September 5, 2201 - Croatia defeated Slovakia in their second match of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers this month, taking a crucial 3 points to keep first place in the group. 

After beating Slovakia in Bratislava, Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said he was proud of the team's performance, primarily of the strong engagement of the players during the demanding away game.

With the triumph in Bratislava, Croatia kept first place in the group before the third consecutive September match in the qualifications for the World Cup in Qatar next year.

"Congratulations to our players on three points, but they deserve even greater congratulations for the energy, fighting spirit, and perseverance, which they showed throughout the game. That ultimately rewarded them with a victory. We played aggressively, combatively, compactly, trying in every way to score a goal. Unfortunately, we did not succeed, mostly because of a good, compact, and aggressive opponent, but also because of the really desperate terrain, which was a big problem for us. However, we took three points, did what we came to Bratislava for," says the coach Zlatko Dalić, whose team secured important points in the very end.

"We wanted to put pressure from the beginning of the game with three fresh players, highly raised Ivanušec, Čolak, and Oršić, because the field was terrible, and we knew that Slovakia likes to play over the backline. So we tried to be aggressive in that context and knew that we would give a chance to fresher, more rested players in the second half. Unfortunately, we didn't find the back pass and a real shot from a cross in the second half either, and the field really had a great impact on the game. And then, when the 80th minute came, I was afraid that we might be punished, In the end, we scored a goal."

After the game, the coach greeted Croatia fans in the stands.

"We should thank the people who managed to come to the game through some of their channels and support Croatia. It's really nice, I thank them for coming, and I think we made a nice base for Split and Poljud. I hope that the stands will be full."

Dalić spoke about the stressful period after the Euros: 

"It's hard and stressful, it's not easy, but people from my staff, who are very active, help me a lot. Ladić was at the matches between Slovenia and Slovakia and Slovenia and Malta, and with me are Olić, Ćorluka, and Pletikosa. We try to be even more compact and better, correct some of our mistakes and the pressure… I don’t follow, and I don’t watch, I do the best I can, and I can’t ban stories and comments; everyone has a right to them. I am glad that the players accept everything we agreed on in the meeting, and how they fought today is proof of how much they care and confirmation that the atmosphere is much better now. We have made a huge step forward without Luka Modric."

Up next is Slovenia in Split.

"I hope that we will take three more points against Slovenia and that in this September part of the qualifications we will get what we were looking for, a positive atmosphere and a big step forward. Here, look at the team that played today… All national team players play in their clubs, they are in shape, they have consistent playing time. That was very important. This game is a real indicator that we are on the right path, and there is no reason to give up. True, some players played both games, Juranović, Sosa, Brozović, Kovačić. However, it feels like Vlašić is a little tired. We will have to think about changes because it is difficult to expect all these players to be at the same level in the third game in a week." 

Another big winner in Bratislava is Ivica Ivušić, who replaced the injured Dominik Livaković in goal and saved Croatia on several occasions.

"I have to praise Ivušić; he pulled us out of some situations. He has constantly been defending for Osijek for two years. He is the most standard goalkeeper in the HNL. How did we decide between Ivušić or Sluga? The goalkeeper's coach Marijan Mrmić decided, and we supported his decision. In any case, Ivica bought a place in the national team with this match," concluded Dalic.

Source: HNS

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September the 5th, 2021 - There's bad promotion and there's bad promotion. Unfortunately, it's difficult for it to get much worse than this for the country's nautical tourism as Croatian officials are secretly filmed by some British tourists asking for the payment of fees which don't even exist.

As Morski writes, after the recent scandal from the Slavonski Samac border crossing, where two Croatian customs officers asked for a bribe from a foreign tourist, another scandal related to bribes this time involving other Croatian officials managed to remain outside the Croatian media space - until now that is. The location is Dubrovnik, the month is July, and two British sailor bloggers used a hidden camera to film Croatian officials charging them non-existent fees.

The British informed the Croatian Ministry of Tourism, which confirmed that the officials in question had indeed deceived them.

Carefree sailing along the Croatian coast for a pair of British sailors turned into a first-class scandal, which was documented and published on their YouTube channel and on a website that brings together sailors. It all happened back in July this year when the British couple went to the authorities located in Dubrovnik to announced their departure from Croatian waters, with the aim of continuing their journey down south to nearby Montenegro.

It seems innocent enough, but when they got to speak to the Croatian officials, they fined them the equivalent of 100 pounds because they allegedly failed to pay the additional sojourn tax. The police didn't explain to them exactly what the fee in question was, but the British sailors had to pay it. And in cash.

