Germany suffered a huge blow to their European ambitions when they were beaten 2-1 by Croatia in their second group game in Klagenfurt. Croatia scored through Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic, while Lukas Podolski scored the only goal of the game for the Germans- his third in two games.

Croatia started with Ivan Rakitic instead of Mladen Petric. Germany named an unchanged side- the same one that dispatched Poland 2-0 with ease. And it was Slaven Bilic's side who took the lead in the 24th minute with their first shot on goal. Danijel Pranjic's cross from the left was slid in by Darijo Srna at the far post. Marcell Jansen was guilty of some poor defending on that occasion, and the German leftback did not look too comfortable with his defensive responsibilities. He was good going upfront, delivering a few good crosses which Gomez and Klose could not convert. And it was Jansen who nearly resulted in Germany going 0-2 down, when he failed to stop the advancing Vedran Corluka. Corluka sent the ball into the path of Niko Kranjcar, who shot straight at Lehmann.

Coach Joachim Low took off Jansen for the speedy David Odonkor. Lahm shifted to the left with Clemens Fritz going to right back. But it was Croatia who scored again, when Ivan Rakitic's cross took a wicked deflection off Podolski. It came back off the post, and Ivica Olic was present in the area to take away the pickings. Germany pulled one back with eleven minutes to go when Ballack's header hit Kovac and fell into the path of Lukas Podolski, who duly blasted it in. It was a tense last few minutes for Croatia, but Germany's woes were compounded when Bastian Schweinsteiger was sent off for shoving Jerko Leko.

Germany now face Austria, and a win there should see them through to the next stage in Euro 2008. Austria will not cave in easily, going by how they performed against Croatia and Poland.