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| © Michael Dalder / Reuters |
A late winner from Toni Kroos gave Germany a 2-1 win over Sweden and salvaged their World Cup hopes in a thrilling encounter in Sochi.
The defending champions’ chances of qualification from Group F had appeared in tatters before Kroos’ late winner.
A second-half equalizer from Marco Reus had canceled out Ola Toivonen’s sublime 32nd-minute lob and it looked as if Sweden had claimed a famous point before the Real Madrid man’s late impact.
Germany started the brighter of the two sides in Sochi, with Julian Draxler and Marco Reus particularly lively early on.
However, very much against the run of play Sweden had the game’s first real chance after Marcus Berg found himself one-on-one with Manuel Neuer following careless play by Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger.
The striker, who plays for Al Ain in the UAE Pro League, was shunted away from the ball by Jerome Boateng, and replays showed that Swedish claims for a penalty were warranted but neither referee Szymon Marciniak, nor the VAR officials watching in Moscow, found fault with the challenge.
The breakthrough for Sweden would come soon enough and it would come from another Germany error.
Kroos was this time guilty of a careless pass in the center of the field, allowing Viktor Claesson the opportunity to loft a ball towards Toivonen who took the ball on his chest before lifting the ball high above the head of the advancing German captain Manuel Neuer.
The Germans started the second half positively and it was barely five minutes old when Marco Reus leveled proceedings from a Timo Werner cross from the left.
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