Germany 2 Sweden 0 (June 24, 2006)
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0 commentsFIFA World Cup 2006 - Last 16
Lukas Podolski scored twice within the first 12 minutes as World Cup hosts Germany safely secured their passage into the quarter-finals courtesy of a 2-0 victory over 10-man Sweden.
The 21-year-old Bayern Munich-bound striker opened the scoring after just four minutes, with fellow frontman Miroslav Klose having a hand in both goals.
Stunned Sweden were then reduced to 10 men after defender Teddy Lucic picked up two yellow cards before half-time, although the Scandinavians should have pulled a goal back through former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson who sent a 53rd-minute penalty over the crossbar.
High-flying Germany, who looked impressive until the sending-off changed the momentum of the game, now take on either Argentina or Mexico in Berlin in the last eight.
The hosts have been oozing with confidence since their opening 4-2 victory over Costa Rica, and they quickly stamped their authority on opponents who had troubled England in a 2-2 draw on Tuesday.
Klose slipped past Erik Edman on his way into the box but Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson intervened. The goalkeeper's clearance, however, landed at the feet of Podolski who easily fired home from 14 yards out for the early lead.
After the same striker let fly again three minutes later - this time from 20 yards out - Larsson found himself in the clear after a long ball bounced into the box. He tackled Christoph Metzelder, only to hit the wrong side of the netting from seven yards out on the left.
Podolski then grabbed his second goal of the afternoon, again following some impressive work from Klose. The Werder Bremen star drew three defenders on a nice run across the penalty area and then cut it back to Podolski who had to whole net to aim at to make it 2-0.
Michael Ballack then sent a long-distance shot off target, with Klose heading wide off Philipp Lahm's cross.
But Sweden regrouped and Larsson was denied by Metzelder just when he tried to pull the trigger on a short-range shot.
Isaksson then pulled off a string of astounding saves to keep his side in the game. He dived to his right to divert Klose's shot around the right post before spectacularly getting his hands on long-distance strikes from Torsten Frings and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The game got even worse for Sweden who were controversially reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute.
Lucic seemed to hold Klose on a potential break-away, and Brazilian referee Carlos Simon ruled the contact was enough to justify his second yellow card in just seven minutes.
The dismissal, however, changed the momentum of the game, with Sweden gaining the upper hand.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who returned to the starting line-up after groin problems had kept him out of the England match, controlled the ball deep inside the penalty area to force Jens Lehmann into his first real save of the tournament, even though he could only clear the ball on his second attempt.
Two minutes before the break, Lahm prevented further damage after Lehmann got tangled up with Mattias Jonson following a left-wing flick from Larsson.
Klose could have made it 3-0 one minute later but Isaksson bravely parried his right-footed effort.
Sweden kept pushing forward after the break , and a minute into the second half Lehmann slid onto a through-ball from Ibrahimovic before Larsson could get in between.
The brave Scandinavians then wasted another golden opportunity as they were awarded a penalty kick in the 53rd minute when Ibrahimovic rolled a ball into the box. Metzelder pushed Larsson from behind but the former Barcelona man sent the spot-kick well over the crossbar.
Ballack then helped Germany to regain control of the game. First he forced the Isaksson into yet another astounding save as the Sweden skipper diverted a vicious 20-yarder to the right post before the Chelsea midfielder had no luck with two more long-range efforts in the 58th and 72nd minutes.
Klose almost got his fifth goal of the tournament in the 79th minute when he nodded over the rebound off another Ballack blast.
Germany hit the post through Bernt Schneider with six minutes remaining after he was set up by Oliver Neuville and Klose.
But a frenetic sell-out crowd of 66,000 roared when Simon blew the final whistle, making it 68 years since Germany last lost a game in the second round of the World Cup.
Date
June 24, 2006
