Boje Hrvatske na ulicama New Yorka

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Svjetsko nogometno prvenstvo uvijek je odli an povod za razvijanje nacionalnih zastava i ponosno isticanje pripadnosti svom narodu. A New York, kao grad koji je poznat po velikom broju raznih kultura i etni kih grupa, ovih se dana pretvorio u centar nogometnog veselja. Šarene zastave viju se nakon utakmica, odjekuju sirene i pjesma...Astoria, u kojoj živi i veliki broj Hrvata, i u kojoj se nalazi i redakcija Hrvatske kronike, idealno je mjesto za provjeru nogometnog pulsa. Prva utakmica hrvatske reprezentacije protiv Brazila izmamila je stotine hrvatskih navija a na ulicu i u barove u kojima se gledao prijenos uživo. Naše su se trobojnice ponosno vijorile i nakon utakmice, iako se nije slavila pobjeda. No nije nedostajalo pozitivnog duha; ovaj put slavila se dobra igra, a sljedei put bit emo valjda bolje sree, poru uju naši navija i. Kritike su upuene samo na ra un brazilskih navija a koji su, iako brojni, tek s malom bukom proslavili pobjedu nad Hrvatima: Da je bilo obrnuto, nas bi se sigurno ja e ulo, moglo se uti na ulicama Astorije. Sada ostaje samo pri ekati sljedeu priliku za slavlje – utakmicu protiv japana 18. lipnja!

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BOONTON, NJ
Na Hrvatskoj zemlji održan prvi veliki župni piknik Hrvatske župe sv. irila i Metoda

Uz prekrasno vrijeme, pjev pti ica i lagano pirkanje osvježavajueg povjetarca, skoro tri tisue Hrvata odlu ilo je provesti sun anu nedjelju 11. lipnja uživajui u prvom velikom župnom pikniku na Hrvatskoj zemlji u New Jerseyu. I dok su oni strpljiviji veinu svog vremena proveli u redu za pe enu janjetinu, iji se miris širio zelenim travnjacima od ranog jutra, drugi su odmah nakon svete mise i procesije oko jezera, odlu ili prepustiti se arima prirode, te uživati u prekrasnom krajoliku.

Bila je to prilika da se još jednom sretnu stari prijatelji i rodbina koju ne viamo više tako esto, a brojni su župljani Župe sv. irila i Metoda iskoristili ovu nedjelju i druženje kako bi se, pred odlazak u domovinu pozdravili sa svojim župnikom fra Ivicom Majstoroviem, koji odlazi u Chicago. Fra Ivica je najavio svoj skori odlazak, te rekao kako zbog redovnih izmještaja pastoralnog osoblja koje se dogaa svakih nekoliko godina, Župu osim njega napuštaju i sestre Milka i Zdravka. Novi župnik bit e fra Nikola Pašali, koji je zadnjih nekoliko godina vodio Župu svete Lucije u Troyu pored Detroita.

Ekipa HRT-a America prezentirala je svoje nove programe i najavila prijenos svih utakmica sportskog prvenstva u nogometu, a za susjednim štandom mlada ekipa XSL Imports predstavila je odli no vino Bibich i izvrsno maslinovo ulje koje uvoze iz šibenskog kraja.

Središnji sportski dogaaj piknika i ove je godine bio nogometni turnir, koji je zbog aktualnog Svjetskog prvenstva, i trenuta ne popularnosti ovog sporta privukao brojnu znatiželjnu publiku. Ove godine za sudjelovanje se prijavilo deset nogometnih ekipa, a pobjedu su odnijeli mladi i nadobudni Heroji, koji su u finalu svladali svoje nešto starije protivnike iz Croatie. Ivica Kaji, jedan od organizatora turnira isti e kako je ovo bio posebno uspješan turnir zbog sve veeg interesa mladih ekipa, a ove godine nastupili su i oni najmlai igra i, od kojih e se, kaže Kaji, na jesen formirati mladi tim nove Croatie. Nogometni klub Croatia dugi je niz godina djelovao u New Yorku i ostvarivao odli ne sportske rezultate, a ugašen je po etkom devedesetih. Za obnavljanje kluba postoji veliki interes, a i ovaj turnir je pokazao da za budunost nema straha.

Vidi foto galeriju - Župni piknik

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2006 Croatian-American Fourth Annual Charity Golf Outing Once Again Raises Tens of Thousands of Dollars for Two Humanitarian Causes

Click here for Photo Gallery of Golf Outing 2006

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Former Derby County defender opens hotel in Croatia
 

(13 June 2006 15:52)

Former Derby County defender Igor Stimac has opened a £10m hotel in his home country of Croatia, and is preparing to welcome some of England's national team to the hotel after the World Cup.

