Germany and Sweden into the knockouts, BVB quartet at the World Cup | OneFootball

Win, draw, and defeat for Dortmund’s international players at the World Cup on Thursday night. Salih Özcan (28) picked up three points with Turkey. Daniel Svensson (24) at least earned a point with Sweden. Felix Nmecha (25) and Maximilian Beier (23), on the other hand, left the pitch empty-handed.

“Defeats are never good, not even in a match that no longer matters in sporting terms,” quotes tagesschau.de Julian Nagelsmann (38). Even before the final match against Ecuador, the German Football Association (DFB) team had already secured top spot in the group. Nevertheless, the national coach refrained from making major changes to his starting lineup.

Nmecha was in the starting eleven again, just as he had been in the wins over Curaçao (7:1) and Ivory Coast (2:1). But the previously outstanding midfielder never got into the game against the South Americans. Germany took the lead through Leroy Sané (30) after just two minutes. But seven minutes later, the score was level again. Nmecha lost the ball to Pedro Vite (24), who passed to Nelson Angulo (23) for the equalizer.

Turkey earn a respectable result

By the time Ecuador turned the match around in the final 15 minutes, Nmecha was already on the bench. In the 64th minute, with the score at 1:1, Nagelsmann took him off. His club teammate Beier came on in his place and moved to the right wing. The attacker neither stood out positively nor negatively. He was also unable to prevent Gonzalo Plata (25) from making it 2:1 after 77 minutes. At least Beier made his World Cup finals debut. Waldemar Anton (29) watched all 90 minutes plus stoppage time from the sidelines.

Photo: Getty Images

After a 5:1 win over Tunisia and a 1:5 loss to the Netherlands, Sweden were under considerable pressure heading into the clash with Japan. Svensson also started the third group-stage match on the bench. In the 75th minute, head coach Graham Potter (51) brought on the Stockholm native. Three minutes later, the BVB player let fly. However, the shot was deflected behind for a corner. In the end, the 1:1 draw was enough for both teams to advance to the knockout stage.

There was also a small sense of achievement for Özcan and Turkey. The ball-winning midfielder played the full 90 minutes against group winners the USA. But the 3:2 victory in stoppage time no longer helped the Turks. In their first World Cup appearance in 24 years, the southeastern Europeans were eliminated in the group stage.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.