Germany
Ivan Perišić(center) thought he scored the game winner for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday
In what will surely be the Bundesliga game of the year, Stuttgart came from behind twice to stun Borussia Dortmund 4-4 at Signal Iduna Park on Friday. Former Hajduk Split midfielder, Ivan Perišić, came on for Kevin Großkreutz in the 79th minute and scored what looked to be the game winner in the 87th minute after one-timing a Marcel Schmelzer corner kick into the back of the net. Ivan celebrated as if he scored a World Cup winning goal, took of his shirt and threw it in the stands for some lucky fan. Perišić received a yellow card for excessive celebration and Christian Gentner scored the equalizer in the 92nd minute to bring Stuttgart a deserving point.
“That was a crazy match when the lead changes hands so many times, I have never seen anything like it. We let it slip out of our hands after we took a 2-0 lead. Stuttgart put us under pressure and deserved the draw, I am just happy we managed to get a point.”
~Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp
Perišić was ready to party (4:02)
Mario Mandžukić was on fire in Berlin
After coming within a few points of the Bundesliga relegation zone less than a month ago, Wolfsburg now find themselves only goal difference shy of the final Europa League spot and 6th place on the Bundesliga table after registering their fourth straight win in a 4-1 drubbing of Hertha Berlin on Saturday. “Super” Mario Mandžukić started and played the full 90 minutes for Wolfsburg in the win. The former Dniamo Zagreb striker used his speed to score his 11th goal of the season and assist on the last goal of the match. Mario put the game out of reach in the 77th minute with a clever run to beat the Berlin offside trap and smashed the ball through the legs of the Hertha keeper. Four minutes later, Mario out-sprinted the Berlin defense up the right flank and crossed to an unmarked Patrick Helmes for an easy score. Andre Mijatović was left off the roster sheet by Hertha Berlin.
Mario has been on fire the past four matches, scoring three goals and registering four assists. The 25-year-old Croatian international has certainly made his case as the Croatia #1 up top. The question now is will Mario get the same service from the Croatian midfielders and does Slaven know how to use his talents?
Mandžukić goes ‘five-hole’ on Hertha Berlin keeper (2:35)
Photo: REUTERS/Morris Mac Matzen
Arjen Robben (L), Ivica Olić (C) and Danijel Pranjić (R) arrive in Marseille for their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday
Ivica Olić arrived in Marseille in a suit and didn’t have to change as the Croatian international didn’t make an appearance in a 2-0 win against Olympique Marseille on Wednesday in Champions League quarterfinals. The 32-year-old, former Dinamo Zagreb striker also failed to reach the pitch in Bayern’s 1-0 win at Nurnberg on Saturday.
Danijel Pranjić slips against Nurnberg on Saturday
Franck Ribery received a surprise start on the bench for Danijel Pranjić on Saturday against Nurnberg as the Croatian international played 57 minutes in the win. Danijel started his second straight Bundesliga game and even managed to register two half-chances at goal. The 30-year-old, former Dinamo Zagreb winger will be looking for a new club this summer and hoping to make Slaven Bilić’ roster for the Euro.
Photo: Bundesliga
Mladen Petrić (C) tries to break free against Kaiserslautern
Mladen Petrić continued to struggle for HSV as the Croatian international has gone scoreless in seven of his last eight games as HSV registered a valuable 1-0 win at Kaiserslautern on Saturday. Mladen has fell out of favor under Slaven Bilić and has failed to re-sign for HSV past this season. The 31-year-old striker will almost certainly return to Switzerland to finish off his career where it started.
Ivo Iličević(center) strikes a pose against Kaiserslautern
Ivo Iličević returned to Kaiserslautern for the first time since signing a four year contract on August 31, 2011 for HSV. The German born Croatian was showered with boos every time he touched the ball but was able to use that as motivation and play one of his best games of the season. Ivo played a part in the game’s loan goal as his shot inside the box should have been called for a penalty kick after a handball, but the referee played the advantage and Marcell Jansen blasted in the game winner. In the second half, Ivo came close to scoring again, but his shot came off the post. HSV climbed out of the relegation zone with the win.
“I spent two and a half memorable years at Kaiserslautern. This is dificult just to forget. I remain in contact with former players: Sahan, Sukuta-Pasu and Shechter. The situation there is the same like with us, very dificult. The fans are scared that their club will be relegated to the second division. “
~Ivo Iličević for Bild before the game
(0:34) Iličević booed, (5:34) Iličević off the post
Augsburg dropped Koln into the relegation zone following a 2-1 home win. Mato Jajalo sat out the final game of a three game suspension because of a red card. Frieburg also jumped out of the relegation zone after upsetting Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 on Saturday. Ivan Santini failed to make an appearance for Freiburg in the loss. Freiburg have won four of their last five Bundesliga games. Croatian international, Vedran Ćorluka, remains out of action for Bayer Leverkusen. Srđan Lakić was left off the roster sheet for Hoffenheim in a 1-1 draw against Schalke 04 on Sunday.
ENGLAND
Photo: Reuters
Luka Modrić played the full match on Sunday as Tottenham got back to their winning ways in a 3-1 victory over Swansea. Modrić managed four shots (one on goal) and was given a ‘6’ grade from Skysports.com as he “buzzed around but was frustrated in the final third.” With the Spurs win and an Arsenal loss on Saturday to QPR, both North London clubs are tied on 58 points with seven games remaining in the season. Chelsea and Newcastle both sit five points behind the final Champions League spot. Niko Kranjčar was left off the Tottenham squad for this fixture.
The Luka Modrić summer transfer talks have begun yet again. This time it’s Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini who is praising the Croatian midfielder, Soccernet reports. CroatianSports.com wants Modrić to stay in North London if Tottenham plays in Champions League next season.
Photo: TeamTalkMedia
Nikica Jelavić didn’t score in Everton’s 2-0 win over West Brom on Saturday, but he did assist on Leon Osman’s 18th minute deflection goal. Jelavić played a quick 1-2 back to Osman who shot towards goal but had the ball deflected off West Brom defender Gareth McAuley to beat keeper Ben Foster. Jela was active throughout the game with five shots (two on goal), picking up a yellow card in the 55′. He was subbed out in the 87th minute to a grateful Goodison Park crowd. Everton now sit in seventh place in the Premiership table, one point ahead of hated city rivals Liverpool FC.
Jelavić assist @ 0:42
Photo: BoltonFC
Ivan Klasnić (above) got the start for Bolton on Saturday in a pivotal relegation battle match against Wolverhampton. Killer only managed one shot on the day and was subbed off in the 70′, five minutes after receiving a yellow card. The goals came after Klasnić was subbed off with Bolton scoring twice late to defeat Wolves 3-2, putting the Wanderers one point clear of the relegation zone with one game in hand.
UKRAINE
Photo: Shakhtar
Darijo Srna (above) played the full match on Sunday as Shakhtar defeated Vorskla 2-0. The win keeps Shakhtar three points behind rivals Dynamo Kyiv with five games remaining in the season. The two Ukrainian clubs will meet in Donetsk next weekend in a match that could settle the Ukrainian season. A Dynamo win on enemy turf surely gives them the title and an automatic berth into Champions League. All is still to play for. Eduardo remains sidelined with a pulled hamstring. He should be available for Shakhtar in the next two weeks.
Ognjen Vukojević did not feature for Dynamo Kyiv in their 3-1 win over Chornomorets.
Nikola Kalinić and Ivan Strinić got the start for Dnipro on Saturday in a 2-0 win over Tavriya. Strinić played the full match while Kalinić was pulled off in the 77′. Kale still hasn’t scored in 2012 and is questionable to be part of the Croatian squad during Euro 2012. Strinić is back to full health and will be in Slaven Bilić’s defensive plans this summer.
RUSSIA
Pletikosa left dry by his Rostov defense
Stipe Pletikosa started in net for Rostov on Saturday as they lost 2-0 to Volga Nyzhni. Shota Bibilov was put through on goal in the fifth minute of play and Pleti was unable to make the save as Volga got off to an early lead. Volga were then awarded a penalty in the 31st minute which Andrei Karyaka slid past Stipe to make it 2-0. The match finished that way.
SPAIN
Tomislav Dujmović started for Real Zaragoza as they kept their hot streak alive with a 2-1 win at Sporting Gijon. Dujmović played just in front of the back four and was subbed out in the 54th minute for Franco Zuculini. The win finally takes them off the bottom and into 18th place, four points from safety.
Ivan Rakitić and Sevilla play at home to Mallorca on Monday. A win would put them in a tie for seventh place in La Liga.
