Written by Colin O’ Haravić
Osijek advance from the first qualifying round of the Europa League with a 3-1 (4-1 ag.) victory over the 2011/12 Andorran runner-up side, FC Santa Coloma. Coloma started their attack immediately with an attempt from Christopher Pousa in the fourth minute, but could not keep the Osijek offense at bay.
The HNL club dominated nearly all aspects of the game, with 14 shots and 10 corners. Osijek opened the scoring in the 28th minute on a quick counter attack that was started by goalkeeper Ivan Vargić, who had four saves in the match. Vargić made a save from a shot by Argentine Norberto Urbani, and sent the ball downfield. The offense drove the ball to the net where Ivan Miličević struck the frame with a shot and Vedran Jugović corralled the rebound and sent it to Zoran Kvržić who put it in the back of the net.
Osijek continued to control the first half while keeping the opposition nearly shot-less until a free-kick was awarded in the 45th minute that was deflected out of bounds for a corner.
The second half began with a quick offensive attack by Santa Coloma, but it was short lived as the Osijek midfielder, Nikša Petrović, fed the ball to 20 year-old Antonio Perošević who beat the keeper to make it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
The offensive domination continued for the bijelo-plavi and paid off again in the 70th minute when Jugović received the ball from Miličević and knocked it in the net for a comfortable 3-0 lead. Santa Coloma would get a consolation goal late in the game after Andorran national, Samir Bousenine, struck the ball in the 81st minute to get the final result of 3-1.
Osijek will now face Sweden’s Kalmar FF in the second qualifying round on Thursday, July 19 while Hajduk Split take on Latvian side Skonto and Slaven Belupo go against Northern Irish club Portadown.
zbogom badelj reports say he is on his way to HSV.
Osijek also produced Goran Vlaovic & Igor Cvitanovic!!!
My sources tell me that Mamic has already bought the HNS title and is working for a 2 for 1 special for the Cup. Mamic’ cousin will be reffing both derby games. Hajduk will get 200,000 Kuna, a new paint job for their training facility and each player will receive a fine bottle of Zagreb wine, 2 bottle of Ozujsko and a lifetime membership to purgeraj.
dammit, ziva. you gave away the ending to the story. thanks a lot.
Newsflash……dinamo just wrapped up the league…..hajduk fans and its players were last seen crawling around the riva looking for any scrap metal, because they have no clue what a championship title resembles.
well you never know Shinobi, Osijek have a very young team this season and are financially poor. Maybe the young guys can surprise, especially the batch of Osijek players who were at the U19 Euros a few weeks ago.
I still give the edge to the more experieced teams like Slaven Belupo, RNK Split and Rijeka throughout the long HNL season, those clubs will keep their players for the entire season.
One good thing about the HNL this season is a lot of teams will be using young players, which is all you can ask for the HNL. Better to play 18-20 Croatian year olds than 25 year old Bosnians
Ima samo jedno mjesto: first. A to uvijek pripada nama dinamovcima. Dinamo Zagreb!
@JerseyCro
We will see.
They will be closer to top 5/6 than the relegation zone…I’d bet on it.
Osijek will be closer to the relegation zone than the top 5 Denis…I’d put a bet on it
Despite a weaker Hajduk than usual, they will be top 5. My top5 right now is: Dinamo, Rijeka, Split, Slaven, 5th really could be anybody, I’ll say Zagreb, like their manager
Boycott ended?
Nice job Colin!
~@dukić
“always liked osijek. remember osijek made davor suker”
Yep!
As soon as dinamo signed Cop, I knew Beqiraj and/or Krstanovic would leave. I do however think Krsto has done well there. He has had competition for his position and hasn’t played as much as he did at NKZ, but he hasn’t been terrible.
Badelj is next. Really going to hurt them in CL this year. I would like to congratulate dinamo on their 8th title in a row, though. It’s not too early to do that, is it? Predictions anybody?
Looks like Beqiraj is going to Hoffenheim. Out of all the Dinamo goal-scorers, I would rate him #1. Rukavina will continue to suck and Krstanovic hasnt done anything since being signing from NK Zagreb.
I dont see Hajduk finishing second this year. Rijeka look strong this year with Slaven Belupo and Osijek finishing out the top 5. Hajduk has never looked this bad. I cant see the Torcida having any patience what so ever this year, especially after Hajduk drops a couple of matches early in the season.
Well done Colin!
Also, glad to see that there is some interest in the HNL outside of Hajduk and Dinamo. Lets see how the HNL teams do in the next round.
always liked osijek. remember osijek made davor suker.
Thanks guys. Really glad to see genuine Osijek fans here too. Good to see. I think they will do decent this year in the league. I did expected them to do better against a team that came in 2nd place in Andorra, but they have always been a fairly consistent team in the HNL. I almost agree with you, Armada, but would put Slaven as a top 4 team right now. They were 1 pt from knocking Hajduk our of 2nd place. Hopefully they can get at least get a respectable showing in EL this yr. But like Ziva said, those teams are in for a wake up call in the next week.
Well done, Osjiek!
The Croatian club teams will get a dose of reality next in Europe League qualifying.
I just dig the name Colin O’Haravic, hope to read more from you. 🙂
@ Colin
In all honesty, I would like to see an HNL that has a strong 4 of Dinamo & Hajduk making nice runs in CL/EL and Rijeka/Osijek making hopefully decent runs in EL. Statistically and traditionally, those have been the 4 best teams in the HNL.
@JerseyCroat
We may be a poor side, but osijek have been a pretty consistent side in staying up.
Plus our form has been good lately. Even last season, cup runners up.
I’m confident we can finish in the top 4 this season.
Osijek are a poor team, they won’t do much in the HNL. They will probably fight relegation
@Colin O’haravic
Thanks for the article, nicely written.
What makes it even better is that its about NK Osijek.
Hope the carry on the form and beat Kalmar in the next round.
@Armada87~
“Just hope they don’t do that well in the HNL”
I just hope they do well enough to finish above Rijeka.
AJMO OSIJEK!
nice piece, Colin!
Best of luck to Osijek in EL! Hope they can rack up as many coefficient points as possible this year.
Just hope they don’t do that well in the HNL 😉
agreed. thanks for the report….well done!
Very nicely written Colin!