Name: Damir Desnica



Country: Croatia
Club: HNK Rijeka
Position: *WF
Side: RF/LS
Age: 24-28 years (20/12/1956)

Height: 167 cm
Weight: 66 kg

Attack: 82
Defence: 43
Balance: 78
Stamina: 79
Top Speed: 83
Acceleration: 88
Response: 75
Agility: 86
Dribble Accuracy: 86
Dribble Speed: 84
Short Pass Accuracy: 76
Short Pass Speed: 74
Long Pass Accuracy: 83
Long Pass Speed: 78
Shot Accuracy: 79
Shot Power: 83
Shot Technique: 81
Free Kick Accuracy: 76
Curling: 79
Header: 70
Jump: 74
Technique: 84
Aggression: 85
Mentality: 77
Keeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 74

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 6
Weak Foot Accuracy: 6
Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Consistency: 5
Growth Type: Standard

CARDS:
P07: Early Cross
P12: Incisive Run
S18: Cross Over Turn

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Dribbling - Side

Attack / Defence Awareness Card: Attack Minded


INFO:

The King of Deaf Footballers

The unique legend. Desnica began his football career in Rijeka, and has played at left wing, one of the best wingers in Yugoslavia at the time. Although he was an excellent footballer, he is best known for being one of the very few deaf pro footballers.. He was renowned for his slaloms on the left flank, great dribbler with good pace. Desnica was very direct and vertical, always trying to dribble the opponents, which caused lot of injuries because the only way to stop him was to hit him. He was great crosser, producing numerous assists for heading specialist Miodrag Kustudić. He was one of the key players of team which has twice won the Yugoslav Cup in 1978 and 1979, and that played in the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-1980. His excellent plays were especially good considering that he was deaf and dumb. Desnica, except for Rijeka, played several seasons in Kortrijk Belgium, and one for Pazinka. For Yugoslav NT played once, 25 October 1978 in the match against Romania, and their only goal for the team. Desnica enjoyed a decorated career, with Cup successes with a relatively small Rijeka football club battling the Big Four giants of the then Yugoslavia –Red Star Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade, Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb—and, every now and then, putting them to the sword. In 1985 UEFA Cup, after summarily disposing of Spanish side Valladolid 4-2 in the first round, Rijeka met Real Madrid in the second round, winning the first leg 3-1 at home, only to have their chances of progress scuppered by a Belgian referee named Schoeters, who sent Desnica off for 2 yellow cards. His first yellow had been for not stopping play when the whistle went; and his second yellow was for, “insulting the referee”. It's interested in how Desnica had managed the latter considering he had been deaf since birth and communicated exclusively manually as opposed to orally. At all events, the referee’s radical reduction of Rijeka to 8 players enabled Real to score 2 more goals to win the tie 3-0, and take the round 4-3 on aggregate --and progress to win the tourney. The scandalous Belgian referee after that game was banned for life by UEFA, but the shame has remained. Desnica is a hero still in Croatia today, but is relatively unknown elsewhere, playing as he did in an era before the advent of the information superhighway.