Kroos praises champs’ spirit

GERMANY hero Toni Kroos reckons his side deserve to reach the World Cup final after his stunning late goal against Sweden showed why they are reigning champions.

Kroos (inset) struck in the fifth minute of added time on Saturday to clinch a 2-1 victory which kept Germany’s fate in their own hands.

Joachim Low’s under-fire side have been criticised ever since they lost 1-0 to Mexico in their opening game.

But Kroos’ late goal, after Ola Toivonen put the Swedes ahead and Marco Reus equalised, has transformed morale in the camp.

The Real Madrid man said: “With that sort of fighting spirit, we deserve to reach the final.

“We have had so much criticism that it makes me feel like it’s much more fun for people to write badly about us. We get no help from all those who write, analyse, accuse us of bad body language. But nobody will ‘write us a title’. It all has to come from us.” All four teams in Group F can still qualify. Germany can book a place in the last-16 if they draw or win against South Korea on Wednesday – and Mexico beat Sweden. But if the Swedes also win it could go down to ‘fair play’ points, based on bookings and red cards. Sweden are still fuming at the way Germany’s backroom team celebrated leading to scuffles at the final whistle. Midfielder Emil Forsberg said: “It was disgusting behaviour, a total lack of respect.”

Former Celtic star John Guidetti said the Germans apologised for celebrating in front of the Swedish bench, meaning they knew they had done wrong.