- UEFA Euro 2008 Group B
Group B of the 2008 UEFA European Championships was one of four groups of competing nations at UEFA Euro 2008 . The first of the three rounds of matches were played on8 June , and the final round will be completed on16 June . All six of the group's matches will be played at venues inAustria , inVienna andKlagenfurt . The group is made up of fourcentral Europe an nations; co-hosts Austria, as well as Croatia, Germany and Poland. Austria and Poland are appearing in a European Championship finals for the first time.Croatia became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals from Group B when they followed up a 1–0 win against Austria in their first match with a 2–1 win over Germany. This, in conjunction with Austria's 1–1 draw with Poland, meant that Croatia would finish top of the group. The second quarter-final spot was decided by the group's final games, with Germany defeating Austria through a
Michael Ballack free kick, making the result of the Poland vs Croatia match irrelevant. Had Germany lost, Poland could still have qualified with a win over Croatia. However, a goal fromIvan Klasnić won the game for Croatia, making the Croatians the first team to gain maximum points in the group stage.References
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