Euro 2008 - Stylish Croatia stun Germany

Eurosport - Fri, 13 Jun 13:29:00 2008

Croatia qualified for the quarter finals of Euro 2008 with a well-earned 2-1 Group B victory over group favourites Germany at the Worthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt.

FOOTBALL 2008 Euro 2008 Germany Croatia-Germany - 0

Croatia took a 23rd-minute lead through Dario Srna, before Portsmouth midfielder Niko Kranjcar spurned two good chances to extend their advantage.

Ivica Olic netted just after the hour mark when Srna's deflected cross hit the post and rebounded into his path, before Lukas Podolski scored with 10 minutes remaining to set up a tense finish.

The tension was too much for second-half Germany substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was sent off in injury time for a push on Jerko Leko.

The win puts the Croats on six points which, coupled with Austria's last-gasp 1-1 draw with Poland, ensures that Slaven Bilic's men will win the group due to their superior head-to-head record.

Germany coach Joachim Low kept faith with the XI that started the 2-0 opening victory over Poland, while his opposite number Bilic made one change to the Croatia side that beat Austria 1-0, with 20-year-old Schalke midfielder Ivan Rakitic coming in for Mladen Petric.

Croatia had looked far from their best against the co-hosts, but they began the game with an attacking vigour suggestive of a desire to rediscover the fine football that characterised their qualifying campaign.

Christoph Metzelder had to produce a well-timed tackle to deny Olic on the edge of the German box on 20 minutes, but shortly afterwards Croatia took a deserved lead when Srna nipped in ahead of the flat-footed Marcell Jansen to touch home Daniel Pranjic's inviting cross from the left.

Germany could have equalised almost immediately, when Mario Gomez nodded Jansen's cross over the bar from eight yards, before Kranjcar missed a gilt-edged opportunity to extend Croatia's lead, blazing over from 12 yards after being set up by Olic's knockdown.

Low's men came back into the game as the first half wore on, with Michael Ballack stinging Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa's fingers with a fierce free-kick and Metzelder putting a header over the crossbar from a left-wing corner, before Kranjcar spurned another good chance.

Vedran Corluka's low cross from the right was flicked back into the centre from the left side of the area by Olic, but after deftly controlling the ball on his chest Kranjcar put his volley straight at Jens Lehmann in the German goal.

Germany began to dominate possession in the early stages of the second period, but without creating any real chances, and shortly after the hour mark they were dealt a hammer blow when Croatia notched a fortuitous second goal.

Srna's cross from the right took a big deflection off Podolski which caught Lehmann out of position, and when the ball bounced back off the right-hand post Olic was on hand to gleefully touch it home.

Schweinsteiger drew a save from Pletikosa with a low shot from the left as his side pushed forward in search of a route back into the game, and with 79 minutes on the clock Podolski gave them a glimmer of hope when he lashed a left-footed volley into the bottom-left corner from 15 yards.

But it was too little, too late. Schweinsteiger's moment of madness capped a disappointing day for the Germans, who will need a point against Austria in the final match of the group stage to qualify for the knockout phase.

Tom Williams / Eurosport

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  1. Blah blah blah You will beat Turkey but will go out against the next good team you face

    From Michelin man, on Mon 16 Jun 12:37PM

  2. Mike, you idiot. Read again and then comment. I said throu quatterfinals, not to quatterfinals. At least we don`t have pedofile political party. Your country is a Europe`s garbage collector.

    From cvek.danijel, on Sun 15 Jun 3:39PM

  3. Croatia is living proof of Darwins theory of natural selection. For 1,000 years, Croats were protecting Europes southern flank from Islamist aggression. The Croatian identity was forged in a pact with our Medievil Kings and the Pope. As part of the deal Croats would never surrender the land, and the Pope allowed the Croatians to do whatever they pleased within our territories and it would not be considered heresy. They are the only nation with a special arrangement with the Vatican. The gene pool of Croats should have resulted in a demographic potential of 100 million Croats today, yet there are only 9 million. Only the very strongest surrvived, and all the rest gave their lives for the defense of unapprecitve assholes that are now secular Europe (Eurabia). Hopefully a Euro-Cup victory will give Croatia the courage to say "EU no Thank You".

    From Squish Squish, on Sun 15 Jun 7:47AM

  4. netherlands is a team with a biggest referee "push" so far even that funny looking ooijer admited there was a penalty,and that offside goal..please that was pathetic-ok for france you won fair but against italy you had so much luck and referee help its disgracefull for uefa-cya in finals dutch @#$% to snatch another medal from you

    From maximthecroat, on Sat 14 Jun 10:45PM

  5. Look at all the angry croatians boo hoo ive insulted your country lets all get the violins out how about no1 gives a @#$% about you. And as for the idiot that said Holland wont get through to the quarter finals we already are you thick idiot.Maxin i didnt ask for a history lesson so shut up no1 cares about what you have just said!!!!

