What was supposed to be a stroll in the park for newly crowned Croatian champion, Dinamo Zagreb, turned out to be a nail-biter in the end at the Poljud in Split. After going down 3-0 in the first leg of the Croatian Cup on May 13th in Zagreb, Hajduk managed to pull back three today in Split only to go down in penalty kicks 4-3.
Nikola Kalinić opened up the scoring for Hajduk in the 56th minute capitalizing on a defensive error. Less than two minutes later, Drago Gabrić's cross from the right was headed home by Mladen Bartolović. Kalinić added a second goal in the 75th minute breaking free from the defense and blasting home a beautiful left foot shot. Hajduk had a few more chances to add a winner, however, came up short. Besides Mišo Kovač, who would have though that this game would be decided in penalty kicks. Mišo was wrong on the penalty kicks outcome, as his Hajduk Split fell 4-3. Dinamo keeper Tomislav Butina was the hero of the shoot-out, making key saves on Giovanni Rosso and Srdjan Andrić getting Dinamo the double.
Dinamo has now won its second straight and nine of the seventeen Croatian Cups. The "Bad Blue Boys" have made it to the final in 13 of 17 Cups.
"Penalties are a lottery, but we know which of our players are good penalty takers."~Dinamo Manager, Krunoslav Jurčić
"We showed that we are better than Dinamo. I'm sorry it ended like this and sorry for our fans, but my players left their hearts on the pitch and I am proud to be Hajduk coach."~Hajduk Manager, Ante Miše
"We played a terrible game, however, we pulled one out. I have to admit, Hajduk was better."~ Tomislav Butina
~Denis Svirčić, reporting from Mate Mišo Kovač network
20 comments:
DUPLA KRUNA!
:)
nice goals from kalinic...
looks like hes justifying that call up.
wow, miso kovac almost nailed that prediction...
...almost
man i really dont get how hajduk goes down 3-0 in first leg comes back to win 3-0 2nd leg but than loses in shootout. we went from almost winning league this year to no hardware at all again. I miss the glory days of Hajduk in the 90's and even the 2001,2004 and 2005 teams. but still always HAJDUK ZIVI VJECNO!!
Now you see the value of Kalinic. Mise should have switched from that God Awful 4-4-1-1 and gave Kalinic some support earlier in the season. When he played with Rukavina last year, he racked up the goals. Playing him alone up front is a mistake, their are very few strikers that can handle that responsibility, certainly not on that is still sharpening his skills. He has the perfect frame for a striker for the national team, I just wish that he runs more. Hajduk Zivi Vjecno
Also, good to see that Igor Budan has made it back from injury.
Lol did we have our reserve team out. sorry but i lost interest in this game after the first match and we still won lol. Please note Kalinic scoring against Croatian league defenders does not warrant a national team call up. Who exactly has he played against this match - Lovren, Kovac ??? Wow amazing i must say! Kalinic is only in the squad to get a transfer and actually Bilic does not trust him that's why he never gives him minutes. He's just there so that when foreign clubs that don't know him very well show an interest they can see that his name was in the last 10 Croatian squad despite that he doesn't play:) We should never have a player not capable of competing with Olic and Petric in our team and that's what Kalinic is. Nobody will give this guy a match. When people write their teams out nobody mentions Kalinic in the starting line up
@Dinamofan:)
Nikola Kalinic doesnt deserve a spot on the national team, even after this type of performance for Hajduk. Scoring against Croatian league defenders isn't the same as scoring in top European leagues. Just like I've been saying all along, Bilic is pressured for Hajduk to select Kalinic, this way the transfer fee goes up after each and every game Nikola is selected.
@everyone
Have any of you seen this video of Miso:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX69GxC88_Y
I would have posted this on the the site, however, no embed code. Miso = Legend
I know its wrong, but actually it does work. Kalinic can get his move and Hajduk can get there money through doing this. That's how we got £6m out of Aston Villa for Balaban. All it takes is a few goals against San Marino and a good performance against Varteks in a HNL game and you can really get that much out of some of these teams. There are lots of crazy foreign clubs out there who have no real thought to what they are doing. They'll buy anyone - I am thinking here of Prem teams like Newcastle, Man City, Spurs (to an extent) - in Spain Athletico Madrid, Real Betis. In France Monaco, PSG. I think the term is more money than brain. Is harder to do it with Bundesliga clubs though as Mamic found out over Mandza.
