Dinamo Zagreb has secured a five-point lead at the top of the table after defeating Rijeka at Maksimir 3-0 on Sunday.
The two sides contested for the top spot over the weekend, but Rijeka was unable to match the performance put on by Dinamo and suffered their first defeat of the season. Rijeka was the last club to remain undefeated until Sunday.
With barely 40 percent of the possession, Rijeka did little to challenge Dinamo and created little offense to speak of.
Dinamo’s forwards on the other hand performed much better, attempting eight shots, scoring with three, but did not break through on the score sheet until the second 45 minutes.
El Arbi Hillel Soudani started off the scoring for the Modri in the 64th minute with a delightful goal to beat Ivan Vargić.
Soudani timed his run perfectly and received the ball from Domagoj Antolić and beat Vargić as he came out to attack the ball. Soudani calmly sent the ball into the side netting.
Dinamo’s second goal came from Leonardo Sigali, thanks to a powerful header sent in from a corner kick to make the score 2-0.
Rijeka had little hope of mounting a comeback, but Soudani dashed whatever aspirations Rijeka had left when se scored the third goal of the game in the 90th minute.
Vargić and his defenders seemed to be wasting time until the whistle blew and made an errant pass that gave the ball to Soudani inside the penalty area.
Soudani made Vargić pay for his uninterested and ambiguous pass and scored in similar fashion as his first goal.
Hajduk Split suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of NK Lokomotiva at Kranjčevićeva on Saturday and fall further behind the ranks of Dinamo and Rijeka.
Hajduk had lost several key players over the winter break, while Lokomotiva was building their reinforcements to ensure a strong finish int eh second half of the season.
The enforcements paid off as the Lokosi beat the Bili 2-1.
The match took place on abysmal conditions at Kranjčevićeva but was able to continue despite a proper field.
Eros Grezda scored his sixth goal of the season since his debut with the Lokosi in August.
The Albanian scored the opening tally in the 27th minute and almost assisted in doubling the lead in the 38th minute, but was denied the opportunity when Lovre Kalinić made a strong save against Ivan Fiolić’s shot from close range.
Despite being the better team on the field, Hajduk found themselves down by two goals after former Hajduk player Franko Andrijašević scored in the 53rd minute.
Hajduk was able to get one goal back thanks to Fran Tudor being at the right place at the right time.
Tudor struck the back of the net after the ball landed at his feet in front of the net after pin-balling in the penalty area.
Hajduk was not without their chances, tallying 13 corner kicks in the match and finishing the day with seven shots and 61 percent of the possession.
The Bili did find themselves down a man for the final 15 minutes of the match after Tino-Sven Sušić was sent off for striking Herdi Prenga in the face. A total of nine yellow cards and one red card were issued in the match.
Lokomotiva made the best of their chances and were able to fight for three points against the Bili who remain in third place.
Extended highlights here:
http://www.vijesti.rtl.hr/video/partneri/92814/lokomotiva-hajduk-21-23-kolo-sazetak/
It was all Ilja Nestorovski all day on Saturday as the Macedonian scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season.
Both goals from Nestorovski came from skillful shots from outside the penalty area.
The first goal came after only 13 minutes of play and was lofted over Vanja Iveša’s head from 19 yards out.
Nestorovski scored in similar fashion in the 34th minute to make it 2-0 for the away team.
Istra cut the lead in half when Ante Repić scored in the 67th minute.
Nestorivski was transferred to Serie A side, Palermo for a bargain price of 500,000 euros, but will remain with NK Inter until the end of the season.
Draen Bagarić denied even a single point to NK Zagreb when they visited Split for the Mali Derbi over the weekend.
RNK Split took all three points with a 1-0 victory of the Poets who have all but secured their fate in the Driga Liga next season.
The city of Koprivnica has not been kind of Osijek over the years, and has continued its unwelcoming streak with another victory for the Pharmacists over Osijek at the City Stadium.
It has been since 2007 since the last time Osijek celebrated a win in Koprivnica, but they will have to keep waiting as Slaven has once again achieved three points with their 1-0 win on Sunday.
Filip Ozobić scored the lone goal of the game in the 38th minute to give Slaven an important three points.
The Pharmacists now sit four points clear of Osijek who rest uncomfortably in the relegation zone.
Thankfully I bought my first house when the market was a bit easier, I have no clue how people could buy nowadays?
$250k for a down payment. Same here. In SF, you have 500 sq ft condos being sold for at least $1M
PS….$250,000 won’t get you a condo even close to Vancouver. A tear down in neighbouring Burnaby (where I grew up) will cost you $1.4 million, ask anyone that lives here!
So now we’re getting somewhere!
Who else Ante? Surely you know better than I or better than most of us living outside of Croatia. How does he get away with all that he’s done and still does?