France
Dejan Lovren in action against Rennes
Lyon’s 12 straight Champions League appearance streak might be coming to an end after coming from behind to split the points 1-1 with Stade Rennes on Sunday. With the draw, Lyon fall to six points behind Lille for the final Champions League spot with eight games left to play. Croatian international, Dejan Lovren, started and played the full 90 minutes for Lyon. Dejan was not at fault for the Stade Rennes goal but the former Dinamo Zagreb defender was fortunate not to be at fault on two mistakes in defense. Just two minutes after Turkey striker Mevlut Erding scored the opening goal, Jonathan Pitroipa stole the ball from Lovren in the box but his chip shot luckily came off the post. Later in the first half, Kevin Theopile-Catherine almost capitalised on a poor clearance from Dejan only to see his shot go just wide. Lovren played well the rest of the game and received a 6.5 grade from goal.com
(10:53) Lovren loses the ball as the last player in defense
Next Matches:
Tuesday, 4/3
Olympique Marseille at Bayern München(Champions League)
Saturday, 4/7
Tottenham Hotspur at Sunderland, Everton at Norwich City, Fulham at Bolton Wanderers, Borussia Dortmund at Wolfsburg, Augsburg at Bayern München, Hoffenheim at Kaiserslautern, Nürnberg at Freiburg, Werder Bremen at Köln, Hertha BSC at Borussia, Auxerre at Lyon, Barcelona at Real Zaragoza, Rostov at Amkar Perm’, Dynamo Kyiv at Shakhtar Donetsk
Sunday, 4/8
Bayer Leverkusen at Hamburger SV, Sevilla at Athletic Club
~Ante Kvartuč and Denis Svirčić reporting from sunny Southern California, Zach Gilfix reporting from Minneapolis, MN
@Ante B:
I agree about Schilde. He isn’t as bad as some people say. He is less mistake prone than Lovren.
if vrsaljko wasnt injured so long i would like him to make the team also. he is going to be bigtime.
what about
srna big joe corluka pranjic in the back? im just scared those spanish wingers are too fast for corluka. and if italy has giovinco on the left side we are screwed too. he is just going to slither through him.
@slavonac
yea I know, but u just can’t feed trolls or else they keep coming back, let this kucka die.
@ante b.
velika sramota
@Mali – yeah, Simunic is probably a given too. But I’d pick Schildenfeld over Lovren all day erry day.
Jarac – i cant stand ignorance like that…but I’ll try to calm down…she struck a nerve!
Jarac,
Nisam vidio tvoju poruku nazalost ali slazem se, udba radi
@ante B.
I was hoping for a response, UDBA ovdje radi!!!
@slavonac
don’t feed the troll
somehow I get this feeling that Olic and Jelavic can work well together. two weeks ago I wasnt sure about Jelavic…I felt he hadnt proven much yet…slowly I see he gets into the right positions and isnt afraid to score…so my theory is…Olic always works hard and creates chances…hopefully Jelavic can get into the good scoring positions and score!
typing in the dark isnt easy…so i’ll say this again…odjebi vec jednom…
Mali I love that lineup with one minor exception. I know I might get thrown under a bus but for some reason I would put Schilde feld in for the reason he always comes through for HRVATSKA. Don’t ask me why. He sucked at Dinamo but is a stud for the repka. I would say take Pranjic out but he has been killing it recently. Keep Vukojevic in there because I love his last name
What’s killing me is the not knowing whether Jelavic will be a goal scorer for us. I can’t help but think of Mladen Petric. Beast at club level, sranje for repka. Chalk it up to Croatian negativity. I hope and pray he’ll score goals for us and continue killing it. I hope…as us northerners would say bumo videli
my post was meant to say…that were gang raped!
@san francisco cro – you lost all credibility and i have zero tolerance for your ignorance! in fact i will say this…go **** yourself you loser…go tell that to the thousands upon thousands of women that we gang raped in croatia and left with serb babies…you have no clue wtf you are talking about. sign up for huffington post and write your idiot comments about your feeling regarding your brown boyfriend and share your thoughts with every homo from san fran you want to…i;ve heard enough from you to make me want to vomit! you have no sense of dignity and pride…youre a douchebag at best! odjebu vec jednom…mrs prljava ciganka!
ante vukusic needs to start. golden boot if he starts.
@ everyone,
Stop feeding the troll, obviously SF Cro is a troll, dont respond.
@Ante B.
reci mi ante, jel znas ko ovdje radi?
@Colin:
I can see Simunic starting, much to my dismay.
@ Mali lol word. He’s just trolling himself.
Also, take Lovren out of that lineup and this may be something to work with. Right now, I’d put Schildenfeld over him. I like Vuko in the Dmid position. For me, Perisic is still up in the air, but who else would be available for a L mid?
How much control will Mamic have when choosing who will be called up? Will we be surprised to see Badelj, Vrsaljko, Leko, Simunic, Kovacic? Kovacic would be a good addition just to get him some experience, but the others… no.
Is it possible that San Fran Troll & Wallace are the same person? They are both symmetrically idiotic.
@Ante B:
I doubt it, we don’t play that way. I think long balls mixed with playing through the midfield can be effective. What do you think of this hypothetical formation?
Jelavic
Olic (maybe even Kranjcar)
Perisic Modric Srna
Vukojevic
Pranjic Vida Lovren Corluka
Pletikosa
Ustashi?!?! Who the fuck would ever write Ustashi?! What sort of jugoslavenstvo did you guys grow up with?!?!? Sramota. Jugovici jebem li vam majku komunjarsku. Don’t hate us because we were raised to be proud of what our families fought for.
Soccer wise: nobody had answered my question. Can Hrvatska emulate what Everton has been doing with Jelavic?
This site has been completely taken over by apolitical self hating komunjari. Do you have pride in anything? And I won’t answer in the forums because I read the Ustasa post and once I saw armada’s über retarded post I had to shut it off despite Renato’s comebacks. Like I said before, Renato please handle these chumps. I’ll see you in Pedro in May brate.
Spremni
@ San Fran Troll & Wallace:
Go reverse 69 fingerband each other’s sphincters.
also who is this san fran cro ? i got a buddy that can hack danijel you want his number 😉 lol
@ golden child eduardo hasnt played in a while all he does is get hurt mean while klasnic and mandzukic play for there teams and are actually getting into some kind of rythym i would keep eduardo on the reserves just incase anyone gets hurt .
@ Thought Police aka Wallace,
Welcome back but please stop. Take it to the forums buddy. I set up Politics ‘just for you.’
@ Slavonac,
Nice Avatar!!!
by the way, do you copy-and-paste all your posts? Is their any original thought?
Thanks…..you proved it. My point on the serbs and the violence in Italy stand….hooligans are one thing, fans are another.
BBB and Torcida are not hooligan groups. Now, they do have some idiots who are hooligans, but those groups in general are hooligans.
@ Wallace
“Isn’t it true that when a White person speaks in the interest of his/her own race, you act as the thought police and start making accusations of “race-ism” and “White Supremacy”? So in YOUR opinion, only White people aren’t allowed to be a “group”, isn’t that right?”
In what I was refering to as “groups” ie Yugoslav republics, Serbians, Croatians, Bosnians, Slovenians, Macedonians, Montenegrins. Nothing you state above.
@Ziva Istina
“I’m not beding anything in my favor. Just calling you out for being a blind homer and asking people not be negative.”
Just take a quick glimpse at your previous posts, pretty much sums up everything. As for asking people not to be negative? Calling people out on their negativity towards bilic with providing actual facts to back my claims, simply. You on the other hand, the basement mold that you are can’t intake my main statement, yet two people spoke out and agree and you still sit there trying to argue a point you never even had.
“You seem to think being negative will have a harmful impact on a team.”
Your words, not mine.
“And those serb fans (if you want to call them that) had nothing to do with soccer. ”
“The rampage in Genoa was foreshadowed by an apparently co-ordinated campaign against Stojkovic. The former Red Star goalkeeper has been targeted by that club’s fans since he joined their city rivals Partizan on loan from Sporting Lisbon in August. According to reports, fans printed fake obituaries, made obscene phone calls to him and produced insulting banners. On Friday they jeered every time he touched the ball during Serbia’s 3-1 home defeat by Estonia.”
Your inside sources fail you on this one.
“As for you statement about BNBB and Torcida…………I never mentioned them.”
I quote you on this “Hooligans are not fans.” BBB and the Torcida are considered hooligan groups. Are you playing stupid or are you plain fucking stupid?
@bitno, talk about “panties in a knot”, go look at your comment at 12:58PM.
Did you ask the questions?
@Black Zodiac……I’m not beding anything in my favor. Just calling you out for being a blind homer and asking people not be negative. You seem to think being negative will have a harmful impact on a team. I don’t. The reason fans get negative is because the team already has flaws.
And those serb fans (if you want to call them that) had nothing to do with soccer. There was going to be trouble during that game; the hooligans even admitted as much.
As for you statement about BBB and Torcida…………I never mentioned them. I mentioned hooligans. There is a big difference between normal fans a hooligans. Hooligans have no interest in the game, all they care about is starting trouble.
@ thought police – when i read San fran croats post i was laughing and asked the guys to come check it out. It was all fun and games. No biggie. No need to get your panties all tangled up in a knot.
