“We never lost hope that we could turn the tide and win this match,” said Germany Coach Joachim Löw, who six days ago boldly guaranteed his team would reach the knockout rounds. He said the winning goal was “obviously a bit of luck, but it is also a sign of us believing.”
The winner was, in fact, a stunner: a free kick on the left side that Kroos rolled a yard ahead to his teammate Marco Reus, who had scored Germany’s opening goal in the 54th minute. Reus stopped the ball and stepped back as Kroos took his full windup and curled a shot that went over two defenders, around goalkeeper Robin Olsen and then inside the right post.
The goal, and the victory, completely altered the dynamic at this World Cup for the Germans, who raced to Kroos at the corner flag and smothered him with a mix of joy and relief. A listless loss to Mexico in its opener had left Germany in an uncomfortable position when it took the field at Fisht Stadium: It understood that a defeat against the Swedes, who had won their first game, would guarantee that Germany, the defending champion, would somehow be out of the World Cup after the first round.
But four changes to the lineup and the death rattle of an early exit erased any hint of listlessness on Germany’s part in this game. It was relentless early on, peppering the Swedes and often smothering them. And while Sweden fought hard, and even took the first-half lead, it eventually crumbled under the Germans’ pressure.
Over 90 minutes, the German strategy seemed rather simple: Push the ball up the center or the wing, slot it wide, cross it back in and crash the net. If the Swedes cleared, the cycle would start all over: Collect the clearance out top, move the ball wide, cross it in. Even after Sweden took the 1-0 lead, the Germans just resumed their attack. Crosses, shots and more chances. Rinse and repeat.
“We didn’t lose our nerve,” Löw said. “We didn’t start breaking down in a panic after going down a goal. We kept our head.”
He added: “I told them to keep their calm, to not start panicking and try things out. To not just start to try long, high balls. To keep going with rapid passing shots, to go wider with Timo Werner. ‘We have 45 minutes to turn this around.’ That’s what I told them.”
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Three minutes into the second half, the strategy finally worked. Werner took a ball in hard on the left and cut back a low cross toward the halftime substitute Mario Gómez. The ball was a yard behind Gómez, and his outstretched trailing leg missed it. But that allowed it to continue on to Reus, and he turned it into Sweden’s net for the tying goal.
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The Germans rejoiced, the Swedes’ shoulders dropped, and the pattern promptly continued. A pass wide, a cross in, a ball cleared, or blocked, or sent off target. And finally, in the 95th minute, another German goal.
Much earlier, in the 32nd minute, it had been Sweden that scored — out of almost nothing and against the run of play. An errant pass by Kroos in the center circle became, in two quick Swedish passes, a chance bouncing off the chest of forward Ola Toivonen in the German penalty area. Coolly controlling the ball under pressure, Toivonen brought it down and then calmly popped it over the charging goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
The Germans were stunned, and suddenly far, far closer to World Cup elimination than felt comfortable for a four-time champion playing only its second game here.
An hour later, it was the Swedes who sat stunned on the turf. Olsen, their beaten goalkeeper on the free kick, couldn’t bring himself to leave his 6-yard box. They have one group game left, against Mexico, and are still alive. But Kroos’s goal had changed everything.
Here’s how Germany defeated Sweden:
FULL TIME
They’ve done it. What a night.
Germany wins, 2-1, and they’re out here bumping chests like wrestlers. Or gladiators. Or linebackers. But mostly, like winners.
The Swedes are just devastated, sitting on the turf where they dropped. They can’t believe what’s just happened either.
90’ +5 HE SCORES ON IT!!!! HE HAS SAVED GERMANY!
What. A. Goal. What. A. Moment.
Kroos rolled the ball ahead a yard to Reus and then put his right foot into it and curled it around Olsen and inside the right post. A stunning moment, and an entire nation roars. (Another one is crestfallen, btw.)
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90’ +4: Free Kick
Werner drives on the left and is fouled. Free kick just outside the area for Kroos.
90’ +2: Intense Ending!
They play it short, and Gundogan works it over to Brandt — WHO PINGS THE POST! The ricochet is too hot to handle, though, and is turned over the ball.
And now it’s Sweden quickly at the other end doing the same!!! Breathless ending here.
90’ +1: Five More Minutes!
Five minutes of added time begins ... with a German corner.
89’: Big Free Kick
Germany wins a free kick on the left, Kroos over it. Big moment coming ...
