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ZAGREB, Croatia - Croatia coach Igor Stimac was fired Wednesday following his teams 2-0 loss to Scotland in a World Cup qualifier. Greg Holland Jersey . Croatian Football Federation president Davor Suker said Niko Kovac, a former Croatia midfielder and coach of the junior national team, will be Stimacs temporary replacement. Despite the loss against Scotland on Tuesday, Croatia managed to finish second in its qualifying group behind Belgium and can reach the World Cup in Brazil through the playoffs in November. The 46-year-old Stimac said after the match he would step down because of "a moral responsibility" for Croatias two consecutive defeats, 2-1 against Belgium at home last week and against Scotland. "Stimac had total support of the federation, but after these poor results ... my proposal was to remove Stimac from his duties," Suker said. Stimac took over from Slaven Bilic. He and Bilic were Croatia defenders and Suker was a striker in the team that reached the 1998 World Cup semifinals. Alex Gordon Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Tuukka Rask, Boston (4) - Explosive, perfect positioning and great rebound control for all five games that led to this series being clinched. Alex Gordon Royals Jersey . - The Colorado Rapids say theyve received a first-round 2015 MLS SuperDraft pick, allocation money and a contract buyout from FC Dallas as compensation for coach Oscar Parejas leaving to take the same job with his former club.(Sports Network) - Ilya Kovalchuk will return to the New Jersey line-up tonight after missing five games when the Devils visit the Buffalo Sabres. You can catch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Kovalchuk was sidelined with a lower-body injury and has two goals and nine points in 11 games this season. He netted 31 goals a season ago and was a game-time decision in last nights meeting with Boston, but was ultimately held out by head coach Peter DeBoer. The Devils found themselves even at one goal apiece with the Bruins last night heading into the third period. The two clubs then erupted for five goals in the final frame, but three came from Boston in a 4-3 defeat for New Jersey. Nick Palmieri scored twice in the third for his first career multi-goal game and David Clarkson also had a goal for the Devils, who dropped to 4-2 in their last six games. Johan Hedberg played well in defeat, making 33 stops. "We got away from our game plan," DeBoer said. "They took us off our game plan a little bit and we didnt respond the right way. We didnt win enough faceoffs, we didnt do enough of the little things at the end to win games and thats what good teams do." Dainius Zubrus had notched a goal and four assists over his previous four games before going without a point last night, and is expected to play in his 1,000th career game this evening. Martin Brodeur will get the call in net for the Devils and he split two games versus the Sabres last year, winning once in a 1-0 overtime shutout on Oct. 13. That was the lone victory for New Jersey last year over Buffalo, which outscored the Devils 13-5 in taking the final three encounters. It marked only the second time in club history that Buffalo won three games against New Jersey in a single season. The Sabres opened up play without Ryan Miller on Monday, winning a 3-2 shootout decision in Montreal. Buffalos netminder is out indefinitely after suffering a concussion versus Boston on Saturday. Miller sustained the head injury when he was run into bby the Bruins Milan Lucic while both players went for a loose puck inside of a faceoff circle during the first period. Mike Moustakas Royals Jersey. Lucic was given a charging penalty, but was not suspended by the league for the hit. Miller spoke with the media on Tuesday and wasnt happy that Lucic did not receiver further discipline. "I have the concussion symptoms and I have a little bit of whiplash. We decided to talk more freely about it because we thought there was a reason to with the incident with Lucic and we thought the league needed to make some kind of judgement," said Miller. "It didnt quite work out the way we thought it could, definitely disappointed in that, but you just move forward I guess." Jhonas Enroth figures to get the bulk of the starts while Miller is out and has yet to lose this season. He made 25 saves in Mondays win, moving to 6-0-0 with a 1.76 goals-against average and .942 save percentage on the year. Enroth is 13-0-1 in his last 14 decisions since his last regulation loss on Nov. 24, 2010. Down by two goals heading into the third period on Monday, head coach Lindy Ruff moved Derek Roy back to a line with Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. Roy and Pominville both scored in the third period to force extra time and Brad Boyes had the game-winner in the shootouts second round. "We proved were a pretty resilient bunch," Ruff said. "We had some opportunities that they blocked and there was a little frustration there. But my mindset was to go down to three [lines in the third period]. I threw Derek back up with Thomas [Vanek] and [Pominville] and we got instant results from that." Vanek and Pominville both have six points in their last four games, while the Sabres have won five of their last six. Second-year defenceman Tyler Myers was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career on Monday, but will return to action tonight. The Sabres recalled forward Corey Tropp from Rochester of the AHL on Wednesday to fill in for injured centre Cody McCormick.cheap nfl jerseys ' ' ' |