This is not him acting alone. There have to be many in politics, government, at Dinamo and along many paths that have helped him…to get him, we have to know about the rest!
It’s hard to blame only one fuckhead, the depth that this guy has gotten to are way out of his reach!
$50,000 only? That’s not even a down payment here. I’m assuming not for Vancouver either. Let’s up the ante to $250,000, no pun intended. To answer your question, I’m sure Ciro had something to do with it along with Canjuga creating a power vacuum as well as Tudman’s passing. I think it was the perfect storm of events.
Ziva, it takes more than criminals to allow Mamic, it takes lawmakers, executives, decision makers and many others to not just allow him but to assist him! His acts (many criminal) require direct involvement/assistance for him to achieve the outcome. How does he get the financial results without someone else’s involvement?
I offered a story about the Vukelic family as an example of corruption. Even in a murder, where one man shot his brother 14 times. The victim did not have a weapon or pose any threat and yet, the retired officer is walking the streets.
This is Croatia! Unfortunately, they are corrupt, from the top down. Guys like Mamic are the result of lawlessness, they allow this shit…it’s not only at Dinamo, it’s the entire system!
Change the system and implement law, those criminals disappear!
@Slavonac…….that is question that requires a long answer and I have my theories. That is something we can discuss if we ever have the opportunity to meet up one day. Just too long to write out and explain.
But, the short answer……….Mamic is smarter than the other criminals and has surrounded himself or alligned himself with individuals who have some influence and power.
You said:
Personally, I don’t care how or why he runs Dinamo. My issue is the lack of oversight/integrity/responsibility (call it what you will) in Cro sports. Dinamo is a nonprofit owned by the city of ZG. This is factual. How he has been able to manipulate that and make money (a lot of it illegal) while taking it away from the club that he claims to love is the head scratcher to me. I have no problem with people making money, but he has a salary (or an honorary one). He’s basically moved in on municipal property and made it his own cash cow by illegal methods. That is my issue.
Ziva, I’ve asked this of you and others here but have never received an answer. I keep reading comments like yours and Ante’s, both of you 100% right, both make total legit comments…but….who has allowed Mamic all this power?
That’s the $50,000 question!
For him to be able to get away with so much criminal activity, so much that HDZ protects him, who are we really to blame for all this? The party we all want to lead the country, while shit parties like SDP try to bring him down? That’s why I don’t give a shit and it’s why I think it’s their battle! They created it, they can deal with it. They’ve given him the green light, turned a blind eye, supported him by helping him….so I don’t care about what he does, Croatia has far greater issues within their politics, the government , their unemployment, their private companies are selling, they allow so much garbage everywhere.
A guy’s dad I know from Lika was shot last year, by his brother. This family is from Canada now but visit often. It was a family dispute over land. The brother who shot, is/was a cop and walked free. He shot his own brother who was unarmed and walking, over 9 times. The guy will not serve a day in prison for cold blooded murder…Vukelic family, read a bit here: http://globalnews.ca/news/1830657/croatian-canadian-heads-to-homeland-seeking-justice/
If this is possible, how do we expect Mamic and all the other criminals that back him, serve any justice?
Yes, it is the system!
Agreed…………I don’t want to make this into a back and forth because this has been discussed numerous times, but here is my big issue with Mamic.
Personally, I don’t care how or why he runs Dinamo. My issue is the lack of oversight/integrity/responsibility (call it what you will) in Cro sports. Dinamo is a nonprofit owned by the city of ZG. This is factual. How he has been able to manipulate that and make money (a lot of it illegal) while taking it away from the club that he claims to love is the head scratcher to me. I have no problem with people making money, but he has a salary (or an honorary one). He’s basically moved in on municipal property and made it his own cash cow by illegal methods. That is my issue. Now, I know people claim that if it wasn’t him it would be someone else. I guess that is true, but if that is the argument made to defend a person, then there really is no argument to defend him. That is akin to your daughter being raped while at a college party and then claiming ” well, you know she was at a party with drugs and booze, so she kind of deserved to be raped”. Come on, we can do better than that with our leadership positions in Cro.
The other issue is his influence within the federation and national team. One man being able to appoint and fire coaches (Strucnjak Stimac, Kum Kovac and Druga Liga Cacic) and have input on the roster is all sorts of wrong. No transparency at all and then he trots out Puppet Suker to put a face to the mess.
he is scum, nobody is arguing that but your first line said “Give Jozak the credit, not Mamic.”…aren’t you the one that always says use logic, not emotions?
Mamic built Dinamo’s academy, he’s also profited from the players, but he’s done more for that club than anyone in all of Croatia…whether we hate him or not, its true.
