Croatia drop Petric against Germany
Enlarge imageBy Karolos Grohmann
KLAGENFURT (Reuters) - Croatia dropped striker Mladen Petric, who had a quiet opening game against Austria, in favour of Ivan Rakitic for Thursday’s Euro 2008 match against Germany.
Coach Slaven Bilic switched from his favourite 4-4-2 formation to 4-4-1-1 for the Group B game but it could transform into a 4-3-2-1 with Rakitic and Niko Kranjcar playing behind lone striker Ivica Olic.
Germany named the same side that beat Poland 2-0 on Sunday.
Coach Joachim Loew kept faith with Marcell Jansen at left back despite an unconvincing display in Klagenfurt while Lukas Podolski, who scored two goals against the Poles, remained on the left of midfield.
Croatia: 1-Stipe Pletikosa; 5-Vedran Corluka, 4-Robert Kovac, 3-Josip Simunic, 22-Danijel Pranjic; 11-Darijo Srna, 10-Niko Kovac, 14-Luka Modric, 19-Niko Kranjcar; 7-Ivan Rakitic, 18-Ivica Olic
Germany: 1-Jens Lehmann; 16-Philipp Lahm, 17-Per Mertesacker, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 2-Marcell Jansen; 4-Clemens Fritz, 8-Torsten Frings, 13-Michael Ballack, 20-Lukas Podolski; 11-Miroslav Klose, 9-Mario Gomez
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
(Editing by Patrick Johnston and Tony Jimenez)
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By Karolos Grohmann
KLAGENFURT (Reuters) - Croatia dropped striker Mladen Petric, who had a quiet opening game against Austria, in favour of Ivan Rakitic for Thursday’s Euro 2008 match against Germany.
Coach Slaven Bilic switched from his favourite 4-4-2 formation to 4-4-1-1 for the Group B game but it could transform into a 4-3-2-1 with Rakitic and Niko Kranjcar playing behind lone striker Ivica Olic.
Germany named the same side that beat Poland 2-0 on Sunday.
Coach Joachim Loew kept faith with Marcell Jansen at left back despite an unconvincing display in Klagenfurt while Lukas Podolski, who scored two goals against the Poles, remained on the left of midfield.
Croatia: 1-Stipe Pletikosa; 5-Vedran Corluka, 4-Robert Kovac, 3-Josip Simunic, 22-Danijel Pranjic; 11-Darijo Srna, 10-Niko Kovac, 14-Luka Modric, 19-Niko Kranjcar; 7-Ivan Rakitic, 18-Ivica Olic
Germany: 1-Jens Lehmann; 16-Philipp Lahm, 17-Per Mertesacker, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 2-Marcell Jansen; 4-Clemens Fritz, 8-Torsten Frings, 13-Michael Ballack, 20-Lukas Podolski; 11-Miroslav Klose, 9-Mario Gomez
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
(Editing by Patrick Johnston and Tony Jimenez)
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
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