NK Inter Zaprešić proved to be a tough opponent on Saturday during a home match against Dinamo Zagreb, but after 86 hard-fought minutes, Inter fell to the Modri 1-0.
El Arbi Hillel Soudani scored off a ball sent in from a corner by Angel Henriquez. This corner came after some high-pressure play from Dinamo in the last 10 minutes of the game. The pressure paid off with the only goal of the game and three points for Dinamo.
But Inter applied pressure of their own as well. Dinamo goalkeeper Eduardo was named as the HNL goalkeeper of the week in the best 11 on Tuesday for his performance in defending the tough offense created by Inter.
Zaprešić issued a statement on Monday boasting of their pride of finishing the first half of the season in sixth place. This is Inter’s first time in the top flight of football in several years and, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that by watching them.
The team also is realistic in their season, with strong feelings that top scorer Ilja Nestorovski will be on his way out during the winter break.
“Ilja is a player who’s been with us now almost three years. In two and a half seasons, Ilja scored 57 league goals, was twice the top scorer in 2HNL, and now he took the title and entered the major leagues. We need to be realistic and know that Ilja has outgrown us. He raised the bar and certainly deserves a chance on a different stage.”
With the win for Dinamo, they spend the winter break on top of the table, two points ahead of Rijeka.
The HNL will return on February 13, 2016.
Dinamo – Inter-Zaprešić 1-0, sažetak, 19.12… by dm_525b2245553f8
Hajduk Split traveled to Pula to face NK Istra 1961 on Saturday and came home with a positive result, beating the Istrians 2-0.
The first goal from Hajduk-alona looked like it was straight out of the Spanish’s playbook.
Several one-touch close-range tiki-taki passing led to the games first goal from Hrvoje Milić in the 12th minute.
It was all Hajduk from then on out. Several attempts were put on target, but goalkeeper Vanja Iveša did his job and made the save.
But the 51st minute was the time for Hajduk to double their lead.
Tino-Sven Šusšić put the ball away after receiving a pass from Marco Bencun.
The second goal put the game out of reach for Istra and handed them their sixth defeat in nine games since the departure of Igor Pamić.
Current boss Robert Rubčić will also be stepping down for leading Istra.
The club will announce a new and permanent coach at the beginning of the second half of the season in 2016.
Istra 1961 – Hajduk 0-2, sažetak, 19.12.2015. HD by dm_525b2245553f8
Two goals for Rijeka came from Roman Bezjak in the 53rd and 63rd minute of the match on Friday against Zagreb at Kranjčevićeva.
The 2-0 win for Rijeka also issued Zagreb their 14th loss of the season.
Rijeka was held without a single shot on target during the first 45 minutes of play. Zagreb’s plan of defending was working out rather well, until Bezjak was able to find a hole in the defense and strike one in the net in the 53rd minute.
Ten minutes went by before Bezjak doubled his tally for the day and scored his second goal of the match.
Very little can be done for the Poets as they enter the winter break in last place with only nine points, which is 10 fewer than Osijek who are ahead of them.
Rijeka will finish the fall portion of the season in second place, only two points behind league-leading Dinamo.
It was as big day for NK Lokomotiva as they shut out Slaven Belupo in Koprivnica 3-0 over the weekend.
Goals from Franko Andrejašević, Eros Grezda and a penalty shot by Mirko Marić solidified three points in the Lokosi’s last match of 2015.
Lokomotiva end the first half of the season comfortably in fifth place, knocking on the door of fourth place.
Slaven Belupo on the other hand end with their third defeat in five matches. The Pharmacists finish of 2015 in seventh place with room for improvement.
The final match of 2015 featured RNK Split and NK Osijek who finished the year with a 1-1 draw.
Osijek had the match in the bag, and very well could have defeated Split in Split – quite the rare feat in itself – but sabotaged their efforts with a game-tying own goal in the 89th minute.
The boys from Slavonia went up 1-0 with a goal from Alen Grgić in the 76th minute and thought they have done all that was needed for the win.
But a misfortunate turn of events gave Split a point when Nikola Mataš turned the ball into his own net in the 89th minute to end the day 1-1.
@MelbCro
Ahhhhh,good times those! Watching Simunic,Viduka,Silic,Tiato-what a team!
I remember watching Joe Didulica play for Melbourne Croatia back in the day
yes credit to muric for killin it in the ajax reserve team
idk if it’s been mentioned yet havn’t had much free time to waste on this site recently but..
Croatia has a friendly with Israel in March in Osijek. i’ll take it..all the top tier teams are booked anyway
I liked Joey Didulica, and actually wanted him to start…but unfortunately they never gave him the chance. Both Pleti and Butina were ahead of him, yet he actually played first team football in respectable leagues.
Full credit to Brodic and Muric.
If all the talented youth in Croatia went abroad like they did, Zdravko Mamic would be out of business.
I would love to see him dry up that way.
