UEFA Cup play resumed on Wednesday after a lengthy break and Hamburg started right where they left off. HSV, who currently sit second in the German BundesLiga and only one point behind leaders Hertha Berlin, travelled to the Netherlands to take on NEC Nijmegen.
It wasn’t much of a game as Hamburg easily won 3-0, but that’s hardly the news for us Croatian fans. Ivica Olić scored yet another goal for the ‘Dinos’ assisted by none other than Mladen Petrić.
The entire season has been like this for the Croatian duo. I can’t remember a game in which either Olić or Petrić did not score a goal for Hamburg. So how can two strikers dominate a league (which I have as 4th best in the world behind England, Spain, Italy) yet faulter so easily at the international level?
Either:
1) The checkers are too heavy for Olić and Petrić to wear as the pressure gets to them.
-or-
2) The BundesLiga is far, far away from the standard of quality in which the English, Italian and Spanish leagues play at.
And to answer Adrien on his most recent comment, I think it’s a bit of both. Croatian fans and media demand so much from our players. The pressure must be astounding. However, I believe that there is a large gap in quality between the BundesLiga and the three leagues I mentioned earlier.
I think it’s obvious that the Premiership is currently the best league in the world with both Spain and Italy coming in a close second. I don’t think the Germans are even in the same neighborhood as those three which is why I’m never surprised Olić and Petrić don’t produce for Croatia.
Could they both produce the same numbers in England or Spain? I think we all know the answer to that.
In other UEFA Cup news, Ivica Križanac played the entire match in Zenit’s 2-1 win over Stuttgart in St. Petersburg while Ognjen Vukojević and his Dinamo Kyiv side were held to a 1-1 draw against Valencia.
Tomorrow’s clash between Tottenham and Shakhtar Donetsk should be a good one. As long as Luka Modrić and Darijo Srna don’t get into a horrific tackle with each other, I’ll be happy.
The game can be seen live on Setanta USA at 1:45 (Eastern) in the U.S.
I have to look into it. The only thing I'd be able to do is make everyone create a Blogger account in order to post. There's a lot of regulars on here that do not yet have an account.
This is the first time we've had an annoying poster on the boards. Let's see if he stops first.
Can you block him?
Done and done. We don't need any of that shit here…
Ummm, Ante? Can we delete the previous post?
u have issues
I dont want to say i was right because its a little bit of a fluke that it happened. Anyone who plays the sport knows that big injuries haunt you for life. This wont be the first time he will be out for a couple weeks. Im very disappointed by the injury. Players that get injured as badly as he did need to come back slowly and that didnt happen. I am an Arsenal fan and as far as the club is concerned they are not getting their bang for their buck.
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur.
Dario Srna and his Shakhtar Donetsk took care of business at home to the Modric/Corluka-less Tottenham Hotspur 2-0.
From the opening whistle to the end, Shakhtar had Tottenham on the ropes. Srna once again played an excellent 90 minutes sending in one after the other quality crosses.
“The Beckham of the Balkans”
UEFA CUP REPORT
I seen this game they did good, Olic and Petric. Nice goal by Olic Good assits from Petric.
Eduardo da silva is injuried for 2 weeks =(
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-blow-as-eduardo-is-out-for-two-weeks
Zach,
Setanta is available everywhere in the U.S. However, it is only offered to DirecTV customers unless you can find it through your cable provider in a different way. Either pay it’s a channel you have to pay for.
Matt,
Thanks for the info. I guess all bets are off for any horrific tackles between 2 Croats.
Adrien,
I’ll get to you later…
Dont think Modric is playing for tottenham today, Rednapp is resting his main players for upcoming games, and corluka cant play because he is cup tied, so Srna will be the only Croatian on the field.
Can I get Setanta in Minnesota?
I’m not sure that can be a the real reason.
While its true that the Bundesliga is not as good as the EPL, La Liga or the Serie A (this season’s CL last 16 reflects that), it can’t be said that it can’t hold its own against them. Hamburg, and Olic and Petric especially, dismantled Aston Villa before Christmas and in the Emirates Cup, Hamburg won and Olic demolished Juve. You may call the latter mere pre-season frivolity, but at least it shows that Olic can score against somewhat improved opposition.
Even if what you say is true and the Bundesliga comes in at a far distant fourth, the opposition the NT play against hardly play in better leagues than that. The Romanian defence came mainly from their own league and the Ukrainians from theirs, yet Olic and Petric were their usual ineffective selves. What’s more the Bundesliga was the most represented league at the Euros. Ironically, Olic and Petric’s arguably best night in the checkered shirt was against England, whose players play in the premier league.
I think that Olic and Petric are tremendous strikers and on their good nights can rival the best in the world, it just perplexes me as to why it rarely ever happens on the nights that they’re playing for Croatia. If only they could put in the same performances or the NT as they do for Hamburg, then we’d have one of the best if not the best strikeforce (along with Dudu) in the world.