I was sitting in Gradska Kavana in the center of Dubrovnik on Tuesday at 1:00pm when Jerko Leko sat down. I fist noticed the hot young ‘komad’ he was with when they sat next to me and then saw his tattoo, a sword through a soccer ball on his right leg, before recognizing him. I leaned over and asked if he would do a short interview for CSR and he said, “Sure, let me finish my kava first.”
We agreed to do the short interview in which he reveals he is packing his bags to play in the Turkish league. Unlike Rakitić, Leko is following the World Cup and is looking forward to the Mexico v. Uruguay game today.
-Branimir Kvartuč, reporting from Dubrovnik
I like browsing your website for the reason that you can constantly get us fresh and cool stuff, I think that I ought to at least say thanks for your hard work.
– Henry
excellent points and the details are more precise than somewhere else, thanks.
– Murk
Well don't book mark. what you book marked it for. Its not serious. It i wanted to advertise it i would mention it a lot more. i think i passed it on when someone want to know some info that was on it, but that's all. Really if i was interested in it i'd ram it down everyones thoughts.
I have no problem with my decision not continue with HNL1 reports. I've spoke to Ante since about that and nobody likes doing them every week. I'm sure Ante and Denis see why i bowed out. Especially the way i did them had too much info.
Also since then we've had some good takes of the HNL1 reports like the woman that did the Hajduk interviews and some other first hand stuff so i feel vindicated in my decision as if i didn't step aside we'd have got same old stuff.
If i'm on there every day that's my business. As i say its my play thing. I'm not asking you to follow it, so feel free to unbookmark it. Cheers.
Also i must say yeah it was hard to do HNL1 reports when Ziva was taking the piss, but i kinda see his point now it isn't first hand info and maybe not everyone wants to know about the small HNL1 teams so yeah why persist. That's fair enough. Anyway i've seen since Ziva's reports and its nothing great so pfff who care. As for my blog though that's my own thing. feel free to not view it anymore.
I actually have a theory that i'm playing with at the moment through that website. It has nothing to do with followers.
Dickhead u did advertise it here, at the time when u said u were never going to enter or comment on csr again. Well that worked out didn't it. Remember when everyone was against ur rock solid views. Actualy reminds my of this coversation here. I bookedmarked it out of intrest. I see now that u post on it nearly everyday, how in the world could it not be of intrest to you.
HRV soccer is not supposed to be like Croatian soccer report. I set it up to filter reports to Ante. Since then its been my play thing. in fact i couldn't care less if it had no views. i didn't even give it a proper name. i'm very surprised anyone knows of it. But thats very interesting info. thanks for that.
Well how are you aware of it as i haven't even advertised it and i didn't recommend it. i don't even sign in under it so where on earth have you got that from.
You know about something i don't advertise. Interesting???
Nah that's ok u can stick to ur peice of shit web site hrv soccer which I'm sure get a massive 2 views a month.
Cool, glad you've fucked off out of here. Worse conversation Ever! Sorry about this people..
Donno if you noticed but my team are in the Croatian league Mr Thick Moron! You know that same team which Kranjcar, Modric, Corluka, Eduardo, Boban etc developed from.. Or do you just latch onto these guys once they've become successful. Just don't speak now. Keep it shut! I wish Ante gave me inside control of this website now as i'd have deleted this conversation and Razors so it stopped boring everyone. I don't even know what the hell i'm arguing against here.
Wow ur intersested in the likes of the prva hnl? Serousy? And also I might add I love ur use of doublespeak. Paragraphs of information while revealing very little information.
Look I'm not going to go on. This is my last comment. Clerarly I'm far to stupid to argue against a football god such as yourself, whos clearly always correct and never wrong.
let me explain it to you… Football is a sport. Croatian are a football team. I like how Croatia play there football and heart is in the team.. not the country.. do you get it now. Maybe i'm just intellectually too far ahead of you to understand. You cannot detach yourself from your identity but i can. I can see beyond what is immediately in front of me, you can't. That's why your a sap.
I'd never support a team just cos i was born there. That's the moron way of doing things.
I hope it puts your mind at rest though to know i do not support Croatia in tennis, athletics or marbles… I also have no great desire to live in croatia, marry a croatian, eat croatian food and boogey on down to croatian music. its purely football. i'm not trying to be you 🙂
U fuking jump when I mention Britain but point the finger at others when they put down Serbia.
My opinion is not insignificant, if it was u would not be responding to these comments.
I serously don't get you, at all. Don't see the point in supporting a team with ur heart and soul if there is no national pride.
