Coming into this crucial second encounter, you always felt that Germany needed something extra, a little more spark to unsettle their opponents and stamp their authority as World Champions in the tournament.
It was a German team that looked a little languid, maybe still recovering from the hangover of their triumph from 4 years ago(Is that even possible).
Joachim had his hands full as he needed to shake things up in order to stay alive in the competition and shake things up he did.
Ozil was benched and the front line had a new look to it with Reus coming in. Ozil’s exclusion did come as a huge surprise as he has always been the ‘German favourite’, one player that they haven’t been able to find a replacement for.
However, today they had to and they did so in emphatic style, as Reus helped Germany equalise after Sweden had scored first.
And just when they were staring down the barrel, master Kroos came to the rescue, scoring an inch perfect free kick to keep the German hopes alive in the tournament.
This is how twitter reacted:
