Germany began to click into top gear as they thrashed Slovakia 3-0 in Lille to book a quarter-final with one of their ghosts of Euros past, Spain or Italy.
After being held to a frustrating single-goal victory in their final pool game by a staunch Northern Ireland defence, Germany tore into Group B's third-placed team to assert their standing among the favourites for the trophy.
Joachim Low gambled on Jerome Boateng's fitness and the Bayern Munich man rewarded him with a first international goal to put Germany into an early lead.
Mesut Ozil had a penalty saved shortly afterwards, but Low's other team selection of note, replacing Mario Gotze with Julian Draxler, also paid dividends when the Wolfsburg man set up Mario Gomez for the second just before half-time.