Sweden coach Janne Andersson hit out at the German bench for “rubbing it in” as they celebrated Toni Kroos’s stoppage-time winner in Germany’s 2-1 World Cup Group F victory on Saturday.
“Some of the German leaders of the team celebrated by running in our direction and rubbing into our faces by making gestures and that really got me annoyed and angry,” said the Sweden coach whose team had led 1-0 at half-time.
“There were many people on our bench that were annoyed. We fought it out for 95 minutes and when the final whistle goes you shake hands and leave. So I was very angry,” he said.
“All I am saying is people behaved in ways you don’t, you cheer when you win, you leave the opponents to feel sad you don’t react in the way they did.”
His counterpart, Germany coach Joachim Loew however, said he was not aware of any taunting.
“Who made gestures, did I make a gesture? I didnt witness that because after the final whistle we were concentrating on other things. We fell into each other’s arms and were so elated. I didn’t see any aggressive gestures,” he said.
It was a cruel blow for the Swedes, who gave their all but came up just short.
The defending champions were stunned in the first half by an in-form Swedish side as Ola Toivonen scored in the 32nd minute to put his team ahead heading into the first break.
But Germany fought their way back into the match immediately after resumption as Marco Reus equalised in the 48th minute, meeting a low cross from Timo Werner, to avoid the biggest upset so far in the World Cup.
Reus’ equaliser was also Germany’s first goal of the 2018 World Cup, with what was their 34th shot in this year’s tournament.
Real Madrid star Kroos then netted in extra time to ensure victory for Germany. The last time Germany won a match after conceding the first goal was way back in the 1998 edition when they beat Mexico 2-1 in the round of 16.
The four-time world champions though again found themselves in trouble when Jerome Boateng picked up his second yellow card in the 82nd minute leaving Germany with 10-men on the pitch in the dying moments of the game.
But they somehow managed to hang on and even created a few chances in the final few minutes with Brandt even hitting the woodwork in injury time.
It was then Kroos’ turn to shine as he scored from a set-piece in the sixth minute of extra time. Kroos curled in a superb strike from an indirect free kick to grab the three points for his side.
“It’s probably the worst end of a game I’ve experienced in my career, that we didn’t get a draw, but the whole group is still alive, so we’ll have to lick our wounds and come back for the next one,” Sweden Andersson added.
Sweden and Germany are both on three points with leaders Mexico on six heading into the final group games.