CORRUPTION IN CROATIAN SOCCER PT. 2

WRITTEN BY BRANKO TOMASOVIĆ

At the start of the 2010-11 soccer season, the Croatian domestic soccer league, better known as Prva HNL, has been rocked by stunning allegations that defending league and cup champions, Dinamo Zagreb, were involved in a match-fixing conspiracy in last year's first leg of the Croatia Cup, where Dinamo won 3-0 against their arch rivals Hajduk Split.

According to Croatian sports daily Sportske Novosti, German authorities have uncovered documents "suggesting" that Dinamo Zagreb officials were involved in nefarious match fixing activities. The main official implicated is none other than Zoran Mamić, the Sports Operations Director of Dinamo, who also happens to be the brother of Zdravko Mamić, the club's current executive Vice-President, and possibly, the most influential man in Croatian soccer.

SREBRIĆ ON THE MATTER

The report alleges that Mamić and Ante Sapina, a notorious gambler and felon who was convicted of masterminding the match-fixing scandal in the Bundesliga in 2005 with the help of disgraced referee Robert Hoyzerc, conspired with Croatian referee Bruno Marić to give Dinamo a 3-0 victory in the first tie of the 2009 Croatia Cup Finals. The alleged conspiracy is to have brought in 1.4 million euros to the organizers, according to Croatian daily Jutrani List. Nevertheless, in a profanity-laced tirade, Zdravko Mamić denied that his club and his brother were involved in any sort of illegal activity, claimed that all match-fixing allegations about Zoran and Dinamo were utterly false, and insisted that a conspiracy existed to tear down Dinamo.

However, more allegations have now surfaced from German authorities that Dinamo Zagreb were involved in three other rigged matches, this time of the European variety, involving England's Arsenal, Romania's Timisoara, and Belgium's Anderlecht. In two of these games Dinamo lost to Arsenal 3-0 and to Anderlecht 2-0, while winning the third 3-0, against Timisoara. All of this controversy is taking place in the backdrop of one of the biggest soccer match-fixing investigations in European history, dubbed "Operation Offside." The investigation, led by German law enforcement into soccer match-fixing, involves 270 matches across nine countries and over 250 individuals, reported the Associated Press.

Investigative journalist and author Declan Hill, who wrote the landmark book, The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime, commented that match-fixing is much more widespread than the typical fan would imagine. Hill emphatically declares:

What the Germans have uncovered is . . . the Asian gambling market, which is absolutely gigantic, is coming into Europe and North America, he told CTV News Channel. Because of the size of the gambling market there (in Asia), it's corrupted much of the Asian sports leagues, and now it's starting to corrupt these leagues around the world. It's a huge, huge problem and they are only beginning to tackle it now.

According to the Associated Press, the investigation now involves 53 matches in Germany; 19 in Belgium; 35 in Switzerland; 15 in Croatia; 7 in Slovenia; 74 in Turkey; 14 in Hungary; 8 in Bosnia; 12 in Austria; and 33 games in international competitions.

The consequences of this investigation are clearly being felt in Croatia where 22 individuals, to date, have been arrested. These individuals primarily, are suspected of rigging the games of the domestic Croatian soccer league. The aftermath of these claims has forced the resignation of John Brleković , Vice-President of the Croatian Soccer Federation and President of its Commission on Combating Corruption in soccer. One can only speculate how much longer Vlatko Marković can survive as President of the Croatian Soccer Federation while, under his watch, this scandal escalates with each passing day.

If the Associated Press is to be believed, 15 matches in the Croatian domestic soccer league were fixed, one of which being last year's Dinamo vs. Hajduk Croatia Cup Finals opening match. Nevertheless, many questions still remain. Which of the 14 other games were fixed? Which teams were involved? Who was involved? How far back does this activity go? How did this scandal impact past championships? Perhaps most importantly, what will be the consequences of all of this? If Dinamo Zagreb is found guilty, will they lose those illegally won championships? Will this scandal destroy Dinamo Zagreb? Will the club vanish into obscurity if they are punished with a demotion to the 2nd Division? What happens if Croatia's second largest club, Hajduk Split, is later implicated? Will the Prva HNL survive this scandal? All of these questions will be answered in due time, but the ramifications of this scandal will undoubtedly be felt all across the Croatian soccer landscape for the foreseeable future.

