Fan blog of Partizan Sports Society (JSD Partizan) in Belgrade, Serbia. Football, basketball, volleyball, handball, ice hockey, water polo, news, players, all that are a matter of curiousity.
A subjective blog. English is not my mother tongue.
English version of http://jsdpartizanfan.blogspot.com/
That’s how you make a pre-game show in style (possibly while you continuously rub under the eternal opponent’s nose that you’re much better than them).
Ingredients: 2 champion teams, 2 championship cups, 2 old friends, 1 devoted crowd and the forever Miša Tumbas.
Before the game the water polo team got the celebration they totally deserve after they won the championship. The boys came, they brought the championship cup and carried it around Pionir Hall while the crowd celebrated them.
Then the French Legion arrived.
Yes, it’s them. Léo Westermann and Joffrey Lauvergne
Children were waiting for them
(photos: Facebook/KK Partizan)
They got huge applause
(photos: Twitter)
If only Boris Dallo had been there, too... then the Three Musketeers could have had a reunion.
After them KK Partizan’s U21 team arrived. They won the junior championship a few days ago, knocking out Crvena Zvezda in the final to 51:48.
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan
For the family photo album: the team, the championship cup... and MIŠA TUMBAS
(photo: Twitter)
Meanwhile the teams lined up for the national anthem.
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
(photo: Twitter)
The first half of the game was awful. A million missed-out chances, clenched teeth, sweat and struggle, while FMP took the lead in the beginning. They switched from 4:2 to 4:6, then jumped to 8:14. They could even allow themselves to miss out a free throw. The first quarter finished with 12:16.
The water polo team was watching the game near the court
(photo: Twitter)
The struggle continued in the second quarter. Even though we equalized with two 3-pointers (20:20) we still missed out more than we could score from. At the half of the quarter we took the lead (24:20), it was still not our best form.
This was the point when the fans started their usual sarcastic and vulgar chants about Vesna Čović and her doings.
Did I see well that Joffrey Lauvergne was grinning there?
It was 26:20, the fans started to throw their chants on FMP/Crvena Zvezda-fan politicians. The referee paused the game saying "Partizan-fans are having an unsportsmanlike behaviour".
This always make me laugh hard. Yea, sure. Those terrible Partizan-fans are always unsportsmanlike. But when (ahem) other teams’ fans (ahem) yelled life-threatening chants to Saša Pavlović and Duško Vujošević, that wasn’t unsportsmanlike. Fair play, my a.....
This made fans chant even louder. Finally Aleksander Džikić had to be asked to calm down the raging fans. (In the meantime ArenaSport 1’s commentators laughed hard and loud in live broadcast.)
— Marko Ljubomirović (@LjubomirovicRTS) May 28, 2016
Sometimes it can surely be hard to be Filip Čović. It’s not just that he is a mediocre player, but at the same time his father is the local almighty basketball godfather, who took mum into the business, too. And fans love to rub it into his face every time, with the most possible obscene qualifiers.
This intermezzo broke FMP’s pace. We jumped to 31:22, soon making the two-digit difference as well (35:24). The half-time ended with 37:27, after Wilson made a huge buzzer-beater.
Adin Vrabac some time during the game
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
FMP collapsed for the second half. They made the impression of an average countryside team (even though they are from Belgrade) with whom the Belgrade champions play the way they just want. It started with 41:27, then it was 46:30. Referees tried their best to help them, whistling off all our actions as fouls, but the guest couldn’t use it for their own advantage. Partizan were about to reach the 20-point-difference (51:32), which we made with Veličković’s free throw (56:36). We got ready for the final part with 63:41.
Nikola Peković and Wilson communicate
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
In the last quarter we did whatever we wanted, FMP just assisted us. Okay, they could make it to avoid the 20-point-difference.
They were defeated "only" with 19 points.
Next round will be on Monday from 21:00.
