Here are the results for May 24th...
HNK Šibenik [2 - 1] NK Osijek
Photo: Hrvoje Jelavić
NK Rijeka [2 - 0] Cibalia Vinkovci
Photo: Pero Lovorović
NK Zadar [1 - 1] Croatia Sesvete
Photo: Dino Stanin
Slaven Belupo [1 - 1] Hajduk Split
Photo: Josip Maljak
Varteks Varaždin [0 - 1] Inter Zaprešić
Photo: Darko Gorenak
Dinamo Zagreb [0 - 1] NK Zagreb
Photo: Index.hr
As if anyone cares, the HNL will wrap up next weekend with a meaningless game. Hajduk fielded its "B" team today against a Slaven Belupo team that needed a victory to keep its "Uefa Cup" Liga Europa hopes alive. A 90th minute Hajduk goal leveled the result and clinched Rijeka a Liga Europa spot next season, after Rijeka, with two second half goals from Sharbini gave Rijeka a much needed 2-0 victory over Cibalia Vinkovci.
Next Matches(Last of the season):
Sunday 5/31
NK Zadar@NK Zagreb
HNK Šibenik@Cibalia
Slaven Belupo@NK Osijek
Varteks Varaždin@Croatia Sesvete
NK Rijeka@Inter Zaprešić
Dinamo Zagreb@Hajduk Split
~Denis Svirčić, reporting from the San Pedro Croatian Independence Day Street Party
4 comments:
Note this week that Sharbini now is level with Kalinic on 15 goals. Ahmad Sharbini has shown how easy it is to bag 15 goals in this division. Its just simple and does not warrant a national team call up. Will anyone now be asking for Ahmad in the national team. I doubt it - so why Kalinic???? If not for the football watch Ahmad over take Kalinic as HNL top scorer next week :)
excellent point Dinamofan:)
The HNL is a joke. 16 teams next season? how do you feel about that?
Hopefully, Kalinic is sold this summer, otherwise Bilic will be forced by Hajduk to select him for the national team. If Kalinic can hold a position at a Napoli(transfer rumor) then I would give him an invitation. By now its obvious Manda and Kalinic will be invited until they are sold. This takes away two striker spots for Croatia.
That's really bad though about Kalinic. I think Bilic should lose his job on that decision if we do not beat Ukraine and Belarus as he's limiting our options. I don't know what you think but i think we have the Mladen Petric from the Euro in our squad. We don't have the Petric from middle of the season. Petric has injury problems and has stopped scoring at HSV. That's what happened at Dortmund last season before the Euro. Bilic can't bank on Olic and Petric being certain to impress. I have no prob with Olic. As far as i'm concerned give that guy a gold star as he's worked extremely hard from first game to last game and is in form, but Petric has scored 20 goals yes, but his workrate is not there at the moment.
Then we have Klasnic who lets face it is REALLY REALLY being given the benefit of the doubt as most national coaches would have left him on his club form. I would personally keep Klasnic as a sub player. He's useful to have for 20 mins if you need a goal. That's all though. I don't think he deserves to start.
Mandza has been working hard all season and playing better. Okay he has only scored 15 goals as well, but he does other things apart from scoring. At least we know Mandza will not give defenders an easy time and will be physical. We have also seen Mandza score a lot of outfield goals as he is not on penalties. Personally regards Mandza i think you can say he isnt out of form. At the moment he's playing about as good as he is capable of playing. Kalinic is not like this - he is totally out of form. With Kalinic however we should have tried him out somewhere. A friendly or a Croatia B match. We haven't really tried him out. What i'm saying is that if Petric is not 100%, Klasnic is out of form, Mandza is doing okay, but should not really be a guarenteed starter. Then you really need someone else. 5th striker therefore is important, but instead we've got another out of form player in Kalinic. Its a really risky thing to do.
For Mate Bilic - okay has never played for Croatia, but has played UEFA Cup football - in Spain etc and won't be hard for him to adjust. He's totally aclimitized to this level. Also 12 goals in Spain is enough in my opintion to make this Croatia squad. You can also make a case for Rukavina. People say he's not started, but that's cos Panathanaikos seeing him as a impact player. The goal tally of his is decent though when you look at time he's been given. Also he never misses a match. He just plays as sub. Solksjear never played much for United, but it doesn't mean he should never played for Norway. I think Rukavina could be a impact sub in the national team and is worth having. Definitely more than having Kalinic with his tap ins and penalty goals.
Also this Gregory Sertic situation is a serious problem. He wants to play for us, but Bilic and HNS and even Drazen Ladic in the Under 21's never contacted him and now France want him for the Toulon tournament which will be a disaster for us as we NEED this player for the future. It will allows him a attacking midfielder that can defender so Modric can then move left. We should have called him for this squad. If not seen Sertic play give the guy a watch as he's impressive. His passing is really snappy and one touch stuff.
Also i know you like Runje, but Galinovic is another guy very unjustly treated. He's a sure thing for Panathanaikos each week yet that is not good enough for Croatia somehow. Also the Under 21 team is a farce. The team is made up of HNL players and is not being used to help Kalinic, Perisic etc to progress. With Kalinic all we had to do was keep him hungry and i'm certain you'd not get this drop in form now. Kalinic is also worthwhile when he's scoring. When he's not he's a waste of space.
I'm at Dinamo fan, but its good to see Vugrinec being the matchwinner in the derby. I always liked this player. Is unfortunate that he joined us too late in his career. Vuga himself has managed 11 in HNL1 at a very ordinary Zagreb side and Miljenko Mumlek continues to find HNL easy in his late 30's. As i say scoring in HNL is no big deal.
Yes i heard this Kalinic move to Napoli too. I actually think he could sink in Serie A. That's really the worst place to try to get goals. You might see Kalinic learning a hard lesson like Bjelanovic, Budan, Jurika Vucko and Mate Bilic himself about the difference in standard between Italy, Spain and in Croatia. You have to really be a decent player to aclimitize quickly to such leagues. I actually think Kalinic might be best off in Russia, or Hoffenheim, Anderlecht/ Standard in Belgium or someone like Portsmouth first. If he goes to Italy he could quickly be a Serie B player. I think Hajduk got no choice but to sell though even though his value has fallen as he;s out of contract next season and can leave on FREE!
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