Hajduk hope to kickstart their Europa League campaign today as they host Belgian’s RSC Anderlecht.
The match comes 16 years after Hajduk, featuring legends Milan Rapaić and Aljoša Asanović, used their home-field advantage to defeat the 30-time Belgian champions 2-1 in a Champions League tilt.
Both teams lost their Group G openers two weeks ago – Hajduk fell 3-1 to AEK in Athens while Anderlecht went down at home by the same 3-1 score to FC Zenit St. Petersburg.
With road games remaining in Belgium and Russia, Hajduk will almost assuredly need to secure the win if they hope to have any hope at all of advancing to the tournament’s round of 32.
“To get to the Europa League was a miracle for us. Now we are asking for another miracle. We want a new miracle. We are prepared and organised. Anderlecht has three variants of the game, we have studied them all and we know we will answer them. Of course, we respect the opponent, we appreciate it, but we have faith in ourselves. Anderlecht has a number of quality players and a rich European experience.”
~Hajduk Manager Stanko Poklepović
Stanko Poklepović was all smiles today at the press conference
Prva liga-leading Hajduk’s coming off a less-than-convincing 2-0 win over Varaždin. Goalkeeper Danijel Subašić was widely credited with preserving the full three points for the hosts. After two solid domestic league starts, Subašić appears to have rebounded from a shaky effort against AEK.
Anderlecht sits in second place in the 16-team Belgian First League with 21 points through nine league matches. However, the defending Belgian champions have been wildly inconsistent thus far this season, drawing three games against opponents who all currently sit in the bottom fourth of the table.
Anderlecht was eliminated from Champions League play last month after losing to Serbia’s FK Partizan on penalties.
“If we return with empty hands, we must win all of our remaining games. The match will not be easy tomorrow, the stadium will be packed full and our opponents will want to entertain them. Split has several talented players who can make the difference, but perhaps defensively, we can exploit possibilities for us. The way we play is less important than the result. A point is a good result, anything else is a bonus.”
~Anderlecht manager Herman van Holsbeeck
Anderlecht feature 25-year-old attacking midfielder Mbark Boussoufa and 17-year-old striker Romelu Lukaku. Boussoufa, a Moroccan international, scored 14 goals for Anderlecht last season en route to being named Belgium’s Footballer of the Year while Lukaku netted 15 times to finish as Belgium’s top scorer.
Preview
Predictions?
Thanks for the info
I was really hoping Sammir would score, better his chances for the national team. I feel such closeness and brotherly kinship when he scores. Proud to be of the same stock, the pubic hair on the head, the accent. He represents true Croatian patriotic feelings to me. Proud to be Croatian.HAHAHAHAHAHHHAAHHAAAA!!
Funny how all the Dinamovci had Hajduk losing giving up 3 goals.. id you really think Hajduk would give up 3 goals in front of Torcida?
Denis, Ante, Dennis and JP…
Thanks very much for the kind words… it's always nice to be appreciated. I'm glad you're enjoying the coverage:)
Dinamo win 2-1
Hajduk lose 0-3
Hajduk will lose, I'll say 3:1
Dinamo, optimistically a 1:1 draw, realistically a 2:0 loss. It's a tough away trip and while Dinamo tend to do well away from home, this might be too much, even though PAOK itself aren't too strong
i think a Dinamo preview actually isn't very neccessary. If the team is professionally preparing for the game that's all we care about. We'll check things after the results.
History won't help us. We need to take PAOK seriously. One good thing is it'll give us a chance to take a proper look at Dario Kresic.
When is someone going to finally blow Mamic's head clean off of his neck?
re: dinamo preview
i've been working a lot this week. at work today so not sure i'll have any chance to do a preview in time.
lets just sit back and enjoy both the games as its not often both dinamo and hajduk have got to this stage of competition at the same time.
i'm glad everyones back on football again after there deviation into politics 🙂
also thanks for looking at my blog. its not something i broadcast or consider to be more than a fun pass time, but its good someone looked at it.
I'm attempting to keep up with hnl1 reports but i'm even struggling with them these days.
nice report Tom!
@ Zach,
He has not yet created a post/preview on HRVSoccer.
Once again, the Hajduk supporters are better organized. 😉
Im sure dinamofan/olly would be more than happy to do a preview considering he has a dinamo/hnl blog. but whatever, no big deal
TOM, you are doing a hell of a job with Hajduk reporting, whether it is HNL or Europa League, great job.
Predictions: Hajduk 1 Anderlecht 1
Dinamo 2 PAOK 1
Ahhh almost forgot…
I got Dinamo 3 PAOK 1
and…
Hajduk 1 Anderlecht 2
Hajduk still a young team, even though Poljud will be rockin'!
@ Zach,
Tom from Winnipeg emailed us this entire story without us even asking for it. Remember guys, CSR is open to all for contribution. You can share whatever you'd like whether it be match reports, previews or just a few pics watching the games.
It just seems that the Hajduk fans care more. 🙂
Tom, fantastic job!!
Great job Tom as always!
CSR will be covering both games tomorrow.
I have: Dinamo 1-1 Hajduk 2-1
We are still accepting applications for: Dinamo reporter. Sorry but the Hajduk position has been filled.
my prediction is 1-1 in both matches
sammir and vukusic
reporting from Hajduksoccerreport.com
ahem, i think you missed a team