Klasnic strike sends Croatia into last-eight with win record intact

“I’m happy that I’m here at all,” Klasnic said. “As I said once, this is like a bonus from God. It’s like a dream. I thank God that I’m alive and that I can play football.” Croatia won all three group games for the first time in three tournament appearances. They will play Turkey in the quarter-finals Friday in Vienna.

Poland needed to win convincingly and hope Austria beat Germany in Klagenfurt to advance. They got neither. Germany silenced Polish fans by taking the lead in the 48th minute for an eventual 1-0 win over the Euro 2008 co-hosts. Five minutes later, Klasnic gave Croatia the lead after threatening the defence all night.

Not good enough

Poland coach Leo Beenhakker said the defeat summed up his team’s tournament campaign. “We have tried and it was not enough, and I think that was more or less what we saw the whole tournament,” he said. “To be realistic, during this tournament we weren’t good enough.”

A second-string Croatia outclassed Poland for large parts of the match and it was only goalkeeper Artur Boruc who kept his team in the game. He twice rushed off his line to block shots by Klasnic and Ivan Rakitic after good passes by Mladen Petric had cut open Poland’s defense in the first half.