Germany and France end African hopes

Germany and France snuffed out African hopes and reached the World Cup quarter-finals on June 30 with hard-won victories over Algeria and Nigeria, while Uruguay striker Luis Suarez broke his silence to apologise for biting.

Both European powerhouses struggled for their wins, France needing late goals to see off African champions Nigeria 2-0 and Germany only securing their 2-1 victory over Algeria in extra time.

Germany and France will meet in the last eight on July 4, while disappointed Africans have no teams left to support.

It was the first time two African teams had reached the second round, but both went out within hours of each other to leave the continent still struggling to make an impact on the biggest stage.

In Porto Alegre, the sides were deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes in a frantic end-to-end match in which Algeria goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi pulled off some fantastic saves but swift counter-attacks also gave the north Africans chances to win.

With the score 0-0 at full time, German substitute Andre Schuerrle deftly flicked in a low cross, before Mesut Özil added a second in the last minute.

There was still time for an Algerian consolation goal, by Abdelmoumene Djabou. It was no more than they deserved but not enough to prevent heartbreak at the final whistle.

"The Algerians did a good job, they disrupted us from the start and didn't let us get into our game. But it doesn't matter how we won," Schuerrle said.

The result kept Germany's enviable record of reaching at least the quarter-finals in every World Cup they have played in since 1938. It also denied Algeria revenge for a dark chapter in 1982 when, despite beating then West Germany, they went out after a seemingly contrived...