Rijeka handled business at home Thursday night against Aberdeen in the opening leg of their Europa League 3rd qualifying round affair. After a scoreless first half, Antonio-Mirko Čolak converted a penalty in the 62nd to get Rijeka on the board before substitute Robert Muric blasted home a 20-yard rocket insurance goal into the bottom left corner of the net to secure the 2-0 win.
Rijeka have been the only Croatian side to stop Dinamo Zagreb’s dynasty during the past decade – winning the HNL title in 2017. Rijeka are now favorites to progress to the playoff round where they would meet the winners of the AEK Larnaca/KAA Gent match. And remember, Croatia will have two Champions League qualifying spots next season which means the HNL race between Dinamo, Hajduk, and Rijeka should be as spicy as ever this year.
@majmuninjo
That was some stupid shit you said and shows your immaturity and lack of understanding.
Perhaps when Croatia is under 3.5 million it will dawn on you and what Croatia is without Tourism.
I’m done wasting my time with you.
Mandzukic with 3 goals at European Championships and 5 goals at World Cups. Only Suker has more.
Also THAT goal against England!
How soon we forget..
Mandzukic is a legend he’s deceptively quick and skilled
A real target man he is too bad a lot of people think he’s rubbish
@BZ never heard about that, thanks. Just in my eyes his speed, or maybe I should say foot quickness, is a little below average for the modern striker.
Cu14-you do realize Mandzukic was clocked as the fastest player of the week in Serie A last year (a few times.). Not bad for an old dude. Speed is not the problem. He is still our best striker by far.
To all-As I have said before, quit getting on and off the Rebic express. Stay on, boys.
He is the proverbial “goods”
He plays winning soccer.
Only watched the first half but it was “eh” from him, just like everyone else on the Chelsea squad though. Nothing special. He passed well, had good ball control, but that’s normal from him. He doesn’t have a good team around him.
How did our boy Kovačić do in Chelsea’s 4-0 beatdown at the hands of Man U?
Didn’t watch that one.
Nice hat trick but it was against a 3rd division team and in a very desperate effort from Eintracht.
He’s on a pretty bad team.
I just hope he can find some consistency on that team or get our of there soon.
We know what’s he’s capable of. We just need him firing and in good form when he suits up for us.
https://youtu.be/mZyUspw-Los
Did someone write that Rebic lacked skill?
He is a beast with just enough technique to get it done in the final third.
Olić got better and better in his late twenties.
Even after a serious knee injury.
I agree if a big time move is not there then be the man at Frankfurt.
He could use another year of stability.
Funny though as I see many top sides that could use his services.
Seems like we need to do even more work to get respect as footballers.
Let all the ballers go to Bayern for this year!
@ Horvat
I have the same feeling too…this is only the beginning…
If Rebic sticks around Frankfurt for another season, it might not be so bad, with Haller and Jovic outta the picture–Rebic will be the go-to-guy!
The hat-trick was sublime. The second goal had a nifty shot fake, while the third was the icing on the cake-the ball roll past the keeper à la Suker vs. Germany.
In fact, Rebic did the same move last season and scored as well!
Or, as another option, you can play a 4-2-2 with Rebić and Krama up top, Perišić and Brekalo on the wings, and just play Modrić and Rakitić in the middle. That formation works well because I’ve noticed that Dalić like the outside backs (Vrsaljko, Jedvaj, Strinić) etc. to make overlapping runs and join the attack. That led to Perišić’s goal vs England in the WC
I would start Perisic, Kramaric and
Rebic with Brekalo coming off the bench.
If Kramaric gets injured, Rebic would be my next choice up top with Brekalo on the wing. Even that would be a killer attack! Hardly weaker than the first line.
@DannyJ I doubt Kovač will bench him. Perišić is way better and more experienced than guys like Gnabry, Coman, etc. Bayern was trying to sign Sané but he’s done for the season with an ACL injury, so now they went for Perišić.
@Horvat I agree with you, nowadays it seems speed over size up front seems to work better. If Mandžukić could have ever improved his speed during his career, he would have been up there for best strikers of the decade. He is already a great finisher and arial threat. I’m not saying Mandžo is bad or anything though, I think he has a great fighting spirit and presence.
