Germany
Ivica Olić’s ‘eye-gouging’ incident will cost him games against future club, Bayern Munich, as well as Karlsruhe when the BundesLiga returns from winter break on January 30th. Olić has also been suspended for three future friendlies.
Robert Kovač waits out a possible transfer from Borussia Dortmund. Where to exactly? Try Dinamo Zagreb.
Initial reports indicated that Kovač would be entering ‘Bad Blue Boy’ waters by the end of the week. However, Dortmund manager, Jürgen Klopp, has said, “There is no way I am letting Robert go.” We will definitely know by week’s end as the transfer window closes on January 31st.
Robert, come to the MLS! I’ll pay good money to see those flying elbows of yours!
England
Since we last left you, the Premiership has taken a backseat to the FA (English) and Carling Cups. Tottenham faced off against Manchester United in the FA Cup 4th round at Old Trafford. Vedran Ćorluka played the entire game while Luka Modrić was subbed out at halftime.
Roman Pavlyuchenko gave the Spurs an early lead but it wasn’t Tottenham’s day as ManU ultimately won 2-1. Ćorluka appeared a bit absent minded as he let Berbatov run free on that second goal. Tottenham has now been eliminated from the FA Cup.
In a much less important Carling Cup match, Tottenham took on Burnley in the second leg of their tie. Ćorluka did not play as he got to catch up on rest and Modrić only played the first 65 minutes of the match. With Tottenham up 4-1 on aggregate, this game was supposed to be a ‘piece of cake’ for the Spurs. However, English Championship side, Burnley, ended full-time up 3-0 which forced extra time.
Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermain Defoe saved Tottenham with a goal apiece in extra time. The Spurs are currently on the cusp of a relegation spot in the Premiership and have not looked all that impressive in recent weeks. Luka Modrić is finally meshing with his offense but appears to be afraid to shoot the ball within 25 yards of goal. Ćorluka remains to be a brick wall on defense as he has easily become a ‘Top 10 Defender’ in the world.
Niko Kranjčar sat out Portsmouth’s 2-0 FA Cup loss against Swansea City. He has not seen the pitch since his late game substitution vs. Tottenham on January 18th do to a minor knock. Niko has also been ruled out of Croatia’s friendly in Romania.
It also sounds like Kranjčar will be leaving Portsmouth in the summer- most likely to join Eduardo at Arsenal.
Netherlands
Danijel Pranjić converted a penalty in Heerenveen’s 2-0 win against Roda Kerkrade. He also started the play which lead to the first goal of the game. Pranjić is playing extremely well for Heerenveen. He should have already moved to a bigger club but his price is too high right now. A summer transfer for Danijel is now inevitable as he will stay in the Netherlands for the remainder of the season.
Greece
Ante Rukavina received a straight red card in the 53rd minute of his latest game against Ergotelis. Panathinaikos lost the game 1-0 as Ergotelis scored just three minutes after Rukavina suffered the red.
The video isn’t clear, but it appears that Rukavina hit an Ergotelis player in the body. Further suspension is unknown at this time. If anyone has any further information or can read Greek, let us know.
Current Croatian 3rd string goalkeeper, Mario Galinović, could not stop the lone goal of the game as his defense broke down. Regardless, Mario is playing fantastic alongside Rukavina for Panathinaikos.
Italy
Ivan Jurić had to sit out Genoa’s 1-1 draw against Catania on January 25th due to accumulating too many yellow cards thus far in the season. He should be back in action on Wednesday the 28th to take on AC Milan at San Siro. Genoa is also in contention for a 2010 Champion’s League spot as they currently sit 4th in Serie A. So keep an eye out for them.
Jurić should also be the only new Croatian face in the lineup for the friendly against Romania on February 11th. Bilić will name the official squad later this week.
~Ante Kvartuč, reporting from a van down by the river~
Yes i heard the news about Kovac. To be honest i feel this will extend his career by 2 years and keep him as a useful player for Croatia should we need him as he will be match fit. It will also be fantastic for Barbaric and Lovren to play alongside him. As a Dinamo fan it is also great to have a decent centre back in there apart from the likes of Biscan, Ibanez and Hrgovic who are all midfielders. Now we can move those guys forward and get the best from them.
Having followed Dinamo for a while now i noticed something about the Croatian league.
The sides are always at their strongest after winter break and they are in turmoil at the first half of the season because during the summer every team breaks their side apart and tries to rebuild it in Autumn and Winter and finally gets it sorted in Spring only to break it apart again in the summer. If we had Kovac, Slepicka, Calello in the summer we might have done something in the UEFA Cup. Whats the point in having these players just for the final run of HNL1 just to sell them in the summer. Its not just the same for us but for Hajduk too. They’ve been gradually getting their side together (Skoko, Subasic and Ibricic particularly were fantastic signings), yet Vejic and Tomasov is really going to take them to a new level.
I have much better feelings about our team at the moment as we don’t have many players other teams will take a chance on. I fear more for Hajduk. Ibricic and Kalinic for example are ready to move in the summer and Hajduk need the cash. We however can hold onto Mandzukic if we wanted. I reckon we’ll have our best European season next year.
Robert Kovac is in Dinamo
From a Dinamo fan i have to say Drpic is very ordinary. Capable of some good moments and some terrible moments in a match. He is not national team standard, but we are getting thin on the ground in that area. Vejic is another ordinary defender. We known about Vejic for a long time. He’s okay, but not brilliant. Say if you want a solid centre back in HNL1 or Russian league Vejic is your man and Drpic is worth having on board, but outside Croatian league both are ordinary at best. Put it this way put them up against world class players and they are struggling, put them up against the best of HNL1 and they are more than coping. Can’t really explain it better than that. The thing about Drpic however is that he is in a harder league and will be tested a lot more. He will also be coached different. As i say he’ll either sink or swim.
A pity Rukavina is not included… think he is currently ahead of Mandzukic.
And agree with Vlad our defense looks precariously thin with only three reliable CBs including Corluka. I really hope Knezevic keeps himself injury-free and move to a lesser Serie A club in the summer where he will see first team action.
Will also be looking out for Drpic in Karlsruhe, is he any good as a defender?
Are u sure you want to do a report on Turkish league. Stjepan Poljak, Kruno Lovrek, Safet Naderevic (Bosnian, but played in HNL), Ivesa, Seric and Luka Vucko all play in that league. Hjorve Cale's the only player worth selecting out there though. You might have your work cut out keeping track of every croatia player. I for one wouldn't complain if you didn't do a Turkey report. Get some sleep instead! Why don't you just do a round up of the Croatians in lesser leagues at the end of the season. I mean there's Tokic and Bazina in Austria; Carevic, Smoje, Bosnjak, Ljubojevic, Deranga & Mikulic in Belguim. These Croats get everywhere.. its hard to keep track of them all 🙂 Even Mato Nerteljak is apparently considered something of a legend out in the Far East. Though that guy's a dufess as nobody would look at him out there.
I don’t know if this sounds right, but am glad Leko has a broken face and hasn’t been dropped:)
Well second day of my computer not crashing. good news. Actually vlad i’m starting to agree with you now that i see HJORVE VEJIC in this squad. Besides the fact he’s been on mid season break and is only 1 year younger than Dario Simic, he also hasn’t had that good a season with Tomsk. Its obvious Vejic and Bilic are friends. As far as i can see it is easy to select Ilicevic, Kalinic, Mandzukic and Vejic. They are in the squad without doing a great deal. Ivan Juric and Hjorve Cale are good decisions, but he could have looked even harder in other areas as well. We all know about Rukavina. He could have even took Ilicevic’s position in the team. There is definitely a short fall of defenders, but i guess people like Mikulic and Tomas have to come back on the radar. We possibly also need to assess Vranjes to see if he can cover defensive positions. I don’t fancy him as a centre back, but he might be able to do a job at full back. By all accounts his performances at Bremen have not been bad this season. After that i’m scratching my head??? who else is there, beside Simic who is retired and Knezevic who i guess must be injured. Mario Cvitanovic plays a lot of football at Cottbus but is getting on now. Can’t even think who else there is.
The only reason kalinic and mandzukic were called is so their stock can rise, and teams might buy them. Rukavina is a better player and is showing it, when i look at our defence it is very thin starting to scare me down the line.
Denis,
You have to do better than just play 90 minutes in the French League to make ‘Croatians Around Europe’ in my opinion.
