World Cup 2018: 5 favourites eliminated at the group stage in past World Cup editions

After last night’s devastating 3-0 loss to Croatia, Argentina sit on the brink of a World Cup disaster – elimination at the group stage. To qualify now they’ll need a victory over Nigeria in their final game and other results to go their way as well.

If they do indeed crash out, they’ll likely be the highest profile casualties of the opening round in Russia.

However, they won’t be the first highly favoured team to see a World Cup campaign end at the first hurdle – previous tournaments have seen giants of the world game crash and burn during the group stage, and it hasn’t always been at the hands of fellow favourites either. Here are 5 of them.

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#1 Spain – World Cup 1998

Spain went out at the group stage in 1998 following defeat at the hands of Nigeria

Coming into the 1998 World Cup, Spain were considered one of a handful of genuine contenders to win the tournament. They had hugely experienced campaigners in the form of Andoni Zubizarreta, Fernando Hierro and Miguel Nadal alongside some talented young stars like their new talisman, Raul. They had flown through qualifying unbeaten.

What’s more, they were drawn into what looked like a relatively soft group alongside Nigeria, Bulgaria and Paraguay.

Unfortunately, the reputation that Spain had at the time of being hugely talented but perennial chokers came back to bite them once again.

Their opening game against Nigeria was massively exciting – but saw them on the wrong end of a 3-2 result following a mistake from goalkeeper Zubizarreta and a thumping shot from Sunday Oliseh.

Despite the loss they were still expected to qualify, but somehow managed to draw a blank in their next game against Paraguay, the game finishing 0-0 despite Spain being able to call on the talents of Raul and Fernando Morientes. That left them needing to beat Bulgaria in their final match to have any chance of making it through.

Indeed, something finally clicked and Spain fired on all cylinders – putting 6 past the hapless Bulgarians – but despite the astonishing win, they were still sent home as Nigeria who had already qualified for the knockout stages, lost to Paraguay 3-1 after fielding a somewhat changed side. That gave Paraguay 5 points to Spain’s 4 and sent them through instead.

Despite scoring 8 goals in 3 games, more than any other side outside of hosts France – Spain became the highest profile casualties of World Cup 1998’s group stage.

#2 Argentina – World Cup 2002

A defeat at the hands of England helped to eliminate Argentina in 2002

If Jorge Sampaoli’s Argentina side are indeed eliminated in the group stage of this year’s World Cup, they can at least console themselves with the thought that they won’t be the only La Albiceleste side to crash out of a World Cup at the first hurdle.

The same thing happened in 2002, as a highly fancied Argentina side ended up going home after a truly disastrous campaign.

Drawn alongside Sweden, Nigeria and hated rivals England into what was immediately labelled the ‘Group of Death’, most observers still expected Argentina to proceed into the knockout stage.

How could they not, when they had players like Gabriel Batistuta, Diego Simeone, Claudio Lopez, Juan Veron and Ariel Ortega?

It turned out there was a way to fail after all. Things started all to plan as they defeated Nigeria 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Batistuta, but it had been a surprisingly unconvincing performance – hardly the best way to prepare for a fired-up English side looking for revenge after Argentina had eliminated them from the previous World Cup in controversial circumstances.

In an entertaining game, England got the better of their rivals for the first time in a World Cup since 1966, David Beckham’s penalty in the first half proving to be the decider.

With Sweden having beaten Nigeria, it left Argentina behind both European sides, with 3 points to England and Sweden’s 4 each.

That meant that they needed to beat Sweden or hope Nigeria could beat England to make it through. But despite dominating the game, they trailed to a Anders Svensson free-kick until the 88th minute, when Hernan Crespo scored from a rebound following a saved penalty.

They couldn’t find a winner though, and with Nigeria only managing a draw against England, La Albiceleste went home with their tail between their legs despite sporting a phenomenally talented squad.

#3 France – World Cup 2002

Even Zinedine Zidane couldn't help France past the group stage in 2002

France came into the 2002 World Cup not only as reigning world champions, but as reigning European champions too following their victory at Euro 2000.

