World Cup 2018: 3 teams who have failed to live up to expectations

#2 Germany

Germany have faltered unexpectedly

It's always exhilarating to see underdogs beating favourites in dramatic fashion. As much as the winners receive well-deserved appreciation in such cases, a mountain of criticism, sometimes more than expected, is handed to the losers.

Germany's shock defeat at the hands of Mexico is one such example. Being the title defenders and one of the top 3 contenders to win the World Cup, Joachim Low's men succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in their opening game of the competition.

It was rather jaw-dropping to see how they were overrun by Mexico in the middle of the park, falling prey to the latter's slick counter-attacks.

Next, they beat Sweden, courtesy to a last-minute Toni Kroos curler which will definitely go down as one of the greatest goals of all time in the competition.

However, that doesn't cloak the fact that Die Mannschaft were dragged by the Swedes till the last minute to complete a comeback victory. Highly unconvincing, isn't it?

Clinging on to the results of the last group stage game in order to secure qualification to the next round doesn't exactly seem to be the characteristic of the defending champions and title favourites, does it?