Dinamo is the new Champion: an article title we could have easily written at the very beginning of the season
Round 34 of the Croatian Football League was played this weekend, and as Rijeka has not won against Split, Dinamo secured the title. On May 2, 2016, we bring you the overview of the matches.
Dinamo is the new champion, surprise, surprise, a fact we wrote even when Rijeka was leveled with them on the table, months ago. Connoisseurs of the Croatian Football know that this will be the case even for the next season without consulting a psychic if the management of the Football Federation is to stay unchanged (and there's little chance of that happening).
The highlight of the round happened after all the matches were played, as Dinamo's coach, Zoran Mamić told the media that Dinamo deserves this title, and added that they will keep winning the title in years to come. In any other country, and if said by any sport official, this would be a commendable statement, showing passion and confidence.
The problem, in this case, is that the spirit and passion are questionable, as it comes from the man accused of criminal activities in sport management, and his confidence has the foundation in many other things not related to team strength. Just to remind you, FIFA's ethical commission suspended the heads of the FIFA and UEFA for a simple reason that names of the officials were mentioned in criminal investigations, and meanwhile, in Croatia, people standing trial are still in power.
What surprises us is the silence from Rijeka, who were, in our humble opinion, denied a fair shot at the title this year, but that will be the theme for another article. In other news, Istra has lost yet another game, but was happy as Zagreb lost too, Osijek won against Hajduk, and Inter won against Lokomotiva.
Here are all the results of round 34 and the league table:
Inter – Lokomotiva 3-1
Zagreb – Slaven Belupo 0-3
Dinamo – Istra 1-0
Osijek – Hajduk 2-1
Rijeka – Split 0-0
1. Dinamo 79
2. Rijeka 73
3. Hajduk 58
4. Lokomotiva 49
5. Split 45
6. Inter 41
7. Slaven Belupo 39
8. Osijek 33
9. Istra 1961 23
10. Zagreb 17