I forget that we have to keep a lookout for the Turkish League. Cale is now officially part of the CSR radar.
And Olic hit the hat trick after I had already posted. I’m sure he’ll make next week’s edition.
croatiafan,
Get a new computer!! You’re giving Denis an ulcer!!
Everyone,
Good job keeping a track of all these new players. Some I haven’t even hear of yet. Keep it up and we’ll post the squad for Romania shortly.
Leko is injured- he broke his face or something. When he returns, he’ll look like Juric…
hey luka, good name check.. i know nothing about this player. is great to see there are other players knocking at the door. Is Keric a player in our under 21 side. i worry about players like this doing well in countries like czech republic as they might try and steal him ie tomassic, strupar, vastic. hey it looks like my computer might be working today.
croatiafan u mentioned some of our strikers, what about andrej keric (age 22) who plays for slovan liberec in the Czech first league, 11 goals in 22 games, and denis i saw the article about nives and drpic on the field, very funny stuff
The only thing that can possibly said about Rukavina is that maybe Bilic thinks playing 90 mins in Under 21’s will be better for him than playing short time for Croatia or alternatively he is scared that Ladic might beat him for taking another striker off him lol!
Klasnic out with injuries or stinky form, either is good! His move to Hoffenheim looks to have flown out window too as they signed Sanogo instead. Hard work and plenty of goals is the only way Klasnic will get back in Croatia’s squad.
oh great is it really on then will robert Kovac join us. Cmon Robert you know it makes sense.
Slaven Bilic said that Krnajcar is willing to come back on the 8th agaisnt liverpool. So he will be ready to play for us he also said that he will go to arsenals trainning ground on friday to check out how Eduardo is doing. Also he talekd about how is said Robert Kovac is going to Dinamo and he didnt care if he played there atleast he will get playing time, But would be better if he played in higher leagues. Klasnic is left out becuase of injuries.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Ht3MktJW4
WOO THIS IS THE NEW CROATIAN TEAM. Wenger said he is happy that Eduardo will play for Croatia becuase that will be better for Arsenal and plus Niko Kranjcar will be fit against romania i think Bilic called him up becuase he knows what he is doing. TWO new faces Juric and Ivo Ilicevic
croatiafan:)
Looks like you just had an eruption of thoughts. Your comment reads as quickly as I imagine it was written 🙂
I'm disappointed that Bilic has left out Galinovic and Rukavina over Subasic and Mandzukic/Kalinic. I hate to say it but the Greek league rates slightly higher than the HNL and they are the only two Croatians left in the champions league.
I don't think Wenger is unhappy with Eduardo's selection. Quite the opposite, he needs games and Wenger mentioned the Romania game as one on his road to recovery. I expect to see him as a second half substitute after a first half of Olic & Petric duo.
Niko's out injured for a month with a groin injury, don't know why he was picked.
Well computer crashed but will give it another go! I just gathered some stats on Croatia strikers. Has Bilic got our striker situation right????
Klasnic (Nantes) 2 in 15 games
Olic (HSV) 15 in 26 league & Cup games
Petric (HSV) 10 in 19 league & Cup games
Lakic (Kaiserslautern) 9 in 15 games
Rukavina (Panathanaikos) 5 in 13 games
Budan (Palermo) 0 in 5 games
Bjelanovic (Vicenza) 7 in 21 games
Kalinic (Hajduk) 11 in 16 games
Mandzukic (Dinamo) 9 in 20 games
Balaban (Dinamo) 7 in 18 games
Bilic (Gijon) 6 in 21 games
Food for thought. The HNL players are league and UEFA Cup stats.
Computer might crash but will try to comment. Yes great news about Babic. Am glad to see him back in Germany and at Hertha. Dino Drpic to Karlsruhre is also interesting move. Karlsruhre Will have to keep a eye on his conduct lol. However its possibly a good thing for Drpic. He’ll either sink or swim at Karlsruhre and if he does well then maybe he can be looked at, but at the moment am glad he’s out of Croatia’s squad and glad Barbaric who could have left us has replaced him at Dinamo. Robert Kovac HAS to join us as well. Its the best thing for Croatia if he just kept up his fitness for the remainder of the season and played continuously. If he stays at a Dortmund reserve then he has to leave the squad too.
