Sebastian Rudy suffers broken nose in Germany’s win vs. Sweden

It’s been confirmed via SportBild that Sebastian Rudy suffered a broken nose from taking a stray cleat to the face from Sweden’s Ola Toivonen in the first half of Germany’s 2-1 win over Sweden. It remains unclear how long he’ll be out for and when he’ll be able to train in full with the team. After the match, Joachim Low said, “Rudy has broken his nose, I think maybe he can play on Wednesday, you have to wait [and see]...”

The play that led to the injury started when Toni Kroos slightly over-hit his pass to Rudy, causing him to slide to try and reach it. When Toivonen jumped over Rudy to avoid contact, the cleat on his trailing leg unfortunately hit Rudy right square in the nose, causing severe bleeding almost instantaneously. After assessing him for a few brief moments, Dr. Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt and his medical staff made the call on the sidelines to have him replaced. Ilkay Gündoğan was subbed on for him in the 31st minute.

The incident (disclaimer; there’s a fair amount of blood in this)

The injury comes as a frustrating blow for Rudy, who had been playing decent for the opening half-hour of the match. Many were surprised to see his inclusion in the starting eleven, but Joachim Low chose to use him as a midfield anchor just in front of Jerome Boateng and Antonio Rudiger, giving Kroos more license to roam forward. To his credit, there did look to be a bit more space in Germany’s midfield after he went off and Toivonen’s opening goal for Sweden came just minutes after he was replaced.

Thankfully, goals from Marco Reus and Kroos (stoppage time winner), Germany were able to keep their World Cup hopes alive and hopefully Rudy will be able to play a part in their remaining matches.