better with wages and pensions increasing, unemployment is down, our foreign debt is under control, credit rating is BBB + meaning that more investments are coming into the country. Yes, there is corruption, but corruption is everywhere in the world. A lot has been achieved in the last 8 years under HDZ.
In 2015 when SDP were in charge wages were going down, unemployment was 400,000 and our credit rating was termed as TRASH. The opposition in Croatia is hopeless and has no meaningful economic policies. Most of the SDP and Mozemo politicians and their party members are still crying that Juga fell apart, so as far as I’m concerned it is HDZ all the way despite all their deficiencies.
@Davor
They’re all quislings in the Croatian parliment also, which quislings do you vote for in the dependent state of Croatia?
I think it is clear from my previous post who I vote for, however I do not consider them quislings.
Pogba 4-year doping ban
Will FIFA look retroactively at 2018 finals
And if they can “prove” Pogba was doping (I doubt he started y’day)
Can they disqualify France and award Croatia as winner / gold medal (similar to what they do at Olympics)
Thoughts ???
Interesting concept I must say.
Not sure if they can. I would really like an answer though.
There is a better chance at overturning yesterdays weather!
Okay guys, the results are in and good news. I’m 99.9% of European origin with 79% of that from the Zadar region. 16.5% is from Slovenia and 1.2% is from Italy (Sicily). Guess that makes me a full breed. 0% Turkish anything. 0.3% Jewish (not sure how that happened).
Now for the bad news. No relation to Modric, Kova, Cilic, Coric, Rimac, or any other famous and talented Croat. Most likely descended from a long line of goat herders and donkey riders.
I know the testing is a fuzzy picture of where your ancestors come from but when you look at all your 4th and fifth cousins and where they come from you can really see how we’re all connected. Kinda scary too because you could be fucking your 5th cousin and not even know it!
Anyhow, just to remind you guys, going forward, anything I post, and you don’t agree with, I’m a full breed which means my opinions and thoughts take precendence over yours. Now back to nogomet.
Mrš nazad u Italiji ciganjo!!!!!!!! 😉
https://www.manchestercity.news/hes-a-terrific-player-pundit-says-man-city-have-a-player-kovacic-who-only-his-teammates-truly-appreciate/
Nice read for all you Kovacic haters😂
His teammates did this at Chelsea too, when they voted him for that weird teammate-voted Chelsea player of the year award thing, ha ha ha.
To be honest, this comes off more like people liking Kovacic the person over Kovacic the player. He teammates like him a lot, so they’re standing up for him when he gets criticism.
When he gets criticized for not being offensively aggressive or capable…then when he finally scores, everyone goes over the top with praise. It’s like they almost feel sorry for him for being compared to the greats.
Kovacic is a decent player, but he definitely deserves criticism for his sometimes passive play in the opponent’s third.
When you’re playing for Man City, you’re going to be compared to the de Bruynes and Gundogans of the World.
The criticism is justified, and it’s kind of embarrassing to see articles like this with his teammates coming to the rescue.
He had a decent World Cup in 2022, and I expect him to take another step for the National Team over the next two tournaments. If not, then he will get more criticism, and it will be well deserved.
When Modric and Perisic retire, Kovacic will be our next captain.
Kovacic is not and will never be the all rounder that Modric is. He is world class at one aspect of the game, which is breaking the press, and has become a dogged defender who is disciplined enough to track back. Unfortunately he doesn’t consistently hit the telling through ball that De Bruyne often hits, nor does he score goals from midfield like De Bruyne and Silva. He is best suited to sitting in front of the back line and either thwarting an attack or feeding the ball to the midfielders who are difference makers.
So we have our replacement for Brozović?
yep, you nailed it!
I like Kovacic. he’s very valuable when he has a good game and he’s usually pretty darn good for us with the odd poor performance.
it was good to see Dinamo finally dominate a game using 8 of their subs.
I don’t know anything about Fran Brodic but it looks like he know’s how to score goals…whats the scoop on him?
I mentioned this earlier in the season. Osijek unfortunately look like a very unstable team. I’m won’t say they’re unstable like Istra but I will say they don’t look like a team that can win a championship. They need more consistency and a winning attitude.
so far this season, I haven’t seen a single game where Dinamo has been outplayed. at one point of the season, I did see Rijeka looking very in sync and dangerous but thats recently changed and I’m not sure why.
Hajduk lost Zaper due to an injury and now Sigur has stepped up and is playing in his natural position…and he’s doing extremely well. Hajduk need to keep their foot on the gas if they want to compete for the BIG trophy. they lost their lead and now sit in 2nd…could be 3rd once Dinamo make up a game.
Hajduk had an 11 point lead over Dinamo a couple of months back and now there’s a barn burner for 1st place. gonna be an exciting rest of the season.
Well said Slavonac. I am a casual HNL fan but this three way race to the finish is very compelling viewing. Dinamo fan, but to see Hajduk or Rijeka taking the championship would be good for the league. Then Dinamo can win the next 14 titles.