The holiday weekend in Turopolje brought two sporting events: Lučelnica's historic title in the Breška League and Hajduk's visit to Velika Gorica, where Ante Baraba announced a crucial match against Rakow.
In the warmest August in the last fifteen years, the holiday weekend in Turopolje was marked by two sporting events that regularly draw big reactions. On Saturday, the final day of the 23rd edition of the Breška League took place in Dubranec, a small-sided football tournament featuring 13 villages from Vukomeričke Gorice, known as Brežani, who, along with Posavina, are associated with Turopolje, the plain southeast of Zagreb; this event holds local significance and great prestige.
Before more than 500 spectators and fans, Lučelnica took home the winning trophy for the first time in history, and with music playing and hectoliters of drinks flowing, the celebration lasted until morning. One of the league's founders, current Goric president Franjo Kovačić Pevec, was also present, and they jokingly told him he might swap jerseys with the players the next day.
However, he now has protection in the form of his son Jurica, who took over the role of team manager at Goric this summer from Matija Dvorneković. One Pevec might make a mistake, but two certainly won't. It's a well-rehearsed combination, and along with technical director Darko Blažinčić, who was handing out awards at the Breška League, it represents the true local strength of the Turopolje club.
Sunday brought Hajduk's visit to Velika Gorica, and the late kickoff allowed everyone to recover from the previous night and at least briefly forget the heat wave and mugginess. Information from the A1 motorway pointed to traffic congestion due to a possible clash between Torcida, Armada, and BBB near Jastrebarsko, but the police intervened in time and prevented close encounters among the most aggressive fans.
About ten minutes before the match, a portion of Hajduk fans from Split and the southern regions entered the stands, while the west stand was already full of a large number of away supporters. Judging by license plates in the parking lot, they came from all over: Slavonia, Moslavina, Bjelovar, Sisak, Karlovac, Pula, and other places.
Already a regular guest in the press box, Ante Baraba, a well-known Hajduk fan from the era of the club's greatest European successes, was there again, and this time it coincided that he had mostly Częstochowa on his mind. His away trips number in the hundreds, dating back to the 1980s.
"I was recently in Žilina, and now in about ten days I should head to Poland the same way. Rakow could be a turning-point match that will steer the club in a different direction from the one it has been going in recent years," Baraba told Sportske novosti.
The crowd in Velika Gorica tried to respond to the visitors with the help of the Good Boys' drums, which were not shaken even by Hajduk's early lead after Michele Šego's spectacular header. In the honorary seats were numerous scouts and agents, while the top officials of both clubs, Ilija Karamatić and Ivan Bilić, led their delegations.