Yes Hjorve Cale deserves his call up. He’s been fantastic. This is how it should be. Any player like Cale that gets his head down and works hard should be rewarded. Same with Juric. Might be 33, be he’s earned it.
I’ve seen the squad now. Have no major issues with it. Vejic??? not sure why he’s in squad. Ilicevic again why??? He plays second division. If we are selecting second division players why Ilicevic and not Lakic. Kalinic prefered to Bilic or Rukavina again am not sure why?? Leko ommission is a bad move by Bilic. He’s had a poor season with Monaco, but no need for Bilic to hurt his confidence. Klasnic ommission is good though. Guy needs a kick up the butt. I heard today a skynews reporter trying to claim Wenger would be angry at us calling up Eduardo. That’s rubbish. He’s our player as much as Arsenals. I like Wenger but Eduardo would gain a lot in terms of confidence and well being by being amongst his friends in the national team on this trip. Wenger should see the positive points. Yes good performance by Modric. He should play ahead of Niko against Romania. Niko’s not fit at moment. Modric has no issue playing in 4-4-2. He just needs a settled position and he’ll be fine. Olic is in hot form. Well thought i’d make it a long one whilst my computer is letting me having a comment.
I'd agree with that Alex, Bolton will be out to get him. Hopefully, however, the introduction of Palacios will help free him up. And also if they focus too much on Modric it will be to the detriment of other aspects Bolton will need to cover.
Personally, I think that was one of the best performances I've ever seen him put in. Shame he didn't score in those first 3 minutes, he'd have earned a 10.
Good news about Babic, having Simunic & Babic, playing together week in and week out could only do good things for the national team. Look at the formidable Olic & Petric partnership that's forming.
Modric was man of the match. He was sublime at times. He recieved a 9 from most sites- usually 8 means exceptional performance. What’s even more unusual is that he got a 9 without scoring…I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen that. The only negative is that Bolton are now going to be putting more pressure on Luka than he’s felt all year. If he can perform well against Bolton as a CM in a straight 4-4-2, the issue of his size will be finally answered. He’s played well in the few matches he’s been played in a 4-4-2 (v Wigan(cup)/Pompey/Stoke), but to do it against possibly the most physical team in the EPL(right after a m.o.m performance) will go a long way to quiet skeptics (in fact it would be the final word).
Corluka was great( as usual)- but he looks completely lost anytime he gets within 15 yards of goal. He’s most definately a born defender…
And I’m really glad to hear about Babic. Hertha is a perfect fit. I predict he’ll hit the ground running due to being back on familiar territory- he’s been lucky to get back to a competitive club after the Betis fiasco…plus, the NT really needs a left-back.
Olic scored 3 goals overnight and Marko Babic signed with Hertha
Silviano B.
Wenger said yesterday that Arsenal will organize 2 more matches for Eduardo “and Eduardo will play in Bucharest for Croatia, then he will be ready.”
At least 2 more weeks.
Ante
What about the French league?
Both Pokrivac and Simic played the full 90 minutes in Monaco’s 1-0 win at home to Nice.
Cale looks to have made the Croatian squad for Romania as Asanovic had nothing but praise for the left back returning from Turkey.
Olic hat trick and Rakitic score in DFB Cup today…
Denis, reporting from Nives Drpić’ villa
Luka has just played a beautiful 90 mins of football against Stoke. Of late, I’d been worried by his performance, against Burnley and Man U, he was shockingly bad and completely anonymous.
That said, against Stoke, he was playing superbly and finally in the role that we know him to play; pulling the strings in central midfield in a free role, instead of just off the striker as some have been insisting he should play. If you get the chance, watch the highlights…
Corluka was solid as usual.
Eduardo is close to a first-team return, according to Arsène Wenger.
The Croatian striker suffered a broken leg and a dislocated ankle at Birmingham last February but is now back in action, making his comeback for the Reserves last month and completing 90 minutes for the second string at Stoke last Wednesday.
Eduardo looked sharp in both matches and told Arsenal.com last week that he was “ready” to step up to the senior squad. His manager has so far resisted the temptation to recall Eduardo but expects to select him soon.
“He needs one or two more games,” explained the Frenchman.
“We will maybe organise a game behind closed doors next week and he should also play for Croatia in an international friendly. After that, he should be ready.”