Andrej Kramarić scored for a 2nd consecutive game as Hoffenheim played out a 1-1 draw with Freiburg Saturday. In the 40′, Krama faked out his defender by feigning towards the near post before tracking back for an open header on net. Kramarić has been cold for the past two months but is heating up in the past week. With Euro 2021 less than 50 days away, a hot Krama will only help the Croatian cause. Hoffenheim will finish around mid-table this season.
Kramarić Goal
Even with a disappointing 0-0 draw against Real Betis on Saturday, Real Madrid made up ground in the La Liga race as leaders, Atletico, lost on Sunday. With five matches remaining and Barcelona with a game in hand, it’s still anybody’s title to take. Modrić played 77 minutes in the draw receiving an average 6/10 grade as he “fired a nice effort from the edge of the box, but saw his strike parried to safety. Failed to clip any penetrating passes through a resolute Betis backline.” Real Madrid host Chelsea on Tuesday in the 1st leg of the Champions League semifinals. Mateo Kovačić will not play with a lingering hamstring injury. Chelsea defeated West Ham 1-0 on Saturday and are now three points clear for a CL berth.
Josip Brekalo came off the bench to play 25 minutes in a 2-0 Wolfsburg loss to Borussia Dortmund. With the loss, Wolfsburg are now only two points clear for a CL berth with three matches remaining in the season. Only 2/3 of these clubs will make CL next season: Wolfsburg (57 points), Frankfurt (56), Dortmund (55).
Domagoj Bradarić played the first half in Lille’s huge 3-2 win over Lyon on Sunday. Lille now lead PSG by one point for top spot in France with only four matches remaining. Niko Kovač has Monaco pumping on all cylinders with another win Saturday; this time 1-0 over Angers. Monaco are now four points clear for a CL berth next season.
@ Markus – You’re right. Rijeka doesn’t have a lot of things Hajduk has. Rijeka and Osijek have traditionally been the 3rd/4th best team in the league – but both teams have leapfrogged Hajduk for a number of years now. Crazy to thnk about it this way, but its been almost full decade (11-12 sezona) since Hajduk finished 2nd or higher and obviously its 15 years since they won the title.
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@Slavonac – I hear you, but I think in a lot of instances, Hajduk and their fans feel wronged by many entities and its just their culture now to view themselves as ‘outsider’ types and the last great bastion of Croatian football. I don’t even bother trying to talk to their supporters about that anymore. Waste of breath.
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@Maminjo – I’m aware of the Rubin Kazan piece but you would think after he does come back, is a good sooldier and one of their best performers that they would do right by him. Guess not?
Hajduk dumped Caktaš for peanuts to Rubin Kazan back when he was still developing.
They almost ruined his career for a quick buck.
His biggest mistake was coming back to them.
Markus and Armada….and this is the frustration I have with Hajduk. They’ve spent years calling out HNS (pederi) and Mamic but never ever tend to look at themselves! I can’t understand why any fan of Hajduk would allow the constant bullshit to continue? Blaming someone else while you are just inept and incapable of managing and organization is exactly what has been going on…everything else is a distraction to the real problem but somehow Hajduk fans don’t catch on!
Thing is, Rijeka should not be as good or even better than Hajduk. That’s amazing for them considering how talented Hajduk’s youth pool is. I’m convinced that if Rijeka could get their hands on half the players Hajduk can, they’d be close to up there with Dinamo, if not there. The split area has generated SO many talented nogometaši but Hajduk just can’t seem to muster up a competitive side. They really should take notes from Dinamo because with all that talent available to them, there is absolutely 0 excuse as to why they can’t be top 2 every single season.
who knows that back story with Mijo and the contract stuff? He’s still under contract with the team, right? Two seasons ago, he was the top scorer of the HNL and won the SN zuta majica award, over 200 caps with the senior side, still a good player by HNL standards, not even 30 and he’s stuck on a B team? Wild.
** can’t use him
Something I’m curious to know more about….they sent Mijo Caktas to Hajduk B apparently because of contract issues and then brought in Livaja. Who knows the situation but if you ask me, Caktas is one of Croatia best performing domestic players and now he’s completely screwed! The player is screwed and the club screwed themselves because they can use him even though they could!
