KLASNIĆ UNHAPPY WITH 14-MINUTE SILENCE AT POLJUD
Dr. Colin O’ Haravić reporting from Tampa, FL
This is Colin O’Hara aka (Dr. O’Haravić), a combination of my last name and my mother’s maiden name, Crnković, reporting from St. Petersburg, Fla on Ivan Klasnić’s trip to America with the Bolton Wanderers. Please excuse the audio as I had some last minute difficulties with my equipment.
The English Premier League’s Bolton Wanderers kicked off their preseason schedule in St. Petersburg, Fla on Thursday night, July 14th, against local North American Soccer League side FC Tampa Bay. Bolton dropped their first match this year with a score of 1-0 despite starting a strong lineup.
Traveling with Bolton’s first team was striker Ivan Klasnić. I attended Bolton’s pre-match training on Wednesday at the University of South Florida’s soccer complex to get a little insight on how important these preseason matches are to Ivan. This is what manager Owen Coyle had to say:
“He’s [Ivan] a top class player. What Ivan needs to have is a good preseason. When he came last year, he missed all of the preseason and tried to catch up with fitness. There’s no doubt the virtues and qualities Ivan has in term of his abilities; what he needs is that foundation and that platform of the fitness levels so he can go and get the opportunity to show those abilities.
He’s been a top class player all his days and he still is. It’s up to him now to drive himself on to show everyone the qualities he undoubtedly has.”
-Bolton manager Owen Coyle on Klasnić
KLASNIĆ RECEIVES A CSR BILIĆ SHIRT FROM COLIN
Bolton and Tampa Bay took the field in front of a crowd of 3,914 at Al Lang Field in downtown St. Petersburg on a sweltering and humid evening. Bolton started a strong XI which included: GK Jussi Jaaskelainen , D Gretar Steinsson, D Paul Robinson, D Gary Cahill, D Zat Knight, M Matthew Taylor, M Mark Davies, M Darren Pratley, M Chung-Yong Lee, F Kevin Davies – Captain and F Ivan Klasnić.
The first thing you notice when stepping inside Al Lang Field is that it is actually a baseball stadium. Yes, a soccer field in a baseball stadium. The clay is covered up with grass and the north goal is on the third base line, about 20 feet in front of the crowd. The touch line runs along the first base line and out to right field, where it ends in front of the wall. The 7,000 seats wrap around half of the field starting from behind the goal and end just over midfield along the touch line. Opposite of the midfield seats is where the player’s bench is. Left field is left empty for substitute players to warm up in.
KLASNIĆ (L) IN ACTION VS. FC TAMPA
After the captains of the clubs traded pendants at midfield, kickoff commenced at 7:30 under warm blue skies. The Wanderers started the game off strong, dominating possession in the first 45 minutes. Bolton fired six shots in the first half, really putting the pressure on Tampa goalkeeper, Jeff Attinella. Two of those first-half shots came from Klasnić. He made a solid connection off a low cross from the right side sent by Chung-Yong Lee, but was aimed right at the keeper. He had another chance minutes later that was also blocked. Klasnić also made a big impact at midfield as he made several strong passes that led to near goals. One came from him about 40 yards out. He gave a fancy pass with the outside of his foot to teammate Chung-Yong Lee who hit a quick shot from a tough angle.
In the second 45, Coyle reconfigured his squad which found Klasnić on the bench. The manager made seven changes in the lineup at halftime, but they weren’t enough to stop the Tampa Bay attack. In the 65th minute, substitute, Pascal Millien ran the ball down field and crossed it to Matt Clare who put in the game winner for the home team.
KLASNIĆ TRACKING THE BALL IN THE FLORIDA SKY
Bolton tried to score with everything they had. Substitute keeper for Tampa Bay, Evan Newton, made sure that didn’t happen. With back-to-back-to-back diving saves off of Kevin Davies, Chun-Yong Lee, and Robbie Blake, Newton established his presence on the field and kept Tampa in the lead.
Tampa bunkered down on defense for the last 25 minutes to secure the win. The crowd of nearly 4,000 was louder than ever, but all were in good spirits. Croatian fans lined up to meet Klasnić after the match with checkered jerseys in hand. I was very pleased with the amount of time Ivan spent with the fans as well as the Tampa players. He was among the last to leave the field and was willing to talk with anyone who wanted to meet him. He truly was a top class man.
This was awesome, Colin you are the man. This is what I was excited to see since I just got back from Croatia. Klasnic is one of my favorites all time, so happy to see him playing. I look forward to see him playing a part in a push to qualify. Great interview and Colin you should do more work. Finally something good to see on this site then all the hatred of Tottenham….
