Croatia to bench main players against Poland @ OleOle

Croatia to bench main players against Poland

Monday, 16 June 08, 05:57 PM

With 6 points and the top spot of Group B guaranteed Croatia will rest some of the main players for tonight's match against Poland. Too bad for Germany.

But blame on the crazy UEFA rule that uses as first tie breaking criterion the direct confrontation and not the goal differential. I was surprised after the Croatians beat Germany when I heard that with that win they had already won the group. I thought, "wait a minute? Can't Germany get to 6 points too?"

Well, they can, but it won't make a difference if they beat Austria by 10 goals and Poland beat Croatia by 12 goals. Croatia will still be first of the group because they beat Germany when the two played each other. Crazy UEFA rules.

Croatia's coach Slaven Bilic then did what any intelligent manager would do: rest his top players. Six footballers will come out of the bench to have a chance to play. They are: Dario Simic, Hrvoje Vejic, Dario Knezevic, Jerko Leko, Ognjen Vukojevic and Ivan Klasnic.

Poland will have to play all they can to win and at the same time follow what happens in the Germany x Austria match. The Polish will need more than ever to cheer for a Austrian victory, but not by a large goal differential.

That's the scenario for tonight's matches!

Probable Lineups:

POLAND	CROATIA
1- Boruc	1- Pletikosa
13- Wasilewski	5- Corluka
14- Zewlakow	4- R. Kovac
6- Bak	3- Simunic
4- Golanski	22- Pranjic
5- Dudka	10- N. Kovac
18- Lewandowski	14- Modric
17- Lodozinski	11- Srna
8- Krzynowek	19- Kranjcar
7- Smolarek	21- Petric
20- Roger	18- Olic