Thanks for the overview. I guess it's another year of getting excited about European competition and then feeling empty by mid August.

 

Good post HS :thumbsup:

I agree, all our teams seem to be weaker this year so I'm not expecting too much at all from Europe this season. It could be a few Dinamo wins and not much else, but hopefully Cibalia and Sibenik can win to reach the last qualifying round at least and pick up some coeffient points, maybe even get lucky with a Liverpool/Juventus draw to pick up some much needed cash too.

 

The only good thing I see is Hajduk and dinamo haven't sold anybody yet, at least not any of the key players... In the end though I have to agree with baraba, it will most likely be curtains for Hajduk, Cibalia, and Sibenik before the end of August, and dinamo is even iffy as far as making it to the Europa League this year. Simply not enough quality in our league to expect any serious progress in Europe, and I'm not being overly pessimistic, it's just a fact...

 

I won't be shocked if Sibenik exit the first round, even though they are seeded. Don't forget they start already in two weeks, I doubt they will have enough preparation

Cibalia I have a little more faith in, but they pratically sold anybody who was important (Antolovic, Bagaric, Pavlicic) while a team like Slaven Belupo is improving their squad yet they had a bonehead manager for half the season. I feel can get to the third round, Mrsic is a decent manager and the club will have good support, but they lost just way too much.

Hajduk are going nowhere with Poklepovic, this guy will bunker against most of the teams Hajduk can draw.

 

Hajduk are going nowhere with Poklepovic, this guy will bunker against most of the teams Hajduk can draw.

Most likely HS...but it probably won't matter anyway, especially if we get a Liverpool or Juventus.

 

Dinamo will either play Zeljeznicar, Koper, Renova, Dinamo Tirana, and 2 of the four teams in the first round (Rudar, Birkirkara, Santa Coloma, Tre Fiori)

All beatable teams but some of these matchups could see crowd trouble potentially

Sibenik's potential first round opponents: Olimpija Ljubljana, Khazar Lenkoran, Banants, Silema Wanderers, Santa Coloma

 

CL Second Round Qualifying

Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) vs. FC Koper (Slovenia)

 

EL First Round Qualifying

Sibenik vs. Silema Wanderers (Malta)

again Malta! Hopefully they don't make it difficult

 

EL Second Round Qualifying

Sibenik/Silema vs. Anorthosis/Banants (Cyprus/Armenia)
Cibalia vs. Cliftonville (Northern Ireland)

they did the draw a weird way, overall, Sibenik are probably out in the 2nd round and Cibalia have a chance, but these British teams run, run and run

 

^
Thats a pretty kind draw for our Europa League sides, we should be getting two wins at least looking at their opponents' recent history:

Silema Wanderers:
06/07: Lost to Rapid Bucharest in the first qualifying round 0-1 0-5
07/08: Lost to Litex Lovech in the first qualifying round 0-3 0-4
09-10: Lost to Maccabi Netanya in the second qualifying round 0-0 0-3

Cliftonville:
08/09: Lost to FC Copenhagen in the first qualifying round 0-4 0-7

Dinamo seem to have way too many ex-yugo sides to meet for my liking, like you said HS, anything can happen in those games, they could easily exit in the first round if they're not careful.

 

the funny thing is they actually played Koper in a friendly a few days ago and won 1:0. They have some former HNL players, including Polovanec pp) and even some guys from the 2002 Slovenia team. Dinamo should progress really, especially because Koper could play their home match in Italy because of their stadium. Also Dinamo do well against Slovenian opposition, they only had some difficulty with Maribor back in 2003 I believe

I'm not to sure about Cibalia and Sibenik, they SHOULD get through their first tests, but they lost so many players, I guess I'll be optimistic and say they will both progress their first test.

BTW, if Sibenik beat Silema and Anorthosis (most likely the scenario in the second round), they will be seeded in the third round qualifying

 

Hopefully the BBB don't ruin it for dinamo, because this away leg could get ugly...I think Sibenik and Cibalia especially will advance.

 

Sibenik v Sliema Wanderers:
First leg is coming up this Thursday (July 1)
Second leg is on the 8th.
It really should be two comfortable wins for Sibenik and some easy coefficient points in the bag, but we'll see what happens I guess.

And we seem to have another 2 referees qualified for UEFA matches this season:
Domagoj Vuckov will ref the Portadown (NIR) v Skonta Riga (LTV) game.
Igor Pristovnik will ref the Laci (ALB) v Dnepr Mogilev (BLR) tie.

 

I don't know, Sibenik lost key players but yes, they should beat Malta sides twice, but we saw how Slaven had trouble with one. The problem is I think Sibenik just started their preparations.

Will this be on TV? I probably won't be home anyway on Thursday and won't follow the game, hopefully no surprises

I'm more worried about Cibalia, they already lost their first two pre-season games and they lost a lot of players. And they are playing a UK-team, ones that actually run despite their lack of skill

 

I wouldn't televise any of these games if it was up to me, I've never seen one worth watching.
Cibalia should get through pretty easily though, to put it into context, Dinamo beat the N.Ireland champions (Linfield) when they were barely fit a few years back (when Linfield actually seemed proud they kept the score down to 3-1) so I don't think the runners up from that league will be good enough to beat even Cibalia, however committed they are.
It will be a dark dark day for the HNL if the are.

 

Villa89, remember Hajduk-Shelbourne or Hajduk-Debreceni? We've seen some pretty dark days brother, don't be surprised if there are more to come...:moan: I hope I'm wrong...:hopeful:

 

I read Sibenik's director or coach say a 0:0 won't be a bad result either

Won't be able to follow the game because I will be in the city, hopefully there are no surprises when I come back

 

he got his wish :rollani:

0-0 final.

 

it's 0-0 at halftime. Sibenik has 2 yellow cards and seems to have had more chances on goal.

 

Nice start to the euro season by Sibenik...I'm afraid the darkness is starting to descend...:scared:

 

its already starting....granted these games are way too early, but teams like Sibenik should know that because they already start on July 1 they should start preparations at least one week early.

Teams like Zrinjski and Siroki win AWAY to tougher opposition yet our teams can't beat sides from Malta at home.

Is the HNS watching?

Coefficient btw now is 0.125

 

Malta:rollani:

 

well coefficients of between 8.0 and 10.0 were given for a draw.

 

Sibenik win 3:0 in Malta with Medvid, Jakolis and Bulat scoring the goals all in the second half. Jakolis is only 18 years old and a memeber of Croatian youth national teams, always good to see them score in Europe

Sibenik will now play Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus in the next round. Anorthosis defeated Armenian side Banants 4:0 on aggregate and have recent pedigree in Europe. First leg will be played in Dugopolje

Croatia's coefficient moves up to 0.375 which already beats the the 2005-2006 season which will be erased from the records

Dinamo, Sibenik and Cibalia are all in action next week, while Hajduk still have about 2 weeks before they know their opponent

 

Nice job by Sibenik, honestly didn't think they would do it after that first leg disaster...Anorthosis will be very tough...

2005-2006 season which will be erased from the records

Good riddance!

 

Zrinjski and Siroki advanced as well, with siroki knocking out Olimpija Ljubljana 5-0 on aggregate:thumbsup::thumbsup:...