World beaters Germany seemed to be on their way out of the World Cup for over 90 minutes of play but finally changed proceedings thanks to Toni Kroos’ brilliant free-kick and late winner past Swedish goalkeeper Robin Olsen as the clock ticked into the very last minute of injury time!
In the first half, Marcus Berg found a misplaced pass from Kroos to release Viktor Claesson who passed the ball to Ola Toivonen to control the ball and chip it over Manuel Neuer into the German net. Sweden kept pressing and had it not been for Neuer’s brilliant save of a goal-bound shot from Berg, just before half time, Germany would have been well beaten.
Just after the start of the second half, Reus scored for Germany with his left knee to keep the German hopes alive but again in the 70th minute Jerome Boateng was shown his first yellow card while on the 82nd minute Boateng was sent off for a second yellow card as the German manager watched on nervously from the sidelines.
Finally in the extended stoppage time, Werner got a free kick on the edge of the area. Kroos passed the ball short to Marco Reus and whipped in a swerving shot into the Swedish net. Sweden finally were beaten on a night when they seemed all prepared to dump Germany out of the tournament just like they did to Netherlands and Italy during the World Cup qualifiers. But Germany is a conundrum and the world beaters showed the spirit of champions.