OFFICIAL: RUKAVINA TO DINAMO

HELL HAS FROZEN OVER...AGAIN.

Former Hajduk Split striker Ante Rukavina has traded in his green cloverleaf of Panathinaikos for the blue shirt at Dinamo Zagreb. The 24 year-old Rukavina scored five goals in 31 appearances for the current Greek champions- even though most of those were last minute substitutions. He didn't get much accomplished in Greece the two seasons he had there.

Rukavina scored 9 goals in 35 appearances for Hajduk Split in 2008. Is moving back to the Croatian Prva Liga a backwards step?

-How will Torcida and more importantly the BBB react?

-Is this the transfer Dinamo was looking for?

Let the debate continue...

2010-11 FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE

The 2010-11 English Premier League season is right around the corner with matches beginning on August 15th. That means another CroatianSoccerReport Fantasy group is ready to get underway. In our guinea pig season last year, we had 30 players compete even though we started the league late in Week 3. CSR had a successful campaign in our World Cup Pick 'Em with over 80 people taking part. It should be another great season! The icon will remain up in the top right corner of the website for everyone to sign into.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CSR FANTASY LEAGUE

CODE TO JOIN: 318061-82509

WHO'S GOING TO MAKE YOUR TEAM?

YOUNG GUNS REMAIN ON FIRE

THE MLADI HRVATI ARE ON A ROLE

The U-19 Croatia team embarrassed Portugal 5-0 today to lock up a spot in the semifinals of the 2010 European Championships. 19 year-old Freiburg midfielder Zvonko Pamić scored a hat trick on the last day of group play to ensure another match. Croatia will now play tournament hosts France on July 27th. With the semifinal berth, this Croatian squad has also locked up a spot in the 2011 U-20 World Cup.

Croatia's U-21 and U-19 squads have been firing on all cylinders this past year. Is Croatia's next 'golden generation' just around the corner?

2010-11 HNL SEASON BEGINS

Here are the results for July 23rd-25th...

Dinamo Zagreb [ 4-1 ] Hrvatski Dragovoljac

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Hajduk Split [ 6-1 ] NK Istra 1961

THANKS TOM IN WPG FOR THE HIGHLIGHTS

NK Rijeka [ 1-0 ] RNK Split

SPLIT NOW HAS TWO PRVA LIGA CLUBS

NK Zagreb [ 3-1 ] NK Lokomotiva

Karlovac [ 3-0 ] Inter Zaprešić

NK Varaždin [ 2-1 ] Croatia Sesvete

Slaven Belupo [ 1-0 ] HNK Šibenik

Cibalia Vinkovci [ 3-0 ] NK Osijek

DINAMO SQUEAK ONE OUT

DINAMO DEFENSE LEFT BUTINA HIGH AND DRY TUESDAY NIGHT IN SLOVENIA

Dinamo Zagreb came into their second leg match with Slovenian champs, Koper, on cruise control. With a 5-1 win in Zagreb a week prior, it looked as if Dinamo would only have to show up and kick the ball around for 90 minutes to get through to the next round. Boy, were they in for a surprise. With Mario Mandžukić' departure to German club Wolfsburg earlier in the week, Dinamo had absolutely no firepower up top for this match.

Koper scored early in the first half off a corner and went into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Dinamo still looked to be in good shape but were scored on again in the 54'. The boys in Blue really had to sweat out their Champions League season in the 77' when Igor Bišćan was sent off for a foul in the box. Koper scored the penalty and were up 3-0 with 14 minutes left in the game. If they would've scored one more, Dinamo's European campaign would have ended before it even began. Luckily, the Boys from Zagreb held off the Slovenian champs to go through 5-4 on aggregate.

Dinamo will now play Moldovan champs Sheriff Tiraspol on July 27th with the return leg in Zagreb on August 4th. Sheriff are a tough and tricky club and should have no problem with Dinamo if they play like they did this past match. Dinamo desperately need a striker if they want to stay in European competition this season. Will they make the proper transfer before this tie gets underway?

DINAMO ZAGREB-KOPER GOALS

LIVE FROM SAN FRANCISCO!!!