Rebić is Frankfurt’s best player. He was last season as well, no doubt. Thinking about it, he has good size too.
Kovac going to play Perisic I’m sure
I wonder why Bayern didn’t try for Rebic
U would think Kovac wanted him
Speaking of Kovac. I remember they were still calling for his head last year even after a decent year
How do u line them all up tho
With brozo Rakitic Modric in midfield still for euro I agree we should be able to capitalize on the firepower still
But first we must qualify
Saw a video where Vrsaljko was running well on a treadmill
Hopefully he can make full recovery
Saw some comments talking about Perisic Just some old Croat to plug in as back up to Bayern
Let’s hope he proves em wrong
Ya he is 30 but he prob has 2-3 good years left in those legs
In my opinion,
Perisic, Kramaric, Rebic and Brekalo are the mast potent attack Cro has ever had.
I’ll take Kramaric or Rebic up top over Mandzukic any day!
I think this may just be the beginning for Rebic. The guy has huge potential.
Rebic with the hat trick today!
Let’s hope he is on fire this season
I guess it will be largely up to him to find the goals this year in frankfurt
@Dannyj
There is probably enough talent on Hajduk’s current squad right now.
They have Čolina and Michele Šego…but Hajduk aren’t even playing them.
What’s weird about Hajduk is they have a lot of decent young talent that they just refuse to play.
Fran Tudor was a great U21 player for us…and now he’s a free agent without a team (at age 23). Is he not worth a contract now, really?
Josip Basic was awesome for our U19s, he got injured, and then they chose to never play him again. Still on the team though.
Josip Posavec (who was starting in Serie A for two seasons) is now sharing goalkeeper duties with Duka.
You can argue that some of this lack of development is on the player, but it’s on the team as well.
They are playing veteran foreign players, yet they are still embarrassing themselves in the HNL and Europa qualifiers.
It’s like they are just hoping to create hype around their teenage players, and never play them (in case it drops their value). Teams just pay for ‘potential’ and Hajduk is happy with it.
Look at what your mindset does to innocent kids. it gets them shot. maybe its time to have a re-think.
African Americans are not our burden.
Remember that.
Play Croatian kids for Pete’s sake
There is nuff talent in cro for them to find some and develop them properly
Follow Dinamo. I know Hajduk things they are the originators but you guys haven’t won shit in a very long time
So is Perisic in Bayern or not??
Dinamo is loaded with prospects.
Olmo, Moro, Majer, Marin, Baturina, and Ćuže.
Also, Orsic, Petkovic, and Livakovic aren’t that old either…so they will get some value when they eventually sell these guys too.
Hajduk is doing good too. They have umm…Samuel Emem Eduok from Nigeria…and Hamza Barry from Gambia…and Bassel Jradi from Lebanon…umm, and of course the typical unknown Brazilian reject (Jairo) they acquired from Sherrif Tiraspol. All of them in their mid-to-late 20s and all of them starting for some reason.
Great job Hajduk, lol.
In the Croatia – Whales game, three Croatians who had been in a car accident were mourned. You would have been just as sorrowful if it had been “african-croatians” right psychopath?
Although Istra lost 4-1, Ćuže scored again. Insane
Bok,
Wtf u smoking….u think you the only cro on here with domovnica gtfo you not special buddy and neither is your opinion…have fun vacationing in gypsy land Greece or Muslim terrorist turkey….
WBA Fans seem to really like Krovinović
Šunjić and Krovinović both play the full 90 for their sides. Šunjić for some reason played at the right midfield spot.
Dinamo’s u19’s (even without Marin, Baturina, and Ćuže) just beat Real Madrid’s u19’s 3-1.
That was me above. Cleared my cookies and it cleared my name.
@Bok
Stop talking out of your ass.
Serbs (and especially Bosnians) don’t speak any languages either. They don’t speak Italian. They don’t speak German.
They barely speak English. Sure, the university-educated ones from Beograd may be pretty good at English, but those aren’t going to come to Croatia to wait tables for us.
