Internationals, 24. June 2018
National team coach Joachim Löw brought on Mario Gomez for the second-half in place of Julian Draxler. And the VfB man immediately caused a threat in front of the Swedish goal. Meeting a cross from the left by Timo Werner, the 32-year-old got a touch on the ball before Marco Reus netted to make it 1-1 (48‘). The Swedes had taken the lead in the first-half through Ola Toivonen (32‘).
Having equalised, the German side pushed for a second – which was to elude them for quite some time. To add to the German woes, in the 81st minute, Jerome Boateng received a second booking, reducing the DFB team to ten men. In the 88th minute, Mario Gomez had the chance to put his side in front, but the front-man’s header on goal from a Toni Kroos delivery was well saved by Swedish keeper Robin Olsen. In added time, Julian Brandt then hit the post (90‘+2). In the fifth minute of injury-time, Germany then scored their relieving goal, with Toni Kroos curling home a free-kick from the edge of the box to make it 2-1.
With the win against the Scandinavians, Joachim Löw’s men are now level on points with Sweden in second place in Group F. On Wednesday afternoon at 4pm, the German side will require a further win over South Korea.
Benjamin Pavard and the French national team have already booked their place in the ‚Round of 16‘, having won their first two group games against Australia (2-1) and Peru (1-0).