Photo: Vladimir Dugandžić/Cropix; Stanley, shedding a few for the “bili”
Hajduk eliminated from Croatian Cup, Poklepović ousted
A 1-0 loss to Istra 1961 in the quarter final of the Croatian Cup has reportedly cost Hajduk trainer Stanko Poklepović (“Špaco”) his job.
Istra, currently sitting in 15th place in the Croatian prva liga, stunned 2,500 onlookers at Poljud today with a 105th minute strike to eliminate the defending Cup holders.
Photo: 24Sata, Joško Svaguša
After the game, Hajduk President Joško Svaguša announced he’ll name Poklepović’s successor Thursday morning.
Today’s Cup defeat follows Hajduk’s first prva liga loss of the season, a loss that left the “bijeli” four points behind Dinamo at the top of the table.
Croatian Cup highlights
While a new coach may provide the club with a much needed spark, a deeper roster with more proven players would have been a more preferable solution to Hajduk’s poor form as of late.
Poklepović took the helm at Hajduk last spring and promptly guided the club to the Croatian Cup and their first success in Europe in 16 years.
@ Dennis:
That's even crazier than in South America. What division is this? I can see this happening in a regional league but not in a 1st or 2nd division match.
Dusko Lokin and Igor Stimac win the poll. Lots of love for Stimac here hmmmm?
Whats surprising from that ref attack video is that the game continued. Does the ref need to be knocked out for the game to be canceled?
Balkan mentality I guess. Its starts at the little league level. Parents would walk onto the field and deck the ref. Now a law is in place and the referee gets broken off with $$$. From what I heard in Sibenik, some of the refs hope they get decked so they can collect $$$. This is at the 10-15 year level.
@Dennis Fistonich,
I think UEFA came down ok on Serbia. Could have been a lot worse, however, could have just been a slap on the wrist with the game replayed. Serbia loses 3 points, gives up 3 goals, fans cant travel away, and game behind closed doors against N Ireland at home. Not bad in my book.
As far as Italy, just a slap on the wrist. UEFA react only when someone gets killed. Why not prevent this?
@ dennis
i was just about to post the same link. ref attack!
hilarious. and sad. but still hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AY4IvBWHwk&feature=player_embedded#at=95
I thought this only happened in South America? Unbelivebale. These guys should be thrown in jail
Re: UEFA
Here is yet another example of UEFA going soft. If you want to get rid of this problem, you come down on a team hard to eliminate the problem once and for all. The punishment for Serbia was a slap on the wrist. If you want to send a message to hooligans across Europe, you have them play behind close doors for the rest of the qualifying campaign. England was hit hard with the Hillsborough incident in the late 80's. I believe they were banned from Europe for 5 years.
The fact that they think the Italians did everything they could in terms of security is total bullshit. I think UEFA wants hooliganism to continue, because if they didn't, they would hand out stiffer penalties.
@Ziva
Yes I do agree Svagusa is doing a better job than Grgic, however, just because changing coaches is part of the culture, it doesn't mean history has to keep repeating himself. I think Poklepovic was fired from outside influences and probably had little to do with Svagusa, even though I think he's doing a below average job. Spaco is an outspoken guy and if he didnt have a 100% record, he was going to be the fall guy. It's a shame this is the way of Cro soccer because this in actuality is part of the problem. Having stability in any organization is part of the recipe for success and without stability, well, you're just asking for trouble. Making Europe is no small feat for Hajduk, and yet they got rid of the guy that got them there.
Finally a man of integrity in the game, and now he's gone.
I also agree Ziva that Ivic is the guy if he wants back in. He is a legend in the game and even if you can have him only for the rest of the year I'd do that in a heartbeat. Instant credibility.
I originally read that Serbia must lock out fans for 2 home qualifiers, but I guess that's not the case after looking it up again.
This is off topic, but Pranjic looked so much better today for Bayern, even playing on the right for a lot of the second half. He did really well to set up the third goal. Hopefully he can keep it up…even the commentator mentioned "eine starker Pranjic heute" (for the German speakers out there) and he normally doesn't get too much love from the commentators.
UEFA has come to a decision on Serbia and Italy after the violence in Genoa a few weeks back.
Italy
~was awarded with a 3-0 victory. ~Their federation was fined $140,000.
~will be ordered to play a game in an empty stadium if trouble is repeated.
“UEFA appreciated the solid work of our delegation, which was able to show that the Italian federation did the best it could under the dramatic circumstances of that evening,” said Antonello Valentini, director general of Italy’s federation.
