UEFA CUP UPDATE

Slaven Belupo managed a respectable loss in Greece to Aris Thessaloniki today. With no score at halftime, Aris finally pulled away in the 55th minute with a goal by Spaniard, Sergio Koke. Slaven is going to have to score some goals in the return match if they want to extend their UEFA Cup run.

On the other side of Europe, Hajduk grinded out a 0-0 draw in Spain to Deportivo. I couldn't find any information online regarding these 2 games (so anything from the readers would be helpful) but it appears Hajduk is taking their UEFA Cup campaign very seriously. They lost to NK Zagreb earlier in the week 3-0, which is a rare result for Hajduk, and the only thing I can come up with is that they were already looking down the road to the tie with Deportivo.

Although both Croatian sides control their own destiny, Hajduk will need less help. A goal and some solid defense could see the 'Bili' move on; and we all know that Torcida will be rockin' the Poljud when the second leg comes to Split on August 24th.

Slaven also hosts Greek team, Aris, in 2 weeks time in Koprovnica.

UEFA SCHEDULE RELEASED

UEFA has has released the schedule for the Champion's League 3rd qualifying round games as well as the Uefa Cup 2nd qualifying round matches. Hajduk Split has been paired up with Deportivo, who last year finished 9th in the Spanish La Liga. Slaven Belupo will match wits with Aris Thessaloniki of the Greek Super League. Aris finished 4th last year in their respected league. Both of these UEFA Cup encounters start on the road for the Croatian clubs on August 14th before returning home for the second leg a fortnight later (2 weeks later or 14 days for those of you who are unfamiliar with the lingo) on August 28th. Hajduk and Slaven aren't expected to do much against these proven teams but it's always nice to see what they're made of and what kind of trouble Torcida can get into next.

On the other side of the spectrum, should Dinamo Zagreb move onto the next and final Champion's League qualifying round (and we all expect they should with an away 3-0 win), they would face off against Darijo Srna's club team, Shakhtar Donetsk, of the Ukranian Premier League which would be a fantastic test for the team from Zagreb.

More news is on the way as pre-season tournaments are on the brink and the major European leagues are almost ready to kick off the new season.

Stay tuned guys!

HAJDUK AND SLAVEN MOVE ONWARD

In anything but surprising news, both UEFA Cup teams from Croatia will move onto the next round. Hajduk smashed Birkirkara in Malta, 3-0, with goals by Ivan Strinić (4'), Mladen Bartolović (45') and Senijad Ibričić (90'). Slaven Belupo mirrored Hajduk's efforts with a 4-0 win vs. Marsaxlokk FC with goals by Mario Bilen (25'), Kristijan Čaval (72') and a double by Bojan Vručina (74', 90').

Hajduk and Slaven beat their Maltese counterparts 7-0 and 8-0 on aggregate and will now play in the UEFA Cup 2nd qualifying round. The draw to see who Hajduk and Slaven will play next takes place on August 1st and the next game kicks off August 14th.

Although the games played out to expected results and won't make the front page of the paper, some Torcida members who made the trip to Malta for the Hajduk match just might. In the 65th minute of the game, they got a bit rowdy and lit flares to celebrate the result of the game. Maltese police came over to stop the fans; and that's when the fight ensued. I'm sure you can get a good idea of what happened from the pictures above. Denis was scheduled to be at the game today and hopefully he can give us more insight on what exactly happened.

This has been Croatian fans' 2nd run in with Malta police in 3 years. In 2005, after a 2006 World Cup qualifier ended in a draw for the Vatreni, Croatian fans were so upset they started ripping out seats from the stadium and throwing them at the local police. It must be something they put in the water in Malta to make the Croatians get so angry so quickly.

DINAMO DOMINATE DOMŽALE

Dinamo Zagreb and Domžale have a knack of meeting in the UEFA Champion's League 2nd qualifying round; and for the second straight year, Dinamo showed their superiority once again.

Dinamo started off hot and only needed one half of soccer to get the away result they were looking for. Ivica Vrdoljak opened up the scoring with a goal in the 11th minute. Shortly after, Brazilian born Sammir, tacked on another one in the 21'. Finishing off 1st half festivities for Dinamo, Josip Tadić stuck a fork in Domžale's hopes of reaching the next round with a goal in the 40th minute.

