KLAGENFURT (Austria), June 13: Fearless Croatia pulled off a memorable 2-1 win over Group ‘B’ favourites Germany on Thursday to move to the brink of a place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals.

Darijo Srna beat Marcell Jansen to poke home a curling cross from the left by Danijel Pranjic in the first half and Ivica Olic tapped the ball in early in the second period after a centre by Ivan Rakitic had struck Lukas Podolski and a post.

Germany pulled one back in the 79th minute through Podolski but Croatia held on for a victory that revived memories of their 3-0 triumph over Germany in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals.

To add to Germany’s misery substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger became the first player to be sent off at these finals when he pushed Jerko Leko to the ground in retaliation for a tackle from behind.

Bilic’s team certainly kept things tight early on and were dangerous in attack.

Pranjic gave Germany a warning of what was to come when he whipped in a cross that the defence struggled to clear.

The same player then headed over the bar, with keeper Jens Lehmann beaten, and Christoph Metzelder produced a last-gasp sliding tackle to deny Olic. The first goal came in the 24th minute, Srna proving too sharp for Jansen.

The Germans went close with a Ballack free kick and a header from Metzelder that flashed over.

Coach Joachim Loew sent on David Odonkor to add pace on the right and Ballack shot over from the edge of the area.

The second goal had an element of luck about it but it was reward for the excellent attitude Croatia showed and they managed to hold on after Podolski netted his third goal of the event.

In Vienna, an injury-time penalty by Ivica Vastic earned co-hosts Austria a dramatic 1-1 draw with Poland.

A confident Vastic showed no sign of nerves as he sent goalkeeper Artur Boruc the wrong way from the spot after Sebastian Proedl had his shirt pulled by Mariusz Lewandowski in the 93rd minute.

Earlier, Roger Guerreiro gave Poland a fortunate first-half lead.

Guerreiro was clearly offside when he scored his first goal for his adopted country from a 30th-minute scramble at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

Austria and Poland have one point in Group ‘B’, with Germany on three and Croatia top on six certain of a place in the quarters.

The co-hosts paid the price for squandering early opportunities.

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger told his side to go out guns blazing against the Poles. The message got through and his team should have been 3-0 up inside 20 minutes after Poland’s ramshackle defence was repeatedly split wide open.

Martin Harnik failed twice with Boruc at his mercy and Christoph Leitgeb fared no better in his one-on-one with the keeper as a rampant Austria put Poland to the sword.

Unrecognisable from the side who qualified as group winners ahead of Portugal, Poland had been struggling to string two passes together before Guerreiro put them ahead.

Ebi Smolarek picked out Marek Saganowski with a long pass to the far post but his effort was blocked and Guerreiro steered the ball home in his fourth game for Poland.—Reuters