Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey was adamant the two best teams in Group C of the World Cup progressed to the knockout phase. The USA star was a vital member of the team which edged out Algeria in the final group stage match to finish top of their group ahead of England and set up a Round of 16 clash with Ghana who finished second in Group D.

"I think the two best teams went through in the group, and that's the most important thing," Dempsey said.

As for the other game in Group C, England v Slovenia, which was being played at the same time, Dempsey said the USA could not rely on a favourable result there and had to pull out everything they could to secure maximum points against Algeria.

"At halftime we knew what the score was, but you can't worry about other people's results. We knew we needed to win to go through and we weren't going to wait on anybody else to do it for us," he added.