MODRIĆ(FAR RIGHT) CELEBRATES WITH FELLOW SPURS ON REACHING THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Luka Modrić and company got the job done in Manchester Wednesday night, winning 1-0 on a late header by Peter Crouch. The win ensures Tottenham a spot in the Champions League playoff round for next season, where they are only two games away from reaching the Group Stage. Modrić played the full match and appeared conservative on the night. He did however rip a shot in the second half that wasn’t too far off target.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
It’s a shame Niko Kranjčar and Vedran Ćorluka are injured and didn’t make the trip to Eastlands. They were both huge contributors to this successful Spurs side this season. If Spurs win on Sunday and their North London neighbors (Arsenal) lose, Tottenham jump up a spot on the final day of the season to receive an automatic spot in the Champions League group stage.
IN OTHER NEWS AROUND EUROPE…
HAJDUK TAKE THE CROATIAN CUP
Hajduk win the Croatian Cup for the first time since 2003 with a 2-0 win against Šibenik in the second leg of their Croatian Cup Final match. Although this news should bring shock to no one, it locks up Hajduk’s spot in the third qualifying round for Europa League. Why is this is a big deal?
LIVERPOOL AT POLJUD IS A POSSIBILITY
There’s a chance Hajduk can be drawn against English giants Liverpool FC. If Liverpool can’t jump Aston Villa (2 points in front) in the last game of the season, they will be in the same draw as Hajduk. Who needs Barcelona if Liverpool come to Split for a real game? The draw for this round takes place on July 16th and it should be the most watched Europa League qualifying round draw to date. Fasten your Hajduk seatbelts!
CUP HIGHLIGHTS
WHERE IS DARIJO SRNA?
Darijo Srna and Shakhtar Donetsk have won the 2009-10 Ukrainian title with a 1-0 win over hated rivals Dynamo Kyiv. Srna played the entire match and lifted the trophy first as captain in front of a packed house at Donbass Arena in Donetsk. Will this be the last time we see Srna in Ukraine?
Srna has won Ukrainian league titles, Ukrainian Cups and even a UEFA Cup as Shakhtar captain. Is it finally time for the Croatian to leave?
VUKOJEVIĆ PLAYING INNOCENT
Ognjen Vukujević played the full match and received a yellow card in Dynamo Kyiv’s loss to Shakhtar. This means that Dynamo will have one round of qualifying before they can enter Champions League group stage next season. Dynamo go into the summer break with no new hardware to show off. Should Vukojević try to transfer- maybe to a German club?
TRABZONSPOR PARADES IN ŞANLIURFA WITH TURKISH CUP
Drago Gabrić and Hrvoje Čale helped Trabzonspor score a Turkish Cup on Wednesday night as they beat Fenerbahce 3-1. The Croatians have been very productive this season for the Turkish club and will now play in the playoff round of Europa League next season.
I love Harper's sense of humor (about the Leafs). There are quite a few Croatian-Canadian athletes..the Mahovlich brothers (hockey), Joe Sakic and George Chuvalo to name a few. Mahovlich was pivotal in the famous game against the Russians.
Interesting, one of the reader's comments to this story says, "This is nothing to be proud of. Croatian fans are possibly the rudest fans on the globe. Croatian fans have heckled Canadian gold medallist Daniel Nestor repeatedly around the globe for nothing more than his mother's ethnicity. Croatian groups have been thrown out of multiple events because of their lower than low poor sportsmanship and threatening behaviour in events around the globe. I'd rather have other fans for a Canadian team thank you."
It's just one opinion… nevertheless, I've notified the site, suggesting it should be removed.
Hey, check out this story from Canada's national newspaper.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/habs-fans-turn-out-for-hockey-night-in-zagreb/article1560704/
Good point on Gabric. Totally developed under the hajduk system, but his move was not a big $$$ move. When he is sold from his turksih club, that will be much more than what they paid for him.
Kalinic was sold for a decent amount of money, so hajduk does get credit for that.
Gabric was the beneficiary of his father and was pushed along, although he dis have the talent to justify his place in the hajduk squad at the time.
If you look at some of the junior players at hajduk, plenty are only there because of their fathers. And the only reason they are there is because of their fathers (Asanovic, Dzoni, etc..)
