5) Germany
Germany are another team who have progressed relatively comfortably to the quarter final, without ever approaching a level of performance that would justify describing them as convincing.
The history of the World Cup is, of course, not devoid of examples of teams who have gone on to win the tournament or, at least, make it through to the last four, despite not hitting anything like their stride until the quarter or even semi final.
Joachim Low is a manager who does, however, continue to give the impression of a man who has simply messed around with things too much, arriving at a point where no one really knows what kind of system Germany are supposed to be playing.
Mesut Ozil and Mario Gotze were both, once again, peripheral against Algeria in the last sixteen, but the performances of Thomas Muller continue to mean that Germany retain a constant goal threat. A better team may also be able to exploit their painfully slow defence playing an absurdly high line, with Manuel Neuer saving them by a matter of milliseconds on occasions against the North Africans.