Janne Andersson hit out at the German bench for “rubbing in” their victory as they celebrated Toni Kroos’ stoppage-time winner in Germany’s 2-1 World Cup Group F triumph on Saturday.
There was a confrontation between members of both teams on the sideline at midfield and the two groups had to be separated.
“Some of the German leaders of the team celebrated by running in our direction and rubbing in to our faces by making gestures, and that really got me annoyed and angry,” said the Sweden coach, whose team had led 1-0 at half-time.
“There were many people on our bench that were annoyed. We fought it out for 95 minutes, and when the final whistle goes you shake hands and leave. So I was very angry.
“All I am saying is people behaved in ways you don’t do. You cheer together, maybe, when you win, and you leave the opponents to feel sad — you don’t react in the way they did, and that’s the end of it.”
Germany coach Joachim Low said he was not aware of any taunting.
“Who made gestures? Did I make a gesture? I didn’t witness that because after the final whistle we were concentrating on other things,” he said. “We fell into each other’s arms and were so elated. I didn’t see any aggressive gestures.”
Sweden forward John Guidetti said the German team later apologised for their actions.
“You shouldn’t celebrate in front of our bench the way they did — that’s disrespectful,” Guidetti said. “You can celebrate with your own fans. Don’t celebrate in front of our bench like that. That’s why they apologised, because they knew they did something wrong.”
The Swedes were leading Germany at half-time thanks to Ola Toivonen’s goal in the 32nd minute at Fisht Stadium. They felt they could have been ahead even earlier if the referee had called a penalty when Marcus Berg appeared to be fouled inside the area with a clear chance to score. There was no formal video review called for.
“If we have the [VAR] system, it’s very unfortunate that [the referee] can feel so secure in the moment that he doesn’t go and have a look at the situation,” Andersson said.
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