kroftek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2024 21:25
Congratulations on the new president, an icon of Dinamo, who is expected to lead the club into new heights and triumphs.
Also, congratulations to Patrik Kolarić, a very "perspective" referee with a "bright future" ahead of him, who gets all the highest marks for today's "flawless" performance in the Dinamo-Slaven game.
The corrupt Croatian refereeing organization is doing everything it can for Dinamo to win the league title.These are gifts to Dinamo only in the last couple of rounds that directly affected the winning of points. Dinamo should be closely followed in the finish of the championship, I believe that there will be more gifts, but also thefts from Rijeka and Hajduk.
Hajduk got a huge blow to their title chances, Rijeka's position grows ever stronger. Lokomotiva now has the advantage in the battle for Europe. 1 quarter to go...
After the NT break the final quarter of our league begins. We have two running battles, the title race and 4th place which might provide access to Europe. The relegated team, although still not 100% secure, will be Rudeš. There is still one game to be played, the postponed 5th round clash between Dinamo and Varaždin. Luckily, Dinamo's European ventures are over so they should find the date for that match easily.
To get the 4th place battle out of the way first:
Lokomotiva has a 3pt advantage over Osijek. Osijek is just trash at the moment, while Lokomotiva plays more than decent and are in good form. However, my mind about the 4th participant in Europe will not change. Lokomotiva have shown their true colours, and I do not want to see them in any European competition for an indefinite amount of time. When the season ends, they will set up the player display as usual, with Dinamo taking the best stuff, and others taking the leftovers. And then it's squad rebuilding time. Rinse and repeat. A shame really, because their coach Čabraja is doing very good with the resources at his disposal, but Lokomotiva is a team with zero identity, zero aspirations and next to none public interest, a team which basically serves as an train station, where people come and go on a frequent basis. Osijek, on the other hand, is backed by people who will in the near future try to establish the team as one of not just the title contenders, but participants of Euro group stages as well. They have a new stadium, a new sporting director, and could provide the budget which will enable them to acquire some good players to get them on track. The choice is obvious for me, even if Osijek's recent European runs are pretty bad.
And now the title race:
Rijeka 59
Hajduk 55
DInamo 54 (-1)
Rijeka still plays very good. I expected them to run into a string of bad matches, but they have been overperforming, the only stumble really being just the home defeat to Slaven (2:4). They do have a kind of advantage seeing how they play against both Dinamo and Hajduk at home, and if they win both games, it would be obvious that they will have one hand on the trophy, however, they don't say that titles are won on "smaller" matches for nothing. Rijeka have been handling those pretty well, let's hope they don't dissapoint.
After their embarrasing exit from Europe, Dinamo can focus on the league and cup. However, the aura over the team in fairly stinky, and everyone believes the source of bad smell is located on the bench. Sergej Jakirović was expected to be shown the exit door, especially after Thursday, however there are no indications that something like that is bound to happen soon. Dinamo does not look particularly good, but it's Dinamo, a team who can win matches even when they don't display their best. And by that, I mean that unfortunately all eyes will have to be on all of their remaining matches because Dinamo is after all a team with the tendency of receiving gifts from referees here and there, and especially now, with such a close title race going on, any such event will be emphasized tenfold. A fair and unbiased league finish is what we all expect, but this is that one rusty cogwheel that prevents the machine from running smoothly.
And then there's Hajduk. I cannot believe that yesterday, in the middle or March, Hajduk was trailing 1 point behind 1st place. A team whose half (or even more) of matches this season literally gave me eye cancer multiple times, was somehow still very much alive in the title race. Is that saying that our league has never been more tight, or that the quality of our teams is very bad, I don't know. What I do know however is that yesterday's home defeat to Lokomotiva was very probably the last straw. I consider Hajduk out of the title race, unlike other people for some reason known only to them. Hajduk still plays Dinamo home and Rijeka away (back-to-back matches, with a cup tie vs. Dinamo in between!). A win in Rijeka is out of the question, and even Dinamo might leave Poljud with all of the points in the bag. At this given moment, I don't see how they can win one, let alone both matches. Even if they do beat Rijeka, they still don't depend exclusively on themselves, but must hope that other results will go in their favour. The atmosphere in the team certainly took a huge blow after their recent defeat. Mislav Karoglan's head is wanted on a stick (metaphorically saying, of course). 20+ thousand people on each home match seems like a burden for the majority of players here. Speaking of players, there's a lot of trash that needs to be taken out, but some of those players are regularly being given a place in the starting 11. Overall, Hajduk is quite in the deep at the moment. After the NT break they have 4 extremely difficult matches in a row, 4 matches which will shape their entire season. We will have to wait and see what comes out of it, but I mean come on, it's Hajduk.
Two tie breakers are known: Dinamo > Rijeka and Hajduk > Dinamo. Rijeka-Hajduk is currently 6:3 (points-wise.)
