Here you have it; a 5-2 loss handed to Dinamo Zagreb by HNK Rijeka on Sunday has turned the HNL world upside down. It has been nearly a year since Dinamo lost two league matches in a row, which last happened in October 2015 when Dinamo lost to Rijeka the RNK Split.
If you count the recent 3-0 loss to Lyon in the Champion’s League, the Dinamo losing streak extends to three matches. Three consecutive losses is all it took for coach Cico Kranjčar to call it quits.
Kranjčar offered his resignation this morning following the 5-2 loss to Rijeka. A replacement has not been named.
The match at Rujevica began with an instant goal from Mario Gavranović in the first minute. Goalkeeper Adrian Šemper stumbled when trying to reach the ball in his box, and was only able to kick it as far as the feet of Gavranović who scored the easy goal less than 30 seconds after kickoff.
Dinamo couldn’t stop the bleeding afterward and the goals kept coming.
The young goalkeeper made another mistake minutes later with an errant pass right to Gavranović. The play ended with Marko
Vešović striking the post, leaving Šemper thankful another goal wasn’t scored.
A 33rd minute goal from Alexander Gorgon, a 50th minute goal from Marko Vesšvić, and a 54th minute goal from Gorgon gave Rijeka a 4-0 lead over the Modri before El Arbi Hillel Soudani was finally able to disrupt the clean sheet in the 82nd minute. Rijeka responded instantaneously with a fifth goal from Vešović minutes later.
One more consolation goal was scored by Domagoj Pavčić, but a 5-2 loss stains Dinamo’s record this season and leaves them in third place, four points behind Rijeka and three points behind Osijek.
NK Osijek finished the weekend in second place after a convincing 3-0 over the struggling RNK Split in front of a lively atmosphere in the Garden City.
Osijek threatened early with a near goal from Muzafer Ejupi, but Tomislav Duka protected his net for Split. He made strong saves early on against the likes of Gabrijel Boban and Josip Knežević.
Duka was finally beat by Osijek in the 69th minute. Antonio Perošević stepped up to the penalty spot where he opened the scoring with a penalty kick.
It was downhill for Split and Duka after that when Aljoša Vojnović scored two goals in the 83rd and 88th minutes of the match upon his return from injury to make it 3-0.
Osijek is looking up at Rijeka while sitting in second place, one point from the top.
Hajduk Split muscled out Slaven Belupo on Saturday with a 4-0 win at Poljud. Ghanaian Ahmed Said scored two goals in the match in the 37th and 71st minutes of the match to make it 2-0 for Hajduk. Ante Erceg quickly made it 3-0 in the 75th minute, followed by Marko Futacs in the 88th minute.
Hajduk Split remain in fourth place, two points behind Dinamo.
NK Istra 1961 found their stride and earned their second consecutive win (and second win this season) with a 4-1 victory over Inter Zaprešić in Pula.
Goals from Mateo Bertosa, Šime Gržan, Valentino Stepčić, and Theophilius Solomon gave Istra the offense it needed to win. Inter was unable to score a goal, but thankfully for them, Asen Georgiev of Istra gave them one with an own goal in the 87th minute. Istra climbs the table to sixth place while Inter falls to eighth.
Cibalia remains winless in their return to the HNL after 9 weeks. The streak was continued by NK Lokomotiva at Kranjčevićeva on Friday when they suffered a 4-0 loss to the Lokosi.
Jan Doležal scored first after 37th minutes of scoreless football. Mirko Marić doubled the lead while Petar Bočkaj and Eros Grezda made it 4-0.
Cibalia remains ninth place, tied with RNK Split on points while Lokomotiva continue to improve their season by climbing to seventh place.
Sustain the great job and producing in the crowd!
Jurgen Klinsmann http://www.songhookers.com/groups/six-reasons-your-cheap-fifa-17-points-is-not-what-it-could-be/
Well it all depends on whether The Muslims will make good on their threats of violence. You know how these things start. Serbs will say they don’t want war but will hope to provoke.
