Thursday, 12 June 2008
Day six of GroundReport’s exclusive on-the-ground coverage of Euro2008.
From the way the Croatians celebrated, onlookers would have guessed they won the Cup.
The Germans looked lackluster and utterly lifeless throughout the match. Captain and veteran mid-fielder Michael Ballack could not get into the game, and was often found bickering with the referee rather than distributing through-balls to his strikers.
Croatia struck first in the 24th minute, when Darijo Srna snuck his defender to stick in fellow mid-fielder Danijel Pranjic’s cross from thirty yards out. The Croats should have gone up 2-0 right before the half, when German keeper Jens Lehmann was called into action to save an Ivica Olic power volley from point blank range.
In the 62nd minute, the 1998 World Cup bronze medalists did go up by two after an unlucky bounce from another hopeful Croatian cross fooled Lehmann after being deflected by Lukas Podolski. The ball scuttled past the outstretched fingers of Lehmann, who was caught going the other way, and off the up-right, where it fell perfectly for a grateful Ivica Olic to tap in.
The Germans made it interesting in the 79th minute, though. A cross from defender Philip Lahm bounced off two or three heads in the penalty box before falling gloriously for Podolski, who made no mistake about his volley and pulled his side back to within one. Substitute winger Bastian Scweinsteiger and Philip Lahm, who had been switched from the right side back to his natural left at the start of the second half, had been piecing together several threatening aerial crosses and set pieces to keep Germany at least hoping.
And then, with just seconds remaining in the match and the Germans knocking on the Croatian goal’s door, Bastian Scweinsteiger was sent off – the first red card shown in the tournament and the knockout punch for Germany’s chances to draw level. A retaliatory push after Croatian mid-fielder Jerko Leko attempted to slide tackle from behind saw the Bayern Munich man ejected and suspended for Germany’s final match on Sunday.
Croatia now have the lead atop Group B, with Poland and Austria still yet to play their second match. Of the four teams in the group, the top two advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament – runners-up play Portugal, who secured first place after yesterday’s Group A fixtures, and the winners plays either the Czech Republic or Turkey.
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