What happened with Balaban was that there coach never watched him play. He said his assistant to watch one match and also had a load of clips - you know like you see on Youtube. I mean has anyone seen the one on Diddy Guela. He looks great - yet it really only amounts to seconds of touches on the pitch and we released him in the end as he couldn't get in team.
Whilst Kalinic's call up is also wrong it also is actually harming him and the national team. Our Under 21 team really deserves more respect. I mean where is Perisic in it?? Kalinic should play every game for them and he'll progress more happily. I think at present he's impatient and unsettled.
RE: Kalinic
If my understanding is correct, apparently Mamic has offered to buy Kalinic for 10 million euros.
What is the likelihood of this happening? I'd say about 0%.
Tom in Winnipeg
you know what,
i cant watch the hnl anymore
there are CLEARLY things going on behind the scenes and under the table if this is how it ends every season. im so sick of it. by far the most corrupt league in europe.
Well yeah it isn't a serious league. However it is a league with good player can progress from. Its like a production line, but Croatia definitely should not picking lots of players from it. I've only just watched the Hajduk game and i'm sorry, but nice skills on both sides - but no defending to be seen. People been saying how great Kalinic was. He missed two chances when he was clean through and that first goal of his he'd never score in any other country. He was allowed to take the ball back easily before prodding in. In another league that ball would have been wacked in the stands along with Kalinic. Croatian defenders seem to fancy themselves as playmakers too in this league, but in other leagues they don't give you time and don't wait around. On the second goal that defending from Biscan was poor as it was just a token gesture at a block, but personally i don't expect much from Biscan in defence. You have to prod that guy with a stick to get him to wake him. He looks like he sleeps three quarters of the day. Personally i'm looking for to players Kramaric next season. We don't want Kalinic - we just got rid of Bosko Balaban - we don't want to bring his lookalike in as well. Our fans will get confused. Kalinic is same as Balaban at same age. No better, no worse. I have no doubt he'll score against Andorra, Lithuania, Latvia, maybe even Belgium and Poland, but not the big teams. He should progress in the Under 21s and if he must he should take a move abroad and see how it goes. Or maybe he should extend his contract by one year and play another year with Hajduk. Personally i don't want to see any HNL forward arriving at Dinamo Zagreb next season. That's why we have Sivonjic, Tadic and Slepicka for. We need a European class striker next season.
http://sportal.vecernji.hr/vld/sportal/nogomet/reprezentacija/3301145/index.do;jsessionid=77DE1567034B733646ED9B44B26F7834.1
Dvojac is hnl-a ispred petrica
all u rukavina lovers satisfied now that mandza and kalinic are better than rukavina, mate bilic etc. and deserve a spot?
slaven bilic also said that runje is probably gona start in front of pletikosa
All of you Runje lovers should be going crazy he starts on saturday
RE: Luka
Er No! Look at the defending on those goals. its terrible. Will be satisfied once they do something outside Croatia. I could respond but it is too close to the match. will see how it goes.
Somewhere along the line there needs to be a Croatia B match arranged as we have some players we need to try. Kalinic actually being one of them as he never plays any football when he's called up. We also have to cap Andrej Keric who in case nobody knows has finish as the leading goal scorer in the Czech Republic. However if he continues to stay there and we ignore him he will eligible to play for the Czech Republic. Decent player in my opinion from what i've seen of him. Definitely looks better than Kalinic. Reminds me of Olic.
i actually brought keric up first on this website a couple months ago but he is useless cause he is not on the squad. ur opinion however doesnt matter to anyone, its the coaches of the team who decide, and if they say kalinic and mandzukic are in front of petric now i beleive it. there is a reason they are running the squad and you are commenting a website.
i am no fan of kalinic, i just dislike rukavina more who bagged 9 goals in 35 caps for hajduk as opposed to the 30 goals of kalinic's in 53 caps. You can go on about kalinic's penalties and other shit but rukavina is worse.
Yeah maybe its coaches opinion which matters, but if we lose he's packing his bags. Simple!