The sailors state that after this odd incident they contacted the Croatian Ministry of Tourism regarding the disputed payment, and they were told in an official response that there is no such sojourn tax or legal article that obliges boaters to pay such fees. In other words, the Croatian officials based in Dubrovnik robbed them. The British tourists naturally demanded a refund.

''I have to admit that this event left a bitter taste in my mouth. While we were sailing towards Montenegro, we agreed that we'd never return to Croatia again,'' the unsurprisingly indignant British woman said in her video.

The video's description reads: ''It was a shock to be threatened with arrest and have our passports taken away when trying to check out of Croatia. We have had problems before with Croatian officials but we really didn't expect this level of illegal activity'' which is damning for Croatian nautical tourism, which is otherwise very popular. The comments below are also from people who are now reconsidering paying the Croatian coast a visit.

Watch the video in full below:

The Ministry of Tourism was then asked to provide a comment on this case, as their services had indeed responded to the British tourists in question that the tax they had to pay to the officials did not even exist. Attempts have also been made to find out whether the individuals working for the police in question were properly punished for extortion, but no response has been received yet.

An initial report stated that the officers involved were customs officers, but that was swiftly corrected by Croatian customs, who stated that they have nothing to do with foreign nationals and their notifications about leaving Croatia, and that this was a matter involving the police, not them.

It is also important to note that Croatian customs officers operate under the Ministry of Finance, and not under the Interior Ministry (MUP), like the police do.

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September the 5th, 2021 - Education Minister Radovan Fuchs recently answered the question of whether any students will start the new academic year online or actually at their school desks on Monday, he also touched on the topic of covid certificates for parents attending parents' meetings.

As Novi list writes, milder epidemiological measures apply to both schools and preschools, and Minister Radovan Fuchs has announced that he will fight to keep schools open even if the epidemiological situation worsens.

The new school year 2021/2022 will begin in Croatia with live classes for about 313,000 primary and 143,200 high school students with less epidemiological measures compared to the previous school year, and with free textbooks for all primary school students.

Here's what we know of what to expect from Minister Radovan Fuchs: 

Rules regarding socialisation and physical contact

Among other things, the socialising and physical contact of children from different groups and classes is allowed, especially in kindergartens when conducting short programmes with preschool children, and in schools during elective classes. 

The aforementioned measure also refers to foreign language teaching, additional and supplementary teaching, programmes of extended stay, the teaching of the language and culture of national minorities according to Model C, preparatory and additional teaching of Croatian language for children who don't know any or don't know enough Croatian language and the like.

Students will also be permitted to move from class to class when required to do so the teaching process, such as teaching in classrooms, exercise rooms, computer classrooms, practicums for practical classes, as well as in school halls and in regard to physical education. Training for sports clubs will also be permitted.

There will be no measuring of childrens' temperatures at the entrance to school

School staff and students won't have their temperatures measured at the entrance to school, but they will need to have it measured at home, and if their temperature is elevated, they will need to stay at home until whatever is causing the temperature spike is resolved.

Visitors participating in extracurricular activities, such as performances and the like, will be required to have covid certificates confirming that they are either negative or fully vaccinated. Live parents' meetings and information sessions for parents will also be allowed.

On top of that, student internships with employers will be allowed to take place.

Masks only need to be worn if social distancing can't be properly respected for whatever reason

Masks aren't obligatory for students from the first to the fourth grade of primary school, nor are they mandatory for students of higher grades of primary school (from the 5th to the 8th grade) if a distance of one and a half metres can be ensured in classrooms, and for high school students if there is a distance of two metres maintained.

If these conditions cannot be met for some reason or another, masks will be mandatory for upper elementary school students and for high school students. In addition, the Civil Protection Directorate may, at a local level and based on a favourable epidemiological situation, waive the obligation to wear a mask for a particular school, group of schools or area.

According to the latest available data, almost 58 percent of school staff have been fully vaccinated, while the percentage of staff vaccinated who work in high schools has reached almost 60 percent.

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September the 5th, 2021 - Vinkovci isn't a place that most people associate with economics in any way. Located in continental Croatia and further east than the City of Zagreb, many perhaps wrongly lump it in with other wrongly overlooked parts of the country which rarely get a mention in a positive economic light. That said, the Vinkovci employment rate is very encouraging, and entrepreneurs bringing job opportunities have their eye on the town.

