Germany is out in group stage of World Cup 2018
Who saw this coming? Yes, Germany had problems before the 2018 World Cup even began, but nobody thought Joachim Low’s will be eliminated before setting a foot in the Round of 16.
1938 – The year Germany failed to progress past the first group stage in a World Cup for the first and only time in history, until yesterday. Their early exit continues a “curse” which has plagued recent World Cup winners. In four of the past five World Cups, the champion has faltered in the group stage. France started the trend in 2002. Italy (2010), Spain (2014) and now Germany have followed it. Only Brazil managed to survive that fate in 2006, losing to France in the quarter-finals. Germany’s premature departure means this will be the first time in 56 years that the two World Cup semi-finals will not feature any of (West) Germany, Italy or Holland.
How did Germany’s Rexit (Russia exit) happen?
These types of occurrences never happen overnight. They’re also never a result of one particular problem, but rather a confluence of circumstances that lead to failure. Let’s try to disassemble the puzzle and find some of the culprits.
- Long season
Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng, Joshua Kimmich, Marco Reus, Sami Khedira all had long, tumultuous seasons for their clubs. They are the carriers of this national squad and have to be at their best for Joachim Low’s machine to function properly.
- Neuer uncertainty
During the 2014 World Cup win, Manuel Neuer was the team’s captain and leader. After missing the entire season for Bayern, Neuer focused more on recovery and preparation than motivation of his troops. Instead of instilling confidence in others, he was working on re-installing his own.
- Ozil and Gundogan
Locker room cohesion is essential in any team sport. When everybody is on the same page, a team is compact both on and off the pitch. All the scrutiny aimed at Ozil and Gundogan for taking those pictures with the Turkish president had their consequence. They weren’t happy about what had transpired and that reflected negatively on the dressing room. To make matters worse, Joachim Low kept pushing an indignant and out-of-form Mesut Ozil in the starting lineup. He was there when Germany lost to Mexico, wasn’t when Germany defeated Sweden and then, for some reason, he played 90 minutes in the loss to South Korea.
- Lack of inventiveness
Too often Germany looked like Spain in this World Cup, aimlessly going round in circles. Usually, the Germans have a clear idea of what to do and what they want to achieve. That wasn’t the case in Russia. As if all the distractions prior to the World Cup didn’t allow the squad to gel. Joachim Low failed to combine the new players such as Marco Reus, Timo Werner, Julian Draxler and Julian Brandt with the old guard.
- Complacency
All the winning at club and international level had its adverse effect. The group stage wasn’t regarded as a challenge and the players approached it as such.
Now that the favorite is gone, another one needs to take its place. At the moment, that’s Brazil. Tite’s men won’t get a chance at revenge for the 7-1 loss four years ago, but they will try to erase the memory of it by defeating whoever comes next on their path. La Seleccao also hasn’t been at its best yet, but unlike Germany, they’ve found ways to win. As long as they are in the tournament, the Brazilians will be considered as the favorites. Just remember, only one South American team has won a World Cup staged in Europe (Brazil in 1958).