Oh boy, the Prva Liga hasn’t been this fun in a long, long time.
As it stands, there is only a five-point gap between first and fourth place in the HNL table. Rijeka and Osijek’s victories over Hajduk and Dinamo this weekend proved that each team in the top-four is a serious contender for silverware this season. Is it finally time for Croatia to have a champion other than Dinamo Zagreb?
The title race might just come down to who can make the fewest errors going forward. Each contending club has serious flaws that will take more than a few months to solve. For example, Hajduk still need to connect some dots and produce chemistry up front. Dinamo must reboot Petković’s crumbling career and find someone to enhance Oršić’s superpowers. Osijek need to avoid dropping any points against weak sides. And Rijeka could really use one more star player to upgrade their squad.
Dinamo Zagreb has looked awful in their past few league matches, presenting a golden opportunity for other sides to potentially leapfrog them in the standings. Dinamo is not the empire that it once was, and others are seriously catching up – words pleasant enough to make a grown Hajdukovac cry tears of joy. Hajduk, Rijeka, and Osijek: more than half the nation and dijaspora is calling on you to defeat the monster and break the norm. This is your year.
On another note, the league hasn’t been this wide open for years, proving that critical growth is taking place in the HNL. The additions of Drmić, Livaja, and Kalinić will be crucial going forward, as more aging and struggling (yet talented) footballers will begin to find homes in the Croatian first-tier. Regardless of who you root for, anyone in support of the HNS and Croatian football as a whole should be celebrating the fresh competitiveness of the league.
Cheers to another few months of terrific entertainment in the Prva Liga!
Wow! 1 of 19 comments is actually relevant to the original story.
sorry | but you guys are double standard!
I don’t know why => a bunch of hypocrites here . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7RASTRaZYw
Stop pushing your religious views here.
Ukrainians are fighting Chetnik scum. Remember that. Hrvati have been fighting there since 2014 and you post this here?
Only a dumb bastard wouldn’t want both Portugal and Italy at the world cup.
There is a 40 mile column of Chetnik vehicles approaching the Ukraine. Good luck to our brave men there. A prayer to St. Javelin. May the hand of God guide your rockets to their targets and may the schism invaders burn to a crisp.
Aren’t Chetniks like 0 for 10 in wars?
Something tells me the Ukrainians will be just fine, lol.
Lol they enshrine those defeats in their songs
Striker update!! Pasalic started as the lone CF for Atalanta today. Guess who scored with his head…also missed a bit of a sitter and hit the post
I saw he scored
But cf?? Good news
He may be able to transform one
Ya he seems like he can miss but more often then not seems like can finish
Maybe he will become more clinical as he ages
He’s 27 now
If you think he has another 6 years of good play left in him…
Just turned 27
He’s kinda like Rebic or Olic to me.
Not at all in style of play, but very similar in terms of impact and effectiveness.
Pasalic has horrible finishing with his feet, but for whatever reason, he seems to score goals.
Kinda like how Olic or Rebic are guaranteed to botch a lot of sitters and open nets, but at the same time, them constantly moving without the ball and getting into a good position always results in some sort of chance creation.
Pasalic moves very well without the ball, and is a good finisher with his head. He’s always crashing the net when someone sends in a cross or shoots on goal. But he’s bad with his feet in there, and will frustrate us the same way Rebic and Olic frustrated us (but were still net positive players for us).
I agree, his off the ball movement is exceptional especially his willingness to make runs into the box. He’s also got that extra element as a playmaker which is great when you have guys around you who can shoot (from outside of the box too); Perisic, Brekalo, Modric, and Brozo. He’s just not super fast or agile that he can use his athleticism to get by defenders. Really, he’s a great false 9 and should be tested as such in the upcoming matches.
Krama is still the number one CF but is just too inconsistent for my liking.
They just need to replace Russia with the next team as was said below and not change the playoff set up
Better not have Italy and Portugal snake in and push us to pot 3!!
Spartak Moscow out of Europa League, RB Leipzig through to quarters
It’s relieving not to see Russia competing. Regardless of the outcome, they shouldn’t compete in the World Cup qualifiers against Poland or nations league. Replace them with a team that was on the verge of qualifying and has the best record as a third place team. Albania, Hungary and Romania. They have to come up with a replacement but there isn’t a rush. Only three weeks away for qualifiers. It’s also good we beat those commies.
FIFFA has banned the use of the Russian flag and their national anthem at all upcoming competitions, which must be played on neutral ground vs in Russia.
However, Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic have all said that they will not play agsinst Russia in the upcoming World cup qualifying playoffs.
I wonder what happens next?
Russia is now banned from the World Cup.
The Revenge of Nenad ‘El Nino’ Bjelica