European Flavor

By: Mario | July 25th, 2009

With a slight taste of domestic is the best way to describe the next few (dozen) lines. As all of you now, this Tuesday and Wednesday the battle of the 2nd round of UEFA Champions League qualifiers took place. And on Tuesday night, Dinamo outmuscled Armenian champions Pyunik with an aggregate 3:0 victory. But before I say a few words about that encounter, I’ll mention a few things in regards to the draw itself.

Kruno Jurcic, Dinamo’s coach, in the eve of the 2nd round draw basically said he’d settle for anything as long as it (the opponent) is close and not a relative unknown. Voilà, Dinamo drew Armenian champions, and Jurcic got the exact opposite of what he was hoping for. A couple of weeks later, Jurcic (along with pretty much every Dinamo fan out there) said it doesn’t matter who we’re drawn against, as long as it’s not Red Bull Salzburg. Bulls eye, cause the first pair draw out of the hat was, you’ve guessed it, Red Bull Salzburg – Dinamo Zagreb. So the conclusion is, either Jurcic gives us all the silent treatment, or goes public with exactly the opposite opinion of what he expects/is hoping for. Cause it’s clear that those UEFA balls ain’t exactly doing him/us any favors this year.

Back to Pyunik (Armenian word for Phoenix). Looking back through a period of few years, Dinamo has traditionally always been successful when seeded and playing versus teams coming from exotic countries. But, it was also always more tricky then expected as well. Same thing happened this year, as after a slightly disappointing 0:0 away draw at Armenia, Dinamo played what was pretty much the worst halftime ever played by the home team at Maksimir, well, ever. Unlike the first match, where Dinamo had shown some initiative and was clearly the side with more quality in its ranks, Pyunik came out in the return leg and looked like a side capable of producing an upset.

The guests looked more determined right from the start and Dinamo found no inspiration on how to match the unexpected level maturity which the Armenians were displaying. We looked like a chubby 12 year old gasping for air after failing to catch a ride with the school bus. In plain words, we sucked. Yet, with Pyunik coming close to scoring on several occasions, this chubby kid managed to open the scoring line with what was basically the first composed team move and eventually the only attempt at opposition’s goal in the first half. They say its a virtue of big teams to get good result even when they play like this. Well that’s bull, it’s karma and it all comes around sooner or later. I’d like to think that us drawing Salzburg is fate’s way of compensating us for riding luck in that dreadful first half.

But what of the second half? Well it had enough of “good” in it to leave us somewhat optimistic over our 3rd round chances. Jurcic’s team came out stronger and showed flashes of play which if produced on a more continuous base, can result in a solid European season for the club. Badelj and Lovren added to Mandzukic’s 1st half goal to make it a convincing 3:0 scoreline, convincing to those that didn’t watch the game anyway. Conclusion? Dinamo struggled again, Dinamo got through again. If last seasons are anything to go by, Dinamo will get better with each game and exponentionally better when playing against stronger teams, as that’s the way of things with the club from Maksimir.
Second leg highlights for those interested:

Oh and that domestic flavor. Well a few hours from now, the 2009/2010 season is about to start for Dinamo as they host last year’s second division champs Istra 1961. Here’s to hoping a nice victory will be a prelude to a fine result in midweek against Red Bull. Ajmo Dinamo!