JOHANNESBURG — A goal that probably shouldn't have counted and one that definitely should have but was ignored played key roles in Argentina and Germany advancing to the World Cup quarterfinals.

Not that the two soccer powers wouldn't have moved on, anyway. But what happened Sunday sure didn't hurt them.

Germany got by England 4-1 in a match affected by a bad officiating decision. Frank Lampard's long-range shot rebounded off the crossbar and clearly crossed the goal line. Referee Jorge Larrionda waved play on rather than signal the match was tied 2-2.

"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 ... 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)."

Even Germany coach Joachim Loew conceded it was a fair goal.

"What I saw on the television, this ball was behind the line," Loew said. "It must have been given as goal."

It wasn't.

Carlos Tevez scored twice, one goal when he was about a yard offside, in Argentina's 3-1 victory over Mexico in Johannesburg.

Tevez opened the scoring in the 26th minute, heading into an empty net after Lionel Messi chipped the ball toward goal. Mexico players protested furiously as the referee and linesman had a lengthy discussion before allowing the goal to stand.

Mexico's anger spilled over into a scuffle behind the bench as the teams walked off at halftime, with Argentina coach Diego Maradona in the middle of the scrum.

"It was a difficult blow for us and we never recovered," Mexico's Rafael Marquez said. "Unfortunately we were unlucky."

While Germany and Argentina were both fortunate, they also were quite good, particularly on offense. They will face off Saturday in Cape Town, a rematch of the 1986 and '90 finals.