Good Friday is a somber time in the Catholic faith, but for many in Croatia, this particular Good Friday was a day of remembrance and a day of solemn reflection while keeping one of Croatia’s bright former stars in our thoughts.
This past Friday marks the seventh anniversary of Croatian football’s biggest tragedy; the death of 24-year-old Hrvoje Čuštić during an HNL match between NK Zadar and HNK Cibalia at Stadion Stanomir.
Čuštić was a man who was said to have “lived football 24 hours a day” and was part of one of Zadar’s greatest generations, winning promotion to the Prva Liga the year before, and beating Hajduk Split to win first place in the Dalmatia Cup – with Cuštić scoring the winning goal.
But on April 1, 2008 an injury to his head left him in a coma, and he passed away three days later on April 3.
Cuštić has been memorialized in several ways, but most notable is seen on the undershirt of former Zadar teammate, Danijel Subašić.
But the players of Zadar honored the former Zadar player the best they could with a shocking 5-1 victory over NK Lokomotiva at Kranjčevićeva on the anniversary of his death.
Zadar has spent much of this season in last place in the league, with little hope of improvement or progress.
But the team came together for a common reason on Friday and put on a solid display against one of the league’s tougher opponents.
Drago Gabrić opened the scoring in the match to put Zadar ahead in the 19th minute. Lokomotiva evened the score up for a short period of time with a goal from Marko Kolar in the 42nd minute but Karlo Bartolec scored an own goal to give Zadar the final lead they would need.
Ivan Krstanović scored three on the day to give his team the 5-1 win.
Krstanović’s first goal came from a penalty after he was pulled down in the box by Zadar’s goalkeeper. His second came from an easy header off a corner kick only seven minutes later.
Krstanović had a chance to score his third only a few minutes after that, but was bested by the keeper who made the save.
He was given a redemption chance from the penalty spot – his third try of the day – in the 75th minute, this time capitalizing on the chance.
Zadar must have had someone looking out for them on Friday, giving them the added motivation to not only gain a victory, but gain a victory for a fallen friend and teammate.
The three points were also put to good use as for the first time this season, Zadar are in eighth place, three points out of relegation.
Dinamo Zagreb and HNK Rijeka played one of the biggest games of the season on Saturday and ended the match with a thrilling 2-2 scoreline.
The derby at Kantrida started with Bekim Balaj’s goal in the 29th minute to put Rijeka in the lead.
Jeremy Taravel failed to clear the ball resting near the goal line and left a golden opportunity for the young Balaj to tap the ball in past goalkeeper, Eduardo.
Dinamo was able to tie the match at the restart of the second half, thanks to a goal from Marko Pijaca.
Pijaca was able to beat Ivan Vargić, who made his return to the field after experiencing a mysterious bout of headaches.
Soon after the match was tied, Rijeka had a strong case for a penalty kick after Eduardo seemed to have taken down Vedran Jugović inside the box. The referees disagreed and let play continue to Rijeka’s dismay.
One of Rijeka’s bench staff was ejected from the match for his expressive disagreement with the call, but the game continued 1-1.
Dinamo went up 2-1 with Leonardo Sigali’s goal in the 83rd minute, which looked to be the game winner.
But Josip Radošević had something to say about that.
An extra four minutes were added to the match, but the referee allowed play to continue after the alloted four minutes and Radošević, who is known for his strong leg, let out a desperate strike from nearly 25 yards away for an impressive “eurogoal”.
The match was immediately called to an end after the game and the goal was promptly protested by the Dinamo players, including their coach, Zoran Mamić who had to be restrained while confronting the referee.
“I’m sorry for my behavior at the end of the game. That is not how to act as the coach of any team, but the judge threw out the clock. The whole game was judged very bad and had countless mistakes,” Mamić said after the match and admitted that he should be punished for his reactions. “I have to congratulate my team in a very good game. I think we were better than Rijeka in all aspects of the game…and that we are unfairly left without a victory.”
“Dinamo was better. We in the second half, responded well and we got two really cheap goals. The match was filled with a lot of decisions that we could talk about, but come on, you score a 94th minute goal for a point, then you have to be satisfied,” Rijeka coach, Matjaz Kek said after the game.
The two teams will face each other again on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Croatian Cup.
The Gradski Derbi took place on Saturday as well featuring Hajduk Split and RNK Split playing at Poljud.
The “Derby of St. Duje” ended with a 2-1 victory for RNK Split, which has not been done since exactly two years ago to the day. It was also the first time Split has won in Poljud in recent history.
Hajduk went ahead in the 37th minute after Artem Milevskiy scored the opening goal, but the second half was all Split as they scored two goals in the second 45 minutes to take an important three points that points them further from relegation.
Marko Rog tied the match in the 56th minute, but Sokol Cikelleshi scored the game winner from the spot in the 84th minute to give his team a historic victory over their inter-city rivals.
Hajduk has extended their winless streak to three games now, and will face Split once again at Poljud on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Croatian Cup.
A big game for Osijek took place in Koprivnica on Thursday, but ended with them falling further in the standings to last place after a 2-1 defeat to Slaven.
Osijek had a glimmer of hope when they went a head 1-0 thanks to a 14th minute goal from Daniel Peev. But the lead was only temporary and Franjo Mihaljević spoiled the fun for the visitors and tied the match in the 17th minute.
Ljuban Crepulja nailed the coffin shut with a final goal in the 89th minute to win it for the Pharmacists.
Istra hung on for a win of their own at home against NK Zagreb.
Istra took all three points with a 2-1 win thanks to two goals from Dejan Radonjić.
Valentino Stepčić scored for Zagreb in the seventh minute.
RIP Hrvoje Custic
Great to see this website didn’t forget Hrvoje Custic.
R.I.P.
And yeah, along with Dinamo, Hajduk, and Rijeka, Osijek has never been relegated.
Here’s an interesting stat:
If you only take the last seven weeks of the league (week 20-27) the standings would be this:
Dinamo – 18 pts
Zadar – 13
Loko – 13
Rijeka – 11
Split – 11
Slaven – 10
Istra – 9
Zagreb – 9
Osijek – 8
Hajduk – 8
Hajduk running into some troubling times, but Zadar has been pretty impressive in 2015.
IGRAJ ZADAR VOLIM TE!
Dinamo still no losses? this is crazy
And they still play games in that dump of a stadium.
^ ^
This concrete wall being about 5 – 10 feet from the touchline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSyAUaL5iqw
R.I.P.
How did he get his serious head injury ?
Great job Zadar!
Crazy if Osijek get relegated.
I believe they’ve never gone down before..