All Dinamo needed was a draw Wednesday at Maksimir in order to progress to the Champions League playoff round. Instead, they were defeated 2-0 by Danish champions Aalborg to end their Champions League season before it had even started. Anders Jacobsen got Aalborg on the board in the 36th minute when he slotted home a shot following a counter attack, although it looked as if he was a hair offside. However, the flag stayed down.
Dinamo kept possession the entire match and had multiple clean cut chances on goal but just could not finish. Late in the second half, Marko Pjaca had an open look on frame but hit wide. The goal surely would have put Dinamo into the next round. But, Jacobsen would secure the win for Aalborg in the 85th minute after Dinamo defense looked soft and he would strike into the top corner of the net for the 2-0 win.
Dinamo have now been placed in the Europa League playoff round as a seeded team. The draw takes place this Friday.
Well , i think by us not inpressing , ? O hell (GOV) !
what we do have is a bunch of mental midgets.
I’m pretty sure i can count on one hand the number of people that have said to me Croatia has great tennis and basketball players before mentioning soccer.
Speaking of hoops, I ran into Denver’s Jusuf Nurkic in Zagreb last week. My buddy started chanting “Denver sucks, go Heat” and he nearly kicked my buddy’s ass. Would have let it happen, but he seemed to be a nice guy and let it slide. And that is your CS.com exclusive for the week.
http://www.croatiaweek.com/%ef%bb%bfcroat-lands-nba-coaching-role/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qurn1LIowK0#t=51
Video on Dragan Bender
Yeah, the 96 and 98 tourneys announced our arrival to the sporting world. Finishing 3rd place in the WC for a small war-torn nation was like capturing the Holy Grail!
And The thing is I was hoping there was gonna be more sucesses like that….I’m waiting….(cricket sounds)…..and still waiting…..
No, you can’t….but that was well after the basketball team at the Barca Olympics and Goran…..what they did was well later, but more visible because soccer is bigger.
I don’t think you can discount Euro 96 and WC 98 putting us up on that sporting map.
@bobby……oh,there are plenty of dipshits in cro basketball world. Prostitue Visitor Kukoc, Lover Boy Radja, etc……the new kids coming up haven’t done anything stupid so far, except for Saric, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt his his drinking and driving.
I will always have respect for hoops and tennis. The hoops team and Ivanisevic is what out us on the sporting map.
@Ziva
Re: Future Point Guards for CRO…
Well a few years back, there was Toni Katić who looked really good for our juniors. But he completely stagnated since. He’s still 22, so maybe he’ll be a late bloomer. He had pretty average body size and athleticism for a regular person (let alone a professional ball player) so that probably prevented him from ever being regarded as a serious prospect.
But, there’s also Paolo Marinelli from Rijeka. He’s a big point guard and played okay for us in our recent U20 Euro Championships. Olimpija Ljubljana snagged him last year. Hopefully, they can develop him like they’ve done others.
If Mario, Dario, and the Dragon Bender meet their potential…all we really need is a capable role playing PG anyway. A Vladan Alanović type would do.
Croatian Football suffers from a “Commodities Curse.” Similar to developing economies blessed with natural resources but rife with corruption.
For us, that commodity happens to be our valuable youth prospects. And it draws Pirates such Mamic and others to Croatian football.
you are not a big club if you do not draw fans. here in the states, where soccer is small, we have high school soccer teams drawing more fans than any team in hrvatska. its time for the hierachy and mafia to step down. it is simply not working for future progression of croatian soccer. essentially a microcasm of
hrvatskas political elite. this elite class has never cared about “hrvatstvo.” we need to realize this. they are all children of jugoslavia. wake up.
‘
@Ziva – Noticed for awhile that you write/think about Croatian basketball much differently than Croatian soccer.
Very level-headed, informed, and positive with the basketball, unlike your well known negativity, gossip, nicknames, etc when it comes to the national soccer team and players.
Not being critical toward you about it – just curious about the different style of communicating your thoughts betweeen the two.