Olsen punches it over the touch line!
And still the Germans come ...
88’: Wasted Chance for Germany
Terrible wasted ball by Muller on the right. He had a team full of players in the center, but slashes a shot over the bar. Neuer now standing in the center circle as the Germans press. He’s effectively the replacement for Boateng now.
87’ WHAT A SAVE!
Cross to Gomez for a point-blank header at the six — Olsen pushes it over!!!!
87’: German Subs
Julian Brandt on for Germany. Fresh legs on the left.
85’: Back Come the Germans
Neuer scrambling for a new ball at every whistle now. The Germans know a tie is fine, but a win is what they really need.
Here they come again ......
83’: Swedish Subs
Sweden’s subs earlier, by the way, were Guidetti and Durmaz for Claesson and Toivonen, the goal scorer.
82’: RED TO BOATENG!
This will make it harder on Germany. Boateng sees red for his second yellow, and Germany will finish with 10. With Hummels already out tonight, that means both of Germany’s center backs are gone. Not that they need center backs right now. They need a goal.
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80’: WERNER!!!
Another incisive ball finds him near the spot, wide open, but he lifts his shot over the bar. Hands over mouth time for him. He can’t believe it. He’s not alone.
77’: Germans Keep On Coming
Lots of back and forth now, and a couple of subs, but the tenor of the match hasn’t changed. Sweden is defending for its life and trying to break out where it can. The Germans are fighting, and sweating mightily.
64’: Nonstop Action!
The game’s pace continues hot as we pass the hour mark. German crosses, Swedish clearances, German crosses, German shots, Swedish clearances ...... You get the idea.
61’ Oooooooh That Was Close
Another ball up the middle sprayed wide by Reus. Kimmich fires it back in, but Reus somehow misses the return, and so does Gomez. That was the best chance for 2-1 yet. There will be more.
55’: Germany Keeps Attacking
Sweden has weathered the immediate storm, but Germany keeps coming. A draw keeps them alive, but it also means they’d need help to get to the second round. And that’s why they’re pushing for a win.
Werner on the left again, cross to Gomez again, shot stopped again. This is not a recording.
Now Muller, on service from the right. Over and over and over the balls come in.
52’: It’s Getting Testy
A YELLOW for Ekdal for a foul on Muller, and then Berg trucks Werner to stop a break.
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48’: REUS EQUALIZES FOR GERMANY!
Werner crosses hard from the left, but a yard behind Gomez, who reaches back and misses. But the ball then goes straight to Reus, and he slides it past Olsen. The Germans are alive, and now pressing for a second.
46’: Germany Brings in Gomez
Mario Gomez on for Germany; Draxler off. Gomez is a finisher.
Halftime: Strangely Familiar
It’s funny (well, not to Germans) how the Sweden goal was reminiscent of Mexico’s: a quick counterattack that caught the Germans scrambling back, a good first touch and a professional finish.
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Halftime
The last action of the half, fittingly for how it went, it Neuer diving full stretch to his right to paw away a glancing header by Marcus Berg. That was headed inside his post, so it’s a good thing Neuer is 11 feet tall. But Sweden, against all odds but not undeservedly, leads by a goal at the break. Jogi Löw better find some answers in that dressing room. But after 90 minutes against Mexico and 45 more here tonight, I’m not sure German fans believe he will.
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44’: Another Sweden Counter
The lead ball finds Claesson on the right. But instead of shooting he tries to cut back, and a well-placed Hector heel breaks up the chance. That was real danger for Germany. Playing with fire late.
42’: Germany Pushing Hard
Germany desperately wants an equalizer before the half, but they are just firing balls now. Kimmich rockets in a line drive of a cross that a center fielder with a glove might not have handled. It hits a teammate hard enough to leave a welt, and ricochets away.
39’: Germany Chance
Muller is first to the rebound of a long shot parried by Olsen, but wrestling a defender as the goalkeeper comes out, he can’t find a way to get a foot on the ball.
36’: If This Score Holds...
Germany will collapse into a vicious cycle of criticism and blame-assigning and then a profound sense of ennui previously seen over the last year in Italy, the United States and the Netherlands.
34’: Germany’s Morale Sinking
Neuer was furiously clapping his hands to encourage his team after the goal, sensing heads were dropping. That was completely against the run of play, but you know what: no one puts “*-completely against run of play” on the scoresheet.