WHO NEEDS A ĆORLUKA INTERVIEW WHEN YOU CAN GET IVO MILJANOVIĆ INSTEAD?..

...AND HVARSPLIĆAN

WORLD CUP FINAL FROM ALPINE

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!

UVANOVIĆ REPRESENTS IN JOBURG

Robert Uvanović live from South Africa

Since my last post, the 2010 World Cup has been turned on its head! With tournament favorites Brazil crashing out in a surprise 2-1 loss to the Netherlands and the most impressive team of the group stages, Argentina, crashing to a 4-0 defeat to Germany, this might not be South America's tournament after all.

Germany's performance has been remarkable, even more impressive when you consider how young their squad is. Watch out for this team in Euro 2012 when these players have a tournament under their belt. They might just be the team to beat in two years. They remind me of Croatia's Euro 2008 squad in the sense that their coach has had the vision to bring exciting young players such as Muller, Ozil and Khedira right into the squad, in much of the same way that Slaven Bilić brought Modrić, Eduardo and Ćorluka straight from the U-21s right into a starting spot on the national team.

With there being only one African team left in the tournament, South Africa was overwhelmingly in support of Ghana prior to their match up with Uruguay. Stealing a piece of Bafana Bafana's nickname, South African newspapers branded the Black Stars as “BaGhana BaGhana” and spoke about how the entire country was behind them. As we all saw, Ghana crashed out in what must be one of the cruelest ways possible, with the game-winning goal being denied by a deliberate handball and then missing the subsequent penalty. For Ghana and all of Africa, this was the same gut-wrenching heartbreak Croatia felt after losing to Turkey in 2008.

Good to see the checkers represented at the Cup

As for me, I haven't had tickets to any other matches since Ghana-USA and have been watching the games at various locations in Johannesburg, where I actually ended up randomly rooming with two other Croatian-Americans. From here on out, my focus will turn away from the World Cup to the FIFA Football for Hope Festival, which is also happening simultaneously in Joburg.

The festival includes 32 youth teams (ages 15-18) from around the world that all have a particular focus on social development through soccer. Included in the festival is the organization, Football Friends, which is located in Foca, Bosnia & Herzegovina and brings together Serbs, Croats, Muslims and Montenegrins into one side to promote tolerance and understanding. The festival is an official event of the World Cup and is being taken very seriously here in South Africa. Both Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, and Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, were on hand for the opening ceremony this afternoon.

Uvanović in front of Soccer City Stadium

With all of the African sides being eliminated, it might be expected that some South Africans would lose interest in the World Cup, yet it is exactly the opposite as we are nearing fever pitch. While it is nowhere near the level it would be if Ghana were still here, South Africans cannot wait for July 11th to see the trophy lifted in their country. With Brazil eliminated, I would say that the team that the most South Africans are rooting for is Germany, and quite frankly I can see why as they have stunned us with their dazzling play these past few matches.

I'll be in Joburg until the end of the World Cup and as always am ready to look forward to your feedback.

Cheers from South Africa.

Written July 4th, 2010

WORLD CUP GROUP WRAP-UP

Robert Uvanović reporting from South Africa

It’s been an up and down week for me here in Pretoria as the USA were dumped out of the tournament by a young, but talented Ghana team, only a few days after their stunning, last-gasp defeat of Algeria which put them into the Round of 16. The scenes at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium after Landon Donovan had struck in injury-time to secure a famous victory against Algeria were of absolute jubilation and pure ecstasy. Since USA were expected to get out of the group, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off the team’s shoulders after progressing, in first place none the less. I’ve never seen so many Americans going absolutely crazy for soccer before.

The loss against Ghana was disappointing for myself and the other American fans in the stadium, all the more since we had looked very much in control after having equalized the match at 1-1. But that is life and just as certain as the Earth goes around the sun, every four years there will a day of sadness as the boys crash out of the World Cup.

I think at this point it’s very relevant for Croatian fans to step back and reflect upon the performances of two countries during the World Cup: England and Greece. I had been rooting for Slovenia to progress rather than England for a few reasons; the major reason obviously being that a Slovenia win/draw would have meant the path through to the Round of 16 would have been easier for the US. However, even if the US had been out of this group, I would have rooted for the Slovenes to progress simply since the majority of the English supporters that I came across were so very arrogant and had such inflated perceptions of their squad, which as we all saw crashed out spectacularly against a very impressive German side.

