Soccer
Nigeria and Algeria out─── 09:10 Tue, 01 Jul 2014
Morgan Piek
Bloemfontein - France and Germany have advanced to the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil after beating African hopefuls Nigeria and Algeria.
The French scored a 79th minute goal by Paul Pogba to take lead against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
A 90th minute own goal by Jospeh Yobo sealed the deal for the French to setup a date with the Germans in the last eight.
Nigeria’s national football coach, Steven Keshi, has blasted the referee following the Super Eagles exit last night.
Keshi was aggrieved that Emmanuel Emenike had a first-half goal ruled out for offside, although replays suggested the call was correct.
He also felt France had been allowed to get away with some over-zealous tackling.
Keshi conceded that American referee Mark Geiger was only human, but raised questions at the amount of so called mistakes he made.
Extra-time goals from Andre Schurrle and Mesut Ozil proved enough for Germany to overcome a spirited Algeria 2-1 to advance.
This evening Argentina face Switzerland at 18:00, while at 22:00 Belgium take on the USA in the last round of the Last 16 before the quarter-finals start on Friday.