@WALLACE
“But only the ones that you approve has the right to call themselves a “group”, isn’t that right?”
My approval? I’m flattered, Welcome back.
@Ziva Istina
“if players are impacted by the reacition of fans booing then those same players are emotionally weak and part of the reason why England can’t win on the big stage.”
Exactly, so you do agree.
“The negativity of the fans didn’t cause the serbs the match against Italy last year. The behavior of their hooligans did.”
Their negative attitude (behavior) lead to their loss, you’re holding onto that childish argument like a life saver aren’t you. The Serbian supporters didn’t agree with a lot of things their team and players were doing and they took action based on their negative attitude.
“Hooligans are not fans.”
So you must speak on the behalf of all BBB and Torcidia, they all don’t support our players & team when they are on international duty correct.
“Those hooligans had one thing in mend and that was to cause trouble.”
Because of what?
Next time don’t attempt to bend things in your favor.
@Annonymous, & San Fran Cro
There’s been another Poglavnik posting here in the last few days. Im the original CSR Poglavnik from Vancouver and I don’t think I’ve ever said anything radical on this site other that a few arguments with Wallace and as most here know that means defending multiculturism. I don’t have a problem with anyones opinions as long as they stay on topic which is unfortunate because that never happens here. What do you expect when people bring up politics? We could be talking American politics and someone could make an argument about Republicans being classists, homophobics, and racists. Would that be too hard for you to swallow too?
can we find san francisco cros ip address and beat the living shit out of him? please does anybody have hacking abilities to that extent?
@nije bitno, ask them if the U.S., Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy have a right to remain White.
@Shinobi……if players are impacted by the reacition of fans booing then those same players are emotionally weak and part of the reason why England can’t win on the big stage.
The negativity of the fans didn’t cause the serbs the match against Italy last year. The behavior of their hooligans did. Hooligans are not fans. That match was never going to be played. Those hooligans had one thing in mend and that was to cause trouble.
@ anonymous,
Amen.
@San Francisco Cro
As much as I don’t like when Nizic and Poglavnik bring Ustase and politics on this site, I don’t think you have a right to tell them what to think or what to feel. For most of time, they talk sport. You came here only to attack them, Croatia and creators of this site.
Read this again:
“Croatia remains a backwards inbred racist country! I’m so upset, how can I bring my brown boyfriend to Croatia with all this evil hate? Can the moderators please erase these evil racist nazi comments and insignia by Poglavnik and Nizic? It has nothing to do with sport!
April 2, 2012 at 11:03 am ”
Stating that Croatia is “a backwards inbred racist country” is wrong. If you feel like that, don’t even go there – stay in S. F.
Are you even Croatian?
You didn’t bring one sentence about sport in all your comments. I don’t want to read your coments about hate and phobias; take them someplace else. This is Croatian Sport site.
@Shinobi
Rope
@ Shinobi
“Great point you made about the negitivity that caused srbija the match againts italy. And negitivity sure doesnt help the english national team when they play on home soil, they said themselves that they prefer to play away.”
It wasn’t put that way in the beginning of my original post, though Ziva either confused or tried bending it and arguing it only back fired.
“By the way great avatar man”
Thanks.
Oh Black Zodiac, my knight in shining armour! fighting evil-racism until Croatia stops being backwards and celebrates diversity, multicultualism and a brown future just like the Western world! Now, if only we can get those pesky Asians and Africans to catch up to us modern thinkers here in the West and mix together to create one big happy brown race so that there’s no more evil racism and ethnicism in this world!
@BlackZodiac
Great point you made about the negitivity that caused srbija the match againts italy. And negitivity sure doesnt help the english national team when they play on home soil, they said themselves that they prefer to play away.
It can be overwhelming for some players, you can imagine the constant jeers and booing would be off putting and certain players can lose their consentration which would lead to mistakes being made, and ultimately games being lost because of negitivity.
By the way great avatar man
by by
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S L A V E S
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@San Francisco Cro
There will always be groups, and the fact is Slavonac is right.
Slavonac from Cananda said “there were several instances where a croatian city had 90% of the population but a serb was the mayor of that city, a serb was the chief of police, most government jobs were held by serbs…how could you expect a people who were more than 1400 years old allow their identity to be washed away?”
What’s the difference between a Serb and Croat? We all bleed red! We are all one race, the human race! Eventually, when everybody mixes, there will be only ONE ethnicity anyway! And the world will be one big happy place with no ethnicists and racists!
@ San Fran Cro,
This website is an open forum. It is where Croatians and Croatian fans alike can come together from all over the world to discuss Croatian sports and other things of interest. It is the global Digital Dom. I for one believe in free speech. When I delete political comments from soccer-related threads, it’s to keep the original conversation going, not to stop the political talk. I want everyone on this website to feel free to discuss whatever they want…there’s just a place for everything now that the Forums are open. I understand that it is annoying to have to go to the Forums, but I’m sure everyone will get accustomed to it in the next few months.
San Fran,
I took a look at the email you have on file with us. Are you Croatian at all? That’s my first question to you. I hope you’re not just here to cause trouble. We have a great system here and even though people do not agree with each other, at least proper dialogue is present.
I cannot be responsible for the comments and opinions of the reader’s of this site. If we started deleting comments because one person had a problem with it, there would soon be none and this website would cease to exist.
Have you opened up the discussion to Nizic regarding taking down his logo?
I’m not going to delete conversations. In my eyes this website is just another Dom. Although some conversations need to be moved from the front doorstep to the back room. All of us shouldn’t suffer because we put our conversations out in public. We are all thousands of miles a part. These conversations should be happening, they just need to happen this way over the website. The war(s) is still obviously on many peoples’ minds. I’m personally not interested in that stuff, that’s why I don’t comment on it, but others are and I welcome them to discuss it. Is that not fair?
Say what you will, just be ready to back it up.
I think that’s a fair assessment to you all. Denis and I created this website to Unite Croatians. What you all do once you’re united is up to you.
@Ziva Istina
“I have no objecttions at all to your statement and arguments about Bilic and his record. None. In fact I agree with much of it.”
That is my main grounds on my previous comment.
“What I do have a problem with is the homer attitiude that we should not be negative.”
Homer attitude implying that one does not see our national teams problems (Defense, strikers) there is not much to argue besides that fact of false accusations on your behalf.
“You confuse criticism and actual objectivity for negativity. That is where you are wrong. ”
A reply based on a small comment, taken in and bended in their own view which would be yourself is the one who is confused.
“There is nothing worse than someone saying (and these are the words you wrote): “We need to support our team, players and coaches no matter what. Thinking negatively will only set ourselves up for failure.””
There is nothing worse then an obvious negger, most of us realize our defense is not in the best shape & the striking force could do a little better. Though we did slip by and made it to the Euros under Bilic.
When it comes to something positive why is it you become a flame baiting troll.
“Nobody is thinking negatively and even if they were, that wobnt win or lose the game. The guys on the field decide it, not internet message board losers like us.”
Ironic claims from someone such as yourself.
“Me or someone else saying that a certain position is weak or this player can’t play at a high level is not negativity. ”
This is something I don’t disagree with.
@San Francisco Cro
It will be taken care of soon enough.
Nobody is shielding me. I have no objecttions at all to your statement and arguments about Bilic and his record. None. In fact I agree with much of it.
What I do have a problem with is the homer attitiude that we should not be negative. You confuse criticism and actual objectivity for negativity. That is where you are wrong. There is nothing worse than someone saying (and these are the words you wrote): “We need to support our team, players and coaches no matter what. Thinking negatively will only set ourselves up for failure.”
Nobody is thinking negatively and even if they were, that wobnt win or lose the game. The guys on the field decide it, not internet message board losers like us. Me or someone else saying that a certain position is weak or this player can’t play at a high level is not negativity.
Now, if some fans want to openly demonstrate and boo the repka, that is fine as well. The ticket buyer has every right to cheer or boo as he sees fit.
Nizic’s avatar makes this site look like Stormfront!
@ Ante Kvartuč, HELLO! Nizic’s avatar is POLITICAL! not to mention white supremacist, ethnicist, and racist! and he ends every comment with a “-U-”
Ante, please be consistent and ban Nizic from posting his avatar and “-U-.” It’s highly offensive, bigoted and anti-semetic.
@Nizic, you lost me at white supremacy! Why do you have so much hate in your heart?
I may have to report Croatian Sports as a Hate Site to the SPLC if you don’t take down these evil racist white supremacist Nazi insignia!
@ Slavonac from Canada
There is no denying of criticism from time to time everywhere, some worse then others.
There is no need to define the armchair generals, it’s acknowledged. Calling them on their statements has it’s pathetic repercussions, the main argument in my second previous post is Bilic & his success as a coach in comparison to our Golden generation; it’s not far fetched.
There is no need of shielding Ziva, you’re more intelligent then that.
By the way, which part of Canada are you from.
Who is Ante Vusick or however you call his name? I never heard of him. He must stink.
