By Sean Connolly

Bastian Schweinsteiger showed his immaturity today when he pushed Croatian Jerko Leko stopping the last minute run by Germany. After a blast from Podolski in the 79th minute Germany looked like they might steal a tie from Croatia.

After a mild challenge from Jerko Leko, Schweinsteiger who came in for Gomez in the game, erupted pushing Leko to the ground. Referee Frank De Bleeckre immediately issued Scweinsteiger a red card, dismissing him from the game, ruining any chance to come back and possibly ending their Euro 2008 run.

This immature move by Schweinsteiger will be looked back as the reason Germany will not make it out of the group stage. Schweinsteiger was an immediate spark to the German squad, creating chances and ultimately setting up Podolski’s strike for the first goal.

Germany will play Austria next sans Schweinsteiger because of his red card. It seemed as if with the way Schweinsteiger was playing that he could possibly get the start against Austria. This was a poor move on so many levels as it affected both this game and the next game.

Schweinsteiger’s push of Leko was certainly dumb, but let’s not discount the great play of the Croatians. After a mediocre performance against Austria in which they won 1-0, the Croatian squad came out and straight up outplayed Germany for about the first 80 minutes. In the final 13 minutes or so Germany took momentum, but it simply wasn’t enough.

What set up this victory was the sound, tactical play of the Croatian side. They picked apart the sluggish Ballack who looked horrible today, and took total control. On the first goal by Srna, Croatia completed 15 consecutive passes before the goal. It looked as if they were doing a set play in practice as they slowly took apart the German defense. They made their way up the field, used one switch to get the German squad off balance. Pranjic put a ball across the box and Srna buried the ball in the back of the net. This set the tone for the game.

Another reason for Croatia’s victory was Germany’s fool in goal, Jens Lehman. On the second, and ultimately deciding goal, Lehman was beat near post from about 20 yards out, as the ball hit the post which directed straight to Olic who was in the middle just waiting for a goal. Lehman looked nervous and unsure about every move he made throughout the game and cost his side the match.

Germany have to be upset with this game for several reasons. Jens Lehman looked horrible in goal. Michael Ballack looked slow and could not complete passes. And finally, Germany’s one spark off the bench Bastian Schweinsteiger showed how dumb he is by getting a red card with only minutes left in the game. Keep your hands to yourself, Schweinsteiger.