HNL Week 18: Lokomotiva win Mud Bowl 2014

The match between Dinamo and Rijkea was supposed to be one of the marquee matches of the season, but what came as a surprise to some, Dinamo dominated the match over the second-place team and came out as winners with a score of 3-0.

Rijeka has been playing some of their best football to date and were eager to challenge the Croatian champions in Zagreb, but failed to make a big impression on them other than a few chances early on in the game.

Andrej Kramarić was planning on making a triumphant return to his former clubs’ home, a club where he was driven out by Zdravko Mamić, but Kramarić was never given a big chance to shine.

Rijkea supporters created a home-match atmosphere for Rijeka, but it wasn’t enough for the team to make any worthy challenge for Dinamo

Arijen Ademi scored first for Dinamo in the 40th minute. He slipped through the defense and slid the ball past a helpless Ivan Vargić to open the scoring.

Angelo Henriquez doubled the lead 10 minutes later from a similar distance, leaving Vargić sitting on the pitch with little defensive help.

Ivan Močinić attempted to trap the ball, but his touch was too heavy which created the turnover for Domagoj Antolić to feed a through ball to Henriquez.

Duje Čop rounded out the third goal for Dinamo, leaving Rijeka with a heavy weight on their shoulders that they had to bear until the final whistle.

Kramarić had another chance to score a goal in the final minutes, but hit the easy shot well wide of the net. This marks three consecutive league matches with out a goal for the young striker.

Through the mid week, several clubs have offered top dollar for for Kramarić, but Rijeka has since turned them down. Most notably, England Premier League club, Leicester City, offered €10 million, which was Rijeka’s asking price. The offer was shot down and they will continue to shop around the striker.

If the €10 million offer was accepted, it would have made Kramarić’s transfer the fourth largest in the history of the HNL, only being ousted by Luka Modrić (€21 million to Tottenham), Eduardo da Silva (€13.5 million to Arsenal), Vedran Čorluka (€13 mill to Manchester City), and Mateo Kovačić (€11 million to Inter Milan).

National team coach, Niko Kovač reportedly told Kramarić that it is more important for him to go to a club he wants to play for rather than the highest paying club.

Hajduk Split faced their inter-city rivals this weekend in the Split Derby and came out with a deserved three points, winning 2-1.

Hajduk went ahead early in the match thanks to an own goal from Ivan Ibriks. Ibriks deflected a low cross from Zoran Nižić that took quite the fortunes bounce and lofted over goalkeeper Danijel Zagorac’s head. The goal was described as “puno puno sretan” by the commentator.

But that is where Hajduk took the lead and never looked back.

Their 1-0 lead quickly turned into a 2-0 lead thanks to a goal from Antonio Milić on 10 minutes later. Milić met the ball with his head off a corner kick to double the lead for the Bili.

It has been rumored this week that Milić will be on his way out of Hajduk this winter. Several German clubs have shown interest in him and will surely be joining them in the transfer window.

Despite the loss for Split, the loan goal scored by Ivan Jukić stole the spotlight in the match.

Jukić found himself at the right place at the right time at the top of the penalty box when a corner kick was deflected out to him. Jukić hit the ball on a one-touch volley and hammered a beautiful low shot into the lower left hand corner where no goalkeeper could reach it.

The final score of 2-1 as well deserved by Hajduk who are now 10 points behind Rijeka for second place.

In one of the more interesting matches this week, Zadar welcomed Lokomotiva to Stadion Stanovi, a place with a reputation of being not only dangerous, but difficult to play at. But this week, the stadium set the bar to a whole other level during Lokomotiva’s 5-2 victory.

The same stadium that is known for the tragic death of Hrvoje Čustić in April of 2008 is well known through out the league to have some of the most abysmal playing surfaces available.

Many players complain about injuries sustained on the pitch, not being able to control the ball, or just having a difficult time running, but Sunday’s game should be listed as an embarrassment to the club who can’t seem to maintain an acceptable field even at the lowest standards of the HNL.

The field was more mud than grass and made watching the game even more difficult than usual, unless you factor in the comedic value of the Mud Bowl 2014, then maybe it was pretty entertaining. But the field conditions took center stage during the match and affected nearly every aspect of play.

Players shoes would disappear into the ground while running down the field to chase a ball that was nearly impossible to see on a TV screen due to the thick coating of mud around it made the ball appear black.

Names and numbers were illegible on the backs of players’ jerseys because they were too covered to even tell the teams apart, even though Zadar wore their white home shirts and Lokomotiva wore their dark away shirts.

“Today the conditions for the game were almost impossible and because of that, I have to commend the team,” Lokomotiva coach Tomislav Ivković said. “Before the game, I told them that I want to see character, that in these conditions to show who they are and what can be expected of them. They showed and I have to congratulate them.”

Lokomotiva came out of as Mud Bowl 2014 champions thanks to goals from Herdi Prenga, two from Domagoj Pavačić, Jan Doležal, and a penalty from Jerko Leko.

The two clubs were briefly tied at 2-2, but it was the 25th minute and a goal from Doležal that became the eventual game winner and spirit crusher to Zadar.

Zadar have not won a match since mid-September, and coach Ćiro Blažević blames it on his teams “clear lack of talent”. Ćiro also says that the next few weeks for Zadar will be “torturous” if the do not receive the proper reinforcements to help them compete.

The only thing that stood in the way of NK Istra leaving Kranjčevićeva with a point this weekend was an own goal from Jure Obšivać in the 15th minute. Other than that, this match had stalemate written all over it.

The two teams played to a very physical match, accumulation seven yellow cards in the 90 minutes.

Istra coach, Igor Pamić says that his players have lost all confidence and have no one to blame their performance on except them selves. Pamić continued by stating he will be happy if his team finishes in eighth place this season.

Slaven Belupo and Osijek played to one of the more exciting matches of the week when the teams finished with a 3-2 Slaven victory.

The Pharmacists took a 3-0 thanks to two goals from Marko Mirić and one from Filip Ozobić, but Osijek finished the match strong with a late-game surge and scored two goals in the 85th and 88th minute.

Slaven were able to hang hang on while Osijek played with desperation for the tying goal, but it was too little too late and Slaven took all three points and sit comfortable in seventh place, tied on points with sixth-place RNK Split and only four points behind Zagreb.