@BlackZodiac – I read a little of the discussion between you and ziva so I wanted to add my two bits if thats ok!
regarding being positive or negative…this is kinda funny and after thinking about it a little I will point out almost every single person I know that loves soccer and their own Nationality criticizes their own team and seem to be somewhat of an armchair quarterback! its been said millions and millions of times over that the population of either Mexico, Italy, Croatia, Germany…it doesnt matter what country we are discussing…whatever the population is of that country is the amount of coaches that feel they know best! ie…population of Croatia 4.5 million…so they have 4.5 million coaches…very few people are completely satisfied with their coaches decisions and think they know better!
I think this is kind of what ziva is like…and to be honest so am I and I belioeve most people…nemoj zamjerit!
Compared to*
@Ziva Istina
It’s quite obvious you have a lack of understanding with my previous post above so I will break it down and spoon feed you on this one.
Spoon feeding 101:
“It’s not negativity pointing out the week points of this team.”
Most of the time it’s productive, so what exactly are you trying to accomplish with this statement. I know it’s just a filler to boost your claims but I rather hear a different answer.
“Saying we have big question marks with the back line is not negativity, its reality.”
It’s quite obvious about our back four, anything else the pedant would like to add?
“I personally think its an accomplishment to qualify for the Euros and anything more is a bonus.”
As do I, something we both can agree on.
“I’ve yet to see a team win or lose games because their fans had negative opinions. ”
Serbia vs Italy Euro 2012 qualifiers loss 3-0, though I didn’t argue such statement but glad you went there.
Re-read my previous post and try and capture the emphasizing point of Bilic & his success over our “golden generation” if you still cease to understand.
interesting article on nogometni magazin today:
http://www.nogometni-magazin.com/newspro/coranto/viewnews.cgi?id=EFFFykZFAAafjpnlHq&tmpl=coranto_euro2012
@Ante B.
I wonder why you don’t like to comment in Forum…..
Could it be that you don’t have enough people who want to talk about “honorable” things that Ustase did. Rest of us know all of what they did: good and bad. We do not have a problem with your views; we just do not want to listen to them over and over again. We cannot change your views and you cannot change ours. Leave it at that and go someplace else to talk politics.
I do value your imputes on soccer.
I won’t comment on the forums since its way more convenient to comment here, especially with politics. Keep deleting. I’ll keep writing. Stop ruining the site with what makes it good.
-team Pravasi captain.
Soccer wise: can the repka emulate what Everton has been doing with Jelavic?
Faaaaaaart. Titi za dusu i ostalim komunjarima
I don’t know guys. Srna in the back line just seems like that leaves the midfield missing something. Maybe it would work in a game against an opponent like Ireland who won’t be putting on an obscene amount of pressure on us and won’t dominate the midfield, but I’m sure we can all agree that this won’t fly when we play Spain or even Italy. Heck, I’d rather have Vuko back there, or Pranjic if he is ever called up.
ante vukusic should be our starting forward.
@Black Zodiac……I like the list of losses you provided, but your comments that “we need to support our team, players and coaches no matter what. Thinking negatively will only set ourselves up for failure”…………..
that is nonsense and typical blind homer talk.
It’s not negativity pointing out the week points of this team. Saying we have big question marks with the back line is not negativity, its reality.
I personally think its an accomplishment to qualify for the Euros and anything more is a bonus. But, if someone wants to be “negative”, that is fine with me as long as they present a thoughtful argument. I’ve yet to see a team win or lose games because their fans had negative opinions. Fans being positive does not win games and fans being negative does not win games
No need to be a homer.
Fair warning (stage 2) has been applied.
Boys, take it to the Forums. Talk politics there all you want. No problem. I’m not here to piss anyone off or play babysitter. But democracy majority rule comes into play. Too many complaints on the political talk.
@Black Zodiac:
Nice post.
@Ante K
You gave fair warning. Please get rid of San Francisco Troll.
Some of you look back at our “golden generation” in comparison to our current squad to date & a lot of you put it on Bilic for not having enough respect from our players & that is why were not getting the results we were post Euro 2008.
Here’s a little something for some of you to realize:
Bilic Era Losses (2006-2012)
1- Macedonia
2- Netherlands
3- Turkey
4- England
5- England
6- Georgia
7- Greece
8- Sweden
“Golden gen” Losses ( 1994-2000)
1- Slovakia
2- Ukraine
3- Portugal
4- Germany
5- Japan
6- Denmark
7- Slovakia
8- Argentina
9- France
10- Ireland
11- Denmark
12- Spain
13- France
14- France
If Bilic leaves and we replace him with another Croatian coach, then we all will see an actual fall of our national team.
We need to support our team, players and coaches no matter what. Thinking negatively will only set ourselves up for failure.
after seeing olic grab those 2 goals for bayern i respect the guy his will to win and help out his team is great ,him and jelavic should do good together i havent been keeping up with our croatian national players lately but olic and jelavic deserve to be our first strikers then mandzu and klasnic
@ shinobi
I agree he needs to go. I was just saying that alot of people like Ivica Osim say for the most part Croatia has been doing well with a few bad matches here and there so why fix whats not broken? I have nothing against Bilic other than the fact that to me he doesn’t have the players respect as a coach. They are all to me on a best friend status. That’s the reason i feel he needs to kick rocks.
@Nije bitno
if its not broken why fix it, Regarding bilic as coach? are you serious? You’re pulling our legs are’nt you?
@San francisco Cro
What are you talking about? you know nothing of history you close minded fool.
Now go crawl back under the rock you came from.
@TheGoldenChild
“4-4-2 he likes to do during friendlies, but we’re most likely going to see the 4 1 3 2. That’s Bilic’s bread and butter. ”
http://www.football-lineups.com/coach/585/?t=1&s=562
http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/895246-slaven-bilic-confirms-interest-in-becoming-new-tottenham-manager
@toronto croatia i agree on Kranjcar,Olic,Eduardo.. but why throw Mandzukic in there?
Huge news for Perisic in Dortmund: Kagawa is not settling for an extension, and he’s moving to England. Besides Gotze, that was the biggest competition for Perisic.
http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/shinji-kagawa/plant-wechsel-nach-england-23482328.bild.html
@ Denis – Thanks bro. Always happy to put in my two cents wherever i can. Love sports and CRO! You guys did a great job with this website im impressed.
Yeah Armada except I’m not a clown.
@Toronto Croatia,
I agree with you on Eduardo and Olic. I’m not sure on Eduardo because I dont know how he is health-wise. Olic-Mandzo-Eddie-Jelavic…. 2 of the 4 will start. Its difficult to say which two.
@Ziva,
nice avatar, lookin good. thanks for signing in.
@nije Bitno,
I didnt know this was you until I saw your name under the “user names” list. Ante flipped out when I told him. Great to have you aboard.
I’ll repeat what I said in the Jelavic thread….
“I still have confidence in Olic and Eduardo as good strikers (Just because they aren’t getting quality playing time, these guys can still produce) Now throw Jelavic in there.”
Olic and Eduardo ARE our two best strikers. Just because our guys might not get the amount of playing time that we would like to see, doesn’t mean they aren’t top notch players.
If you give Olic quality playing time, he’ll score goals. If you give Eduardo quality playing time, he’ll score goals, if you give Klasnic quality playing time, he’ll score goals. Jelavic too… is now proving himself as a quality striker.
If you give Kranjcar quality playing time, he’ll perform…
The point here is……WE HAVE the talent. We might not have as much talent as a team like Spain…..but with our guys, we can definately muscle out wins against Ireland and Italy.
btw i know some guys were looking for cro gear.
http://www.kitbag.com/stores/kitbag/products/product_browse.aspx?free_text=croatia
@ rob i
heard about it when it came out. you have any idea where we can buy it here in the states? i know theyre selling it in tisaks throughout cro.
Hi Guys
Not sure if you guys have heard about the Torcida documentary that has been made.
The trailer is on you tube and on the link below.
http://www.croatiantimes.com/video/145/1950 .
With the players on current form Mandzukic has to start up front with Olic and Perisic to support (whether this be off the bench or as a trio with Perisic behind the two forwards. Looks like Eduardo will be a squad player.
Good for Olic. I am curious to see how much playing time he will get in the Cup and Bundesliga games as Gomez will be rested for the R.M. games. I am sure Bayern mgmt desperately wants to be at the finals in Munich.
On a non Croatian note: Did anyone see the FCB-ACM game. Busquets has become a caricature of himself. He is the worst diver and the refs always buy it. He goes down quicker than a $2 whore.
Modric should play at FCB, he will never receive a truly harsh tackle there.
@ Mr. Black
If the repka was looking at recent former players as a coaching option, Niko Kovac would be light years ahead of Simunic in the pecking order (along with quite a few others).
Not saying that Niko Kovac is repka coaching material, but Simunic is definitely not. Josip has been seeing a shrink for the better part of his football career, and his mental instability probably won’t hold up in the high pressure situation of being head coach of the Vatreni.
