Klasnić completes Croatian clean sweep
June 16, 2008 at 9:44 pm | In Croatia | 1 CommentTags: Artur Boruc, Croatia, Danijel Pranjic, Dario Simic, Dariusz Dudka, Euzebiusz Smolarek, Ivan Klasnic, Ivan Rakitic, Jacek Bak, Klagenfurt, Leo Beenhakker, Mladen Petric, Roger Guerreiro, Tomasz Zahorski, Vedran Runje, Wojciech Lobodzinski, Worthersee Stadion
Croatia rested a host of players yet still proved too strong for Poland as they won 1-0 in Klagenfurt to finish on maximum points in Group B and confirm their opponents’ early exit.
Klasnić winner
Ivan Klasnić scored the winner early in the second half at the Wörthersee Stadion to end another defiant show from goalkeeper Artur Boruc and further boost Croatia’s confidence before they tackle Turkey in the quarter-finals on Friday. Poland’s slim qualifying hopes rested on at least a two-goal victory here and a win for Austria over Germany, and neither came off as Michael Ballack struck the only goal in Vienna.
How far can Croatia go?
June 13, 2008 at 11:34 pm | In Croatia | Leave a CommentTags: Croatia, Ivan Rakitic, Ivica Vastic, Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar, Slaven Bilic
Just 383 days. That is the age gap between Slaven Bilić and Ivica Vastic, two of Thursday’s prime movers but men pushing at totally opposite extremes in their respective trades. While one is the youngest coach in the competition and potentially the youngest ever to lift the trophy, the other is the tournament’s oldest player – and the man whose last-minute equaliser for Austria cemented top spot in Group B for Bilić and his charges.
Tournament contenders
Thanks to Vastic’s strident spot-kick, Croatia will avoid Portugal in the quarter-finals, a meeting many thought they were not only destined for but destined to lose. No-one will be quite so quick to write them off now, and Bilić’s pre-match comments that “any team that beats Germany can hope to beat anybody” will find real resonance when the tournament contenders are next tallied up. But what do you think? Can the mobility and technique of Luka Modrić, Niko Kranjčar and Ivan Rakitić see them through to the end or will more dynamic teams than Germany expose Robert Kovač and Josip Šimunić’s lack of pace at the back?
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