The Sweden fans, fwiw, are dancing.
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32’: SWEDEN SCORES!!!!
Well, that’s a surprise.
It all starts with a lazy Toni Kroos giveaway in midfield. Two quick passes to change direction and cross into the center and the ball is on the chest of Ola Toivonen, who brings it down on pops it over a charging Neuer. Sweden, 1-0, and my, doesn’t that get German hearts racing.
31’: Germany Back at Full Strength
That was Ilkay Gundogan, not Khedira, who was warming (apologies, the media sits in the upper deck), and now he comes on.
28’: Man Advantage for Sweden
Sweden, temporarily up a man, smartly moving the ball side to side with no real intent. The works for them on two levels: it makes the Germans chase the ball, and it chews up a minute or two without really risking a loss of possession. It’s just long lazy balls from side to side, and the Germans are forced to shift back and forth with the rhythm.
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26’: Rudy Exits
No one was warming up for Germany, obviously, but they quickly get what looks like Khedira up. Rudy was a mess; surely he’ll have to come off.
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25’: Ouch...Germany’s Rudy is Bloody
Sebastian Rudy, who started in midfield in place of Sami Khedira, is down on the turn after getting kicked in the face as he slid in vain for a ball. He’s bleeding heavily, and that nose sure looks broken. They’ll swap his shirt for now, but that’s going to make it tough to continue.
22’: Sweden Wasting Time?
Muller screams to the ref about Sweden’s time-wasting. In the 22nd minute. Giving no quarter.
16’: Summing Up Germany’s World Cup
So the story of the first half so far is Germany whaling on Sweden like a dusty rug for 15 minutes, and then the Swedes nearly taking the lead with their first and only chance. Quite the World Cup Germany is having so far.
12’: Sweden Chance!
HUGE chance for Sweden there, with a turnover and quick diagonal ball springing Berg free behind the German defense. But Rudinger arrives in the nick of time to deliver just enough of a shove to knock him off, and a charging Neuer smothers the chance like a warm blanket. The Swedes howl for a penalty, or at least a review, and it might have been worth one. But play never stopped, and two minutes later, when it did, it seems the Polish referee, didn’t feel it was worth the bother.
Once played stopped and restarted for a Swedish free kick in their end, anyway, he COULDN’T go back and look.
We continue ......
10’: Germany Attacking
Sweden is keeping all 10 field players behind the ball at almost all times. They’re really feeling the German pressure, and seem determined to just hunker down and fight them off.
At least for the moment.
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8’: Chances at Both Ends
Sweden has probed the German end just once, but a collapsing defense smothered the chance before it became anything. At the other end, Draxler turns the corner on the left and skims a cross through the goal mouth but no one is there to redirect it and it sails through to safety.
Now Reus does the same on the right, but his cutback hits a defender instead of Werner.
2’: Early Chances for Germany
Good work from Timo Werner at the end line gives Germany two bites at the apple, but Sweden blocks both, then the rebound goes out wide.
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Cycling it back in, Germany gets two more (slightly deeper) shots. Both are blocked, too.
Hard to Believe: Germany Could Be Out After This One
One last time since it seems so strange to type it: Germany will be out of the World Cup if it loses to Sweden tonight. Enjoy the game.
Don’t Sleep on Sweden
Sweden isn’t one of those sexy teams everyone always looks at as a World Cup dark horse. But they’re a solid group, and they’re tight and disciplined. And remember: they knocked out another big brand, Italy, to seal their place in Russia. Coming off a win over South Korea in their opener, they surely see tonight as a chance to announce themselves.
What’s at Stake
Mexico’s victory over South Korea positions them to advance through to the knockout round tonight for the seventh straight World Cup, but it also makes the stakes very clear here: a Germany loss to Sweden and the Germans, the defending World Cup champions, are OUT after only two games in Russia.
A win or draw extends their life to the final group game, but here are the current group standings:
Mexico 6 points; +2 goal difference
Sweden 3 points; + 1 goal difference
Germany 0 points; -1 goal difference
South Korea 0 points; -2 goal difference
Sweden’s Lineup
And here’s Sweden’s XI tonight:
Robin Olsen; Mikael Lustig, Victor Lindelof, Andreas Granqvist, Ludwig Augustinsson; Sebastian Larsson, Albin Ekdal, Victor Claesson, Emil Forsberg, Ola Toivonen, Marcus Berg
Germany’s Lineup
The lineups are out and Germany has made FOUR changes from the opener. Özil, Khedira dropped in midfielder, Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger in for the injured Mats Hummels at center back.
