Results for Dec. 7 – 9, 2012
NK OSIJEK vs. GNK DINAMO ZAGREB (postponed)
Snow kept the players of Dinamo and Osijek at home this weekend, as the match has been postponed to February 10.
The teams were scheduled to meet on Sunday in the Garden City, but a sudden and heavy snow storm made travel to the city and to the stadium too difficult.
“We talked to people from the league and colleagues from Osijek, and concluded that there is no point forcing the match,” Dinamo sporting director Zoran Mamić said. “It would have been virtually impossible to even travel to the town, and the same is true of the hosts. Since they announced that the storm will not calm down all weekend, then the cancellation of the match is the most logical decision.”
Over 15 inches fell of snow fell on the city on Saturday, and more was expected through the weekend.
Osijek officials were wiling to attempt to clear the field and play the game, but league and Dinamo officials agreed that not only would it be too dangerous and difficult to travel, it would be dangerous and difficult for the fans to travel to the stadium.
“Due to the large amounts of snow the arrival of Dinamo and officials at matches will be hindered. When playing a match in these conditions, there is the possibility of injury to players and fans will be unable to attend the game,” league official Josip Brezni said.
This match was scheduled to be the last match before the league entered its annual winter break, which extends through the latter half of December and ends in February.
Most recently, Dinamo played a match in treacherous snowy conditions when they hosted Dynamo Kiev at Maksimir stadium in the Champions League. The game was postponed after nine minutes of play so ground crews could shovel the lines so they would be visible to players.
HNK HAJDUK SPLIT 1 – 0 NK INTER ZAPREŠIĆ
Hajduk played a hard-fought match against a stubborn Inter on Saturday at Poljud, and walked away with all three points.
This was Hajduk’s first victory over Inter since August of 2010, and first victory over them at Poljud since March of 2008.
The match was played under rainy conditions and left the field in a muddy and slippery state, which made for exciting conditions for soccer.
The first half of the match consisted of little else other than Hajduk scoring chances. Shot after shot was sent the way of the goal, but Krševan Santini once again had a strong game and made the necessary saves.
Antonio Milić struck gold for the home side in the 31st minute when he was finally able to beat Santini.
Milić received the the ball on top of the box and hammered a low shot that took the slightest of deflections, but made the biggest of differences. Santini had no chance after committing to his right when the ball was deflected and went to his left.
Inter relied heavily on long passes and counter attacks to try and even the score. Several near-goals kept the hope alive for the visitors.
Inter thought they tied the game in the second half when Hajduk keeper Goran Blažević came out to challenged the play and was chipped, but Mario Maloča ran back to cover the empty net and saved the near-goal.
Another chance for Inter came when in the second half when Mirko Kramarić scored, but it was ruled offsides. Hajduk was able to hang on with their one-goal lead and finished the game in the on top.
Hajduk will take on Zelina on Wednesday in a HNC match, and their 1. HNL season will resume on February 16, against Slaven Koprivnica.
HNK RIJEKA 0 – 0 NK SLAVEN BELUPO
Neither team was able to capture three vital points on Saturday when Rijeka and Slaven Belupo met at Kantrida. A win for Rijeka would have meant they would head into the winter break in second place, and a win for Slaven would have put them in a tie for second.
Rijeka owned the first half, creating several chances and controlling possession. They showed why they were favorites coming into the match.
The beginning of the second half was postponed due to an outage of Kantrida’s brand new stadium lights. After a 10 minute delay, the problem as fixed and the players were allowed to continue.
Slaven woke up in the second half and started creating chances of their own but nothing paid of in the end.
Both clubs were without key players, and it showed.
Rijeka was missing their captain Dario Knezević, while Slaven Belupo is still struggling with injuries and were without seven starting players. This was also the first time Slaven had to face three of its former players.
Leon Benko, Josip Brezović, and Goran Mujanović all left Slaven after last season and joined the ranks of Rijeka. Both teams knew each other very well, and the coaches were well prepared to face each other.
The hero of the game was Slaven keeper Tomislav Pelin. In the 80th minute, Damir Kreilach stepped up to take a penalty awarded to Rijeka. Pelin was ready for it and made the save to keep his team level.
Rijeka coach Elvis Scoria was not pleased with the result.
“Wishes are not always fulfilled and we are unhappy about it. As far as games, I think it was very good. We created a lot of opportunities, we had a penalty, but we did not achieve the goal. We did everything to win, but we couldn’t and took only one point. Shame,” Scoria said.
On the other side of the field, Slaven coach Roy Ferenčina was pleased with the result his team achieved.
“Rijeka is a good team, well-led and were favorites ahead of the meeting. I’m Proud of my boys. We played well and had our opportunities. The second part of the host pressed us, they had a penalty. Pelin made an excellent save. I’m satisfied because that was a good way to go into the break,” Ferenčina said.
NK ZAGREB 2 – 1 NK ISTRA 1961
NK Zagreb came from behind and earned the full three points, despite an early goal from Istra.