As Novac writes, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Vinkovci is the only city in all of Eastern Croatia that is among the ten cities in the Republic of Croatia in terms of the number of employees per thousand inhabitants. Thanks to the support of the state and the City of Vinkovci, the number of entrepreneurs in Vinkovci is growing day by day, and there are no more places in the entrepreneurial zones - that's why new ones are being built.

In one Vinkovci plant, oak, walnut, ash and elm are cut, cut and dried, they make wooden products related to the serving of food for the hospitality and catering industry, said the owner Dragan Zaksek for HRT. The more unusual boards and trays are designed by Borna, who plans to work with his father after completing his high school education.

Vice Bozic successfully runs a digital marketing agency and is looking for new employees. He currently has three employees in his agency and their goal, he says, is to expand his business and work for companies from all over the world from Vinkovci.

The Vinkovci employment rate is encouraging, and there are eighteen enterprises looking for more labour in the now full business incubators, said manager Josip Cacic. They are even willing to co-finance the training of the workforce provided they commit to staying and working for them.

''We have a historically large number of employees, and this is perhaps a more important fact at this time. Throughout this pandemic, we felt almost nothing in terms of the number of employees, the gross salary grew by over 1000 kuna and there have been over 1000 new employees,'' stated the mayor of Vinkovci, Ivan Bosancic, of the impressive Vinkovci employment rate.

Vinkovci also provides subsidies to entrepreneurs and their companies, and they then provide higher salaries to their workers. Both entrepreneurial zones have been filled up, and they're now planning to bring foreign investors into the new one they're building and thus create even more new jobs.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

ZAGREB, 4 Sept, 2021 - The second edition of the Đakovo Craft Beer Festival kicked off in that eastern Croatian city on Friday evening, with nine Croatian craft breweries participating in this three-day event.

Over a score of craft beers, produced in Osijek, Vukovar, Vinkovci, Slavonski Brod, Zabok and were promoted. Also the association of the Dalmatian Brewers' Association presented their craft beers.

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September 4, 2021 - In their second 2022 World Cup qualifier this month, Croatia beats Slovakia 1:0 in Bratislava.

After drawing to Russia in Moscow, the Croatia national team met Slovakia in Bratislava as part of the most demanding mini-cycle in these 2022 World Cup qualifications.

The starting lineups were released an hour before the match, which saw as many as five changes for Croatia. It was announced that starting goalkeeper Dominik Livaković would not be able to play tonight's match, and is questionable against Slovenia, with Osijek keeper Ivica Ivušić taking his place. Dalić also opted for Ivan Perišić, Andrej Kramarić, and Mario Pašalić on the bench to start this match, while Domagoj Vida returned to the starting lineup after serving his yellow card suspension.

Slovakia: Rodak - Pekarik, Šatka, Škriniar, Hancko; Mak; Kucka, Lobotka; Hamšik, Weiss; Schranz

Croatia: Ivušić - Juranović, Lovren, Vida, Sosa; Vlašić, Brozović, Kovačić; Ivanušec, Vlašić, Oršić; Čolak

Croatia had their first chance in the 3rd minute. Čolak played Brozović at the top of the box who failed precision in his shot.  

In the 10th minute, a brilliant ball by Čolak found Oršić who hit the post. Dalić's match strategy was high-pressure in the attack, which Croatia had fulfilled from the start. Ivanušić shot on goal 4 minutes later which was saved by the Slovakia keeper. 

Another great chance for Croatia happened in the 18th minute - Oršić found Čolak near the penalty area who was just a second too late with his shot which deflected for a corner. 

Slobodan Kadic

Slovakia's first real chance came in the 22nd minute when Weiss shot just wide of the goal. Croatia's defense had a lapse in judgment in the 26th minute forcing Ivušić to save the day to keep the game 0:0. 

A dangerous free-kick for Slovakia followed two minutes later which made its way into the box. Vida and Lovren were brilliant in the back to block the ball for a corner. 

Vlašić's shot was deflected for a corner in the 32nd minute, and his chance a minute later was saved by the keeper.  

Slobodan Kadic

Slovakia picked up their attacking game from the 40th minute which put Croatia's defense to work with moments of panic. The match ended 0:0 at the half. 

The second half started with no changes for Croatia. 

Croatia continued their high-pressing game to start the second half, with a good chance by Vida in the 51st minute. 

Slovakia had a chance a minute later which the referee ultimately called for a foul. Another great chance for Croatia came from a Sosa cross in the 53rd minute which went across the box. 