As for Keric, ya you brought him up, but i've been following him ever since and watching highlights of Slovan Liberec's games and looks like a decent player to me. As i say we'll see if Bilic's decision are right or not.
As for Ruki didn't he scored again today. I guess these goals going unnoticed by you. Also Ruki is not a number 9. He plays off the main striker so has other things to offer like his dribbling ability and setting up chances. Kalinic contributes very little to build up play. But as said before squad is announced so lets wait and see. If we lose we kick Bilic up the arse! for some selecting rubbish players.
Ahhh, more Croatian bashing, its just plentiful.
Once again I must come to the aid of Nikola Kalinic. First off, lets make this clear. I would rather have Rukavina called up, I have always supported Ante. As I write this, I am wearing my Rukavina Hajduk Jersey. Ante would get the call up from me, but, if I were to call up any HNL forward, it would DEFINITELY by Kalinic. I dont want to sound Hostile or Condescending, but, do any of you guys actually watch the league? In all seriousness? Because all I hear on this website is just bashing, you sound like the old Croatian men here in Toronto, every answer is just another conspiracy theory.
If you had watched Nikolas progression from last year to this, he had to totally evolve his game. Last year he played off Rukavina, the speedier forward, like CroatiaFan above me mentioned. Thats Rukavinas game, much like Boksic in the past, hes a versatile striker who plays with the ball at his feet and gives room to the classic number 9 like Kalinic. Fast forward to this year, Rukavina is sold, no cover is brought it, aside from some clutch Oremus goals early on, Kalinic has essentially played by himself with a 4-5-1 being used, Ibricic just behind Nikola. Nikola hasnt scored anywhere the amount he should have, and yes, the amount of penalties to goals scored during the run of play isn't pretty at all. However, take into consideration that hes is being man marked by 2 center backs all game long, and is making space for Ibricic and Gabric to swoop in from midfield to get the goals that they have. Also, look at how many assists Kalinic had this year. As DinamoFan mentioned above, he missed a few chances. Hate to break it to you, ALL strikers miss chances, want to laugh your ass off? Watch the first 45 mins of Dinamo vs Slaven Belupo a few weeks ago, Mandzukic could have had 5 goals in the first 45, but he doesn't know how to take the ball on his wrong foot. I watched Barca vs Deportivo yesterday, Eto missed 5 chances in the game. They all miss.
Didier Drogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rooney and Berbatov are some of the very few strikers that could play the 4-5-1, and even they wont score goals on a regular basis, the system isnt built for the striker, its built for the midfield, thats why his production gets lost. Instead of looking at that, perhaps some dont even know that, people just bash him, its just really sad man. Maybe the kid is a bust, who knows, but look at the kids history before commenting on his game. The one real asset he has ahead oh ANY, i repeat ANY Croatian striker for the game against Ukraine. Kalinic holds up play better then anyone we have at that position, thats a FACT. Do you really believe that Ukraine will give us any room to operate, they will be playing anti-football from the get go, hoping to grind out a tie, or, catch us on a counter attack. I would have loved if Igor Budan was match fit, because he is another striker that can handle himself physically, but, sadly its not the case.
Honestly, if you will bash a guy, just provide some history with your comment. I am lucky enough to have a Croatian satelite feed for free, try to watch the games when I have time. Honestly, I dont even want to fight, I would much rather use my energy for far more constructive matters, trying to marry a Brasilian Lingerie model, stopping the HNL league of 16 and over throwing Markovic, Stimac and Ladic while installing Boban as president of Croatian Football appeals to me allot more.
P.S - I shared those articles from the Guardian a few months back. I came across this article a week ago, its actually written a few years ago, but, anything about Drazen Petrovic is worth reading for me. I was trying to see how Drazens little Nephew was doing with his basketball career, came across this on ESPN.
Enjoy!!
http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/magazine/story?id=1843021
Re: Petar
I'm not particularly Kalinic bashing, but when does he actually play any games for Croatia. He doesn't even play. so wouldn't his progress be best suited in the Under 21's alongside Perisic, Sertic etc and then we move him up once he's proven himself abroad or when we are actually thinking of playing him in games.
