Argentina 2-3 Croatia

Croatia fought back from a goal down to upset fellow 2006 FIFA World Cup™ contenders Argentina 3-2 on Wednesday as the two sides got in some early shooting practice ahead of the tournament in Germany.

 

Despite freezing conditions in Switzerland’s St Jakob stadium, the teams got off to a fiery start with three of the night’s five goals coming in the opening six minutes.

Croatia struck first when striker Ivan Klasnic took advantage of a third-minute mix-up in the Argentine defence.

Coming out to deal with a cross from Niko Kranjcar, goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri instead managed to tangle with the feet of team mate Nicolas Burdisso – allowing Klasnic to rifle the loose ball into an empty net.

Croatia had little time to celebrate, however, with Argentina equalising and then taking the lead all within the following three minutes.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi was at the heart of both goals – setting up Carlos Tevez for the first before grabbing the second for himself.

With 52 minutes gone, midfielder Darijo Srna put Croatia back on level terms – heading in a perfectly-weighted left cross from striker Dado Prso.

It seemed as if that would be enough to give the Croats a noteworthy draw against the two-time world champions but as the match went into injury time, defender Dario Simic latched onto a corner to head home an unlikely winner. 

Argentina and Croatia , they are my two favorites.