News & Highlights

Croatia S.C. had a little luck and perseverance, but mostly it needed Marlon Pollard on Aug. 27.

"Marlon does all the little things that people don't really notice," said Chris Karcz of his teammate and strike-partner.

Just as White Eagles S.C. inched closer to an equalizer and a miraculous comeback, Pollard eased Croatia's concerns with his second goal of the 2010 Sportfriends Cup final.

Pollard's strike resonated and clinched the second straight title for the Croat club, which operates out of St. Cyril Methodius Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, during a wild 6-4 victory over White Eagles.

For his efforts, Pollard was named "Man of the Match" and bagged the Golden Boot Award given to the tournament's leading goal scorer.

The Croats are two for two in winning the Sportfriends Cup.

And in this case the Croats wanted it more, going 4-0-1 in the tournament. The lone blemish was a 1-1 draw with Icon F.C. during the group stage. After winning the Cup in 2009, the Croats were determined to defend their title.

"You enter the tournament to win it," Croatia midfielder Tommy Mustac said. "And that's what we did for the second time."

Pollard's 89th-minute long chip off a quick counterattack, started by Clifton's Karcz, sealed it.

White Eagles, who are based at St. John the Baptist Serbian Orthodox Church in Paterson, weren't convinced Pollard's final goal of the match and sixth of the competition should have counted.

"He (Pollard) was offside, no doubt; the referee missed it. He missed at least three others that resulted in goals," White Eagles' feared striker Radoslav "Rocky" Bojovic said.

When Kobie Johnson reduced White Eagles' deficit to 5-4 with five minutes left the pendulum swung in the Serbs' favor. And when crafty midfielder Dave Siljanoski's header missed by microns in the 88th minute, you sensed overtime.

Pollard would have none of it.

"We couldn't get nervous at that time; just stick with what we do best."

That meant passing the ball with precision on a bumpy pitch and cashing in on opportunities.

The Croats, led by Pollard and Karcz, tallied three goals during an 11-minute stretch of the opening half.

They nearly gagged before 250 at the Sportfriends Oval.

Karcz, the Clifton high All-American, collected assists on the first two goals by Pollard and Mustac.

He showed industry on Mustac's strike by outdueling Aleksandar Savic for a wayward ball on the end line. Karcz won the ball, spotted Mustac flashing into the box and his former Clifton teammate finished in the 29th minute for a 2-0 lead.

Pollard opened the scoring in the 26th minute and then assisted on J.P. Berr's strike eight minutes before the interval making it 3-0.

NY Croatia took down the CSL 2010 Indoor Tournament in grand fashion winning it for the 2nd time in a row.

Using a steady balance of offense, defense through the midfield New York Croatia was able to go undefeated in group play (2-0-1) allowing 1 goal. They defeated Greek American Atlas, arguably the best team at the tournament, on penalty kicks and cruises through to the semi finals where they defeated the Westchester Kickers 3-1.

"Although there was no award for Most Valuable Player at the torunament this year it was a unanimous decision from our own players that midfielder Toric Robinson deserved recognition for it," noted head coach Johnny Grbic.

If NY Croatia continues to play like this they will definetely be contending for a playoff spot in the Cosmopolitan League 1st Division this year.

"It's difficult to win the CSL 1st division but we like our chances," mused Captain Filip Loncar.

Playing in an indoor soccer tournament for the very first time, New York Croatia Reserves squad played some excellent soccer.

Led by Christien Vlahinich in the back and Marijan Jurac up front the Reserves made it to the semi finals where they lost on penalty kicks.

"The Reserves have no reason to hang their heads," President Tommy Radalj enlightened.

With the additions of Chris Hernandez, Jonathan Frances and Renan Lopes to the squad and the return of last years core the optimism is well founded.

NY Croatia faced off against 2 time defending champions Greek American Atlas this past Sunday and came away with a hard fought 1-0 victory.

The Croats took a 1-0 led midway through the 1st half after Marko Loncar coolly converted from the spot. Chris Karcz was ignominiously brought down in the box following a superb pass from newcomer Patrick Long.

