On paper, Germany should have enough quality in their squad to deal with Algeria no matter who starts, but the north African side has impressed in this World Cup, beating South Korea, drawing with Russia, and only narrowly losing to talented Belgium. Both teams have should have their first choice players available, which should set the stage for a fascinating knockout match.

How Germany will Line-up

Germany have an extremely settled team, with only 13 different players used as starters in their three matches thus far. The back four have remained the same throughout the tournament and with two clean sheets out of three, there isn’t much reason to change them against Algeria.

Toni Kroos will play as the number 10, and Philipp Lahm will take one of the two central midfield slots, so Joachim Löw’s main midfield decision will be whether to use Sami Khedira’s energy and running or Bastian Schweintsteiger’s ball retention ability. Against Algeria, Germany will have far more possession. And not giving the ball away in dangerous positions will be key due to Algeria trying to break quickly. Schweinsteiger, Kroos, and Lahm completely dominated the midfield against the USA and thus should start again, with Khedira making a substitute appearance where his late runs into the box could be useful against tiring legs.

Lukas Podolski is injured but did not look effective against the USA anyway, so Mario Götze should come back as a false nine with Thomas Müller and Mesut Özil going wide.

How Algeria will Line-up

Algeria have used many more players than Germany, but recently their side has started to get a settled look about it. Madjid Bougherra should return with the rest of the backline from the game against Russia keeping their places. Sofiane Feghouli, their best player this tournament will play in front of Bentaleb and Medjani in midfield with Abdelmoumene Djabou stretching play wide on the left.

Germany starting XI (predicted):

Algeria starting XI (predicted):