Dan your so boring that its hard to even initiate an arguement with you. Sod off to your own little world pal. Hey its good your opinion is of no significance isn't it. Your just one man pal and your opinion about what team i should support means sod all so shut it!
Ask yourself why England has competed for years and Croatia has only since start of 90's and tell me England is still Britian. Do you really think England is tied under the Britian banner like Croatia was under Yugoslavia. Have a little more of a think about the meaning over what Croatia was under Yugoslavia and what England is under Britian and you'll see a difference. Britian is an economic union. However there is devolution to all the other entities of Britian that have their own parliment to govern themselves.
If your happy to call a Englishman a Brit and your claiming to be a Croat then why have the war as you should know the difference between England and Britian if you know why Croatia wanted its independence. If you know why Croatia fought for its independence you shouldn't think about terms like Britian. I live in England end of story and have English blood. Not Welsh, not Scottish and not Irish. Donno why i'm even wasting my time on you. Your a Grade F person to argue with. I'm happy to agree with everything you say if you just sod off..
Don't call me a moron. I'm sure that most people would take my side rather than yours.
U are a Brit because great Britain still exist and yuogoslavia doesn't. U are as arrogent as a 2 year old. Typical pom who always thinks he's right and always has to have the last word.
What I find iteresting is how stupid ur point of views are. I don't care how strong ur knowledge is on Croatian football, off 'feild issues' will make up 50% of a fans intrest amongst a team, no matter what side they go for. A Croatian who only know 5 Croatian players has more right to be a supporter than you do. Your intrest in Croatian football just seems pointless to me.
So you say you love hard football rather than skillful football. Australia are out but you say they deserve to go through. You say people don't like Serbia cos of the war.
I find nothing new or interesting here. Great so what. Your entitled to believe or that. Am i disputing your right to have that view. No – so what's your problem.
In fact i was hitting out at how Razor goes off about me when i just say Australia does not deserve to go through. Why's he taking it so bad. Its just my view based on what i like to see from football. Same with Lucas Neil so whats your problem. He also tried a comment about Serbia and woefully missed cos i'm not Croat and am completely detached from the war stuff.. haha.. good try Razor but bad luck mate.
I personally believe if you want hard sports then take it in boxing ring where it is a true test. Don't bring over agression into football as it don't belong there. Football is not about kicking people over. When Australia keep going over the top fair enough then keep red carding them. Australia worked hard in this world cup, but they were nothing special. Very average team. its no great disaster that they've gone out. Its not a disaster for them as there not a talented generation and its not a disaster for the tournament.
As for who i support don't put words in my mouth you moron! I don't need some shit like you to talk for me.
What i want to know is why support a team when you know nothing about the countries players? Forget whether you speak the language or whether you was born there. Again your talking about off the field stuff. This is not football mate. There is a load of Croatian chest beaters here who did not know who Tomislav Dujmovic was until a month ago. Whats the point in supporting Croatia if you can't even name 15 Croatian players off the top of your head. You might as well support some another group of players as that's what it comes down to players. Its the players success, not the countries and not the fans.
England and Australia have no football rivalry. I also find it odd how you lot call Englishmen Brits though if we called Croat's Yugoslavs you'd be crying your eyes out and wanting to fight. Are you a hypocrit or something. There is no different between a Brit and a Yugoslav. The same thing. In fact if we're talking about Britian, Australia is still tied to Britian in many ways. Its basically the same people.
Australia and England only have rivalry in Cricket and rugby not in Football. They have also not played each other enough to have any rivalry. I have loads of respect for what was Australia's cricket team. There you go if Australia's football team were as talented as there cricket team then i'd support them. Australia cricket team was gifted and also hard and competitive. The football team is hard and competitive but not gifted so they don't interest me. End of story. Its my view and i'm entitle to it just like you and Razor are entitled to yours.
1. criticism of neill.- the past is the past with klasnic and to be honest i dont care. it is in Australia's nature to play tough football, and thats why they concede so many free kicks. i prefer that to pussy european teams such as italy and france whos players go down as soon as they are touched. This pansy football is ruing the game and i can guarantee u that not one australian player will ever fake a free kick. Neil is a solid defender and i see no reason to why he should not be in the team regardless with how he plays.
2. Ghana- they have proved nothing this wc, nothing at all. at least australia have show they have the ability to score goals. ghana have scored only two penalties which are questionable. they clearly dont deserve to go through. Australia were the second best team of the group by far, but it was a shame that they fucked up tactically in the first game.
3. u hate australia because u are a brit. simple as that. im surprised u have not put them as one of ur favorite teams. and i still question why u put ur heart and soul into a country such as croatia, even though you have no blood from the country. nor can you even speak the language. i find that extremely odd.