Reopening the 111-year-old hotel Therapia in Crikvenica in the northern Adriatic last week, Stimac said Frank Lampard and Joe Cole were set to spend their holidays there after the tournament.

"I expect more celebrities,” he said at the launch of the hotel he bought two-and-a-half years ago.

The four-star Therapia was built in 1895, when Franz Josef ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It has 113 rooms, several apartments, two restaurants, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a massage centre, a dance terrace and tennis and miniature golf courses.

Besides playing for Derby County and West Ham, Stimac won the bronze medal with the Croatian national team at World Cup 1998 in France.

By Jim Glenn

http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2006/06/13/307175/Former+Derby+County+defender+opens+hotel+in+Croatia.htm


Hotel Therapia - www.therapia.hr 

Hotel Therpia
Contact and location
Braće Buchoffer 12, 51260 Crikvenica, Croatia

tel: +385(0)51 785-063, fax: +385(0)51 785-072

e-mail: therapia@jadran-crikvenica.hr ,
therapia@adria-crikvenica.hr , therapia@booking.hr

www.basketballforchampions.com

Join us as we support two youth from Croatia

to further their development as student-athletes at Tabor Academy

Istria Sports Club
28-09 Astoria Blvd, Queens, NY 11102

7pm June 21 ST

$25 at the door includes appetizers

Contact Chris Matesic 646-831-1522
 

My name is Chris Matesic I am a Croatian-American New Yorker! My father is from Zadar and grew up in Rijeka and my mother was born in Rijeka and came to the US via Genoa, Italy. I have been a basketball coach/trainer in NYC for over five years. I have worked with many elite student-athletes preparing to play college basketball and beyond. It is always been a dream of mine to work with my friends and family in Croatia to bring Croatian players over to the states to train as student-athlete basketball players.

I am bringing over two boys Ivan Biondic and Alen Blesic from Rijeka to attend Tabor Academy, a prestigious prep school in Massachusetts. During these two years I will be supporting them to get a basketball scholarship to a University to further their studies in the
US. Ivan and Alen will be pioneers in our new non-profit “Basketball for Champions.” It is the vision of the organization to inspire young to people to be champions in school, on the court and in life! It is our intention that the young people that participate in our programs ultimately be of service to the community. The inspiration for Basketball for Champions came from the late great Drazen Petrovic, a Croatian champion who was of great service to the Croatian community around the world.

We are promoting a fundraiser for the boy’s expenses at the Istria Sports Club in Astoria, Queens, New York. The information is on the flyer on the website:

www.basketballforchampions.com

We invite you all to come and be a part of special evening to celebrate the arrival of two Croatian boys on their journey to the US.

With great respect,

Chris Matesic
646-831-1522
cmatesic@basketballforchampions.com

Local Croatians World Cup crazy

Tue, June 13, 2006
Despite loss to powerhouse Brazil, fans happy with game

By NADIA MOHARIB, CALGARY SUN

Losing by just one goal to the best soccer team in the world is a victory in itself, say some Calgary Croats after their home team took on Brazil in today's World Cup match.

Ivan Vukelic, president of the Croatian Canadian Cultural Centre at 3010 12 St. N.E. where the game was televised, was one of several hundred supporters to nervously take in the match, which ultimately saw Brazil go home with a 1-0 win.

"Honesty, I'm very happy with the score," Vukelic said.

"I wouldn't expect more than that."

"If we would tie I would be happy - we were playing against the best team in the world."

Watching the game with fellow Croatians, including his father visiting from his homeland, was not an option for Ivo Ceko.

"I'm actually working this afternoon," Ceko said midway through the match.

"I'll be late but my boss is English - he's going to understand that."

Using an analogy to Canada's national sport Ceko explained his passion for soccer.

"Over there soccer is like hockey is here," he said.

"It's soccer first and everything after that."

Six-year-old Maria Slisko has yet to be convinced.

"It's pretty boring and my father's yelling scares me a bit," she said while taking a breather from her overzealous parents to find a quiet corner at the cultural centre.

"I'm just trying to do my homework in my head."

Her mother, Ivanka, said the family has a bigger TV at home but chose to join fellow team Croatia fans so they could tap in to the team spirit.

The win sees Brazil open its attempt for a record sixth title.

