PLEASE EXCUSE THE POOR AUDIO QUALITY. TURN THOSE COMPUTER SPEAKERS ALL THE WAY TO 11!
All in all it was a mediocre World Cup. Only a hand full of free kick goals with very low scoring games. It had its moments with the tournament favorites Spain winning it all but still lackluster with an abundance of 1-0 games. I’m glad there were no security issues or threats during the World Cup in South Africa; that has to be the most surprising element of this Cup.
Thanks to Robert Uvanović and živa istina for reports during the World Cup in South Africa. You guys did an amazing job filling us in on the experience!
it sure was boring without the croatian fans. No streakers or flares were present like in 2006 thanks to the croatian fans!!
Dinamo is up 2:1 with Mandzo and BlindPussy scoring!
Biscan is a clown!!
@ Anonymous,
The world Cup just ended and CSR will be covering Tottenham in California this week. I think both of these events trump Dinamo is a qualifying round match…
But don't worry, we will be back to our normal routine in the next week…Champions League, Europa League and domestic leagues…Dinamo should cruise anyways. We will put up all the highlights from the game today. Don't you worry…Sign in though, please.
The HNL1 sides really do not mind having their players taken. Stanko Mrsic was extremely philosophical about losing SIX players from his Cibalia side and was actually begging someone to sign Antolovic so the club could finance the season. 5 went on free transfers. One went to Maribor. I think Mrsic must have been thinking losing players to Maribor ey well that's not good. They way i see it is that all this player turnover just gives Croatian players opportunities at a young age.
I don't believe the league is worse with 16. As Dario Zahora said you have Dinamo and Hajduk and the rest is the same regardless whether you cut it to 10, 12 or 16. Maybe 16 is a tad excessive as teams like Sesvete last season and Medimurje and perhaps Dragovoljac this season do decrease the standard.
The arguement being made is that fans will come to watch their side play HNL1 football but will not come to watch HNL2 football so the teams are growing by keeping the liga of 16. I think Istra, Karlovac are growing. Loko and Zapresic are obviously bankrolled by Dinamo. Zadar seem to hold their own with Hajduks support. The rest are more or less stable HNL1 sides. I worry about Dragovoljac's presence in the league.
Re: Denis
Yep i might end up looking stupid at the end of season but i'm gonna say now RNK Split will have a fine season. Their preseason results look good and they've signed some good HNL1 level players like Deranja, Golubovic…
Lets see how it turns out 🙂
@Anonymous,
Please sign in so I dont have to refer to you as "anonymous".
I agree with you on the referre controversies, how about the vuvuzelas? Have we officially retired the Vuvuzelas? Also, as much as I like Robben, he hit the deck a few too many times as well. Brazil was complaining on the number of times Netherlands hit the deck.
@DinamoDennis,
This world cup was a lot more than vuvuzelas…. To be honest, the vuvuzelas didnt bother me. Watch a mexican league game. You here that shit at every game, to a lighter extent.
@dinamofan,
"I think Spain managed to win this world cup without finding their best form."
I agree. No one challenged Spain, besides Netherlands a little in the final. Spain enjoyed 60% + possession even in the loss to Swiss.
Maradona was outcoached in the world cup, just like Bilic was outcoached by Capello. Its not a fluke that experience wins at the international level.
Italy? Rossi should have been included in the squad. without a doubt the worst Italian team in the last 50 years. Does Italy have one striker that brings fear to an opposing teams defense? The Italian midfield was swiss cheese… Pirlo brought some creativity and flow, however little too late. Italian defense is old and beat up.
@Jordan Armada,
I threw on that Hajduk shirt just to fuck with you guys a little. Besides, I'm going for RNK Split this year….haha.. This should spice up the HNL a little.
@Ante B,
relax, relax… dont start calling us hajduksoccerreport.com… just fucking with you guys a little..
I was going for Holland… a little red white and blue…. Had a few old people confused at Alpine Village.
@dinamofan
All 16 teams ranked in order. Wow, Im impressed. I cant even name all the teams in the league. RNK Split to finish 7th? Interesting.