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
The little boy on the picture at the beginning of this blogpost holding the banner "Žo, pamtimo te, čekamo te" could meet Joffrey Lauvergne now
Post-game moments: Joffrey Lauvergne and Miša Tumbas
(photos: Twitter)
KK Partizan: Cvetković, Aranitović, Jones (9), Murić (14), Marinković (2), Veličković (9), Vitkovac (9), Đumić, Milutinović (4), Williams (13), Vrabac (10), Wilson (12)
After ABA League/Adriatic League there was a two-month-long gap until the Serbian domestic league to start.
Though we didn’t have any time to get bored in between.
The leading news of this period was the verbal karate between FIBA and the basketball associations around Europe.
I try to make just a short summary about it: it all started with FIBA declaring that they were not willing to acknowledge Euroleague as an official competition. (This is not a fresh fight, it started long ago and it will surely not end in the near future. There are definitely clashes of interest in the background, but that should be the topic of another blogpost.) As ABA League is tied to Euroleague, FIBA declared, they would not acknowledge ABA League either as an official competition series. What is more, they also declared, all those nations which enter ABA League or Euroleague, their national teams will be banned from every international competition (EuroBasket, world championship, Olympic Games) - countries like Serbia, Spain, Russia, Lithuania or Slovenia (in the meantime Croatia confirmed that they would co-operate with FIBA, at the same time they would turn away from ABA League). As for Serbia, right now it seems that the Serbian Basketball Association will choose ABA League and Euroleague vs. the national team. My very own two cents: no right decision can be brought in this situation. The KSS can only decide which finger they should push into their eyes.
Partizan had their very own private warfare with KSS in the meantime. As we found out, Partizan may enter the Eurocup-series next season with a little luck (if we can get the wild card). Yet KSS declared, if Partizan entered Eurocup, we would get banned from the Serbian domestic league.
Don’t ever ask me why. There is probably FIBA in the background of this decision, but I (still) can’t see through the why’s and how’s. If anyone has any information about it, you can write it to the comment section below. Thanks in advance.
KK Partizan’s sports director Dragan Todorić had a clear-cut reaction on it. He sent both KSS and FIBA straight to hell, and he added, if Partizan gets the wild card, then we will enter Eurocup, even if green snow falls on Belgrade in the middle of the summer.
And if this was still not enough, KK Partizan’s president Nikola "Pekmen" Peković had a controversial interview in the media.
After all these Serbian superliga could finally get a start yesterday, and Partizan had an easy training game with Čačak.
The match had to be played behind closed doors, from a nobody-remembers-when-and-what-happened punishment by KSS. But on the stands you could still see two old friends.
Saša Pavlović and Nemanja Bezbradica
(photo: sportskacentrala.com)
All the flags with the team’s former championship titles and victores disappeared. This only Serbian flag was hung there - the others were gone almost surely as the result of the fight between ABA League/Euroleague and FIBA
(photo: Twitter)
During the national anthem
(photo: Twitter)
The beginning of the game was a bit tough, Borac got a free throw in the very first minute (0:1), then they jumped to 8:12. It didn’t last long, we equalized (12:12, Koprivica had such a great game, why does this kid not get more chance to play?).
Miloš Koprivica with the ball
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
Then it soon turned into 26:18.
This was that moment, too (2 and a half minutes were left from the first quarter) when Novica Veličković, who returned to Partizan a few weeks ago, entered the court.
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
We soon reached the two-digit difference (28:18, Wilson). We practically won the match at this point. The quarter ended with 37:26.
The second quarter was even smoother. 43:26 (Veličković), 47:30 (Jones), 49:34 (Vitkovac).
And then came Petar Aranitović.
The kid washed off team Čačak from the court. He scored 9 points within 1-2 minutes (58:34). He was at everywhere, caught the ball and threw it into the ring every single time (even Murić’s rebound). At the end he closed the first half with such a 3-pointer that should be taught at academies (63:36).