Croatia, which is in just its second World Cup, reached the semifinals in 1998 and must now get points from Japan and Australia to revive its chances for this year.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/06/13/1630550.html

Three Croatian Coaches at the World Cup

From the Los Angeles Times
Coaching Characters Color the Landscape
Get ready for a heavy dose of the offbeat when it comes to the men who
are guiding the soccer dreams of nations all over the world.
By Grahame L. Jones
Times Staff Writer

June 2, 2006

HAMBURG, Germany — England Coach Sven Goran Eriksson's much-publicized
affair with a secretary at the English Football Assn. and his earlier
well-documented fling with a Swedish television producer were ancient
history by the time he made his third, much more costly, faux pas.

That was in January, when he was foolish enough to journey to Dubai to
meet an oil-rich sheik said to be interested in hiring him.

Sad to say for Eriksson, the "sheik" turned out to be an impostor in the
employ of an English tabloid newspaper. Eriksson's admission that he
would abandon England for the right opportunity and his incautious
gossip about the foibles of David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand
and the rest of England's high-priced and high-living players made lurid
tabloid headlines for weeks.

The federation, which had turned a more-or-less blind eye to the earlier
indiscretions, was not amused and suggested, rather firmly, that
Eriksson might want to step down from the $8-million-a-year job it had
given him in 2001.

After the World Cup, that is, federation officials were quick to add.

So England has a lame duck Swede with a colorful resume coaching it into
the 32-nation, 64-game tournament that begins one week from today.

Strange to say, there is nothing odd about that. In fact, Eriksson fits
right in with the cast of offbeat characters who will be directing
matters from the wings when their players take the stage, starting June
9, in the 18th edition of soccer's quadrennial world championship.

Indeed, the 32 World Cup coaches represent 19 nationalities, topped by
five Brazilians (if Costa Rica's Brazilian-born Alexandre Guimaraes is
included), four Dutchmen, three Frenchmen and three Croatians.

And the Cup runneth over with oddball coaches.

Take Luiz Felipe Scolari, for instance. "Big Phil," as he is known, is
the gruff, no-nonsense character who coached his native Brazil to the
title at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

He parlayed that into a job with Portugal, which he led to the final of
Euro 2004, only to lose to upstart Greece. This spring, when England
came calling in search of a replacement for Eriksson, Scolari rejected
the advances.

He also turned his famous wrath on the Portuguese media, which had
criticized him for even talking to the English.

"Your coaches negotiate, am I any different?" he fumed at reporters in
Lisbon. The idea "that someone who is born here is a saint and someone
born on the other side of the Atlantic is a devil, that doesn't exist.

"It's time to stop that clown show. I'm just like anybody else. I've got
two legs, two arms and a head."

Colorful language is one thing many of the World Cup coaches have in
common. That and some blunt opinions.

Otto Pfister is Togo's coach. He is also German, but that has not
stopped him from dismissing Germany's dream of winning the Cup as
wishful thinking.

"Germany have no chance," Pfister said last month. "I don't think they
can even get to the final, or even the semifinal…. It's quite simple:
you need skill, and Germany doesn't have that."

Pfister also ventured far out on a politically incorrect limb when he
forbade his Togo players from talking to Korean reporters, because South
Korea is one of Togo's first-round opponents.

Just to make sure, Pfister also ordered them not to talk to Japanese or
Chinese journalists either.

The racist overtones are clear but pale in comparison to the blatant
remark recently attributed to Ukraine Coach Oleg Blokhin when he talked
about player development in his country's professional league.

"The more Ukrainians there are playing in the national league, the more
examples there are for the young generation," Blokhin said. "Let them
learn from [Ukrainian players] and not some zumba-bumba whom they took
off a tree, gave two bananas and now he plays in the Ukrainian league."

Blokhin, incidentally, was Europe's player of the year in 1975 and, in
perhaps the most bizarre job-coupling among all the World Cup coaches,
is also a Communist Party member of Ukraine's parliament.

Human frailties are everywhere to be seen among the 32 coaches.

Three of them, for instance, have put relatives on their World Cup
rosters. In the case of Mexico's Ricardo Lavolpe, it is his son-in-law,
Rafael Garcia, an indifferent player but naturally left-footed. At least
that was the reason given for his inclusion.

In the case of Serbia and Montenegro Coach Ilija Petkovic, it was his
son, Dusan, a truly mediocre player. The reaction was swift, with
journalists and former players calling it "scandalous."

Croatia Coach Zlatko Kranjcar also named his son to the team, but Niko
Kranjcar is a decent midfielder and might have made it no matter who
held the coaching reins.

In any case, the elder Kranjcar has other things about which to worry,
such as a rumored drinking problem.

"It's true, I like to drink a glass, even a bottle, of good wine, but
only in good company when I'm not working," he said. "I don't let it
interfere with work."

