The battle for the knockout stages is set to go right down to the wire in Group F, with all four teams still harbouring ambitions of a place in the last 16. Germany kept their hopes alive with a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Sweden, who drop below the 2014 world champions on goal difference. South Korea need a minor miracle to make it out of the group stage after losing 2-1 to Mexico, who followed up their triumph over Joachim Löw’s side with another narrow win on Saturday.
A Carlos Vela penalty gave El Tri the lead after 26 minutes, before former Bayer Leverkusen star Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez doubled the Central Americans’ advantage midway through the second half. Heung-Min Son gave his side hope with a sublime effort three minutes into injury time, but Juan Carlos Osorio’s troops held on comfortably to put themselves on the brink of a place in the Round of 16.
Salcedo impresses
Eintracht star Salcedo was one of Mexico’s standout performers in Rostov, winning numerous tackles and making several crucial clearances to keep the opposition at bay. Eagles attacker Marco Fabian, meanwhile, followed proceedings from the bench as an unused substitute. El Tri face Sweden in their final group game on Wednesday, while Germany take on South Korea (both matches kick off at 16:00 CEST).
