BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 25th WEEK

 THE STRUGGLE IS NOT AT THE TOP ANYMORE, BUT IN THE BOTTOM

Sarajevo and Borac had a 1-1 draw in Banja Luka, which made it clear that the maroon whites are no more in the struggle for the championship. Sarajevo found the first goal by the young scorer Alen Melunovic in minute 11. However, the equalizer goal came at 66th minute by Admir Rascic.

The leader had an unsurprising 4-0 victory in Grbavica against Gradina Srebrenik who will not be in Premijer League next season.

The draw result with Sarajevo made Borac to lose the advantage against Olimpik Sarajevo with whom they are struggling for the third position to have the right to compete in UEFA Championship. Now they have the same point: 44.

However, a difficult match waits for Olimpik against Zeljo next week while Borac may lose points against Velez in Mostar as well.

If both will lose points, surely Çelik may gain some advantage and have a claim for the third place as well. They have defeated Zrinjski in away match this week and next week they will have an easy match against Radnik Bijeljina.

Since Gradina Srebrenik’s relegation is arithmetically proved, the second team who will relegate is the mention of interest. Currently GOŞK Gabela with 23 points is the one who is below the red line. Just above is NK Travnik with 24 points. GOŞK had an important one point in away match against Radnik Bijeljina and since Travnik had a home defeat against Velez Mostar the point difference between GOŞK and Travnik is reduced to “one”. Next week GOŞK will play against Şiroki Brijeg at home and it is not expected that Catholic fraternity will made the things worse for GOŞK where Şiroki Brijeg is focused more on Bosnian Cup. Travnik, on the other side must have points against Leotar who had a good start to season, but could not sustain.

ŞIROKİ BRIJEG THROUGH THE BOSNIAN CUP

The first leg of the Bosnian Cup final was played in April 30 in Grbavica. Şiroki Brijeg had an early goal at 5th but the railroaders found the equalizer goal at 19th. Since Zeljo could not manage to score any more goals, Şiroki Brijeg returned back to home with advantage before the second leg in Şiroki Brijeg at May 15th.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 25^th week are as follow:

Borac Banja Luka: 1 – FK Sarajevo: 1

FK Slavija: 3 – Rudar Prijedor: 1

NK Travnik: 0 – Velez Mostar: 0

HŞK Zrinjski: 0 – Çelik Zenica: 2

Zeljeznicar: 4 – Gradina Srebrenik: 0

Radnik Bijeljina: 1 – GOŞK Gabela: 1

Şiroki Brijeg: 1 – Leotar Trebinje: 1

Zvijezda Gradacac: 0 – Olimpik Sarajevo: 1

Standings of the teams by the end of 25th week:

(Source: www.rezultati.com)

Next Week’s Schedule (Week 26)

Velez – Borac

Çelik – Radnik

GOŞK – Şiroki Brijeg

Gradina – Slavija

Leotar – Travnik

Prijedor – Zrinjski

Sarajevo – Zvijezda

Olimpik - Zeljo

FK SLOBODA TUZLA

Sloboda had a magnificent performance in the second half of the season and became a candidate of the leadership, however had a surprising home defeat against Rudar Kakanj and lost the claims to be leader by not using the advantage while the leader Vitez and runner-up Radniçki had a 2-2 draw. Currently Sloboda (with one match played less) is 7 points below Vitez and 4 points below Radniçki and will play against Vitez next week, which will determine if Sloboda will continue to struggle or not.

FK NOVI PAZAR: TEAM FOR HARD TIMES

FK Novi Pazar continued the tradition this week as well. Pazar had a very important one point by not allowing the leader Partizan to score a single goal. However, there are still just 3 points difference between Novi Pazar and Radniçki 1923 who is just below the red line. Pazar has the same point with Donji Srem and just one point above Hajduk Kula and Borca.

Novi Pazar will have an away match against Sloboda Uzice this week. Borca will host Spartak Subotica who is not in danger of the red line, nor do they have a claim for upper ranks in the league. It is almost certain that Donji Srem will have three points from Smederovo. Hajduk Kula will play home match against Javor and if Javor will have a defeat, they will be closer to red line as well.