"O'Harovic", funny because I've been thinking lately that we Croats are like the Irish of central-europe, cept a little smarter, haha.
@Tudjman…..the problem is with both the clubs and local police. Neither one wants to take the lead. Will Hajduk/Dinamo forbid certain fans to show up at games when caught doing illegal activity??? usually no. They rather have the police do something, but they rarely act as well.
It's just something that is part of the culture of going to a game in cro, specifically if you sit with the supporter's group.
90% of what these guys do is correct and fair, but the minority give them a bad name. Plus, they have no desire to take forceful action on their own members. That is why I prefer to sit in the "VIP" seats when at a game, unless its outside of Croatia. Once our fans attend a euro or a WC, they are all behvaed. Why???? the idiot element is dilluted and the security/police in foreign countries will take action.
Great guy!!!!
Love him!
dude speaks great English…up there with Niko Kranjcar
As a proud fan of hajduk split, I have been to Poljud on several occasions, and let's just say this is the least of securities worries. They have made efforts in security, like recording the hooligans, serving non alcoholic beverages, etc. P.S. This type of primitiveness lies deep in the history of the country it's much bigger than the security team, it's the way many of the people think inside croatia. Not all, but many.
Frankly, I don't know who's dumber….our so-called "fans" or the Casey Anthony jury. Both seem to lack some common sense.
We're telling the international community that we're more civilized than Serbs, but yet, pictures of fans forming the swastika made it's way through the news services.
Can someone who follows the HNL very closely or has even been to the games tell me why "security" (do they even exist?) allow this crap to go on at both Poljud and Maksimir Stadium?
I think everyone knows Klasnic is a pure finisher and an amazing sub in any game 30 minutes should be his consistently I just doubt it will be that way.
With him in the box all you have to do is allow him to get his foot on the ball and he can finish. He is one of my favorite players ever. He will make the most of his minutes. Outside of Dudu and Oli he would be the striker we need in our side to come of the bench and do what he does best.
As for the silence everyone knows I think its pathetic and embarrassing. There are other ways of showing displeasure for how Split has been treated.
Good job with the interview/coverage. Thanks.
agreed, the 14 minute thing was stupid, but cro fans have never been accused of being smart anyway. Our best fans are those from the diaspora that show up when we get to a major competition. Torcida displaying swaztika flags (most recent) to BBB making monkey noises when a black person touches the ball. We have a history of idiocy when it involves the fans who reside within lijepa nasa.
one person saying he did not like it does not equal validation. Its just that, one person's opinion.
I'm sure all of them did not like, I would not like it if I was playing either.
Ha, thanks for the comments. Just to clarify if he has issues with Bilic, he did give the shirt back to me after the picture was taken. I told him that it was his to keep and he gave a little chuckle, but he kept it.
even though he doesn't play much for Bolton I still see Klasnic as a key NT player, mainly off the bench in case we are losing. The guy is Croatia's best finisher in my eyes, but his work ethic isn't good which is why he doesn't play in the EPL…but I can live with that
His subtitution really turned the Georgia match around.
Does he have a falling out with Bilic, I don't know, but he was very critical of Otto Baric at Euro 2004 so it wouldn't be out of his character lol
It's nice to get validation from the players themselves and what they thought about the 14 minutes.
Goes to show you what Killer thinks about Bilic,… the game "turned" in the second half against Georgia… duh, no doubt, Bilic finally put him on the field… after being a last minute call-up…
Great job Oharavic!
@Ante
It's one thing to know in advance and another to actually be playing in your own "home" and actually experience it (silence).
@Tudjman,
The players knew they were going to do it though. So what's the issue?
I didn't comment on the first two posts, because I thought folks were being sarcastic (and I'm still not sure).
Are you guys serious in saying that you were shocked that the silence disrupted the players and weren't aware of it until this Klasnic interview?
1) While I understand the frustration, I still can't believe the fans pulled such a stupid stunt. It made no sense whatsoever. Show your displeasure in other ways….don't pull some shit that takes away from the game.
2) After being kept off of the roster for a long time after the 2008 Euro Championship (and coming back years later), I am not sure that he was too excited to get a t-shirt of Slaven Bilic 🙂
Colin,
Well done sir! Great to here that the 14 minutes of silence did "disrupt the players" from Ivan Klasnic himself. Amazing coverage of the game. Nice to hear that Ivan is a class act guy unlike Ante B 🙂
I picked up on the same quote about the 14-minutes of silence bugging the players….
Klasnicu, besides getting it on with younger jail bait and living the "if it bleeds, it breeds" motto, you apparently seem to be the man.
Come to find out:
-14 minute boycott bothered the players during the Georgia game
-Klasnic said "better is Zagreb"
Yes.