The HNL is sending two teams to the group stages of the Europa League this season after HNK Rijeka and Dinamo Zagreb both advance from the playoff round.
Hajduk Split and RNK Split were both eliminated today after two very close matches to tough teams. Hajduk drew 0-0 to Ukraine’s Dnipro after falling 2-1 last week in the first leg while RNK lost 1-0 to Torino in Italy after playing to a scoreless draw in Split last week. Torino’s lone goal came from a 22nd minute penalty shot.
Dinamo and Rijeka had no troubles with their opponents. Dinamo took a 2-1 victory and won the tie with 5-2 on aggregate. Goals from Duje Čop and Domagoj Antolić secured their 2-1 today that solidified their group stage spot in the tournament.
Rijeka traveled to Moldova to take on Sheriff Tiraspol after beating them 1-0 at home. Rijeka scored three goals from Andrej Kramarić, Moises, and an own goal from Sheriff in today’s match to take the two-legged affair with an aggregate score of 4-0.
Tomorrow we will find out the fate of the Dinamo and Rijeka and where they will be facing in the next six matches in the group stage.
And in other news. Apparently Lovren has an interview with the BBC that’s suppose to air tomorrow.
Here’s a clip of it.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28984706
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this has been going on since the first world cup except one rule was changed…a player cannot play for 2 separate countries at the pro level…ie…Italy used players from the ’30 world cup from another country and 4 years later used them to help them win the ’34 world cup.
@ armada
that’s a stupid concept. someone should not be tied to the country they are born in if there is a justifiable reason for them to play somewhere else
the system is completely screwed up
they should of kept it simple – the country you select as a youth is the country you stick with
I don’t understand how it’s so easy for all those diaspora Turks to play for Turkey, or all these Brazilians being eligible to play for various countries around the world that they have zero relation to… But when we try to bring in a diaspora Hrvat, all these weird new rules come into play.
Sertić can’t play for Cro because he didn’t have Cro citizenship when he was capped for the French junior team, but…
Sammir CAN play for us even though he was capped for the Brazil junior team without Cro citizenship.
@Slavonac
I would, because all four of them were either pursued by more than one Footballing Association, or they themselves expressed interest in playing for another football country.
There was potential for Halilović to play for BiH, even though we had the advantage, but we still almost fucked that up by dragging it out and involving the media.
Drmić wanted to play for us, but we didn’t respond. Sertić wants to play for us, but was already capped in the French juniors without a Cro passport. The Hrgota case seems to look like us being too slow to react or simply not aggressive enough (although he did choose to play for the Swedish juniors).
Draws for the EL:
Group D
Salzburg(AUT)
Celtic(SCO)
Dinamo Zagreb(CRO)
Astra(ROU)
Group G
Sevilla (ESP)
Standard Liege (BEL)
Feyenoord (NED)
RIJEKA
Dinamo gifted with another easy group…. They really need to progress to the playoffs.
My beloved Rijeka with the tougher draw. Could steal some points from Standard (looking at their results from last year, the completely shit the bed in the EL against crap teams) and Feyernoord but obviously Sevilla will be an uphill battle….
Decent draws, all in all
@Peter
Are you sure you mean Hrgota?
Or did you mean to say Sertić?
Hrgota is born in BiH and has Cro citizenship. Not sure how he would be ineligible.
I wouldn’t say Halilovic is in the same category as the other 3 listed…he’s a Croatian citizen while the other 3 are not.
@IvicA
“Oh well.
Chalk up another loss by the HNS. So far in Suker’s tenure, they’re 1 for 4 in securing young talent who can play for more than one country (Halilovic, Drmic, Sertic, Hrgota).”
You can’t really count Hrgota as a loss, he was ineligible in the first place. I posted a link as to why he was in another topic thread.
Croatia did ask FIFA to grant him the necessary eligibility but they were denied.
