IVICA OLIĆ LIFTING THE GERMAN CHAMPIONSHIP SHIELD
Ivica Olić and Bayern Munich returned to Bavaria this past week after being crowned 2009-10 German Bundesliga Champions on Saturday in Berlin. As you see in the video below, Bayern had an awkward celebration atop a balcony led by Franck Ribery. It’s wasn’t until the end of the festivities where things were finally spiced up by Olić, as he doused a reporter with a full beer.
Bayern still have two games left in their season: DFB Pokal (German Cup) Final in Berlin on May 15th against Werder Bremen; followed by the mother of all club football matches, UEFA Champions League FINAL versus Inter Milan on May 22nd.
OLIĆ STARTS THE PARTY AT 3:19
I think most fans, (we can use Zagreb here) if not all, want to see their club fight and never give up, even in defeat. Again, look at Medvescak. They fought their way to the semifinals and lost like champions. If they continue on that path, Zagreb will have the best ice hockey fans in Europe. If only Dinamo put forth a little fight in them. They have nothing to look for in Europe.
Ante B… I don't think you've said anything I didn't already know… I suppose I just wanted to see how in touch with reality you are as a Dinamo fan. Most fans only want to see the good things… it seems to me Dinamo can no longer ignore the lengthy list of things that must change. Don't get me wrong, Hajduk is probably equally as inept at professional sports management.
Zagreb wants to stand behind Dinamo. If I had to make a list of what prevents Purgeri from going to support Dinamo, here it is:
-Maksimir stadium is awful as is the security and comfort level, no bathrooms, no concession stands, nothing.
-Fear of "hooligans"
-The awful quality of play on the pitch, as well as the overpaid picke on it
-The legacies of Franjo Tudman and Zdravko Mamic, and their ties to the mafija
-Awful marketing
You can tell Zagreb is yearning for a team to support and they found it in the local hockey team, Medvescak. Zagreb went nuts for Medvescak. Why? Because they are the complete opposite of Dinamo.
Medvescak is run properly; has a decent arena; security is good; people can bring their families; decent concessions; bare minimum of "hooligans"; the quality of the players on the ice and the fact that they don't give up, they fight and Purgeri love 'fajteri'; excellent marketing.
The only way Dinamo will be supported again fully is if they inherit the Medvescak business model. With people like Zdravko Mamic in the mix, that will be a feat all in itself.
-Captain Obvious
Incidentally, I actually watched several minutes of the Dinamo game yesterday…. I must say that was a nice goal (as fortunate as it was that the defender slipped.) Was that Badelj who made the lovely final pass?
I've read statements from Ibricic since then saying he was trying to catch Davor Vugrinec as the league's highest scorer. That might be a reason for his selfishness, but selfishness is no bad thing in a attacker. Anyway Ante Vukusic… i mean he prob would have missed lol.. I remember when Pedro set one up on the goal line for Sivonjic against Cibalia. Sometimes in HNL1 its best to have a go yourself rather than pass to an inferior teammate:)
RE: Ibricic…
I won't comment on his heritage but I do wonder if he and the club were trying especially hard to pad his goalscoring total yesterday.
Did you see the highlights against Sesvete? Early in the game he had what appeared to be an easy pass to make (I believe to Vukusic) on a two-on-none break… he neglected to pass, choosing instead to try to score on his own. He didn't.
I know it's easy to nitpick but it seemed like a very selfish play… not something I have seen from him before. So, I can only conclude he was simply trying to pad his total. If he had done that in a meaningful game I would have been livid.
The reason Ibricic does not get more praise is because he is a mujo. Had a great year, but I rahter see a hrvat be the best player for Hajduk. it might not be a politically correct statement, but its true. I have a reserved celebration for him because he is a mujo.
Dinamofan… as always, I appreciate your thorough analysis.
You asked, "Why should Jurcic not celebrate?"
The man has every right to celebrate. The point I was making was he, and the Dinamo players, were celebrating in an EMPTY stadium. Just who were they waving to? It was more like a photo op than a real celebration with adoring fans.
I have wondered before, does anyone in Zagreb really care about the club? If you remove the BBB, virtually no one shows up.
I couldn't agree more about Ibricic. I think he's fantastic. He scores not only from open play but he's also more than capable at taking free kicks. I am hopeful both he and the club profit handsomely from his coming departure. I must say though, I personally wish he'd go somewhere other than Russia. It seems anyone who goes there is destined to play in anonymity.
If Ivan Strinic goes to Lazio that'd be good. Hopefully he will get games there if he goes as there is a problem in Italy about Non EU players. If a team has too many than they end up being in limbo. I imagine Strinic would be seen as a replacement for Kolarov.
