Sweden wasn't impressed with Germany's celebrations. Photo / Twitter
Sweden wasn't impressed with Germany's celebrations. Photo / Twitter
The football world is having its fun at Germany's expense and no one is laughing louder than Sweden.
Germany's shock 2-0 loss to South Korea on Thursday morning (NZST) saw the defending World Cup champions eliminated in the group stage of the tournament for the first time since 1938.
A 1-0 defeat to Mexico in its opening game in Russia set the tone for Joachim Low's men, who finished bottom of Group F with three points from three games.
Sweden wasn't impressed with Germany's celebrations. Photo / Twitter
The reigning champions' only win was a thrilling 2-1 victory over Sweden in its second game, courtesy of a stunning Toni Kroos strike from a set piece in the 95th minute.
But what happened afterwards was just as big a talking point as Kroos' pearler into the top corner.
Germany's coaching staff stormed the touchline in elation over the shock win — and Sweden coach Janne Andersson wasn't impressed one bit. The dejected 55-year-old took a swipe at coach Low for bad sportsmanship.
"Some of the German coaches celebrated by running in our direction, rubbing it into our faces by making gestures, and that really got me annoyed and angry," he said. "There were many people on our bench who were very annoyed.
"We fought it out for 95 minutes and when the final whistle goes you (should) shake hands and leave, so I was very angry with that."
Swedish star Emil Forsberg told news channel TV4: "There is lack of respect and disgusting behaviour. You do not run into our area and celebrate that way."
Germany's Thomas Mueller wipes his face after losing the group F match between South Korea and Germany. Photo / AP
That "disgusting behaviour" has come back to haunt the Germans. Its elation has turned to despair and in an ironic twist, Sweden is the one celebrating with the most gusto after they thrashed Mexico 3-0 this morning to top the group.
Perhaps Low was reflecting on those over-the-top antics against Sweden when he skewered his side's "arrogance" in Russia.
"We have turned up with a sense of arrogance," Low said. "We thought we could just turn a switch after the bad friendlies.
"This is something for us to reckon with.
"This is historic. I am sure this will create some public uproar in Germany."
That’s karma for bad sportsmanship against us Germany...
After the way Germany mocked Sweden after their late win - and the racist abuse (not by Germans) of Sweden’s Jimmy Durmaz - this result smells like pure karma #GERKOR#MEXSWE
To be fair, the German team's official Twitter account was all class in defeat, sending out this message to Mexico and Sweden as they advanced to the knockout stages.
As much as it hurts to bow out this early, congratulations to #SWE and #MEX. We wish you good luck in the knockouts 👏 pic.twitter.com/6gbNpePRTm
But that wasn't enough to earn Germany much goodwill as fans across the world mocked the 2014 champions' early exit. Even though Mexico lost, Germany's defeat meant it secured second spot and fans showed their gratitude to all the South Koreans they could find for keeping their World Cup campaign alive.
Fox Sports Brazil was particularly savage and added insult to injury after Brazil defeated Serbia 2-0 to finish top of its group by adding contrasting photos of the two sides. It was no doubt payback for Germany's stunning 7-1 win over the South Americans in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.
Newspaper Bild showed the sharp contrast between the team's performance in Russia compared to its showing four years ago, and wrote on its website: "The biggest disgrace in German World Cup history. The loss is the embarrassing end to a catastrophic group phase."
Links: unsere Seite 1 nach dem 7:1 2014. Rechts: unsere Seite 1 nach dem WM-Aus 2018. pic.twitter.com/r0EB0xpSki
