Nearly 10 years have passed since Croatia celebrated their greatest triumph on the international stage. The most famous Vatreni side in history, which included today’s Coaching staff Slaven Bilic, Aljosa Asanovic and Robert Prosinecki, beat Germany 3-0 thanks to goals from Davor Suker, Goran Vlaovic and the majestic Robert Jarni.

That victory is inspiring the current Croatia squad, who are just as talented as their predecessors and, more importantly, better prepared. Six of Bilic’s 23-man squad regularly play in the German League. Captain Niko Kovac was born there, while strikers Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic put fear into Bundesliga defences throughout last season, scoring 27 goals between them.

Trading on reputation, as their lacklustre performance against Austria showed on Sunday, will only get the Vatreni so far however. Luka Modric’s fourth-minute winner, the fastest penalty awarded and scored in European Championship history, was the only shot the Croats had on target all match. Bilic’s side were dominant in the first half, retaining 59 per cent of possession, but retreated after the interval making for a nervy finish.

Petric and Olic often had to come deep to receive the ball, nullifying their threat and exhausting them as the game progressed. Darijo Srna was arguably Croatia’s best performer at the weekend, working tireless up and down the right flank. The 26-year-old covered 11,172m in Vienna and will be expected to do the same in Klagenfurt, where he will need to use his engine to pin back Lukas Podolski, who scored both of Germany’s goals in their 2-0 win against Poland four days ago.

The Germans started their campaign in impressive fashion, tearing apart the Poles with some impressive movement and incisive passing. The Mannschaft’s energetic wing-play, embodied in Werder Bremen’s Clemens Fritz will cause Croatia problems on the left, an area Germany scout Urs Siegentaler has already identified as a weak point.

Germany’s tall and speedy front line will also provide Croatia’s central defensive partnership of Josip Simunic and Robert Kovac with their sternest test yet. Miroslav Klose was caught speeding through the Polish back four at 18mph on Sunday and has a good record against the Vatreni, netting the opener in their last encounter, which ended 2-1 four years ago.

Ref From channel4.com

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s first international goal in almost three years helped Sweden to overcome reigning champions Greece in a dire Group D encounter.

Otto Rehhagel’s men upset the odds in Portugal four years ago to lift the continental trophy for the first time in their history, proving that good organisation goes a long way – and they followed that game plan this time out, with trying to keep the opposition out coming top of their agenda.

The team sheets confirmed the news that all football fans – Greece apart – were desperate to hear, as Henrik Larsson was named in Lars Lagerback’s starting XI alongside Inter ace Ibrahimovic. But the tactician, who is the first to be present at three European Championships, surprisingly started without Lyon playmaker Kim Kallstrom.

His opposite number Rehhagel was delighted to be able to call upon former Inter midfielder Giorgios Karagounis, who shrugged off a knee injury to take his place in the side, while leading scorer in qualifying Theofanis Gekas got the nod over in-form Dimitris Salpingidis up front. Paraskevas Antzas, meanwhile, was handed a role in defence which allowed ex-Roma defender Traianos Dellas to operate as a sweeper.

The action got underway with a poor tackle from Angelos Charisteas – the only scorer in the Euro 2004 Final – which earned him a yellow card and shortly after Sweden had a great opportunity to open the scoring as Petter Hansson headed over from a corner.

Charisteas looked to make up for his earlier indiscretion with a stunning run from the right flank, but he could only fire straight at former Juventus goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson. Up the other end, a sweet volley from Anders Svensson went into the crowd and there were a few Greek hearts in mouths when Christian Wilhelmsson found himself in acres of space in the area only to see an offside flag raised.

However, the early action soon made way for some dire football as Greece looked to play the ball about along their back line at every opportunity and Sweden refused to fall into their trap. It led to both teams loudly booing the players and it nearly spurred Ibrahimovic into action as he headed a long ball into the box on to the roof of the net.

