Thursday, June 12, 2008

Game 11: Croatia Conquers Germany

The upsets just keep on coming as Germany and Croatia reversed their form from Sunday. After narrowly defeating Austria on Sunday Croatia was a heavy underdog against the Germans who were fresh off a dominant performance over Poland. The only German to produce in this match was Lukas Podolski, who again found the back of the net, but it was too little to late as Croatia preserved their 2-1 lead into full time. Captain Michael Ballack had an abysmal performance, showing no leadership and even getting carded for continually badgering the officials all match. Meanwhile Jens Lehmann proved to everyone why he had been dropped from Arsenal's starting XI after showing the reflexes of a sloth and the poise and composure of a schizophrenic meth addict. Then in injury time Bastian Schweinsteiger earns himself a straight red card, which rules him ineligble for Germany's must win game against Austria on Monday, further embarassing Joachim Löw's side. With goals by Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic Croatia looked to be in control of the match from start to finish, completely changing the structure of Group B. It now appears that Croatia is firmly in the driver's seat, depending on what happens in the late game between Poland and Austria.

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