World Cup 2018:  5 talking points as Germany beat Sweden

#3 Jerome Boateng's disastrous performance

Boateng had a match to forget

The Bayern Munich mainstay will hope to erase this game from his memory as soon as possible. With Mats Hummels missing the Sweden clash through an injury, Boateng had to be the leader of Germany's back line. But with Kimmich and Hector - the fullbacks joining in the attacks left him exposed and far from settled.

All it took was just a long ball to Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen to test the central defenders and Manuel Neuer.

On one such instance, Berg got behind the German defence and was through on goal. Boateng tripped him, and he lost balance, shooting straight at Neuer. The referee failed to see the foul and Boateng survived to see the second half. But not for long.

First, he tripped Sebastian Larsson on one of Sweden's counter attacks and received a booking. With eight minutes to go, Boateng then clattered onto Berg and was given the marching orders for his second bookable offense. Both fouls could have been avoided as Boateng now faces a suspension in the all-important clash against South Korea.