Algeria Ties with Russia and Goes on to the 8!

Yesterday the Spanish channel I get with basic cable showed South Korea and Belgium, but I watched for the score for Algeria vs. Russia, and it turned out to be a tie.  Russia needed a win to go on, but Algeria's tying put the team into the eighth.  (They started with 32 teams!)

Here's something from a report about an epidode in 1982 that kept Algeria from progressing as might have been fairer:

On Monday, the Algerians will meet Germany in the Round of 16 in Porto Alegre.

The teams haven't met since 1982 when Algeria beat West Germany, one of the tournament favorites, with Lakhdar Belloumi memorably stroking home the winner. Though it went on to win another game in that tournament, Algeria failed to qualify for the second round of the World Cup after West Germany and Austria played out a result that suited both of those teams.

The European teams, meeting a day after Algeria had won its last group game, knew that a 1-0 win for West Germany would put both through to the second round at Algeria's expense.

Qualification for the second round in Brazil finally allows the team from north Africa to move on from one of the World Cup's most contentious episodes.