Serbia
~fined $166,000
~was ordered to lock its fans out of one home qualifier
~Serbia’s fans will be barred from traveling to all of its away matches in this qualifying period.
UEFA awards Italy 3-0 win over Serbia
The 3-0 result was expected, however, I still think the penalties were just a slap on the wrist for Italy.
"able to show that the Italian federation did the best it could under the dramatic circumstances of that evening"
"best it could"…. If that was the best, then what was the worst? UEFA wont do anything until someone gets killed.
my thoughts….
It was expected that Spaco would go. This is what happens in Cro soccer when a team does not perform for a few games. Tom, you might be right. Maybe he was tuned out by some of the players, but I think the biggest reason he is gone is due to the lack of a bench. Playing Europa League on Thursdays and then a league match on Sundays was a scenerio for hajduk to lose points in the cro league. I give Spaco credit for two things…….he was the man in charge that got hajduk back into europe for the first time in 16 years and he is a guy who said what he wanted and did not worry what the uprava would think. He has made his money in the sport and did not need to kiss anyone's ass.
@ Dennis…..I'm no fan of Svagusa, but he is the least of hajduk's problems right now. I dont like the way he was put in as president of hajduk, but he has done a very good job with the club since he did take over. Switching coaches is just part of the culture in cro socccer. Again, i am no fan of Svagusa, but he is 100 times better than Grgic.
I'll take Vulic over any other cro coach unless Ivic wants to coach again.
no disrespect to hamilton croatia, but being in the finals or actually winning the canadian club league championship is the equivalent of winning the club ice hockey championship in Australia. From what I have heard, that league in Canada is garbage and many of the matches are fixed.
What a shame. I liked the guy because he had some personality for once. I was looking forward to calling him Stanley in future Hajduk reports.
But seriously, for all he did for Hajduk in less than a year. Won the Croatian Cup, got into Europe, beat Anderlecht in amazing fashion and still in the top 2 in Croatia…wow….
The Croatian coaching carousel continues…it's sickening…how no one can hold a job longer than 12 months.
Let's see how Hajduk reacts…
congrats to hamilton croatia for making it to the finals of the CSL:
http://www.thespec.com/sports/article/271679–hamilton-croatia-advances-to-csl-final
"unless they get Vulic or a quality foreigner, this sacking was pointless. "
This pretty much sums it up for Hajduk. History repeats itself. Hajduk is used to having at least 2 managers in a season.
I think Poklepovic has done a hell of a job since he was hired less than one year ago. He got Hajduk into Europe, defeated Anderlecht, won the Croatian Kup. Svaguša is the guy that needs to go. Maybe if the funds that were received from their sales over the last few years wasn't in the hands of the mafija, then maybe they could invest in players. Poklepovic was finally a no non-sense kinda guy and they throw him out because theyre out of this yr's croatian kup. Who gives a rats ass about the croatian kup? Win the league. Svaguša is an idiot plain and simple. Can this club ever get some stability? This is a microcosm of what is going on all over Croatia. Corruption kills.
unless they get Vulic or a quality foreigner, this sacking was pointless. Please, don;t expect anything better from Kalinic, Mrsic, Susak and the other guys mentioned
My lord i was disconnected for the internet for 6 days and i am amazed with what has happened. This breaks my heart. I knew Hajduk were due soon for some sort of a form slump but to be dumped from the cup, thats unforgivable. In reality now its gnna be another Dinamo dominant season… great.
not a hajduk fan at all so this doesn't hurt, but the numbers are shocking for anybody. this will be their 23rd coach since the HNL started and the 30th coaching change. is there something wrong here? or is mamic to blame again?
Ziva,
I don't know enough about the "behind the scenes" goings on. I wonder, though, perhaps the players had simply stopped responding to what Spaco had to say? Perhaps they just weren't buying into his tactics and/or motivational approach any longer? When players "tune out," there can be only one solution, namely, replace the coach. Might this have been the biggest factor behind his dismissal, more than their recent form? Any thoughts? Insight?
not a Hajduk fan, but Svagusa needs to take a hit too, the squad is not deep enough to play in three tournaments. Spaco to me was always an average coach, but to me its unfair to hire him now, especially when some of the names being thrown into the hat are Kalinic (assistant coach), Mrsic (Cibalia), Kek (Slovenia coach) aren't exactly any better. I put Kek in the list because I think its unrealistic for him to come to Hajduk.
not unexpected….typical move in cro when a team starts having a few bad results. Hajduk needs more quality players to compete in multiple competitions. This is something that was predictable when hajduk qulaified for the europa league. Domestic form would suffer because of the extra games and the inability to keep up playing twice a week. It caught up to them.