PHOTO: Reuters
Written by dinamofan:), CSR HNL Correspondent
Dinamo Zagreb will go into their final Europa Liga group match with Timişoara with a chance of progressing to the next stage after defeating Anderlecht 1-0 in Brussels. After receiving their three points back from UEFA’s Disciplinary Review Panel, Dinamo went into their game against Anderlecht with something to play for. With Ilija Sivonjić, Leandro Cufre and Igor Bišćan absent, Dinamo coach Krunoslav Jurčić kept faith with Luis Ibanez, whilst Miroslav Slepička was passed fit to lead the forward line with Mario Mandžukić. Robert Kovač was back in the defense, but key man Pedro Morales only made the subs bench after a short lay off.
Slepička Goal
In an even first half there was few opportunities to speak of for either team. Slepička made a nice run before hitting a shot past the post, whilst Ivan Tomečak was making some excellent moves from right midfield. Anderlecht themselves struggled to carve out openings as Robert Kovač and Dejan Lovren stood firm. In the second half Romel Lakuka had his first sight of goal for Anderlecht, but shot straight at Tomislav Butina. It was a sign for Dinamo to step up their game and on 57 minutes the goal came. Sammir found Tomečak in space, who supplied Czech striker Slepička to head past Silvio Proto. Anderlecht again struggled to make headway as Jurčić gambled throwing on Papadopoulos for Slepička. However, there was little cause for Dinamo to panic as the best chances continued to fall their way, first for Vrdoljak, before Badelj shot straight at Proto in the dying moments of the match.
This was a fantastic win for Dinamo, who have improved dramatically in defense from their earlier Euro displays. Kovač once again rolled back the years and looked fresh after his recent lay off from HNL1 matches. In attack, Mandžukić again struggled to find his best form, but the set up of the team looked more controlled with Slepička helping to give the team shape.
PHOTO: Reuters, Miroslav Slepička
PHOTO: Ronald Goršić / Cropix, The BBB were in full force
In recent weeks the Czech striker has showed signs of improvement earning special mentions during games against Šibenik and Karlovac. Slepička would need to improve on his six goal tally, but his overall scoring record with Dinamo is respectable having bagged six goals in nine games last season. In Slepička, Dinamo could have the player they need to see them gain victory in the Timişoara match, but are counting on Ajax to beat Anderlecht. Ajax are qualified after defeating Timişoara in Romania tonight.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Kalinić Scores against Chelsea in Carling Cup
Blackburn Rovers knocked Chelsea out of the Carling Cup today in a penalty shoot-out to set up a semi-final against Aston Villa. Nikola Kalinić gave Blackburn an early lead (9′) in a back and forth see-saw battle that ended in a 3-3 draw from a raucous 18,136 fans in attendance at Ewood Park. During the penalty shoot-out, Kalinić was selected to be a shooter for his side, but his shot was saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Henrique Hilario. However, Blackburn pulled through to stay alive in the competition.
Why can’t we make penalties??????? -Zach G.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
When Biscan first arrived in Liverpool i was impressed, but i think his downfall started when Houllier started believing he can play in different positions which he clearly can't. Yeah he played right wing against Newcastle and had a terrible match. He also played LEFT wing against Birmingham.
Still not sure what he's doing in central defence. I think he's 30 or 31 these days but he still must be better than Vrdoljak. Basically we need a defensive mid in the january transfer window if we're still in Europe – if we aren't then Callelo is good enough for HNL1. I'd still like to see Jerko Leko arrive. He's definitely within our finances. Unfortunately we don't have a young player of our own for that position. If we really wanted to be audacious we could attempt to buy Jajalo at the end of the season.
Yeah, come to think of it, I remember Biscan usually playing in the midfield for Liverpool. I even remembering him playing as a winger(wide right) in at least one match!!
I'm relying on good old Marko Pantelic to do the business against Ajax. I think since he started to get fitter Ajax is less all about Suarez. I'm confident about Ajax winning.
I also think we'll win mainly cos Timosoara are so so bad. They also had some red cards last match. I think for once its not too difficult a task and things are favouring us.
Tomecak's about 19 or 20 i think. He's in the under 21 side. He's been making rapid strides and hopefully has convinced Jurcic to stay in the team ahead of Sammir, though Sammir play a beautiful pass to him. But he only does that type of thing once in a while when someone prods him and wakes him out his semi conscious state.
Butina, Etto, Lovren, Kovac, Cufre; Tomecak, Vrdoljak, Badelj, Morales; Slepi and Mandzo should be the line up..
Unless Biscan comes back and feels like rolling back the years and taking Vrdoljak's place to play like he did for Liverpool V Depor and Juve – er well maybe not.
Anderlect really are awful- just a bunch of big bruisers- they'd do well playing rugby or American football, though. In the few matches Ive caught of Dinamo recently, the player who catches my eye is Tomecak. Yes, he's raw, but there are glimpses of real quality and energy. How old is he?
As for Ajax, they generally don't do draws- they'll either win or lose. Looking at Anderlecht, Ajax would have to have a really off night to lose. I'd be more concerned about Dinamo finishing off Timisoara- they always seem to hit a wall at this stage.
Also regards Anderlecht – lets face it nearly all of us could have made the saves Butina made weds evening. They were just hit straight at him – its just not a good team. I actually think Perisic is playing half his potential at moment in Belgian league from the games i seen him play. The Belgian league as a whole just is not that great and Brugge and Perisic often don't need to be at their best to win. Standard are a decent side but are half the team without Jovanovic who is off in the winter.