I can’t even count on my fingers how many times he’s cracked under pressure on the field in big games for the repka (versus Australia, England twice, Belgium, etc). Those numbers would grow as head coach.
He’s not and never will be considered a coaching option for Cro.
Simunic for coach? are you kidding me? nothing against him but you need somone more qualified for this job.
Scary part is that the last few posts from “Pointdexter” I’ve been agreeing with him! Frighting isn’t it!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/european-championships-2012/9182070/Croatia-coach-Slaven-Bilic-sets-sights-on-Premier-League-after-making-success-of-national-service.html
Slaven BIlic talking about euros and about managing clubs
@Mr. Black…..
i get you point but you are using some funny cliches. What has Simunic done that would be considered courageous?
There is nothing courageous about playing the game of soccer at the professional level.
I get that you like him.
Ziva Istina,
You could be right, only the future will tell. But I really do think the guy has something to offer as a coach; his winning mentality, his courage. And above that, I think he’s intelligent.
What makes you think Simunic would be a good coach and someone whose first job should be coaching the repka right after he retires.
For all the “heart” Simunic has displayed wearing the croatian colors, I can also think of a bunch of idiot plays he has made.
I’ll always back one of the diapsora guys, but Simunic is not coaching material.
If Slaven Bilic should leave, why don’t we take Josip Simunic to replace him. Simunic is still young and he knows what modern football is all about. And even more, Josip has a great mentality and is a real fighter. I wouldn’t hesitate, Josip would be great as coach of our national team. As a player(I think he is about 34 and doesn’t play a lot at Dinamo), I really do think he would be too slow to play at Euro 2012). And for the guys of this great website: I think a lot of visitors would like to know how the possible players of our national team are doing right now. And this is only a though : I respect the fact that you’ve decided to not bring any news about the Croatian League anymore, but still we would like to know if by example Vukusic, Simunic, Vrsjalko, Kovacevic and Badelj are playing and if we could use them for Euro 2012.
@ Denis
Pleasure meeting you yesterday, dude! Next time, drinks on me! Hope you enjoy the rest of your time here in the Big Apple and shoot me a text/call when your back. I think we should shoot for a potential ‘croatiansports.com’ meetup night at Scops or Veslo. Hopefully some of the CS Cali crew can make it too. Would definitely be a memorable shit show and I would look forward to meeting some of the clowns who post on here often.
Wake up, guys. Ivica Olic scored two goals against Marseille. He did play about 75 minutes and did great. Two goals in the Champions League(1/8 final) is magnificent. Danijel Pranjic plays about 25 minutes. I really hope he will get enough playing time. He could be our defensive midfielder at Euro 2012 or he could play left in the defense. Either way, we will need him. By the way, I loved the way Ivica Olic ran to Danijel Pranjic to celebrate his goal. This was an example of a great team spirit. This could be usefull to Croatia at Euro 2012.
rip hrvoje custic
Ivica Olic two goals pranjic on the bench -U-
@ zivo blato why where are you from?
@ziva istina i know its rare and i agree. But alot of people say if its not broken why fix it?
I had a chance to meet up with Armada87 for lunch yesterday. Class act guy. Well educated on Eastern European history. On Saturday, I met at least 10 people that recognized me from the site at “Croatian NIght” at Veslo restaurant in Astoria, NY. Two of them being “Ciganski Bosanac” and Vinko Mustapic from the site. I’m sorry to forget the names of the rest of you guys but you have my card, shoot me an email. Good times.
MLaden Petric article:
http://www.hsv.de/en/season/meldungen/bundesliga/march-2012/mladen-petric-model-pro/
Did anyone watch that Dejan Lovren video?
Am I the only one that thinks he should start from the bench? How many blunders need to happen before Bilic decides to go elsewhere? So what if he plays at Lyon. Vuki plays at Kiev and we have Dujmo starting in place of him.
Mandzo really fits well in the Wolfsburg system. The service he gets from the wingers is amazing. Hopefully, the Croatian wingers can learn a thing or two from Wolfsburg. However, it takes talent to bend the ball like Beckham.
I still like Perisic as a super sub off the bench for Croatia.
@anonymous sorry lol…i think it is may 25th.
@anonymous i think it is estonia then norway…then the euros…
I alway’s wondered if cro would be more disciplined with a top foreign coach.What do you guy’s think? I know it will not happen!
@Colin O’Haravić………Regarding Srna, I guess it depeds who we play. I think in an ideal situation Srna is better suited as a right sided midfielder where he does not have as many defensive responsibilities. But, we see Shaktar use him ar right back and it works. But, we all know club and country are different and Shaktar has a different skill set of players than we do, so that benefits Srna. I like using a 4-5-1 formation, but for the repka that requires playing some guys out of place.
nije bitno…….I think its time for Bilic to leave. It’s very rare for the same coach to be in charge of the repka for more than two, yet alone three qulaifying cycles. It’s just time for a change even if we win Euros.
@TheGoldenChild – I read that Bilic may be heading for Turkish club Besiktas to replace recently fired Carlos Carvalhal. I don’t know if letting go of Bilic is the right thing to do? I have mixed feelings. At times i feel like the players don’t respect him as a coach but they do as a friend. Usually that means your time is done and its time to go. Then i read an interview this morning a CRO portal had with “the great” Ivica Osim and his opinion kind of made sense.
The question was
– Kako gledate na situaciju u Hrvatskoj?
His response
– “Puno toga se dogodilo Hrvatskoj. Samo, ne vidim razlog zbog kojeg uništavate ono dobro što imate. A imate momčad koja pobjeđuje. Takva momčad se ne mijenja. Vlatko Marković, Slaven Bilić i ta ekipa zaslužili su povjerenje građana i nogometno povjerenje. To što tu i tamo naprave neki kiks, ne može se pripisati neznanju. No, mi smo u tome prvaci svijeta. Zaista ne vidim razlog zašto ih se tjera, izuzev činjenica da trećoj strani uvijek smeta kada stvari funkcioniraju dobro. Hrvati nemaju potrebe da sami sebi otežavaju stvari”
What do you all think of this and what are your opinions? Should he stay or should he go? Why? Who should replace him?
When is our next friendly again???? -U-
Ante taking care of business! YES YES YES
@Ante K:
Moderating us is like herding cats.
@Ziva:
For me Vukojevic and Dujmovic are pretty interchangeable. I can’t say I have a strong preference for one over the other.
what the hell i miss 2 days of crosports and all the site becomes jersey shore.
vukusic needs to go to the euros! sinjski dijamante!
@barbic
Eduardo still deserves a shot in my opinion. I would rather have him subbing on the bench instead of Kalinic. He has more talent and a knack for goal.
@Lika
Depending on how Bilic feels, Olic will start or be next in line to come off the bench for the strikers.
@Zivo
I don’t think Bilic will ever play a 3-5-2…ever. 4-4-2 he likes to do during friendlies, but we’re most likely going to see the 4 1 3 2. That’s Bilic’s bread and butter.
@Nije
I think Bilic is gone 100% after Euro. Have been saying it for awhile now, and have no doubts about it. He’s had his time, and when Croatia is ousted this year, it’ll be even more reason to move to a new system. I’m not saying I don’t like the guy, but time runs out sooner or later…especially for an international position. We really don’t know what’s going on in the locker room, so who is to say that Bilic hasn’t already told the guys this before they go into Euro. “Win this one for your boy Bilic” Wouldn’t be surprised if he was using tactics like that before we went into the tournament.
FAIR WARNING TO ALL…
I’m not here to mother you guys when you post comments/opinions, but there’s a place for everything. The heart of CroatianSports.com are the readers that come on the site day in and day out to share their opinions with other Croatians around the world. It truly has become the Digital Dom.
However, discussing politics and other non-related sports talk under a soccer article takes away from the website as a whole.
Moving forward, comments not relating to the given article will be deleted. The Forums are now open on the top banner of the website where anything from politics to who the hottest Croatian girl can be discussed. The Forums will be much more liberal as opinions go and the conversations can go on for months. Obviously derogatory remarks towards one another will be looked at and moderated.
Let’s not make this place into a zoo. There’s a lot of smart people here who bring good stuff to the table everyday.
If you have comments or questions regarding this policy, feel free to email me at Ante@CroatianSports.com
Let’s have fun here boys and girls;and most importantly keep the different conversations going. Let’s just do it in the right place.
Jebem ti picku keniju I mean a solution although it could still be a resolution ha ha -U-
@Soc you are probably a Bosnian from Sarajevo I can understand why you hate croatians now I just figured it out do you understand ubi and zaklat because that is a resolution ha ha ha tike tike tacke -U-
What do all you guys think about this talk about replacing Bilic after the euro? It looks like Blazevic or Kranjcar may take over the NT. I don’t think it was smart for them to bring this up right before the tournament, it might take a toll on our players mentally or it might just do the opposite and encourage them to play harder for Bilic.