@Goldenchild,
World cup is over. HNL reports and Croatians Around Europe is around the corner. We have Tottenham this weekend out of San Jose… and Dinamo/Hajduk/Cibalia/sibenik in cup action…. Rumor mill will be up in a few days as well.. thanks for the comment, always appreciate suggestions.
@Anonymous,
please sign in… tired of calling people "anonymous"…
The reason you comment is so others reply… then you kinda have a conversation.. now I have to refer to 3 different anonymous guys..
To answer your question…
the world cup ended a little over 24 hours ago.. Take a look at other Croatian websites. No one is talking about dinamo, Hajduk, HNL etc etc… still early.. We will jump on this tomorrow… Trying to sober up from all that weizen this weekend..
@Davor,
"I am looking forward to see how Croatian youngsters will do across Europe especially in the Bundesliga"'
Same here. Bundesliga is raping the HNL of young prospects.
re: dinamofan
I know what you mean, obviously clubs struggle financially so they must sell their players. The Croatian economy obviously does not help much I'm sure people have other priorities to spend their money on and soccer is suffering because of it.
As much as I would like to see any of Croatia's teams do well in Europe, I think it's more important that players like Mandzukic, Strinic, Badelj etc. etc. leave for bigger clubs in Europe where they can compete at a higher level.
I don't even know what's happening with the liga 16 is it better or worse. Now there's even talks about a Balkan league which would obviously cause for a much better league, but who are we kidding that would never work.
I am looking forward to see how Croatian youngsters will do across Europe especially in the Bundesliga
re: Davor
i don't think the league is a joke. i've come to accept it for what it is. People need money to live and clubs don't get the income so naturally they have to allow ALL the good players to leave each season and then to start again. Also players won't sign new contracts if pay is low and they can try out abroad. Croatia also exports EVERYWHERE so a player has so many options as to where to transfer.
I think patience is the way forward for Croatian clubs. Sales are stabilising some of these sides i.e Zapresic (Delac), Karlovac (Bunoza), Rijeka (Pamic), Belupo (Jajalo), Cibalia (Antolovic), Sibenik (Zec/ Ademi), Osijek (Vida) are all becoming financially stable for at least 2 seasons. Things like this can only help.
I agree Europe is not on the radar for Dinamo and Hajduk at moment. There is no reason Dinamo can do better this season. Looking at the team we look like we can have a good domestic campaign and can aspire for Europa liga qualification if Mandzo stays, but we cannot aspire to defeat teams like Ajax, Olympiakos, Schalke etc so that's just it is.
Rijeka did extremely well to get Dalovic back. The rest of side has more strength in depth than last season but they are missing a real quality creator. I think Bosnjak or Vugrinec is within their finances as both are free agents. That should help them reach top 5. I think Osijek and Belupo got better squads though. Osijek has a fantastic base of young energetic player and have added some experience.
can we get some real articles about soccer on this site? Dinamo Zagreb starts a big campaign tomorrow and not even an article? I need to find a real site for news and articles on croatian soccer, anyone got any good english based sites for croatian soccer?
Article on stand up paddle boarding becoming a hit in croatia.
http://www.jutarnji.hr/iz-sad-a-stigao-novi-hit-sport-na-jadranu—veslanje-na-dasci/846327/
Premier League starting in about a months time…Does this mean we get weekly Croatians around Europe updates in the coming weeks with transfer rumors and the like? Please…
World Cup final was disappointing. Netherlands looked like the USA with their gameplay. Robben goes from hero to zero. I mean how do you become a DEER IN HEADLIGHTS on a one on one opportunity.
Anyways, hopefully these next month leading into soccer season will be more exciting than what the NBA has had to offer. There are 0 sports on at the moment,(baseball is not considered a sport in my opinion), lets start getting some fun stuff on CSR to keep me entertained. Thanks guys.
no offense but if hajduk can't make it to europe and dinamo just barely, rijeka is not gonna make it…bottom line is our league is a joke
Ideally, I'd like Rijeka to finish 3rd-4th and get a spot a in European with the remote, slim chance that maybe we can make some noise. But even when we do make it to Europe, we fuck it up some how or manage to embarrass ourselves (See Differdange, Renova, Valletta, etc.)
I hope we can get maybe either Vugrinec or Bosnjak, but I don't seeing us getting both. I'm hoping some of our new guys like Rodic and Vukman can step up and produce. I'm not sure how much we got for the Pamic brothers transfers, but hopefully they put it to good use.
