Croatia coast to victory
Croatia made it three wins from three in the group stage as they defeated Poland 1-0 in Klagenfurt.Slaven Bilic's side, who had already qualified for the last eight, wasted a whole host of chances before Ivan Klasnic slammed home a 53rd minute winner to kill off any hopes Poland had of beating Germany to second spot in the group.
Despite making nine changes to the side that beat Germany last week, Croatia still looked a class above a nervous and often panic stricken Poland side.
Hrvoje Vejic came within a whisker of giving Croatia an early lead from Ivan Rakitic's free-kick, while Danijel Pranjic wasted a glorious opportunity after curling the ball harmlessly wide after breaking clear.
Croatia continued to look the more threatening of the two teams and Klasnic should have given his side the lead mid-way through the first-half after being played through on goal by Mladen Petric, but Artur Boruc came to the rescue for Poland with a wonderful save.
But there was nothing the Celtic stopper could do eight minutes into the second-half as Pranjic found Klasnic in space, and the Werder Bremen man made no mistake, slotting the ball past Boruc with ease.
Roger Guerreiro wasted Poland's best opportunity to equalise, shooting well wide after finding space just outside the penalty area, but any goal would have proved inconsequential with Germany gaining the points they required to take second spot behind Croatia.
Bilic's side will now face Turkey in the last eight in Vienna on Friday.
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