Germany mental strength was on show last night as they fought back from a goal down against Sweden to register their first win at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with virtually the last kick of the match.
Photo courtesy of www.fifa.com
After their shock defeat to Mexico in the first outing in Russia, Joachim Löw men needed to win this match while the Swedes could do with a draw after winning their opening match against South Korea.
They started well, creating a number of openings which gave them the confidence that they will get the result they wanted but on the half hour mark, Toni Kroos pass was intercepted by Sebastian Larrson.
The ball was spreaded wide to Viktor Claesson who then made a searching pass that eventually found Ola Toivonen who made his run into the box. The Toulouse forward then just lifted the ball over the advancing Manuel Neuer to give his team the lead.
The holders needed to come up with something special but the way they performed for the rest of the first half it looked like they were on their way home from the group stage, emulating the fates of France (2002), Brazil (2010) and Spain (2014).
Whatever Löw did in the dressing room during the interval was highly effective as his men came out blazing in the second half and just three minutes into it the score was level.
Timo Werner made a run down the left hand side before delivering a low ball across the Swedish goal. Mario Gomez missed it but Marco Reus did not, connecting with the ball with the upper part of his leg which was enough to divert it past the stranded Robin Olsen.
The Copenhagen goalkeeper then proceeded to frustrated the Germans with a number of brilliant saves and it looked like Olsen had done enough to ensure a point for his side as the match entered it’s fifth minute of stoppage time.
The Germans were playing with just ten men after defender Jérōme Boateng received his second yellow card in the 82nd minute and were looking for a break, especially after seeing substitute Julian Brandt hitting the post with a shot from outside the box earlier.
It came when a foul by substitute Jimmy Durmaz presented Germany with a free-kick just outside the Sweden penalty box. A short tap by Tony Kroos to Reus set the Real Madrid player for a shot that had Olsen completely beaten and lifted the holders into second place.
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