    From Michelin man, on Sat 14 Jun 4:40PM

  6. netherlands is so funny country,only things they do in life is play football and try to stay above the waterline,on the other side theres small country (croatia)that kick ass in almoust every sports,by the way mike you dutch ass...oles are probably the ugliest people that walked the earth ,theres a fraze :"@#$% rolls downhill"-well it probably rolls down to holland-that explains the look of you people ho ho ho

    From maximthecroat, on Sat 14 Jun 2:45PM

  7. For those who don´t know, some of the major croatian sport achievements: Soccer World Cup France 98´ 3rd place, Handball World Cup 03´ 1st place, Basketball 92´ 2nd place, water-polo 96´ 1st place, Cakitic World Champion K1 93´, Mavrovic European Boxing Champion, some other names you might know Janica Kostelic-world´s best skiing champion of all time, her brother Ivica Kostelic to. Then there are Goran Ivanisevic Wimbeldon Winner Tennis, Mirko Filipovic "CroCop" K1... I could go on like this forever. As I say´d, those are just SOME of the major achievements. It is safe to say that Croatia in sports all-togeather is much stronger than some France or England... I am not saying croatia will win this cup, but it is sure that it´s not as far from it as some here might say.
    For a country of 4.5million people, in sport´s croatia is one of the greatest. This is not some fantasy, this is reality. Look at the numbers, statistic´s, you´ll see...
    As long as other teams underestimate croats, croatia will beat them as easy as them germans.
    Btw. germans and croats have great relations since world war 1, that´s a fact to.
    Grüße and die Deutschen, wir freuen uns jeden sommer euch hier zu sehen ;)

    From capri_os, on Sat 14 Jun 2:31PM

  8. Mike_edmonds you are stupid, uncivilised sorry jerk. Maybe you didn`t know, but our guys always get gold or silver at informatics olimpic games. For sure you didn`t know that because you only know how to type, but not to think. That is too complicate for you. Just remember my words, you wont get throu quatterfinals.

    From cvek.danijel, on Sat 14 Jun 9:28AM

  9. look out mike!!!!!!!! theres a wave going at you!!!hahahahahahahhahahhahahaaa,DUTCH-what a f.....up country-like a bird cage-there are shitload of dutch as....oles on a space smaler than my toilet ,we may have 15 years of independents but we as a nation exist for couple of thousand years ,we had a king and an kingdom while you were just a northman tribes f.....ing wild boars in a nereby forest hahahahahaaa

    From maximthecroat, on Sat 14 Jun 1:06AM

  10. mike edmonds -you are a funny guy but please stop insulting my country and pray to God that first ice melting on the north pole dont sink your sorry country he he heheheheheee

    From maximthecroat, on Sat 14 Jun 12:39AM

  11. And i didnt say we didnt know where croatia was i said we didnt know anything about it as its so insignificant you either cant read or are really thick which 1 is it?????

    From Michelin man, on Fri 13 Jun 9:55PM

  12. Holland 4-1 France want take that Scerovec you stupid Croatian @#$% hahahahahahaa didnnt you say France would beat us how stupid do you feel

    From Michelin man, on Fri 13 Jun 9:52PM

  13. It seems to me that you are my puppet now. You're getting pretty @#$%. And you were acting so smart. But I guess that truth hurts. Your mom must be one ugly @#$%. I mean really ugly. When people see her on the street they try to feed her a carrot, cause they think she's a horse. Why did you tell me that nobody in your office knows geography? Come on. I know you're a bunch of idiots, but don't tell me that.

    From scerovec, on Fri 13 Jun 5:16PM

  14. Dance Scerovec dance

    From Michelin man, on Fri 13 Jun 4:45PM

  15. HEY EVERYBODY WE HAVE AN ANGRY CROAT IN THE HOUSE TAKE A BOW SCEROVEC.Oh low jibe bout my mum being ugly i bet yours is a model and you beat off to her everyday you sick weirdo. Im surprised you have a computer in your uncivilized country ive just asked every1 in the office and they dont know anything about Croatia so enlighten me why your unknown little country is so great cos i think Iraq sounds like a nicer place!! And also your using my put downs by sayin Noddy has an inbred family cant think of any of your own thicko?????

    From Michelin man, on Fri 13 Jun 4:44PM

  16. That's all you can think of? Pathetic. You two should really hook up. I think noddy would really like that. Look how he's licking you're ass. Mike, you can even get to @#$% this time unlike being fucked like normal, faget. Unless you don't want to @#$% a retard, cuz noddy is genuine idiot, can't even remember what he read like 5 seconds ago. But that's what you get when you're mom and dad are brother and sister. And I get it how stuff like you're mom is a whore and ugly as @#$% doesn't bother you. You probably hear it every day

    From scerovec, on Fri 13 Jun 4:11PM

  17. Scerovecs mum takes it up the bum

    From Michelin man, on Fri 13 Jun 3:30PM

  18. Well in all honesty the mum jibes dont bother me you are my puppet cos your getting so wound up by me its like im your master telling you what to do.Dance for me inferior croat dance you piece of @#$%

    From Michelin man, on Fri 13 Jun 3:29PM

  19. Ooooh, nooo... I'm dancing on a string. I'm doing exactly what you wanted. Calling your mom a whore, that's what you wanted, right? Wow, you must be really smart. Cause you made me do exactly what you wanted. I mean really really smart.

    From scerovec, on Fri 13 Jun 3:15PM

  20. Ooooh, nooo... I'm dancing on a string. I'm doing exactly what you wanted. Calling your mom a whore, that's what you wanted, right? Wow, you must be really smart. Cause you made me do exactly what you wanted. I mean really really smart.

    From scerovec, on Fri 13 Jun 3:12PM
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