Bender is a product of former international Nikola Vujcic. Dude found him up in Hercegovina and got him to come to Split, where he really developed.
Going to Macabi will benefit the kid even more.
Regarding Tomic…….he is good “glue” guy and perfect for our national team. As you said, I am not sue he play consistently in the NBA. But he is smart player.
One thing the repka really lacks is a PG…..Ukic is quick, but can’t shoot. Late in games you can back off him and make him shoot or you go behind the pick and roll and make him shoot.
Honestly, Dragan Bender is the player I know the least about and I haven’t seen him play. Unlike Hezonja and Saric, the kid kind of recently blew up these past two years and is looking almost as big a prospect as Saric and Hezonja (assuming he continues to grow).
A year ago, I remember reading some US article about him being the next big-time Euro point-forward prospects, and I was like “Really? Ivan Bender?”. Then I realized that they were talking about his younger brother Dragan Bender.
Then, I see this kid lead our U18 team with Arapovic (another decent prospect) to bronze this past month. Mind you, Dragan Bender is a full year younger than everyone else and is killing it in almost every statistical category (averaging a double double) similar to how Saric impacted the junior tournaments.
Not sure what his position is going to be in the NBA, as he’s already almost 7 feet tall. His wingspan is average, so I’m not sure if I want him to continue growing and be forced to play as a center (a similar thing happened to Tomic who was supposed to be a point guard). But unlike Tomic, Bender can actually rebound and block shots.
Hopefully Hezonja, Saric, and Bender can become a BIG 2-3-4 lineup for us in the future (we can always find a 1 and a 5 who can be the role players for these three). That would be a very massive, yet very skilled lineup without having to give up fundamentals like rebounding or shotblocking.
I dont mean to rain on Dinamo’s parade, but I’d like to talk a little hoop as well.
@IvicA,
What do you know about Dragan Bender’s background? Dude reminds me a little of Toni Kukoc. However, he would need to work on his shot.
@ARMADA
Re: CRO Basketball…
I’ve been preaching for years, and it looks like it’s finally starting to take shape.
Bogdanovic and Rudez are NBA caliber players. Bogdanovic has a very solid game and Rudez will be a nice stretch 4 role player. Tomic is another one that is excellent by European and International standards, but his game doesn’t translate well for the NBA (and will probably stay in Spain as a result). Still, a very useful player for any team on the international stage.
How far we go in future tournaments will depend on mega prospects Saric and Hezonja. Both are NBA lotto picks who, if they pan out, should put us as perennial quarterfinalists in every Olympic and World Championship tournament for as long as their careers last (with a few runs into the latter stages on good years).
In terms of other NBA potentials, Dragan Bender and Marko Arapovic have been pretty impressive for our U18 squad and can swing in either direction as NBA caliber or Euroleague caliber prospects. Either way it’s a very good sign.
But what’s just as good is that we have a lot of prospects that can round out our team in terms of depth. Players like Dominik Mavra, Paolo Marinelli, Lovro Mazalin, & Tomislav Gabric are all young players who (although are unlikely to be NBA players) have been very successful in the European tournaments for their age groups and look to have bright careers in Europe.
it because Simunic in the role.
and we know that DInamo was suck :
i would not think to pick up some player from Dinamo into the National team unless they have go to transfer for europa team! and played well right there!
Actually i was surprised as it looked like quite a few fans. (maybe the angle of the camera)
Colin or Zach do you know the actual attendance figure.
Dinamo splurged on transfers, I splurge all over women’s faces. Peter North wins.
@ Armada,
Just saw that. Thank you.
correction decki….
Dinamo are now in the Europa Liga playoff and are a seeded team…. Europski Dinamo should just let Europe go this year and concentrate on ‘la decima’ and fending off Rijeka
This is just more proof the HNL is garbage thanks to what Mamic has done to it. But, Puppet Suker wont do anything.