Man that's frustrating. Having said that, does Hajduk's youth team not deserve some credit for working with him for the last few years?
I'll hazzard a guess at answering your question…. need we look further than Nikola Kalinic or Drago Gabric?
poor management on hajduk's part and also the realization by his parent and advisor that hajduk is not the best option for him to get better. When was the last time Hajduk really developed a home grown player and sold him for a good profit?
The kid is talented, no question. If he does go to Inter there is no guarentee he will ever see the field in a few years. The plan is for him to go play with Inter's youth team next year and eventually get a chance with the first team.
Either way, I am sure he will be getting more $200,000 per year to got to Inter. Hajduk is talking about giving him a pro contract that would pay him below $100,000.
If I was a parent to and young promising player, I would get him out of hajduk as fast as possible.
Ziva…
Do you know much about Marko Livaji? If he truly is good enough for Inter to take an interest in him, how has Hajduk managed to let him get away? Or is this just another one of those things that can only be attributed to poor management?
Boris, I really agree with you about Crouch and Bale. Those two together, however, give Rednapp some offensive options. Crouch is used as an airel (sp?) attacker. He get's dozens of header attempts which does bypass the spurs midfield attack/passing and almost all of the opposing players. Bale is a great sprinter with the ball. Both of those guys together can smash through a good defensive team like Fulham. At first I didn't like Bale's style of sprinting with the ball and kicking a hail mary cross at the line but I've grown to like his courage when the defence pins the spurs down.
If the spurs didn't have such ridiculous losses to teams like wigan or wolves and other bottom teams they would easily be in 2nd. Teams like Man U don't often have upset losses.
@Tom…..the fans were happy and there is no denying the hajduk fans are the best when it comes time to celebrating a title. Witness the riva in 2001 when hajduk won the league and a again a few weeks later when Ivanisevic won Wimbledon.
Still, the quality of play in the league is crap.
Winning the cup is nice, just like winning the league is nice. But, until hajduk and Dinamo can actually do something in Europe, those league title and cup titles mean nothing. Its the equivalent of winning a division title in minor league hockey or a league title in one of the lesser known college basketball leagues.
great win for spurs. congrats to luka, niko and vedran for earning a CL spot next year.
even though crouch was the hero with his game-winning goal, he probably should have had a hat trick. overall, i think crouch hurts their ability to play good soccer. modric and huddlestone were invisible for much of the match, and it's because whenever crouch is in the lineup, spurs resort to bypassing the midfield and lobbing the ball from the back line up to crouch, where he usually stuggles to control the ball and slows down the attack. what's the point of having two great midfielders like modric and huddlestone in the game if their playmaking ability goes unused with endless long balls from the defense up to crouch? spurs definitely need to go after a good striker this summer to replace the one-dimensional crouch.
i'm not sold on bale yet either. i like his energy and his pace, and he certainly creates problems for any defense when he comes barreling down the left side. but he lacks vision, and doesn't seem to be a good passer. he would be much more dangerous if starts recognizing all the good passing opportunities created when his pace stretches the defense. there were many occasions in the ManCity game where his teammates were open in the box and he chose to dribble and keep his head down instead.
Croatian Kup…
I know everyone insists the HNL is crap, corrupt and insignificant… but you can't tell that to the thousands of people in Split who turned out last night to celebrate Hajduk's Kup win. Take a few moments to notice the jubilation on the faces of the people and their love for the club. You can't help but appreciate that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010–11_UEFA_Europa_League
Liverpool currently sit in 7th place. If Ason Villa wins, Liverpool has to play Europa League qualifying matches in late July. How embarrassing!
thats really tragic.. very unfortunate… no matter how fit you may be anything can happen..
anyways… how is Hajduk capable of playing Liverpool? dont Premier League teams have direct Europa League qualification ..or did they get the last spot available? explain please
Hey has anyone heard about this?
"A Croatian footballer booked for diving had actually dropped dead of a heart attack."
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/article/1224/
tragic
What the hell is going on in the Croatian league. All i keep reading is that they haven't decided yet if there is going to be a league of 12, 14 or 16. What jokers…
This makes a complete mockery of the entire competition when in fact the only side that could end up being relegated is Sesvete who should have gone down the year before anyway.. This is just basic stuff here that HNS can't work out. They should have decided on the number of sides going up and down ages ago.