4. cultural clashes- i was talking up serbia whether u believe it or not. i think they are an extremely good side which failed to perform this world cup. but i can see why some people here such as razor like to see them loose. war is still fresh in peoples minds. My town back overseas thankfully wasn't really effected and my grandparents, uncles, aunties and so on were ok. i have some croat friend who had their families massacred. croats and serbs have different views about each other but u would be crazy not to expect some jubelent responses from some users after the serbia loss. unfortunately u will never understand since u directly were not effected by the war.
There ive debunked ur bullshit essay.
Re: Dan
Who do i follow.
Croatia first but they are out.
Then i was neutral. I wanted Spain, Holland, Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mexico, Uruaguy, Paraguay, CHILE (due to Pedro Morales), Ivory Coast, Ghana all to do well as i like there football.
However some of you here are not supporting sides as you like the football. You are supporting sides based on what ethnicities you like and hate. That's garbage basically. Last time i checked football was a sport.
If Australia had better players believe me i'd support them more, but this team does not do it for me. As i say Viduka excellant players, same with Kewell but unfortunately not this lot. You have to admire the work rate and effort but any australian should know its not a great Australian side.
Dan, why don't you try breaking down my so called bullshit essays rather than making nothing comments. Explain why its bullshit. You try to win arguements by mocking. Where's your evidence.
If Australia deserved to go through they would have done. Serbia had more shots on Australia than the other way around. You'll find it all in the game stats. Australia are like Slovenia. Good hustling and effort, but they lack quality to go any further in this competition. Pantelic's disallowed goal could easily been given. Australia were teetering on losing a goal against Serbia. That group was very random and Ghana have better players and play better football, so good luck to them. They deserve it. Regardless whether Aus had they on the ropes, they still held on. Australia gave it a good fight. But Richard Hughes, Dave Cairney, Craig Moore, Josh Kennerdy are low level players in comparison to what they once had. They did about as well as they could.
Theres some here who get football mixed up. Fans get deluded into thinking when a team wins or loses that is a victory for the fans. Yes it makes you happy as it fills a void in life and provides entertainment, but it is the players success. The players worked for that not the fans. The fans are there to bring the money. I don't get people like razor wanting to hate the Serbian players just cos of the countries politics. How do you know those guys even agree with the countries politics? Going by your theory then Ivica Olic and Nemanja Vidic should NOT be friends and Marko Pantelic should not been singing the praises of Dinamo when we met Ajax. Fan rivalry doesn't really have a place in football. its all political shit. All i know is Vidic is Olic's friend and Lucas Neill smacked Klasnic in the kidneys and then stepped over his body when he wasn't even moving. I know which player i prefer out of Vidic and Neill.
Australia yes gave it a good shot, but there out. Serbia as well, how many chances do they want to win games. Poor finishing so they deserve to go out as well.
Re: dan. I hate on every side. Examples please!
@ branimir
how sweet is it that someone can just be hanging out in cro and run into, not one, but two cro soccer stars?!! great work getting them to comment for the site.
i hope you're letting them know that there is a big appetite for news in the diaspora regarding croatian soccer and croatian soccer stars across europe.
here's a project for the CSR brass to think about: get one of the cro soccer stars that plays in europe to do a recurring video blog about their experience playing abroad, talk or rant about that week's league match, or the latest cro NT match, and deliver it as if he was just talking to one of his friends on skype (conversational, with swearing and slang encouraged). i gotta believe that at least some of our big players abroad have a laptop and the technical savvy to record a video blog. hell, they don't even need a laptop, they can do it on the new iphone.
re: USA v Ghana
i think it will be a tough match for the US. they beat us in 06, but that's mostly irrelevant considering it was four years ago, and we're talking about different rosters now. it will be tough for the US because Ghana is pretty physical. i'd rather see donovan or dempsey playing more of a central attacking midfield role, and bring in holden to run up and down the wing. aside from Howard, the US is still shaky at the back. i'm pretty confident the US can win, but they need to finish better. they can't afford to blow easy opportunities like they did against algeria.
england v germany? deutchland uber alles.
dark horse pick to win it all? uruguay.
Oh and I'm a sucker because 'I' can't take what u agree with. Ur the biggest bitch on this site. If someone doesn't agree with u, u would write 2 essays of complete bullshit just to get ur view through.
dinamofan sure their playing style is boring but it comsistantly gets the job done. Who exactly do you follow your self because u critisise nearly everyteam. From what I recall you are English?
