R16: Germany - Algeria (June 30, 2014 - 22:00 CET)

[Mystik]

Algeria is one of the two African nations left in the tournament but they had the unfortunate luck of having to face Germany in the knockout rounds. I believe this is their first trip to the knockout rounds (ever?) so they are already beyond pleased with their achievements. With this world cup though you can never quite tell what is going to happen. Some solid defense and counter attacking and maybe they'll be able to steal a result?

[Ace]

Will Mesbah be the hero of this match? he was Milan's hero afterall

I believe Algeria might actually pull a surprise vs Germany.. atleast I hope so, hell.. I'd be happy if they force extra time
I missed their match vs Belgium, but from the other 2 matches they seemed to have good teamwork and tactical discipline plus a good winger/playermaker in Feghouli.

some facts about this team.. They have 23 players from 23 different teams, and surprisingly they work well together.
Yes, they did break the record by reaching the knockout rounds
they did beat (West) Germany once in 1982
their goal vs Belgium was the first since 1986 in a world cup
they broke their past record for goals scored in the world cup with 6 (I believe their previous was 5, also in 1982)
but they also broke the record for goals conceded aswell(5, pending the match vs Germany)

[nefremo]

No chance for Algeria here. Simply too much quality in the German squad. I know this is football...and never say never, but in this game there is simply too big of a gap in quality. It'll take a very brave man to bet against the Germans for this one.

[Aficio]

Algeria don't have any advantage:

- Being a North African country, they are not physically strong like other teams of same continent. And physical condition of German is always top of Europe, even the world.

- The match plays in Porto Alegre (5PM) where June & July are the coldest with daily mean of 14.5 Celsius (1961-1990, now could be 1-2C warmer). And the German are meticulous enough to overcome any difference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto_Alegre#Climate

Moreover, I don't think there is any debt between two NTs. Algeria beat W. Germany 2-1, and the W. Germany made them disqualified.

[xudong]

I don't think Algeria will win either. I look forward to seeing Muller or better yet, Klose score.

[ACMILAN1983]

It's very hard to see Algeria cause an upset in this match. I just hope they play well to make it entertaining though.

[Nalx]

Halfway through the round 16 and all the group winners won their respective games. I'm still waiting for an upset to happen but that doesn't seem likely to come from this game. On a side note, both teams have players who might observe the Ramadhan fast.

[ZvonimirBoban]

Halfway through the round 16 and all the group winners won their respective games. I'm still waiting for an upset to happen but that doesn't seem likely to come from this game. On a side note, both teams have players who might observe the Ramadhan fast.

Algeria have them more than Germany, for sure.

[Aficio]

Algeria brought nice surprise. But the German found the rhythm and created some clear chances.

[Mystik]

Yes and Neuer is playing that "sweeper keeper" role really well so as to cut out those counter attacks. Germany's centre backs are extreeeemely slow