Poland have beaten fellow World Cup Finalists Croatia with a morale boosting 1-0 victory at the Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany, in their final warm-up match. A goal from Borussia Dortmund’s Ebi Smolarek in the 54th minute decided the match.

Smolarek found the space to head home a Maciej Zurawski corner, in a game dominated by Croatia. Poland adopted a defensive policy in the first half and were fortunate to go in at the break on level terms after Dario Srna hit the crossbar for Croatia, with a longrange free kick after 42 minutes.

Ivan Bosnjak also missed a golden opportunity for the Croats, shooting wide after being put clean through just after the restart.

After losing to Columbia on Saturday, Polish coach Pawel Janas adopted a five-man midfield, with Smolarek and winger Jacek Krzynowek providing the outlets in attack.

"For us this was a very important game and it's good we won," assistant coach Maciej Skorza told Polish TV, also stating that Glasgow Celtic’s Artur Boruc was now almost certain to start in goal for the finals ahead of rival Tomasz Kuszczak.

When asked if Poland would use the same tactics for their Group A game against Germany, he added: "For the time being we're not going to say. It is a more defensive variant. We'll calmly analyse things and see how it all comes out."

Poland also face Ecuador and Costa Rica in Group A. Croatia face Brazil, Australia and Japan in Group F.

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