I can actually see us winning all of our games in the group phase, but we then cross over with Group A and that means Spain, Serbia, France and Brazil. I see Brazil getting 4th in that group, so finishing first in our group would be ideal because a second or third place finish in the group likely means France or Serbia in the knockout round.
Looking forward to the hoops. Only thing this team is really missing is a true PG.
@ Svima
T-24 hours till we begin our journey to regain our rightful place as a world power in Košarku !
You can enjoy all the action on ESPN3 till we get into the money games when the other ESPN networks will begin to broadcast the games.
Solid coach, with good continuity of core players in their prime and young NBA lottery picks with super star potential.
NYC, EST:
6:30 am Saturday – Philippines
7:30 am Sunday – Argentina
6:30 am Monday – Senegal
Spremni
what’s going on with the tennis ? how we going ?
“I hope he’s not one of those typical Cro goalies who have an knack for saving goals they SHOULDN’T be able to save (ie. penalties) but at the same time, lets in goals that he SHOULD be able to save.”
Story of my life. That’s why I’m behind GPS Kelava on the list to be called up for second of third string goalkeeper.
German Kovac
Well said and so true.
Even if Kovacic scored 3 goals against Real Madrid I wouldn’t care because at the end of the day it’s club football. He needs to play well for Croatia. Pre World Cup 2014 Messi only played good for Barcelona and not Argentina now Luka Modric and our other players are becoming like that only good form for club not country.
@mb13
I’ve only been seeing the highlights from him, so I can’t really judge…but what about those two goals he allowed in Kiev?
The match report shows that he made many saves (which is good) but it looked like those two were partially his fault at least.
I hope he’s not one of those typical Cro goalies who have an knack for saving goals they SHOULDN’T be able to save (ie. penalties) but at the same time, lets in goals that he SHOULD be able to save.
Guys like Pletikosa and Subasic are great ‘on the line’ goalies, but are suspect when shots come at them from distance. Ladic kinda had the same strengths/weaknesses too. He robbed Germany on the line, but dumb crosses and floaters always seemed to get the best of him.
We’ll see how this kid progresses. Awesome to have a 6’7″ goalie prospect who’s actually quick/agile. Hopefully he avoids the ‘tulum’ and doesn’t get that Dalmatinac party gut like Pletikosa.
😉
Bjezigrad’s finest………http://www.index.hr/black/clanak/pijani-grdovic-izazvao-incident-na-poljudu/768128.aspx
Congrats to the two Cro clubs that made. Better sides in this tie. Jadan, mali i nemocan hajduk put up a great fight. Fans carried them, but at the end of the day they didn’t have the quality to make it.
As for the other side from Split……Good. I didn’t want them to advance.
@jt – I thought Kalinic was excellent today. Made 3 or 4 very good saves. For a man his size, he is quite nimble as one thing I do notice is how fast he is able to get up and recover when necessary. I don’t get a chance to watch much of Hajduk but from the little I’ve seen, I’ve been most impressed by him.
That being said, I might have only watched him play the best 180 mins of his life….
Oh well.
Chalk up another loss by the HNS. So far in Suker’s tenure, they’re 1 for 4 in securing young talent who can play for more than one country (Halilovic, Drmic, Sertic, Hrgota).
Well, 2 for 5 actually. We secured the high-in-demand services of Sammir.
🙂
@IvicA
“So, has Hrgota accepted the Sweden callup?”
He accepted the call up.
How was the play of Lovre Kalinić today?
Did not watch the game today but I did watch the first game against Dnipro, and in that game Lovre was simply unconscious!
So, has Hrgota accepted the Sweden callup?
Any comments from him since the Swedish FA called him up for the next round of qualifiers?
Granted it was vs a piss poor side, Hrgota got 3 today.
True…I think it is a sign of things to come.
^^
Playing awesome for Inter in Serie A I mean.
We know he can play awesome against Stjarnan. 🙂
Well hopefully the kid plays awesome for Croatia and Inter in the future.
But playing well against Stjarnan FC doesn’t prove anything.
