This was pretty much win or bust for Germany, a team groping with unfamiliar uncertainties, and they threw everything they had at Sweden during a wild night by the Black Sea in what was arguably the game of the tournament.
The game looked up for Löw and his players when Jérôme Boateng leapt into a reckless tackle on Marcus Berg as the clock ticked down to incur a second yellow card. It was one of many glaring examples of Germany’s indiscipline at the back.
But the 10 men refused to wilt and, after the substitute Julian Brandt had rattled the post from distance, Toni Kroos summoned a stunning late twist when he bent a free-kick that had been touched back to him by Marco Reus into the far corner. Sweden were broken at the end. They had led through Ola Toivonen and called the tune in the first half. But the second half belonged to Germany and they squeezed home in the most dramatic of style.