@slavonac from canada if your from T.O you know all about brampton aka bangladesh.OMG imagine that back in cro….taxi’s in every drive way, lane way, and lawn.Everyone wearing there drapes.And @san francisco cro eating chevap’s with curry sauce and wearing her checkered jersey lol. I will not bring up non soccer matters any more.Sorry boys!!
@barbaric what about olic and mandzukic?olic has been there before. do you think he has one big tournament left?use jelavic as a sub.
@ san francisco cro – do you actually know the history of ustasi in croatia? did you know that even in cities where the croat population far outweighed the serb population the serbs always had power…there were several instances where a croatian city had 90% of the population but a serb was the mayor of that city, a serb was the chief of police, most government jobs were held by serbs…how could you expect a people who were more than 1400 years old allow their identity to be washed away?
also, your brown boyfriend? let me say this…here in canada brown families kill their daughters and sisters because they dont follow their family traditions. maybe you need to focus on this more and understand that all cultures try to preserve their identity, customs traditions, religions and values! and…for centuries it was regular practice for browns to kill their firt born baby girls…just because it was a girl and not a boy…if i were you i’d learn to educate myself on history and culture before i start yapping on a croatian website. tell me where a woman has a voice in the indian culture…if thats what you mean by brown?
we can all agree eduardo doesnt deserve to play for cro all we hear about is him hurt
modric should move from white heart lane tottenham cant put up with 5 star teams such man u , ac milan , inter milan , bayern munchen , theres no point of him staying there just leave modric harry’s an idiot he doesnt have quality defenders.
ivan perisic should be called up to play for cro if bilic doesnt let him play we can all agree bilic is a retard
jelavic and mandzukic should be our starters i think they can play one touch football together.
ZA DOM! san fran jebem ti mater -U- picku. pederu jedan. Ustase su pravi hrvati. nek te vrag nosi. USTASE are the reason who we are today! you stupid chetnik. so go listen to some ceca or lepa brena u cedo. =U=
@sanfrancisco cro take your debate to the forum!! Buy a vibrator and relax!! Lol..
Dunno.. But Steven Stamkos scored his 58th goal of the season for the Lightning tonight with 3 games left to reach 60! I know… Has nothing to do with soccer, but neither does at least half of the conversation on this post.
So what is going on in the world of soccer?
UDBASI go kill yourselves and make this world a better place. You’re the reason I’m proud even more for what my dida fought for what my family fought for in the 40s and 90s.
Netreba mi zvijezdica na glavi vec ja nosim crven bijeli plavi. You disgusting udbasi should learn that.
San Fran Cro who are you? It’s amazing that you’re so misguided considering you’re so close to San Jose where they celebrate Deseti Travanj every year.
Tragic.
CRVENI GRM -U-
Hercegovac -U-
@ jure i boban good midfield id like that and obrana Stipe vida joe lovren/sifo carli or carli joe scifo/lovren strinic,
id like to see Croatia go with a 4-5-1 with rakitic,and modric in the middle, ilicevic and srna on the wing and perisic behind the striker for my midfield jelavic striker, and defense not to sure about
@ nizicu odakle si
@ Colin Only agianst teams that are not going to crush us i would play srna at right back, he is a wing back his best days for croaita were 2003-2006 he is fits for a 3-5-2 system in bilics 4-4-2 he play rm but even their i would like a true winger i really dont know his defene is bad but in all likeley hood our back 4 will be Vida scifo/lovren either Joe Carli or carli vida joe strinic that what all the news papers say here in cro.
i totally agree this is a soccer site! so SAN FRAN CRO next time you have a problem with something just keep it to yourself or go to the forums instead of starting all this
Ustani Bane Hrvatska te zove zove i would love to see Modric make a move to LaLiga but i dont think it will happen -U-
Haha.. “vuco janjetina kurve Alkohol and hajduk (dinamo)” Anyway…
@Ziva – Your lineup, would you put Srna on the back line for sure? Would it be totally out of the question to put him on the wing? Same question for you, Zivo Blato
Modric is leaving in the summer 100% Bilic is full of shit dont believe anything he says, he tells pranjic ne will never play for natioanl team as long as hes the izbornik now hes his left back again. pletikosa srna carli joe strinic perisic vida modric ilicevic mandzo jelavic/dudu like to see this lineup in friendly but we never will
you guys are approaching this all wrong. You need to encourage for “hate talk.” It drives up page views.
@ante……hvala. i left a talk about the HNL this morning only to return and see it turn into this…..
More Modric Transfer Talk – Bilic urges him to stay at Spurs
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=goal-bilicurgesmodrictostayattot
@ anonymous – totally agree.
@ Ante Kvartuc – Thank you.
@Ante Kvartuc
I agree.
I am sick of Ustase, Cetnici, Jugoslaveni, partizani, pravi Hrvati and “diversity and multiculturalism” talk. For you people that enjoy to hate, belong and argue about it: go to the Forum.
Let just talk soccer.
http://www.hrsport.net/vijesti/437647/nogomet-reprezentacija/mandzukic-predvodi-raspucane-hrvate
Kako su igrali nasi nogometasi iz sportneta
Guys,
I don’t want to be one of these totalitarian moderators in the 21st Century but take all this political talk to the Forums.
Not only does it keep the conversation for the above article going, but when in the forums, the political talk conversation will also remain open.
I won’t delete any of the above comments but for future conversations please take it to the Forums.
If you need additional Topics put up, please let me know.
Everyone cool with that?
seems like the only hate coming here is from san fran cro… and all those jews and gypsies that were killed were serbs
Back to Nogomet the point of this site Well the national team needs to improve tactics and obrana my team based on Bilic will be Pletikosa Carli Joe Schifo Strinic Srna Dujmovic Modric Rakitic Mandzo Olic thats what he will play no matter how we look at it i read in 24sata today an goos article and this wa their line up for th opening game!
i dont want to sound like a dick but did any of you live in Yugoslavia? Second if not ask your parents did Tito kick them out of croatia jugo when he was ruler from 45-80? It was there choice to leave no one kicked any one out of yugo. Second do any of you guy come to croatia on visits, and have friends from croaita we here dont give a shit about ustashe partizani cetnici and all that crap We Love vuco janjetina kurve Alkohol and hajduk!
@San Fran Cro…….ne seri!!!!
Ziva Istina……….a proud supporter of evil racist, ethnicist, nazi, xenophobic, homophobic, backwards, inbred, group of hate mongers.
@Ante B, oh forgive me for not knowing the exact spelling of an evil racist, ethnicist, nazi, xenophobic, homophobic, backwards, inbred, group of hate mongers!
What I want to know is what types of Croatians use “Ustasi” when referring to the Ustase?
I said it once, I’ll say it again: UDBA RADI
And I forgot to add, xenophobic too!
@jure i boban, Braveheart was a very intollerant, bigoted, homophobic movie made by an evil anti-semite nazi sympathizing racist.
@jure i boban, you’re just an ignorant bigot! World opinion says Ustasi are evil racist nazis, so there! Did Einstein want you to kill all those innocent jews and Gypsies too? Didn’t the Ustasi fight along with the evil Nazis? Why doesn’t Croatia celebrate diversity and multiculturalism? Racist much? If you’re so concerned about “freedom” and “independence”, why are you joining the EU?
@ Ziva
What about Rakitic?
just a little portion of the letter written in 1931.. @san fran cro so i guess the movie brave heart makes you sick then what the scots did lol
“The facts show that the cruelty and brutality practiced upon the Croatians only increase,” “In view of this frightful situation, we urge the International League for the Rights of Man to do everything possible to press this unrestrained rule of might which prevails in Croatia.”
“Murder as a political weapon must not be tolerated and political murderers must not be made national heroes. The League should muster all possible aid to protect this small, peaceful and highly civilized people.”
Ustasi were freedom fighters trying to give Croatian freedom and independence…. the reason why Ustasa was created was because after WW1 “yugoslavia” was created from the serbs… or you can say greater serbia…. serbs wanted control of everything took all the freedom from croatians… we croatians were not allowed to be croatian we had no rights and if we expressed our croatian spirit we were either jailed or killed.. Albert Einstein even wrote a letter to the New York times trying to get the attention of the brutal atrocities that were being done to the croatian people.. so san francisco cro it makes me sick when i see people writting bad stuff about the Ustasi.. BOG I HRVATI -U-
@Nizic, what’s your fascination with the Ustasi? They killed all those innocent Jews and Gypsies! You’re such an ignorant nazi racist and ethnicist!
It’s people like you are preventing Croatia from entering the 21st Century and celebrating diversity and multiculturalism like the rest of the Western world, it’s people like you why Croatia remains a backwards inbred racist country! I’m so upset, how can I bring my brown boyfriend to Croatia with all this evil hate? Can the moderators please erase these evil racist nazi comments and insignia by Poglavnik and Nizic? It has nothing to do with sport!