Manuel Neuer; Joshua Kimmich, Jerome Boateng, Antonio Ruediger, Jonas Hector; Sebastian Rudy, Toni Kroos; Julian Draxler, Marco Reus, Thomas Muller; Timo Werner. That’s a manager who knows the stakes and wasn’t happy with the performances on Sunday.
Germany vs. Sweden Top Story Lines
• Germany, the defending World Cup champion, sits at the bottom of Group F after dropping its opener against Mexico, 1-0. The Germans seemed put off by the Mexicans’ pace and directness, but they hit the bar with a shot in the second half and nearly grabbed a point.
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• Still, one combination of results on Saturday — a Mexico win over South Korea and a Germany loss to Sweden — would put the Germany out of the tournament by bedtime.
• Germany Coach Joachim Löw guaranteed after the loss to Mexico that would not happen. Told that three recent World Cup champions — France in 1998, Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014 — had celebrating their titles by crashing out in the group stage of the next World Cup, Löw feigned ignorance and confidence at the same time. “I have no idea why that might be the case,” he said. “But we will qualify for the next round.”
• Sweden famously qualified for the World Cup by eliminating Italy in a UEFA playoff after finishing second in its group behind France. The Swedes can be tough defensively: they surrendered only nine goals in 10 qualifiers, and none in their two-leg playoff against Italy.
• Germany may be without center back Mats Hummels on Saturday — he has a neck injury, the team said — but Sweden may have bigger problems: a stomach bug is sweeping through their camp.
Some Pregame Reading
Rory Smith of the Times wrote that Germany’s biggest problem was that it has become entirely predictable.
That said, Löw says he isn’t changing anything. “We will not just break apart now and become headless and do something completely different,” he said this week. “There is no need to break out in panic just because we have lost a match.”
Toni Kroos scored a sensational last minute winner to keep Germany's World Cup dreams alive with a 2-1 win over Sweden.
Joachim Low's reigning champions could not afford to lose here but they fell behind through a terrific solo strike from Ola Toivonen.
Marco Reus leveled things up straight after half-time before Kroos then stole all three points with an emphatic last minute effort.
Relive all the action from the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi with Sportsmail's MAX WINTERS here.
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Germany vs. Sweden: Live Updates, Score and Reaction from 2018 World Cup Game
Germany (National Football) vs Sweden (National Football)
Sochi
Germany face a must-win game on Saturday when they take on Sweden at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia. Die Mannschaft were stunned by Mexico in their opening game in Group F and will be desperate for three points against the Swedes to revive any hopes of defending their World Cup title. Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan could come in for Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira following subpar performances in defeat to El Tri.
Toni Kroos’s shot in the 95th minute curls into the net to give Germany victory. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
SOCHI, Russia — What happened Saturday night in the Sochi Olympic stadium defied earthly norms in enough ways that it wound up altering the brain until the scene looked misshapen. So it finally kind of made a demented sense in the 95th minute when the whole thing drifted into psychedelia, as Germany’s relieved players went streaming down the sideline to heave into a festive pile in the stadium corner, having just beheld Toni Kroos’s whiplash winner. They did so as German fans boomed a sound German fans never boom, that unmistakable sound of escape.
What in the World Cup was this 2-1 win by Germany over Sweden?
It was a second group game that came off feeling like some gasping semifinal or some death scrap in a prairie. It was an event that gave its 44,287 witnesses an experience nobody ever has, that of seeing Germany — Germany, that staple of reliability! — running around all night on a precipice, when the whole idea of Germany is often about the avoidance of precipice. It was a night spent with a defending World Cup champion that hasn’t fallen short of a semifinal this century looking like it might be eliminated after two first-round losses — as it would have if Sweden’s 1-0 halftime lead had held — or if it might drift near the early-exit door, as it would have with a draw on Saturday.
[All the World Cup tiebreaker rules and knockout round scenarios, explained]
Now Germany has three points in Group F alongside Sweden behind front-running Mexico on six, even as the people who saw it play Sweden will carry home memories soccer fans so seldom have. They saw a German defense — the German defense, that bulwark of life on Earth! — look downright harum-scarum against the Swedish counterattack. They saw Germany’s Jerome Boateng look so hopeless that in the 12th minute he had to shove Sweden’s Marcus Berg on a breakaway, and should have gotten carded there with Sweden taking a penalty kick, yet didn’t, yet somehow managed two other cards anyway to depart the premises in the 82nd minute.