"Australia Owned Serbia & sent there asses back to where they belong"
what a meaningless sentance.. How do you mean sent them back to where they belong. Within there own country you mean. So that means you think they should not be allowed to compete. They qualifed as group leaders of course they deserved to be in the world cup. Australia and Serbia sent each other out.. great, so what!
I don't have a big thing against Australia… Bressiano, Viduka, Kewell were all fine players, but i'm sorry but Lucas Neill, Kevin Muscatt, Danny Tiatto, Craig Moore were the biggest bunch of dirty fouling bastards football I ever saw. when Lucas Neill knocked out Klasnic was you supporting him then. I can't stand the guy. Same with Craig Moore. i'm not supporting a team with players like that.
Australia – i don't like their style of play. Its a team that does not interest me. We should no longer discuss teams who are out. I mention Serbia in the same context as Italy and France. As a neutral you hope countries will put out their best line ups. That's not Serbia's most productive line up. Just like it wasn't Frances or Italy. End of story. I hope this shuts you up now Razor. You talk too much! Stop throwing a barney when someone doesn't agree with your opinion. I don't dispute your opinion that you think Australia should have qualified. that's your opinion. personally I thought they were naff. i'm glad i don't have to watch them anymore.
Australia played rubbish football. Neither Australia or Serbia deserve to go through. Bye Bye Australia. Go Ghana!
I'm too ill today to tell you why Australia are rubbish. They just simply are. They play anti football. They have one good player Tim Cahill. The rest used to play in English second division.
Also get with it Razor. I am not Croatian so I have a right to support whoever i like you dufess.. I am not wrapped up in thinking football is about nationalities like yourself. Its just football. I don't put energy into wishing ill on a team. I even respect what U.S football team have been doing. I didn't like what i saw from Australia. That's my opinion. Stop crying just cos someone doesn't agree with you. Accept it, you sucker.
Oh Cesarec has signed for Aris Salonika so that puts an end to any hope of him joining Dinamo. Same day Bjelanovic signs for Cluj. Stop name checking me Razor. Find something else to occupy your mind.
England could win if Schweinsteiger really is out injured. Looking at their roster they have no other defensive minded midfielders. Loeuw is really an idiot for deciding not to bring Frings to the WC(he'd have been a perfect replacement). I don't know what he was thinking by loading the squad so heavily with strikers and attacking midfielders- it looks really lopsided.
hhaha you told it like it is Ziva, What a GREAT DAY,Was a day to remember,Australia Owned Serbia & sent there asses back to where they belong,Also couldnt ask for more with the USA,really wanted them to progress,As for converting others to dislike Serbs,Allways good to spread the word of what there really like as a nation..
& finally Dinamofam youve just shown me how much knowledge of the game you really have, absolutely NOTHING,I suggest you choose another sport more to your likeing,something abit more easy for you,maybee volley ball or even ballet..
Cant believe this joke of a person DinamoFan aka SerbianFan actually says Australia didnt deserve to go through to the round of 16,You gotta be FN kidding me,Australia dominated a Ghana side of with 10 men & were unlucky not to get 3 points,They basically walked all over Serbia,When the Serbs went in as favourites,I had confidence Australia would win the game convincingly & they did..Clearly they were the 2nd best team in the Group..
As for your Team Serbia (Dinamofan) im sorry for you they didnt play to your liking..GO AUSSIES
Gentleman,
Its mid-day down here and I just woke up after a heavy night of drinking. I was at the US game and WOW. Deserved the win. Full credit to Bradley and making the right changes, he kept pushing forward and ultimatley it paid off for the good guys.
As soon as we left the stadium yesterday we went straight to the bars and began celebrating and waiting for the Aus-Serbia game. Great result. As a croatian-amaerican, what a great day. The US makes it into the next round while serbia and slovenia are going home. I could not have asked for a better day. I was even able to convert a few american fans in anti-serbs fans for the day. As the serb game started they asked why was I rooting so hard for Australia and I told them how the serbs are nothing more than butchers, murderers, rapists, and thugs all stemming from their actions during the 1990s. My quesation was, how can you root for animals and country like that??? So, I won over a few fans.
Jebiga, can't wait for the knockout stage to begin.
Dinamofan as if the Aussies didn't deserve to go through. they outplayed the Ghanians and serbs. considering that ghana went though on two goals which were handball penalties, i think australia were more than worthy to progress. it was just a shame they did not play the correct team against the germans, that was the coaches biggest mistake.
