France
RCLENS/ Runje about to get bopped in the face
Vedran Runje was having the game of his life Wednesday as Lens took on Bordeaux. Lens quickly grabbed the lead in the first half and added another just before the whistle to enter halftime with a 2-0 lead. Runje made two superb saves in the first half to keep Bordeaux scoreless. It all went sour for Runje and company in the second half. Runje could not keep out Diarra’s header from a corner in the 67′. Moments later, Bordeaux’s Diarra kicked Runje in the face well after he had possession of the ball and was sent off.
Lens looked to be in control of a victory, however, Runje was subbed out in the 82′ due to an apparent lower back injury. Croatia’s current #1 was all over the place on the day and it appeared that the physicality of the game eventually got to him. Lens’ backup keeper could not get the job done as Bordeaux equalized in injury time with a Gouffran strike to force a 2-2 draw. Runje gets the ‘CSR Player of the Week’ award as a consolation for his efforts.
RUNJE SAVES (1:15, 1:35) GOAL (3:25) HIT IN THE FACE (3:50)
Dejan Lovren (above, left) played the entire match Wednesday as Lyon closed out 2010 with a 1-1 draw against Auxerre. Auxerre only held the ball for 30% of the match but managed to score seconds into the second half after Lovren left Auxerre’s Quercia wide open for a through-ball. Quercia was offside but the flag stayed down.
Lovren received a yellow card in the 55′ for a bad foul. He is now a regular in the Lyon defense, which can only mean good things in 2011 for Croatia. Lyon will enter the new year in third place in Ligue 1. They started the season slow but have moved back into top-table status, which means another Champions League spot.
LOVREN (3:25) GETS CAUGHT ON A TRAP THAT SHOULD HAVE WORKED
England
GETTY/Modrić in action at Villa Park
Luka Modrić started for Tottenham on Sunday as the Spurs traveled to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa. Modrić had a beautiful cross-field pass in the 23′ minute to Alan Hutton, who rolled the ball past two Villa defenders for a Rafael van der Vaart finish to make it 1-0. Jermain Defoe was sent off four minutes later for a ‘Robert Kovač flying elbow’. This took Modrić out of the game offensively as Tottenham had to convert to a defensive strategy, playing a man down.
REDKNAPP RULES OUT ‘MODRIĆ TO CHELSEA’
The Dutchman would double his pleasure in the 67′ with a well-placed shot in the bottom right corner to beat American Brad Friedel and give Tottenham a 2-1 win. Vedran Ćorluka came into the game in the 94′ to relieve Modrić after he appeared to cramp in his leg. Modrić was also given a yellow card in the process for time wasting while Ćorluka did not even get a chance to touch the ball in the minute he was on the pitch.
MODRIĆ CROSS-FIELD PASS TO SETUP GOAL
WILL KRANJČAR EVER LAUGH LIKE THIS AGAIN WHILE AT TOTTENHAM?
Niko Kranjčar was once again left on the bench as an unused sub for Tottenham in their 2-1 win over Aston Villa. With the January transfer window only five days away, will Niko be sold by the Spurs? He hasn’t played regularly the entire season. Something needs to change. Stipe Pletikosa did not dress.
ATF/Kalinić being eclipsed by the Stoke defense
Nikola Kalinić received a rare start Sunday as he played the full 90 minutes at home against Stoke City in a Boxing Day affair. In the 2-0 loss to Stoke, Kalinić managed three shots, none of which were directed towards goal. Kale only has two goals this season and has not been seeing the pitch regularly in the past month. Is Blackburn the right club for the 22 year-old Croatian?
Ivan Klasnić (above) played the last 10 minutes of Bolton’s 2-0 victory over West Brom on Sunday. Klasnić did not manage any shots on goal but was on the pitch for Johan Elmander’s insurance goal in the 86′ to make it 2-0. Bolton have been a surprise this season, currently sitting in sixth place in the Premiership table.
Belgium
ClubBrugge/Perišić (44) using his head for another goal
Ivan Perišić continued his fine form on Sunday; opening up the scoring in the 25′ in a 2-0 win over AA Gent. Perišić headed home a cross from the right wing to give Club Brugge an early lead. He has now scored four goals in his last four games. Perišić could be exactly what the Croatian senior side is looking for: someone who plays well in the air. Team up the young Croatian with Kaiserslautern’s Srđjan Lakić, who is also an aerial threat, and Bilić would bolster his offense tremendously. The question now is: When will Perišić get his first senior side call-up?
