Poland Needs A Big Victory Against Croatia Monday

Poland must win in Klagenfurt over Croatia, which has already secured top spot in the group, by three or four goals, and needs Austria to beat Germany in Vienna in order to advance.

It's a match that means everything for Poland - and nothing for Croatia.

Coach Slaven Bilic's team has already wrapped up a spot in the knockout stage with wins over Austria and Germany.

With that in mind, Bilic has indicated he will change his lineup to rest most of his top stars for Croatia's quarterfinal match against either the Czech Republic or Turkey.

Five Croatia players, including star midfielder Luka Modric, have yellow cards and are unlikely to play tomorrow to prevent the possibility of getting a second yellow and missing the quarterfinals.

Midfielder Dario Srna, defenders Josip Simunic and Robert Kovac, and strikers Ivica Olic and Mladen Petric are all likely to join Modric on the bench.

Defender Dario Knezevic, who came on as a substitute against both Austria and Germany, said he hopes to start against Poland.

But the Poles have not shown at the tournament that they possess the firepower to score heaps of goals, let alone to do so against a talented Croatian side that outclassed pre-tournament favorite Germany.

Poland's sole goal in its first two matches came against Austria - widely considered the weakest team in the tournament - and the Poles have struggled to create quality scoring opportunities, let alone finish the few it has created.

The squad is still smarting from the loss of attacking midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski and forward Maciej Zurawski, both of whom are sidelined with injuries.

An air of resignation has hung over the camp since the injury-time penalty awarded to Austria left the Poles with one point instead of three from their second match, and took their fate out of their own hands.

Still, they say they are determined to fight as long as there is a slim hope of playing on.

Source: By DDNEWS