@Brane,
sorry for the late comment. First Rakitic now Leko? Amazing! I agree with Ante… you should have got a shot with the hot "komad"..
question..
did you hand Leko a CSR business card?
i'm glad Australia didn't go through as they didn't deserve it, but Serbia played a daft line up through the tournament. Jovanovic who is a striker on left wing. They have Zoran Tosic and only played him for 15 mins of the tournament. Zigic had a shocking tournament and there was not enough creativity from midfield. Also should have got Bosko Jankovic in that side somewhere. As for Slovenia they had a good tournament. They should have gone through, but they let things slip against U.S and missed their chances V England. Slovenia did about as well as Slovenia could do.
I'm looking forward to knock out matches now. No more negative football. I'm a bit worried about Greece as they shown they can totally kill a football match. They better not do that to us when we play them. If they open up we can beat them, but if they shut down then Bilic may not be tactically good enough to break them down. We'll have to see. As a team they are alright. They are prob a little better than Ukraine. Clearly we need to be on it in future and i don't expect we will play as bad as last campaign.
did anyone see the Australian fan flicking off the camera when the serbs scored
Antic subbing out Krasic and starting Zigic was so fucking stupid. Somewhat disappointed Serbia didn't go through, but Germany-England game is going to be epic.
Go AUSTRALIA, just drank up some shots of rakija after watching the allmighty land of OZ defeat Serbia,Great Game, Cahilllllll
Its a shame Australia didn't progress,I feel as tho we were 2nd best in the group,Wrong tactics in the 1st game,Germany didn't do us any favours..
Was also rooting for the US earlier on in the night,Mad happy the USA got through,Donovan with the sealer..Well done
thanks Branimir please keep up the good work as it's nice to see and hear from the guys on the squad outside of their official capacities
Klasnic can pick his club now as he has been given free status by Nantes. Good news as he's now likely to recieve a big load of offers and doesn't need to be restricted to sides that can pay the transfer fee.
Hoffenheim seems the sensible move in my opinion. Sasa Bjelanovic also gone to Romanian champions Cluj. I think at Dinamo we need to accept that we have a lot of players and perhaps it makes more financial sense to go with the current group. It means that we have not much to hope for in Europe, but HNL1 title should still be in our grasps. However players develop over the season.
Hajduk have moved out Smoje and Jertec. So they only really have Aracic and Seric to sort out. Actually if they are selling Strinic then they prob will decide to keep those two and loan out Jozinovic instead.
Maybe they should keep Aracic as a squad player and cash in on Pandza or J Buljat
I would say that a lot of Croatian "celebrities" are "down to earth" and accessable. The reason they are accessable is that most people don't bug them about their "fame" in Croatia. The other thing is I've been a professional photojournalist for fifteen years and have a sense of approaching people with a camera. I think these two combinations of things make it easy to get these kind of interviews.
Yeah, he's very shy. It's kind of funny as he's known as a midfield enforcer.
It may take only 2 minutes but he has no need to do it. I'm sure people stop him all the time. He was very gracious to do the interview, especially since he was occupied by "other" things….I remember once seeing a photo of Leko in a Montecarlo casino with his arms around 2 stunning women- one on each arm. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, naturally.
I've always thought Leko was a solid player who reached a certain level and decided he was happy there. Hes got a great lifestyle, i'm sure. Not everyone is going to be super-ambitious.
Wow! Good stuff.
Hopefully he can hold down a job in turkey and get back on the national team.
Cool. Right on Branimir. You're the man. I've always thought highly of Leko. It's too bad his old coach at Monaco was an idiot by keeping him on the bench.
Ya seriously, these guys are such nice guys to do this type of stuff…shows how classy they are even though they are huge football stars…but really it only takes 2 mins
I still think he`s not a bad option to bring off the bench(NT) when winning to play that solid holding midfielder role
good job Branimir
Good stuff, actually i'm quite impressive how amicable these guys Leko and Rakitic are. I can tell you for sure England players would not let you so close to them.
I think Leko is a decent player. He sounds optimistic about his move to Turkey. Hope he does well there. At least he's going to be playing games now.
Hey Branimir! You are on fire mate! Next post would be of you having drinks with Bilic 😉
Seriously though, great stuff man. Congratulations and good luck on paddling the Adriatic. You are a fighter.
Where's the video of the hot 'komad' he was with? You're slipping brother. 🙂
And the only reason we know what he's having for breakfast is because we can see it in this video. A little coffee action with a water and a cigarette to wash it down.
Too bad his chances of playing for the Croatian national team are just about over. He would really have to tear it up in Turkey. As for the WC, watching Mexico v. Uruguay is as close as he'll get.
@ Jerko,
Don't be so shy my friend.