Croatia is by no means a minnow for Germany.

The team coached by former Bundesliga player Slaven Bilic eliminated England during the qualifying round, and many experts see them as the dark horse in the 2008 tournament.

"Croatia are great tacticians while they also have great individuals who can beat you one-on-one. They know how to control the pace of a game," said German coach Loew.

As both striker Gomez and midfielder Schweinsteiger performed good in the first match, it is widely believed that Loew will makea minor change to send both to the pitch, while putting speedy Podolski backward as a winger to create more scoring chances for teammates.

Croatian striker Mladen Petric was confident in his team.

"We're confident in ourselves, we know we're strong enough, and we have the quality to beat any team," he said.

Germany took the third place in 2006 World Cup as the host, while Croatia ended up with the same place in 1998 World Cup, during which Croatia beat Germany 3-0.

"We would love to be as successful as they were in 1998," said Petric.

However, Germany has won five out of seven games against Croatia so far.

"The Germans are always favorites - and not only in the group. It could be possible that our last game against Poland will decide who's going to the quarter-finals, but I hope we can secure our passage before that," Petric added.

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