They have always wanted out and since Putin is more assertive these days they see a chance. As history has show this is a powderkege. Turkey, Russia, ISIS, USA, NATO
They’re voting for the creation of a national holiday to celebrate the creation of Republika Srpska by Karadžić.
They’re not actually voting on separating… Yet
Serbs about to vote out of Bosnia with Putins help.
I hope this generation is ready like the last one was.
Za Dom Spremni!!
Vrsaljko played full game last week right?
He will be like Kovacic, in that he will play sporadically due to the plethora of games Atletico plays.
@Mr Black- of all the players you mentioned, I think the best accorfing my tastes is Vlasic. But he is in a bit of a pickle, as we know only Dinamo players make the NT.
What’s up with Diego Simeone not even dressing Vrsaljko?
Why drop 15 million euro on a RB and not even put him on the bench?
Rakitic with a header against Atletico! Who says he doesn’t know how to score that way? Maybe we can let him wear a Barcelona shirt when he plays for Croatia.
Svaka sila za vrimena………..
Polako………….
As long as they’re ahead of Hajduk Spit
Nice Y-tube ! SRAMOTA just as that (G)nk Gov team u & they represent !! Sad ! VERY SAD !!
Can it get any Better ? Thank U Lord !!
https://youtu.be/r9IQgByoyrY
So, has BBB come back? or no?
Reverse that.
Bring back Vaha.
Congrats to Rijeka. They put us over a chair and made them call us daddy with our thumbs in our mouths.
I sort of think Cico was just brought in to stabilise the squad for Champions qualifying and never intended to stay long term.
Sopic was Kranjcar’s assistant and managed their B time for a while. Dinamo rarely hires outside of their inner circle.
jm,
Hln players who could end up in our national team. Of course, Semper and Coric.
But I also like Dinamo’s young left back: Borna Sosa.
Fiolic (ex-Lokomotiva) who returned to Dinamo: Maybe, but I have my doubts.
Vlasic from Hajduk Split is great. He could make it.
I heard some good things about Josip Elez from Rijeka. He’s a young central defender who gave it a go in Italy (Lazio) but wasn’t yet good enough.
Dinamo hired a new coach: Zeljko Sopic. What do we know about this man? He’s 42 years old. He played about 23 games for Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga and some more games in the second German division. He also played for some Croatian teams and has one experience as head coach: Nk Rudes.
http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=179298
this is the beginning of the end for Dinamo. let’s see what happens with the BBB coming back and the team losing, I guess many will be happy. I just hope Dinamo continue to produce players or else we are doomed if we leave this up to the rest of the teams to do so.
any interesting young players on these hnl teams now?
names that ring a bell are coric and semper. anyone else though who we’l lbe hearing about in future repka news?
“Were Rog and Pjaca so vital for the team that with such losses they switch from being easily the best of the lot to a third power team?” – Short answer, Yes.
“How is it that Čorić and Šitum aren’t regular starters?” Coric was given a rest after playing a few days earlier. Can’t speak for Situm
“How long Osijek run do you think is going to last? I had read that they were planning some changes and aiming higher this season, but honestly they are going beyond expectations” – Judging by the way they’re playing, it will last a while. Although, They still have to face Rijeka and Hajduk in October which could change everything. Lokomotiva will be on the rise from here on out as well. Might make for an interesting season.
I attended Hajduk-Dinamo and was impressed by how easily Dinamo cruised to win. A month later I have to say that I am subsequently quite surprised of the results so far which raise a few questions.
-Were Rog and Pjaca so vital for the team that with such losses they switch from being easily the best of the lot to a third power team? More impressive if you think about Osijek.
– How is it that Čorić and Šitum aren’t regular starters?
– How much is all of this due to Mamić apparently stepping back?
-How long Osijek run do you think is going to last? I had read that they were planning some changes and aiming higher this season, but honestly they are going beyond expectations.
-Considering that only 3 teams are qualifying for European competitions (please correct me if I am mistaken), do you think that that eventually Hajduk will lose an european spotlight?
All in all a good change that makes everything more interesting and unpredictable.