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Croatia 2 – 1 Germany

This was very clearly the marquee matchup of Group B, seeing as the only Austria-Poland storyline anybody seemed interested in was the possibility of free beer for life. Both teams took the full three points from their openers. Germany looked impressive in a 2-0 win over a Polish team running a particularly inept offside trap, and although Croatia did not give an especially commanding performance in beating co-host Austria 1-0, their status as a dark horse pick to win the tournament attests to the quality of their squad.

I’ve been a Tottenham supporter for the past seven years, so I was looking forward to watching new Spurs signing Luka Modric. I admit that I know next to nothing about him (I must have had class during FSC’s Croatian League Review Show last semester), and I was a little too hungover to notice much more than his (poorly-taken) penalty in Croatia’s first match, but everyone seems to be raving about him so I’m excited to see him at White Hart Lane next year.

Croatia struck first in the 24th minute, with Darijo Srna finishing a nice cross from Danijel Pranjic following some very patient ball movement. After Modric controlled the ball deep in their own half, Croatia strung together 15 passes before Srna made German defender Marcell Jansen look absolutely terrible in beating him to the ball. Give credit to Ivan Rakitic, whose run into the box drew three defenders and gave Pranjic time to settle the ball, look up, send a quick text, grab a bite to eat and then pick out Srna.

Anybody know exactly what Croatian coach Slaven Bilic’s lucky charm is? ESPN’s cameras caught him kissing something feverishly before putting it in his pocket. Personally, I hope it’s a guitar pick.

In the 47th minute Michel Ballack had the ball cleanly tackled away near the top of Croatia’s box. After crying out and rolling on the ground in faux-agony, he sat there pouting momentarily before getting up when he realized Germany had kept the ball and was mounting an attack. Ballack then proceeded to send a decent chance well over the bar. Just a minute…Yep, I still hate him. All in all, a pretty awful performance by the German captain.

Croatia’s second goal was the result of two very fortunate bounces, but Ivica Olic was much quicker to react to the rebound off the post than the two German defenders who looked on helplessly. Lukas Podolski managed to get one back for Germany with another left-footed strike, continuing to be Germany’s only offense (Miroslav Klose might as well be invisible, and Mario Gomez has managed to flub a gift-wrapped opportunity against Poland and get caught offside repeatedly against Croatia).

In an impossibly idiotic move, Bastian Schweinsteiger earned himself a straight red (Hey, that’s the name of this blog!) by shoving Jerko Leko directly in front of the linesman during injury time with his team down a goal, effectively ending the game. The talking heads at ESPN all seemed to think a red card was a little harsh, but I disagree. Sure, Leko slid at Schweinsteiger from behind, and the German didn’t exactly coldcock him, but it was physical violence clearly done in retaliation for a slide tackle. If that doesn’t warrant a red card, what does?

The Croatians reacted to their victory as if they’d just won the whole tournament, but who am I to begrudge them a little celebration? The Germans got outplayed, but their road to the quarterfinals does not look particularly difficult, as they need just a draw with a weak Austrian team to advance even if Croatia decides to send out a second-string team against Poland on Monday.