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

#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.