Joe Didulica
back in the butina era days, wasnt there an aussie born keeper who was one of the benchwarmers? Ive forgotten the name – or maybe im wrong altogether.. but i thought ante seric wasnt the only aussie born perennial benchwarmer at that time
hey people can step up
just months ago no one would think kalinic is doing what he is doing now…
who mentioned muric? just from a couple of days ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a_NCoJRisg
a guy like badelj is barely considered to play and he is rated one of the better defensive midfielders in europe right now
http://www.goal.com/hr/news/12352/hrvati-u-inozemstvu/2015/12/23/18633472/cies-badelj-je-drugi-najbolji-defenzivni-vezni-na-svijetu-u?ICID=HP_HN_1
this was poached off the xtra time forums
True that……
I guess. But Vargić had some big games in Europa League for Rijeka. Also, I don’t rely on goalkeepers to regularly bail us out anyway. But yes, Subašić is a big upgrade. You have to consider that previous backup keepers were guys like Vasilj and Butina. We’re so much better nowadays for depth.
I wouldn’t say we are in good shape at GK. If Serb Subasic were to get injured the guys behind him have no big game experience. I would be worried because its not like the back line is elite. Kalinic has been better with hajduk, but playing HNL games is a big step to national team guys.
goaltender? u watch too much icy hockies, fella
Yes, LB is a problem. We have Pivaric (who is decent) and Strinic (who is not playing at Napoli right now). I’m not a fan of Leovac, and I’d cry if Milic or Pranjic were even called up. If Pivaric gets injured, we simply have to play someone out of position here to make up for it (i.e. Vrsaljko or Jedvaj).
Not worried so much about DM, striker or goalkeeper depth though.
Lovre Kalinic ain’t so bad. He seemed smotan to me a couple years back, but watching recent highlights, he seems to have improved considerably. I remember when Subasic was smotan too back in the day, and it looks as though we finally have some decent goaltenders. Plus, I’ve always considered Vargic a good keeper too. Subasic is our clear-cut starter, but I wouldn’t be too devastated if he was out.
Even with strikers…we have two top strikers in the ‘Liga Petice’. Aside from Spain, England, France and Germany, I can’t think of another team that has this luxury.
Sure, an injury or suspension to one of them will hurt us…but can you imagine what an injury to Portugal’s Ronaldo or Poland’s Lewandowski would do to those teams?
We tend to play one forward anyway, and we can switch it up if something happens to Mandzo or Kalinic. This is a very nice luxury to have.
For DM, we have a couple of starting caliber guys in Brozovic and Pasalic. It’s a shame we haven’t seen Pasalic start yet with guys like Modric and Rakitic in a game that matters. I think he might be a better defensive fit than Brozovic for us (due to his size and strength). But I’m not going to complain. Not too long ago we were debating about starting an 18-year old Radosevic over Ognjen Vukojevic, or maybe trying out Dujmovic again, or trying to get Sertich to get into the squad…so we’re in pretty good shape here today.
Meh, aside from just a few positions (DMF, LB, FW, GK) we have some decent depth for a country of 4 million. I wouldn’t mind Tin Jedvaj or Sime Vrsaljko starting in France due to injury. Same goes for Pasalic/Kovacic/Halilovic starting in the midfield over our usual starters (Brozo, Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, etc.)
I’d be nervous if Serb Subasic got hurt and we had to rely on Lovre Kalinic or if Mandzukic/Kalinic got hurt and we had to count on Perica or Kramaric.
Hajduk unofficially in their 3rd year of existence and have a solid 3rd place. Not bad. As long as we keep the lopovi out for a while we should be good.
Yep, that was the main reason we missed 2010WC, not Bilic. Unlike the bigger countries, when we lose 3 or 4 guys from the starting 11, we are in trouble. We don’t have the depth. Imagine if we get hit with injuries on the backline. We are in trouble.
Not to mention Mario Pasalic being able to play the pivot as well.
Mocinic will be an injury fill-in at best. But whatever, I’m glad the kid is sought after. Depth can only help us.
Or lack of it caused us to miss the WC2010 when injuries hit us.
Mocinic is not a “diamond”.
He’ll be a serviceable player in Europe for either some mid-table, big 4 league or play in a 2nd rung league like the SPL, Belgian, Greek, Portuguese league.
He’s more of a true DMF, but with the way Brozovic has gotten better, he’ll be a fringe NT player at best.
They are leaving because of the $$$$$$$. There is no guarantee a player will develop into a finished product and because of the short life span of a soccer player many of these guys (pressured by family and agents) will take the first chance they have at real money.
Lets use Brodic and Muric as examples…….We have no way of knowing they would have made it by staying in Cro. Maybe they would have, maybe not. But, by leaving they secured more money in the immediate future.
With Cro in the EU be prepared for more of this. Money talks, especially when a player and his family own money and need to pay off debts.
I just hope guys stick around to develop. Like what are Brodic and Muric doing? made things so much harder on themselves. At the same time, I know a lot of guys are going to be leaving
Should be a handful of talent leaving over the winter. I’m sure Coric will be out along with Mocinic too. Pretty sure Dinamo will lose Soudani as well but hey, more room for homegrown talent eh?
When you said a ‘diamond’ was leave the HNL, I thought for a second that you were referring to Ante Coric (who will be leaving Dinamo in January probably for Porto).
I would consider Mocinic more like carbon graphite.
According to football press: another diamond leaving the HLN:
I don’t know if it’s true but I don know that Mocinic is not a striker like the Football Press claims.
Set to leave HNK RIjeka in January, Croatian international striker Ivan Mocinic (22) is getting more and more likely to join Celtic Glasgow, according to Daily Record. As well as by Dinamo Zagreb, the 1993-born player is tracked by Carpi, Inter, Lazio and Sampdoria as well.