Standings of the teams in Serbian Prva Liga by the end of 25th week:

(Source: www. utakmica.rs)

(Photo: Oslobodjenje)

BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 22nd WEEK

The most publicly spoken match of the 22nd week opf the Premijer Liga was Sarajevo-Leotar which was played in Koşevo. The match was not spoken over the quality of the game, nor over the goals scored, but over a banner on the rows put on the fences during the match.

In the first half of the match, due to the banner put on the fences of the northern rows of stadium, the Banja Lukan referee Ognjen Valjiç stopped the match. “Armija RBiH” was written on the banner implying the anniversary of the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina” and the banner was opened by Horde Zla (Horde of Evils, the fan club of Sarajevo). The match continued after the banner was taken aside.

However, the referee blackmailed the security forces on posponing the match unless they will take out the banner since it was hang on the fences again during the half-time break. After half an hour of bargaining between Sarajevo club officers and fan leaders the banner was taken out  and the second half of the match started.

Since both sides were not effective in scoring a goal, the result of the match was a 0-0 draw which caused a six points difference between runner-up Sarajevo and the leader Zeljo.

On the other side, railroaders had an easy 3-0 away victory against Radnik Bijeljina by goals from Hodziç, Çoliç and Adiloviç.

After a home defeat against Velez, it seems that GOŞK Gabela is closer to the end of a fairy tale which lasted for years. Travnik, the team which is closest to the redline have collected seven points more than GOŞK did and it seems quite difficult to close the gap. On the other side, by the three points they gathered, Velez had a breath by being further from the red-line.

The most spectacular match of the week was in Zenica. Duşko Stojiç, the experienced scorer of Çelik draw the destiny of the game by the goals he scored just at the second and ninth minutes of the match. Two more goals by Horiç and Popoviç from Çelik, and a single honorary goal from Saviç of the guest team Zvijezda determined the score of the match: 4-1. The result was a good motivator for Çelik just before the away match in Grbavica inferno.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 22^nd week are as follow:

Olimpik Sarajevo:  2 – Şiroki Brijeg: 1

Çelik Zenica: 4 – Zvijezda Gradaçac: 1

Gradina Srebrenik: 0 – NK Travnik: 1

Rudar Prijedor: 1 – Borac Banja Luka: 1

Radnik Bijeljina: 0 – Zeljeznicar: 3

GOŞKGabela: 0  – Velez Mostar: 1

HŞK Zrinjski: 2 – FK Slavija: 1

FK Sarajevo: 0  – Leotar Trebinje: 0

Standings of the teams by the end of 22^nd week:

(Source: www.rezultati.com)

Next Week’s Schedule (Week 23)

Travnik – Olimpik

Borac – Gradina

Zvijezda – Rudar

Leotar – Velez

Slavija – Radnik

Şiroki Brijeg – Sarajevo

Zeljo – Çelik

Zrinjski - GOŞK

THE WEEK OF “FIVES” FOR FK SLOBODA TUZLA

Sloboda had a spectacular 5-0 home victory against Troglav. The better performance was done by FK Rudar Kakanj. Rudar had a 1-0 home victory against the leader Vitez and this result made the difference between Sloboda and Vitez to decrease to “five”. Miners from Kakanj will play against runner-up Radniçki and we expect them to display the same performance. Sloboda will have a hard game against Branitelj in Rodoç next week and probably Fukare will not let them to be alone in Herzegovina. Leader Vitez will probably have an easy away match against Jedinstvo Bihaç.

FK NOVI PAZAR: TEAM FOR HARD TIMES

Pazar continues the habit of loosing matches, but having victories in difficult ones. They became closer to the relegation line because of the easy losses during the latest games, but managed to defeat strong Jagodina in 2-1 home match. The first half of the match was already 2-0 by Admir Kecap and Mladen Popoviç’s goals. The second half was remarked by unavoidable attacks by Jagodina. However, Novi Pazar managed to end the game by 2-1 victory.

Novi Pazar will play away match against OFK Beograd next week and it is not expected that they will return to Sandzak with a point. However, it has to be noted, two other candidates for relagation; Donji Srem and Radniçki 1923 will play against each other and another candidate Borça will host Red Star. Thus, a loss against OFK Beograd will not be that much tragic for Novi Pazar.

