The Star Malaysia

Germany suffer shock World Cup exit with 2-0 loss to South Korea.

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Yekaterinb­urg: Sweden thumped Mexico 3-0, overpoweri­ng their opponents after a scoreless first half in a result that means both teams advance to the World Cup last 16 at the expense of defending champions Germany.

Sweden finished top of Group F on goal difference, with both teams on six points ahead of Germany and South Korea on three apiece, after the champions went down 2-0 in a shock result in Kazan.

After pressing hard for most of the first half and wasting numerous chances, Sweden finally found the net when leftback Ludwig Augustinss­on charged up the field in the 50th minute and angled home a left-footed volley.

Twelve minutes later, captain Andreas Granqvist kept his concentrat­ion in the face of deafening boos and whistles from the Mexican fans to blast a penalty into the top left corner after Hector Moreno had brought down Marcus Berg.

Mexico’s misery was complete when the ball trickled in off the leg of Edson Alvarez for a tame own goal on 74 minutes.

The Mexicans were a shadow of the team that had beaten Germany and South Korea and had pundits speaking of them as potential world champions.

Needing only a draw to be sure of advancing, they somehow managed to reach the break on level terms after surviving a Swedish aerial bombardmen­t and a VAR review. The game was packed with incident from the opening whistle, with Mexican midfielder Jesus Gallardo booked within seconds of the start for misjudging an aerial challenge on Ola Toivonen.

The Swedes were guilty of wasteful finishing in the opening 45 minutes, with Emil Forsberg in particular blazing several shots over the bar.

Berg posed repeated problems for the Mexican defence, first flicking wide with his back to goal, and later firing a well-struck shot that was acrobatica­lly turned over the bar by goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. On the stroke of half-time, he fired into the side-netting after a swift Swedish break from defence.

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