An Update Or Two

May 19th, 2008 | by: Mario | Comments Off

Or five, to be exact. Here’s some of the stuff that made the headlines over the weekend:

Supporters page launched:
Over at “www.uvijekvjerni.com” (translated as “always faithful”), you can find your daily dose of Croatian NT exposure. The page itself looks pretty fancy and well executed, and with regular updates (*bows his head in shame*) and quality coverage, I’m sure it ‘ll attract plenty of interest during these next few weeks. There’s even a cute flash game in there which you can reach by clicking here (clicking on “Pokreni Igru” starts the game). I managed to pull out a score of 1950 before my ball went A.W.O.L. on me.

Kranjcar wins the FA Cup:
Kranjcar has a Wembley thing going on apparently, as just this Saturday he became the first Croat ever to win what’s officially the oldest football competition in the world, the FA Cup. This trophy also caps off what’s surely the best season in Kranjcar’s career so far. His impact in Pompey’s midfield has apparently stirred up interest of the likes of Wenger and Benitez, but Niko quickly laid rumors to rest by saying he’s quite happy in his current club.

The gathering:
Our NT started gathering in Zagreb this weekend, thus making our EURO’s quest officially on the way. Only a handful of players actually attended the meeting, as a lot of them still had to participate in their respective club’s season closings. After this gathering is completed, our NT will head to Rovinj and start their final preparation for the EURO’s.

HNL clubs licensed:
13 clubs were granted licenses to participate in next year’s Croatian League edition, though some clubs had to select other venues as their home grounds. It’s worth mentioning that among the denied venues is “Stanovi” (property of NK Zadar), on which just a couple of months ago, Hrvoje Custic tragically lost his life.

Dinamo’s headhunt:
After winning a domestic double, Dinamo has parted ways with Zvonimir Soldo, after just a 5 months long collaboration. Apparently, the favorite to take the hotseat is actually the same coach Soldo has succeeded, former Iran’s NT coach Branko Ivankovic. Now this may seem odd, but it’s actually perfectly normal here in Croatia. Some countries have windmills, some have weird climates, well we have weird coaching policies.