I am torn on the fan (BBB) position. do we return the BBB and satisfy them and lose a monster that knows how to “operationally” run a team but is a “criminal”? morally, I am with Ante B, I’m not so sure if Mamic is gone, will a different but inept boss come in…just like at most other clubs…ie…Hajduk, Zadar…
I’m not supporting Mamic, I’m afraid of how Dinamo would look once he’s gone? am I prepared to see a club lose their talent infrastructure and business sense?
And, I did……I said credit does go to Mamic for having him and keeping him.
That still doesn’t take away the fact that Mamic is scum. But fan boy always gonna fan boy.
Ziva,
who employed Jozak? who took Jozak and put him into the savez program?
you can’t have it both ways. on one hand you claim Mamic controls everything and then on the other, you tend to take away from his achievements…stating Jozak deserves the credit. thats like saying a Steve Jobs doesn’t deserve credit for Apple’s success or that Bill Gates doesn’t deserve credit for Microsoft.
we can hate the man for his criminal ways but its only fair to give credit where it is due. why is that hard for you?
Not only has Jozak spoken to the family (that took place well over a year ago in the US), but others in the savez have reached out. As soon as they helped him gain his Cro paperwork to be a EU citizen with Dortmund, they have been very active in recruiting him.
At the end of the day it wont happen because the kid has no clue where Croatia is on the map, doesn’t speak the language and I’m afraid doesn’t live the “za dom….spremni” lifestyle that is required to be accepted by the public.
http://www.espnfc.com/club/real-madrid/86/blog/post/2810481/mateo-kovacic-future-at-real-madrid-is-shining-bright
Nice article about Kovacic
http://www.espnfc.us/united-states/story/2812614/klinsmann-coy-on-christian-pulisic-united-states-prospects
Toward the end of the video, the reporters talk about Croatia not giving up on him – Jozak has already spoken to him and his family.
The only chance Croatia has is that Pulisic becomes impatient about a USA call up and jumps over.
Then again, we are pretty much set at midfield – it is forwards that we are seriously lacking.
Give Jozak the credit, not Mamic. Mamic will find a way to monetize the situation and actually take money from transfer fees that should go to Dinamo (example: Modric, Kovacic, plus more). Jozak gets the credit for the youth system. I guess by extension you can credit Mamic. But, take Jozak away and none of this happens.
Full credit to the Dinamo youth team making it this far, but this is an invitational event they are a part of. This is not a competition among the best youth programs in Europe. Every team that made the Champions League proper had their youth team participate in this event, even with some clubs not having anything close to a top tier youth program. Dinamo does, but it is inaccurate to say this youth competition is going to crown the nest youth program when the besy youth program are not all participating in it. Still, great result for the Dinamo kids. Sadly, for dynamo fans these kids will never compete together for the parent club at the highest level.
Sorry Mr. Black, I don’t think that Mamic has anything to do with giving birth to naturally gifted Croatian athletes.
…only how to make money off them
Well said Mr black!!
Check out the photos of Mandzukic walking up to Lewandowski today and headbutting the guy who took his job at Bayern – haha,, stay Balkan my friend!
It is his work. He’s a thief and a criminal but he knows how to create an organization which produces extremely good Football players.
I guess this couldn’t be Mamic’s work right, he doesn’t produce players, he only steals from them, right?
Dinamo Zagreb eliminated Anderlecht today in Anderlecht (0-2) in the youth league. Dinamo is one of the eight remaining teams in the youth league and will now face Barcelona.
Bosnian diamond Gojak and of course Brekalo scored for Dinamo. Nine Croatian players in the starting 11 for Dinamo. Only Gojak comes from Bosnia and Dani Olmo from Barcelona.
It looks like the Croatian 1998 generation is the most talented generation we ever had.
5 Juve players in the box on Bayern’s first goal…same shit, terrible defending!
I hate Pep, let’s not forget that! I was happy Juve finally started to play once they were down. I have a hard time cheering for them cause I’ve never been their fan, but since Mandzo is there, I support him and his team.
Good second half for Mandza. Not much in the first.
But, man is the Bayern backline poor. The first goal Juve scored was a gift.
Mandzukic instrumental with both Juve goals!
Bayern Munich getting the calls…what a shot ref!
Nah, Mamic has no power in Europe. But, the powers that be would prefer to see a Barca – Bayern final.
Vidal fouls Pogba right outside the box then fouls Dybala inside the box for a clear penalty and no call!
Does Mamic control UEFA?
Absolute shit no-calls!!!
Thank you, Colin.
What’s the deal with Pjaca? A few months ago he was one of the better players of our national team and now he struggles to get in Dinamo’s starting eleven. Is Mamic resting him so he’ll be great at Euro 2016 and he could be sold? Or doesn’t he play that well lately?