Ivan Popović has signed to CD Bidasoa

Great to know about it, after one month. It was back in the first days of July that Ivan Popović, also known as Ivan the Terrible, the Fist of Partizan, the pivot of all pivots has signed to Basque handball team CD Bidasoa.
Have I mentioned how much I love (not) this detailed, always-in-time flow of information?...

Vamos cerrando la plantilla para la vuelta a la máxima categoría. Ivan Popovic se incorpora al Bidasoa de la Liga Asobal. Ongi etorri! http://bit.ly/29sx1R0
Posted by C.D.Bidasoa on Monday, July 4, 2016

Beside him Živan Pešić is told to be in search for a new team.
Ivan, thank you for everything! For your goals, for your fighting spirit, for always putting your heart and soul on the court! Good luck in Spain and we’re looking forward to your return to Partizan!

Update: the players of Bidasoa have started the preparations for the 2016/17 season. They published a few images on their FB-page; here is one with Ivan Popović.

(photo: Facebook/C.D.Bidasoa)

RK Sloga - RK Partizan 27:26 (play-off, round 9)

This game could be one big struggle.
Perhaps Sloga deliberately focused hard on this game to knock us out, or maybe we were by default out of shape

this latter is more likely, as 3 Partizan-players were absent for being injured: Sretenović, Pešić and Đuričić - wishing them all to get well soon!

nevertheless Team Požega stomped us into the court. Looking at the official match report our luck is that we were defeated only with 1 goal. What is more, in fact we could come up for the end that we could have squeezed out a draw with some luck.
The first half was about Sloga. They were leading for almost the whole half, sometimes with 4-5 goals. We could equalize 5 minutes before half-time (12:12), then we took the lead twice for a short lapse of time, first with Kukić’s goal (12:13), then with Radojković’s (13:14). The home team equalized and soon before the half-time buzz they took back the lead (15:14).
The second half wasn’t much happier either. It was a bit closer though, but Sloga was still leading, now with just 1-2 goals. We could equalize several times. In the 53rd minute the standing was 26:26, we equalized with Radojković’s goal. Then in the 56th minute Sloga scored their winning goal. There were no more goals for the rest few minutes, though looking at the official report (and the number of suspensions) there could be a great fight.
The hero of the day is without a doubt Lazar Kukić with his 9 (!!!) goals and superhuman performance. He is followed by Igor Mršulja, who scored 5 goals. Then come Mihajlo Radojković and Matija Pižurica (4-4 goals), Nemanja Živković (2) as well as Mijat Perunčić and Ivan Popović (1-1).
The next round will be the last round, we’ll play against Metaloplastika. I just got to know that RK Partizan qualified to the Final Four of the handball Serbian Cup. Our opponent will be Metaloplastika, at the other side Spartak Vojput and Vojvodina will clash. The Final Four series will be held in the Šabac Sports Hall between 2nd and 3rd June.

(photos: Facebook/Restoran stadiona Partizan)

Current standing of the play-off:
1. Vojvodina 15 points
2. Metaloplastika 15 points
3. Partizan 10 points
4. Spartak Vojput 7 points
5. Sloga 5 points
6. CZ 2 points

RK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 30:26 (play-off, round 8)

VICTORY!!!!
What a victory! With such a great game!
Our defense line was like concrete. Živković, Radojković, Ćućuz (and everyone else) did a fantastic job.
I brought you LOTS of screenshots.

The teams line up for introducing the players

National anthem with flag

Radojković (17) and Popović (33) during the Serbian anthem

Youth players holding the team logo

The beginning was a nip-and-tuck game (at one point Zvezda took the lead as well), but afterwards we were leading until the end. The opponent couldn’t even equalize. We didn’t allow them to take over control.

Živković is about to score from penalty (he did so, we were leading to 2:1)

Then Zvezda equalized and they took the lead at this point (2:3). It was only the 6th minute of the game, but referees already sent off Popović for 2 minutes.

Popović had a great game today. He was the bastillon of the defense, Zvezda could approach the goal area only through his dead body.

Maksić rushing back after he equalized (3:3)

Kukić is about to throw a penalty (from which he’ll score and Partizan will lead to 4:3)

Referees didn’t really like us. In the first 10 minutes they sent off two Partizan-players for 2 minutes (one of them was Popović mentioned above, the other was Sretenović), other than this they generously handed out yellow cards. At the beginning they gave out at least 3 (okay, they were for Zvezda, too). Then at 5:5 Partizan got fed up with this nip-and-tuck fumbling and we put ourselves into action.

The moment when Sretenović got his 2-minute penalty. Kukić took back the lead for us just before that

Kukić then sped up and scored two more goals for us. We jumped to 8:6.

Lazar Kukić

And we continued it like this, always with an advantage of at least 2-3 goals.

