28 Jun 2010

Germany, Argentina storm to last eight

11:59 am on 28 June 2010

Germany thrashed England and Argentina subdued Mexico to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in matches marred by controversial refereeing decisions.

Germany's superiority in speed, tactics and skill, tore apart a pedestrian England 4-1, while Argentina had to work harder to defeat Mexico 3-1.

The first refereeing blunder came in when the Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda ruled out a Frank Lampard shot.

Replays showed the ball clearly crossed the goal line, which would have put England level 2-2, before half-time, while Argentina's first goal from Carlos Tevez looked clearly offside.

Argentina made sure of the match when Gonzalo Higuain exploited a defensive error in the 33rd minute and Tevez scored his second early in the second half.

Argentina and Germany will now meet in the quarter-finals on Sunday morning in a repeat of the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals, the first won by the South Americans and the second by the Germans.