… and they won’t have to.
Awesome response! 2-1!
And then they didn’t!
Not Germany’s best performance, but it was an awfully entertaining game.
Excellent game. Well done to Algeria. Great effort.
It was very entertaining. Wonderful to see unheralded sides play with such ferocity and determination against the big favorites!
My god I just spent 119 minutes cursing Mesut Özil. With a back line that’s already weak, and further suffering because one of its only really good players (Hummels) is out sick, you can’t afford to give up the fucking ball that much. And what is Michael Ballack smoking saying he had a good first half?
Anyway. I would have preferred to play Russia, because I expected we might see something like this…a relaxed Algeria, and an uptight Germany, but luckily we got out of the match alive.
What a tense couple of hours.
As much as im disappointed for Algeria they only have themselves to blame. Too many wasted opportunities and final passes. The guy in the first half shooting at the near post when he should have passed ought to be hanging his head in shame tonight. Well done to the German keeper as well. A goalkeeper and sweeper rolled into one.
It looked like the whole German team had the flu.
I only got to watch the last 30 minutes of regular time, but Algeria was kicking butt!
That’s what I get for hoping Howedes is booked and suspended for accumulation so Loew is forced to play Durm. . .Lahm gets himself booked instead. I thought the team did better with him at RB than DM, but if Schweinsteiger is injured that won’t matter.
Gute Besserung, Mats Hummels. Conceding only one with that back line was some kind of miracle, one that will not be repeated against France.
If this World Cup were on all the time, i’d need to upgrade my internet plan.
Normally, even watching a bunch of Netflix stuff and MLB games, we’re well under out 250GB monthly cap. The last week or so, though, we’ve been racking up a total of 10-20 GB per day, and a lot of that is due to the World Cup.
Wow I thought capped internet was a thing of the past in first world countries (which sadly does not include NZ where I’m from).
I don’t think we’ve yet to see Germany firing on all cylinders. If they got their act together they could be really scary.
Their opening match demolition of Portugal was pretty terrifying.
Sigh of relief from Germany I’m sure but hats off to Algeria, they gave it a good go, especially for the first half hour.
After that Germany settled and put them under the hammer for the rest of the game so they thoroughly deserved their win but when you consider that Germany had 26 attempts on goal to Algeria’s 8 and 15 on target to Algeria’s 3 they really should have been tucking more of them away then they wouldn’t have had such a jittery time at the end. France awaits and they will be a sterner test (though of course they may be of a very similar style to Algeria!)
That’s football though. Had Algeria made the most of their supremacy in the first half hour it would have been a different game entirely.
Really good fun though.
:dubious:
Don’t why it’s such an issue, though. Made so by the western media more than anything. Pakistan won the 1992 Cricket World Cup during Ramzan. None of the players fasted then. I doubt anyone would expect them to if they were not fasting.
Yes. They were a lot better than most fellow Germans expected. Kudos to the Algerian Team.
I think we have seen a different game. Sure, Germany were better in the second half and during extra time - but only just. The game could have gone either way - until Schürrle and finally Özil scored. But even then Algeria was still a threat and in the end scored a deserved goal. Both teams would have deserved to win.
I think we must have been watching different games. Germany were hammering on the door for most of the second half and extra time. The had many, many more good chances than Algeria and cut them open many times.
The stats bear this out in terms of possession, shots in total and on-goal and saves made.
Of course Algeria continued to make chances as Germany pushed for the win but they were not that frequent.
Yes it could have gone either way because Germany failed to put away their numerous chances (and the keeper did very well) but the balance of play for the final 90 minutes was very much in Germany’s favour. Algeria deserved a lead in the first half-hour, Germany much more so in the the last 90 minutes.
Yeah, the first 30 minutes belonged to Algeria, after that it was mostly Germany. Still, the Algerians posed a threat the entire game. As much as I was impressed by Neuer’s sweeping abilities such tactics may be a disaster waiting to happen. You cant keep playing like that without sooner or later coming up against a pacy striker who will make a keeper pay for straying outside the box.
The number of shots on goal by Germany is apparently a record for this stage of the tournament and the German keeper also made more passes than their striker.
ETA: Regarding the sweeper-keeper. I can’t help but think of the horrendous collision/assault/assassination attempt by Schumacher on France’s Battiston in Spain '82. Still, it isn’t like that could happen again is it?..oh, hang on…