The current batch of World Cup coaches vary widely in age. They range
from Marco Van Basten of the Netherlands and Juergen Klinsmann of
Germany, each 41, to Togo's Pfister, who is 68.

Seven are in their 40s, 16 are in their 50s and nine are in their 60s.
Their average age is 55.

U.S. Coach Bruce Arena is the longest-serving of the group with eight
years under his belt.

Among the coaches are quite a few with a top-level soccer pedigree. Four
of them already have won the World Cup.

Germany's Klinsmann won as a player in 1990 and France Coach Raymond
Domenech won as an assistant coach in 1998. Scolari did so as coach of
Brazil in 2002, and his compatriot, Carlos Alberto Parreira, won the Cup
with Brazil in 1994.

It takes more than coaching talent to win, of course. Luck always plays
a part.

That might explain the behavior of Spain Coach Luis Aragones, who
refuses to allow the color yellow anywhere around his team because he
says he believes it brings bad luck. Recently, he ordered star striker
Raul to remove a yellow T-shirt when he showed up wearing it to
training.

And then there is the good fortune enjoyed by the likes of Poland Coach
Pawel Janas. Asked about the pressure World Cup coaches are under as the
tournament approaches, Janas, smiled.

"It is not the end of the world," he told World Soccer magazine. "Seven
years ago I overcame lymph gland cancer. Can you imagine a bigger
pressure? I have already won the most important battle in my life."

Relying on imports

Only 15 of the 32 teams in the World Cup are coached by natives of that
country:

Country Coach Age Nationality
Angola Luis Olivera Goncalves 45 Angolan
Argentina Jose Pekerman 56 Argentine
Australia Guus Hiddink 59 Dutch
Brazil Carlos Alberto Parreira 63 Brazilian
Costa Rica Alexandre Guimaraes 46 Brazilian
Croatia Zlatko Kranjcar 49 Croatian
Czech Republic Karel Bruckner 66 Czech
Ecuador Luis Fernando Suarez 46 Colombian
England Sven Goran Eriksson 58 Swedish
France Raymond Domenech 54 French
Germany Juergen Klinsmann 41 German
Ghana Ratomir Dujkovic 54 Serbian
Iran Branco Ivankovic 52 Croatian
Italy Marcello Lippi 58 Italian
Ivory Coast Henri Michel 58 French
Japan Zico 53 Brazilian
Mexico Ricardo Lavolpe 54 Argentine
Netherlands Marco Van Basten 41 Dutch
Paraguay Anibal Ruiz 63 Uruguayan
Poland Pawel Janas 53 Polish
Portugal Luiz Felipe Scolari 57 Brazilian
Saudi Arabia Marcos Paqueta 47 Brazilian
Serbia and Montenegro Ilija Petkovic 60 Croatian
South Korea Dick Advocaat 58 Dutch
Spain Luis Aragones 67 Spanish
Sweden Lars Lagerback 57 Swedish
Switzerland Jakob Kuhn 62 Swiss
Togo Otto Pfister 68 German
Trinidad and Tobago Leo Beenhakker 64 Dutch
Tunisia Roger Lemerre 64 French
Ukraine Oleg Blokhin 53 Ukrainian
United States Bruce Arena 54 American

http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-soccer2jun02,1,5668457.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

Croatia's Cup opens a world of memories
 

Seattle-area immigrants gather to reminisce, cheer homeland

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Rooting for the home team: This is the fourth in a series of stories created to tap into the passion of soccer through the life experiences of Seattle residents.

The friends gathered on Frank Brozovich's back patio looked like an extended family.

Upon arrival, each guest was swarmed with a hug and "hello," and given a Dos Equis to celebrate the day. Conversations flowed as though there was no gap between meetings. Men in their 60s were attentive to the 30-somethings as though they were their sons.


Jim Bryant / P-I
Luka Radic, 2, tries to untie the shoes of his 5-year-old brother Neven. Their father, Zoran Radic, left Croatia in the early 1990s and found a Croatian community in Seattle.
The group of 14 Croatian immigrants and children of Croatian immigrants usually meet once every month or so at dances, picnics, weddings or funerals. But it was excitement for Croatia's third World Cup that made Brozovich, Washington state's Croatian consul, gather the group at his South Seattle home.

Not all of them were star soccer players, but everyone present has passion for the game.

Milan Stipetic, a 67-year-old Ogulin native, recalled the soccer balls neighborhood kids would make from old socks, and feet so injured from playing that he couldn't wear shoes.

Branko Kukolja, whose father survived the Bleiburg massacres of 1945, despises cable TV but subscribed to watch the Croatians play Brazil today at noon.