I actually think Bilic has no intention of playing him and there is some substance behind making him an international just for a sale. Lets not forget Ruki was called up him when he was not playing well at Hajduk and yet he's ignored now he is playing better. Yes Ante and Denis are sceptical about the HNL league, but i follow it. I follow it from the bottom team to the top. Most dinamo fans hate Hajduk's guts, but i actually think Dinamo needs a strong Hajduk and Rijeka and often look at there games too. Kalinic has to be on 20 goals though to get this call up. He's ended with 15 and its not enough really esp considering the number of penalties as Skoko, Ibricic could have took those too and his tally would have been much worse. To me Kalinic is pointless being there as he never plays.
As i said a while back Kalinic needs testing. Bilic is taking his time looking at what options he has and if they can even play at this level for when he needs them. Kalinic has never played at this level. He's been playing in Croatian league football. I do follow the Croatian league and the best players will leave clubs for anywhere. You say i don't give examples here's some for you. When Hajduk won the title a few years back they had players taken off them by SV Pasching (Nino Bule); Petar Krpan (Liera); Hjorve Vukovic went to German second division. Stjepan Jukic considers he'll rather play in Hiroshima and Lierse than score goals for Osijek. Even Seveste the promoted side couldn't hold onto Vladimir Petrovic at age 35 and afterwards they flew down the table so this the type of teams Kalinic is up against. At Dinamo i'm sorry but we're okay in patches. We aren't a great side. If Kalinic scores against us its nothing special.
The reason Mandza is slightly more worthwhile than Kalinic is cos he has made a little ripple when he's played against bigger teams. He don't look totally out of place. He did well against Ajax and Bremen, scored against England and was the best player against Sparta Prague. Mandza kind of has deserved looking at for that rather than his HNL goals. Also he's not a goalscorer. 16 is great for Mandzukic as he's normally on the 11 goal mark. Mandza is a second striker rather than a number 9. But Kalinic is a number 9and should be hitting 20 each season in Croatia.
To me 15 is nothing much. Its no more than what Keric has done. Bjelanovic has done. Lakic has done this season. 12-15 goals you can say they've all had okay season, but its not top standard. Again though Kalinic is part of the squad which takes to the field soon so have to support him.
*** Mate Jajalo has just signed for Siena in Italy ***
I pray that Anas Sharbini goes to Ajax now.
Okay, as I said earlier. I think you have to look at the tactical switch to a 4-5-1 and realize that any striker in the world will have their goal production slow down. At that point I think you have to step back and ask, hes not scoring at the same rate, is he doing whats needed of him in that formation to continue his growth and maturity as a footballer. As I pointed out, he assisted on a number of goals, he was a prime reason why Ibircic and Gabric had such good seasons. He also holds up play very well, with his back to goal, he may be the strongest striker we have, hes not afraid to mix it up. I think if you had watched the qualifying game against Deportivo La Coruna at the begining of the season, you can see that against experienced Center Backs, he was giving as much as he received and did not back down from them. Kalinic got a run out the last game, also featured for us against Poland at the Euros, soo, hes not exactly being called uo just to make up the numbers. Also, I dont buy this theory that guys are being called up to increase the value of a potential sale. Bilic has far to much integrity for that. We saw against the English, when Bilic chose not to field Klasnic in the starting 11 that Markovic was furious with him for that.
I do agree with your point that a strong rivalry is needed for the league. I am a strong Hajduk Fan, but, I am Croatian before any of that. I sent my mother on a mission when she was in Croatia 2 years ago, scouring the city of Zagreb while visiting friends to get me a Luka Modric jersey. One of my favs in my collection. Thats why I see the League getting better. Fo the first time in 20 years, teams can actually afford to keep hold of their prospects untill an appropriate age and then sell them off. 10 years ago, guys like Modric, Sharbini and Kalinic would have been sold off at 17 or 18, just to pay off any debts the club had, and no further investment would have been made in the club. Teams are actually spending now. Its a sign, but there is still TONS of work ahead, and the league is probably 30 years away from where I want it to be. If they expand to 16, its all over!!
As for Kalinic and any young guy to the Under 21's, I would agree with that. However, with Ladic coaching them, I am not sure I want him to ruin anymore talent for us. The man wont even call up Perisic. As for Sertic, well, him accepting the French under 21 call up all but rules him out for us.
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