World Cup: Experienced Europe outshines spirited and brave Africa

France are back in the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2006 after defeating Nigeria 2-0 in their second round contest at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia.

Paul Pogba's 79th minute goal and a late Joseph Yobo own goal handed Les Bleus the 2-0 win in what was an action-packed end-to-end contest between two attack-minded teams.

France boss Didier Deschamps rolled out a 4-3-3 formation with Hugo Lloris in goal, Mathieu Debuchy, Raphael varane, Laurent Koscielny and Patrice Evra in defense, Paul Pogba, Yohan Cabaye and Blaise Matuidi in midfield and a front attacking three of Mathieu Valbuena, Olivier Giroud and Karim Benzema.

For Nigeria, it was a 4-2-3-1 with Vincent Enyeama in goal, Juwon Oshaniwa, Kenneth Omeruo, Joseph Yobo and Efe Ambrose in defense. John Obi Mikel and Ogenyi Onazi anchored in as the holding midfielders while Victor Moses, Peter Odemwingie and Ahmed Musa lined up in the attacking midfield right behind lone striker Emmanuel Emenike.

Nigeria were the aggressor at the start and pushed the French back into their own area in the first 20 minutes. The African champions thought they had grabbed the opening goal in the 19th minute but Emenike's goal was annulled after correctly ruled offside by a mere foot. The non-goal woke up the French and soon Les Bleus found their footing and came close to scoring first on a break that ended with a Pogba volley that forced a massive save out of Enyeama.

The tempo of the first half remained high with chances at both ends, including a 40th minute shot from Debuchy that he sent just wide. Despite all the action though the teams retreated to their locker rooms at halftime stuck in a goalless deadlock.

France got a bit of a lucky break in the opening stages of the second half after Matuidi only received a yellow card from referee Mark Geiger following a nasty challenge in the 55th minute on Onazi who had to be stretchered off and replaced. Perhaps in a different match with a different referee Matuidi would have seen red, but in this instance the United States referee let the PSG man off the hook with just a caution. Nigeria continued to apply the pressure, keeping France on the back foot as the match approached the final 20 minutes.

However, the introduction of Antoine Griezmann for the ineffective Giroud helped spark the French attack and the Real Sociedad man combined well with Giroud on a 69th minute chance that nearly ended in a goal for the Real Madrid striker but Enyeama's block, combined with Moses' timely goal-line clearance kept Benzema from scoring.

The French onslaught continued and six minutes after Benzema's chance, a Cabaye shot smacked the underside of the crossbar and bounced out. Benzema nearly then beat Enyeama with a 78th minute header but the dam would finally crack in the 79th minute when, on the resulting corner kick, Enyeama's attempted parry went right to Pogba and the Juventus man had an easy header into the unmarked Nigerian net.

Unlike Sunday's matches in which late goals overturned results, Nigeria were unable to mount a serious threat in the final stages and the Super Eagles' stay in Brazil came to an official close when a stoppage time cross in from Valbuena was redirected into the Nigerian net by Yobo who was being pressured after a near post run from Griezmann.

Germany 2-1 Algeria

Germany survived a big-time scare from an inspiring Algeria with a 2-1 win in extra time to earn a place in the World Cup quarterfinals.

Andre Schürrle and Mesut Özil scored in extra time to offset what was primarily a very subpar effort from the three-time champions over the course of the first 90 minutes against an Algeria team that showed no fear throughout. Germany will now meet UEFA counterparts France in the quarterfinals.

The Germans went with Manuel Neuer in goal, Shkodran Mustafi, Jerome Boateng, Per Mertesacker and Benedikt Höwedes in defense. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Toni Kroos composed the three-man midfield and up front it was Mesut Özil, Thomas Müller and Mario Götze.

Algeria's starting XI consisted of Rais M'Bohli in goal, Aissa Mandi, Essaid Belkalem, Rafik Halliche and Faouzi Ghoulam in defense, Medhi Mostefa and Mehdi Lacen as holding midfielders, Sofiane Feghouli and Saphir Taider on the wings and Hillel Soudani and Islam Slimani as strikers.

Algeria were clearly undaunted by their more prestigious rivals and the North Africans did not hesitate in taking the game to the three-time World Cup champions. Their best chance in the first 20 minutes came on an overlapping run from Ghoulan who then lashed his shot just wide past Neuer.

Meanwhile, Joachim Löw's team were unable to mount any type of cohesive attack as the likes of Özil and Kroos failed to craft much to trouble the Algerians. The teams then traded chances within a minute of each other as a Mostefa shot from distance barely deflected wide and then a bending shot from Kroos was parried by M'Bohli right to Götze whose effort was blocked by the hulking Algerian stopper.

After a poor first 45 minutes, Löw did not hesitate to make a change during the break and brought on Andre Schürrle for Götze and the introduction of the Chelsea man upped the tempo for the Germans and within the first five minutes they created more chances than they had during the entire first half. Schürrle nearly burst through the Algerian box for a score and then a minute later a Mustafi header just missed. Lahm followed that up by forcing M'Bohli into a fingertip save on a 55th minute shot, but Algeria held firm and kept the Germans off the scoreboard as the match rolled into the final half hour.

A second change was made by Löw in the 69th minute when an injury forced Mustafi off and Real Madrid's Sami Khedira came on to play right back. Germany threatened late on with a slew of chances including a 79th minute header from Schweinsteiger that sailed wide, an 81st minute Kroos header required a reaction save out of M'Bohli, a Müller shot that barely missed in the 82nd minute and another Schweinsteger header that fell into the arms of M'Bohli, which proved to be their final chance of regular time, thus setting up a dramatic additional 30 minutes of football.

For all their poor play and shabby finishing in the first 90 minutes, it took just 90 seconds for Löw's men to find the back of the net in extra time as a hard charging run from Müller on the left saw the Bayern man cross for Schürrle who managed to just reach back with his foot to pry the ball forward and roll it past M'Bohli.

A 102nd minute Mustefa shot was the closest chance to an Algerian equalizer in extra time but his shot off a corner kick curled wide. With the North Africans completely exhausted, Germany doubled their lead when Özil slammed in a shot off a rebound in the 119th minute.

Incredibly, Algeria answered the Özil strike when Slimani connected on a cross in the 121st minute to cut the lead to 2-1 but a late miracle was not on offer for Algeria who proved a noble foe, while Germany will certainly breathe a huge sigh of relief.

/Marca/