Lukas Podolski scored twice to give Germany a 2-0 victory over Sweden and send the hosts to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. The Bayern Munich striker broke the deadlock as early as the fifth minute before he doubled the lead seven minutes later. Sweden played with ten for 53 minutes as Teddy Lucic saw red after collecting two bookings. Veteran striker Henrik Larsson failed to close the gap after re-start when he slammed a penalty-kick over the bar. Germany will play the winners from Argentina and Mexico who will meet in the round of 16 on Saturday night. The hosts started in an attacking style with Miroslav Klose breaking through the jaded Sweden defense in the fifth minute but his shot was parried by Andreas Isaksson only for Podolski to poke into an empty net.
Sweden had the chance to bounce back when Larsson was free in the box but a brave tackle from Christoph Metzelder converted the ball to a corner-kick. Just seven minutes after the first goal, Klose took three defenders one way and slipped the ball in the other to the unchallenged Podolski who curled a low left-footer home. The tie looked heading in a one-way traffic towards the Sweden goal as Michael Ballack fired a powerful effort but Isaksson produced a brilliant save to keep his team in the game. In the 31st minute, Philipp Lahm raced down the left and squared to Klose who collected the ball in the box and fired at the anticipated Isaksson, who blocked a Torsten Frings' bullet shortly after. Sweden's misery was deepened before the break when defender Lucic was sent-off after receiving the second yellow card. The Swedes started the second-half more organized and in the 53rd minute Larsson was nudged by Christoph Metzelder but the former Barcelona striker fired the resulted spot-kick wide. Just one minute later, Ballack danced his way past challengers and rifled a bullet but Isaksson tipped the ball away.