Also, it is more reason for a reduced number of teams in the league. It needs to be at 4 or 6 teams.
shame… shame that Dinamo can’t progress at least to the Europa Liga group stages and its another shame that Hajduk lost their tie to Borat All Star team from Kazakhstan….
Sorta funny that Komunisticki Split and my beloved ‘Talijanski’ Rijeka are the teams still left in Europe…
fuck mamic i dinamo.
That was awesome! Thank you Mamic for another incredible victory!!!!!
Wached the end of the Dinamo game – they lose 0-2 and are out of the Champions league (1-2 agg.).
Sad scene – about 10 shirtless Aalborg fans celebrating, about 5 Dinamo fans making their way to the exits, some shitty music playing, players shaking hands with the refs, Mamic with a quick interview and that’s it.
This is 2014 – such a sad sight in the capital of Croatia. It’s a shame somebody can’t fix it.
And to think they splurged on all these transfers to bolster the side. Well, it’s time for a massive sell-off.
Oh europski dinamo. Unfortunately, people have expectations still for europski dinamo. If you still have expectations for jadan, mali i nemican hajduk, well… I feel sorry for you.
That was bad.
Friends,
the question must be asked:
bigger disappointment?: jadan, mali i nemocan hajduk or europski dinamo.
Hoops sure has some kids coming up…..U-18s got third last weekend
Big trouble for europski dinamo
Well, that will do it
Jesus…….
Speaking of Dragan Bender… was listening to The Herd with Colin Cowherd the other day and he was talking to some NBA insider/former GM, I forget now. But Colin asked this guy who was the one Euro player everyone should keep there eyes on in the next few years and they mentioned Bender.
The nogomet NT has been churning out some talent, but the kosarka boys are building a deep fucking team… in a few years it’ll be Hezonja, Tomic, Bender, Bogdanovic, Saric and Rudez maybe still. In terms of European standards, I think if guys like Hezonja, Saric and Bender continue to get better, it’ll get Croatia back in the top 6-7 in Europe.
Question is…. who will make a deep run in a big tournament first, our kosarka NT or the nogomet NT?
http://www.si.com/nba/2014/08/06/fiba-croatia-dragan-bender-maccabi-tel-aviv-nba
seems there are some homosex sniffers here.
Zach Gilfix – thanks for the feed update
The barca game is on 3 times today I think- and athleti is around 7pm I think – I’m working during the ges so I just recorded them
@Slavonac from Canada
If it’s not a form of jock sniffing then it’s an obsession of sorts.
The point has been made on these items at nausea, no need to continually beat a dead horse.
thats a fair question/comment…
is constantly talking about and obsessing with a players cheeseburger addiction – players STD’s – homosexual-ism in the Repka….are these forms of “Jock Sniffing”?
HRT: http://sportska-tv.in/flash/3.html
anyone have a stream?
@Adame……I was referring to the expected attendance for the Dinamo game.
@JB………..of course not. The only thing Corluka uses message boards for is trying to find out how to home medicate some of his scabs/ailments in the “man” region.
Is talking about players outside of the game a form of jock sniffing? Who cares what they do in their personal lives. Do you think Corluka is talking about any of us on a message board?
Blaz…
What time is that game?
Ziva,
What does anything of your first post have to do with soccer? I feel like you do a good job ruining this site.
I heard that someone on the repka is a cannibal.
If anyone has bein sports, barca is playing genoa today- should see halilovic and raki again- they are also showing the athleti game later also
Good read here……
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2152534-how-uefa-prize-money-is-destroying-smaller-national-leagues
I know I have said this before, but I don’t like how the Champions League was watered to allow the champs from the smaller leagues in. I know what Platini was thinking and trying to give more clubs from the smaller countries a chance, but it has ruined my tv experience during the group phase. I don’t care to watch the Romanian league champs or the Croatian league champs against the Likes of Barca, Real, Bayern, Etc…….I rather watch them take on the bigger clubs from the bigger leagues. It is a better product on tv unless you do get a side that can pull the upset.
all are sexual predators.
i wouldn’t go that far. You are assuming all our sexual predators.
