World Cup Daily Digest: June 30th

Knockout Stage - June 28th & 29th

The first day of the knockout stage saw four South American sides dueling each other for two spots in the quarter-finals.

Brazil 1 - Chile 1 (Brazil won 3-2 on penalties)

Julio Cesar comes up trumps as he saved two penalties, before Gonzalo Jara's penalty struck the post, crashing Chile's dreams. FIFA though, will investigate a half-time scuffle between both teams in the dugout.

Colombia 2 - Uruguay 0

A Suarez-less Uruguay was toothless against Colombia, with James Rodriguez scoring a brace. Coaches of both side praises the Monaco star, who has scored five goals in the World Cup so far.

Netherlands 2 - Mexico 1

Two late goals saw the Dutch prevail over Mexico. Wesley Sneijder scored the equalizer before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar converted the winning penalty in stoppage time. After the game, Robben apologized for diving in the first half.

Costa Rica 1 - Greece 1 (Costa Rica won 5-3 on penalties)

Los Ticos continues their dream journey by advancing to the last eight, despite going down to 10-man in the second half. Jorge Luis Pinto revealed that Costa Rica had practiced penalties as the reason to their shoot-out success.

Knockout Stage - June 30th - previews

France vs Nigeria

Why root for France? Unheralded heading to the tournament, they have shown some serious firepower behind Karim Benzema and an athletic three-man midfield capable of dominating games and the opposition.

Why root for Nigeria? Nigeria shows they can compete with the best, as they lost a thriller against Argentina 3-2 in their previous game. Besides, who doesn't love an underdog story?

Germany vs Algeria

Why root for Germany? Perhaps Europe's best-equipped team to win it all, Germany has been ruthless (4-0 v Portugal), vulnerable (2-2 v Ghana), and efficient (1-0 v USA).

Why root for Algeria? 32 years ago, Germany and Austria played one of the most scandalous game in World Cup history, in order to stop Algeria from progressing to the knockout stage. Revenge is on the cards for the Foxes.

Injury News

Belgium will be without right-back Anthony Vanden Borre for the remainder of the tournament, who was diagnosed with a broken ankle.

Skipper Vincent Kompany is a doubt for the last-16 game against USA, as he is struggling with a groin problem.

Switzerland striker Mario Gavranovic suffered a torn cruciate ligament and will be returning to Switzerland for surgery.

Lukas Podolski has been ruled out for the Algeria clash with a thigh injury.

TODAY'S SCHEDULE

France vs Nigeria (Estadio Nacional, Brasilia. Kick-off: 17.00 BST)

Germany vs Algeria (Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre. Kick-off: 21.00 BST)