England
Getty/ Ćorluka (L) congratulating Defoe for the last time?
Vedran Ćorluka may have played his last game for Tottenham on Sunday as the Spurs defeated Charlton Athletic 3-0 in the FA Cup 3rd Round. CSR’s North London contact and close friend to Spurs management has reported that Ćorluka will be sold to Liverpool FC in the next few weeks. Ćarli would be an excellent fit at Liverpool as the club looks to reconstruct a team that could only disappoint home fans in 2010. Niko Kranjčar will stay at Tottenham until summer.
The Ćorluka rumors are swirling.
Ćorluka hasn’t seen regular playing time at Tottenham since the opening weeks of the season in September. He received a rare start on Sunday in a cookie-cutter 3rd Round FA Cup match against Charlton Athletic. Ćarli played the full 90 minutes and helped Spurs post a shutout in a 3-0 win. Is Ćorluka Merseyside bound?
Getty/ Kranjčar (L) got plenty of PT this week
Niko Kranjčar was substituted into Tottenham’s match against Everton on Wednesday in the 59′ due to an injury sustained by Gareth Bale. Kranjčar couldn’t help the Spurs offense find another goal late in the second half and ultimately suffered a 2-1 defeat. Kranjčar received a 5.4 rating from SkySports.com as he ‘showed touches’. Tottenham missed a golden opportunity to distance themselves from fifth-placed Chelsea, as last year’s Premiership champions fell to Wolverhampton 1-0.
Kranjčar got the start on Sunday against Charlton Athletic in FA Cup action. Niko played well and received a 7.5 grade for his efforts in the 3-0 win. CSR’s ‘little birdy’ in London says that Kranjčar will remain with Tottenham as a backup for Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart. How does CSR Nation feel about this non-move for Kranjčar during the transfer window, if he stays?
AFP/ Modrić lighting up a rocket vs. Charlton
Luka Modrić received ‘Man of the Match’ honors against Charlton Athletic on Sunday as he helped Tottenham comfortably win 3-0 to progress to the next FA Cup round. Modrić’s form has been exquisite this entire season. He is swinging the ball over the entire field and has finally found enough courage to take shots without question. If Modrić keeps this form for Croatia in 2011 and 2-3 attacking players follow his lead, there is no doubt that the Vatreni will win the group and qualify directly for Euro 2012 in Poland/Ukraine.
PA/ Modrić having a tough time against Disco Stew
Modrić and Tottenham came out soft on Wednesday and paid for it in a 2-1 away loss to Everton. Modrić received a 6.1 grade from SkySports.com as he ‘played well’. This was Tottenham’s first loss since November 6th to Bolton. Spurs still remain in fourth place as Chelsea keep sinking further down the table. Tottenham face current Premiership leaders Manchester United this Sunday at White Hart Lane.
Stipe Pletikosa backed up both Gomes and Carlo Cudicini this week. If he didn’t start against Charlton, then he won’t see time between the posts until there’s a goalie injury at Tottenham.
WHEN WILL KLASNIĆ BE BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT?
Ivan Klasnić started against York City Saturday in a FA Cup 3rd Round match. Killer was subbed out at half (0 shots) for Kevin Davies who scored in the 83′. Johan Elmander added another for a 2-0 win at the Reebok. Klasnić hasn’t shown any of his magic in recent weeks, but maybe he’s just saving it for later in the season. Bolton currently own 7th spot in the Premiership table and are legitimate contenders for a Europa League spot.
Klasnić was not listed on the Bolton squad Wednesday as they drew Wigan 1-1. Manager Owen Coyle chose to go with only four subs.
Nikola Kalinić missed Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Liverpool and Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup win over current first place Championship side QPR due to a red card suspension. Kalinić can return next week vs. Chelsea.
France
Photo: RCLens; Vedran Runje doesn’t want to be the #2 at Lens
RC Lens manager László Bölöni had a good taste of life without Vedran Runje after getting smashed by PSG 5-1 in Coupe de France on Saturday. Bölöni started Tunisian international Hamdi Kasraoui between the pipes and the result speaks for itself. Runje has been one of the best players this season for Lens and should get the start on Saturday at home to St Etienne as League 1 resumes after a short winter break.
