Germany
Mladen Petrić made sure that Ivica Olić’s presence would not be missed as Hamburg took on German giants, Bayern Munich, as the BundesLiga resumed after a lengthy winter break. Olić has been suspended for the first two BundesLiga matches of 2009.
Petrić played the full 90 minutes and scored a nice rebound header just before the halftime whistle blew. It was enough for a 1-0 Hamburg victory as the rest of the game was a grind for both teams. This is a fantastic start for Petrić and his 2009 campaign.
In other news around Germany, Ivan Rakitić returned to the starting lineup in Schalke’s 1-0 loss to Hannover. Ivan played the entire game and looks to be fit. This is fantastic news as Ivan can give the national squad a solid midfield option off the bench as well as raise his stock before the summer transfer window arrives and he is able to move to a much larger club like Juventus.
MARKO BABIĆ
Josip Šimunić also played his usual full 90 for Hertha Berlin in their 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. I’m happy to say that Josip was ‘yellow card free.’ Marko Babić also made his debut for Hertha as a 76′ substitute. No goals in his first game.
DFB Pokal (German Cup)
Ivica Olić decided to make the best of his situation as he won’t able to play a competitive match for another two weeks. The suspension is due to the ‘eye gouging incident’ he had with Hoffenheim’s Eduardo in a friendly a few weeks ago.
So all Olić did in his 3rd Round DFB Pokal match against 1860 Munich was score a hat trick in a 3-1 Hamburg victory. Mladen Petrić played 77 minutes before being subbed out.
Sure none of Olić’s goals were spectacular, but at least he’s been in ‘the right place at the right time’ for quite a few months now- and that’s more than we can say for Olić in the past three years.
Ivan Rakitić also joined in on the German Cup fun as he scored a goal and had an assist against FC Carl Zeiss Jena in a 4-1 Schalke victory. Rakitić scored on a funny free kick which seemed to freeze the goalie. Good to see him on the score sheet though.
Rakitić scores 6:10 into the clip.
Netherlands
Danijel Pranjić scored the lone goal of the game off a free kick in an important victory over Ajax. Any decent goalie would have stopped that ball but we have to give Pranjić credit nonetheless.
Pranjić most definitely will be sold to a big European club in the summer. I just hope he can stay healthy and not break his back in the mean time because he is currently carrying this Heerenveen side. With a team-leading 14 goals, Pranjić is almost scoring a goal a game every time he steps onto that field.
England
The week started off fantastic for Modrić & Co. at White Heart Lane. With a 3-1 win over Stoke City on Tuesday, the Spurs temporarily moved out of relegation danger. Modrić had the game of his life and was voted on the EPL ‘Squad of the Week’ by Goal.com. He did all this without even scoring a goal. Modrić ran the midfield beautifully and opened up the Stoke defense. Luka assisted on Tottenham’s third and final goal.
Vedran Ćorluka played his usual 90 with ease. He’s been on top of things defensively and looks to end the season strong alongside Modrić. Hopefully Tottenham can finish the season on the frontside of the table.
Later in the week, fortunes turned for Tottenham as things couldn’t have gone worse. The Spurs went down two goals early, Modrić was getting banged around pretty good by the Bolton defense and had to be subbed out at haftime and even Vedran Ćorluka couldn’t finish the entire match.
Although Modrić’s replacement, Darren Bent, scored two quick goals and tied up the game late; Bolton ultimately took full points with a 87′ goal.
Ćorluka surprisingly was subbed out in the 67′ for another defensive player. No injury was reported so he should be ready to go again this week.
Niko Kranjčar is still out for Portsmouth and his return is unknown. I would say he is another 2-3 weeks away. Niko is not even expected to play in the Romania friendly but I believe Bilić just wants to keep him close to the first team and see how he’s coming along with the injury.
Eduardo- soon! You can hold your breath or even count the days before you see him back in action. That’s how soon his return will be.
Italy
Ivan Jurić played two complete games for Genoa this week and seems to be in incredible form. Genoa drew against AC Milan at San Siro earlier in the week and beat Palermo 1-0 at home on Saturday. Jurić received a yellow card in both games. This Genoa side look like the real deal as they remain in the fourth spot in Serie A.
Seeing Jurić mend with the team in Bucharest should be a treat. I know many of you have not yet seen him play and question his age; but he has a lot to bring to the table.
Spain
Mate Bilić has lost his scoring touch for Sporting Gijon and has not looked good the past six games. In Bilić’s most recent game against Sevilla, he had a penalty kick blocked which was followed by a 63′ substitution.