Serbs from rural Serbia and Republika Srpska in BiH are the ones that would, but they can’t speak any language that benefits Croatia. Maybe broken English with a thick accent, and Serbian in an ekavski accent (which would not go well in many places in Dalmacija). Serbs make terrible staff for the service industry, which makes up the majority of Croatia’s GDP.
There is a far greater population of Filipinos and other countries (poorer than Serbia) who have much higher English speaking rates than any of our neighboring countries and would be ecstatic to receive 1,000 Euros a month (with very low turnover).
This is what businesses in Croatia are trying to push for…to relax the work visas for people in those countries. Nobody is vouching for Serbs to come to Cro.
As for your talk about VAT and parking tickets…
Gimme a break.
If someone violates the rules, they have to pay the ticket. This happens in every country in Europe. Nobody else is in fear of a person never returning again if they don’t pay their fine, so why are you?
Are you advocating that Croatia becomes one of those lower-class countries (like Mexico or Dominican Republic) that allows for tourists to be elitists in their own country with the local population pandering to their every need in a subordinate fashion?
The communism-advocated subordination is strong within you. You sound exactly like the pathetic older generation Croats who need someone above them to dictate what they should do.
Who cares if tourism is “down 20-25 percent”. What does that even mean? What is your measurement strategy?
People like you (and the Croatian media) fixate too much on empty numbers that mean nothing.
What’s MOST important is the overall MONEY that comes into the country (which is growing every year).
These stupid stats that count ‘overnight stays’ and ‘people entering country’ means nothing. I actually would prefer LESS tourists and have them pay a much higher cost for accommodations and food (like every other country in Europe). The quality of food and accommodation far exceed those of Western European countries in terms of value for dollar. People are always going to come, and Croatia is now in a good position to start filtering the types of tourists they want to attract (which is what they’ve started to do on Hvar to filter out the riff raff).
Tourism numbers will always fluctuate. It’s the nature of it. Croatia makes good money from it, and it’s helped Croatia immensely in recovering from a bloody war that ended only 25 years ago. Most countries in Croatia’s situation have never recovered from war. Croatia took only a couple of decades to do so. Now, they have entered the EU, which is a good thing for them and it gives more freedom and choice to their people. The goal is to try and make the economy more dynamic (which is challenging for such a small country with limited resources) but it’s coming, albeit a little slowly.
Re: VAT…
25% is a pretty standard rate in Europe. I don’t think anyone is “shooting themselves in the foot” for something that may deviate by a percentage point from the next country over. Hungary’s is 27% and they’re not losing it.
Croatia shouldn’t drop the VAT. It’s an oversimplified talking point that gets people riled up for political purposes. Changing it would only benefit the very few.
Your populist-style talking points are empty.
Serbian takeovers, Yugo-nostalgia over the ‘so-called’ great ship industry in Rijeka, Countries stealing our tourists away, the Uhljebi taking your money away from you with the apparently high VAT…
GTFOH. People who think like you are the problem in Cro.
Thankfully, we have great young minds in Cro like Rimac, Gajsak, Mrvos, Colak and Polic who don’t think like this.
Sorry, Bayern.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Perišić joined Inter on loan it looks like for 5M. Not sure if it is credible.
Yup and then they will want to live in Croatia
And then have families and they build their church’s
And then grow in population and then firm social clubs
And then start to vote for their own politics and then
Start bitching about the Ustasha and then wanting
Special rights and then protesting and then wanting
Own Serb political party etc etc etc
Fuck them . If it means keeping Croatia
Behind the times then we do it. Serbs are
A cancer .
@Suba
You can forget about Yugoslavia, it will never happen with Croatia in the EU. Soon you can forget about borders as well.
Between Italy and Slovenia, only a sign post exists. If you blink you miss it and the sure bet way to know your in Slovenia is by the roadside restaurants roasting pigs or lambs. Soon there will be no Border between Slovenia and Croatia and even more Croatians will leave for greener pastures. The jobs, aside from Tourism are just not there. Tourism is basically just a summer thing as well so those people have to make their yearly income
While the tourists are there.
Pension in Croatia is about 700 Euros. Monthly wage is Serbia is about 200 Euros.
