The story from Germany beating Algeria in extra time to advance into the World Cup quarterfinals? Manuel Neuer playing like a centre back and libero, not a goalkeeper, and the Algerians for making it so difficult for one of the favorites to win the tournament. At least that’s what caught the attention of the meme makers.
Neuer’s heat map tell the story if you didn’t watch the match. The German defense, playing with four centre backs more or less, kept getting caught way too high, which forced Neuer to leave his goal and clear the danger. He never made a mistake, despite the risks he was taking, as if someone was playing FIFA or PES and kept pressing the triangle.
Algeria weren’t the better team, but they were equals until the final stages of the second half and that early goal in extra time. A team that until this week has never gone past the round of 16 looked just as good as probably the most stacked team left in the tournament.
Germany move on into a super quarterfinals clash with France, which might be between the two teams that have played the best football so far in the tournament, although not consistently. Algeria? Like Chile and Mexico, they go home with compliments, but the disappointment of losing.