It’s looking like his own club team is losing faith in him. At this point he wouldn’t cut it for Croatia. Good eye Bilić. (Slaven, that is.)
~Ante Kvartuč, reporting from the World Wide Web~
eh moj joze,
there is a blog archive.
Its on the right side under recent comments and the shirts and all that stuff…..does that help you?
It dosent take that long to load but theres just so many stories on the page and it would be nicer if it was easier to navigate and find what story you want without scrolling down the page for 10 minutes
Hearing Real Madrid want him is good but remeber at spurs he even said he didnt want to play for ramos and that ramos had no clue where to Modric he put Modric in a def postion :O. instead behind attackers
I’m in NY and I’ve never heard the term… But I will contradict some of you guys, Modric should move. He will develop more quickly if he is in a league that suits his style of play. The English game has a lot of fighting for position and that doesn’t suit his light frame. Spain and Italy would be much better, Today a report came out on SportskeNovosti claiming that he is on the top of Juande Ramos’s list of wanted players in Real, and also that Juve is still expressing a great interest in him.
“spare tire”= the auto tire-like ring of fat surrounding Niko’s waist…you’ve never heard the expression, Ante? Perhaps it’s purely an east coast/New York term…
what do you mean spare tire?
I agree with Matt, Modric should remain in the EPL. He’s been adapting when played in his proper position as he was at Stoke. If he were to leave this summer he will be followed by the “but he couldn’t cut it” comments throughout his career. Serie A is a pale shadow of what it was in the 90’s and Juve hasn’t bought a established world-class player in years. Nowadays it’s Spain and England. With that said, he’d be better suited to La Liga…
Corluka was subbed because he was having a lousy game. There is no way that Redknapp bought Chimbonda as a replacement, so relax. He was brought in as cover for a increasingly thin backline(he can play anywhere in the back). Hutton and King are out for sometime and Gunter really can’t cut it, so of course they needed to get someone.
Btw, check out the spare tire on Kranjcar(photo)…some things never change…
Hey Joze,
What kind of internet connection you running down there?
Did Australia get high-speed internet yet?
I love this Croatians around the world/europe bit….dont have time to post a proper comment.
If I could reccommend one thing…the site has so many stories being put up with lots of pics/videos which is all good but it takes time to load and the page is really long. It would be cool if you could put stories in different sections…e.g. home page with new stories and old stories in archives or something. I’m not sure how these sites work so it might not be possible but just a tip. But the site and stories are great so keep it up guys!
Eduardo Will make an appearnce of course becuase Arsenal need the help
I personally think modric should stay in the EPL, its only his first year and he already shows he can play, being in the EPL will only toughen him up and develop him into a better player, its just tottenham that need to sort out there team, find a formation and stick with it.
Yea I think Modric would fit much better in the Italian style of play, he could very well develop into a star i the Serie A.
Here is an update though: Wenger has just confirmed that Eduardo will be on the bench against the Spurs on Sunday, although it is not sure whether he will make an appearance.
Tottenham are a mess. They have 20 first team players in their club. Bentley, Campbell, Bale, Bent, Huddleston, Rocha, Gomes, Jenas, Tabarat, Giovanni, Zokora (thats a whole team) – who he doesn’t want. Best thing for Modric would be if he transfered to Juve. Corluka being subbed is no big deal. Panic is the explanation for that. Redknapp has no tactics. He just throws out any of his many many players out on the field in the hope they change a match. He’s well know in England as a guy who buys his way out of difficulties. Tottenham have a lorry load of players to get rid off in the summer. They aren’t bad players, but Spurs just got no idea what to do with them – all of them will excell elsewhere. I don’t think Corluka is one of the not wanted. However if he and Modric get a transfer its no bad thing. Spurs are just clueless.
Corluka i say is awsome at defending without him for Croatia we wouldnt have good def. But KRanjcar is back Bilic said that Kranjcar told him he will be back at the feb 8 vs liverpool.
I liked Redknapp early on, but hes lost all creditability to me since he blamed his OWN players for the losses. His terrible tactics were the reasons for their losses, not the players. Tottenham has more talent then most EPL clubs.
Corluka was subbed out for a newly bought player, Pascal Chimbonda. The whole situation looks bleak, why did tottenham have to go for another right back when they already have Corluka, Alan Hutton and even Gareth Bale. That probably means Harry does not like any of them for the long term. I watched the Bolton game, Corluka wasn’t great in defense and lost a bunch of balls in the attacking third. Does not look good…