Knowing what the Greeks are capable of the Croats played cautiously thereafter and strategically held on for the 1-0 victory.

"After giving away 2 points to Polonia and the Rovers earlier this season, it was important for us to get the full 3 points on our home field," rationalized head coach Johnny Grbic. "The Greek Americans are arguably the best team in the league. Anytime you get a victory from them is reason to celebrate and be optimistic for the rest of the season".

Reason to be optimistic there is, as NY Croatia currently sits in 2nd place 3 points behind Greek American Atlas with a game in hand.

After 3 successive years in the lower leagues of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League the New York Croatia Soccer Club is once again back in the 1st division and is poised to make a run at the title.

NY Croatia last won the CSL First Division back in 1998. This years version wants to earn their place in team history.

"With the quality and dedication of players on this team, we believe we can be one of the final 4 teams at the end of the season," noted Head Coach Johnny Grbic.

With the core group of players all returning and new impact additions such as Marlon Anderson, Kumar and Patrick Long, the club is certainly making a case for it.

Playing at home in front of an inspired crowd, the NY Croatia 1st Team played like the champions that they are for the first time this spring season and dominated FC Japan with a 4-1 victory. The win gave the 1st Team the Cosmopolitan 2nd Division title and promotion to the 1st division.

"Confidence in each other and, most importantly, in themselves is what won this game", glowed coach Johnny Grbic. "If we play like this next year in the 1st division, we can play with anyone".

The NY Croatia reserve team started off the days festivities with a resounding 3-0 win. Fitting indeed for a team that has played excellent the past few weeks yet was always on the losing end of things.

Next up for NY Croatia is a summer of training for the Croatian Federation Labor Day Weekend Tournament held in Cleveland and preparation for the Cosmopolitan 1st Division.

On the verge of gaining promotion to the 1st division, NY Croatia entered the Cosmopolitan Soccer League's indoor tournament looking to match up with perennial powerhouses from the 1st division. They did that and more.

Winning its second consecutive indoor tournament, NY Croatia won with defense and goaltending. Alex Luna earned MVP of the tournament by not conceding 1 goal in the playoffs and even saving a penalty in the semi finals.

For the 2nd straight tournament, the First Team went undefeated in group play earning 2 wins and a tie. In the quarter finals they defeated defending champions Stal Mielec 2-0, edged Mineola in penalties in the semi finals and out hustled Garfield Vistula from New Jersey 1-0 in the finals. The lone goal was scored by Marko Loncar.

With a busy winter break finally completed attention returns to the regular season. The task at hand: win the 2nd division and earn promotion into the 1st division where after this past weekend NY Croatia have shown they deserve to be.

The NY Croatia First Team outright won the Long Island Soccer Football League 2009 Joseph Goldberg Indoor Tournament held at Mitchell Field in Uniondale, Long Island.

Breezing through group play with a 3-0 record, NY Croatia entered the playoffs with the pressure of being the favorites for the title. And they handled it easily.

Disposing of their quarter final and semi final opponents with ease NY Croatia faced off against contender NY Polet who was looking to avenge an earlier defeat to NY Croatia in group play.

Coming out of the blocks with upset in mind NY Polet looked to make good on their desire taking a 2-0 lead early in the match. After acclimating themselves to Polets full press defense NY Croatia came back with 3 unanswered goals highlighted by Marko Loncars net curling free kick.

A stifling defense, timely goaltending, a dominating mid field and lightning fast offense led the rest of the way as NY Croatia held on for a deserving 5-3 victory and earned the Club its first major title of 2009.

A sign of things to come for sure as NY Croatia continues to develop and progress.

At the end of the 1st half of the 2008-2009 season NY Croatia First Team is in 1st place of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League 2nd division by 8 points.

Team chemistry, superior conditioning and all around great soccer has marked what is a near perfect first half. With a record of 8-1-1 NY Croatia has taken an amazing 25 of 30 points.

"The key is to keep improving and to keep pushing forward," noted assistant coach Johnny Grbic. "If we continue to play this way in the 2nd half promotion should be a foregone conclusion.

The NY Croatia Reserves are in the middle of the table and still in the running for the D'Arpino State Cup. Not bad considering they are a 1st year team that is still looking to find its form.

