Love this Algeria!
Whew! What a surprise Algeria had saved for the match against Germany. It was supposed to be a contest between underdogs and hot favourites. But in reality, it were Algerians who played like hot favourites and almost knocked fancied Germans out of the World Cup.
The Germans played good game, but the Algerians played even better. Algeria put up a magnificent performance. Right from the word go, it was a pulsating, raucous, tense and brilliant match. High quality stuffs were demonstrated at both ends of the pitch. Indeed, Germans were lucky to walk away with an extra-time 2-1 win over Algeria in one of the best games of the tournament to set up a quarterfinal against France.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. It went up late last night so you may have missed it. The wave for Germany v Algeria: http://t.co/OP9PI57R7T pic.twitter.com/YTg07UkLcH
— Infostrada Sports (@InfostradaLive) July 1, 2014
Algeria bowed out of the World Cup as the last African country, but not before becoming the darlings of the tournament. They did not play the traditional very physical African football. They displayed the skill, speed, strength, sophistication and precision of a football that looked like to me a good cocktail of African, Latin and European styles.
Germany keeper Manuel Neuer had 21 touches outside of the box v Algeria http://t.co/dcXmY0bRek #GER pic.twitter.com/ieJJfdshrC
— 101 Great Goals (@102greatgoals) July 1, 2014
You gotta love this Algeria, who pushed the Germans tantalisingly close to revisiting memories of 1982 World Cups in Spain. Algeria pulled off one of the greatest World Cup upsets when, on their debut in the tournament, they beat West Germany, the European champions. Lakhdar Belloumi, the African footballer of the year, was the architect of a victory that will stand alongside those of the United States against England in 1950 and North Korea’s over Italy in 1966.
The score was 2-1. But it went in Algeria's favour. This time in Brazil, it went in Germany's favour. Still, it were Algerians who won the hearts. See you again in four years.
The other African country Nigeria fought hard Tuesday to progress, but stumbled in the end, much to the relief of Les Bleus. France are not going home, as they managed a berth in the quarterfinals. But it certainly wasn’t as easy as the 2-0 scoreline makes it look.
#FRANGA HIGHLIGHTS: Watch highlights of @equipedefrance's 2-0 win over @NGSuperEagles - http://t.co/tuPOCgBZSy pic.twitter.com/P32g2DoO8K
— FIFAWorldCup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 1, 2014
Though France had the most potent attack in the World Cup, they struggled to find the net. With match drawing into the dying minutes at 0-0, France looked more and more uncertain, unadventurous, unimaginative, and, perhaps, slightly fearful of Nigeria. Brows of coach Didier Deschamps must have furrowed deep seeing his charges in action.
The Super Eagles were out on a prowl. They kept on raiding the French fort time and again for the first hour or more, hardly letting their opponents into the match. With a record 18 saves at the group stage under his belt, Vincent Enyeama once again appeared invincible under the bar. But he made one mistake -- weakly palming away a corner kick in the 79th minute that floated invitingly to Paul Pogba, who headed it into the net.
That goal, and a key substitution by Deschamps just three minutes earlier, made the difference. Coming in for a tired Olivier Giroud, striker Griezmann had all the energy to burn only in a few minutes, sparking charge after charge and wearing the Nigerians down. Pressure was so much so that a stoppage time corner resulted in an own goal.
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