Knee-Jerk Reactions to World Cup Group Stage

The group stage dust has now cleared and 16 squads have emerged with the opportunity to etch their names into the annals of eternal soccer glory. This summer’s tournament has had a distinctly distant feeling since qualifying wrapped up, which was largely due to the unfamiliar absences of World Cup blue bloods Italy and Holland, and the United States’ shocking failure to qualify. While it’s still too early to determine how Russia 2018 will be remembered, this tournament has certainly begun to shape its legacy. Here are my knee-jerk reactions to the group stage:

WTF Happened to the Krauts?

The defending World champions have been eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1938 and it was no fluke. Fresh off a dominating 2017 Confederations Cup performance with their ‘B’ team, Die Mannschaft was pegged as a tournament favorite. Germany stumbled out of the gates however, falling 1-0 at the hands of an underrated Mexican side and were never able to hit their stride. Even in their lone victory, the Krauts needed Toni Kroos’s late game heroics to secure the 2-1 comeback win. After looking thoroughly unimpressive through their first two matches, Germany still controlled their own destiny and gaining three points against winless South Korea would send them into the knockout round. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that everyone fully expected Germany to finally right the ship and blowout the Koreans to goose step their way into the round of 16, but, in perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament, South Korea shocked the defending champions to the tune of a 2-0 result to send the Germans packing. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why or where the wheels fell off for the Germans, but they seemed to lack the precision and ruthlessness that led them to glory four years ago in Brazil. While Germany’s roster had no shortage of star power, manager Joachim Loew’s head-scratching decision to leave speedy playmaker Leroy Sane off the squad looks to have bit him in the ass. Germany only managed to score 2 goals in the tournament and struggled to unlock their opponents’ defenses, which is exactly where Sane’s skillset would have benefitted the Krauts. In addition to omitting Sane, Loew made a few other questionable managerial decisions. Starting Sandro Wagner at striker didn’t seem too outrageous before the tournament, but the 22 year old looked lost on the pitch and failed to make any sort of impact, yet he continued to start over veteran Mario Gomez. Loew also neutralized arguably his best attacking threat in Thomas Muller by playing him wide instead of a more central position where his natural goal scoring ability would be optimized. At any rate, their early exit means the German FA will have plenty of time to look at the tape and diagnose what caused their catastrophic failure.

VAR is Stupid

This summer’s tournament featured the debut of the video assistant referee and the impact was felt immediately. A whopping 24 penalties were awarded in the group stage this year, with 10 coming as a direct result of VAR review. Of the 24 awarded penalties, 18 were converted into goals, including 7 of the 10 from VAR decisions. To put this influx of penalties into perspective, the previous World Cup record was 18 awarded penalties in the 2002 tournament, and four years ago in Brazil there were only 13 penalties total. I know that the VAR rulings were generally the correct call and the system is more accurate than only using the on-field refs, but at what cost? VAR awarded penalties changed the outcomes of a few matches and the drastic increase in penalties has been jaw-dropping. Gone are the days when penalties were determined by some level of subjectivity. Thanks to VAR, we can now expect at least one penalty awarded in every match we watch. The rampant increase in penalties isn’t good for the sport or the fans. Scoring from the spot almost feels like some sort of technicality and it cheapens the stat sheet. VAR may be helping the referees make the correct call, but is it making the right call? I understand the desire to make the right call, but VAR needs to be used more sparingly – not for verification of some 50/50 call that the ref didn’t initially deem was a penalty. Human error has a degree of charm and we’ve been able to officiate matches without VAR for over a hundred years. I’m not entirely against the idea of it, but if it continues to have an extreme impact on the outcomes of matches, and thereby the World Cup, then I want it out

Is England Actually Good?

Is it coming home? Too early to tell, but England’s success has been one of the biggest surprises of the tournament so far. This year’s edition of the Three Lions lacks the familiar names of Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, and Terry, and as such expectations have been uncharacteristically low. However, this team seems to be relishing in the stress-free atmosphere en route to their second place Group G finish. While England were certainly blessed by being placed in a group with Tunisia and Panama, they still played Belgium extremely tough with basically a squad of substitutes and looked dominant against Panama. This team has captivated the island nation and manager Gareth Southgate’s use of wingbacks in his lineup has lent itself to a free-flowing style of soccer, which has created chances and goals, atypical of past English squads. Blowing out Panama doesn’t necessarily translate to winning the World Cup, but for the first time in a while English fans are excited about their team.

Poor Africa

I was cautiously optimistic that this would be the tournament where the African teams finally stood toe to toe with their European and South American counterparts, but unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to wait at least another four years to see this come to fruition. In one of the Continents poorest showings in decades, none of the five African teams advanced out of the group stage. Egypt, led by probably the hottest soccer star on the planet in Mohamed Salah, was probably the most disappointing African squad as they finished dead last, without earning a point, in a less than deadly Group A. While Salah was coming back from an injury and didn’t play in their opening match, The Pharaohs still had the benefit of playing in a very navigable group with Saudi Arabia and Russia. However, Egypt failed to unleash Salah the way Liverpool did all season and their poor results speak for themselves. Morocco had a bit more of an uphill battle as they were placed in the same group as Spain and Portugal. No one gave them much of a chance to advance, but they showed resilience only losing to Portugal 1-0 on a 4th minute Ronaldo goal, and their match day 3 2-2 draw with Spain, in which they gave up the late winner in injury time. Similar to Morocco, Tunisia wasn’t given much of chance to advance out of their group with Belgium and England. However, they only lost to England on an injury time Harry Kane goal in their first match, and they managed to get three points out of their Panama fixture to finish 3rd in Group G. The two sub-Saharan African teams in the tournament both had heartbreaking endings to their World Cup hopes. It’s probably not right, but I tend to have higher expectations for Nigeria and Senegal than Morocco and Tunisia, based primarily on the names on their rosters and the clubs they play for. That said, neither team was granted leniency with their group selections. Nigeria was placed in the group of death alongside Argentina, Iceland, and Croatia, while Senegal drew Japan, Poland, and Colombia in probably the most balanced of the groups. Nigeria feel to tournament runners-up Croatia 2-0 in their first match but played themselves back into contention behind a brace from Ahmed Musa to beat Iceland 2-0 in their second match. In, what essentially amounted to a round of 16 play-in game, Nigeria fell 2-1 to a desperate Argentina side on a 86th minute winner from Marcos Rojo to prevent them from advancing. Senegal. Led by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, was extremely fun to watch and appeared to have the best chance of the African teams to advance out of their group. After beating Poland and drawing Japan, all Senegal needed was a point against Colombia to advance. However, because group H was so balanced, Japan, Colombia, and Senegal were all still mathematically alive heading into their third fixtures. Senegal ended up falling 1-0 to Colombia, but because Japan also lost to Poland in their final match, both Senegal and Japan sat tied for the second spot in the group with 4 points each. In the most unlikely of scenarios, both teams netted out the tie breakers as they had the same amount of goals scored, goals against, and tied each other head-to-head. The final tie-breaker, which until this point had never needed to be employed, was the fair play rule, which rewards the team with fewer yellow cards. Thus, Japan advanced to the round of 16 over Senegal on a bit of a technicality, ending any hope of an African team making a run in Russia this summer. There’s no easy path in the World Cup, but it’s a shame that Nigeria and Senegal were placed in such competitive groups – it would have been awesome to watch both team for at least another game.