Though as Croatians, I feel as though we must ask ourselves the question, in reflecting upon our qualifying campaign, were we really just that bad against the English or was it a different English side that we played against as opposed to the one that showed up in South Africa? The way that I look at it is that our 4-1 defeat in Zagreb was a flattering scoreline for the English as we fell apart after the Kovač red card and had looked to be in good form prior to Walcott’s first goal. However, this showed for the world to see that we could not handle someone with Walcott’s pace on the wings. I mean this kid didn’t even make England’s World Cup squad. Surely this should have been something we took into consideration in our formation against England the next match.

However, our 5-1 defeat in London was easily the worst I have ever seen Croatia play. Once again, just interchange Walcott with Lennon this time and we had no answer for their superior pace along the wings. It certainly didn’t help that we had Mandžukić and Pokrivač playing out of position on the wings, where they were consistently torched, or that Luka was out injured.

Considering that the English looked poor in both matches against the Ukraine and were again only mediocre in their other friendlies in the past year, the major victories that analysts tended to point out as proving that England were candidates to lift the Cup were the victories against us. Now seeing how poor England looked during the World Cup, it certainly does not reflect well upon our showing in qualification.

I’m curious as to what the CSR community thinks about this. Were we really that poor against England or was England just a different side in the World Cup from the side that we faced? I think it’s a mixture of both as it’s clear that England’s backline is in tatters with Rio Ferdinand out injured and John Terry failing to find his top form, while it’s obvious that the side that we faced was full of confidence as opposed to the side we saw in the World Cup.

Changing gears, we were able to get a glimpse of our future qualifying rivals Greece in the 3 games they played this World Cup. With their coach Otto Rehhagel stepping down after the tournament, it seems as though this may be a Greek team in transition. It will certainly be interesting to see whether the next coach will adopt the ultra-defensive tactics that Rehhagel employed.

The Greek side during the World Cup was pretty much what you would expect – devoid of any creativity, but full of energy, heart and discipline. They were simply outpaced against a fast and athletic Korea, but were lucky against Nigeria. If Nigeria had not gotten a silly and childish red card in their match against the Greeks, I think that the Greece would have exited the tournament without a goal or point.

The only match that showed why Greece could be a dangerous team was their strong defensive performance against Argentina. They frustrated the Argentines for almost 80 minutes, almost sneaking a goal against the run of play on the counter-attack, and you would have to think that when we play them in Zagreb in September, they will adopt the same approach and play for 0-0.

From what I saw of Greece this tournament, there is simply no excuse not to qualify for Euro 2012 if our key players can stay healthy, but it will be by no means an easy task as we saw from Argentina-Greece.

One thing to keep in mind is that Greece will be playing their first qualifier against Georgia, where Croatia is unlikely to get a grasp of the new coach’s tactics prior to the match in Zagreb, which may give Slaven Bilić somewhat of a headache in designing his tactics.

From my perspective here in Pretoria, South Africa, here are the best and worst so far from the Group Stage of the 2010 World Cup:

Best Goal:

 Honda's Free Kick for Japan v. Denmark



Best Fans: 

Chile/Argentina



Best Match: 

Italy-Slovakia or USA-Slovenia

Best Young Player:Alexis Sanchez, Chile or Mesut Ozul, Germany



Biggest Upset: 

Switzerland over Spain

Biggest Surprise:New Zealand not losing a match



Not surprising at all: 

Italy crashing out



Most Disappointing: France. Enough Said.



Most Disappointing Match: 

Take your pick, either the bore 0-0 draw between Portugal and Ivory Coast or Portugal and Brazil. 



Biggest Disappointment

: Africa's failure to produce this tournament outside of Ghana

My final prediction: Brazil v Argentina

NOT SO E.A.S.Y FOR ENGLAND AFTER ALL

ENGLISH GUTTED AFTER 4-1 LOSS TO GERMANY

SECOND CHANCE WORLD CUP 2010 BRACKET

For those of you that are sucking in our 2010 WORLD CUP PICK 'EM pool, here is a chance to redeem yourself in a knockout stage bracket on ESPN. Hurry, you must have your selections in by this Saturday, June 26th.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CSR PICK 'EM GROUP

SOUTH AFRICA CHECKS IN

Robert Uvanović live from South Africa

Having touched down in South Africa nine days ago, I must say the atmosphere here is simply electric and not just when Bafana Bafana play. I will say it hurts my heart deeply when I drive by apartments and hotels that have all 32 World Cup country flags flying and do not see Croatia there. Not having Croatia in this tournament means that the venues are simply just too quiet (other than when African teams play) outside of the vuvuzelas. Unfortunately at this point I can’t post any pictures or video, since the internet situation at my hostel does not allow for big downloads or uploads.

However, I have spoken with a good amount of English fans who have said that while they are pleased Croatia is not here (only since we knocked them out of Euro 2008), they do miss the outstanding and unrelenting fan support that follows the Vatreni. I was in attendance for Ghana-Serbia, and just like you all, was obviously pleased to see the Serbs crash and burn with a silly red card and penalty kick. The atmosphere was simply stunning as a result of the South Africans fully embracing the Ghanaian team. The Serbian fans kept it real classy as usual by instigating a few scuffles with the Ghanaian fans with security having to step in a few times.

Overall the mood in South Africa is of great hope for their national team and of great pride for hosting the tournament. Yet, with so many weak European teams being exposed so far, I can’t help but wonder what a healthy Croatia squad with Modrić and Eduardo firing on all cylinders could have done here.

Feel free to leave comments about questions that you would like answered and any stories that you would like me to write. Access to the internet is limited, but I am happy to write what all of you followers at CSR would like to hear!

And now a word from živa istina...

As for being down here, some quick observations...great sense of pride with the South Africans, especially the country's black population. The blacks are the ones who follow and love soccer. The white population is into the World Cup, but they are more of a rubgy crowd. Different level of pride and support.

USA-England was a fun atmosphere. Brits outnumbered us by 3-1 or 4-1.

My two cents....

The Brits took the 1-1 tie against the US like they do with everything else, they drank themselves into the night.

The atmosphere is festive down here, but far from Germany 06. It's chilly at night and the sun goes down early. I honestly did not think it would be this cold at night. Have to wear layers for the night games.

I have not seen any other Hrvati down here. There might be others, but since we are not in the tourney there is no way to know because no checkered shirts are walking around.

As for Slovenia.....I am of the opinion, "F^ck them."

RAKITIĆ CHIMES IN

Ivan Rakitić was at Uvala Lapad in Dubrovnik hanging out with eight friends Thursday afternoon. He was more than willing to be on camera for a few seconds but requested to move away from his friends so that they wouldn't rag on him. Even though he says he's rooting for Germany, Rakitić said he was not following the World Cup.

Reporting live for CSR from Uvala Lapad in Dubrovnik, Croatia -Branimir Kvartuč

CORRUPTION IN CROATIAN SOCCER

Written by Branko 'King Bronk' Tomasović

In the background of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a new match fixing scandal has erupted back home in Croatia. "Calciopoli", a term synonymous with Italian soccer corruption, now has its Croatian equivalent: "Operation Offside." According to the Associated Press, Croatian police have detained 22 individuals on suspicion of soccer match fixing. These individuals are primarily suspected of rigging the games of the domestic Croatian soccer league, better known as the Prva HNL. Furthermore, the Croatian Times reports that the police suspect that international soccer games may have also been compromised in this scandal. According to the Croatian police, profits for fixing these games ranged from $150,000 to $300, 000 Euros, per match. The investigation is still ongoing and it has not yet been determined exactly how many games were fixed.

What can be determined from these turn of events is that soccer corruption in Croatia is exceedingly widespread. As a result, the legitimacy of this year's Prva HNL championship and previous championships must now be called into question. Which teams, players, coaches and officials were involved in this crime? How were this year's championships and previous championships affected by these fixed games? How long has this been taking place? Is the Croatian National Team involved? Is Dinamo Zagreb or Hajduk Split involved in this to any degree? One might determine that large clubs like Dinamo and Hajduk do not need to fix games, due to their vast financial resources, when compared to their underprivileged counterparts. Such individuals will likely conclude that these clubs are not involved in this scandal.

The Croatian National Team is essentially comprised of well-paid players, playing abroad for international clubs. Thus, one might conclude that such players would never consider throwing a game. However, one need only look across the Adriatic to see that large clubs like Juventus, AC Milan and Lazio are not immune from this sort of activity, despite their financial superiority over other clubs in Serie A. Also, according to Goal.com, former FIFA President João Havelange, has made sensational claims that the 1966 and 1974 FIFA World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win. If we are to believe the former FIFA president's claims, that teams like Germany and England are capable of fixing matches, what then, makes our national team immune from this sort of activity?

In conclusion, the President of the Croatian Soccer Federation, Vlatko Marković, needs to answer these questions to the many Croatian soccer fans around the world, who support both the Prva HNL and the Croatian National Team, before he retires, in order to restore credibility with fans. If he fails to do so, Croatian soccer will always be under a dark cloud of suspicion and his legacy as Federation President will be greatly tarnished. The direct consequence of not eliminating corruption from this sport is that disappointed fans will inevitably abandon the game they love. Without a doubt, there needs to be a complete and full investigation into all match fixing crimes in Croatian soccer, by both the Croatian authorities and the Croatian Soccer Federation. The guilty parties of these crimes need to be brought to justice for the good of the game, as well as its loyal fans.

A COMEDY OF ERRORS

ROBERT GREEN HIT BY ENGLAND'S GOALIE CURSE

England has been notorious for having a 'goalie curse' hang over their heads for decades- letting the simplest shots cross the line due to complete mental blunders. Croatia experienced this first hand in 2006 when Neville's back pass hit a divot in the grass at Maksimir and hopped over the swinging leg of Paul Robinson to give Croatia a 2-0 win.

Robert Green kept the tradition going Saturday as he gifted the Americans a point in a 1-1 draw against England. There's not much more to say here. It was a simple shot right to the keeper. Why does this keep happening to English keepers?

KUZMANOVIĆ HANDS GHANA 3 POINTS

Zdravko Kuzmanović took a page right out of Stjepan Tomas' 2006 book for Serbia as he unnecessarily played the ball with his hand in the box to gift Ghana a penalty kick in the 84' of a scoreless match. Gyan converted to give Ghana the win and put Serbia in shambles. The Serbs still have to play powerhouse Germany and Australia. Will Serbia repeat their horrendous showing at Germany 2006 this year as well? C'est la vie.

THE SLOVENIANS ARE TRYING TO BE CUTE WITH US...

...BUT CROATIA HAS SUPPORT FROM THE AFRICANS.

The above picture was taken during pre-game warmups of the Slovenia-Algeria match. A proud African blowing his vuvuzela and sporting the Croatian checkers. Robert, Ziva. Find this guy! See what his story is.

WORLD CUP: FAIR OR FOUL?

The above photo can be found on the back cover of World Cup 2010 sticker books all across Croatia. The books contain bios for all 32 WC teams (and Croatia) and gives fans the chance to collect stickers of all the players to complete their book.

However, take a closer look at the back cover. Is it just me or is Ronaldinho/Drogba sticking a banana in Wayne Rooney's musket while Rooney is hunting in the jungle? Ronaldniho/Drogba, who is a dark-skinned Brazilian, is lurking behind England's Wayne Rooney while the Englishman is implied to be hunting the two Brazilians. Kaka is flying by overhead.

In how many world cultures would this be deemed appropriate? This would never fly in any multi-cultural nation, including America, Canada, England, France, and Australia. It would basically be thrown out of the 'idea room' in the first second in 95% of the world's nations. Yes, Croatians are an ethnocentric bunch, but to plaster it on the cover of a World Cup sticker book meant for kids- I feel a bit ashamed.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WORLD CUP CARTOON?

CSR AT THE WORLD CUP

Robert U. has confirmed that he will be reporting out of South Africa during the World Cup for CSR. CSR is looking for reports, video and interviews of the overall atmosphere of the first 'Croatia-less' World Cup since 1994. But what does Prva Generacija and other CSR readers want to know or see from South Africa in the coming weeks?