Agreed.
Very funny. Ha ha. You know, as hard as I try, I just don't see the humour in it. Only an infantile mind such as yours could dream up such things.
Tom,
Learn how to take a joke (and no Im not referring to the one in your pants).
My prediction is Dinamo win the title. BUT It depends on Mandzo staying as rest of our strikers don't score enough.
2nd – Hajduk
3rd – Slaven Belupo
4th – Osijek
5th – Rijeka
6th – Lokomotiva
7th – RNK Split
8th – Cibalia
9th – Istra Pula
10th – Zagreb
11th – Karlovac
12th – Sibenik
13th – Zapresic
14th – Varazdin
15th – Zadar
16th – Dragovoljac
Re Jordan: I think Rijeka are one creative midfielder/ forward short of a very good team. You clearly need someone to replace Fernandes. If Rijeka can get Bosnjak and Vugrinec it will make a difference.
What a fucking ignorant comment.
Agreed, awful Hajduk jersey. Then again, what makes a nice Hajduk jersey? One covered in human feces perhaps? Ask and it shall be done.
Dude – what are you doing with that Hajduk jersey on?! That's one of the uglier, if not ugliest jersey Hajduk ever put out! 😉 haha
And for the record, Rijeka will shock the HNL and win it all this year!
Wait, back to reality – Rijeka will finish 5th this year hahah
I think Spain managed to win this world cup without finding their best form. with a fully fit torres and fabregas they'd have been even better. As for Holland, Robben had the chances to win it. Also i don't understand the idea of Van Persie up on his own. I think he's got to be using Van Der Vaart and Huntelaar more to help him as both are better than Kuyt. A fairly decent tournament from Holland though.
This tournament was weakened as usual by players ego's exploding under pressure and by poor coaches. France were clearly the worst for that, portugal had a poor coach as well. I can't understand Gallas and Evra arguing over who should be captain. Despite how bad Domenach is there is no chance of progress with players like that arguing over small things.
I think Brazil and Argentina caused their own downfall. Brazil didn't have enough strength in depth. No reason to leave Pato at home at all. Also it was really worrying to see left back Gilberto (who could not get a game at Spurs) in their squad as well as Baptista. That doesn't look good for the future of Brazilian football when guys like that can get in.
As for Argentina. Their cavalier system was good for the group matches, but Diego left out all the big players when he needed them for the big matches. Javier Zanetti, Cambiasso and Samuel were all good for one last tournament and could have really helped them against Germany. I think Argentina could have done more but i think this world cup was more for Maradona's well being rather than anything else. Ultimately he can just admit to not being a qualified coach and Argentina will let him off.
I think the world cup could have been better if those teams like Brazil and Argentina had got it right. Ghana were great even without Essien. All south american sides plus Mexico were also tops. I was no idea what happened to Italy. It looked like they don't have many good players anymore. If Totti, Miccoli and Cassano were there it might have made a difference, but the players who were player didn't look good. I think egypt, Croatia and Russia should have been making this world cup when you compare their teams to Greece, Slovenia and Algeria. I that also weakened the world cup. Also the mercenary coaches like Erikson, Le Guen, Capello and Lagerbak need to be avoided. Erikson, Lagerbak, Le Guen all came in just for some world cup glory and then ran off. They had no commitment to Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Nigeria at all. That's partly why they flopped. I think foriegn internationals coaches demanding stupid wages need avoiding. I thought Croatia should have a foriegn coach a while ago but having seen Hiddink, Capello, Erikson etc do so rubbish i think its something Croatia should avoid. You just end up getting ripped off.
Slovenia, Slovakia, U.S, South Africa did well. i don't believe those teams could have done any better.
I think you're both right, it will be remembered for the bad calls and of course the vuvuzela!
People will remember on ething and one thing only…vuvuzela!
this cup more so than any other will be remembered for the refereeing controversies throughout. i think the players are part responsible for this as they flop and fake fouls all game long more than ever. 13 yellow cards and one red in a final? somethings not right. the only team ive seen go to the floor any easier and complain to the ref the entire game more than spain did, is portugal. maybe its just something about that region.