Euro 2008 LIVEBLOG: Croatia vs Poland

GROUP A	June 16, 2045 CET, Klagenfurt (Austria)
Croatia 1 VS Poland 0 Klasnic 53′

FULLTIME: And Croatia goes 3-0-0. Who picked that? And Germany wins 1-0, they go through as well.

Rakitic fires one over. He should absolutely be in the lineup to face Turkey. Great performance from him today. He and Modric are a mighty good core for the future of Croatia.

90′ Croatian set piece turns into nothing more than a Polish throw. 3 minutes remaining.

Zahorski just missed a clear 1v1 chance right there. Should have done better, surely.

Vukojevic gets a yellow, Smolarek fires just high. Better performance in the substitute role for him. Something going out, I guess.

84′ Completely forgot about this one: could you imagine if Croatia had Eduardo at their disposal? Yikes.

81′ Smolarek works himself some space, but fires wide. He’ll be one of those more disappointed. Big expectations going inand he really has done little to speak of, aside from being benched to start this last game.

And despite Poland’s likely early exit (two miracles? doubtful), Artur Boruc deserves a spot on the all tourny team, even though he only played 3. He’s been simply fantastic.

Rakitic free kick a bit high.

78′ Poland pressuring, Croatia defending well.

76′ Beenhakker looks miserable. Disappointing tournament for them so far, much like 2006.
Mladen Petric also off, Krancjar on.

Klasnic comes off, a good performance from him. Kalinic on.

72′ Poland fires a decent ball into the box but there’s just no one to get on the end of these.

70′ Smolarek’s offside by a few yards on a decent Polish chance. They’re going to need a Turkish miracle now.

Klasnic goal:

68′ Rakitic is down and being stretchered off. Shoulda taken him off Slaven…..

66′ Pranjic’s looking for a spot on the team of the tournament. Swoops onto the ball and fires one into Boruc which is saved.

64′ Klasnic just misses his brace. Credit to Croatia, they could’ve laid down for Poland and hoped to see Austria knock Germany out now but they’ve come to play and come to win.

62′ Oh Rogerski! Brilliantly deft turn in the box here and the skimmer just goes wide of the post.

60′ A fog is descending upon Klagenfurt’s pitch. Perhaps that’s Poland’s curtain?

Time to get Rakitic and Pranjic off for Slaven. These two have been fantastic all day.

57′ Croatia is just taking over here. And really, you’d be hard pressed not to say this team has final potential, even though it’s just their second string team out there. A quality machine built by Bilic.

Smolarek comes on for Lobodinski.

Really, couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person. To kidney transplants in a year, and he’s scoring a goal in the Euros 6 months after his return.

53′ GOAL KLASNIC…..and Poland is almost certainly going home, ladies and gents. Pranjic again with the pass. Fantastic game from him.

49′ Corner Polska…no dice….1-0 Germany, this one’s all but over.

47′ Pranjic has looked mighty good today, even after his early knock. Fires a cross just beyond Petric.

46′ Geurreiroski takes a shot from distance, no dice there.

Second half kickoff….

HALFTIME Poland has a lot of work to do if they want to advance. Unfortunately, it just looks at though they’re a class behind.

47′ Boruc saves goal #4 for Poland. Rakitic in on him 1v1 again. Good christ will a big club sign him already?

45′ Vejic is yellow carded…..Poland free kick knocked out of the box…..goal kick Croatia.

44′ Jerko Leko fires a gopher hunter just wide from distance. Solid attempt there.

42′ Whoa, both coaches in the other game were just sent off.

39′ Petric takes a weak shot there, scuffs it wide of the post.

Lewandowski is yellowed and will miss the next match. Quarterfinal hopes are a long way away. Their best chance may be a Croatia red card.

37′ Boruc saves potential goal #3. His price is just skyrocketing.

35′ Rakitic’s cross flies through the 6 yard box untouched. Dangerous stuff. Seems only a matter of time.

34′ Still nil-nil on the other side….Rakitic is stoned by Boruc. Keeper of the tournament.

32′ Boruc stuffs Klasnic 1v1 and may have just saved Poland’s chances, because they look far from being capable of getting 3 goals right now.

29′ No yellow cards yet, which is nice. Everybody loves one another. Gorgeous ball by Pranjic (?) to Petric who was offside, but just a beautiful leading ball.

28′ Boruc isn’t looking as unshakable as he once was now…

26′ Knezevic is off with an injury, Corluka’s on. Tough for him. I still remember that bullshit run out of the defense for Livorno through the Roman midfield this year. Great stuff.

24′ Another Rakitic free kick is pounded off the Murawski’s face, throw in. Croatia eventually concedes a goal kick which was probably a corner.

22′ Rakitic free kick…..and waiting…..and waiting……and waiting……saved by Boruc easily.

Rakitic may be every bit as good as Modric someday. Helluva talent, and early rumor this morning that Juventus is interested.

20′ Oh my - free kick into the box is headed onto Klasnic surging in to the back post and he can’t get there in time. Very nearly 1-0 there.

This Croatian 2nd string looks every bit as equal as Poland’s 1st string right now.

19′ Tommy Smyth actually said it best, very much a “sparring match” right now. This is no heavyweight title fight, that’s for damn sure.

17′ Boruc fakes out Petric…down to the other end for Poland where they win a corner. Game’s picking up.

0-0 on the other side of town as well.

14′ Pranjic had an amazing chance from about 5 yards wide of the net but Boruc had the angle and Pranjic forced it just wide.

13′ “Highly Brazilian by Guerreiro”….I love that Roger has tried to learn the Polish national anthem (I think, right?). You could learn a thing or two from him, Camoranesi.

11′ What a chance there on the corner for Poland….amazing chance but it’s headed just wide.

9 Foul on Klasnic and he did not appreciate that whatsoever. No real chance here……good chance for them. Croatian keeper clears it out and then Lewandowski (I think) tries to cross it into 8 Croatian bodies without a teammate in sight. Corner win, though….

6′ Still 0-0 in Germany, doing the best to keep an eye on both games here to see how it impacts the game for Poland. Austria goes up and you just may see a burst of life. Gomez missed a sitter. Whoa.

4′ Poland win a corner here…ball cleared out and Croatia win a free kick. Rough and tumble game already.

2′ Already bad news for Croatia as one of the two starters left - along with Rakitic - in Pranjic is down receiving treatment after a really late challenge it seemed. Going down on the same play was Rakitic. Cripes.

KICKOFF

Pedro Gomez in the house! What is this guy doing here? Doesn’t Barry Zito have another potential bullpen stint to be covered?

Get your lineups here:

Poland

* 01 Boruc
* 13 Wasilewski
* 14 Zewlakow
* 05 Dudka
* 03 Wawrzyniak
* 17 Lobodzinski
* 19 Murawski
* 20 Roger
* 18 Lewandowski
* 08 Krzynowek
* 11 Saganowski

Croatia

* 23 Runje
* 02 Simic
* 06 Vejic
* 15 Knezevic
* 22 Pranjic
* 16 Leko
* 08 Vukojevic
* 13 Pokrivac
* 07 Rakitic
* 17 Klasnic
* 21 Petric