World Cup 2018: 3 Things that went wrong for Sweden against Germany

#3 Not exploiting Jerome Boateng’s sending off

The fact that Germany managed to bounce back and claim three points is even more interesting by the fact that Jerome Boateng had just been sent off with almost 15 minutes to go after having collected a second yellow card in the match.

This left a gaping hole at the heart of the defence and as Germany had to commit bodies forward to win all three points, they even left a lot of space between the midfield and the defensive lines.

With Sweden being a team that focuses solely on counter-attacking the opposition, this could have turned out to be an excellent opportunity for them to peg a goal back.

Instead, lack of ambition and game awareness meant that they still looked to defend first, rather than exploit the space in the opposition’s backline.

Germany, too, ensured that they regained possession of the ball as soon as they lost it by pressing the Swede players all over the pitch in the second half.

Boateng’s dismissal was the perfect opportunity for Sweden to seal the game, but tactical naivety combined with a general lack of ambition in the game resulted in their downfall in the match.

Germany continued to put pressure in the opposition box by constantly sending in quality deliveries into the box, but it required a splendid free-kick from Toni Kroos to put the game in the bed from the German’s perspective.

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