WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO...

The 2008-09 season is almost upon us and should be a great one for all our Croatian internationals; especially the ones that have recently found new homes. Soon-to-be Croatian squad member, Dario Cvitanić, will be playing for Ajax (Netherlands) after 5 successful seasons at Banfield (Argentina).

Superstar midfielder, Luka Modrić, will have plenty of critics to answer to this season as his expectations remain high after a fantastic Euro 2008 campaign. Tottenham (England) supporters couldn't be happier with the Modrić signing as they now have a legitimate chance of finishing top 5 in the English Premier League and challenging for a Champion's League spot for next season. Ognjen Vukojević signed a healthy deal in the off-season with Champion's League contenders, Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), while promising star, Ante Rukavina, has left Hajduk and is heading south for Panathinaikos (Greece).

Dario Knežević is moving to Italian Serie A giants, Juventus, who are in contention for the Serie A title as well as a welcome back into Champion's League competition. Remember that Juventus was not able to qualify for Europe's elite club tournament last year because of a demotion to Serie B in 2006 due to match fixing scandals.

In a surprise move, Ivan Klasnić, has called it quits with Werder Bremen (Germany) and has moved on to newly promoted 1st Division French team, Nantes. If he's on his game he should tear up the league.

Here are the results for the recent poll: Who are you most interested in watching play for his new team?

Modrić for Tottenham (70%)

Cvitanić for Ajax (20%)

Knežević for Juventus (6%)

Vukojević for Dynamo Kyiv (4%)

(105 Total Votes)

My apologies for not putting Klasnić and Rukavina on the list as the news was confirmed after I had already started the poll. I once again would like to thank everyone who voted and look forward to hearing from all of you again in the future.

DARIO CVITANIĆ: WELCOME!!!

Yes!...it's finally true, HNS met with Dario Cvitanić on Thursday extending an open invitation for him to join the Croatian national team; and he gladly accepted! So what does this mean? Well nothing as of yet. It only means that the Federation wants him to play and that Dario is on the same page as them.

The date we should all now mark on our calendars is August 20th, which is the next match Croatia will play- a friendly versus neighbors, Slovenia. The way international football works, as my good friend Agent Argentina has explained to me, is that their is no contract or signing or anything like that. The team calls you up and should you accept, join the team for a match for the very first time. Once you put on that jersey and step onto the field, even if it's only for one second, that is the only country you can play for the rest of your life. It's a bunch of 'legal-eagle' talk which won't even matter in this situation because Cvitanić looks like he can't wait to get on the field for the Vatreni. Unlike his good friend, Daniel Biloš, who was in this exact situation 3 years ago, but decided to holdout for Argentina to call his name instead, Cvitanić said he would not make the same mistake.

Net.hr has confirmed all of this and the only thing we now have to wait for is Dario suiting up vs. Slovenia to make it absolutely official. Slaven Bilić and company will be in Amsterdam to watch Cvitanić play for his new club, Ajax, while they play in a pre-season friendly tournament with Arsenal, Sevilla, and Inter on August 8th and 9th. This will be his first shot at impressing the Croatian bosses.

Cvitanić has said that he wants to wear #20 for Croatia which is currently Igor Budan's number, so we'll see where that puts Budan in regards to the team as well as other number exchanging scenarios.

When Bilić and Co. were asked what they thought about Cvitanić's inability to speak Croatian well, they said, "He doesn't have to speak Croatian well, he just has to play Croatian soccer!"

I just hope England has a plan for this 'inferior'* country this time around after being embarrassed at home by the Croatians.

*- English press called Croatia and the rest of Euro qualifying Group E inferior countries and predicted that England would cruise through group stage back in 2006. They got what they deserved.

SO WHO IS DARIO CVITANIĆ???

If you don't know the name now, don't worry, you will very soon. In the next couple weeks, Mr. Cvitanić will make great coffee table conversation amongst us Croatian soccer fans. So let me tell you a bit about him before we delve further in.

Dario Cvitanich (we're going to drop that pesky 'H' for sake of being correct in Croatian) is a 24-year old striker who was born and raised in Argentina. Everything he knows and loves is in Argentina. He has played for Banfield of the Argentina Primera Division (1st Division) since 2003; scoring 41 goals in 100 matches. Cvitanić was just bought by Dutch club, Ajax. He will finally be playing in Europe and will now have the opportunity to wow us all and prove that he his for real.

So why should you care?

Cvitanić is eligible to be called upon from the Croatian Football Federation to join the national team since he has a full-blooded Croatian grandfather and holds a Croatian passport. He has been said to be the missing piece of the puzzle in Croatia's road to a World Cup championship.

With Cvitanić running up top with Eduardo and Modrić, Kranjčar, Rakitić and Srna controlling the midfield, Croatia could easily become one of the most feared teams in the world. Dario said he would gladly play for the country of his grandfather if he was given the chance.

Fans and I alike have waited for that special day when the front of the sports page would read, "Bilić calls on Cvitanić." But wait! In recent interviews with coach Slaven Bilić, he has said that Cvitanić is no 'Killer' or Dudu aka Klasnić and Eduardo. Bilić has said that he will be scouting Dario when the Dutch season starts up in August. Could this just be Bilić playing psychological games or is he not yet sure about this kid? Klasnić looked good at Euro 2008, Olić should get the boot back to the bench and we all know that Eduardo will be back in the starting 11 once healthy.

What would you do if you were Bilić?

Source: Net.hr