Sweden’s coach Janne Andersson accused the Germans of “rubbing it in their faces” after the world champions scored a last gasp goal in their Group F clash on Saturday, according to Sky Sports.
Germany were trailing Sweden after Ola Toivonen gave them a first-half lead, but Germans fought back in the second half and equalized with a goal from Marco Reus. Despite a flurry of attempts at the Swedish goal, Germans could not get the much-needed breakthrough, diminishing their chances of qualifying beyond the group stage.
A draw would have all but killed German chances at this year’s tournament, so Germany knew they could go home packing if they didn’t muster a goal from somewhere. Their chances seemed done and dusted when Jerome Boateng was given his marching orders after a second yellow card. Germany needed someone to step up, and they needed it soon.
In the last minute of injury time, Germany’s Timo Werner was tripped on the byline by Jimmy Dumaz. From the resulting free kick, Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos assailed an unstoppable curler which had Sweden’s goalie Robin Olsen all ends beaten. The Germans celebrated the goal wildly, running to the touchline as the entire German entourage hugged and fell over each other.
But one person who wasn’t impressed was Sweden’s coach Janne Andersson, who had seen his team surrender a lead to hand Germany the win. Andersson accused Germans of celebrating a bit too much, considering the win doesn’t necessarily guarantee them qualification.
“Some of Germany’s leaders celebrated by running in our direction and rubbing it into our faces. That got me angry,” Andersson said.
“We fought it out for 90 minutes and when the final whistle blows you shake hands and you leave so I was very angry with that.”
“Some of them celebrated in a disrespectful way in my opinion,” Swedish substitute Pontus Jansson added, echoing his coach’s sentiments.
That last-gasp Germany goal saw Sweden manager Janne Andersson go from cool, calm & collected to Neil Warnock levels of angry.
(? @karlrrich83 ) pic.twitter.com/8FV3I1EA4n
— The Sack Race (@thesackrace) June 23, 2018
And video evidence corroborates Andersson’s viewpoint, and as some would argue, justifies his anger. While none of the German players or Germany’s head coach “rubbed it” in Swedish faces, as Andersson put it, one particular German staff member went towards Sweden’s bench and clapped mockingly at them.
The coach responded by running in the German’s direction before he was stopped by the referees and other assistants. Andersson continued to scream at the referee and the German technical staff before finally being convinced to shake their hands as the match roared to a close.