The second half was just a formality. There’s not much to say about it. We were just throwing the ball into the basket, Team Čačak was nice to us, they just let us play around.
They deserve a hats-off though. It was a fair play game with them, and they fought as much as they could, despite Partizan’s obvious advantage.
No highlights, I found none official. Yet here is the entire game, you can watch it again, if you’d like.
KK Partizan: Cvetković, Aranitović (14), Jones (12), Murić (11), Marinković (10), Veličković (9), Vitkovac (5), Koprivica (9), Milutinović (5), Williams (10), Vrabac (6), Wilson (11)
I could have also gave the title "Nuclear bomb dropped".
In short: after Predrag Danilović resigned, the basketball team of Partizan elected the new team presidency. It has been an open secret for a while that his successor would be Partizan’s former, Minnesota Timberwolves’ current player, 29-year-old Nikola "Pekmen" Peković.
But the real shockbrain haemorrhage surprise was not this.
It was the news that Duško Vujošević has (had to?) left Partizan’s bench.
Dear everyone, dear fellow fans and Grave Diggers, I think we can say that an era in KK Partizan’s history has ended.
We can also say that has been rumoured for a while, namely that party politics have wormed their way into the management of the basketball team.
Duško Vujošević’s successor is Partizan’s former player and second trainer, Petar Božić.
On the photo, from left to right: KK Partizan’s sports manager Dragan Todorić, Petar Božić and Duško Vujošević
(photo: kurir.rs)
The rest of the management is, as follows: KK Partizan's vice president as well as Peković’s general deputy is Miroslav Berić. Other members are: Sanja Lubardić, Maurizio Vallo, Milan Iskrin, Pero Šaranović, Ilija Dražić, Vladimir Vrbaški, Boško Janković, Ratko Čakarević, Velibor Jojić, Ivan Trifunović and Petar Grubor.
Berić (left) and Peković
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
Photo of the day
There was press conference as well, with the usual commonplaces.
It’s very hard to say anything now, being shocked, trying to get used to the fact that Duško Vujošević is not Partizan’s head coach anymore. (The fact that he stays at the club as advisor doesn’t make it any better.) You think back of all those victories, the long list of players who worked with him and who all play now at top clubs, in NBA, in the national team of their countries. (Think of Bogdan Bogdanović and Joffrey Lauvergne.) In these moments "thank you" is just a superficial cliché. There's not enough "thank you"-s and gratitude in this world to express it. Stand up straight and salute. Now.
WE WON!!!
WE QUALIFIED TO THE NEXT ROUND!!!
My God, what a game it was.
It contained everything that's needed for a great match. Drama, tension, death and resurrection.
There was an unbelievable full house in ul. Humska, so full that even the otherwise always locked northern tribune was open this time. And even that was full.
30 minutes to go and the stadium is already full
(photo: Twitter)
(screenshot)
There were quite a few famous guests at the VIP-section, e.g. former Partizan basketball player and trainer Željko Obradović, who is currently the head coach of Fenerbahce basketball team.
(photo: Twitter)
Nikola Peković was also present, whom fans call "Pekmen".
(photo: Twitter)
And there was someone else, too, who got a very warm welcome by fans.
Yes, it was Milan "Maki" Mačvan personally
(photo: mozzartsport.com)
Teams walked out to the pitch for a warming-up.
(photo: Twitter)
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
The referee was István Vad from Hungary.
(screenshot)
Who was this funny guy at UEFA who thought a Hungarian (!) should be the referee at a match between a Serbian (!!!!) and a Romanian (!!!!!!!!!!) team? Who was this perverted, crazy idiot? By the way, big congratulations to István Vad for his job at this not so easy game. He was stern, impartial (!) and consistent. And the most important is that he was invisible. Dear Mr. Referee, keep up this great job!
The full stands were watered from water-cannons against heat and heat-stroke.