Would most Croatians like to keep the Serbs out? Yes, more so in Dalmatia. However the labour force is not there.
The Serbs come to work and they are welcome by the businesses and the Croatian government who gives them work Visas. Why? Nobody else can do or they don’t want to do it.
How many waiters in North America speak 3-4 languages? Would somebody with that knowledge work in the front lines of the service industry? No. And neither will Croatians if they find a better opportunity in Europe.
As for Asians, there are a very few there and they mostly work in the massage industry.
We don’t have to like it but that’s the way things are going and they will not change. Croatia is about the poorest or second poorest country in the EU. And what’s been holding it back is the beaurocracy with dealing with the government on any level from staring a business to trying to accomplish anything.
Oi Oi Hrvatska
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7my9mYOMNf0#fauxfullscreen
Hey Americans, how come there’s a Croatian number plate in that movie “The Hunt”? The Croat must be one of the deplorables lol!
You know the blame for the shooting in El paso Texas should fall squarely on the History teachers in the schools of El paso.
American Democrats, or the racist party if you like, stole Mexican land, and this shooter thinks the Mexicans are the invaders.
Who do you guys think are the more simple minded people, Americans or Croats? It’s to hard to call for me.
I can’t believe that no one wants Perisic he was the best player at the World Cup
Teams like Real or Barca should be lining up for him
Bok I appreciate your comments but just to accept Serbs again just because they know the language is not going to solve our problems
If you feel that integrating with Yugoslavia again is going to solve even some of our problems we are on a perilous path
We are at a important crossover point in our history Croatia must make the right choices moving on
I’d rather leave the eu and a country of 2m or 3m with no Serbs
If that makes me backyards so be it because we have to keep Croatia free of Serbs full stop
If you feel Croatia would dominate this 3rd Yugoslavia good luck to every Croat living in that type of Yugoslavia in achieving that goal
Dinamo Osijek ends 0-0. I was able to find a live stream for the game, end of first half, all of second half. Even though he didn’t score, I feel that Marin played a really good game, same goes for Moro. Majer has some chances, didn’t shine in my opinion. Back to Marin, for only 18 years of age, the guy is a stud. I can’t wait to see him play more and more surely after a performance like he had today.
I would love to wrestle her.
https://www.croatiaweek.com/world-champion-croatian-fighter-adriana-vukovic-to-make-professional-mma-debut/
The best thing Croatians can do is to start jebeni again.
Antonio Marin gets the start for Dinamo. So does Moro alongside Majer, just what I was hoping for. Time for Marin to prove himself.
@Bok during the preseason, Conte played Perišić at the striker position in the 3-5-2. I don’t get why he didn’t just play him at the left midfield spot in the formation.
And by the way, the Serbian for Dinamo, I think his name is Andric, hasn’t played at all this season, and didn’t even make it onto the bench for Dinamo today vs. Osijek, plus some more games. All our young guys are taking over his position. I also read somewhere that there have been quite a few 3rd and 4th generation Croatian-South Americans moving to Croatia.
Ivan Perisic is reportedly hesitating on a loan move to Bayern Munich, as he wants guarantees they’ll purchase him outright from Inter.
According to both Sky Sport Italia and Germany, along with Das Bild, the two clubs have agreed a loan with option to buy at the end of the season for €30m.
However, the Italian version states Perisic is taking some time to consider it, as he is not convinced he wants to go on loan.
The 30-year-old has no place in Antonio Conte’s Inter, as the Coach announced in a Press conference that he doesn’t suit this playing style or 3-5-2 system.
His contract with the Nerazzurri runs to June 2022 and Perisic seemingly doesn’t want to end up in a similar situation a year from now.
He is familiar with the Bundesliga, having played for Borussia Dortmund and VfL Wolfsburg.
Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports.
Boys, If you are going to rah rah Croatia Croatia then at least learn something about the country, Get your papers, travel there, See how you can help..
Because Honestly, if you dont, it means that Serbs and Bosnians are helping the country more then you are.
As far as Rijeka, The EU is investing 90% of the cost to upgrade the railways from Rijeka to Hungary.