Standings of the teams in Serbian Prva Liga by the end of 23^rd week:

(Source: www. utakmica.rs)

(Photo: Oslobodjenje)

BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 21st WEEK

Due to the heavy Schedule of the Bosnian national squad, the 21th week matches were played on April 10th, Wednesday.

In the first half of the season, Sarajevo was the victorous side with a single goal result in the derby match played in Koşevo Stadium. However, the maron-whites could not succed in preserving their place after a draw against Slavija in away match and another surprising away defeat against Radnik Bijeljina. Those losses were followed by a 3-2 away defeat against Çelik Zenica in the prologue match of the second half of 2012/13 season. On the other side, Zeljo was able to preserve the leadership despite an away defeat against Borac in Banja Luka and a home draw against Zrinjski this week.

Although any goals were scored in the match, the red cards signified the game. At 69^th minute Zrinsjki’s defensive midfielder Hrvoje Miliçeviç was sent off, followed by Zeljo’s defensive midfielder Nermin Jamak’s sent off with the second yellow card. During the extra time, Velibor Vasiliç was sent off.

As mentioned above, although Sarajevo was victorious against the rival in the first half of the season, they felt behind the leader because of points lost. Sarajevo was ablo to gain only one point in yesterday’s match against Velez in Mostar.

Borac continued the persistent rise by a 2-0 home victory against Çelik by Stkiç’s goal at 43^rd and Maletiç’s goal at 47^th minutes and preserved her 3^rd rank being 10 points behind leader Zeljeznicar and 6 points behind runner-up Sarajevo.

One of the two teams with 34 points sharing 4^th and 5^th places, Şiroki Brijeg was victorious against Gradina Srebrenik after a 2-0 home match, while Olimpik Sarajevo had an away 1-0 defeat against Leotar.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 21^st week are as follow:

Zeljeznicar: 0 – HŞK Zrinjski: 0

Borac Banja Luka: 2 – Çelik Zenica: 0

Zvijezda Gradaçac: 1 – Radnik Bijeljina: 1

Leotar Trebinje: 1 – Olimpik Sarajevo: 0

FK Slavija: 2 – GOŞK Gabela: 0

Şiroki Birjeg: 2 – Gradina Srebrenik: 0

NK Travnik: 0 – Rudar Prijedor: 1

Velez Mostar: 0 - FK Sarajevo: 0

Standings of the teams by the end of 21^st week:

(source: www.nfsbih.ba)

Next Week’s Schedule (Week 22)

Leotar – GOŞK

Şiroki Brijeg – Velez

Travnik – Sarajevo

Borac – Olimpik

Zvijezda – Gradina

Slavija – Çelik

Zeljo – Rudar

Zrinjski - Radnik

FK SLOBODA TUZLA REGATHERING STRENGTH

After a shocking relegation, Sloboda is slowly relieving from the trauma. Backed by a full support of Fukare, the fan group, Sloboda Tuzla begin to force higher ranks in the BHF League. Last week Sloboda have risen to runner-up place after a 4-0 home victory against Podrmeç, but had a 3-0 away smackdown against Çapljina and fell down to 3^rd place. It has to be noted that Bratsvo having one point less than Sloboda’s, at the 4^th place has a missing match.

Red-blacks, eight points behind the leader Vitez, and two points behind the runner-up Radniçki will play against Troglav next week. It is not expected that Vitez who will play against Rudar Kakanj at home and Radniçki who will play against Branitelj at home as well will loose points.

BELLS ARE RINGING FOR FK NOVI PAZAR

Novi Pazar had a striking start to the season but was unable to preserve her place and fell down to mid-ranks in the first half. The points lost in the second half made Pazarci to be closer to the relegation zone. Novi Pazar had an away 3-0 defeat against Donji Srem last week, another candidate of relegation zone. Moreover, another loss of Pazar was two red cards shown to two defender players; Rados Bulatoviç at 36th and Ljuba Nenadiç at 72nd.

Next week Novi Pazar will play an home match against Jagodina ranking at 4th place in Jelen Super Liga and have to win at least one point. Otherwise, they can be closer to relegation while the point difference from the red-line is only 2!

Standings of the teams in Serbian Prva Liga by the end of 22nd week:

(Source: www.utakmica.rs)

(Photo: Dnevni Avaz)