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

#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.