HNL Week 4

Dinamo Zagreb traveled to Vinkovci Saturday and took all three points with a routine 2-0 shutout.

El Arbi Hillel Soudani scored the first goal in the 18th minute. Dinamo played with the 1-0 lead until Cibalia captain Frane Vitaić mistakenly put the ball in his own net to make it 2-0. Apparently, no real harm was done by Vitaić, as he officially extended his contract with the club for another year earlier this morning.

Dinamo Zagreb, though having played one fewer game than most teams, is currently in fourth place. Cibalia drops to ninth place with the loss.

Hajduk Split is coming off a high after advancing to the playoff round of the Europa League with ease. The high lasted throughout the weekend as the gave NK Istra 1961 a 4-0 beat down on Sunday at Poljud.

Franck Ohandza scored first in the 43rd minute with a goal from the penalty spot. His goal was followed by Ante Erceg’s in the 60th minute and Fran Tudor’s goal in the 69th minute.

Hope was lost if it wasn’t already in the 79th minute for Istra when Nikola Žižić scored on his own team to make it 4-0.

Hajduk has also played one fewer game than most teams and remains in second place. Hajduk and Dinamo will make up their lost game when they play each other Wednesday.

It’s been a rough week for Rijeka. After being the only Croatian club eliminated from European competition on Wednesday, Rijeka settled for a 1-1 draw against Inter Zaprešić on Sunday.

Rijeka’s Mario Gravanović tried to take the lead in the 27th minute with his penalty attempt, but Ivan Čović was there to deny him the easy goal.

The game looked to end with a 0-0 draw, but Gravanović redeemed himself in the 90th minute to put Rijeka up 1-0. The lead lasted only seconds though, as the referee awarded a penalty kick to Inter just before the final whistle. Jakov Puljić scored the penalty to end the match 1-1.

Rijeka remain in first place. Inter climbs to seventh place.

Slaven Belupo dropped to third place over the weekend after a scoreless draw against RNK Split.
Both coaches of the two clubs agreed that the result was the best outcome for how the match was played.

Slaven drew for the second consecutive week, after drawing Dinamo last week. Split remains winless.

NK Lokomotiva and NK Osijek play today at 2 pm EST.