I personally feel maybe the Hjorve Cale/ Drago Gabric type route is best for Strinic so he goes to a smaller side then builds from there. But if the bid comes for Ibricic then maybe Strinic won't go though i don't see how they can pay off Vejic, Seric, M Buljat, Rodic, Smoje, Aracic, Ahmad without making player sales? Answers on a postcard anyone. Surely they have to make a severance agreement this summer as nobody will pay money for this lot. No chance.. Anyone agree? I think Hajduk have to let both Strinic and Ibricic go. Also they will seriously regret not selling J Buljat for 700K to Turkey. That's bizarre. They have Maloca, Pandza and Jonjic so we are talking about a 4th centre back. Why not cash it. Makes no sense to me.
As for Ibricic, you don't hear much praise for this guy on CSR, but he deserves applause for his season. He's dragged Hajduk into second place. He's a playmaker and he outscored Kalinic's tally last season. He definitely did not need to stay this season and live amongst all the crap that's been going on at Hajduk, but he's been excellant. He's rumoured to be off to Rubin Kazan which is a sensible move. I think they do not need to sign a replacement. It just means Anas, Tomasov, Ticinovic and Cernat need to all step forward and increase their performance. I think with strikers Vukusic and Cop deserve to stay, but they need one killer scorer. I hate to say this but Hajduk and Dinamo may have same standard team next season and it might be a lot closer.
PART 2
– So if KOVAC is always injured your left with BARBARIC alone. Barbaric is only average and he'll role up his sleeves and get stuck in, but just like Maloca there is a lot to learn. Putting Cufre is centre alongside him was an off the wall idea. But Mamic put Jurcic in this position by giving him Biscan and Kovac who were both over 30 and injury prone so could not play.
– If we actually look at right and left back. We don't actually have one. Etto and Tomecak are right midfielders and Ibanez is a left midfielder. Your never gonna get anywhere unless you recruit proper players for proper positions. Etto did alright earlier in the season and really Vrsaljko – its too soon. He's only 18 or something and its not time for him to take place of Etto. Also Mamic put Vrdoljak, Etto, Sivonjic on a transfer list. No need to do it. Just harms the teams harmony when it was doing fine at that stage.
– In midfield we are actually lightweight. Vrdoljak might improve next season if he pairs up with Jerko Leko. Badelj is good creatively, but defensively he does not do much. If we do not sell Badelj and we do sign Leko. He should put Leko where Badelj is. Move Badelj left, Morales right and the team will prob look better. However unless we sign then Jurcic can't solve our midfield problems.
– Up front basically, Mandzo is our one scoring forward. Kramaric is fine as a bench player. I'd personally be happy to see the rest of them go. If a bid for Mandzo comes then he goes no prob. However if Mamic does not want to sell Badelj or Mandzo yet, then he has to change their positions in the team. Mamic has done 10 things wrong with Mandzo. Firstly he gave him stupid wages unneccessarily. Secondly he stops him moving when he really wants to go – never a good idea and the bid was on the table. Thirdly he criticises him far too much and makes Jurcic's man management of him impossible. Fourthly he hates him but stops him moving. This is the sort of thing Niko Kranjcar complained about. I personally thing the way to stop Mandzo moaning is to give him a strike partner. You can see it in the celebrations. The only guy he slightly likes is Slepicka and that is cos Slepicka plays as a feeder. If we sign a strike partner who can even out perform Mandzo we prob will see a better side of him. I personally believe if we don't want to sign too much and we can't sell for right prices then we should sign someone like Sasa Bjelanovic who will deck the Croatian league and that may make Mandzo play better if he's being upstaged by his strike partner. Whilst he plays with poor partners, he just gets frustrated and we see the worst of him. again Jurcic cannot do anything about how bad the strikers are who Mamic signed.
Two points confuse me. Firstly Zach how is it a surprise Pedro Morales was called up for Chile. He is almost singlely responsible for getting Dinamo so far ahead earlier in the season. During his injury we nearly gave it away. Pedro also was given a trial match against Trinidad to prove himself in time and he came good. Was best player and scorer a nice goal. Pedro is a scorer and very gifted player. Its obvious – you take Pedro firstly in the prelimerary squad for sure. If he makes the cut we'll have to see.
As for the comment on Jurcic. Why should Jurcic not celebrate. Its his trophy more than anyones. What more could Jurcic do with the team he had? Mamic did him no favors whatsoever. Jurcic tried to give every player at Dinamo a chance to prove their worth this season. There is no one guy who did not get chances well apart from Ante Tomic but he's been injured anyway.
If you look at Dinamo's season closely
(a) start of the season, Mamic couldn't be bothered to recruit Zec and instead signed Crapadopoulos who could not score and still can't score at Celta Vigo. Jurcic had to give him a run in the team and he just could not do it.
