This week’s match week kicked off on Thursday with Inter Zaprešić hosting HNK Gorica, who handed the hosts a 3-0 thumping. Kristijan Lovrić scored the opening goal in the 53rd minute while Ogdjen Mudrinkski scored a double late in the match.
It is known that Inter Zaprešić, through already struggling to fend off relegation late in the season, failed to obtain a license for the first league for the 2020/2021 season. Spirits presumably would be low as well as their incentive to contend in any further matches. However, today is the deadline for Inter to file an appeal of the decision, and may find their fate by as early as this afternoon or tomorrow. Inter is the only first division club that failed to obtain the license.
NK Istra 1961 and Hajduk Split faced off later that afternoon at Aldo Drosina. Hajduk secured the victory with the minimum required after a 6th minute goal from Mijo Caktaš. The goal marked Caktaš’ 13th goal of the season.
Friday featured a disappointing scoreless draw from Rijeka while facing Varaždin. Though the single point helped Varaždin jump Inter Zaprešić on the table, it allowed Rijeka to fall behind Hajduk and remain two points from falling further down the table.
Friday also featured the Zagreb derby, which saw its first upset since May 2018. NK Lokomotiva took the match 1-0 after a 90th minute penalty scored by Marko Tolić. The penalty stemmed from a foul committed by Nikola Moro, who was sent off after being shown his second yellow card of the match. Tolić calmly put the penalty away for the Lokomotiva’s first victory of Dinamo in over two years.
Slaven Belupo and NK Osijek played to a lackluster scoreless draw on Saturday. Each team had its chances, but the finishing was lacking, creating a frustrating atmosphere for both sides. In a match that was controlled more by Slaven, neither team was able to crack the other and settled for a draw. After watching the 90 minutes, the two sides could have played 90 more and still would have failed to score.
@Pro white heretic
“And if you’re against whites being annihilated by assimilation you’re accused of Hate and being a Nazi. Thing about that: if you’re against genocide, you’re a Hater and a Nazi.”
Lol, you’ve never explained how they’re going to force whites to procreate with colored people, hence annihilating their own race? Are they going to pass some law where only interracial couples will be allowed in the future?
You’d think at least ONE sports Commissioner would show at least a tiny bit of moral courage and just say “We AS A LEAGUE do not take any political positions or support any political groups. PERIOD. If players want to protest by kneeling during the anthem or after a homerun that’s fine so long as the protest does not interfere with the game b/c people buy tickets to watch a game, not a political rally.
But no, all these Big Tough billionaires with all their fancy titles living in gated white communities just get down on their hands and knees and grovel to the latest trend. B/c of course, we are headed towards the “inevitable brown future” in ALL & ONLY white countries – the antiWhites are just helping that process along a little faster.
I can’t watch any sports anymore b/c it’s all political, even if you put on the NHL network you’ll get constant social messages which in plain English say whites are guilty and therefore have no right to exist in the future. And if you’re against whites being annihilated by assimilation you’re accused of Hate and being a Nazi. Thing about that: if you’re against genocide, you’re a Hater and a Nazi.
I think recently Dani Olmo has made some great decisions with his career, and i hope that our young talents will follow this type of path. Instead of disappearing in Barcelona, he moved to Dinamo. Unprecedented. Great move for his player development, 1st team football, champions league, etc. Then, once established and noticed by all the scouts, he got multiple offers, and he chose RB Leipzig. I though, why Leipzig instead of going to a team in Spain, Italy, or England? Then I realized they focus on young player development, and he has a realistic chance of breaking into the starting 11.
Same goes for players like Gvardiol…no point jump straight to Bayern and waste away on the bench.
@ Maminjo
Ante Rebic says he owes his career to Niko Kovac. Not because of playing for Frankfurt. He said when Kovac selected him for 2014 WC roster was a morale boost.
Did any one read the Modrić interview he did like 21 hrs ago or something. Spanish media are asking him about his future, and Modrić said he would like to manage the National Team. That broke my heart. I would never wanna see that. Bad move.
It is extremely hard for great players to become good managers. They expect to much because they were great players themselves.
Boban played it right. Steer clear of the repka post retirement. Cheer from afar.
@ElviSS
Yea I’ve to been to Red Bull Arena.
It’s the nicest arena/stadium in the Tri-State area. It nicer then the Billion Dollar Giants Stadium. MetLife, it’s still Giants stadium to me and I don’t really follow American Football. It’s the ugliest billion dollar stadium ever.
My first game at Red Bull’s arena was summer of 2009 or the summer 2010. It could have been after 2010 World Cup. Tottenham vs Red Bull’s friendly. It was so awesome. I got to see Modrić, Corluka, and Kranjcar play. I was excited about Modrić. I’m from Zadar.
I remember there were a few spots in the arena with a lot of Croatian fans
Then I flew down to Miami to watch Peru vs Croatia. I’ve never been more excited in my life. I felt the only Croatian there. Obviously there were Croatian fans but they were not noticeable. Peru fans are as passionate as we are. They were cool too. Watching that game I’m thinking “ our players had way to much fun in Miami “ It felt like a Peru home game, it was. It felt like Croatia didn’t even want to play. Peru played as if it was a final. I remember Dalic sending Modrić and few people back home before they flew to Dallas to play Mexico.
Also, Niko Kovac is expected to take over Borussia Dortmund.
That would be a huge step in his career, being able to coach both Bayern and Dortmund.