Then they saw Germany operate with 10 men from there, yet still hang out around the Swedish goal as if it had 12, so that Germany’s 77-percent possession sometimes felt like 101. A fine mass of passes around the box in the 88th minute established Mario Gomez’s header that goalkeeper Robin Olsen saved, and another threat in the 92nd wound up with Julian Brandt driving from 20 yards and smacking the right post of the goal.
Clearly, the Germans could not finish, and then, at the very last chance, they could.
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Somehow in this kooky thing, Sweden’s sub Jimmy Durmaz managed to trip Germany’s Timo Werner left of the box, so that as the curtain fixed to drop on the night, Kroos had a free kick from that spot. He nudged the ball to Marco Reus, who simply stopped it with his foot, teeing up a shot that Kroos sent screaming on a fine curl around the masses and into the upper right side of the net, so that 55-year-old Sweden Manager Janne Andersson called it “probably the worst end of a game I’ve experienced in my career.”
Nobody will forget it, unless Germany just goes blah from here, in which case it will become a dandy little meaningless moment.
In fact, the night was so relentless with meaning and surprise that Andersson also expressed anger about the German celebration streaming past the Swedish bench and, he said, “rubbing it into our faces.”
Germany Manager Joachim Loew said, “We fell into each other’s arms and were so elated.”
The Real Madrid employee Kroos said: “Happy, of course. Happy. Was a tough game again today for us. We suffered, but it’s normal if you not score the early goal, and we had the chance, and it’s going to be difficult in the end. It was, but now of course we’re happy.”
Thanks to its loss to Mexico last Sunday and to the Mexicans’ 2-1 win over South Korea earlier Saturday, Germany had gone to halftime on the verge of early dismissal, which hadn’t happened to it at this stage since 1938. It had gone to this verge on a sonnet of a goal from Sweden’s Ola Toivonen, who chested Viktor Claesson’s pretty, descending cross in the 32nd minute and plucked the ball over goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. As part of the evening’s gaudy decor, the yellow-clad Swedish quadrant of the stadium bounced like mad.
Then the Germans decided they couldn’t bear to join the roster of defending World Cup champions who fizzle the next time, seemingly exhausted, such as France in 2002 and Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014. They got Werner’s surge on the left by Gomez’s foot to Reus’s knee and into the left edge of the goal in the 48th.
Then they spent the rest straining to avoid that draw. They had chances in the 49th minute, the 51st, 56th, 61st, 66th, 72nd, 81st, 88th and 92nd. They had Kroos going just wide, Thomas Mueller heading just wide, Werner flying around on the left, Werner to Jonas Hector, Joshua Kimmich to Werner but then Werner’s shot over the goal, Olsen’s save on Gomez, Brandt’s strike to the post.
Then, with a 1-1 draw and on one point in the group, with Sweden on four and Mexico on six and those two due to play each other next week, the Germans were done for the night and just about done for good.
Then, they weren’t.
They had drifted into such trouble, and clambered out of it so dramatically, that on a night that looked so unfamiliar, it hardly looked like Germany.
—Chuck Culpepper
***
What’s next
Germany: vs. South Korea in Kazan, Wednesday, 10 a.m.
Sweden: vs. Mexico in Ekaterinburg, Wednesday, 10 a.m.
***
In-game updates
Gooooaaaalllll!
Seconds before full time, Germany’s Toni Kroos scored off a free kick. The goal gave Germany the lead, three much-needed points in the standings and staved off elimination from the knockout rounds.
TONI KROOS CALLED GAME.
What a set piece! What a goal! pic.twitter.com/KA0QkOSWZN — FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 23, 2018
Missed opportunities
Germany had two chances to take the lead, but failed to do so. In the first, Sweden goalkeeper Robin Olsen made an incredible save, jumping up just in time to tip the ball over the net.
In the other, Germany got off a strong strike, but it hit the goal post and was unable to find its way into the net.
Boateng ejected
After Boateng received his second yellow card (in the 81st minute), he was ejected. The yellow card came when Boateng had a collision with Sweden’s Marcus Berg.
