France, Germany Reach World Cup Quarterfinals

France and Germany have reached the World Cup football quarterfinals in Brazil.

Algeria put up a valiant effort against heavily favored Germany Monday in Porto Alegre, battling to a scoreless deadlock in regulation. But it took less than two minutes for the Germans to find the net in extra time as Andre Schurrle scored from close range, while heavily guarded, by flicking the ball off the side of his foot.

Mesut Ozil put Germany ahead 2-0 in the 120th minute, and Algeria prevented a shutout with a goal a minute later in stoppage time (by Abdelmoumene Djabou) to make the final, 2-1.

Earlier Monday, France shut out Nigeria with two late goals, 2-0, and will face Germany in the quarterfinals Friday in Rio de Janerio .

Similar to other matches in the knockout stage, the France-Nigeria game in Brasilia was not decided until late. Paul Pogba scored on a header off a corner kick in the 79th minute to break a scoreless deadlock and give France the lead.

In stoppage time action at the end of the regulation 90 minutes, Nigerian Joseph Yobo accidentally knocked the ball into his own goal to give France its second goal in the 2-0 victory.

The last two second round matches will be played Tuesday.  Argentina goes against Switzerland, and the U.S. team takes aim at a quarterfinal berth when it plays Belgium.

Star U.S. forward Jozy Altidore, injured in the team's opening game win over Ghana, has been medically cleared to play Tuesday.  But whether he will see action has not yet been determined.

Fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/france-reaches-world-cup-quarterfinals/1948100.html