The match started with a moment of silence for the memory of the victims of Operation Storm 20 years ago.
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
Then the match started. The Grave Diggers of the southern tribune performed an amazing coreography.
(photo: Twitter)
(photo: Twitter)
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
(photo: Twitter)
(photo: Twitter)
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
We attacked in the 2nd minute, the answer was a Romanian counter-attack. It was dangerous, not much would have been needed for a goal, but finally it ended as a corner.
In the 4th minute we were back again at Steaua's penalty area. Babović’s pass ended in a corner. There was a goalmouth scramble, then the ball dropped in front of Andrija Živković. From him it got to Balažic. He shot - the goalkeeper saved, but only 1-2 millimetres from the goal line.
Then in the 8th minute Vulićević ran up with the ball on the right and passed it to the middle. The ball hit the defenders and dropped in front of Babović. Babović wasted no time, he shot and scored a giant goal, right into the middle of the net.
1:0
1:0!!!
WE ARE LEADING!!!!
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
I have scolded Babović earlier quite a few times on this blog. You can decide yourself whether I was right or wrong. But it is a fact that on this match Babović played very well - independent of this goal or not. He ran a lot, passed a lot, dribbled, he was even there when building up attacks. Keep it up, Babinjo! We want more of this.
But the sad fact is that the fans’ happy screaming after the goal hasn’t faded away when Steaua equalized. They ran up on the right, passing the ball into the middle. A Partizan-defender headed it out, and the ball dropped in front of Muniru. The Ghanian player shot and scored. 1:1, cold shower, the bitter type.
Oh, well. Nothing is lost yet. In the 18th minute Aboubakar shot from 25 metres, but missed. Two minutes later he passed to Vulićević on the right side. Vulićević then passed it to Babović to the middle. Babović shot with a bicycle kick. Pity it was too wide, it could have been a spectacular goal.
The thing is, Romanian players weren’t so technically skilled, but they were very fast and made counter-attacks in a moment. They were also very aggressive, kicking and pulling Partizan-players to the ground. Despite this they got a free kick in the 25th minute, 22 metres from the goal line. Chipciu stood behind the ball, but his shot flew out above the crossbar.
A minute later Aboubakar got the ball. He passed it to the middle, but the Romanian defenders caught it and kicked it to their midfielders for a counter-attack. Tade got the pass at the corner of the penalty area. He shot, Živko Živković touched it, the ball hit the goalpost. Corner kick. Then another corner kick that flew out, far from the goal line. Goal-kick, for us.
In the 29th minute Steaua got another free kick, about 30 metres from the goal line, on the right side. The kick was headed to the goal line by Varela, but it was too hight.
In the 31st minute Vulićević got the ball and ran up immediately to the Romanian penalty area, but his pass was caught by the goalkeeper. A minute later Fabricio lost the ball. Hamroun grabbed it, ran up on the right side and passed to the middle. For our luck the attackers in the middle were too slow to kick or head it.
Then in the 33rd minute Romanians took the lead. Popa arrived on the right with the ball and passed it to the middle, where Hamroun was waiting. The French player got it, thanked and shot it into our net. 1:2
Collapse. Death. No, just no. I can’t believe it. There is always an icy hand around your heart when such a thing happens, then it slowly turns into anger. Average Fan made it through the entire scale of political incorrectness within a short period of time. In hindsight I feel ashamed; for my defense, in the heat of the match common sense has waved me goodbye quite early and travelled to the Bahamas, probably.
In the 38th minute we got a free kick, about 30 metres from the goal line, on the left. Babović stood behind the ball, he kicked..
...and scored!!! GOOOAAAAAL!!!!
No way. It was never a goal. At the moment of the kick the assistant waved offside. Bojinov got stuck in the front lines. The referee invalidated the goal. There was not even a chance to question it, the slow motion replay clearly showed the offside.