It’s a message baord…..people are free to write what they want. Not everyone agrees on everything that is posted. You, however, have the option of not reading it or not responding to it. By responding to it you give it some credibility.
@Poglavnik, that’s so racist and ethnicist! I’m deeply offended by your ignorance. You have so much hate in your heart! Can the moderators please erase Poglavnik’s nazi sympathizing comments? It makes us Hrvati look bad!
Poglavnik, you should be nutered so evil racist scum like you are eradicated from this earth forever!
The only problem with Jelavic, that showed this week, was his ability to be smart throughout the entire game. When things started off, Jelavic tried to create stuff that wasn’t even close to being possible, flinging balls here and there and not being able to receive from the midfield. He’s great when it comes to the final third, but he still has a good amount of work to do with that transition of moving the play up from the half to the final third.
Side note: I thought FIFA was bad. Check this out http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-from-the-book-the-nba-doesnt-want-you-to-read
@AZ……I would be worried about everyone at CB.
Based on the how the players have performed in the last month to 6 weeks. I would say the following players are locks as starters or should be:
Pletikosa……..a clear #1. the backups are brutal and that is being kind
Srna…….no question he plays
Corluka……if healthy he plays
Lovren…….if healthy he plays
Modric…….no doubt
Perisic…….needs to play. He produces in germany
Jelavic……i still have questions about him, but his performance in the last month suggests he deserves a starting spot
Mandzukic……playing OK and deserves a start
So that is 8….3 more remain. One spot will come down between Vukojevic or Dujmovic.
So, now down to 2 spots.
@Dan….well, it looks like you are reading my comments……
but the difference is I know what I am talking about unlike the seljaci throughout dalmacija.
I am rather worried over simunic fitness…he does not seem to feature in starting 11 in dinamo…Is he injured now ?
He is the main CB for our NT..
@ziva
Like I said, if I wanted to listen to a broken record constantly repeating itself, I would come here and read your comments.
And good on ya, you know insiders from hajduk. So does half of dalmacija. It’s proberbly time to pull your head out of your ass, your ‘insider’ news is nothing new.
@ziva
Like I said, if I wanted to listen to a broken record constantly repeating itself, I would come here and read your comments.
And good on ya, you know insiders from hajduk. So does half of dalmacia. It’s proberbly time to pull your head out of your ass, your ‘insider’ news is nothing new.
Jelavic played really well. He assisted on one goal and set up Pienaar for an easy goal but he missed under the pressure. For a big man, Jelavic showed he has good playmaking skills too. Mario is fantastic. If only he had better midfielders he would be up there for the leading goalscorer in the league. I’m really happy that Pranjic is playing again too.
Oh Dan, nobody is sucking my dick here. I’m just calling out ideas that are mentioned but wouldn’t work. You must be new the party here.
The HNL is a dead league. It wont get any better. At its very best its a feeder league for dinamo and hajduk. At its worst, its the current state of the league. I don’t ever see that changing. Any kid that shows promise will leave the HNL for another league because they will receive more money and better conditions to succeed. The only club that will still be able to compete is dinamo and that will last until Mamic leaves or is removed. Once Mamic leaves then Dinamo will fall to a level just above where jadan hajduk is at now. As a result the repka will now begin to suffer. Enjoy this year’s Euros, because they will be the last chance for any national team to do damage in the next 10-12 years. After this year’s Euros, the national team will fall.
But, you are correct on one thing, I do know the inside workings of Hajduk over the years. Do you want the explanation of how Stimac washed money from Shaktar? Do you want the explanation of what Buljan, Rozic, Surjak and his boys did.
the HNL won’t get better until there are people willing to invest (and probably lose money for a good while) and try to turn things around because it obviously ain’t working now. when attendance is counted by hundreds and not thousands, you don’t have a recipe for success. this league needs to shrink to 8-10 teams and teams that can’t support being in it simply need to be shut down. its not a charity…..its a professional league (at least thats what its trying to be). look at what scotland is turning into. it was bad already but with rangers falling apart, it could be a 1 team league. scotland only needs to look to the HNL to see what life will be like there shortly if they can’t find a way to revive rangers. dinamo winning the title by march every year isn’t interesting
our best hope is that our young players get bought at young ages and get a chance to develop outside of croatia since development inside of it seems to be hitting a wall.
Jesus. Things got pretty serious in here. Update for all the US of A people. Nike US does not give a fuck about Croatia and won’t be carrying the brand. Unbelievable to me how that works. I even tried to use their store in the UK to get it delivered here, and still no go.
Zivo-
Like the idea of privately owned, but how is that different from the mafia owning it? That would be considered privately owned as well. I understand that you live there, but business is business. The guys that run the league realize (especially financially) of the lack of interest in the league. We can’t compete because most of our players are weak, and we don’t provide the same bank roll to influence kids from a young age to chase a dream in Hrvatska. Private ownership would be great, as it would mean a steady flow of money…fixing the problems down the road…
But who is going to want to pump money into a dying league with so many pitfalls?
You’re looking at a large risk. You would have to have multiple private buyers enter into the league to start to make things interesting. Meaning steady flow of money, competition, and fan interest from multiple clubs. Then you have to get around the shady mafiosos who own the other part of the league. If you get through all that…then you have to worry about raising talent.
Care for me to go on?
Dan is right only in that was the rule back in yugo but I thought it was until the age of 27. I could be wrong. Also all athletes had to serve 18 months in the army.
We must end all Serbian and Jewish influence in the world! And sing Ustase songs till the sunrise! ZA DOM SPREMNI
@ JerseyCro
I was basing the idea on the rules that they had back then, it was the reason why yugoslavia was producing good players and a good league.
But like i said, i know its impossible for it to happen again.
@ ziva
Unlike other people in this forum, im not going to suck your dick and agree with every word you say. The 24 year old transfer age limit is just an idea (as i clearly mentioned at the end of my post), i know its not going to happen.
The forum is here to discuss the possible options in how the HNL can pulls its way out of this mess. I dont know about the others else but im sick of you stating the obvious faults that everyone already knows.
But oh no i forgot! Thats right you have insides at Hajduk and in the HNL, so you must know the real inside story but your just not going to tell us. Oh well!
In Yugoslavia that was a rule, but it is basically illegal in any democratic country lol
Especially now with Croatia entering the EU, players will be leaving at 17-18 like they do in Slovenia to go to neighboring (Italy, Germany, Austria etc..) academies. Look at Slovenia’s U19/U17 squads, many play in Italian acadmies already
4-team league would work….
Team 1 – dinamo
Team 2 – hajduk
Team 3 – northern all stars
Team 4 – southern all stars
You can have a four, eight, ten or twelve team league…..it don’t matter. The public will not support it because the people leading the teams are corrupt and the organizational structure of the saves is corrupt.
Players are not paid on time and because of that no player should ever consider staying in the cro league. They should leave for any contract that guarantees them free bread and soap.
And to anyone suggesting that a player does not transfer until the age of 24. I have never heard of a dumber idea. I have no clue what you do for a living but I would love to see if you would ever agree to a contract that did not allow you to move for a better job.
Time to face the facts. The hnl is trash and will not get better for an extended period..
Ziva is right on
Ideally, Croatia should have a ten team league like the Austrians. Better yet, we should form a super league similar to the ebel hockey league. Teams from Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, etc… No teams from the former republic except from Slovenia, maybe…
Danjiel Pranjic defender for cro at euro… bad idea…?what do you guys think?
You can’t just force players under 24 to stay in the league. I don’t think that can happen… Sure if you kept them in the league the teams would be stronger, but if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle. The way to keep those players in the league is to not go weeks or even months without paying them. In order to pay them, they need to put a quality product on the field. In order to do that, they need to keep their good players. It’s a vicious cycle that will only break when the league folds… which will happen before a 4 team league is ever implemented. And yes I know Ziva just likes to bring that up for fun, though may not be the worst idea.
LOL.
I can’t believe that Ziva’s mention of a 4-team league is still getting reactions.
He’s not even really that serious about it. It’s part of his shtick to arouse a reaction from everyone. Whenever there is any HNL talk, he brings it up and there are always a few of you who freak out about it, lol.
Seriously, the 4 team league idea is brought up again?
-Who’s going to sponsor the competition with only a four team fan base?
-How long are the fans going to stay interested? I cant imagine Hajduk playing only 3 teams over a span of 6 months, over and over again.
-What about the significance of derbys such as Hajduk and Dinamo? After playing 6 times a season its just going to become ‘another game’.
8 teams is as low as i would go. To run the HNL there needs to be complete privatisation of all clubs (as zivo blato mentioned). A cap on spending should also be implemented so that clubs cant ‘buy’ their teams.
Another idea would be to restrict a transfer of a player to foreign countries if they are under the age of 24. If talented players stayed a little longer in the HNL, it would obviously make the games more exciting.