Goran Roce opened the scoring at Kranjčevićeva in the 11th minute for Istra. The great individual effort from the goal scorer involved him beating two Zagreb defenders and shooting a hard shot past keeper Dominik Livaković.
Istra continued to run the first half and were the dominant team. Several more chances were had by the visitors, but they were unable to double their lead.
The end of the first half was highlighted by Zagreb’s first of two penalty kicks. Istra midfielder Igor Jugović collided with Jakub Vojtuš in the box, and NKZ were immediately awarded a penalty kick that Vojtuš tucked away. The teams went into halftime deadlocked at one.
Zagreb played a much stronger second half than the first. They were right on par with their opponents and held them to little chances in the half.
Roce did have one good chance to win the game and hit a very dangerous shot, but Livaković stepped up and made the huge save.
It looked as if the match would end 1-1, but in the 83rd minute, NKZ was awarded another penalty for a challenge in the box. Besart Abdurhimi stepped up to the spot at put in the game-winner for the Poets.
NKZ coach Ćiro Blažević was pleased with his team’s performance, saying, “Now I will have a peaceful holiday.” Istra coach, Igor Pamić felt differently.
“This really has no more sense, the question is whether we’re playing in a real league. Was this our league or not? Do not ask me what I allude. When we play bad, then admit it, but today we were much better, played great, and all the referees were against us,” Pamić said. “Zagreb players were embarrassed after the game, and I do not blame them. They played like a fairly like my boys did, but this no longer has any meaning.”
NKZ are now have begun their climb out of last place and are tied with for the 11th spot on the table.
NK ZADAR 1 – 0 RNK SPLIT
A tough match ended in the favor of the home team when Zadar defeated RNK Split on Saturday.
History shows that when these two teams play, the home always comes out on top. It has been this way dating back to when the two clubs competed against each other in the 2 HNL over a decade ago. This time the match was played at Zadar and the home field advantage streak continued.
Zadar aimed to gain all three points. They wanted to go into the break in 10th place and end the first portion of the season on a high note. They did just that.
The home team played with fury and did not let their opponents gain any momentum.
The team has been gaining momentum of their own the past few weeks of the season. They have found some good form recently and are looking to build upon it.
“We’re playing better and better and that makes us all happy,” said Zadar midfielder Luka Begonja.
Ivan Šimurina scored the lone goal of the game in the 25th minute. A sequence of passes led to Šumurina receiving the ball in front of the goal and scoring for his team.
NK LOKOMOTIVA 1 – 0 HNK CIBALIA
Domagoj Antolić scored the game winning goal for the Lokosi in the dying minutes of the match on Friday. It was all that was needed for them to get all three points and go into the winter break in third place, only one point out of second.
The two teams played a very even game an neither team was able to take advantage on the scoreboard.
The crowd of 200 at Maksimir was quite and had little to cheer for in the first 80 minutes of the game, but the home team prevailed and sent Cibalia back to Vinkovci in 11th place.
** PHOTO CREDITS –
http://prvaliga.tportal.hr/
http://www.nkistra1961.hr/
@ Colin – Thank you for posting great articles! If Spehar is anything like his father he will have a very respectable career.
@ Colin – Thank you for posting great articles! If Spehar is anything like his father he will have a very respectable career.
@TO – Thanks for the update. I literally just saw the same thing and came here to post it, but ya beat me to it. Good job. My buddy has watched him recently and said he’s still pretty impressed by him though.
Spehar plays with the dinamo juniors… People here do not think he will be as big of a talent that the media pumped him up to be. It was more of a sales tactic from Osijek to Dinamo. But, he is still young, has time and good genes…
@Cico you are delusional.
The World
@Cico who cares?
Hajduk WINS , Yea
Not actually sure about Spehar. After I saw this, I looked for info online and didn’t find much. I asked a buddy of mine about him. Just waiting to hear back to see what’s up.
Glad I can bring humor and laughter into your life, Ziva. I got a good laugh out of that line too. I had to put it in there. Also pleased to know you actually take the time to read the HNL report lol.
thanks for the hard work and good updates colin!
Laughing my ass at the line used by a club official that part of the reasoning for not playing the dinamo game at Osijek were concerns over fans attending. Nobody attends the league games anyway.
Other cro sporting news to focus on………a 14 year old girl from Dubrovnik won the orange bowl tournament this weekend. This girl will be the next big cro star in the sport.
Dario Saric made his debut for cibona….what a fricken drama…best thing for this kid would be for him to leave cro and go to Spain and play. If there is a way to destroy talent in basketball, Croatia is the place for it.
Good job Colin,
I am not a massive follower of the domestic league but i enjoy reading your updates and viewing your clips.
Do you know how Dino Spehar is going? The last i heard, he was at Dinamo but couldn’t get a game.
Thank you Colin!
That will do it for the HNL until February. There will be no HNL updates during the winter break, but I will start up again once the season returns. Now that there is less for me to write, I’ll start back up with the KHL Medveščak reports, at least until the NHL returns. Thanks for reading every week!