Another yellow card
Against Germany’s Jerome Boateng in the 70th minute.
Yellow card
Called against Sweden’s Albin Edkal in the 51st minute.
Goal, Germany!
Just two minutes into the second half, Germany finally got on the board in this World Cup. Marco Reus scored the equalizer in the 48th minute, breathing life into the German side’s hopes of advancing. As long as it can hang on to this tie, Germany will have a shot at reaching the World Cup’s knockout stages.
Marco Reus gets the equalizer for Germany!
Game on. pic.twitter.com/ToG82iXd4A — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 23, 2018
Halftime update
It was a slow first half, but Sweden leads Germany 1-0 heading into the break. The German side has taken more shots and possessed the ball more than the Swedes so far, but it is coming up short where it matters most. A lot is at stake for Germany in the remaining 45 minutes of the match; if they fail to win, they will be eliminated from the tournament.
Gooooaaaalllll!
Ola Toivonen of Sweden scores his team’s first goal Saturday against German netminder Manuel Neuer. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Sweden draws first blood, scoring in the 31st minute of the game. Ola Toionen managed to tap the ball in the net after receiving it off a pass from Viktor Claesson.
Uh oh, Germany...
Sweden take the 1-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/9QgclmDa8Y — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 23, 2018
Early opportunities
Germany managed to get two shots off in the first eight minutes. Both missed, but Germany has been in control of the game early, possessing the ball 91 percent of the time.
Starting Lineups
Germany vs Sweden is next on FOX, and there are BIG changes to the defending champs' lineup. #GER
OUT: Özil, Khedira, Hummels (injury), Plattenhardt
IN: Reus, Rudy, Rüdiger, Hector (returns from illness) pic.twitter.com/bgKY7jljMc — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 23, 2018
Opening thoughts
Germany entered this year’s World Cup as a clear favorite, but last week’s shocking upset to Mexico has the Germans in a spot. The lone goal in that loss came in the 35th minute, when 22-year-old Hirving Lozano picked up Javier Hernandez’s pass inside the penalty area and beat a defender before scoring on Germany’s goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer. The result sent shock waves through Mexico, literally, creating what may have been an artificial man-made earthquake in Mexico, while it left Germany’s future at this World Cup uncertain.
Mexico plays South Korea earlier Saturday; if the favored El Tri earn at least a draw, Germany could be eliminated with a loss against Sweden. No defending champion has failed to make the knockout round since France in 2002.
Sweden, meanwhile, got a penalty kick goal from Andreas Granqvist in a 1-0 win over South Korea. It was the first time the Swedes had won their opening World Cup match since 1958, against — that’s right — Mexico. Sweden hasn’t beaten Germany in their last 11 meetings, dating to 1978, according to the BBC.
When: Saturday, June 23, 2 p.m. Eastern.
How to watch on TV: Fox.
How to stream online: Fox Sports and the Fox Soccer Match Pass apps and FoxSportsGo.com.
How to watch in Spanish: Telemundo.
How to watch in Canada: Bell Media’s TSN and CTV networks, the TSN GO app and TSN.ca/live.
[All the World Cup tiebreaker rules and knockout round scenarios, explained]
Team profiles
Germany (0-0-1, 0 points)
Last showing in the World Cup: Champions, 2014.
Best finish: Champions, 2014, 1990 and 1974.
Notable: Germany has reached at least the quarterfinals (or finished in the top eight) in 17 of its 18 World Cup appearances. That’s the best rate of any nation.
FIFA world ranking: 1. ELO world ranking: 3.
Sweden (1-0-0, 3 points)
Last showing in the World Cup: Round of 16, 2006.
Best finish: Runner-up, 1958, in a tournament it hosted.
Notable: Sweden is unbeaten in their last 10 group stage games. Their last group stage loss came in 1990, a 2-1 result against Costa Rica.
FIFA world ranking: 24. ELO world ranking: 19.
Players to watch
Winger Emil Forsberg will be key for the Swedes to have a shot against the reigning champions. Forsberg has good speed and a solid repertoire of skills, and is counted on to key Sweden’s attack. Germany’s Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) is one of the world’s best goalkeepers. He missed most of the Bundesliga season with a foot injury before returning to the national team this month. For the Germans to make the sort of run they’ve come to expect, he will have to be in top form.
—Kendra Andrews
Complete World Cup scores, standings and schedule
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