My humble prediction of results until the end:
Dinamo-Varaždin 1
Hajduk-Dinamo X
Rudeš-Rijeka 2
Rijeka-Hajduk 1
Dinamo-Istra 1
Gorica-Dinamo 2
Istra-Rijeka 2
Hajduk-Osijek X
Slaven-Hajduk X
Rijeka-Gorica 1
Lokomotiva-Dinamo X
For the benefit of HNL, the most important thing is that Dinamo finishes in third place and does not win the Cup. This means that Dinamo plays in the Conference League qualifiers, and Rijeka and Hajduk fill places in the CL and EL qualifiers. Realistically, Dinamo should already be ten or more points behind the leaders, the problem is that the entire HNS and the refereeing organization are pulling for Dinamo. Against Rudeš, Mišić steals the ball from his hands and knocks down the opposing player, but the referee must not give Dinamo's star a card.
Marin32 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 22:19
Next, the Cup semifinal:
Wednesday
Lokomotiva - Rijeka 16:00
Hajduk - Dinamo 19:00
CW goes to EL, so by no means unimportant, Hajduk has a chance for revenge. The final is double-legged.
Wtf? Since when?
Since this season because of HNS having to pay for the damages fans caused at last years final. No one understands why they actually brought it back, everyone hates it. The club with the higher "cup coefficient" in the final gets to play the return leg at home. If Rijeka advances, they're guaranteed that, if Lokomotiva advances, the winner of Hajduk/Dinamo gets to play the return leg at home.
Hajduk winning the Cup would save his season. In addition to trophies, there are EL qualifications and a much easier path to at least the Conference League. Playing in European leagues is necessary for the club to continue growing. Earnings are growing, player prices are also growing, and players are progressing in strong matches and gaining experience.
The Adriatic Derby, Hajduk could reach an even lower bottom than this, but it would also be the most Hajduk thing ever to avoid defeat and push Dinamo closer to the title.
Poljud got a temporary suspension from matches following Torcida clashes with the police on and around the stadium after the final whistle of the semifinal game between Hajduk and Dinamo (0-1). The disciplinary committee will decide on the final penalty.
eye wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 17:42
All cup matches till final were single leg ties and final is 2 leg tie? This is the most stupid format someone could think
Everyone in Croatia agrees. And to add to the stupidity, away goals rule is still active, HNS hasn't changed it after bringing back the 2legged final...
eye wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 17:42
All cup matches till final were single leg ties and final is 2 leg tie? This is the most stupid format someone could think
Everyone in Croatia agrees. And to add to the stupidity, away goals rule is still active, HNS hasn't changed it after bringing back the 2legged final...
Of course I prefer a single final but I could understand a 2 leg final if whole competition or most part of it is at same way. But when the only 2 leg tie is the final it doesn't make any sense. Even worse the 2nd leg is at 30/5 only 2 weeks before the beginning of EURO.
What was the reason for the change?
eye wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 17:42
All cup matches till final were single leg ties and final is 2 leg tie? This is the most stupid format someone could think
Everyone in Croatia agrees. And to add to the stupidity, away goals rule is still active, HNS hasn't changed it after bringing back the 2legged final...
Of course I prefer a single final but I could understand a 2 leg final if whole competition or most part of it is at same way. But when the only 2 leg tie is the final it doesn't make any sense. Even worse the 2nd leg is at 30/5 only 2 weeks before the beginning of EURO.
What was the reason for the change?
At last year's final (Hajduk 2-0 Šibenik, played at Rujevica, Rijeka) Ultras ruined part of the stadium and Rijeka sent the bill to Croatia's FA as they were the organizators. And as you could guess HNS doesn't like spending money.
Everyone in Croatia agrees. And to add to the stupidity, away goals rule is still active, HNS hasn't changed it after bringing back the 2legged final...
Of course I prefer a single final but I could understand a 2 leg final if whole competition or most part of it is at same way. But when the only 2 leg tie is the final it doesn't make any sense. Even worse the 2nd leg is at 30/5 only 2 weeks before the beginning of EURO.
What was the reason for the change?
At last year's final (Hajduk 2-0 Šibenik, played at Rujevica, Rijeka) Ultras ruined part of the stadium and Rijeka sent the bill to Croatia's FA as they were the organizators. And as you could guess HNS doesn't like spending money.
Can't Croatia's FA simply put a fine to the clubs for the damages and take the money from them ?
Dinamo should be closely followed in the finish of the championship, I believe that there will be more gifts, but also thefts from Rijeka and Hajduk. 
This means that Dinamo plays in the Conference League qualifiers, and Rijeka and Hajduk fill places in the CL and EL qualifiers. Realistically, Dinamo should already be ten or more points behind the leaders, the problem is that the entire HNS and the refereeing organization are pulling for Dinamo. Against Rudeš, Mišić steals the ball from his hands and knocks down the opposing player, but the referee must not give Dinamo's star a card. 