CROATIANS AROUND EUROPE WEEK *III*

England

As the 2009-10 Premiership season got underway Saturday afternoon, so did Arsenal, in a very BIG way! The Gunners pressed Everton for six goals as they completely dismantled the Merseyside club. Eduardo was subbed into the game in the 73' and made the most of his return to the Premier League in his first game back since the horrific ankle injury.



As Eduardo walked onto the field, he was given the captain's band from Cesc Fabregas who also had a nice day with two goals. Eduardo immediately ripped a low shot which missed the outside of the post by less than a foot. In the 89' with the game already out of hand at 5-0, Eduardo scored an Ivica Olić 'right place at the right time' tap in goal off the post. It's not much but it's great to see Eduardo finally back in the Premiership in good spirits and on the scoreboard. Now let's see if 'Dudu' gets some playing time against Celtic this Tuesday in their Champions League playoff tie.

Luka Modrić, Vedran Ćorluka and Tottenham Hotspur started their season off with a huge 2-1 win against Liverpool at home. Modrić was once again a magician in the midfield as he put together numerous through balls for teammates. Modrić setup captain Robbie Keane twice in the first half with golden chances but the Irishman couldn't finish either opportunity.

Modrić is getting lots of space to work with as opponents are respecting him. He assisted the game-winning goal off of a free kick in the second half. Modrić has finally found hid rhythem and will be dangerous this season in the Premiership- mark my words.

Ćorluka was a beast on defense as no Liverpool player could do anything once they entered his vicinity. The thing I am most impressed with is his ability to jet down the sideline while taking on opponents one-on-one. This Tottenham team is going to give a lot of big clubs trouble this season. So far, so good as Modrić and Ćarli lead the way.

MODRIĆ ASSIST

KRANJČAR PONDERING A CAREER MOVE
Niko Kranjčar and Portsmouth have started out the season like most experts have predicted: Losing! Pompey only lost to Fulham 1-0 but the Cottagers clearly controlled the game and could have easily put two more balls in the back of the old onion bag. Niko had a few decent shots on goal but couldn't put anything on frame.

Kranjčar has already said that he will not return to Portsmouth at the end of the current season when his contract runs out, but will Pompey transfer the Croatian winger with two weeks left in the summer transfer window?

Welcome to 'Croatians Around Europe' Nikola Kalinic! Kalinic was not on the Blackburn squad list Saturday as the Rovers fell to Manchester City 2-0. Last we heard, Nikola received his work permit to play in England. Now we just have to wait for the young Croat's Premiership debut.

WILL KALINIĆ BE ABLE TO SCORE GOALS LIKE HE DID AT HAJDUK?

Germany

Photo: bundesliga.de, Olić trying to build on last weeks season opening goal

Ivica Olić came on in at halftime for Miroslav Klose, had two shots on goal but couldn't land the game winner for Bayern Munich in a 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen in front of 69,000 at Allianz Arena in Munich. Ivica will have plenty of competition at Bayern at the striker position especially when Luka Toni returns possibly next week.

Photo: bundesliga.de, Pranjić fighting for the ball against Werder Bremen

Danijel Pranjić once again played the full 90 minutes for Bayern Munich in what hopes to be a great season for the 27 year old left wingback. Next week Bayern are at Mainz.

Josip Šimunić once again played an excellent 90 minutes for Hoffenheim in a 1-0 away defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.

Photo: Reuters, Mladen in action against Borussia Dortmund

Mladen Petrić was back in action for HSV after getting snubbed by Slaven Bilić and Croatia last Wednesday. Mladen played a solid 69 minutes as Hamburg bounced back from last weeks loss in a 4-1 home victory over Borussia Dortmund.

Photo: www.vfb.de, Banović(top-center) in action for Freiburg against Stuttgart

Ivica Banović and Freiburg followed up last weeks draw with a 4-2 loss at Stuttgart. Ivica couldn't get anything going in 62 minutes of action.

Photo: schalke04.de, Rakitić congradulating teammates after Schalke goal

Schalke playmaker, Ivan Rakitić followed up last Wednesday's "Belarus-job" with another great performance for Schalke on Sunday assisting on two of the three goals in a 3-0 home victory over VfL Bochum. Ivan was subbed out at halftime. Hopefully, Ivan continues to be in top form for Schalke leading to a possible start for Croatia against Belarus in a few weeks time.

France

Ivan Klasnić started for Nantes and scored a goal before being subbed out early in the second half. The clock is ticking for Ivan to complete a transfer before the transfer window closes in just about two weeks. Ivan has no chance of representing Croatia anytime soon without a transfer to a big league.

Photo: RCLens.fr, Vedran before the Auxerre match.

Vedran Runje started and played the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 home opener victory over Auxerre. Lens rebounded from last weeks 4-0 defeat to pick up its first three points in front of 34,671 at Felix-Bollaert stadium. Vedran wasn't tested as Auxerre managed only two shots on target.

Lens-Auxerre Highlights

Both Dario Šimić and Nikola Pokrivač were not featured for Monaco in a 4-0 defeat at AS Nancy Lorraine. Hopefully, these two can abandon this sinking ship in Monaco.

Russia

Ivica Križanac was not in Zenit St. Petersburg's squad for their 4-2 away win at FK Amkar Perm. Križanac was subbed out at halftime earlier in the week in Croatia's match against Belarus. Nothing in the Croatian press stated anything about a serious injury but him being left out of Zenit's squad for this match implies that.

I don't like this one bit. With a rematch against Belarus in Zagreb three weeks away and then the all important England clash at Wembley days later, we're going to need a solid central defender. Obviously CSR will update you on the Križanac situation once the news is released. If he can't go for the next set of qualifiers, I would push Ćorluka in the middle so he can play alongside Šimunić, put Srna back to his natural right defensive wing position, move Pranjić to left wing midfield, Kranjčar as a right winger/attacking midfielder and give Čale a start at left D.

We really need to start giving our next generation of defenders some experience as we're running short on them at the moment.

Greece

PANATHINAIKOS STRIKER ANTE RUKAVINA

With the Greek Super League only one week away from getting started and the first leg of their UEFA Champions League playoff match with Atletico Madrid on August 19th, there's an incredible amount of pressure on striker Ante Rukavina and goalkeeper Mario Galinović to perform well for Panathinaikos this season. Both players have been snubbed of a call-up with the Croatian national team; most recently for the match against Belarus. There is no doubt that each man will be playing with a chip on his shoulder to convince Slaven Bilić that they deserve a call-up with the national team.

RUKAVINA LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT THIS SEASON

Ukraine

Darijo Srna was given the day off as the Ukrainian Premier League was put on hold to catch up with Ukrainian Cup action. Shakhtar Donetsk cruised by Dnister Ovidiopol 6-1 in the Round of 32. Srna should be back next week when Shakhtar plays at Metalist Kharkiv.

Ognjen Vukojević did however play for Dynamo Kyiv as they had a tougher match against city rivals Arsenal Kyiv. Dynamo squeaked by with a 2-1 win to join Shakhtar in the Round of 16. It is unclear how many minutes Vukojević played as the Dynamo Kyiv website is absolutely horrible to navigate with little information. Goran Sablić did not play.

Turkey

HRVOJE ČALE (BOTTOM MIDDLE)

Hrvoje Čale and his club, Trabzonspor, were defeated 2-1 at the hands of Diyarbakirspor on Saturday, August 15th. Čale played the entire match and received a yellow card in the 12th minute. Trabzonspor currently sit in 9th place early on in the Turkish Super League season.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

WILL DRAGO GABRIĆ TAKE HIS GAME RO A NEW LEVEL IN TURKEY?

Fresh from his transfer from HNK Hajduk Split, the newly acquired Drago Gabrić did not make an appearance for Trabzonspor this week. The talented 22 year-old midfielder will surely be suiting up in the coming game for Trabzonspor and can expect a lot stiffer competition than what he faced in the HNL.

Spain

Mate Bilić received a red card in the 67' for Sporting Gijon in their 3-1 friendly match over Las Palmas. It is unknown to why Bilić was given walking papers for the day. Hopefully Bilić wasn't watching clips of Olić last summer in preseason when he was sent off for eye-gouging an opposing player.

Sporting Gijon has one of the the toughest season openers this year when the Spanish La Liga kicks off the weekend of August 30th- away to Barcelona.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO WELCOME IVICA PEROŠ AKA IVICA TO THE CSR WRITING TEAM. IVICA WILL COVER A FEW COUNTRIES NOW IN OUR 'CROATIANS AROUND EUROPE' SERIES. THIS WEEK IVICA WROTE TURKEY AND GREECE, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH IT, TAKE IT UP WITH HIM.

Next Matches:

Tuesday, 8/18

Arsenal at Celtic(Champions Leageu Playoff), Sporting Gijon at Racing Santander, Nantes at Vannes

Wednesday, 8/19

Atlético Madrid at Panathinaikos(Champions Leageu Playoff), Tottenham at Hull City, Portsmouth at Birmingham

Thursday, 8/20

Hamburg SV at Guingamp(Liga Europa), Zenit St Petersburg at CD Nacional de Madeira(Liga Europa), Odense BK at Genoa(Liga Europa), Toulouse at Trabzonspor

Friday, 8/21

Schalke 04 at TSG Hoffenheim

Saturday, 8/22

Lorient at Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen at SC Freiburg, Bayern Munich at Mainz, Portsmouth at Arsenal, Blackburn at Sunderland

Sunday, 8/23

Lens at Grenoble, Hamburg SV at VfL Wolfsburg, Cagliari at Livorno, AS Roma at Genoa, Spartak Moscow at Terek Grozny, Lokomotiv Moscow at Zenit St Petersburg, West Ham United at Tottenham, Shakhtar Donetsk at Metalist Kharkiv, Dynamo Kyiv at Vorskla-Naftohaz Poltava

~Denis Svirčić, reporting from Hollywood Bowl, Ivica PEROŠ reporting from the Big Apple, and Ante Kvartuč reporting from Little Croatia, USA