With Hajduk hopes of winning a Prva Liga title now in the dumps; a Croatian Cup win over hated rivals Dinamo Zagreb would be a nice consolation prize to end the season. Apparently Hajduk felt like letting this opportunity slip from their grasp as well.
TORCIDA VS. BBB
The first leg of the Croatian Cup final was played at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb in front of 20,000 raging Dinamo fans. Torcida made the trip but had nothing to celebrate as Dinamo clobbered Hajduk 3-0. Mario Mandžukić started the scoring in the 13′ as he chipped Danijel Subašić following a nice run to barely beat an offside call.
Shortly after, Hajduk completely fell apart giving Dinamo a penalty kick with an unnecessary shirt pull. Jurica Buljat was then given a straight red card in the 34th minute for swinging his arm back and popping Josip Tadić in the face. It only took Hajduk 11 more minutes to earn a second ejected player as Siniša Linić received a straight red for bringing down Mandžukić from the back. From what I heard in reports, it should have only been a yellow. It was a huge blow for Hajduk as halftime was only seconds away.
Mandžukić secured a late double and a 3-0 Dinamo win with a nice header from eight yards out to put the icing on the cake. Hajduk has completely gone on ’tilt’ since the second round of games concluded in the Prva Liga. So what happened?
It finally looked to be a promising and exciting finish to the Prva Liga this season; and that’s something we haven’t grown accustomed to in the last couple years. Hajduk has completely tanked and even a return to the Poljud for the return leg on May 28th looks too much for the ‘Bili’ to overcome.
My take: Hajduk needs to keep its young talent this summer, regroup for next year and ultimately become the club they need to be once again. Because this is simply an embarrassing display right now from them.
@Ante BBB
Just when you think the HNL ship couldn't sink any lower….
they expand the shit league from 12 to 16 teams…
This has been confirmed by the HNL..
How will Kalinic be rated next year when he scores 40 league goals against teams ranked 1000?
Well, this just means more work for me and Ante come next season. Ante, we will need you an extra hour on Sundays to write about Dinamo 6 Trogir 0
i think Mandza does go we should sign Ivan Klasnic. Nantes are going down and he’ll never play for Croatia again if he is the second division next season. I think moving to us is best for everyone. We need a player that will score in HNL and Europe and i don’t think people like Zec or Vrucina will do that. We are also a creative team and Klasnic needs players like this around him.
I read that the two possible players to leave us are only Mandzukic for £4m plus and Shaktar want Calello for £5 which i don’t think we should take but i can see our board accepting that.
I completely agree with Ante BBB. The league is absolutely horrible. No teams can ever hold onto any decent players for longer than 3 seasons. I basically see the Prva Liga as a ‘development league’ for the rest of Europe. Good players that can move out but unwatchable as a whole.
I agree 100% that extending to 16 is a bad idea as Dinamo and Hajduk have more easier games and will build up a bigger gap. On the whole the rest of the pack all take points off each other as really theres not much difference in Osijek-Zagreb-Zadar as they are all on the same level plus Zapresic can beat them now and then. Plus Rijeka and Belupo are only a bit better than the others and Rijeka are quite close to Hajduk. As everyone beats each other then its hard for anyone to get close to Dinamo who are now more financially secure than the rest of the division.
Having the division at 16 only ensures Dinamo have a bigger chance of winning the title. There will also be some team at the bottom like Seveste this year who can only manage about 10 points all season and who can’t even hold onto players like Vlad Petrovic and Nino Bule in their mid 30’s. I can’t see how this is a good thing.
I also am afraid that Hajduk are gonna start the season in peices as they need money now from selling Kalinic, Ibricic and Gabric. To be honest i think all three of those could do with sensible transfers anyway. There is quite a lot of free agents that can be picked up, but it will take 2 months to get fit. Hajduk have the basis of a decent team with Subasic, Buljat, Skoko, Andric, Vejic, Seric, Pandza, Ticinovic and Tomasov should all be staying with Hajduk next season, but have to add to it in the summer. I think Dinamo will be stronger next season. Robert Kovac and Callelo has solidified our team – Tomecak was a fluky lucky find as we would never have given him a go if Etto and Lovren weren’t injured. I personally don’t think Mandza should leave till perhaps Winter. I think maybe we could let some others go like if we get £1m for Vrdokaljak he should go as he’s nothing special and we should get Sokota, Balaban, Morales, Tomic and Hrgovic off the wage bill then maybe we can afford to bring in Jerko Leko, Ilicevic and Babic. And Krizanac in the winter 🙂 If Mandza goes then we need another striker as Sivonjic, Tadic and Slepickas not good enough for Europa Liga football. Personally i’m not keen on players like Vrucina and Zec. I think Dinamo can aim higher.
to bad ante, from what i here it is almost definitely being expanded.
Ivan,
Do you honestly believe that expanding an already terrible league from 12 to 16 is a good idea? I completely disagree. I think the league should actually shrink down to 10 or even 8 teams. The next champion will either be Dinamo, Hajduk, Rijeka or Osijek. Nobody else stands a chance. You are diluting an already crappy league by adding more teams.
Also, the fact that Liga 16 already existed and failed is enough for me to write it off. Liga 16 is an awful idea.
Shrink it to 10 or 8.
If Dinamo wins this Croatian Cup, it would be their thrid win in a row. Dinamo is also 3 points away from winning the prva liga 4 times in a row. Is it true that the prva liga is going to extend the number of the teams from 12 to 16? This could be a good idea to bring more competition to the league. I wish to see a champion next season that hasn’t won a prva liga title.
DINAMO ZAGREB!
As you said Tom a very poor display from Hajduk. They can’t seem to catch a break. That being said Dinamo performed well and showed why they are going to be champions again. Mandzukic was class and in my opinion deserves some time in the national squad. I don’t really see how you can judge Subasic on this game alone. He has been great for Hajduk this season and judging on the state of Stipe he might get a call up to the bench. He does still have a way to go but he is young and still developing.
Hajduk vs Dinamo,
Dinamo’s first goal was very nice. A lightening-quick counter attack following a Hajduk corner with a clinical finish from Mandzukic.
In fact, it was the second time within the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game that a Dinamo player had been played through, sent in alone on the goalkeeper. The Dinamo player sent his shot wide of the net in what was a very poor finish.
It seems Hajduk’s defence is suspect.
The penalty resulted from a play I have seen a thousand times while watching competitive soccer. Okay, the defender (Pandza) pulled on the attacker’s shirt as he appeared to get caught flatfooted.
The defender then completely embellished that fact and took a massive dive. Frankly, I think most referees would have let this go.
Buljat’s ejection was totally justified. It was a very obvious attempt to injure another player.
As for the second ejection, I also believe the straight red was unnecessarily harsh. Obviously, the game was effectively over once the second player was ejected.
I wasn’t expecting much from Hajduk in this game given their poor form as of late and the absence of their captain. Nevertheless, as a Hajduk fan, the result is still pretty disappointing.
Ironically, Hajduk came rather close to scoring a couple of times in the second half. I thought Ibricic and Kalinic did an admirable job under difficult circumstances. They never quit.
I don’t know if it’s been suggested or not but I simply don’t see Subasic as worthy of an invitation to join the national team. He has a long way to go.
Well, we’ll see what happens in the second leg. At this point, I think all any Hajduk fan can hope for is a respectable showing.
Tom