"When you see people talking about Croatian soccer, it brings back memories and you feel good about it," said immigrant Zoran Radic. "To be a small nation and to be part of such a world event means a lot."

And each person at Brozovich's home Saturday went through a lot to be there.



Radic was a 20-year-old on the front lines when the Yugoslav People's Army attacked the city of Dubrovnik in 1991, following Croatia's independence. The conflict killed 114 civilians, according to the Croatian Red Cross, and Radic recalls seeing fellow soldiers shot and killed.

He jumped ship as a merchant marine and came to Seattle in 1992 to find an uncle. He met Mike Mikacenic, another immigrant and friend of Brozovich.

Radic said life was harder then, knowing almost no one from the home he wished he could go back to. His outlet was a motorcycle he drove too fast, and parties that never ended too early.

But that changed with time after Brozovich introduced him to others in the Seattle Croatian community. Radic married another Croatian native and has two children: Neven, 5, and Luka, 2.

The self-described rebel is now a dad concerned that his sons would drink too much Pepsi without his attention.

"I was lucky enough to survive," he said, wearing a Croatia soccer jersey.

Mikacenic was, too.

Yugoslavia -- from which Croatia declared its independence in 1991 -- became a federal independent Communist state under the rule of Marshal Tito after World War II.

Mikacenic was 24 when he fled in 1963, dodging police dogs and camping in bushes. He was jailed after arriving in Austria, and was sentenced to 35 days in prison.

When released, he went to Montreal, and came to Seattle in 1969 for a job with Lockheed.

He grew up playing soccer in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, and started a men's amateur team in Seattle.

The team won regional titles in Denver for the U.S. Open Cup and U.S. Amateur Cup. It won the National Amateur Cup in 1982.

Thirty years after arriving in Seattle, his daughter, Nancy Mikacenic, graduated from Lakeside High School, where she was a two-time Parade All-American soccer midfielder and Gatorade Circle of Champions state player of the year.

Bozidar Yerkovich, who sat across a table from Mikacenic on Saturday, said he was nowhere as talented as Mikacenic, but equally as spirited.

Yerkovich was born near Zagreb. Two weeks after completing his undergraduate degree in Croatia, he went to Connecticut for graduate study.

"I cried my eyes out the first night," he said.

He lived in graduate housing, only knowing a few words of English. He woke up the day after his arrival and couldn't cook the canned food he found because he couldn't read the labels.

"You go to bed with a headache for weeks because of the pressure," said Igor Vuletic, an Opatija native.

Friends like those Yerkovich spent time with Saturday have helped him adapt. And watching his team on a global stage brings the fond memories of home.

"We'll watch the games at somebody's house," Yerkovich said. "It doesn't matter what else is happening that day, the game is the most important event that day for us. Because Croatia is smaller than the state of Washington, it's like we are watching our own family. It feels like an extended family."


CROATIA

Official name: Republika Hrvatska

Continent: Europe

Population: 4.42 million

Capital: Zagreb

World Cups: 3rd in 2006

Cup titles: None

Last Cup: 2002 (lost 1st)

Cup matches: 10 (6-4)

Goals for / against: 13 / 8

Coach: Zlatko Kranjèar

How qualified: Won Group 8 qualifying with a 7-3 record.

Famous players: Aljosa Asanovic, Slaven Bilic, Zvonimir Boban, Alen Boksic, Robert Jarni, Drazen Ladic, Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Soldo, Stanic StaniÃŚ, Davor Suker, Milan Rapaic.

Did you know? Croatia has qualified for every World Cup it has entered as an independent nation (since 1990). ... Croatia has won several international environmental awards for having the cleanest waters in the Mediterranean. ... Slavoljub Eduard Penkala of Croatia became a legend for inventing the mechanical pencil (1906) and solid-ink fountain pen (1907). He also built the first Croatian two-seat airplane in 1909.

From Croatia: Cravat (neck tie), electric speedometer, hot water bottle, hydroelectric power plant, parachute, rail-car brake, torpedo.
-- Steve Rudman

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/othersports/273703_wccroatia13.html

Brazil squeaks by Croatia

Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 849 p.m.

A goal by Kaka held up for a 1-0 win for World Cup favorite Brazil against Croatia in Group F play today. Brazil will play again Sunday against Australia, which beat Japan 3-1 on Monday. Croatia plays Japan on Sunday. In Group G matches Tuesday, South Korea edged Togo 2-1 and France and Switzerland tied 0-0.

See tomorrow’s Times Free Press for more coverage.

http://www.tfponline.com/absolutenm/templates/breaking.aspx?articleid=1924&zoneid=41