With a 3-0 lead at halftime, the rest of the game was merely a conservative training exercise for Dinamo. They succeeded as the score remained the same for the rest of the match. Only a disaster in Zagreb on August 6th would prevent Dinamo from reaching the final qualifying round, which contains some of the 'big boys' of European club soccer: Arsenal, Liverpool, Juventus, Marseille, Barcelona and Schalke 04 are some of the teams that Dinamo can face. They were eliminated by Werder Bremen last year.

Hajduk and Slaven Belupo play the second leg of their UEFA Cup 1st qualifying round games tomorrow, July 31st. Both teams should cruise as they have 4 goal aggregate leads on their Maltese foes.

...AND THEY'RE OFF!!!

The 2008-2009 Croatian Prva Liga season kicked off Sunday without a hitch. Newly promoted club, Croatia Sesvete, showed promise with a 1-1 draw versus NK Osijek in their first ever 1st League (Prva Liga) game. Sesvete will be playing their home games at Kamen Ingrad Stadium in Velika this season due to their usual stadium, Stadion SRC Sesvete, not meeting Croatian Prva Liga stadium requirements.

This requirement policy of minimum conditions having to be met for stadiums was brought upon due to NK Zadar player, Hrvoje Ćustić's, freak accident last season at Stanovi Stadium in Zadar. Ćustić was running hard after a ball, got tangled up with an opposing player and went head first into a concrete retaining wall just 3 meters off the field. The player was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was put into an induced coma; only to be confirmed brain dead 4 days later.

Because of this tragic accident, 4 teams will not be playing at their hometown stadiums this season. Cibalia Vinkovci will be playing at Gradski Vrt in Osijek, Croatia Sesvete at Kamen Ingrad Stadium in Velika, NK Zagreb at Dinamo's Maksimir Stadium and NK Zadar at Šibenik's Šubićevac Stadium.

Here are the results for the first round of action:

Cibalia Vinkovci (0-0) Slaven Belupo

Croatia Sesvete (1-1) NK Osijek

Hajduk Split (1-0) NK Zadar

Inter Zaprešić (2-3) HNK Šibenik

Varteks Varaždin (2-1) NK Zagreb

Dinamo Zagreb (2-0) NK Rijeka

The league continues its games with the 2nd Round on August 3rd but not before Champion's League and UEFA Cup action picks up again. In their first leg, Dinamo Zagreb take on Domžale in Slovenia on July 30th in second qualifying round play while Hajduk takes on Birkirkara in Malta and Slaven Belupo plays Marsaxlokk (Malta) in the second leg of the UEFA Cup 1st qualifying round. Hajduk and Slaven Belupo both have comfortable 4-0 aggregate leads on their competition and should move on.

ANY SLAVEN SUPPORTERS OUT THERE?

Qualifiers for UEFA CUP kicked off today with Slaven Belupo traveling today to Malta to face mighty Marsaxlokk FC.

Over 400 people managed to show up to Nacional stadium Ta' Quali for the 'derby.' Slaven Bulpo virtually guarnteed itself a place in the second round with a more than convincing 4-0 drubbing of Marsaxlokk FC.

Slaven Belupo 4-0 Marasaxlokk

Slaven goal scorers were: Kristić (15), Poldrugač (29), Tepurić (34) i Vručina (78). The return leg, as if anyone cares, will be in Koprivnica on the 31st of July.

THE NEW SEASON STARTS NOW

Euro 2008 is now over and it is time to put your national jersey away and pull out your club's colors for the upcoming 2008-2009 Champion's League and Uefa Cup campaigns. Don't get me wrong, World Cup 2010 qualifying starts in only two months time but for sake of argument we will stick for the club sides for now.

Dinamo Zagreb start their Champion's League campaign in the 1st qualifying round versus Linfield FC of Northern Ireland. The first leg will be away for Dinamo on July 15th or 16th with the return leg in Zagreb on July 22nd or 23rd. Dinamo is the only Croatian club team that will be participating in the Uefa Champion's League.

For the other teams that were not so lucky last year is the Uefa Cup. Both Croatian teams that managed to make the first qualifying round will be playing teams from Malta. Hajduk will host Birkirkara on July 17th with the second leg match on the 31st of July. Slaven Belupo heads to Marsaxlokk turf on the 17th with the return in Croatia also on the 31st.