Throughout today's telecast of the Croatia-Germany match, Derek Rae continually referred back to July 4, 1998 when Croatia dismantled the Germans en route to the semi-finals of the French-hosted World Cup. Turns out, while this was not quite the same stage, the Croatians would again rise to the historic challenge and bounce the Germans, 2-1 to take sole possession of first place in Group B. Germany can of course still advance to the knockout stages, but could really use a Poland-Austria draw today to solidify that position.
This now makes an interesting point, as mentioned yesterday, as Portugal was hoping to escape the German match-up by winning Group A. Now it looks like Germany won't win Group B but could advance as the second place finisher. That would put the potential second round fixtures as Portugal-Germany and Croatia-Czech Republic. Each would be a terrific game, but certainly not who the Portuguese were hoping to face at such an early stage...
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