Maybe he was right about Pranjic being a superstar 😉
Dinamo’s new coach (Igora Jovićević) already got rid of Kevin-Theophile from the first team and replaced him with Gvardiol.
Hopefully this means that Gvardiol will be starting immediately and we focus on his development.
Gvardiol to Bayern right now would be a travesty.
He just turned 18 this year, and if he doesn’t spend AT LEAST the next two seasons at Dinamo (to properly develop) then he will end up exactly the same as Bayern CB superstar prospect Josip Stanisic.
Slavnovac, I love Gvardiol and think if he develops right could be our best defender. As for the Bayern links, I wouldn’t move there unless they had a genuine plan for him. Maybe like get loaned out to a smaller Bundesliga team in order to start matches or maybe they see him as good enough to start against smaller opposition. I just think Bayern is too big of a team for a first move away from Dinamo. Maminjo basically hit all the other points and talents I would have brought up, but I think he and Dinamo’s other talents are better served sticking around for a couple years, starting pretty much all the time and playing in the Champions League. But yeah at current trajectory he could be a Bayern quality CB one day.
Juve is an amazing club though.
They’re great at finding perfect fits for their team, they know how to extend a veteran player’s career, and they’re also great at having young players take that next step in their development.
Khedira and Tevez were bargain basement acquisitions, and were very useful for them despite everyone thinking they were done. Mandzukic did well there too, despite what many initially thought. Pogba, Vidal, Pjanic, Morata made some major strides there. Most of these guys complain about their current teams and wish they were back at Juventus. Even late-stage Ronaldo (at a high transfer fee) will end up playing longer than most would think over there.
Unlike most of these big European clubs (which are owned by oil-rich sheiks or billionaire Russian oligarchs, and managed irresponsibly) Juventus are actually responsible with their money and are run like a proper organization.
Higuain is the only overpriced/mediocre purchase I can think of…but his goal rate for them was still extremely good (and gave them the depth to compete in Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League at the same time). Pjaca obviously would have been a great addition if it wasn’t for the injury, so not gonna fault them for him.
I was hoping that Rakitic or Modric (or both) would go to Juventus. It would be fantastic for prolonging their careers.
I would love if Kovacic went to Juventus (despite him doing well at Chelsea).
EPL is more of an injury risk and the club owners suffer from ADD, and things can change on a whim. I like Kova at Chelsea (as he is appreciated there) but he should definitely not turn down Juventus if they really are pursuing him.
apparently Juventus are looking at Kovacic and they want to offload Ramsey and Pjanic.
I’m not sure Kovacic is ready to command a midfield but passing on Juve might be hard to do.
@ Elviss
I was thinking the same thing…
I was sure that was Šime until I looked closer!
Off topic, anyone on here know where Michael gligic, golfer on the pga tour, heritage is from… he’s represents Canada, probably Bosnian, but If he’s Croatian would be fun to root for as a dark horse in these tournaments…
How long has it been since Tito’s team won the title??????
@ Maminjo
I Agree with with soncerinf Schifco. When we played Spain in Euro 2012. Schildenfeld played out of his mind against Spain. He payed so good that game.
It took a long time for Vida to start. He’s been on our bench for a while. I was never a fan of him. But he played extremely well in the World Cup, besides the final. Vida really stepped up, expect for the final.
But in Euro 2012 against Spain Modrić and Schildenfeld played the best
The guy in black looks like Vrsaljko. We really do all look alike.
I always found that SPEED has always been an issue with our more reliable defenders.
It seems like our most talented and/or fast defenders (Lovren, Tudor, Jedvaj) are the ones that were the most mistake-prone.
This is why (I think) we’ve always opted for the more steady defenders in guys like Schifo, Vida or Corluka over some of our more ‘talented’ defenders. Schifo and Corluka were slow, but were very consistent and reliable. I fully understand why Lovren couldn’t crack the lineup ahead of them. Vida isn’t slow, but he has no technical ability and hurts us on the offensive end. Very steady defender though.
Based off the highlights I’ve seen, we seem to have several young and talented defenders who are fast. Benkovic, Gvardiol, and Pongracic all fit that description. Very comfortable with the ball at their feet (or head), and fast enough to join the attack and run back and keep up with any threat.
I didn’t watch too much of Pongracic, but when I heard that he was fast, then that intrigued me. The dude is pretty huge for a 22 year old footballer. Pushing 200 lbs AND being a fast player is interesting. He could probably handle those mrcina strikers like Lukaku and not have an issue. The fact that he is known for nicely placed long passes is a definite bonus.
We rarely have defenders who have great size, technical ability AND speed….and these three prospects seem to have all three.
It’s just a matter of just testing these guys out in the ‘A’ reprezentacija to see if they are mistake-prone defenders, or if they truly can be as reliable as guys like Corluka and Vida BUT with better technical ability and speed.
Very good sign considering there are many other young defenders we have like Caleta-Car, Jedvaj (he’s still young), Šutalo, Vušković, Borevković, etc who could hit a development spike and turn out to be pretty solid for us too.
We just need two to pan out.
Modric:
https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2020/06/15/5ee74b17268e3e17328b4590.html
I just briefly read a comment about one of our youth players…this might be a topic for Vuki and Maminjo.
Recently you guys have been discussing Pograncic amd that he has some good potential to be a great future defender for us. Today I saw an article where Olic is talking about Gvardiol and he’s saying that several European clubs are monitoring him and that he hopes Bayern eventually inquire, because the kid has the potential for a team at that level.
Seems good for us!
Any comments?