(b) Mamic's signings over the last year have been Cufre, Kovac, Sivonjic, Slepicka, Dodo, Primorac, Papa
– lets take them on by one. Firstly Papa, bad signing all round. Slepicka had a reputation in Sparta for only turning it on when he can be bothered and at Dinamo is just the same. He has no pace, is now and then injured and is not worth the near 2m Euro Dinamo spent on him. Sparta Prague was his level. Sparta were beaten by Dinamo with the Mikic, Mandzo, Drpic, Badelj team so we were a bit better than them and we should not have dropped down a level to worsen our side to sign Slepicka. That was Mamic's strike again. Slepicka is a waste of time and for all concerned its best he moves on. i've said time and time again Slepicka for Keric is a deal to get him out the club and bring in a better replacement. I can't see why this can't happen.
– Dodo and Sivonjic. These are two mediocre players and if you compare them with Hajduk they are in fact not really better than Cop and Vukusic. in fact i think there worse. So if Dinamo intends to keep signing guys like this we're only going one way. However with Sivonjic, just when Jurcic had found a way to get something from him scoring by placing him on right midfield where he was hard to pick up and scored 6 goals Mamic then decided to kick him out and bring in DODO and PRIMORAC. These two guys had far from excellant status. 400K Euro's is maximum they spent on them. They are just nothing players. Dodo surely had to do something at Zapresic first. He went scored only 4 goals before Dinamo signed him. Its just a poor signing. It was purely done to finance Zapresic. Primorac cannot score. Dinamo and Hajduk do not need to sign strikers who cannot score. The idea is to tally up goals in HNL1, not have a guy who can't hit the net. At Osijek Primorac dropped down the pecking order so how he gets a move to Dinamo i don't understand that. Kovac always injured and ready for retirement. Dortmund knew it – Kovac was only good for the remainder of last season and that was it. This season he should really have been in retirement. We're paying him too much money for too little work. Cufre is an okay player, but he's 32 now and is considered too slow for left back and is equally too slow at the highest level for centre of defence. I like Cufre, but that signing is not long term planning.
ivan strinic is being linked with a move to lazio according to goal.com. I guess it pays off to higher Edy Reja. His big contract at hajduk may have opened up more doors to croatian players. At least i'm hoping to see more croats playing in Serie A in the near future.
Is there a more sorry sight than Kruno Jurcic celebrating Dinamo's Championship in front of an empty Maksimir stadium?
slobodnadalmacija.hr/Nogomet/tabid/84/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/102490/Default.aspx
Bit of a suprise that Pedro Morales made prelim wc squad.
http://www.cbssports.com/soccer/story/13387459/world-cup-preliminary-rosters
Here's a good summary:
http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/05/14/football-history-war-and-politics-%E2%80%A6/
Gotovina should be free. The EU is using him as some kind of pawn when he shouldn't even be a pawn.
For future reference, if it changes your mind, you CAN write from a Dinamo bias. CSR does it from a Croatian bias. It's just one perspective.
And No I cannot post it. I don't have access from work. I can only comment. Let's see if Denis or Ivica can post something. Maybe I'll do it late tonight. We'll see but thanks for the heads up.
You coming down for the tourney in a couple weeks?
That was to Ziva. This is to you:
Like I told you before, I'd never write for this site because my loyalties are to Dinamo and that would show in my writing.
I was just wondering if you Hajduk guys were going to do it since it's a big date in Croatian soccer.
The answer I'm looking for is yes or no…not "you do it."
Hvala unaprijed.
13.5.1990 – 13.5.2010
Ante,
Were you talking to me or ziva?
That's fair; I'll agree with that.
I 100% agree with your last comment, For sure, there was something in the air.
To be clear, my point was not dimisish that day. I just hear way too many uninformed people think that event started the war. I did not, but it surely has a place in cro soccer history and cro political history.
Hey Ante,
Didn't realize it was the 20th anniversary.
Would you mind writing up a quick paragraph summarizing what happened. We'll add the video and that's that. I'm stuck at work and Denis is busy. What do you think?
Now wait a second…
Let's ask ourselves what it symbolizes. Some would argue that it did start the war (I used to believe this, not anymore) but even if you don't, it was the day Hrvati said DOSTA JE! through Boban's kick and the BBB storming the field. I wasn't there that day but I'm pretty sure people knew "da je nesto bilo u zraku."
It is an important day in Croatian soccer history and should be respected. Nothing political about it.
@ Ante B,
I don't know what you're referring to when you say HajdukSoccerReport.com.
As for 1990, you know we try to keep politics/war to a minumum on CSR. We go around in circles discussing the same thing for years.
East Ante…we all know what happend on that day.
It was a symbolic event. It did not start the war and the war still would have taken place without that day.
Lets remember this….Boban and other hrvati still played for Yugo long after that day, almost a full year after.
It was a symbolic day, nothing more and nothing less.
Are you guys going to write anything about the events of 13.5.1990 on HajdukSoccerReport?
I hope they come back to Marienplatz soon with the champions league cup.