Phillip Lahm has praised the teamwork among his Germany teammates, but admitted that "it wasn't easy" edging out France for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

Die Mannschaft booked their spot in the next round courtesy of Mats Hummels's 13th-minute header to secure a slender 1-0 victory in the humid Rio de Janeiro heat.

Germany went into the encounter on the back of some criticism regarding manager Joachim Low's decision to select four centre-backs across defence so far in Brazil.

"We're in the semi-finals so who cares about anything else," Lahm is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "It wasn't easy today, especially not in the sun, but we worked well as a team and the team comes first.

"We should maybe have made it 2-0. We wasted a great counter-attack, so that meant it remained tight to the end, but it was a good performance for us and we're in the semis.

"It was a 50/50 game, but we got the goal first and then they had to come at us. This is a quarter-final of a World Cup and you never play against a side who have no chance against you."

Germany will face the winner of tonight's meeting between Brazil and Colombia in the next round.

Written by
Daniel Lewis