Great effort Algeria. Would liked to have seen Algeria play France, but Germany France should be a great quarter final match.
Did Chiles just say that France won't be worried about Germany, and will fancy their chances to make the semis? Germany are 2nd in the Rankings, and a fantastic side. Algeria were magnificent, and pushed them hard, but they came through. To say that because they only beat Algeria 2-1 AET means they aren't a good side, is stupid in my view. France v Germany should be terrific.
Tough luck on a very skillful and entertaining Algerian side - well done guys. But the Germans go marching on as always !
I'm proud of Algeria tonight. Didn't go down without a fight, they deserved the goal even if it was only a consolation. Fantastic match.
Time for me to have my usual moan about one of my biggest footballing bugbears... Two minutes added time, Algeria scored at 30:50, kick-off taken at 31:26, foul by Muller at 31:38, free-kick taken at 31:50... Whistle blown at 32:07. So there was 1 minute and 10 seconds left of added time when Algeria scored, there was 29 seconds of play before the whistle was blown. What's the point in even having stoppage time if you're only going to actually play less than half of it? Particularly when the time taken out is a restart from a goal and a deliberate timewasting foul from a player.
As the pundits called it (and I'm going to blow my own trumpet and say I mentioned it the other day of Costa Rica), that Algeria are more than the sum of their parts. England were and are less. If we assume the tactics were right, then it was all about attitude and mindset. Every underdog team I've seen at this World Cup have played without fear. It throws England's performances into sharp relief. If there is a single honest player in that squad, we may get to know why they played so poorly throughout. However, I'm sure they'll all play wonderfully well for their clubs and we'll forget how crap they were together. Sorry to hijack the thread when I should be celebrating the contribution of Algeria yo the tournamemt. I really do. They were great.
Great game to watch and Algeria were fantastic, so last night I felt a bit sad. This morning, however, I can reflect with some satisfaction, that I didn't have to witness Germany win yet another penalty shoot-out. #smallcrumbsofcomfort
