JOIN USAlgeria saw their dreams of a World Cup quarterfinal disappear like a mirage on Monday after a 2-1 loss in extra time to Germany, leaving defender Madjid Bougherra to rue what might have been had the Desert Foxes' scoring touch not deserted them.
Determined defending and the brilliant goalkeeping of Rais Mbolhi had kept Germany at bay in a scoreless 90 minutes, while Algeria had several chances to put the game away and claim the biggest upset of the tournament so far.
Despite their defensive heroics, Algeria looked lost for ideas in attack. "A goal in the first half would have helped us and we would have been more confident if we had scored because in the first half (we had) so many chances," said Bougherra. "We would have been more confident, we would have believed in ourselves even more and I think. "We believed in ourselves right until the end. We scored in injury time and showed when this team plays with its heart it can really succeed. It's true we are part of Algeria football history, we went farther than any other team before," said Mbolhi, who was named man of the match.
"We have to build upon this performance for the future since we saw today that Algeria is able to play on an equal footing at a very high level with other teams."