You make a good point Armada although Hajduk is paying huge money to a few rentals so I don’t see things turning out good for them financially either. They won’t get any gains for those players they banked on and hopefully they don’t put themselves in a worse financial position for next year!
Bradaric replaced at HT and at fault on one of the goals. He was maybe the team’s worst player…
@ Slavonac
Rijeka might not make it to Europe either, depending on where they finish in the table and who wins the Cup. No one knows what the ECL will be like, might be good for the clubs that this is a bit more watered down that way teams like Rijeka, Hajduk and others get more results. But I think with Rijeka and Hajduk specifically, both teams need to figure out their strategy for success. Can’t speak to Hajduk, but I feel like Rijeka and there reliance on the ‘retread program’ has come full circle. They’re not going to find a ‘hidden gem’ like Kramaric, Benko, Colak, Heber, etc. every year to help carry them. I mean, look at Drmic. He isn’t the answer. It can be a part of the strategy – but they really need to get serious about the academy and building that up more and not just relying on bringing in has beens and turning them for profit. Last few years have been better…. but if they want to get serious about challenging Dinamo and acutally doing something in Europe, they need to accelerate that.
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I think a year without Europe might be a blessing in disguise for Rijeka and Hajduk. Focus on the domestic league, shoot for a top 3 finish, see what you have with your youth and actually build out a plan to somehow battle Dinamo for the top spot in 3-5 years time. Playing in Europe usually leads to some high priced signings that don’t do dick. Spend the money on the academy or save it.
…there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be good “!!!
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They still blame and point fingers. There’s a banner at their stadium complaining about the “Super League”. They should be silent for once in their life and just focus on improving their club from their uprava, down to their groundskeeper!
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Personally, I’d be embarrassed to keep pointing out other clubs snd other organizations if I were a Hajduk member. This is nothing more than playing a “victim attitude”!
Hajduk are like the New York Knicks of the HNL.
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There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be good, but they run their team with no strategy and it never seems to get better for them.
However, if they ever get good, the league immediately becomes much better.
…in other news…Hajduk may not make it to any European competitions for the upcoming season but according to their Twitter feed, they have 22,493 active members. Let’s all put our hands together and congratulate them on having a fantastic fan base! This is how low they’ve gotten, they announce their membership daily because there’s nothing else to report on!
Ante your not the the guy who promotes white supremacy by any chance
BOTS! Bwahahahaahaha….you guys make me laugh.
People aren’t really familiar with Terzić because he kind of came out of nowhere.
He never really had a playing career, and was born and raised in Germany.
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He was always going to be a caretaker coach for Dortmund, but hopefully he uses this experience to get himself a head coaching position somewhere. But he seems content to just go back to being an assistant.
Needs more experience before anybody starts talking about him being a future coach for us.
Coach’s corner …Kovac bossing it in France…the Dortmund coach is a Croat albeit a watered down one why don’t we ever mention him on here especially after Bilic took him under his wing.
Speaking of bilic it’s nice to see fat Sam is going to get WBA relegated I guess he’s not the savior they made him out to be.
What will the spankings be for the super league teams …I can’t see them getting anything but a slap on the wrist..even if that ?
Ziva is Ante K’s alter ego. Just another handle he uses. Hot take.
Crobot 2020
Showing kids how to live the zds lifestyle from parents basements everywhere
Not even a joke that is the new Canadian dream with the way housing is going up here
The dream is over for many sadly
Will see some talented Canadians heading south
Apparently Ziva was a bot last I heard.
I heard ziva is growing in value but he has yet to fully embrace it
Petar Musa with a pair of assists today.
Ummm we play him in 2 months.
Just an observation.
Dude covers ground like an animal and has a great scoring rate for a dm
Ummm what does he have to do with a Croatian sports site???
That Tomas Soucek is really good!
Might be a better defensive mid than Brozovic even.
Fuck off Živa
Fuck the Chelsea game!
Fuck off Perez!!
On je naš!
From Marca: Regarding Modric, he suffered a back tweak during Tuesday’s training session and he will now be monitored ahead of Real Madrid’s next two games, which are against Real Betis on Saturday night and Chelsea next Tuesday.
Speaking of Twitter…
Anyone know if ziva has fully embraced it yet??
Real Madrid said he left practice at the beginning of the week with “back problems”. It probably was for rest but that’s what a reliable source reported on Twitter.
What Luka Modric injury? Thought he was just being rested?