Thu Jun 12 14:25:39 2008

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Croatia holds off Germany

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Klagenfurt, Austria (Sports Network) - Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic gave Croatia a two-goal cushion and it held on to edge Germany, 2-1, in the Euro 2008 finals Thursday.

Croatia moved into first place Group B and took a major step toward qualifying for the knockout stage. The last time Croatia advanced to the knockout stage of a major tournament was in the 1998 World Cup.

Croatia, which looked awful in a 1-0 win over Austria on Sunday, last defeated Germany in the quarterfinals of the '98 Cup. Croatia finished third that year.

Germany got its lone goal in the 79th minute from Lukas Podolski, who had both goals in Sunday's 2-0 win over Poland. Germany, one of the favorites to win the tournament, may need a win against co-host Austria in its last game to make the knockout round.

Austria plays Poland in the other match in Group B later Thursday.

After a slow opening 20 minutes, a great build up of more than 10 passes set up Srna's goal in the 24th minute, which changed the pace of the first half.

Croatia's Danijel Pranjic delivered the final pass on a perfect cross from the left side. His pass cleared Germany's tall defenders and Srna hustled to get to the ball on the right side at the edge of the six-yard box.

Srna slid just in front of Germany right back Marcell Jansen to direct the ball past goalie Jens Lehmann and into the right side of the net.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic jumped into the arms of an assistant on the sideline to celebrate the early one-goal lead.

Jansen nearly made up for letting Srna get through just two minutes later when he found striker Mario Gomez with a cross. But Gomez headed just high over the crossbar.

Croatia responded with another scoring opportunity in the 30th minute, but Niko Kranjcar fired high from about 15 yards out.

Germany captain Michael Ballack had a free kick saved at the left post in the 33rd minute, and defender Cristoph Metzelder had a header saved and another go high in the following seven minutes.

Croatia exploited Jansen again in the 42nd minute to set up Kranjcar inside the penalty area but, after he chested the ball down to set up a shot, Lehmann made a solid save.

Germany tried to fill its holes in defense at the start of the second half with Philipp Lahm moving to right back to replace Jansen and Clemens Fritz switching from left midfield to left back. David Odonkor entered at right midfield.

Although Germany's defense looked a little better early in the half, an unlucky deflection off Podolski led to Croatia's second goal. A cross by Croatia barely hit Podolski and deflected off the right post.

The ball then bounced to Olic, who was in the right place at the right time, to hammer the ball into an open net in the 62nd minute.

Germany continued to search for offense and Bastian Schweinsteiger came off the bench to prove a spark. He took over on the left side of midfield and Podolski moved to forward.

Schweinsteiger just missed scoring Germany's first goal in the 73rd minute when his shot from deep inside the penalty area on the left was deflected just wide by Croatia goalie Stipe Pletkiosa.

Schweinsteiger played a part in helping set up Podolski's goal, working with Lahm on the right side. Lahm crossed into the box and Ballack got a head to the ball. Croatia's Robert Kovac was there to clear it but the ball went just a few yards.

Podolski ran onto the short clearance and hammered a volley into the left side of the net from about 10 yards to easily beat Pletkiosa.

Germany failed to take advantage of the momentum from the goal and, despite the addition of striker Kevin Kuranyi to the game, saw all of its hopes erased with a few minutes to go when Schweinsteiger received the first red card of Euros.

After being fouled, Schweinsteiger was ejected for shoving a Croatia player and the resulting arguments also resulted in yellow cards for Lehmann and Croatia's Luka Modric.

Schweinsteiger, who also got a yellow card for the first match, will miss the next game for Germany (1-1-0) on Monday against Austria. Croatia (2-0-0) plays Poland in its final group match Monday.