And the Inter man wished that the half-time whistle had come five minutes early as he was the victim of a low blow which brought tears to the eyes of every man watching. There was still time for Angelos Basinas to fire in a testing drive from distance, but at the interval there was nothing to separate the two teams.

Rehaggel clearly wasn’t impressed with what he saw of Gekas in the opening half as he hauled off the Bayer Leverkusen hitman to give Georgios Samaras the chance to see if he could fare any better.

The game almost got a much-needed goal earlier in the second period when Wilhelmsson chipped over the bar when well place before Ibra attempted a blockbuster effort from a free-kick was all of 30 yards away from goal, only to see it deflect off Karagounis over the bar.

The ex-Inter flop was right in the thick of it at the other end too as he looked to take advantage of an Olof Mellberg error, but he failed to significantly test Isaksson at the second attempt. Rather than heed the warning, Hansson then came agonisingly close to scoring an incredible only goal, but once again the ‘keeper bailed the Swedes out.

It proved to be a couple of crucial interventions because minutes later Lagerback’s men went on the offensive and scored a goal out of nothing. Ibrahimovic played a neat one-two with Larsson before smashing a howitzer past Nikopolidis. It was his first strike for his country since netting in a World Cup qualifier against Iceland in October 2005.

The goal caused Rehaggel to take evasive action as Giannis Amanatidis replaced Traianos Dellas to give Samaras some support. Lagerback followed suit by withdrawing goal hero Ibrahimovic, who is still suffering from a knee injury, for Johan Elmander.

Greece immediately paid for their defensive reshuffle, as Freddie Ljungberg was afforded yards of space on the edge of the box. Although Nikopolidis kept out the West Ham winger’s shot, a defensive shambles allowed Hansson to somehow bundle the ball home to double the Swedes’ advantage.

Another Sweden change took place after the second goal when Frederik Stoor came on for Niclas Alexandersson and there was then a worrying moment for Lagerback as Wilhelmsson went down clutching his hamstring after a run down the right flank. The former Roma winger soon made way for Markus Rosenberg.

The last meaningful action of the game saw Larsson curl over a free-kick from 25 yards, but it didn’t have any impact on the end result as Sweden ran out deserved winners. They now look favourites to progress alongside Spain, while Greece need to rediscover their form of four years ago if they are to make a meaningful defence of their crown.
Greece: Nikopolidis; Antzas, Dellas (Amanatidis 70), Kyrgiakos; Seitaridis, Karagounis, Basinas, Katsouranis, Torosidis; Gekas (Samaras 46), Charisteas

Sweden: Isaksson; Alexandersson (Stoor 74), Mellberg, Hansson, Nilsson; Wilhelmsson (Rosenborg 78), Svensson, Ljungberg; Andersson; Ibrahimovic (Elmander 71), H Larsson

Ref: Busacca (Swi)

Ref From channel4.com

Spain got their European Championship campaign off to a stunning start, as David Villa’s hat-trick was enough to comfortably see off Russia in Group D’s opening game.

The two sides are no strangers, as they also met at the group stage in Portugal four years ago. Juan Carlos Valeron proved to be the Red Fury’s match-winner on that occasion, but neither side reached the quarter-finals so they will be hoping to improve their fortunes this time out.

Luis Aragones surprisingly opted to omit Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas from Spain’s starting XI as he decided to go with anchorman Marcos Senna in the middle of the park. And it perhaps wasn’t the Russia side that he expected opposite number Guus Hiddink to field, as Roman Shirokov and Denis Kolodin lined-up alongside each other at the heart of the defence for the first time in a competitive game.

It was a decision the Dutchman – incidentally the first Coach to lead two different nations at a European Championship, having been in the Holland hot seat at Euro ’96 – quickly began to regret as Spain made light of the heavy rain in Innsbruck to dominate the early stages. First Fernando Torres went close and then Villa opted for a shot when perhaps the pass would have been a more selfless option.