PHOTO: olweb.fr; Dejan Lovren
Lyon booked a place in the final 32 of the Coupe de France, squeaking out a 1-0 win at Caen on Saturday. Dejan Lovren started and played the full 90 minutes for Lyon in the win. The 21 year old Croatian international has started and played the full 90 for Claude Puel in nine of the last ten Lyon matches. Lovren is without a doubt the future of the Croatian defense.
Italy
PHOTO: worldfootball.net; Igor Budan, back to Palermo?
Cesena opened up 2011 with a valuable 2-1 away victory over Brescia in a battle of Serie A bottom feeders. Croatian international Igor Budan came on in the 66th minute for Erjon Bogdani with the score at 2-1. The 30 year old former Rijeka striker had a great opportunity to double the lead late in the game only to lose control of the rebound in the box and chipping the ball straight to the keeper.
Igor Budan(2:30) should have done better
Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that Budan(on loan to Cesena from Palermo) could return to the Rosanero as Chilean striker Mauricio Pinilla has been ruled out for two months. We will keep you posted as this story develops.
PHOTO: Livorno; Dario Knežević
Livorno and Dario Knežević opened up 2011 with a bang, registering a 2-0 win at Frosinone on Friday. Dario played the full 90 minutes in the shutout win, bumping Giuseppe Pillon’s squad into the promotion zone. Calcio Press is reporting that Dario might be on his way to Bundesliga B side Hertha Berlin. Dario will most likely continue to wait for a bigger and better club before he signs with another division 2 team.
Turkey
The Turkish Super Lig will resume on January 23rd.
Austria
The Austrian Bundesliga will resume on February 12th.
Ukraine
The UPL will resume on March 5th.
Next Matches:
Friday, 1/14
Dortmund at Bayer Leverkusen
Saturday, 1/15
Bolton at Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers at Chelsea, Lorient at Lyon, St Etienne at Lens, Bayern Munich at Wolfsburg, SC Freiburg at St Pauli, Hoffenheim at Bremen, Hamburg SV at Schalke 04, Livorno at Sassuolo, Hamilton at Rangers
Sunday, 1/16
Manchester United at Tottenham, Hercules at Sporting Gijon, AS Roma at Cesena, Cologne at Kaiserslautern
~Ante Kvartuč and Denis Svirčić reporting…
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
@Boris,
"time for a 'croatians around the MLS' segment on CSR?"
hmmm…
We will definately set up an interview this season. However, I'm not sure that we will feature Mikulic weekly on the site.
This Mikulic character wont make the Fire roster, or at least I would be surprised if he did. Going from NK Zagreb to the Chicago Fire is not a step up.
As for the mention of Skroce……typical college player. Good, but no chance in hell to play in the pros. Too slow. Only reason he was ever called up to the juniors is because of his old man. The kid was picked when Asanovic and Bilic coached the juniors. It was a token selection as a favor to the father.
Leonard Bisaku played with Columbus Crew for one season, HNL journeyman
Tonci Skroce was drafted by the Crew but never played for them. He was a good college player who even played 1-2 matches with the U19 or U21's in the mid-2000s
I remember Soldo was linked with the Red Bulls/Metrostars back about 4-5 years ago
Besides Ante Razov and now Mikulic, have there been any other Croat players in the MLS (or current ones)?
time for a 'croatians around the MLS' segment on CSR?
__________________________
Fire add Mikulic, officially ink Paladini
With the MLS Combine coming to a close on Tuesday and the MLS SuperDraft on the horizon, the Chicago Fire have made a couple of offseason acquisitions away from the college scope.
On Tuesday the Fire signed defender Josip Mikulic and officially announced the signing of midfielder Daniel Paladini.
Mikulic is a 24-year-old central defender from Croatian side NK Zagreb. He played in 48 games and 3,348 minutes for the past five seasons.