Kopar in Slovenia has modern railways and has taken the ship traffic from Croatia. They are trying to get the traffic back and want to become the doorway to Eastern Europe again.
No, I am not a Serb or a half Serb or a Yugo.
You will never be able to Nationalize anything while you are in the EU… Croatia has applied for European banking so that they can get rid of the Kuna and Use Euro.
You are wrong about the Asian worker..
The issue right now is getting the ready worker. The service industry will never higher a worker that does not have a very fluent grasp of the language, thats whats limiting the Hungarians and Bulgarians unless its a labour job.
Whats a ready worker? Must speak 3 to 4 Languages.
Croatian, English, German and Italian.
Must know the service Industry.
The big advantage for Serbs and Bosnians is that they know the language.
Lets face it. Croatia is in trouble and they just shot themselves in foot by having a 25% VAT ( Tax ) and keep shooting themselves in the foot because they dont understand how to treat foreigners.
190 Kuna for a parking ticket or violation. Tourist does not pay and they pursue it in the tourists country. If the Tourist now pays there will be fines on top of the 190 and if he doesnt he will be denied entry into Croatia.. Isnt that just brilliant? Keep a tourist from coming back to Croatia because of a parking ticket.!!!!!!!
Rijeka, At one time there used to be 30 ships in the bay of Kvarner waiting to moor. Now if you see one ship in the harbor a day you are lucky.
Manufacturing has left the country and so are the citizens.
There is no choice but to be dependent on the tourists. Without tourists, the coast will become poverty stricken..
This year, tourism is down 20-25%. Greece and Turkey are taking the tourists away because both are cheaper destinations and have just as nice a coastline.
Croatia is considering dropping the VAT from 25% to 13% but as they say, To je sol na rep…
Bok are you a serb or half ? A Serb working as waiter wouldn’t be a big deal as long as he keeps his mouth shut. They are going to be replaced with Philippians soon anyway.The land and property sales has put money in Croats pockets so hard to argue with that. We can always Nationalise their house’s anyway if the time came. It does suck to be so dependant on these dirty tourists and our birth rate is sad. However, we still have to remember what we fought for. Serbs are a cancer and they must never have such a large population in Croatia again.
DONE DEAL: Ivan Perisic is coming to Bayern for one season on loan
Image
Simic Joins Rijeka
Lorenco Simic
Centre-Back
23 Croatia
UC Sampdoria Sampdoria
Italy Serie A
HNK Rijeka HNK Rijeka
Croatia 1.HNL
Perisic looking close to Bayern on loan, would like him to work with Kovac again. Bummer about Rebic and Inter I think he would’ve thrived there. Lukaku is more concerned with his next meal than scoring goals. But he does need to get out of Frankfurt, but I don’t know how likely that is now. He is ready to move to a bigger club
Strijelci u Europskoj ligi:
✅ Marko Livaja (AEK)
✅ Nikola Katić (Glasgow Rangers)
✅ Marin Tomasov (Astana)
Elvis….
I have a rodni list, Domovnica, putovnica and a house in Hrvatska.. Much more ” Velik Hrvat ” then the Diaspora posting here, The Croatia you are dreaming about is gone. There is even a law change being proposed that will let some of the younger Diaspora become citizens up until they are 21 if they have one Croatian parent with a citizenship.
Otherwise, most of you would be fucked trying to pass the Croatian written and Oral citizenship test.
Croatia is now down to 3.9 million citizens. Bosnians are buying up property that Croatians are selling to them. Croatians are hiring Serbs to do the work that Croatians are unwilling to do.
Nothing to do with Yugo.
Its reality you nostalgic cunt.
@Bok
Backward is going back to the way you like it. Yugo Cunt.
I was just in Croatia, Kvarner area and many Serbians are coming to work there on the coast. Most of the waiters are Serbian. There are a lack of young Croatian workers. They have all left for Austria and Ireland. Nobody I met had an issue with them being there. The world is changing and backward people are being left behind.
Right Suba, Serbs are very jealous of us.