It seemed utterly inconceivable that they could fail to progress from the group stage, especially when they were drawn alongside Denmark, Uruguay and tournament debutants Senegal in what seemed to be a simple group to navigate.

However, in a re-run of 1990’s opening match that saw Argentina beaten by Cameroon, the defending champions were upset by the African newcomers.

A goal from Papa Bouba Diop handed Senegal a shocking 1-0 victory over a French side who never looked comfortable from the beginning, despite a loaded squad including David Trezeguet and Thierry Henry.

Disaster could’ve been averted, but the Senegal loss was followed by a 0-0 draw with Uruguay that saw France reduced to 10 men when Henry was sent off in the first half for a poor tackle.

That result left the champions needing to beat Denmark by at least two goals to qualify for the knockouts, but instead the Danes reversed the result, beating France 2-0.

France would point to some bad luck as well as the fact that Zinedine Zidane came into the tournament injured and only returned for the Denmark game as the reason for their terrible showing, but in reality they just didn’t play well enough, ending the campaign without scoring a single goal or winning a single match.

The French 2002 campaign remains the worst performance from a defending champion in World Cup history.

#4 Italy – World Cup 2010

Italy failed to make it out of the group stage in 2010 - even drawing with New Zealand

2010’s World Cup, the first to take place on African soil in South Africa was not a vintage tournament for a pair of European giants in France and England, but it could be argued that the biggest shock came from World Cup holders Italy, who somehow found themselves bottom of a group that included a trio of minnows – Paraguay, Slovakia and debutants New Zealand.

Despite three of the winning finalists from 2006, including captain Fabio Cannavaro – starting Italy’s first game in South Africa against Paraguay, the best the Azzuri could manage was a 1-1 draw.

It didn’t seem disastrous though as most observers were expecting Paraguay to be the other team to advance from the group alongside the Italians.

A 1-1 draw against New Zealand on the other hand made Italy’s situation a whole lot worse. The Kiwis stunningly took the lead in just the 7th minute through Shane Smeltz, and although Italy equalised from the penalty spot 20 minutes later, they simply couldn’t break New Zealand down despite having 17 shots on goal.

The draw meant that Italy would have to beat Slovakia to advance to the knockout round, but in one of the best games of the tournament, it was Slovakia who went into a 2-0 lead, with Robert Vittek scoring two goals, one either side of half-time.

With 9 minutes to go Antonio di Natale pulled a goal back, but after the Azzuri had a goal disallowed for offside, Slovakia scored a third to put the game seemingly beyond them.

Even then Italy didn’t give up, but their second goal turned out to be no more than a consolation, as they slipped out of the tournament at the earliest moment.

Following in France’s path, they became the fourth World Cup holders to be eliminated at the group stage.

#5 Spain – World Cup 2014

Spain were humiliated by the Netherlands en route to a group stage exit in 2014

Going into the 2014 World Cup Spain were hoping to make history – they’d won the 2008 European Championships, the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championships as well, and were looking to become the first ever side to win four major international tournaments in a row.

Instead they simply joined France and Italy on the list of World Cup holders to be eliminated at the group stage.

To be fair to Spain their group always sounded tough – they were drawn against The Netherlands, Chile and Australia, but while the potential for Spain to miss out on the knockouts was always a possibility, nobody could’ve predicted it to happen in the way that it did.

It all looked to be going smoothly after half an hour as Spain were awarded a penalty that Xabi Alonso duly scored. Right before half-time though Robin van Persie equalised with a diving header, and once the game entered the second half, the floodgates opened.

Spain’s defence simply couldn’t cope with the pace of Arjen Robben, and The Netherlands somehow scored a further 4 goals.

It was one of the most shocking results in World Cup history, and Spain couldn’t recover in time for their second game, as despite having more possession and more shots than Chile, they once again found themselves outgunned by pace and lost the game 2-0.

The defeat meant that Spain became the first holders to be eliminated after just two group games, and although they defeated Australia in their third game to avoid finishing bottom of the group, it was still a woeful and hugely shocking campaign for a side who were expected to go deep into the knockout phase.