Euro 2008 Diary; Germans In Jeopardy; Poles Penalty Pain

Euro 2008 Diary - Thursday June 12 2008

Croatia follow Portugal into the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 after shocking Germany 2-1 in Group B in Klagenfurt.

Germany’s defensive weaknesses are exposed on 24 minutes when hapless left-back Marcel Jansen fails to react to Danijel Pranjic’s cross, allowing Darijo Srna to fire past Jens Lehmann. Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar misses two great opportunities to increase the lead before half-time, but the reprieve is only temporary. On 63 minutes Ivan Rakitic’s cross deflects off Lukas Podolski, on to Lehmann’s left hand post and falls nicely at the feet of Ivica Olic for a simple tap-in.

Podolski pulls one back 12 minutes from time but when Bastian Schweinsteiger picks up the first red card of the tournament for a push on the academy award nominated Jerko Leko, the game is up for Joachim Low’s side;

“Looking back at the match we deserved to lose.” concedes the German boss;

“We didn't manage to play through the midfield, we played too many high balls, our game off the ball was bad, we did not run the combinations and precision was lacking.” he adds.

Apart from that, they were brilliant.

Croatia manager Slaven Bilic remembers the old cliché about never writing off the Germans;

“We controlled the game but Germany are still a great team and still one of the favourites for the title.” he insists;

“It was a great game. But I want to congratulate my players - not only for the fight they showed but for playing an excellent match.”

Germany must now avoid defeat to Austria in their final game on Monday (June 16) to guarantee their passage to the last eight.

On the subject of Austria, the co-hosts benefit from the first noticeable contribution from an Englishman in Euro 2008. Trailing 1-0 to Roger Guerreiro’s distinctly offside goal on the half hour, Austria are rescued deep into injury time when Premier League referee Howard Webb awards a penalty for a grab by Maruisz Lewandowski on Sebastien Proedl. Step forward veteran Ivica Vastic, who blasts the ball past the previously unbeatable Artur Boruc in the Polish goal;

“Maybe he (Webb) wants to show he is a big boy and has the guts to do it, I don't know.” rages Poland coach Leo Beenhakker, sounding like any number of irate Premier League managers down the years;

“I've never had a problem in 43 years of being in football but this is something I cannot understand.” he says, stretching things a little;

“We don't have it (qualification) in our own hands any more and the conclusion is we are out of the tournament.” he concludes, rather pessimistically.

Austria will reach the last eight if they can beat Germany in Vienna in their final game, provided the Poles do not beat Croatia by a bigger margin.

Putting that to one side, Austrian coach Josef Hickersberger takes the view that his side should have been well clear long before Webb’s controversial intervention;

“We should have been 2-0 up but we didn't score.” he chirps, reflecting on glorious but wasted first half opportunities for Martin Harnik;

“My team reacted well after falling 1-0 behind to a goal that was offside.” he points out, shrugging slightly.

One piece of Premier League transfer news sees Iranian international Andranik Teymourian join Fulham from Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer. He is the second freebie picked up by Roy Hodgson this week following the arrival of Zoltan Gera from West Bromwich Albion, and the third of the summer after goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer made the switch from Middlesbrough.

By Stephen Orford

13 June 2008