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Bilic's Croatia continue perfect record at Euros

16/06/2008

Croatia continued their winning streak at Euro 2008 after a 1-0 win over Poland in Klagenfurt.

Slaven Bilic's side finish top of Group B thanks to Ivan Klasnic's second-half strike.

Croatia will clash with Turkey in the quarter-finals on Friday in Vienna, while Poland are on the plane home after one point from three matches.

With qualification secured Croatia boss Bilic made nine changes to his starting lineup, while Jakub Wawrzyniak, Rafal Murawski, Wojciech Lobodzinski and Roger Guerreiro all started for the Poles.

In a cagey opening, both sides relied on set pieces to carve out chances with Dariusz Dudka heading wide from a corner for Poland while Hrvoje Vejic nodded the ball inches over from a Croatia free-kick.

Poland had Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc to thank for keeping them in the game with a string of fine saves.

First Boruc raced off his line to stop Ivan Klasnic when the striker was clean through, then minutes later he kept out Ivan Rakitic's strike from the left-side of the box.

Boruc continued to foil the Croats with another save to deny Klasnic from close range on the stroke of half-time.

Croatia's perseverance was rewarded at the start of the second half when Danijel Pranjic pulled the ball back for Klasnic to stroke the ball in on 52 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Guerreiro came agonisingly close to an equaliser when the Brazil-born midfielder turned and drilled a low shot inches wide of the post.

The rest of the half was a subdued affair with the game failing to come close to the classic encounters that have unfolded so far.

Poland woke up in the closing stages with Euzebiusz Smolarek rifling a shot from the edge of the box inches wide, while Marek Saganowski forced Stipe Pletikosa into a smart save.

But they left it too late as Croatia hung on to maintain their perfect start in the tournament.