Switzerland staged a brave rearguard battle to open their Euro 2004 account with a battling point after having key midfielder Johann Vogel sent off with 40 minutes to go.
Jakob Kuhn's men re-grouped admirably after PSV Eindhoven star Vogel, who had earlier been booked for a foul on Niko Kovac, saw red five minutes after the break for kicking the ball away following the award of a free-kick and left his team-mates fighting an uphill battle.
But just as it looked as though Croatia would snatch all three points, the Swiss dug deep and, having threatened to capitulate shortly before the break when they were at full strength, found the backbone and the fight to pull off a
priceless escape.
Vogel's dismissal was not the only wound the Swiss inflicted upon themselves.
Keeper Jorg Stiel will not want to be reminded of the hesitation which handed Niko Kovac a 36th-minute free header.
However, he redeemed himself in fine style three minutes later when, as his defence went AWOL in an ill-fated attempted to lay an offside trap, he clawed Josip Simunic's header out of the top corner.
With both sides knowing that they would almost certainly need all three points from this game to qualify for the knockout stages with England and France waiting in the wings, the stakes were high and there was little to choose
between them in the opening 45 minutes.
The invention of Hakan Yakin was Switzerland's major weapon and more than once he threatened to unlock the Croatian defence playing behind Stephane Chapuisat and Alexander Frei.
However, Dado Prso and Tomo Sokota, aided by the pace and power of Ivica Mornar down the right, made life difficult for the Swiss rearguard too, although it was perhaps the set-piece delivery of midfielder Nenad Bjelica which represented their best chance of breaking the deadlock.
The Kaiserslautern playmaker tested Stiel with a curling free-kick as early as the second minute but the best and the worst of the 36-year-old keeper were to come later.
In the meantime, Croatia built upon an encouraging start, Mornar heading high over and Prso earning a booking for diving after going to ground under Bernt Haas' 14th-minute challenge in the Swiss box.
But Switzerland eventually started to find their feet and, prompted by Frei's skidding drive, which almost caught out stand-in keeper Tomislav Butina, they built up a head of steam.
Hakan Yakin's ball into Chapuisat's feet was only just too strong and Haas failed to make the required contact when he was picked out from a corner by the same man.
The Swiss too had a penalty appeal turned down after Simunic collided with Chapuisat as the pair chased down Hakan Yakin's flick over the top but, just as they looked to be gaining the upper hand, they twice pressed the self-destruct button.
First Stiel lost his bearings completely as he dithered over a Bjelica corner and allowed Niko Kovac a free header which he could not convert but the Borussia Monchengladbach keeper redeemed himself in superb style six minutes before the break after his defence suffered a collective rush of blood.
To a man, they raced out of the penalty area as Bjelica's free-kick sailed towards Simunic at the far post, and with no offside flag accompanying their charge, it was left to Stiel to claw the defender's header away and do his best to put off Ivica Olic when he followed up.
Milan Rapaic entered the fray for Olic at half-time and promptly got himself booked as referee Lucilio Batista continued to make his mark on the game.
Rapaic's yellow card was the sixth of the game, and the seventh - and fatally for him, Vogel's second - followed with just 50 minutes gone when he kicked the ball away after a free-kick had been awarded and made an early exit.
Kuhn reacted immediately and withdrew striker Chapuisat to send on midfielder Fabio Celestini in an attempt to ensure that, at the very least, his side got out of the game with a point.
Opposite number Otto Baric responded by replacing defender Ddario Simic with midfielder Darijo Srna as Croatia went for victory but, although they were by
now exercising a degree of control on the game, they still could not find the breakthrough.
Prso again saw penalty appeals waved away and Niko Kovac volleyed wide as the Swiss attempted to shut up shop and keep hold of at least a point, although the pressure was mounting all the time.
But for all that they were enjoying the better of the game, Stiel's goal remained largely unthreatened, although the keeper became the recipient of the game's eighth yellow card on 73 minutes for his eccentric protests over Mornar's
rugged challenge on full-back Christoph Spycher.
The Swiss rallied as the game entered its final stages with Benjamin Huggel forcing a good save from Butina from distance and Hakan Yakin seeing a close-range effort blocked, but Kuhn adopted a safety first approach at the
death by sending on another defender, Stephane Henchoz, to make sure of the point.
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