Milan Ćućuz, one of the heroes of the derby. He had fantastic saves for the whole game

Like this one

This was one of the best moments of the match. Zvezda attacked, but Partizan’s defense line tackled them. Radojković grabbed the ball, ran up, made an amazing counter-attack, then raised up to the air and smashed a HUGE goal into the net. (12:9)

Nemanja Živković from behind, as he’s wiping his face

Then our captain Mršulja also signed himself on the list of goal scorers a few times. We finished the first half with 16:13.

Oppa Zvezda-style - the head coach angrily explains something to Mandić, who claims (seemingly annoyed) that whatever it is about, it was not his fault

Živković scored the last goal of the first half, after that he laid on the court in pain

Ivan "Grozni" Popović

The second half started immediately with Popović being sent off for the second time. Zvezda took advantage of the power play and reduced the difference to 16:15, meanwhile we missed out a number of chances.

Pešić can’t believe his eyes after one of these missed-out attempts

Finally Radojković broke the silence and in the 34th minute he made us jump to 17:15 (he is hurrying back on this screenshot after his goal)

Then we didn’t stop until 19:16, but even then it was just for Ćućuz and his great penalty-saving.
Afterwards we continued with the goal-factory. At this screenshot Živković is celebrating the team’s 20th goal scored by him of course.

This was that point, around the 44th minute that the referees got totally fed up with Popović and they sent him off for the third (and last) time.

Popović got standing ovation and walked off the court like a hero

But even the referees couldn’t stop us marching towards victory. Zvezda had some bitter, struggling attempts, but our defense line was harder than the walls of Kalemegdan.

Meanwhile Popović walked up to the tribune and sat down among fans

Unfortunately I couldn’t catch that frenetic moment, when Živković scored the world’s greatest troll goal at 25:22. He ran up, broke through the defense, raised up to the skies, then lobbed the ball above the goalkeeper’s head with a refined movement. Instead I caught that, when Kukić speeds up (then at the end of the attack, when the goalkeeper is about to pass the ball to the teammate for another Zvezda-attack, Sretenović appears out of the blue and throws the ball into the net among the shocked red players).

Here he is, Stevan Sretenović, celebrating his goal

A few more screenshots from the match:

Mršulja celebrating his goal he scored while Zvezda (!) was in power play

Head coach Nenad Maksić

Pešić scored our last goal

End of the match, Sretenović goes to shake hands with the opponent

End result and a victorious Živan Pešić

Group hug

The hero of the game is Mihajlo Radojković with 7 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (6), Živan Pešić (5), Lazar Kukić and Igor Mršulja (4-4), Stevan Sretenović (3) as well as Aleksa Maksić (1).

This game and the upcoming two will determine whether we can enter SEHA League next season. We won this match, in the next round we’ll play against Sloga (away), then in the last round we’ll be the hosts against Metaloplastika. Metaloplastika is definitely one of the toughest opponents, yet we must not shrug off Sloga either.
Still it’s not impossible.
COME ON, BOYS, TAKE ’EM ALL!!!

Current standing of the play-off:
1. Vojvodina 13 points
2. Metaloplastika 13 points
3. Partizan 10 points
4. Spartak Vojput 7 points
5. Sloga 3 points
6. CZ 2 points

RK Vojvodina - RK Partizan 25:23 (play-off, round 7)

The lowest point about this match is not when you got noticed BELATED that there was a TV broadcast.
No, dear fellow fans, the lowest point is when you have to sneak around on the homepage of the opponent to steal photos about the game, because there’s absolutely no available material about it anywhere, neither on sports sites, nor on Facebook. I'm totally fed up with this amateurism.
And we were defeated, too. Though we were leading, for God’s sake in the entire first half... 5:9, 8:11, we went to half-time with 10:13. Vojvodina couldn’t even equalize, not even once.
At the beginning of the second half it looked even better. 11:15, 13:17, 15:19... until the 50th minute. There Vojvodina equalized, from 15:19 they jumped to 19:19 within 7 minutes. God knows what happened... They even took the lead (20:19). Živković equalized (20:20), but in the last 10 minutes the home team was leading for the whole time.

That’s what is called injustice :(

The hero of the day is Nemanja Živković with 7 goals. He is followed by Mihajlo Radojković and Lazar Kukić (4-4). Both Živan Pešić and Aleksa Maksić scored 3-3 goals, while Stevan Sretenović added 2 to the final result.
And now the photos.

Vojvodina’s player shoots on target, Popović just raises up his hands

Sretenović is rising up to the skies to tear the net to pieces

Cannon shoot by Radojković in 3, 2, 1...

We’d attack, if Vučković didn’t want to steal Popović’s shirt (probably to keep it as a souvenir)

Sretenović is about to block Marjanović, but it’s already too late

Radojković won over gravitation

(photos: rkv.rs)

Current standing of the play-off:
1. Vojvodina 11 points
2. Metaloplastika 11 points
3. Partizan 8 points
4. Spartak Vojput 7 points
5. Sloga 3 points
6. CZ 2 points

RK Partizan - Spartak Vojput 26:24 (play-off, round 6)

It's unbelievable that today is Tuesday and there is still no material about a match played on Sunday out of the usual and only referee's match report, which I regularly use to find out what happened on the game. The superliga's website contains no photos/videos, their Facebook-site pretends that there are only two teams taking part in the play-off series (Vojvodina and Crvena Zvezda), other teams don't even exist. Dear everyone, the play-off is getting intensified now, when only three rounds are left, you should overwhelm us with information and media. But no... Even the renowned Sportski žurnal has to work with the only available referee’s report, and that says all.
I found only one photo about this match, from Spartak’s website. A big thank you to them for it.

In the first half we played with great confidence. 5:2, 7:3, 9:6, 12:8 and so on. We played, Spartak assisted. The first half ended with 16:11.

A question in the meantime: whose idea was this to put this game to Sunday morning at 11:30?...

The second half looked even smoother in the beginning (20:11, 22:15). It started to be tough around the 48th minute, when Spartak jumped from 23:17 to 23:20 (if I could see well, Radojković was sent off for 2 minutes at the same time). We quickly corrected to 25:20 with the goals of Kukić and Živković (52. min).
Then Popović was also sent off in the 57th minute. Spartak reduced the difference to 26:23. Eventually Mršulja was also sent off, referees surely thought it’s better to be safe than sorry... Spartak scored their last goal right before the end buzz.
The hero of the day was Mihajlo Radojković with a brilliant performance and 10 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (5), Živan Pešić (4), Aleksa Maksić (3), Lazar Kukić (2) as well as Ivan Popović and Igor Mršulja (1-1).

Partizan-players put Đekić, Spartak’s #5 under fire

(photo: rkspartakvojput.com)

Current standing of the play-off:

1. Metaloplastika 10 points

2. Vojvodina 9 points

3. Partizan 8 points

4. Spartak Vojput 5 points

5. CZ 2 points

6. Sloga 2 points

RK Partizan - Sloga 27:24 (play-off, round 4)

We can say that we brought the obligatory victory, but it was far not that an easy torch-lit march as it might look at first sight. The Požega-based team strangled us by the throat, and for a while it looked that they might even win the match.
The beginning was great. We had a confident lead (4:2, 7th minute), then in the 13th minute Sloga equalized (6:6). In the next minute they even took the lead (6:7). Then they sped up and jumped to 6:9 and we could approach them only in the 21st minute (8:9). But even then they did keep their end up. They fought hard, while we missed out a number of chances. Even in the 24th minute the standing was 9:11, then we equalized somehow 5 minutes before the end (11:11). Then we took back the lead with Radojković’s goal (12:11), but Sloga was right behind us. We ended the first half with 13:12.
The second half had a bitter start. Sloga equalized (13:13), they immediately took back the lead (13:14), then for quite a while it was like we equalized, Sloga immediately threw another goal. 14:15, 15:15, 15:16, this little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed at home... it was going like this until the 39th minute, when we equalized with Živković’s goal (19:19), then Maksić took back the lead (20:19). It didn’t get any easier though. Now it looked like this, Sloga equalized and we immediately threw another goal. 21:20, 21:21, 22:21... this little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none... right until the 52th minute, when Sloga equalized (22:22), then Živković scored (23:22), then for surprise Kukić also scored (24:22). What is more, even Pešić had his moment (25:22). Sloga kept on trying, but they had only one goal left to score. One minute before the end the Captain earned one more goal, setting the end result with his score (27:24).
The hero of the day is Aleksa Maksić with 9 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (6), Mihajlo Radojković (4), Lazar Kukić and Igor Mršulja (3-3) as well as Ivan Popović and Živan Pešić (1-1).
There aren’t many photos, there is only this one from the team’s Facebook page, I also made two screenshots.
If there are any more photos available, I’ll update the post.

(photo: Facebook/Rukometni klub Partizan)

Time-out in the first half, when Sloga started to push hard

End of the match

League table will be brought tomorrow, but RK Partizan looks to be very confident on the 2nd place.
Update: current standing of the play-off
1. Metaloplastika 8 points
2. Partizan 6 points
3. Vojvodina 5 points
4. Spartak Vojput 3 points
5. CZ 2 points
6. Sloga 0 point

RK Partizan - Vojvodina 27:27 (play-off, round 2)

