Toni Kroos said his last-gasp winner to seal a dramatic 2-1 win for Germany over Sweden made amends for his earlier mistake and kept the holders’ World Cup dreams alive.
Kroos’ mistimed pass led to Ola Toivonen’s first-half goal for Sweden before Germany fought back in Sochi with a Marco Reus goal before Kroos swung in a free-kick in the fifth minute of added time.
Germany, who had influential defender Jerome Boateng sent off for a second yellow card, were far from convincing and put in a nervous display after a barrage of criticism following defeat to Mexico.
“Overall, we once again had phases where we played really well and didn’t use our chances,” said Kroos. “We were criticised a lot, justifiably so in part, and a lot of people in Germany would have been pleased if we had gone out today.”
Kroos was responsible for Sweden scored “Of course, the first goal (by Sweden) was my fault. When you put in 400 passes in a game, then one or two won’t go where they should,” said Kroos.
After losing their opening match to Mexico, Germany must now beat South Korea in Kazan next Wednesday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout phase from Group F and hope Sweden do not achieve a better result against Mexico.
“Now we have to recover and we don’t have much time before we have to beat Korea, when we have to play convincingly,” said Kroos.