In the 42nd minute Romanians attacked again. Tade kicked it in from the left side, but thankfully the others were too slow for it. We immediately started a counter-attack. Aboubakar got the ball from Babović, but the goalkeeper ended their attempt.
Brašanac some time during the match against Brazilian player Guilherme
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
In the beginning of the second half the referee showed the red card to Varela in the 48th minute. The Cape Verde player pulled Brašanac to the ground, who was running up to the goal line. Foul as last person, plus inside the penalty area.
In the second half István Vad left his mild-tempered attitude in the locker-room and used a stern approach towards the rough Romanian players, who sometimes used acting (rolling on the ground with a painful face) to convince the referee about Partizan players’ alleged fouls. In the first half Vad just warned those who fouled, but in the second half he started using the cards.
Penalty for Partizan!
But we couldn’t stand up to kick it, because Varela didn’t want to walk off the ground, the referee had to push him towards the tunnel.
Then world peace was settled back. Bojinov stood behind the ball.
Whistle.
Bojinov ran up...
...and the ball hit the goalpost. Goalkeeper Cojocaru had a short dance of joy at the goal line.
Brain death. Catatonia. Someone, please, wake me up, it is surely just a bad dream.
But the match continued. About 10 minutes passed, both teams were continuously attacking. Referee Vad gave out 4 yellow cards to Steaua during these 10 minutes.
Then in the 57th minute Andrija Živković was kicked to the ground at the corner of the penalty arae. Free kick, Babović shot, the goalkeeper caught it.
And then came the 60th minute...
...AND GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!! 2:2!!!!!!!
Aboubakar passed the ball to the middle from the left, to Jevtović. Jevtović didn’t waste any time, but sent a 25-metre bomb shot to the goal line. And he scored!!!! And what a goal it was!!!! Oh, my God, what a goal! We equalized!!!
(photo: Google)
In the 61st minute Babović was brutally kicked to the ground. Free kick, from 30 metres. Fabricio stood behind the ball. Then "Fabi" shot, it was quite a good one, the flat shot was caught by Cojocaru. In the 63rd minute Tade broke out and ran up to the goal line all of a sudden. He shot, thankfully it was too wide. A minute later Steaua tried again. The ball came from the right, ending in a corner kick, which was kicked out by our defenders.
In the 65th minute Partizan got a free kick. Andrija Živković shot.
And at this moment the net died here (me too, a bit). It wasn’t too long, maybe only 3 minutes, but when connection got back to normal, I could see the referee invalidating a Romanian goal. The situation seemed to be the same as with Partizan in the first half: one of their players got stuck in an offside position. The standing was still 2:2.
Not for long.
In the 69th minute Aboubakar was dribbling on the left side, then passed to Andrija Živković.
AND ŽILE SCORED SUCH A FANTASTIC GOAL THAT MADE THE NET TORN TO PIECES!!!! 3:2, PEOPLE!!!! WE ARE ON THE LEEEEAAAAAAAD!!!!!
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
Oh. My. God. We came back from the grave.
In the 73rd minute Steaua got a free kick. Živko Živković caught the ball with a crushing elegance. The pace was quite fast even until now, but after the goal it got even faster. The Romanian team was fighting for their survival, while Partizan’s players got an extra amount of courage from the goal. Fans were chanting "Srbija, Srbija". We attacked more and more, Steaua got a bit stuck in their half. In the 84th minute Brašanac shot from the penalty area line, but it was too high. A minute later we ran up to a counter-attack after a corner. Andrija Živković had the ball with himself, but the referee whistled it off, Saša Ilić was on offside.
In the 89th minute Aboubakar got the ball on the left and ran up immediately. He dribbled and passed it to Andrija Živković. Žile also dribbled, then passed it back to the middle, but it was too long for Aboubakar.
This was the point when the 4th assistant raised the board showing that the extra time would be 5 minutes. Fans were booing and whistling, but afterwards we could see how these 5 minutes came to hand for us.
