Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jul 1 (EFE).- Heavily favored Germany needed overtime here Monday to beat Algeria 2-1 and secure a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals.
The North African squad's Bosnian coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, left some of his best offensive players out of the lineup in favor of bolstering the defense.
The tactic paid off, shutting down the powerful German offense and creating some chances for Algeria on the counter-attack.
The Algerians deserved to be leading after the first half, but were unable to finish, and their heroic efforts left them depleted in the face of a frenetic German onslaught in the opening minutes of the second period.
Yet the African squad withstood the charge and regained their first-half form to hold the Germans and force the contest into overtime.
Andre Schürrle scored for Germany just three minutes into the first of the two 15-minute overtime periods and Mesut Özil added what turned out to be a vital insurance goal in the 120th