PERIŠIĆ FLYING IN FOR THE HEADER
~Ante Kvartuč reporting from rain soaked Southern California…training in progress for TEAM CSR’S next trip, Seattle/Vancouver for New Year’s. JP, here we come!
this is getting nuts……
I have been to bulldog and many of the other hot spots in ZG. Great time, gotten drunk, gotten laid….all good. Life is good in Cro when you are from the diaspora and have some money. The materialistic bitches in ZG and throughout Croatia are all about being seen in the hot spots. You use them for what you want, but them a few drinks and you go home a happy man. Just don't give them your home address.
I won't have enough time but I decided to come on real quick to sort a few things out. King Bronk, aka Mr. Wikipedia, instead of relying on the internet, sometimes it's actually fun to go to actual Croatia.
While Skropec is a drink, it's actually a nickname of a certain bar. Again, you haven't been, you won't go so maybe it is best just to leave it up to resorting to the internet to find out. Question, have you ever been to Vincek…Millenium…Bulldog Pub or does most of your research come from the internet? Can you name more than 3 kvartovi in Zagreb without the internet? Probably not.
Can somebody remind me when I said Zagreb outshines Dalmacija in tourism? That's right, I didn't. But Zagreb does have its hidden gems, keyword HIDDEN Mr. Internet. Look that up.
Like I said, I'll stick going to Croatia and finding things out myself instead of going to http://www.dalmacija.com.
Dalmacija radi, Zagreb se gradi
Moj Zagreb tak imam te rad
King Bronk… very, very witty! Ante B's gonna have to be a little more specific in terms of telling the world all about Zagreb's innumerable, yet very well hidden, attractions.
This just in Davor Suker is implicated in the Croatian Match Fixing Scandal. Well it makes sence why Markovic doesn't want to investigate any of this soccer corruption. The Dinamo forces that keep him in power would fall like a house of corrupt cards. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/98560/nova-afera-na-pomolu-i-davor-suker-povezan-s-kladionicarskom-mafijom
Well folks Dalmacija can sleep easy following the tourist scare that Zagreb gave it just before the holidays. Its unveiling of its "Secret Tourist Hot Spots" that was going to have every tourist fleeing the scenic coast line of Dalmacija to pound the asphalt of Zagreb caused a huge storm in European tourism. Let us examine Zagreb's Secrets Capri that was going to make it the Mecca of Croatian Tourism. First the new "Surf N Fries" on the "Trg" that was suppose to be a great hit with tourists and become the new craze around Europe has fizzled like Dinamo in the Europa League after it was discovered that the fires taste like rusty artillery shells. The idea was that tourists could buy some "Surf N Fries" while at the Trg, except there was no surf, to go with the fires, so tourists could do the next best thing and lay out a beach towel with the Dinamo Zagreb logo on it and stare at Ban Jelacic for the day. If the tourists pretend hard enough they could imagine themselves at the beach. Love those "dreamy" Surf N fries. Well we can't forget the "secret hot spot" in the Zagreb kvartovi like Vincek where they sell pastries that tourists can buy just about anywhere else in the world. http://www.vincek.com.hr/en/home/ You can get some cake to drown the terrible taste of the Surf N Fries. If you are still feeling sick after eating the cake which you probably would be considering all the crap you ate, you could work off the calories and pound the Zagreb asphalt and tour the posh street of Tkalcieva which has an impossible name to pronounce. If you can say the street name 10x fast the Zagreb tourist board will give any tourist a free T shirt with the word Skropec written on it. As it turns out this isn't a hot spot at all but a drink that folks buy there to wash down the dreadful cake at Vincek and the hideous Serf N fries after a long day of staring at Ban Jelacic at the Trg. I think its safe to say that Zagreb better leave the tourism to Dalmacija and stick to what they do best graft and corruption.
http://visitcroatia.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=else&action=print&thread=5301
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tkal%C4%8Di%C4%87eva_Street
have not seen the video, so cant make a judgement. But nice to see Kalinic score, so now it will be another three months before he scores again.
Perisic should have been on the NT a long time ago
Kalinic is such an idiot, he is actually getting a run of games and scored two goals today and gets sent off, almost breaking a WBA players' leg and now is suspended probably for three games. Way to throw away starts for a club already looking to bring in a striker in January
I think Perisic and Lakic should get a call up, and we should get Mandzo off the roster completely.
Lakic and Perisic have been hot for quite some time now, it doesn't look like these are just flukes. These guys can compete, and should get a call up so they can start getting some experience with the national team. We need that young new fire to help inspire the club a little. The sooner we get these youngsters in, and get some of our starci out the better. ALSO, it would be the first time the National team had any player wearing corn rows with a checkered jersey(sarcasm).
In all seriousness though, Mandzo needs to go, and I'd give Lakic a shot over Kalinic for now. It's time for some house cleaning/rearranging.