Their presence must be controlled because
Croatia is a happier place without them Balkan
People. Coming to Croatia with a Red Star
Jersey or greater Serbia Tattoos is an
Provocation that deserves a dip in the ocean.
What’s happening is that Serbs are trying to crawl back to us and try to create a 3rd Yugoslavia
You can tell from the way Novak has been very conciliatory
They are testing the waters if you like however we must be steadfast in moving on from them even in footballing terms
Whats happening to our Croatian clubs Dinamo Zagreb has a couple of Serbians in it.HSK Zrinjski Mostars captain is Serbian.
Just checked.
Tibor is his cousin.
Are you sure that is Alen’s brother?
Alen’s brother is named Dino.
Not sure if he has a brother named Tibor. I thought there was just two of them… Alen and Dino.
@ Maminjo
Yeah, and his name is Tibor, he’s a midfielder and actually has a significant role at the club. He’s not some benchwarmer.
Tibor got the full 90 today vs Aberdeen.
Yeah, they could follow in the footsteps of the Sharbini brothers.
If Alen’s latest odyssey in Belgium doesn’t pan out, the next logical step would be to head back to HNL….and Rijeka just might be the place!
@Razbijac
Alen’s brother plays in Rijeka?
Perhaps they can play there together at Rijeka and follow the career path of the Sharbini brothers, lol.
@Suba 100%.
Gotta feel bad for Čolak. Razbijač like you said, he’s been stuck in lower levels. I think he was signed by Hoffenheim a while back, the club that sent him to all those lower German teams.
Speaking of German teams I just got an alert on my phone that Perišić might go to Bayern after their former target Sané just tore his ACL. Good move?
Good job Rijeka. Muric is on fire. I’d given up on him
Rijeka has a history of being able to get the most out of their strikers.
They did it with Kramarić, Benko, Gavranović, that Slovenian guy, that other Polish guy…
Seems like every year they get some random striker who blows up and scores like crazy.
Big win for Rijeka, glad to see that. Like you guys said, it’s good that Murić has upped his game a little.
Looks like Rebić to Inter isn’t going to happen, thanks to Lukaku. Why pay 65M for Lukaku, who had an awful 2018-2019 season, instead of paying 40M for Rebić, who is younger, faster, and had a fantastic previous season. Rebić is most likely now stuck with Frankfurt who will most likely struggle this season sadly.
Some youth updates: Our u17 side beat Hungary today 4-2. Josip Brekalo’s younger brother Filip plays on that team alongside Ivan Šaranić, who plays for Dinamo’s u17’s and is expected to be really good in the future. Two more players to put on the radar. Filip Benković trains with Leicester’s first team and will hopefully start for his side now that Maguire is gone. Antonio Marin included in Football Inside’s 2019-2020 “20 to Watch”. Sandro Kulenović continues to start for Legia Warszawa, and was rumored to go to English Chmapionship side Barnsley. Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anymore. Barnsley was preparing to break their transfer record fee to sign Kulenović. Reports say that Lovro Majer was close to signing with Rangers F.C. It also looks like the Scottish side was interested in signing Osijek forward Mirko Marić. Domagoj Bradarić got playing time in Lille’s preseason games and will hopefully feature for his side in this season’s Champions League.
Come to think of it, the other goal scorer Antonio Colak, scored a beauty in Germany a coupla years back à la Van Bastan vs. USSR, that had us all raving on CS.com….
….since then he’s kicked the can around the German lower divisions without much luck. Until recently he signed with Rijeka where his career has caught second wind–scoring 20 goals in 43 appearances….
Well done to Rijeka and to Muric
A club that all Croatians should admire for improving Croatian soccer
Nice job by Rijeka!
Yeah nice to see Muric shine, say, perhaps Rijeka is a place where a player can come back from the dead! Kramaric resurrected his career there too…
It would be kinda cool, if Alen Halilovic joined Rijeka to jumpstart his career considering his brother plays there as well….
Also, Nikola Katic scored a goal in Ranger’s victory over Midtylland today.
Nice to see muric tally one for Rijeka in their win ..can he come back from the dead and become the player some expected?
Hopefully we can get 2 teams in European competitions this year. We need some more exposure to try to grow the league as much as possible.