Germany and Argentina will meet in the quarterfinals of the World Cup after both put on powerful performances - and benefited from contentious refereeing decisions - on Sunday.
Germany cruised past England 4-1 in a match which hinged on a bad referee's decision. Frank Lampard's long-range shot rebounded off the bar and clearly crossed the line, but the goal that would have leveled the game at 2-2 was ruled out.
"It's incredible," England coach Fabio Capello said. "We played with five referees and they can't decide if it's a goal or no goal. The game was big different after this goal. It was the mistake of the linesman and I think the referee because from the bench I saw the ball go over the (line)."
As England searched for a goal in the second half, the Germans put on a display of counterattacking football to add two goals, and a disappointing England slumped to an early exit.
"We clearly controlled the game until England's goal, then there was a short critical phase," said Loew, who outlined how his German squad had planned to unsettle the English defense. "We managed to expose the England defense. We wanted to get into the penalty area quickly and we did it a couple of times extraordinarily."
The defeat immediately raised questions about the future of Capello, whose contract runs to the end of the 2012 European Championship. The Italian said he would soon sit down with Football Association officials to discuss his tenure.
"I'd like him to stay because he's a fantastic manager," captain Steven Gerrard said. "I'm sure he'll address his own situation very soon."
Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 to set up a quarterfinal against Germany, and a reprise of the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals. They will meet in Cape Town on Saturday.
Where Germany benefited from having a legitimate goal ruled out, Argentina profited from a referee's decision to allow a goal to stand despite a clear offside that was missed by a linesman.
Carlos Tevez opened the scoring in the 26th, heading into an empty net after Lionel Messi had chipped the ball toward goal. Replays showed there were no defenders between him and the goal at the time the ball was played to him, and Mexico players protested furiously as referee and linesman had a lengthy discussion.
Mexico's anger spilled over into a scuffle behind their bench as the teams walked off at halftime, with Argentina coach Diego Maradona involved in the altercation.
The clear refereeing mistakes will again raise questions about FIFA's refusal to allow video replays.
Germany and England's encounter was the latest in a long line of big tournament games between the two rivals. The Germans knocked out England in a penalty shootout in the semifinals of the 1990 tournament in Italy, and also eliminated England in a shootout during the 1996 European Championship semifinals.
England famously won the 1966 final at Wembley 4-2 after extra time although the Germans remains convinced the second goal of Geoff Hurst's hat trick never crossed the line.
On Sunday, Thomas Mueller scored twice within four minutes in the second half to sink England's hopes of beating Germany at the World Cup for the first time since that 1966 final.
Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski gave Germany a 2-0 lead before Matthew Upson pulled a goal back for England in the 37th minute.
It was the second World Cup running that Argentina had beaten Mexico in the round of 16.
After Tevez's contentious opener, Gonzalo Higuain made it 2-0 in the 33rd when he capitalized on a blunder by Mexico defender Ricardo Osorio and steered in his fourth goal of the tournament.
Tevez scored his second and Argentina's third in the 52nd with a sweetly struck long-range shot into the top right corner of the net.
Mexico's Javier Hernandez pulled one back for Mexico in the 71st.
Germany and Argentina joined Saturday's winners Uruguay and Ghana in the quarterfinals. One Monday, Brazil takes on Chile and the Netherlands meets Slovakia.
FIFA had good news to report at Sunday's media briefing, saying this World Cup is the fourth consecutive tournament to be free of doping so far. More than 450 players have been screened, including almost 200 match day checks.
In addition, the number of injuries per match has decreased compared to 2006. The reduction was down to better preparation of players and the improved knowledge of team doctors and medical staff, FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said.
Dvorak, a neurologist, said he was particularly pleased to see referees clamping down on the use of elbows to avoid causing head and neck injuries.
"The elbow to the head has to be punished by a red card," Dvorak said. "The referees are being very strict on this."
One area that FIFA may be disappointed in is the number of people using fan zones. Cold weather and unpopular matches have been blamed for lower than expected attendance at some of the venues, with a total of 3 million people visiting the 16 official FIFA sites worldwide.
In 2006, the fan parks attracted 8 million visitors. Durban has been the most popular South African venue so far, with more than 375,000 people watching matches, followed by Cape Town with just over 300,000.