Also they are withholding Varteks licence based on a debt of 90,000. Are they serious! Varteks have already agreed a deal with Sedan for 150,000 for Matija Smrekar which covers that.
People in HNS are seriously warped.
BRAAAAAVO BRAAAAAAVO, Big Props t2 Tottenham, Tip Top Performance, Have been waiting years & years for this, & Finally the Day has come,I was shocked when West-ham Screwed our chance last time & all that conspiracy about the Stomach Bug, I was praying that this time THFC would be successfull & hands down they were..
Going to pay close attention to the Gunners, Hopefully Fulham can Squash them in the final game, Anyhow 4th in the 09/10 seaason is just a dream come true, will bring more paper into the camp for transfers & most importantly keep our top players like Modric, Bale etc around, SUCK ON THAT GOONERS, See you at CL..
WOW! Denis and Ante going off on Anonymous :)) Congrats. Its a sign that the two of you are totally comfortable with your coverage, the site and your audience. These two comments are true milestones to where CSR is….congrats agains….and to Anonymous…don't mess with CSR Nation :)))
@Anonymous,
I take it this was your first time on this site. Where are you from? Such kind words from you.
"loyalty" ?
Is this Jerry Maguire.
If you were on this site regularly, you will see that no one cares about the Cup on this website.
Tottenham(with three croatian players) qualifying for the champions league for the first time in their history is bigger news than Hajduk winning the Cup.
We could care less about Man City. Nothing "Croatian" at Man City.
Do some homework and take a look at our site before you go off like that.
@ Anonymous
Hey dickhead!, what part of "More to come with news from all around Europe in the next few hours" do you not understand. We have jobs, we have lives, we do not get paid to run this site.
Tottenham winning is huge news today. There's 3 Croatian national starters that play for the Spurs. I'm writing the rest of the report, which includes Hajduk, right now. Thanks for interrupting the report.
Plus Hajduk winning the Croatian Kup against Sibenik after winning the first leg is not news. Who Hajduk can play in the third qualifying round for Europa is news!
Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Create a blogger name so we can put a name to these uneducated rants.
Gypsies, the first thing posted on this site is the zidovi at tottenham beating the Arabs at city, how about showing real Croatian news like Hajduk winning the cup?! Shows where your loyalty truly is… Although not suprised coming from yanks/canadians. Now this is the part you try defend / condone your actions, don't waste your time (actions speak louder than words)
Great news. I liked the spurs starting lineup and Rednapp made some great subs. I knew the spurs would win, considering the last game with Man City where the spurs won 3-0 with 2 from Kranjcar.
Did anyone else see the guy sporting the checkers?
@ someguy,
It's not you, it's ESPN. That's why Denis has two names. And you can't delete them. I will make a whole new group without password in the next 2 days. Thanks for the heads up.
Ante,
I tried to submit an entry for the world cup bracket predictor and espn's server kept telling me the the password is incorrect. In frustration I tried to submit it several times which, even though the password was supposedly incorrect, resulted in something like 5 entries. Perhaps I'm technically challenged today, but I can't figure out how to delete them. Would you happen to know how?
Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever you may be. We have a full day of Soccer today. Trabzonspor won the Turkish Cup earlier in the day defeating Fenerbahce 3-1. We'll see Cale and Gabric in Europa League next year.
The second leg of the Croatian Cup final between Sibenik and Hajduk is underway. Hajduk won the first leg 2-1.
Also, Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv are also underway. The winner will take the Ukrainian title and automatic Shamps League spot.
Perisic is in action for CLub Brugge and it all leads to the finale of Wednesday night when Modric and the Spurs hunt down the last Champions LEague spot in England.
Another thing to bring up……
Should Spurs win their next 2 games, and Arsenal lose their last game, Spurs would take 3rd and an automatic CL spot next year. Arsenal would have to go to qualifying.
Best of luck to Spurs tonight.
They certainly deserve to be in the Champions league, they've played the better, more consistent and more attractive football. Corluka, Kranjcar and Modric have all played a large part in this and here's to hoping that they will be able to showcase their talents on the largest stage in club football.
As a Spurs fan, I am sooooo nervous I can barely concentrate. We will need a huge performance from everyone today, especially Luka!