Six observations from the 2018 World Cup

#6 Most of the favourites underperformed

Brazil came into the tournament as red-hot favourites to claim an unprecedented sixth World title. However, the Samba Boys along with their star player Neymar flattered to deceive and were unconvincing in most of their matches before a crushing quarter-final defeat to Belgium.

Most of the smaller teams punched above their weight and showed that they were no respecter of status or pedigree, leading to some truly captivating and shocking group stage matches.

Germany were defending champions, but lost their first group game 1-0 to Mexico, narrowly won the second against Sweden by the whiskers and lost their final match against Korea DPR ultimately leading to their group stage elimination for the first time since 1938 and continuing the alarming sequence of World Cup defending champions being knocked out at the group stage (4 of the last 5 champions have suffered the same fate).

In Group B, Spain twice threw away a lead against Portugal to settle for a point, narrowly defeated Iran and trailed Morocco in their final group game; needing an injury-time Iago Aspas equalizer to earn a point. La Furia Roja would go on to lose against hosts Russia in the second round on penalties.

Argentina were also shambolic in their World Cup campaign. They were held to a 1-1 draw with tournament debutants Iceland in their group opener, before losing the plot completely in an emphatic 3-0 defeat to a Modric inspired Croatia and were 3 minutes away from elimination in the game against Nigeria before a Marcos Rojo winner handed them a lifeline.

La Albiceleste would be eliminated by France in the round-of-16 after a Kylian Mbappe brace inspired the French to a 4-3 victory en route their World Cup win.