Group B

Croatia upset the apple cart by beating pre-tournament favourites Germany. Darijo Srna got on the end of a cross in the 23rd minute with an outstretched leg to poke the ball past Lehmann for the opener. Ten minutes later Pletikosa dealt well with a blistering free kick from Ballack, and Lehmann made a good reaction save from a Kranjcar volley in the 42nd minute to keep the first-half score at 1-0. A deflected low cross in the 62nd minute came off the post leaving Olic with a simple tap-in to double the lead. With 11 minutes remaining a clearance from a cross fell to Podolski who fired home to reduce the deficit, but Croatia showed more appetite in the closing stages and matters got worse for Germany when Bastian Schweinsteiger received his marching orders for an alteration with Leko in stoppage time. (Croatia 2 Germany 1)

Boruc made a string of saves in the first half to keep out Austria who needed a last gasp penalty to save the day. Harnik stole a back-pass in the 11th minute to run clear on goal, but was denied by Boruc in the Polish goal who also brilliantly stopped his close-rage effort two minutes later. Boruc came to the rescue again in the 16th minute when he came face-to-face with Leitgeb who had beaten the offside trap with his timely run, but in the 30th minute Saganowski drove a low ball past Macho across the face of goal for Guerreiro to find the empty net for Poland totally against the run of play. Austria lost heart in the 2nd half as Poland got back into the game and had to rely on Macho to block a shot from Ebi Smolarek in the 50th minute, but deep into stoppage time the referee awarded the host penalty which Ivica Vastic emphatically smashed in to earn Audtria a point. (Austria 1 Poland 1)