Ah so our team imploded because some perverts are on the team. I fully understand why some on the squad would feel uncomfortable. Contrary to what some might believe I have known a few gay men and women and yes they do get turned on in locker room situations. In the past you had to keep it to yourself or risk a broken nose. Don’t believe this PC garbage. Listen if you had some attractive women around you half naked you gonna tell me you won’t look and feel the rhythm? The same is true of gays. How do I know well they have told me. Sramota!
Homosex Rakitic?
Ziva- hahaha…so now our team has “fudge packers”?
no, there was more, from what I heard.
I won’t discuss any further on the site as I can see some people are uncomfortable. If you wish to know more, please reach out to me on my twitter handle (@ziva_istina). Full warning: I’ve yet to fully embrace twitter, but will make an effort to engage.
What are these tendencies? Having long hair? Styling your hair? Swimming in the buff? do these equal being homosexual?
Oh, I am relaxed. Having some guys on the roster with homosexual tendencies is part of the modern world. While its not the “za dom….spremni” lifestyle that I advocate for and consult about, I wouldn’t kick someone off the squad for participating in homosexual activity.
Like what Ziva? Some guys are uncomfortable showering in an open shower environment like lots of gyms have and if you have ever played an organized sport then you would know that there is nothing gay about it. Unless you have actual actions or actual facts about actual players, I suggest that you dont comment on things like that. Youre entertaining and you like to stir the pot but people are dumb if they bite on your “ive heard” or “there are rumors” comments that are meant to do nothing more than stir the pot. Put down the tabloids and relax a bit.
@Slavonac……..yep. I heard there was some shit going on where a few players felt very uncomfortable around other players.
@majstore…….well done. When in doubt, the public should always revert to this line of thinking. Would that same person stop me while I am eating or walking around for an autograph or photo? If more people followed this line of thinking, the planet would be in better shape.
Ziva- so you’re gonna openly say that some of the NT players had homosexual experiences but you won’t name them?
is this what you’re saying?
Well I know it couldn’t have been Srna. He is a Mujo. No way Bilic or Igor would have tolerated this.
who says I am making anything up. Much of what I post has some truth to it.
Kranjcar is overweight……….
Corluka has had some bad choices in women, so bad that his old man had to get involved to clean up a mess…….
The people of Zadar do have a reputation…….
So, there is some gossip about some members of the repka and what they did behind close doors (no names please)
I once ran into Warren Sapp while eating at La Sandwicherie in SoBe during WMC. Didn’t acknowledge him or bug him though. You would be proud.
Easy there, UDBa Istina.
It’s not nice making up rumours and hoping that they’ll stick. You should know better.
nobody had homosexual encounters….he is joking!
@Ziva
These homosex accusations are most disturbing. Please shed some more light on these crimes. I remember when we were a good hard working people who believed in family and tradition. We taught our children our language and that the only option is the union of man with women. What have we become?
@faux cro……good find. If I could, I would organize an autograph signing at a big croatian event in the US or Canada and invite some of the more popular croatian athletes of all time for the signing. Then, with all the jock sniffers in line, I would cancel the event just to see how adults would begin to cry about not getting pen to paper. I would let kids under the age of 16 get an autograph, but not the adults.
As for today’s Dinamo game………..will there be more people in Maksimir today or more cases of STDs attributed in the last year to Corluka?
Will there be more people in Maksimir today or the number of BigMacs consumed in the last three months by Mount Kranjcar?
Will there be more people in Maksimir today or the number of people who fled Bjezigrad back in the day?
Will there be more people in Maksimir today or the number of homosexual encounters that took place with our repka in Brazil?
Let’s go Dinamo along with the other teams tomorrow. It would be nice to see a bunch of Croatian teams playing.
http://www.thesportbible.com/articles/warren-sapp-reacts-like-a-child-after-wayne-rooney-signs-his-football
Jocksniffing?