Draw against last season’s champion. This is something really excellent.
At first it was a nip-and-tuck game. No big differences, this ping-pong alike action, one goal here, one goal there. At the end of the first half though we could increase the difference to 3 goals (!). In the 27th minute the standing was 13:13, then Maksić, who had an excellent performance throughout the entire match, scored (14:13). Živković followed his example (15:13), joined by Kukić as well (16:13). The Novi Sad-based team reduced the difference to two goals in the last minute (16:14).
We continued this pace in the second half, too. We were leading with 3-4-5 goals; 19:14, 20:17, and so on. Vojvodina picked themselves together some time in the 45th minute and slowly started to work off their drawback. They finally equalized (22:22), but at this point they started playing hastily or maybe even nervously, nevertheless they made numerous fouls (we got two penalties within a minute, Maksić shot both into the box ruthlessly). At a very short period they even took the lead here and there (24:25, 25:26), but from now on the standing remained to be very close. In the 56th minute we were leading to 27:26 with Popović’s goal, Vojvodina equalized two minutes before the end.
The hero of the day is definitely Aleksa Maksić with 10 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (6), Stevan Sretenović (5) and Mihajlo Radojković (2). The other shooters scored 1-1 goal (Lazar Kukić, Živan Pešić, Ivan Popović, Igor Mršulja).

Maksić giving checkmate to Vojvodina’s goalkeeper

(photo: zurnal.rs)

(photo: Facebook/Partizan is life)

Current standing of the play-off:
1. Metaloplastika 4 points
2. Spartak Vojput 3 points
3. Partizan 2 points
4. CZ 2 points
5. Vojvodina 1 point
6. Sloga 0 point

RK Partizan - Morava 41:33 (superliga, round 18)

Damn you all.
Seriously. I've been waiting since yesterday to find at least a few pictures about this game. Needless to say, there's nothing, ever. Not even at the league's website.

Okay, I found a few images on fan pages. But for hell's sake, what are news sites and the association's website for? Just for decorational functions?...

Oh well. We won.
We didn't just won, we demolished them with a fantastic game.
At first Morava tried us. They scored a few goals, they were even leading.
For 5 minutes, maybe.
Then Radojković equalized (3:3) and from then on there was no stop. We ran through them, scored a lot of goals and played like it was written in the Big Book of Handball in both halves.

Tell me, when the standing is 33:25 in the 49th minute, what else is it if not INCREDIBLE?

The hero of the day, the steam roller of the team was Nemanja Živković with 12 (!!!) goals. He is followed by Mihajlo Radojković, who scored 8. Other scorers: Igor Mršulja (4), Stevan Sretenović, Andrija Đuričić and Lazar Kukić (3-3), Aleksa Maksić and Ivan Popović (2-2) as well as Đorđe Šotra, Darko Stevanović, Matija Pižurica and Živan Pešić (1-1).

Victory

(photo: Facebook/Partizan is life)

Well-deserved celebration.

League table will be brought later.
Update: end result of the regular season
1. CZ 28 points
2. Metaloplastika 26 points
3. Sloga 24 points
4. Partizan 23 points
5. Jugović 21 points
6. Požarevac 20 points
7. Morava 14 points
8. Rudar Kostolac 13 points
9. Radnički 10 points
10. Železničar 1 point

The regular season of the championship has ended. Partizan finished it at the 4th place, qualifying to the play-off, where the first 4 teams of the regular season will be joined by Vojvodina and Spartak Vojput. Draw comes later.

Metaloplastika - RK Partizan 27:26 (superliga, round 17)

I’d start it with a question: who did this? (And who allowed it to be uploaded?)
These match reports are the basis of my blogposts about handball. If they look this terrible, then how should fans get informed about what was going on at the game - because we can’t rely on any sports media, only the handwritten, cell-phone-photographed and uploaded reports of the association.
Anyway, I downloaded it and could make it more or less readable, thanks to GIMP Image Editor. But all those who tried to access via cell phone were surely cursing loud.
We were defeated by one goal. One goddamned goal in the very last minute.
We were leading for most of the first half. Our advantage was not much, only 1 goal, then the home team took the lead in the last 8 minutes. We were still behind them continuously. The standing was 15:15, when Metaloplastika scored probably seconds before the end buzz. 16:15 was the half-time result.
The second half was approx. the same as the first. We equalized, then it was the well-known ping-pong-game: one goal here, equal, one goal there, equal, one goal here, equal, etc.

The battle of two raging giants. There could be a big fight on the court, that’s when I feel sorry that nobody broadcasted.

The end was the same as of the first half. The standing was 26:26, only 3 minutes were left. Metaloplastika scored in the very last minute and we probably had no time to equalize.
Three of us scored six goals tonight: Nemanja Živković, Mihajlo Radojković and Igor Mršulja. Stevan Sretenović, Lazar Kukić and Ivan Popović scored 2-2 goals, while Mijat Perunčić and Živan Pešić added 1-1.
Photos from the game:

(photos: srls.rs)

League table comes later, there’s one more match left from this round that will be played next Wednesday.