If you compare it to the defence that featured Biscan, Carlos, Barbaric and Glavina though its better. i think it is anyway.. yes 100% agree – i don't think the debate is whether we are good team or not. This side has a lot of flaws but they have a chance and a good chance of going as far as any Croatian side in recent year so its positive news.
'I disagree with the above about Dinamo's defense. Still plenty of holes in that D. I watched the game and if not for poor finishing, Anderlecht should have put in 2 or 3 goals. Plenty of chances where the belgian squad, they just happend to shoot it straight at Butina.'
I agree with Ziva Istina. I watched the game, and dinamo had holes in their defense. Anderlecht is rubbish.
At the end of the day, dinamo was victorious and thats all that matters. They have a great chance to advance.
yeah kinda knew that when i wrote it, but eduardo and carli didn't even gets past first match against auxerre which is prob even worse so i can still use them :).
dinamofan – Corluka and Eduardo were already gone to EPL during the 07/08 UEFA Cup campaign, so you can't use them.
Dinamo also went down to 10-men at the end of the 1st half due to Schlidenfeld's red card 2:1. Below link shows you the lineups and you can see Drpic and Schlidenfeld were heading our back 4.
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/history/season=2008/round=15119/match=301649/report=lu.html
I think we deserved to lose against Ajax cos they are simply better than us. They are not as good as Ajax should be, they are better than us. Anderlecht – i'm just not impressed i'm afraid. There is no guy in that team who is gonna become a player. Its such a mediocre side. I believe Ajax should beat them. We have to do a job on Timosoara.
Don't get me wrong i still believe Dinamo has a lot of improvements to make. Mandzukic for example is totally without form and needs to go away and recharge the batteries. Sammir and Vrdoljak are also decidedly mediocre. Lovren, Tomecak, Ibanez, Sivonjic, Badelj and Slepicka are making progress but are still not at the top of their game. I think were a good team, but not a solid team. Any strong side will beat us easy, but to reach knock out stage is an achievement cos Eduardo, Modric's and Corluka's team couldn't even do this and they lost to Brann Bergen????.
Anderlecht were the better squad last night, not by much, but they were the better squad, so I am not sure how goodf of a performance it really was.
All that matter sis that they got the win and this kind of mkaes up for previous matches where dinamo lost but did not deserve to lose. Last night they deserved to lose, but won.
You have to look at our team in a certain context. We are trying to build up our young players. Lovren, Badelj and Tomecak are allowed to make mistakes. Its part of their development. They are not the complete players, but part of Lovren's progress is to be brave and face up to any errors. Yesterday i think him and Kovac did well. i watched the game too and i thought Anderlecht were rubbish. They weren't good in the first game either. Anderlecht should have got zero points off Dinamo. Yeah they had chances but so did we.. Sometimes they had the ball but they had no quality which is exactly what Sokota and Perisic was telling us before the game.
Ibanez is also a young guy progressing. Not exactly sure he is a left back.. more and left midfielder, so its natural he'll make mistakes, but if you remember early in the season our defence was a lot worse than this. Basically if this side can get us over the finish line then it would have done its job and Jurcic particularly would have done an outstanding job.
For some weeks now we've known Slepicka and Mandzukic is our best strikeforce. With Slepicka at least he's not always chasing his first touch like Papadopoulos is. Papa can never seem to bring the ball into himself – the ball is always getting away from him. Slepicka is a lot better. He basically has a short task. Help us win next game in league and next Euro game and then his place in the team is more secure. Mamic has already said he's staying for rest of season and i'm satisfied with him in the context of what we are.
Our main problem is in centre of the park. Every guy in the defence is decent, Tomecak is excellant on right, Morales is good on left, Badelj probes in centre. Its really with Vrdoljak where we struggle to control the game, but hopefully we get qualified and fix that issue in the transfer window. Maybe still being in Europa Liga will give us more chance to get a better quality defensive mid.
At the end of the day this was a Dinamo missing our best player Morales, our best left back Cufre and with a strike force, both who come back from injuries and were 60% fit so in that context this was a good performance.
Are there any Cro NT players that can make a PK?
Dinamo's last sell out for a European match was vs Werder Bremen I believe in 2007? Failing that, Arsenal in 2006
They haven't had any really "big names" since, other than Ajax and possibly Shakhtar.
Maksimir would not have sold out for this game. Dinamo has trouble selling out bigger name opponents.
I disagree with the above about Dinamo's defense. Still plenty of holes in that D. I watched the game and if not for poor finishing, Anderlecht should have put in 2 or 3 goals. Plenty of chances where the belgian squad, they just happend to shoot it straight at Butina.
Overall, Dinamo played decent. But, not good enough to compete with decent european squads.
We can't advance with Anderlecht tying, they need to lose.
Anderlecht can still take first spot, with a win, so Ajax will be playing for something.
Timisoara will be without a few players, as 2 of them picked up straight reds. Eder Bonfim and Pantilimon at the least. They had 3 additional players pickup yellows, but did not have any previous yellows.
Just sucks that this match is behind closed doors…..Maksimir could have sold out knowing there was a chance of European play.
Now all we need is to beat Temisvara at home and Ajax to pounce on Anderlecht!
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