Germany snatch victory over Sweden in last minute with brilliant free kick

June 24, 2018

Re-live Germany's great escape against Sweden.

Germany 2 - 1 Sweden

7:55am: That's it. Germany live to see another day at the World Cup thanks to that free kick in injury time. 

7:52am: Kroos has done it! Germany have done it! Oh, Swedish heartbreak. The midfielder bended it in the back post with a free kick from the edge of the area on the left. What a moment!

7:49am: Brandt hit the post! The German substitute struck a sweetly time volley but it smashed into the post. How cruel. 

7:45am: Olsen does brilliantly to clear Gomez's header over the bar. Just over two minutes left plus injury time. 

7:40am: Nueur does brilliantly to punch the ball clear from the resulting free kick despite falling. 

7:39am: Boateng is off! The German task just got even more difficult after one defender Boateng received a second yellow card for a sliding challenge from behind on Berg. 

7:33am: A corner fell nicely to one of hte Swedes, who hit a nice vollley, but Neuer was comfortably behind it. 

7:29am: The Swedes again clear their lines, this time the cross came in from th left but the defender was on hand. Germany are certainly creating chances. 

7:23am: Olsen beats away a cross. Thankfully from a Swedish point of view, there were no Germans to follow up.

7:18am: Reus with an incredible chance. He went for a rather difficult attempted finish as the cross came in and didn't make contact. Simply making contact and getting it on target might have been better.

7:14am: Hector's rushed vollley is saved by Olsen. 

7:06am: A Kroos shot deflects just wide. 

7:05am: We're back for the second half and Germany have scored! The ball was crossed in and Reus made no mistake as the ball sat up. 

6:47am: Halftime - Nueur produces a great save off the last kick of the first half. It's dire straights for the Germans at halftime. 

6:44am: Another great chance for Sweden! But Larsson couldn't pull off the final turn before shooting. 

6:39am: Olsen with a terrific double save! The first came off a deflection with the Swedish goalkeeper managing to get down again. 

6:32am: Gooooaaal! Sweden have scored! Toivonen managed to chest a cross down before lifting it over with Neuer with a superb inch-perfect lob. That's an unbelievable finish.  

6:28am: A Toivonen header is deflected out by a German for a corner. 

6:12am: Sweden with a great chance! Berg was left one-on-one with Neuer on the break but the German keeper pulled off the save. Actually it was Boateng who made a challenge from behind and the Swedes were appealing for a penalty. They had a pretty good case too. 

6:09am: The Swedish defence was again called upon, having to clear a German cross. 

6:06am: Germany looked vulnerable with a Swedish counter but the current holders managed to snuff it out. Germany will want to avoid that having looked vulnerable on the break against Mexico. 

6:02am: Germany denied! The Swedes cleared off their line to deny to Draxler. 

6:00am: We're underway. Germany immediately control possession and a cross from Muller flies across an empty box, at least for the Germans. A Swedish throw. 

5.55am: The teams will line up as follows.

GER: Neuer (Gk) (C) 3 Hector 7 Draxler 8 Kroos 9 Werner 11 Reus 13 Müller 16 Rüdiger 17 Boateng 18 Kimmich 19 Rudy

SWE:  Olsen (gk) 2 Lustig 3 Lindelöf 4 Granqvist (c) 6 Augustinsson 7 Larsson 8 Ekdal 9 Berg 10 Forsberg 17 Claesson 20 Toivonen

5.50am: The Germans must avoid defeat of they will head home at the end of the group stages. The current World Cup holders were stunned by Mexico in their opening match.

The were dealt another blow with defender Mats Hummels ruled out with injury. 

On the other side, Sweden beat South Korea in their opening match. 

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