Also they need to chuck at least one game a week back onto free to air. They are at the point where most people cant afford pay tv. The switch has obviously not helped crowd figures either. A shared contract between a free to air channel and the pay tv company would have been ideal.
Obviously these ideas will never happen due to the corruption, but its sometimes nice to dream.
Four team league? Half the excitement of the HNL is to see which team will survive the whole season. Don’t take that away.
As for the halftime show? Just show the Varazdin matches against whatever 6th league team they play that week. Talk about entertainment.
Sto je svama,HNL needs to be owned by prviate owners like in other european countries no mafia and no share holders, What with this 4 team crap stop it should be a 12 team league Hajduk Dinamo Split Osijek Rijeka Varazdin( forget what has happened) Zagreb Cibalia Karlovac Slaven Belupo Istra Zadar, but all teams need to be private clubs and young players need to get payed stipendije for living, but we live in croatia this is not North America so guys who dont live here in croatia dont understand!
Those are all formalities. UEFA says you can’t have a corrupt league run by mafiosos, but look at the HNS and the league.
No worries about the 4-team league. It will succeed.
If not a 4-team league, then a 3-team league with a traveling fourth team that alternates every few weeks. Plus, halftime shows featuring little chimps riding on great danes.
for the millionth time, UEFA won’t allow a four team league. I think the rule is countries need a minimum of eight first division teams. Even countries like Andorra, San Marino, Luxembourg etc.. don’t have 4 clubs
@pravoslavni hrvat go to your local catholic church and become a catholic…and get over your complex…we are all discussing sports…glupni kanadan say’s your a GOOF!!
@pravoslavni hrvat go to your local catholic church and become a catholic…and get over your complex…we are all discussing sports…glupni kanadan say’s your a GOOF!!
Jebali vas te UTASE I PARTIZANI! Ja zivim u hrvatsku i pravoslavni hrvat sam i ponos sam na hrvatsku ajde neka me netki glupi kanadan i amerikenac kaze da sam srbin kreteni.
4 team league sounds good atleast the completion should be fierce. now why couldn’t Persic and modric hook up on the repka like bale and modders does perisic has speed no – U-
So they abandoned the istra game today due to flares, but yet they completed the hajduk and dinamo game when flares interrupted it. Great logic.
We are ever so close to the national team finally feeling the impact of this league. We will soon see a cycle where we will qualify once every three tournaments.
The good news is that we have more reason now than ever to hope fora four team league.
@Nizic Thanks!!
@Nizic Thanks!!
@likajoey there is a store called metro sport at dixie and eglington all soccer pretty much dedicated to national teams you will find gear there -u-
So will there be a team to take the place of Varazdin, or will they just continue with the teams they have now?
Another team:
http://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/besek-i-toplak-slozni-sramota-oni-koji-su-unistili-varazdin-trebaju-odgovarati/607455.aspx
I haven’t been able to find any croatian gear in the states so far. I have Nike Money, and have been waiting to spend it. Last store I went into didn’t even have a soccer section. Sramota.
Can anyone tell me where i can get a croatian soccer jersey for a 5 year old in toronto? One other question whats up with Mateo Kovacic?
Fans got a little too into it. I think they abandoned it after flares were thrown on the field, according to the PrvaLiga site.
Same reason was Hajduk was suspended for the league….it’s because it’s trash. I have no idea why it was suspended, but every weekend something stupid like this comes out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they abandoned the season and just let Dinamo try to qualify for Champions League.
I think Harry sticks VdV in there because he’s a better player. Him and Niko may have the same skill set, but VdV puts a lot more energy into his game.
Anyone tell me why the Istra game was abandoned today?
I knew that. I was just April foolsing everyone.
Ha, well then nevermind. I just assumed he was on the bench.
@ Colin Tottenham do not even have kranjcar dressed -U-
**Right wing
But ideally, VdV would play where Sandro is now and Kranjcar would take over the left wing. But whatever…
Kranjcar has a nice shot. No doubt. But Vdv has one wicked left foot. I’m going to have to give it to him. The goal he scored today was just unstoppable. Without Lennon out there, it’s definitely possible we will see Niko out there later today though.
Why couldn’t kranjcar play the position vdv plays I think kranjcar has a better shot no.what do you think -U-
@Colin I know I was just being sarcastic glad you got a laugh though
GREAT play by Modric leads to a goal by Van Der Vart. Perfect ball to Bale up the wing and crosses to VdV on top of the 18. Modric has been on it today and has been playing a very offensive game. Looks great.
@NIZIC – Haha. I don’t think we’ve had Bilecki on the rowdies in like 30 years, but I see your point. Eventually, we’re going to have to accept Kelava as our number one. It won’t be for a while now Pleti still has a few yrs in him and that will give Kelava some more time before he’s all we have.
Anyway, Modric is having a great start today against Swansea.
budan scores the equalising goa!!!
Nothing really going on this weekend except Fisto is a scumbag.
@HNK……yeah, now is not the time to play those two future backup-lifer GKs. Playing them in a friendly does nothing, they gain nothing and the team gains nothing. Pletikosa is our #1 and there is nobody at #2, not even close. If Pletikosa were to get injured we are screwed. These guys wont be ready with a few meaningless friendlies.
I’ve seen anough of Subasic and Keleva to know they will never become GKS that we can rely on for the repka. Serb Subasic does nothing beyond average and Keleva has no clue on positioning and being able to control where his rebounds go.
@Hnk Are you kidding Pleti is the guy you want Subasic or Keleva huh you might aswel call up Zeljko Billecki see if tampa will release him -U-
That Limey ref from the Everton game (Walton), will be managing all MLS referees. Another step closed to making the MLS even more of a Brit-Lite Hack League.
You should buy his shirt too Allen.
@T C thankyou know the mall very well -U-
Yea its the away shirt. Got it at the soccer store at Square One shopping mall in Mississauga.
They also have the dark blue training shirts and the Nike Croatia workout jackets (almost sold out)
@ Toronto Croatia damn .. Iphone sorry for spelling-U-
@ TorontoCroaria whare did you get it and what the away shirt “curious” im from T.O
Just bought my new 2012 Croatia Jersey yesterday…..I’m ready to go
@Allen – I agree…Barton seems to always make a difference on the field!
beauty by Perisic!
For those of you that still havent signed in, please register with us under “forums”. It takes just a second. All of the information is confidential and you can choose what you want to tell us. We prefer at least a first name and email address. I would like it if you would tell us where you’re from so we can have a beer one day.
@Ziva Istina,
Sign in when you get a chance so we can see your avatar/picture. Its a good one. I’m sure everyone else will get a kick out of it or talk shit about it.
@nizic/Mihovil/Slavonac from Canada/Torcida_LA/SeattleNate/nije bitno
I updated your picture/Avatar…
@Lebo,
Nice video.
I actually dig the celebration, something different.
@JerseyCro,
Come down to NY in the next few days if you can, would love to have a beer with you
I hope bilic opens his eyes and only listens to himself and no mafia or any second person Vrsaljko,Kalinic Badelj should not be in the final 23 for euro and Pletikosa Kranjcar Olic Simunic etc should not feel like a automatic starting 11 i think its a shame that you cant atleast try a new line up in freindlies instead bilic is affraid to lose a meaningless freindie which no one will remember. why not try against estonisa in 2 months Kelava/Subasic Srna Carli Scifo/Lovren Pamic Ilicevic Vida Modric Perisic Mandzo Jelavic!
Galaxy all the way baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz6_s-kQj8g
When Barton goes to a decent team (Should have stayed at newcastle) then yes. Great player
They have been relegated to the 2nd regional league (6th division)
I think Ziva mentioned this in a different post, but is Varazdin’s season over? Did they get sent out of the prva liga? Where does that leave them? Druga liga?
Marko Livaja might be getting some playing time with Inter’s first team, maybe not right away, but their youth coach says he plans on using some of their primavera players who recently won the U19 Champions League and Livaja was mentioned. Inter really don’t have much hope for a CL spot and they probably don’t want the Europa league, so they will use younger players towards the end of the season. Livaja is training with the first team now
Ilicevic got an assist for HSV, played really well. I have always said he should be in the Euro squad, shame he is frequently injured
I wonder who Dortmund will sell this summer and how this will affect Perisic.
Go buy a Barton jersey and post on Limeysports.com
I’m watching this Arsenal QPR game, pretty good watch. Joey Barton is the man, great leader great player. You could hate on him all you want, but he can be an influential player. What do I to have a player like him on Croatia that can play defensive midfielder.
Everton goal, Jelavic assist.
Bilic is at the Everton game.
Ruined by Gentner’s goal or not this kid has got to start for the repka this kid shows me heart and strength every time I see him perform Perisic is a must Ilicivic another youngster I want to start and not sit on the bench to come out three quarter’s into the game two players I definitely want to start in the midfield -U-
Bog-Hrvati i Hajduk
Luka Modric may be distracted by Manchester City talk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/31/luka-modric-manchester-city-harry-redknapp