Yes I agree with both your comments…he was very good against Iceland in one of the games and I do think shortly, within the next year or two, he will start to have a lot more impact with his club and then Croatia!
When we beat iceland 2-0 he was our best player. And he didnt even score.
He doesn’t need to score hat tricks in Serie A to deserve praise. as long as he stands out as the best player on the team this season at his age (which i think is 100% possible), then it is safe to say that he is going to be the next big name for Croatia.
Adame- he wasn’t brilliant at the WC but if anything, he showed a lot of promise by the last part of last season in Italy. He did setup a goal in the Cameroon match as he made some nice moves and then a great pass…I like him and do not see him “regressing”…he’s a great potential!
I wouldn’t take too much stock in Kovacic’s performance. This was Stjarnan FC of the Icelandic league for gosh sake. Stjarnan is not even good enough for Serie B.
This match was just a nice warm up. Let’s wait until Kovacic start scoring hat-tricks in Serie A, then we can heap praise upon him.
@ Anonymous lol
@Slavonac a few weeks back we had a huge ordeal when a couple of people said that the kid was regressing and his career is on the down slope. I have much faith in this kid and i think he might be the next big name of our Savez. Still early but we will see.
regressing?
He will likely play DM for Kovac now.
Where are all the people that said kovacic was regressing?
Great from the Legia Warschau fans. After a 6-1 they were kept out of the Champions League because one of their players appeared to be suspended.
http://static1.hln.be/static/photo/2014/4/8/13/20140828214224/media_xll_7050163.jpg
Good for him!
Finally, not just his first Inter goal, but his first Italian hat-trick! 😀
Just got his 3rd!
Kovacic made this third goal tonight, the 4-0!
Kovacic second goal was classy as f*ck
Looks like Dinamo and Rijeka will move onto the groups
one of Kovacic’s goals was pretty nice!
Duje Cop made it 1-0 for Dinamo against Petrolul.
IvicA your a fuken dreamer. Good for hajduk???
Stupid mentality , like hajduk are gonna do anything in the league.
Bunch of losers .
Kovacic just made the 2-0 for Inter against Stjarnan
2-0 Kovacic!!!
Kovacic just scored the 1-0 for Inter.
Hajduk out. Rijeka and Dinamo in.
This could be a blessing for Hajduk as they can focus on HNL only, and their roster won’t be showcased in Europa and gutted for chump change.
RNK being outplayed by Torino (who scored off a penalty). But things can change, especially with their goalkeeper keeping then in the game.
RNK Split has a solid keeper in Andrija Vuković.
If he wasn’t already 31, he probably would be our 3rd keeper on the NT.
Come on Hajduk.
Someone take a dive in the box.
90′ penalty, come on 😉
this is frustrating to watch and to hear called by the English (Hajj Duke)
Rijeka, Armada, Kantrida, Zamet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ajmo bili! one fucking goal momci! cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
TI ZNAJJJJJJJJJJJJJ DA RIJEKO VOLIM JA
TI ZNAJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ DA RIJEKO VOLIM JA
TI ZNAJ DA RIJEKO VOLIM JA ALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I VISE NIKOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Rijeka up 2-0 at the half… Sherriff had an early OG and Kramaric made it 2-0
Two straight trips to the EL Groups – pretty impressive in my book
Links for hajduk plz
It would be a shame if Rijeka didn’t make it. That team is doing a lot of good things.
Hajduk’s promising youth would benefit from the experience of playing in the Europa League. However, it would probably just lead to more interest from other clubs with Hajduk’s management trying to ‘fire sale’ the entire roster the first chance they get.
4:05 –> that’s a beautiful goal !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMGiPDregS0
hajduk will go through
Although I’m hoping for all four to go through, sadly, I believe it will be Dinamo only – and barely.
…and I correctly predicted last round that Hajduk would come back against Karagandy after being down 2-4. Reality hits hard tomorrow.