Just like CSR did for the Igor Štimac and Andrew Bogut interviews, send in your questions below in the 'comments' section so Robert can try to get them answered at the World Cup this year.

Robert will be blogging on Footiespot as well as CSR for the World Cup, so check it out.

Here is what Robert had to write in a recent email to CSR:

Great news, I would be delighted to join the CSR team during the World Cup!

Everything you have said sounds great and I would definitely be down for. I will certainly have my Croatian jerseys with me during the Cup and wearing them proudly at the matches that I'm going to other than the USA.

Just for your reference I am attending the following matches:

6/12 USA v. England, Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
6/13 Ghana v. Serbia, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
6/16 Uruguay v. South Africa, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
6/17 Argentina v. South Korea, Soccer City, Johannesburg,
6/18 USA v. Slovenia, Ellis Park, Johannesburg
6/19 Cameroon v. Denmark, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
6/20 Cote d’Iviore v. Brazil, Soccer City, Johannesburg
6/22 USA v. Algeria, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
6/25-6/26 USA Round of 16 Match (Hopefully!)

I arrive in Joburg on the morning of June 11th. I am definitely down for interviewing some people about what they have to say about a Croatia-less World Cup, especially since there will be loads of English fans down there. I do have tickets to the Serbia-Ghana match as well, so if you can think of something clever for me to do during the match I'd be happy to do it.

In terms of other pieces for CSR, I'm happy to do whatever pieces you would deem relevant. For the most part I'm going to be blogging about the US team as I travel and watch their matches and then on the general atmosphere. This will be my third trip to South Africa in the past 4 years so I have a pretty good understanding of what this World Cup means to the nation and have zero doubt that it will be one of the best World Cups ever; obviously it cannot be the greatest because Croatia will not be there! But I'd love to hear what you would have in mind for pieces for me to do. The first week of July I will be at the Fifa Football for Hope Festival and blogging regarding that for my internship.

I'm an International Affairs major graduating in August, so I've been fortunate enough to travel for the majority of my studies. I've done study abroad periods in South Africa three times, Benin, Italy, was a TA on a program in Zagreb and then worked for an organization that did work in India and spent some time over there. I've been fortunate to go to a bunch of games across the pond and in South Africa in my lifetime, but still haven't completed my lifetime dream of seeing Croatia play in person. This will happen very shortly though, hopefully during the Euro 2012 qualifying round.

I'm very much looking forward to my involvement with CSR during the Cup and look forward to hearing back from you!

CroatianSoccerReport.com wishes you the best in your travels and can't wait to see what kind of reaction you get as a Croatian representative at this year's World Cup.

KOVAČ CALLS IT QUITS

ANOTHER CROATIAN LEGEND RETIRES

36 year-old Robert Kovač has called it a career after a successful 19 season stint in European club football. Kovač transferred to Dinamo Zagreb from Borussia Dortmund last summer and played in 20 games for the Croatian champions on his way out. He started with Hertha Zehlendorf and Nuremberg before going to German giants Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. Kovač had a stint with Italian side Juventus from 2005-2007 where he only played in 35 games before returning to Germany to play for Borussia Dortmund in late 2007.



Robert Kovač retires almost exactly one year after older brother Niko retired from club football. Robert played in 84 matches for Croatia from 1999-2009 which included two World Cups and two Euro championships. His leadership alongside brother and captain Niko Kovač is something that is still missing from the current Croatian side since the two left. Robert's international career ended indirectly when he received a red card in the first half of Croatia's World Cup qualifier against England at Maksimir in September of 2009 when he elbowed Joe Cole in the head.

WILL THE KOVAČ BROTHERS BECOME COACHES FOR CROATIA DOWN THE ROAD?

CROATIA-ESTONIA FRIENDLY

WHICH LINEUP HAS BILIĆ PONDERED UP FOR ESTONIA?

SCROLL RIGHT FOR PREVIOUS UPDATES

CROATIA TAKE ON ESTONIA MAY 26TH AT 2:30PM (ET) IN THEIR LAST FRIENDLY OF THE SEASON

CROATIA ENTERS ESTONIA WEARING ENEMY COLORS

LIVE FEEDS:

ATDHE.NET
myp2p.eu

WHICH CROATIANS SHOULD GET THE START?