"Mikulic is an athletic player with good feet, a focus on defending and strong presence in the back," Fire technical director Frank Klopas said in a team statement. "He comes to the Fire from a professional environment and has a number of years experience in the Croatian First Division. He is focused on defending and committed to winning."
Mikulic is the second central defender to join Chicago after the team acquired Cory Gibbs in the second stage of the re-entry draft.
Paladini, 26, comes from the USSF Division 2 Professional League's Carolina RailHawks. He was named to the league's Best XI twice.
Next on the Fire's agenda is the MLS SuperDraft, which takes place on Thursday at the Baltimore Convention Center. The draft starts at 11 a.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2. The Fire have the ninth overall selection in the first round and also have three picks in the third round (45th, 49th and 51st overall).
I could care less about any of these rankings but on the side note HNL is terrible but so is the MLS…who in my opinion could be easily worse. At least some talent comes out of the HNL…what does MLS have? Who are people scouting over there to be the next great? I mean the HNL does not always fully bring up talent like Eduardo, Modric, Corluka, Kranjcar….ect but they were raised and molded into these great players and then only get better once they leave…something no MLS player has done really outside of Dempsey and to a short extent Donovan. The MLS is just poor for the size of the country….I dont expect Croatia to have or ever basically have a good strong league no resources…but we at least have some training methods to bring out great talents.
I agree, these rankings are ridiculous. Dinamo should be in the top 100, somewhere towards the end of the list. MLS actually might be better than the HNL. They should both be in the 50s somewhere.
more bogus rankings……
How HNL can even be in the top 50 is amazing considering none of its club teams can actually make it past the group phase in any competition.
Dinamoa as 57 in the world is a joke. What kind of criteria is used and is it a weighted system. You cant use the same formula for teams in the EPL, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A, etc as you do for the HNL.
Whatever…..just another worthless rating system that nonbody pays attention to.
IFFHS rankings out:
Dinamo ranked 57 in the world, nk kompleks 156.
HNL ranked no. 33 legue on the globe. MLS a distant 57.
Cmok
e Ante imenjaku sramotis mi ime pedercino jedna
e Ante imenjaku sramotis mi ime pedercino jedna
I highly doubt Corluka would be allowed to leave. Al Hutton has been shaky and is injury prone, so Harry would have to be crazy. Also I don't think it be a great morale wise because Corluka is a huge hit in the locker room according to many teammates. I am not in favor of the move, Kranjcar is the one that doesn't have a future in Tottenham. Corluka might, although Kyle Walker is a serious threat to start next year. He is 21 and is on loan to Aston Villa. He tore it up in QPR for half a seasn now already scored for Villa. He is a up and coming at right back for England.
Things that annoy me
1. People who have user names starting with Ziva
2. People who have the user name anonymous.
If Corluka goes to Liverpool, I think he'll be able to play midfield there (sarcasm, but kind of not), since they look horrendous.
Also, I hope the new owners of Liverpool will turn that club into a force in soccer like the Red Sox are for baseball here. Liverpool has the name, but man have they looked baaaaaaaad this season. It looks like it wasn't just Rafa, something needs to change there.
Kranjcar to stay? Seriously, figure it out Niko.
@ ziva istina
I hope you know you can be very annoying.
Club issues shirt, I can deal with that, but not the flipped collar.
Things that annoy me:
– flipped collars
– neckbeards
– thin beards (white rappers in Cro)
– white rappers
– faux hawks
– people who wear their baseball hats tilted or sideways
– people who wear baseball hats
– double breasted suits
Dear Mr. Budan,
Is that a pink or salmon colored shirt?
There honestly will always be a fine line between European and gay.
@Matt,
Yes, Rakitic did score last week and there were several Bundesliga friendly matches. Ante and I feel that friendly matches shouldn't make the 'Croatians Around Europe' cut. Bundesliga resumes this weekend.
Corluka to Liverpool rumors are heating up all over the net. We'll keep you posted.
Corluka is going nowhere, i dont know what your source is, but tottenham are not going to let him go, the just loaned out there reserve rightback so all they have is hutton and Corluka.
Rakitic scored this weekend for Shalke aswell.