Such things come to light always in hindsight.
In the 90+1st minute we got a corner. This time it was just a short kick, then someone passed it to the middle. Trujić, who just joined the game as a substitute, headed it to the goal line. The goalkeeper saved, the ball dropped back to Trujić. This time he didn’t miss it out, but headed it into the net. 4:2
4:2!!!!!
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
Unbelievable, just unbelievable. We came back from death, performing such a resurrection that only Partizan can do.
There was a Steaua-attack left for the last minute, but Živko Živković saved it with a French-styled elegance. And then came the final whistle. WE WON! WE WON! WE WON! WE QUALIFIED!!!
Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 30 000
Referee: Istvád Vad (assistants: Péter Berettyán, László Viszokai - 4th assistant: Sándor Andó-Szabó) - HUN
FK Partizan: Ž. Živković - Vulićević, Balažic, Fabricio, N. Petrović - Brašanac, Jevtović - Aboubakar, Babović (Trujić, 90.), A. Živković - Bozsinov (S. Ilić, 60.)
Head coach: Zoran Milinković
Now you get the last two matches of the basketball match in the Serbian superliga in bulk. The timetable of the past few days was a bit tough, the team played 2 matches within 3 days, luckily both were routine victories.
On Saturday Partizan met Metalac from Valjevo in Pionir Hall. There was a special guest at this match, Nikola Peković, Minnesota Timberwolves’ player came to see his former team, Partizan.
In the middle there is JR Holding, former basketball player of CSKA Moscow, he also came to Pionir Hall to see Partizan
(photos: Facebook/KK Partizan)
First we took the lead to 5:0, then Metalac equalized (5:5). At a point they even switched the standing to their side (7:9), we equalized with Milutinov’s basket. Metalac took it very seriously, they took back the lead again (9:11), but Partizan, thanks to the teamwork of Milutinov and Mačvan gained back control. We won the first quarter to 23:17.
In the second quarter Tepić and Milosavljević were the engines of the team (30:23), but Metalac did not let themselves push down (35:30). The Murić-Mačvan-Milutinov trio increased our advantage to two-digit with an amazing 9:0 series (44:30). The half-time result was 48:36, Milutinović also added his own part to keep up the 10+ points difference.
In the third part Metalac again rose from the dead and reduced the difference with a 0:7 series (48:43). Murić came, saw and the world’s order was settled back together with the two-digit advantage. Metalac still does deserve all respect by not giving up, but after the Captain’s 3-pointer the standing was 60:50. The end result of the third quarter was 64:55.
The last part was the Parni valjak part. The only question left was if we could make the 20-point difference. We were close (75:57), and then we made it for the end. The final result of the game was 82:61.
On Monday we played against Vojvodina in Novi Sad. We pushed a great pace already in the beginning, barely letting Vojvodina to find their breath. The home team could score their first point only after 5 minutes, when we were on the lead to 0:13, then to 2:19. The end result of the first quarter was 14:27, even at this point it was clear only the simultaneous happening of a volcano eruption, an earthquake and a tsunami could prevent this victory.
In the second quarter the pace got a bit slower, Vojvodina reduced the difference to 23:26, then to 30:37. The result of the half-time was 34:47.
In the third quarter the home team reduced the difference even more (41:45). At a point it was 44:47, it started to be a bit dangerous. Then Milutinov, but especially Tepić took the team on their back and quickly increased the difference to two-digit (46:58). At the end of the quarter our advantage was 14 points. (47:61)
The finale was almost a formality. We made the 20-point difference (53:74), the only question was if we could keep it. We couldn’t, but may it be our biggest loss. The end result was 61:79.
Current standing of the play-off series after 5 rounds:
1. CZ 10 points
2. Partizan 10 points
3. Vojvodina 8 points
4. Metalac 8 points
5. Mega Leks 7 points
6. FMP 7 points
7. Konstantin 5 points
8. Tamis 5 points
