And that’s why they’re the champions. More than that, that is why they are Germany. Of all the countries, of all the situations to find themselves in: 30 seconds from leaving the World Cup just 10 days in, only 10 men on the pitch. Then Toni Kroos, a cunning free-kick and a ball curled inside the far post. This time, it really didn’t look like it was coming, but then it did.

OK, mathematically, Germany would still have had a chance had Kroos not taken control. But the reality was that, with one game in Group F left, the world champions would have been sitting in third place. With Sweden still to play leaders Mexico, an amicable draw would have suited both teams. Like Germany and Austria in 1982, maybe they would have found a way.

Toni Kroos brings off late miracle for Germany to stun Sweden Read more

Those are all counterfactuals now. If Germany beat South Korea by two goals they will progress to the next stage, maybe even top the group. There are many questions about this team that remain unanswered. In short, here are a few: the form of Jérôme Boateng, the positions occupied by their full-backs, the wild variations in tempo, the apparent lack of an effective number nine. But all of them seem less significant than the fact that Germany remain Germany and they’re still in the World Cup.

The more you think about it, the more Kroos’s moment seems uncanny, not just improbable but impossible. As mentioned, the situation on the pitch was dire. Off it, things weren’t much better. Joachim Löw’s team had come into the match on the back of a week filled with discord. The camp was, apparently, at odds. Former national team favourites, with a desire to have their opinions heard, had decried the character of the team. Mario Basler, for example, claimed Mesut Özil displayed “the body language of a dead frog”. Which, you suppose, implies a lack of assertiveness. There was a team meeting that was apparently eerily quiet. There were no games of darts with the media. Come game day, there were changes. The dead frog had been given the chop. Sami Khedira too, while Boateng’s defensive partner Mats Hummels had suffered an unlikely-sounding neck injury. They started like they had rediscovered their groove, with Özil’s replacement, Marco Reus, showing smart movement behind Sweden’s centre-halves. But after a while, the good start stalled.

For all the consideration that had been given to the German psychodrama, the possible activity inside Swedish heads had gone largely unremarked upon. But this side proved once more that if they are anything they are smart.

Sweden got to Russia by outmanoeuvring first the Netherlands and then Italy. They know how to make the most of being underdogs. They stay compact with two lines of four players, with another in front and just Marcus Berg alone up front. On the ball they look to counterattack, not with pace but exactitude, the emphasis always on playing the ball into the right places.

In the first half the tactic worked a treat, culminating in Ola Toivonen’s delightful opener. Each moment of it was pinpoint precise: from Viktor Claesson’s cross, bent like Beckham would, to Toivonen’s chest and then, delightfully, the chip with the tip of his toe. As the ball arced over Manuel Neuer and into the net the moment seemed to last for minutes (this was not the case with Kroos, it was inexorable therefore it happened quickly).

Sweden had more chances in the opening 45 minutes, and should perhaps have built a lead of more than a single goal. But they did not. Germany had been, once again, ragged off the ball and not determined or canny enough on it. But they still had an opportunity for redemption.

The champions emerged for the second period reinvigorated once more and within three minutes they had equalised. Then the clock began to tick down.

With 30 minutes to go a German winner looked inevitable; with 20 the Swedes were once more a threat. With under 10 minutes remaining Boateng was dismissed and Germany went to 10 men. Löw responded by throwing on another attacker. With 90 seconds to go John Guidetti was set free in the Germany area but shot straight at Neuer when he could have cut back to Emil Forsberg or, even better, kept possession. These are the moments. Up the other end the ball went and Jimmy Durmaz made a tackle he should not have which will linger in his mind for the rest of his life. Up stepped Kroos. The pendulum swung improbably but decisively. The Germans probably have a compound noun for that.