And though a lovely Russian passing move almost created a goal at the other end, it was the Red Fury who opened the scoring. Torres shrugged off a challenge from Kolodin and, clearly learning from his partner’s mistake earlier, played the ball back to Villa to hand Spain the perfect start.

The lead was almost immediately wiped out though, as some comical Spanish defending allowed Konstantin Zyryanov time and space in the box only to see his shot agonisingly come back off the post.

However, normal service quickly resumed as the ever-dangerous Torres tested Akinfeev from distance and Villa quickly followed suit from slightly closer in. It really was child’s play for the boys in red as they were cutting through a shoddy Russian backline with ease time and time again.

It was soon 2-0 to Aragones’ side, but not before Roman Pavlyuchenko gave them a scare after hitting the crossbar – although the referee’s whistle had blown just before he struck it. It was that man Villa again who extended the advantage on the stroke of half-time, taking advantage of space in behind to get on the end of a lovely Andres Iniesta through ball. The finish, through Akinfeev’s legs, was majestic.

The second half began with a change for Russia, as Dmitri Sychev made way for Vladimir Bystrov and the speedy winger was quickly looking threatening. After almost getting in behind, the Spartak Moscow man then headed the resulting corner straight at Iker Casillas. Sensing danger, Aragones surprisingly withdrew Torres for Fabregas in a bid to shore up the midfield. Responding to this, Hiddink threw on Dmitri Torbinsky in place of Igor Semshov.

The change didn’t exactly have the desired effect, as Spain almost added to their advantage through Villa once again. Some intelligent off-the-ball running opened things up for the Valencia man, but his low drive from just outside the box was smartly stopped by Akinfeev.

A similar effort from Bilyaletdinov at the other end almost caught out Casillas as Russia tried to get back into the game, but their rhythm was quickly disrupted as Spain made their second change of the evening, introducing Santi Cazorla for just his third cap in place of Iniesta.

The change seemed to inspire Spain as they attempted to set-up Villa for his hat-trick, with both Fabregas and Ramos just failing to pick him out when well placed. A corner then brought about chances for Senna and David Silva, but Akinfeev was up to the task.

Bizarrely, half-time substitute Bystrov was replaced by striker Roman Adamov just 25 minutes after coming on as Hiddink played his final card. It almost paid dividends as Pavlyuchenko had a deflected shot well saved by Casillas, but soon after it was game, set and match to Spain.

Breaking smartly, substitute Fabregas picked up the ball in the middle of the park and threaded a lovely ball through for Villa. It looked like the No 7 had fluffed his lines, but he readjusted superbly before coolly slotting past Akinfeev for the first hat-trick of Euro 2008. He celebrated by running over to his buddy Torres in the Spain dugout.

Another change followed in the 77th minute as Juventus-bound Xabi Alonso came on for Silva and Spain almost lost their clean-sheet when Pavlyuchenko – one of the few Russia players to come out of the game with any credit – narrowly missed the target from 25 yards. He didn’t have to wait long to get his reward though, as Spain failed to clear their lines from a corner and the Spartak Moscow man powerfully headed home.

The goal means that two teams have finally scored in the same game at Euro 2008, but it made no difference for Russia as they failed to take advantage of a great opportunity at one end to set up a grand-stand finish. Fabregas punished them in stoppage time as Akinfeev could only parry a Xavi shot into his path for an easy header, although the Arsenal man was clearly offside.
Spain: Casillas; Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila; Senna; Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 63), Xavi, Silva (Alonso 77); Villa, Torres (Fabregas 54)

Russia: Afinkeev; Anyukov, Kolodin, Shirokov, Zhirkov; Semak, Zyryanov, Semshov (Torbinski 58), Bilyaletdinov, Sychev (Bystrov 46) (Adamov 70); Pavlyuchenko

Ref: Plautz (Aus)

Ref From channel4.com