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The 2014 world champions are out of the World Cup in Russia. Germany’s 2-0 loss to South Korea and Sweden’s 3-0 victory over Mexico means that the 2014 World Cup winners are heading home. This is the first time since 1954 that Germany is going out before the knockout stages.
The Germans has made it to at least the quarter finals in every World Cup tournament since 1954. The team, littered with stars such as Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil, began by losing to Mexico 1-0 in their first game and only followed that up with a late winner against Sweden in their second. Quite incredibly, Germany, who went into the tournament as one of the favorites, finished in last place in Group F.
The German game against South Korea was among the most dramatic in World Cup history as Young-Gwon Kim scored a controversial goal that had to be judged by VAR before it was allowed. The heroic Heung-Min Son followed that up with a second goal extremely late in the game. German World Cup runner-up, Didi Hamann, said that the German’s exit was as a result of “indiscipline.”
It’s over.
The Germans are the fourth of the last five World Cup winners to be going home after the first round. In 2002, France was eliminated by Denmark and Senegal. In 2006, Brazil did the best of recent winners, making it to the quarter finals where they were knocked out by France, well by Zinedine Zidane. In 2010, Italy lost to Slovakia in their final group game in South Africa to be sent packing. Four years later, in Brazil, it was Spain’s turn to be humiliated and sent home in the first round, starting their tournament with a 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands.
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The Associated Press reported in May that Germany’s soccer federation was critical of Ozil, and İlkay Gündoğan’s, decision to meet with the Turkish president. Something that the agency said caused problems in the national team.
Following Germany’s 7-1 World Cup semi-final thrashing of Brazil in 2014, the Brazilian Fox Sports affiliate is having some fun:
