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Sweden thrashed Mexico 3-0 to top Group F as defending champions Germany incredibly crashed out of the World Cup.<\/p>\nSweden thrashed Mexico 3-0 to top Group F as defending champions Germany incredibly crashed out of the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Ludwig Augustinsson and Andreas Granqvist, with a penalty, put Sweden in control before Edson Alvarez\u2019s own goal saw the Scandinavians make certain of their place in the second round.<\/p>\n
Mexico joined them despite the defeat after Germany finished bottom thanks to a shock 2-0 defeat to South Korea in Kazan.<\/p>\n
The 2014 champions were dumped out, with Janne Andersson\u2019s Sweden the big winners having started the day in third place.<\/p>\n
It was a dismal game in Ekaterinburg for Mexico but they survived to make the last 16.<\/p>\n
The game had a historic start with Jesus Gallardo collecting the fastest booking since World Cup records began, pulled up after just 13 seconds for a foul on Ola Toivonen.<\/p>\n
It continued to be lively as Emil Forsberg tested Guillermo Ochoa with a sixth-minute free-kick after the goalkeeper handled outside the box, before Marcus Berg\u2019s acrobatic effort dropped wide.<\/p>\n
Carlos Vela curled off target for Mexico after 17 minutes but they struggled to make an impact.<\/p>\n
Sweden had penalty claims turned down after referee Nestor Pitana referred to VAR when the ball struck Javier Hernandez high on the arm after half an hour.<\/p>\n
Pitana was told to take another look at it by the video referee but, despite replays showing the ball hitting Hernandez\u2019s arm, he waved away Sweden\u2019s protests.<\/p>\n
A minute later Ochoa turned Berg\u2019s instinctive volley over with Andersson\u2019s side on top.<\/p>\n
Sweden lost to a last-minute goal against 10-man Germany at the weekend, leaving them needing to better the champions\u2019 result on Wednesday, and against most expectations a goal rush from the Swedes transformed the group order.<\/p>\n
Sweden opened the scoring five minutes after the break thanks to Augustinsson\u2019s first international goal.<\/p>\n
Viktor Claesson missed his kick in front of goal and the ball looped to Augustinsson to crack in a volley at the far post.<\/p>\n
It allowed Sweden to relax and they doubled their lead after 62 minutes through Granqvist\u2019s second spot-kick of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Hector Moreno brought down Berg in the area and captain Granqvist stepped up to drive the ball high into the net.<\/p>\n
Twelve minutes later it was 3-0 as Alvarez scored a calamitous own goal when he sliced the ball onto his standing leg from six yards and it bounced beyond Ochoa.<\/p>\n
Hernandez missed a chance to pull a goal back soon after but Mexico were reliant on South Korea\u2019s result against Germany.<\/p>\n
They faced an anxious wait to hear the result from Kazan while playing out four minutes of stoppage time in their own game.<\/p>\n
But news slowly filtered through of Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min\u2019s goals for South Korea in injury time which started the Mexican party as Germany went home, bottom of Group F.<\/p>\n