NY Croatia begins the 2008-2009 campaign with new players as well as fielding a reserve team for the 1st time in more than 8 years.

The First Team enters the 2nd division of the Cosmopolitan Soccer league with a strong nucleus that led the way to 2 straight years of promotion. The additions of players such as Tommy Mustac, Chris Karcz, Erik Kotynski and Alex Luna will greatly improve the odds of earning promotion to the highly competitive 1st division.

Also, NY Croatia will field a reserve squad. Composed of part timers and some old timers they look to have fun this season while developing a strong base from which to build upon in the future.

The 2007-208 Season was filled with high expectations and both the First Team and Over-30 met them and more.

After an inaugural season filled with mediocrity, the First Team quickly revamped and came out of the block with guns ablazing, leading the Metro 1 east division from start to finish.

They also had a terrific run in the State Cup going all the way to the finals where they lost to the NY Greek Americans 2-1 in a game which could have gone either way. It was a fantastic run and one in which we should all be proud.

The Over-30 also led their division from start to finish but had to hold off a desperate charge by GH Metros to capture the League title on the final game of the season.

It was a season which also saw them win the Tab Ramos Challenge and the 30th Annual Clarkstown Invitational Tournament.

With all the success in the past year, the NY Croatia Soccer Club has a lot to look forward to.

Both the NY Croatia First Team and the NY Croatia Over-30 team won their respective divisions in the Cosmopolitan League by wide margins. After getting off to a slow start in the Fall the First Team dominated thereafter with its closest competitor 17 points behind at seasons end.

Up next is the final of the D'Arpino State Cup against the NY Greek Americans on June 8th and promotion to the 2nd division.

The Over-30 overcame a late season push by GH Metros to win their division by a 7 point margin. With the league put away the Over-30 concentrated on the playoffs where they defeated the Maltese Dolphins 5-0 and will square off against the NY Greek Americans in the finals June 8th.

The Over-30 also won the Tab Ramos Sports Center League defeating Lake Como FC in the finals and will test their mettle in Oneonta this weekend in the Hall of Fame Cup.

NY Croatia First Team ended the first half of the season leading the Metro 1 East division by 5 points. Despite the comfort zone the team did not stand pat thinking they would cruise to a title. They acquired 4 new high caliber players to bolster the roster and make up for the loss of Steve Demaio. Edoh Soldi, Louis Brun, Danny Cadena and Mark Swier have all signed on to help secure NY Croatia's drive for promotion to the 1st division.

Steven Joseph DeMaio, is the new midfielder of The Orange Travel Aruba FC for the remainder of the season.

Steve wears number four. The American has already debuted with The Orange FC last Sunday against the Supersonics where they scored three goals.

Steve began playing soccer at an early age. He attended James Madison University in Virginia where he was part of the team during his four years of college. When he returned to Connecticut he played with the NY Croatia soccer club.

The new Orange player came to Madrid to study Spanish and learn the Spanish culture. The idea is for Steve to play the Cup trophy and continue with the Orange FC next season if his job opportunities will permit.

New York Croatia in Metro Div. One are another once great club seemingly on the comeback. The Croats, who won their last First Division title a decade ago, ended the fall with a five-point lead (6-1-2, 20) over Shamrock in Metro Div. One (East). In the West, Clarkstown appear a shoo-in for the title on account of a massive 10-point edge over Guyana Juniors.

“Croatia has a long and storied history that has been coupled with the CSL for over 20 years,”said Tommy Radalj. “Unfortunately, the team fell on bad times in the late 90s and reformed last year to rejoin the CSL in Metro Division Two.”Still, the hastily assembled side played well enough to earn promotion to Metro One.

“The reason for our success this year is that we have a grassroots effort in recruiting players,”explained Radalj. “Everyone is familiar with each. We haven’t simply picked players up off the street.”

This, he added, has led to team cohesion and less individual play.”Predictably, Radalj and Co. are happy campers this winter break. “With Croatia in first place at the midway we feel very good with our chances of promotion. We continue weekly practices and play in as many winter leagues and tournaments as we can.”