Euro 2008 Diary [day6]

Croatia 2-1 Germany

In Klagenfurt "two of England's greatest foes" come head to head according to Peter Drury, which will no doubt be news to Scottish and Argentine ears. It's the least foe-like of England's foes who take the lead midway through the half as patient build up play on the left ends with Danijel Pranjic crossing and Darijo Srna turning it home at the far post. The Croats are in control and Niko Krancjar should double the advantage from Ivica Olic's nod down. Germany's best spell comes after half an hour; a long range Michael Ballack free-kick is saved by Stipe Pletikosa while Torsten Frings and Christoph Metzelder also come close to an equaliser. Just as it seems the tide has turned Vedran Corluka breaks down the right and from his square ball Olic tees up Krancjar again, however Jens Lehman pulls off a great save. "Croatia could be out of sight by now" observes Jim Beglin.

The second half starts somewhat bizarrely with Jens Lehman taking a bite out of the matchball before a goal-kick. Germany attempt to edge their way back into the game, but the final ball continues to elude them. Croatia have better luck, and out of nothing they double their lead; Ivan Rakitic's low hard cross deflects goal-wards off Lukas Podolski and Lehman can only turn it off the post to the feet of the grateful Olic. "Deutschland, Deutschland, Auf Weidersehen" sing the Croat fans.

Bastian Shweinsteiger forces a save from Pletikosa with a low shot from a narrow angle, then with ten minutes left Podolski volleys in to give life to the final ten minutes. Croatia make it to the ninetieth minute though, and then subsequently to the corner flag. In the three minutes injury time there is still time for four cards to be shown including the tournament's first red one, to Schweinsteiger who reacts angrily to a foul by Jerko Leko and faces the obvious penalty. The post-match reaction hailed it as an upset, but Croatia have proved themselves far from underdogs; through to the quarter finals with a game to spare.

Austria 1-1 Poland

According to the commentary the crowd in Vienna is a 50/50 split, but it sounds distinctly more Austrian in the opening minutes. Both sides have elected to start with their impact substitutes from the opening games; Roger Guerreiro for Poland, Umit Korkmaz for Austria. The hosts continue where they left off against Croatia dominating the opening quarter of an hour and creating a number of great chances. The first comes as Mariusz Jop dallies over a lazy back-pass and Martin Harnik goes clean through only for Artur Boruc to get a telling touch. Minutes later Korkmaz's pull back is finished tamely by Harnik and again Boruc saves. The Celtic keeper completes a hat-trick of crucial stops a minute later as he denies Christoph Leitgeb who has had since the halfway line to weigh up his options.

After surviving the onslaught Poland hit Austria in the words of Mark Lawrenson with an "absolute sucker punch". Marek Saganowski controls across, turns and shoots, the defender and keeper can only direct it across goal to the waiting, and marginally offside, Guerreiro who gets his first goal for his adopted nation. Austria, clearly shell-shocked by the goal muster one more key opportunity in stoppage time, but waste a free-kick and go in behind. As Martin O'Neil deftly puts it; "Every time Austria get through, the goal is getting smaller and smaller".

The second half is understandably not as open as the first, but, aside from a Jacek Krzynowek free-kick from distance that is turned over by Jurgen Macho, Austria remain the dominant side. In the final ten minutes a corner finds its way to Jurgen Saumel who volleys it goalwards, but in the words of John Champion "like so many efforts before it goes high into the Viennese night sky". As the final whistle approaches and when it seems like Austrian hope is gone the hosts lump one last free-kick into the box and Howard Webb points to the spot. Sebastian Proedl has been hauled down by Mariusz Lewandowski and Ivica Vastic scores the resultant penalty. A point is rescued and Mark Lawrenson thumbs through his thesaurus to observe that down on the touchline Polish coach Leo Beenhakker is "going absolutely apoplectic".