Croatia did the hard work early, then benefited from some late good fortune for Austria at the European Championship.

Croatia upset pretournament favorite Germany 2-1 Thursday to clinch first place in Group B, getting goals from Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic in Klagenfurt, Austria. A few hours later in Vienna, Austria midfielder Ivica Vastic scored an injury-time penalty to keep the Euro 2008 co-hosts in contention for advancement.

"We played a phenomenal game," Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said. "We closed the lanes. We attacked them early. We shut them down where they are most dangerous."

Any of the other three teams in the group can still advance along with the Croats. The final set of Group B games will be Monday when Austria plays Germany in Vienna and Poland takes on Croatia in Klagenfurt.

Croatia took the game to the Germans, negating the strength of their forward line and taking advantage of a couple of defensive lapses. The Croats also beat the Germany in the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals.

"We showed our real face today," Croatia midfielder Luka Modric said. "We showed that we can play well when we face a big team. We were very motivated."

Srna gave Croatia the lead in the 24th minute, beating defender Marcell Jansen to the ball after Danijel Pranjic had swapped passes with Ivan Rakitic and crossed the ball. Olic added a second in the 63rd, tapping in a deflection after a shot from Rakitic was deflected by Germany forward Lukas Podolski and bounced off the post right at Olic's feet.

Podolski scored his third goal of the tournament with a volley in the 79th.

"We were not the same team that played against Poland. We never managed to step up the pace, we did not have the precision in our passes," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "They pulled back after the first goal and we did not really manage them to put them under pressure. We played too many high balls and for them they were easy to deal with. I think it's a deserved loss."

For Austria, Vastic waltzed up to the penalty spot after Mariusz Lewandowski pulled the shirt of Sebastian Proedl in the area on a free kick. The 38-year-old attacking midfielder sent his shot to the right of goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

"It was clear that Ivica would assume that responsibility because he is the most experienced on the team," Austria coach Josef Hickersberger said. "I was 99.9 percent sure he would score."

Poland coach Leo Beenhakker was unhappy with the decision to award the penalty, however.

"There is the usual wrestling we see in the last five years in football and, I don't know why, but maybe at that moment the referee wants to show he is a big boy and he can do it," Beenhakker said. "With referees, I have never had any problem and have never been suspended, but this is something I really, really cannot understand."

The Poles had taken the lead in the 30th when Brazilian-born playmaker Roger Guerreiro tapped in a cross from Marek Saganowski. It was Roger's first international goal since he received Polish citizenship in April.