WITH IRELAND WAITING for them in Poznan, Croatia couldn’t hang on to close out their Euro 2012 preparations with a win against Norway tonight.
A stoppage-time header from Tarik Elyounoussi stunned Slaven Bilic’s men and grabbed a 1-1 draw for the hosts in front of a crowd of 14,208 in Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion.
Former Arsenal striker Eduardo looked to have given Croatia a morale-boosting win ahead of their opening Group C game next Sunday. Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitic found him with a pinpoint cross in the 79th minute and he headed low past Norwegian substitute Espen Pettersen from eight yards.
But with just 15 seconds of stoppage time remaining, Elyounoussi popped up at the back post to bundle Norway’s final corner over the line.
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Elsewhere, tournament co-hosts Poland had a comfortable 4-0 win against Andorra. Obraniak, Lewandowski and a Blaszczykowski penalty put Franciszek Smuda’s men 3-0 up before half-time, with Wasilewski closing out the win with a fourth 13 minutes from the end.
In Amsterdam, Holland completed the perfect preparation for next week’s championships with a 6-0 hammering of Northern Ireland. Robin van Persie and Ibrahim Affelay scored a pair each, with Wesley Sneijder and Ron Vlaar completing the rout.
And Roy Hodgson had the first home win of his England tenure, beating Belgium 1-0 in Wembley thanks to a first-half strike from Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck.