There were three substitutions for Croatia in the 55th minute - Livaja, Perišić, and Pašalić came in for Čolak, Ivanušec, and Vlašić. 

Another Sosa ball across the box just missed Pašalić in the 57th minute. Croatia's hunger for a goal was not slowing down. 

Slobodan Kadic

Livaja shot in the 60th minute which was deflected for a Croatia corner that went out off the head of Lovren.

Andrej Kramarić came in for Oršić in the 62nd minute. 

Slovakia missed a chance in front of the goal in the 72nd minute. In the 77th minute, Perišić and Livaja both crossed into the box with no luck. Croatia was creating chances but had much difficulty finding the back of the net. 

Kovačić lost the ball in the 82nd minute which almost resulted in a Slovakia lead, but Ivušić was there to make the save. 

Dalić made his last substation in the 84th minute - Lovro Majer came in for Mateo Kovačič.

Two minutes later, it finally happened for Croatia. In the 86th minute - Majer's free-kick made its way to Brozović who volleyed in for a goal! It was 1:0 for Croatia with 4 minutes to go. 

Slobodan Kadic

Slobodan Kadic

Slovakia followed with a dangerous attack in the next minute which Ivušić tipped over the post for a corner. A series of corners for Slovakia followed, with Croatia's defense in a panic to clear the ball out. 

The ref added 4 minutes to the end of the match, which was not enough for Slovakia to equalize. The match ended 1:0 for Croatia!

Slobodan Kadic

Croatia concludes this mini-cycle at home against Slovenia at Poljud on September 7.

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ZAGREB, 4 Sept, 2021 - The biggest challenges faced by the ethnic Croats in Serbia are exclusion from decision making and the policy of ignoring or denying crimes committed against them in the 1990s, a round table on the Croats in Serbia's Vojvodina province was told in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek on Saturday.

The fact that the Croats in Serbia are still excluded from decision-making processes raises a number of concerns because they cannot deal with their problems institutionally, said Tomislav Žigmanov, director of the Culture Institute of Vojvodina Croats. The needs and interests of the Croat community are instead addressed ad hoc, he added.

The authorities in Serbia still ignore or deny the crimes committed against Vojvodina Croats in 1990s, notably the fact that "they were the victims of ethic violence, persecution and murder, and that 30 years on there is still no act or monument commemorating the most tragic period for the Vojvodina Croats," Žigmanov said.

He also warned of the very strong state interventionism in the identity dispute over the Bunjevci community and their being part of the Croatian people, which he said is a scientific truth.

"Unfortunately, we do not have enough power to oppose this, and we expect Croatia to continue asserting its interests when it comes to our cultural heritage," Žigmanov said.

Zvonko Milas, state secretary at the Central State Office for Croats Abroad, said that the biggest problem for the Croats was that Serbian institutions have still not accepted what had happened in the past, "all the crimes against Croats, terrorism, killings and the departure of tens of thousands of Croats from those areas."

The Croatian government and the Central State Office will be partners in raising public awareness both in Serbia and in Croatia, where people should also know what our ethnic kin went through and what they need today, Milas said.

The deputy head of Osijek-Baranja County, Mato Lukić, said that about 70 percent of Croats had moved out of Serbia in the last 50 years, and that the majority of Vojvodina Croats had been expelled.

"The Croats in Vojvodina are often stigmatised, which is one the reasons for their departure," Lukić said.

Lukić said that there would be a population census in Serbia next year and that it would be good if the Croats identified themselves as Croats. He said that there were reports indicating that some of them did not want to identify themselves as Croats in order to avoid possible problems.

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ZAGREB, 4 Sept, 2021 - Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković, who on Saturday visited the 13th edition of the ZeGeVege festival of sustainable living, presented an award to the Vegefino company for the most innovative vegan product: tofu omelette.

The director of the company, Tino Pažur, who received the award, said that they had taken over this vegan brand last year.

The company plans to expand its business in Croatia as well as to neighbouring countries, he said adding that their products are in rising demand.

The minister also conferred awards on the family-run farm "OPG Diana Prpić" and the m-creations company.

The two-day ZeGeVege Festival of Sustainable Living opened in Zagreb's main square Trg Bana Jelačića on Friday, featuring health food, plant-based cosmetics and nine restaurants offering vegetarian food.

Eighty exhibitors are offering products made solely from plants, including traditional Croatian dishes, vegetable soups, sausages, spreads and vegan sweets.

The festival is organised for the 13th time by the Friends of Animals association, after last year's break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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